"I want this," the man said. He held up a light novel.
"Uhm, that's Sword Art Online," the owner said, confused.
"Yeah. I want the same thing but bigger. More fanservice, bigger harem, more epic power ups, douchier MC and badder bad-guys."
For some reason, her thoughts went to the meme about 'can I copy your homework?'.
"You can't just copy someone else's story," she insisted.
"Why not?" He blinked a few times.
"Copyright."
"Oh. well, we can change the premise a bit. Throw some Gods in, those kind of things. Oh, I know." He held up his hand. "It's not a gaming world. It works exactly like a gaming world, but it's not actually a virtual world." He said it as if he had personally invented the internet.
"That sounds like a cheap trick."
He shrugged. "Don't bother yourself with those details."
"So, would you like the same protagonist?"
"No, I want to make some small changes."
"Very well. Follow me please."
They left her office.
He followed her further down the hallway until they reached a room labeled 'character archive'.
The owner took a silver key from her pocket and opened it.
Inside was a simple room with white walls. In the middle, a large blue-metallic circle was bolted to the floor. She closed the door behind her and stood in front of the circle.
"Kirigaya Kazuto," she said, loud and clear.
Bright light shone from the disc and a 3D-model of the Black Swordsman was projected.
"Hm," the writer rubbed his chin. "A bit shorter."
The model shrunk a bit on his command.
"Hair and eyes." Two sliding bars were projected. He used his hand to manipulate the sliders. The one labeled 'hair' was dragged all the way to the other side. The model's hair turned white.
He manipulated the eyes as well until they were dark red.
"Weak face," he mumbled, still focused on the model. He tried adjusting it. "Oh, it was already maxed out, never mind."
He removed the badass black cloak and replaced it with some white armor. Quite literally a knight in shining armor, only the white horse was missing.
"Personality bars," he commanded. A whole bunch of bars appeared on his command.
"Sexism, max," he said, manipulating the bar. "Intelligence, zero. Shyness, hm, also max. Gullibility? Let's max this out as well. I think that will do for now."
"What do you wish to do with the main love interest?" She asked.
"Do I need to have one?"
"It's not optional I'm afraid."
"Fine. Set all her personality bars to zero please."
"Excuse me?"
"I want an airhead."
"As… the main love interest?"
"Yeah, is that a problem?"
"No, no, of course not. Uhm, what about the lolicon, Silica?"
"Just change her name and add some furry."
"Cat-ears and tail?" This was standard procedure.
"Sounds good. Oh, and increase the breast size."
"As you wish. What about Klein?"
"Hm. Remove his personality. Change his bandana into a scarf and remove his beard, I want another baby-face. We'll call him Welf."
"Understood. I think that will do for now." They could hammer out the details later.
They went back to her office.
"What do you intend to do with the death-part?" She asked as she took her seat again. "In Sword Art Online characters actually died."
"Yeah, don't do that. I don't want any on-screen deaths."
"So everyone has plot armor?"
"Yes, especially MC-kun."
"That does pose a problem," she said. "The extra fanservice and harem themes makes your story more mature. Well, immature… in any case, your rating will go up. This won't be PG-13 anymore."
"Well, then censor all the fanservice."
"That kinda destroys the whole point of fanservice."
"Look, I want PG-13 fanservice."
"Uhm okay." Who was she to judge him?
It was quiet for a moment.
"Have you decided on a title already?" The owner asked.
"Is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon?"
"Is that a question?"
"No, that's the title."
"But, that kinda suggest you will have an actual harem. With actual development, not MC-kun touching her hand and acting like it's a big deal. Despite what your title suggests, your protagonist never actually 'picks up' any girl, quite the contrary in fact."
"It's called irony."
"Oh, of course."
Is it wrong to copy SAO and enhance all the flaws it has?
Yes. Yes it is.
