--- ??? ---
"...Hey, have you checked the servers?"
"Not yet, sir. I'm about to go down right now."
...
I trudged towards the server room, feeling a familiar sense of boredom settle over me.
Working for Argus, the company behind Sword Art Online, had seemed like a dream job at first. High pay, minimal effort.
Sure, the stakes were high—thousands of lives hanging on this—but the servers were so secure that it felt like overkill. The Cardinal System, an advanced AI monitoring everything, made any hacking attempts futile. My job was more about showing up and confirm I did check over the server than actually doing anything.
I sighed, thinking about how mundane this routine had become.
The only reason I stuck around was the paycheck, and even that was starting to feel like a poor trade for my dwindling enthusiasm.
Reaching the server room, I did my usual check-up.
Rows upon rows of servers towered above me, stretching from the floor to the ceiling like a high-tech library. Each server blinked with lights, silently humming to show they're still operating. I scribbled down in my notes that there was nothing of note.
Just as I started to whistle, dreaming of my much-needed coffee break, a loud boom echoed through the room. I froze, heart racing.
There shouldn't be anything wrong—everything had been fine just a moment ago.
I rushed towards the source of the sound, my mind a whirlwind of disbelief and fear. How could something be wrong?
When I reached the spot, I was greeted by a shocking sight: flames engulfed several servers, licking up the walls and casting eerie shadows across the room.
Servers that had stood tall and secure now spat sparks and fire, the heat growing intense. The flames spread quickly, consuming the racks in their path.
Before I could react, another explosion ripped through the air. Debris rained down, and more servers were reduced to smoldering ruins. Panic surged through me. The servers were critical—if they were destroyed, the lives of every player trapped in the game could be at risk.
Without hesitation, I turned and bolted from the room, cursing under my breath. "I deserve a raise for this shit," I muttered, not even sure if anyone would believe what I had just witnessed.
All I knew was that the situation was far beyond my control, and I needed to get out before I was caught in the next explosion...
--- ???(Another POV) ---
In an hospital, you're bound to see stuff completely outside of the norm at least once or twice.
I've seen my fair share of them, from the most unspeakable of things stuck inside patients, to conditions only 2 or 3 people in the entire World had.
But even so, it felt like I was still not prepared to see the unthinkable.
"...How is the patient?"
Nowadays, I don't even need to specify who I'm talking about for others to understand.
I asked my junior, trying to maintain a calm demeanor. She was still in her early days as an intern, and I could see the anxiety in her eyes as she clutched her clipboard tightly. She took a deep breath and began to report the case details.
"The patient is Temiya Haruto, 20-year-old, male, with no prior medical history to note," she started, her voice slightly shaky. "He was hospitalized as one of the victims of the notorious death game, Sword Art Online. Currently residing in room A522..."
I nodded, already familiar with the basics of the case. However, there was something unique about Haruto that set him apart from the other patients. "Go on," I prompted gently.
"What's unusual," she gulped, "is that despite being hospitalized for over a year, he hasn't suffered any of the common side effects like muscle atrophy, loss of weight, unbalanced values... In fact, he's stated to be the healthiest patient still hospitalized in this hospital."
I couldn't help but feel a mix of fascination and frustration. Haruto's condition was indeed an anomaly.
We have a total of 54 victims of the death game in our hospital, but even if you compared him to all the other patients in Japan, the only one with this unbelievable clinical record is him.
Numerous tests had yielded no answers, and I had ordered constant monitoring in hopes of discovering the cause behind this strange phenomenon.
But even after a whole year, we have found nothing...
Just as I was deep in thought, contemplating the medical enigma before me, an urgent call made me snap out of my reverie.
"Doctor, there's an emergency with Temiya Haruto!"
Fuck!
My heart raced as I abandoned my current task, sprinting towards Haruto's room.
You can't die!
Bursting into the room, I was met with a sight that shocked me beyond belief. The heart monitor showed Haruto's heart rate well over 160, only to keep raising, indicating he was in the midst of a sudden cardiac arrest.
How!?
But I had no time to ask questions.
I rushed to the bed to initiate resuscitation procedures.
Before I could get close, a searing jolt shot through my hand like lightning, causing me to yelp and fall back.
Only then I noticed the other nurses in the room, who had been trying to assist, were also being repelled by the same mysterious force.
They reported their attempts to me, their voices laced with anxiety and fear. Each time they approached Haruto, they were met with the same electrifying force, unable to get near him.
'Could it be the NerveGear's...?'
It was possible, but even if that's the case, what could I do about it?
Damn it!
Desperation clawed at me.
This patient could not die on me. If only I could analyze what made him different, the potential breakthroughs in medicine could be tremendous.
Beating cancer, or any disease for that matter, wouldn't be a mere dream anymore, and that'd be the lightest consequence of a possible success...!
Steeling myself, I gritted my teeth and forced my way through the electric field surrounding Haruto's body. Every step felt like I was being electrocuted alive, but I pressed on, determined to save him. The shocks were painful, but not lethal. I had to save him no matter what.
"You're a real pain in the ass, you know that!? Stay alive, because I have a lot of complaints for you!"
The nurses watched in horror as I inched closer to Haruto, my body convulsing with each shock. My muscles screamed in protest, but I couldn't afford to back down.
Finally, I reached the bed and placed my hands on his chest, ignoring the searing pain. I began chest compressions, hoping against hope that whatever force was at work wouldn't thwart my efforts to save him.
As I got closer, I noticed blood leaking from his nostrils, which only raised more questions. Despite the terrible condition he was in, I refused to give up. My determination burned stronger than ever.
"Hang in there, Haruto," I whispered through gritted teeth. "I won't let you go!"
--- Akira ---
Yui was right.
If you messed with Sword Art Online's 'rules,' the Cardinal System wouldn't let it slide. Ruthless as it was, it would do exactly what Yui had warned about.
First, it would flag Yui for deletion, and then it would likely mark me as a cheater, which would mean either getting killed or being directly banished from the game.
I knew all the risks, but despite Yui's stern warnings, there was a reason for my confidence. I had thought deeply about this and realized that I couldn't do it through normal means. The Cardinal System's security was too high.
The moment I touched something, it would spell the end for both of us. But I had an ace up my sleeve.
One of the rewards for completing the second Trial was a particular growth skill: Weakest Magic Generation.
At first glance, it seemed not that useful. After all, I already had an immense Mana pool, so why would I need more Mana? Moreover, I can't even use Magic in this Trial...
Right?
The key detail to focus on was that my magic from the second Trial was sealed during the third. I couldn't use any of it.
That's where Weakest Magic Generation came into play. Unlike what I initially thought, this generated Mana didn't just add to my existing reserves. It remained in my body, free for me to use however I wished. Even with the Trial's restriction on using magic, I still had Mana within me.
That was, so to speak, a fatal contradiction.
Is it allowed? I don't know, but even if it wasn't, I don't really care. As long as there's no specific condition banning me from using Magic, the System cannot punish me, much less declare it invalid.
Of course, no such conditions were specified, which was all I needed to proceed.
Admittedly, it was a minuscule amount at first—so little that I didn't even notice it. But over time, I began to feel it, a tiny speck of energy filling my body. Initially, it wasn't enough to be of any use, so I kind of glossed over the matter.
But after spending all this time in Sword Art Online, I had amassed a decent amount, enough to cast at least a simple spell.
A simple spell might not seem like much, but in the conditions I was in, it was everything.
I was in a virtual reality game, connected to the main servers through the Nerve Gear.
This sequential connection between my brain, the Nerve Gear, and Sword Art Online's core was the key. Without this link, even with all my unsealed magic, I wouldn't have been able to do anything noteworthy. But with this link, a simple spell is enough.
"[Mana Explosion]"
I couldn't help but grin.
I knew it sounded crazy. The idea of using a spell like Mana Explosion was beyond reckless. This spell would cause significant damage, but I wasn't worried about destroying the game.
The system had multiple backups in place, safeguarding the game from any such catastrophic failures. The only way to truly jeopardize the servers would be with an explosion powerful enough to blow up the entire building housing them. And that was impossible for me at the moment, so I was not worried about it.
Moreover, normal humans wouldn't be able to escape the NerveGear's potent ability to stop commands issued from the brain to reach the rest of their bodies, but for me, this limitation was a choice, not a restriction.
I could manipulate the system to my advantage. Instead of sending normal commands to move my character, I commanded my Mana to activate what has probably become my deadliest skill.
Mana Explosion was a skill that caused my Mana to detonate upon command.
As it was when I first got it, it would've been impossible to use it.
Fortunately, the skill had upgraded nicely, giving me enough control to delay the explosion for a few seconds. That short delay was all I needed for my Mana to reach the servers, bypassing the normal pathways.
The skill cost me half my Mana to cast, and controlling it consumed nearly all the rest.
I do not know how far the servers actually were from my location, but it was not a concern for me.
In a way, it could be said that I was gambling on the fact my Mana would reach its intended destination before I would exhaust all the little mana I had left.
A few minutes after I cast my skill, I began to feel a little strange.
'Damn it, the side effects are heavy.'
Although I can use Mana, does not mean my body would be able to withstand its sheer weight as I was literally holding a beast back from lashing out, forcing all the tiny specks of Mana I had left to work their hardest.
I could feel a faint trickle of blood from my nose in the real world, a sign of the strain. However, even I had limits on what I could feel from the outside world, as the NerveGear was working hard to isolate me from external sensations.
I found this quite interesting, but I couldn't dwell on it. Time was of the essence. After a few other somewhat tense seconds, I finally felt my Mana stopping, as it had reached its destination.
'...Now!!'
As such, I let the thin line which was holding the Mana back go, as although I was not there to witness it, I could feel its faint reverberations by the Mana I still had connected there.
'Good, I created my window. Now...'
Both Kayaba and the Cardinal System would be extremely confused by this. They'll both probably be too busy to monitor the situation here for a while.
As for the Cardinal System, if I was just a sloppy human, it would be impossible to not make it notice what I was doing, but I'm not your average Joe.
Silently, faster than ever, I permanently infused just one new 'rule' into the Cardinal System while also covering all its possible tracks from its original administrator, Kayaba, without any of them noticing:
The player, Haru, is an administrator.
It was quick and easy, but once I finished, I finally let go of the tension that had been gripping me. Exhaustion washed over me, and my knees buckled. Before I could hit the ground, Yui gently grabbed me, her eyes filled with concern.
"You did a good job," she whispered, her voice soothing. "I'm proud of you."
Her words were the last thing I heard before everything went dark, and I slipped into a deep, well-deserved sleep.
---
Author's Note:
Sorry for being dead, I swear I'm trying to write lmao. Anyway this chappie is pretty long so it's my way to apologize for the delay