Conflict

byOuraniaAella

Prologue – TheBeginning

She was breathing in and out nervously. She sat with her laptop on her lap inside the rather large room. This young woman, who seemed like your average twenty year-old, repeatedly looked down at her watch as she counted down the minutes.

Her name was Ayame and she was supposed to be the new voice of the MMO Today Podcast; a podcast listened to weekly by over two million people. To top it off, today was not just her first day, but she'd be doing the podcast live during and after the Argus press conference announcing what could be the biggest MMO in years. 'AndIhavetodothislive!'

Looking at her watch, she realized she had 5 minutes till Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of the Nerve Gear and founder of Argus, would come up to the stage. It was time for her to begin.

Starting the live recording, she took a deep breath and began.

"Hello everyone! Welcome to this week's MMO Today Podcast!" She said in a bubbly voice, watching the chat as she spoke. She saw some questioning comments as to who she was. Better to deal with those quickly. "If you didn't tune in last week, then let me introduce myself, my name is Ayame and I'm the new host of the podcast! Please take care of me from now on and I hope you enjoy today's show."

"As you probably already know, two weeks ago, Argus recently announced their work on what could be the biggest MMO in recent history. Now, I know many of you are skeptical of such a bold claim, but have no fear! I'm here today, live at the press conference to bring you a first hand account of any information released and even maybe ask some of your questions to Kayaba Akihiko, the head of the project himself! Exciting, isn't it?" she finished with a giggle.

Seeing the lights dim in the room, she quickly told her listeners that the conference was beginning.

"My name is Kayaba Akihiko, and I am the head of Argus. I wish to thank you all for coming here on such short notice." Everyone was silent and listened with rapt attention, not wanting to miss a word, even if he was speaking in his usual bored monotone.

"To start things off I'd like to show you all a video of Aincrad Online. The first look anyone outside of Argus has had of this new world."

As soon as the video began playing behind the man, the crowd was enraptured. This was without a doubt the most beautiful MMO they had ever seen, but all it seemed to be was a walkthrough of a town. Even the most vivid scenery could not hold their interest for long, and they eventually wondered when the action would shown. Their thoughts were halted when the man himself paused the video.

"Now you all may be wondering what was so special about this when all you have seen was the realistic beauty of a town. The reason I showed you this was because that was a piece of live first account gameplay filmed through the Nerve Gear. Yes you heard me correctly, this is a VRMMORPG, the first of its kind."

There had been previous attempts to create MMOs using the technology of the Nerve Gear, but the results fell short of what the gamers wanted. All over the world, people wanted to see a full blown MMO experience in virtual reality, a true fantasy world they could take part in. And from what they were about to see, they would not be let down.

As Kayaba continued the video, things sped up and began to show various sights around the beautiful world of Aincrad. From the bosses to just average monsters, the entire world was shown in all of its glory and beauty. When the video was approaching its end, it showed a final clip of gameplay. A mage slammed his hands on the ground, summoning a whirlwind that scattered all of the monsters around him away. The camera panned away to reveal Aincrad, the castle in the sky itself, showcasing all of its awe-inspiring beauty.

Needless to say, he had made quite an impression with the press.

Giving everyone a moment to take in what they had just seen, Kayaba watched the reactions of those in the crowd and smirked internally.

"Now, while I don't want to divulge a world of information about the game, I will make a couple announcements." He paused for a moment to let his message sink in.

"The first is that in four months from now, Argus will host a beta event for Aincrad Online. There will be one thousand and five hundred invitations available to the public, please visit the Argus website in the coming weeks to learn how to sign up. Another five hundred invitations will be awarded to select people through various means. Please keep watch for them." The excitement of the crowd picked up noticeably.

"Due to what we believe to be the massive following we will acquire after today, I feel it prudent to inform you all that we will only be releasing fifty thousand copies of Aincrad Online, two thousand of which will be given to those who participated in the beta. While we don't want to cause our fans any inconvenience, we do not believe that we will be able to handle any more players than that during the first release. Please accept our apologies."

"Now, I will be taking a five minute break. When I return, I will take a few questions before leaving. Thank you all for coming today." He ended with a bow.

It was obvious to everyone that heard the man speak that he did not want to be here, nor did he like being in the spotlight. However most of the press did not care at the time. They knew what was going to be the next big thing and the man who created it had just spoken to them. They had just struck gold.

Ayame sat back and prepared to speak to her listeners again, though in a slightly hushed tone so as not to cause any problems with members of the press surrounding her. Wouldn't be good to make enemies on her first day. "So everyone, what do you think? I'm sorry that I couldn't actually show you the video, but just know that it was incredible. I get the feeling that it will be released on our website soon so please watch out for it! So what are your thoughts everyone? Any questions would you like to be asked?"

Ayame was happy with herself. She herself thought she was doing fine so far and knew that asking her listeners what they thought would help them accept her.

Looking through the words of her readers, she found a number of interesting comments and many kind words to her. Obviously excited, she began to copy some of the best questions down as fast as she could before thanking her listeners and sitting back, relaxing as she waiting for Kayaba Akihiko to come back onto the stage.

Among the audience, hundreds upon hundreds of people felt curious as to what this new MMO could offer. What would it become, and if it would truly offer what Kayaba promised; a true VRMMORPG experience? This could be the new generation of games, a new meaning to being the hero of a game. Bloggers were ready to cover the entirety of it, people were going to be waiting for news as it began coming out. What would the Beta Testers say? All of this, so many questions and ideas, it all seemed to come to one question. 'What is Aincrad Online?'

As Kayaba Akihiko took the stage once more, the press were ready to start asking questions.

"We'll now begin with the question portion of the conference. I'm looking forward to the questions you will all ask, but understand that some questions may not be answered at this moment in time. My associates will pick one of you at a time to ask questions."

As everyone waited to be chosen to ask questions, Ayame hoped she would be chosen as well. Well, to her surprise she was chosen first. "Kayaba-san, the fans of MMO Today would like to know, how will you choose players for the beta and if there will be a limit upon information the beta testers can give to the public?" If Kayaba was surprised that she was taking questions directly from fans, he only showed it with a raised eyebrow.

"The players to take part in the beta as mentioned previously would be chosen based upon the methods to be announced on our website, however of the five hundred other invites, we have decided to give them to various organizations and the press to use and give away as prizes. Do not worry, we have made sure that there are various ways to enter the beta. We will also not be limiting information given out by beta testers. I believe information given to the public by the players themselves will only improve the game." Seeing that she was satisfied with his response, and at the rest of the press scribbling away, he motioned for more questions to be asked.

"Kayaba-san, why have you decided to only release fifty thousand copies of the game?"

"Unlike many companies, we aren't here to maximize profits. I wish to provide the best gaming experience I can award to the players themselves."

"Kayaba-san, Will you consider releasing more after the first release?"

"We can't comment on that yet. It is a possibility though and completely possible. It depends on how well the beta and first release go."

"In the video shown, there was a surprising lack of combat. Why is that?"

"Within Aincrad Online, there is an extremely extensive combat system. Suffice to say, there is nothing like it in existence. In fact, the piece at the end was simply a lower end skill that can be learned very early on in the game. I would like to keep the full extent of Aincrad Online's combat system for the player to discover themselves. This was only to be a teaser."

Surprisingly enough, Ayame was chosen again. She just assumed that it was due to being a representative of the biggest MMO website in the world.

"The listeners of the MMO Today Podcast would like to know if you will be releasing information on the combat system prior to the beta as well as other features of Aincrad Online." She asked.

"While I will not say what we will be releasing, rest assured there will be plenty of information available." He said cryptically. Kayaba was making a point not to tell people what the game itself consisted of.

As the questions went on for the next fifteen minutes, Ayame realized that Kayaba hadn't actually given them any information about the game itself, only giving them enough to conjure excitement for it, and assuring people that it was a true VRMMORPG. He was truly a very smart man.

"Thank you all for coming today. I will have to end today's conference. On your way out, you will find folders containing a data chip and some other things. Please be sure to take one on your way out." Kayaba Akihiko ended before walking off stage and disappearing from view.

As Ayame walked out and took one of the folders, she left to a private room she had been given to continue the podcast within the same building.

"Thanks everyone for tuning in! Now that I can turn on the video for the podcast, I'll show you what's in the folder that the press was given. I've already taken a look so sorry that it won't be a first look!" As she began to take out the contents, she put aside the data chip to save it for last. "Most of the room in the folder is actually taken up by some official artwork that I'll be sure to scan for you all once I reach the office. Here, I'll show you them one at a time!"

"As you can see, the world is extremely complex and realistic! I'm getting really excited for the beta myself! The amount of work Argus must have put into the project really is incredible... I actually can't imagine how they did it. Kayaba Akihiko really is a genius, isn't he?" she trailed off. Just as her audience seemed to be, she too was marveled by the incredible jump the game seemed to be taking compared to previous MMORPGs of the past years.

"Now, here comes the juicy stuff! While I can't show you what is inside yet, this book I'm holding now has within it information on the character creation when you start the game. I haven't gotten a good look yet, but I've been told that you can expect it quite soon, so don't worry!" she finished excitedly. Putting everything back in the folder, she showed them the data chip.

"Now here is the most important thing. While this data chip has all kinds of cool information and stuff, who cares? Why am I saying that you ask? That's because it has things that are ten times better! On this chip, are fifty codes for the beta! That's right! MMO Today has fifty whole codes for the Aincrad Online beta! I don't know exactly what's going to happen to these codes and who will get them, since that's up to Thinker and all, but I really want one!" By the end of her commentary she was squealing in excitement, losing any semblance of professional behavior in her excitement. Once she realized what she was doing, she quickly apologized to her listeners as she regained her composure.

"While today's podcast wasn't scripted as it usually is, I hope you enjoyed it. I had fun with you all and hope to see you all again next week! Thank you!" she finished with a wide smile, thinking that she had done well. This was her first day and she succeeded.

She had the right to be proud.

As the next weeks passed, things finally began to calm down a bit but the hype for Aincrad Online did not die out, no, it only intensified and grew stronger. And Argus was doing well as well. They handled all the fans perfectly, releasing just enough information to keep things going. Beautiful shots of player houses were shown as well as a video of a group of testers within Argus fighting a boss. For Argus, things couldn't be going better.

For a couple of gamers though, their adventures were only just beginning. This was the start of their biggest adventure and they could not wait. It showed too! When Argus began the sales of the system Aincrad Online would run on, they couldn't keep up with production. Even with only fifty thousand copies of the game to be released, over 300,000 Nerve Gears had been sold. That didn't include another million standing orders for it. Argus just couldn't keep up.

For one avid gamer, a teenager named Kirigaya Kazuto, things weren't any different. He too was excited. He too was looking forward to it and it showed in his actions. He constantly checked the MMO Today blog, listened to the weekly podcast by the bubbly Ayame, and kept up with any other news source he could find.

He however was only one of many that was excitedly waiting for the next big game, as so many others had in the past decades of gaming.

MMO Today themselves had been overwhelmed and were barely able to keep up with the demand the fans had. Constant questions about the beta keys, the game, and other things were being asked. Things that they couldn't answer. Yet.

Ayame herself became something of an idol among gamers, as she always listened to what they asked and tried to get them the answers they wanted. Not only that, but she spoke to her fans directly and often too, making sure they were all having fun. She was really happy about her success and hoped to make sure not to mess it up.

When Argus finally announced that they would be opening applications for the beta as well as sending out the five hundred other invites, it was only moments before the news spread and they were immediately flooded with applications. People all over the world were applying left and right, hoping to get that code to enter into their nerve gear and play it, to play Aincrad Online.

Aincrad Online would most definitely be a game to look forward to, no matter who you were.

It was time to push fantasy to its limits in virtual reality.

A/N: Well guys, here's the start of a new Fanfiction, and one that I've put a good bit of work into. Special thanks to ToumaFF for being a beta and everyone in the SAO Fandom Nexus Chat for their general help. There's a lot to come so I hope you enjoy it.