"This game helmet is super expensive." Hana expressed her confusion.

"No matter. Mere supernatural won't affect my gaming." Tenya said nonchalantly.

"No matter. Mere supernatural are no match for the Evil King's True Eye." Rikka was full of confidence.

"Ehh... I have a feeling it's going to be very dangerous."

Megumi thought, 'You said the same thing when you were in Soul Society.'

That battle was earth-shattering, almost taking on the entire Gotei 13m

"The Nightmare Queen fears no ghosts or goblins!" Ruri chimed in, following suit.

"Uh..."

Everyone looked at her with strange gazes.

"Wh-what's wrong? Is there something wrong with what I said?"

Ruri shrank her neck and timidly looked at Tenya.

"Black Cat, this is a warning. If you're not prepared, don't log into SAO." Rikka was serious for once, sincerely advising her.

"It might have the opposite effect..." Megumi sighed.

When a chuunibyou person says too many chuunibyou things, being occasionally serious makes it hard for people to believe them.

"I am already prepared to go to another world!"

"The Nightmare Queen will definitely not be absent from logging into SAO!"

At the scene, Ruri was the only one who knew nothing about the supernatural.

At this moment, she just felt that Rikka and the others were playing chuunibyou jokes.

Isn't it just logging in to play a game?

Why speak so seriously?

What kind of danger could there be?

It's not like if you die in the game, your real self will also die, right?

...

SAO Game Company Headquarters.

"Kayaba-san, the task you gave me has been completed."

"So, according to our agreement..."

Tomoya rubbed his hands excitedly.

The departure of core members, the dissolution of the game team, and the broken loan capital chain—a series of real-life blows had pushed Tomoya into desperation.

Just when he didn't know what to do, Kayaba Akihiko, the owner of SAO Company, approached him.

He hoped to use Tomoya's traffic as a big online influencer to promote this latest game to the vast number of otaku friends.

In return, Tomoya would receive a generous reward.

Faced with such tempting conditions, Tomoya accepted without hesitation.

At the anime convention, he successfully made the SAO game a huge seller by utilizing his powerful otaku evangelism skills.

Of course, the main reason was the immense appeal of a fully immersive game.

Tomoya merely fanned the flames.

"Aki Tomoya, the money has been transferred to your bank card."

Akihiko's efficiency in transferring money was incredibly swift, giving off a feelimg that he was not interested in money at all.

What's intriguing is, when a capitalist isn't interested in money, what else could he be interested in?

"Thank you!"

"But money is secondary."

"Mainly, I'm also quite interested in SAO, could you give me a super powerful game account?"

A fervent blush appeared on Tomoya's face.

For him, Tenya was the nightmare of his life. Since he couldn't defeat him in reality, he hoped to defeat him in the game.

"Oh?"

"Do you have such a thought?"

A hint of surprise flashed in Akihiko's eyes.

"Alright."

"As a reward, I can give you a god-tier account."

"The ID is Kirito."

"I hope you have a pleasant life in SAO."

His expressionless face outlined a hint of a meaningful smile.

"Really?"

"God-tier account: Kirito!"

"With this, I can defeat that guy, right?"

Tomoya's eyes gleamed with excitement and fanaticism.

...

"There are about three hours until SAO opens."

"That should be enough time to catch up on a few lessons."

Tenya skillfully knocked on Mafuyu's door.

"Good evening, Kirisu-sensei, I'm here to for the foreign language class."

"You should go to Tofu-sensei for that." Mafuyu maintained a stern face.

"Alright, don't be angry. I've been a bit busy lately and neglected my Mafuyu."

Tenya curved his lips and reached out to pinch her delicate cheek.

"Nonsense. You talk as if I really want you to come over."

Mafuyu raised an eyebrow, slapped away his mischievous hand, and turned her head away, feigning composure.

"Yes, yes~"

"Time waits for no one, let's have a warm-up first."

Tenya carried her into the bedroom.

After a few lessons...

"Good night, Mafuyu."

Tenya kissed her sweat-drenched forehead.

He got up to take a comfortable hot bath, feeling refreshed, and then left.

Returning to his own room, Tenya unboxed the game helmet. He quickly skimmed through the instruction manual.

Since the device was a first-generation version, it currently only had one built-in game, "Sword Art Online," abbreviated as SAO.

"The original Sword Art Online..."

"But now that it's connected to the supernatural, I suppose the plot and setting will be very different, right?"

Tenya recalled the anime he had watched in his previous life, and he had a basic estimate in his mind.

After putting on the game helmet, Tenya lay down on the bed.

"Let me think, the voice command in the manual..."

"Link Start!"

Connecting!

His vision underwent a bizarre transformation. Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn ɴoᴠel Fɪre.nᴇt

An electronic voice sounded in his ear.

"Welcome to Sword Art Online!"

"First, please complete account registration."

Following the instructions on the game interface, Tenya entered his personal information.

ID: Tenya

Password: XXXXXX

"Next, generate your character..."

"Gender, hairstyle, skin color, physique, etc..."

"Please freely choose your preferred style and adjust the details."

The variety of modeling options was quite rich, and there was also a custom option at the end, which could generate a character based on one's own facial features.

The manual stated that the game helmet had built-in 3D facial recognition, capable of reading the player's facial features and contours.

Tenya decisively chose custom.

"Generating your character..."

After about ten seconds, a 3D character model based on Tenya appeared on the screen.

Tenya simply glanced at it. It was about half as handsome as he was, so he could only say it was passable.

"You will now be transported to the game's starting location, the Starting Town."

"Please enjoy your adventure in the floating castle, Aincrad!"

The game interface disappeared, replaced by a massive floating castle suspended amidst the white clouds in his field of vision.