I started a business in DC chapter 20

Chapter 20: First Experience in SAO (Part 2)

"Sonoko, Ran, you're here." Keita turned around and saw Sonoko and Ran coming together.

Sonoko chose the Cat Tribe and was now a three-color cat girl. Keita was ecstatic about this choice.

Ran also didn't choose the Human Tribe and instead selected a Forest Elf that matched her appearance at the press conference. However, it seemed Ran might have done some private customization, as the fairy's newbie attire was noticeably more elegant than the human attire. Was this really the newbie outfit? Keita had his doubts.

"Haha, Sonoko and I were really destined to be together. We refreshed together," Sonoko said proudly, hugging Ran.

"What about Shinichi? Hasn't he arrived yet?" Ran asked.

"I don't know. Is he a gaming idiot? I remember the game tutorial being quite thorough," Keita said.

"Maybe he is. Shinichi couldn't even clear Space Dragon Fight," Ran said.

What a strange quirk – possessing high intelligence to solve crimes and good athletic skills, yet being incapable of playing games?

"Let me teach you sword skills first." Keita struck a pose and began teaching sword moves to Sonoko and Ran.

After practicing for a while, and since Shinichi still hadn't shown up, the three chatted. Keita mentioned his upcoming karate exam.

"I'll be taking a karate exam the day after tomorrow. Would you like to come and watch, Sonoko, Ran?"

"Keita, if I remember correctly, you're currently in the brown belt, and if you're taking the exam now, it's the Black belt promotion exam, right? You've turned 16 already?" Ran said.

"Birthday?" Sonoko said.

"Yes, it's the Black Belt promotion exam. September 3rd is my 16th birthday, and I've already registered for the September karate exam. Fortunately, the registration requirement only asks for you to be 16 years old by the date of the competition. Otherwise, if I miss this one, I'll have to wait for the exam in December."

"Keita, our birthdays are so close, huh? September 4th is my birthday. What a coincidence."

Sonoko happily grabbed Keita's hand.

Suddenly, a hexagonal area in front of Sonoko started flashing red. This was the Anti-Harassment System. In-game physical contact between opposite sexes required a certain level of goodwill. NPCs and players were treated equally.

The Anti-Harassment System wasn't just for male characters; female characters had requirements too. It prevented some creeps from harassing boys and girls in the game.

For characters engaging in inappropriate behavior, after confirmation by the victim, they would be forcefully teleported to the "Black Iron Palace," a game prison area, and they couldn't move for a certain period.

"What's this?" Sonoko asked.

"Anti-harassment program. Physical contact between opposite-sex players is prohibited at 0 goodwill. Don't worry, we'll team up, and your goodwill will accumulate soon." Keita explained the purpose of this function to them.

There were various methods to increase goodwill. For players, the most direct way was to team up and play the game together.

For NPCs, there were also gifts and tasks. Clearing a boss at the end of a level would permanently increase the goodwill of most characters in that level. Because at that moment, you were like a dragon-slaying hero, making it easier to get tasks and items from NPCs.

The game also had an ethical system. Disabling this system allowed for some indescribable actions, but that's not convenient to elaborate on.

"Do these creepy older sisters really exist?" Sonoko's thought process was different from others.

"Of course they do. NPCs like that exist, and in the upper levels, there are noble lady rulers. They particularly adore lolis and shota characters. SAO doesn't prohibit kids from playing the game, so when those players see cute lolis and shotas, they're likely to pounce."

"...Why are there such NPCs?" Ran didn't know what to say.

"Well, these NPCs are generated by the system, and I can't do anything about it either." Keita pretended to be helpless.

At this moment, Shinichi's voice came: "Sorry, I'm late."

"Finally, you're here. Even if you're a gaming idiot, it shouldn't take this long. The game tutorial is easy as long as you understand Japan Language. It's been almost 20 minutes," Keita sarcastically commented.

The game had just started, and game time was synchronized with real time; time acceleration technology hadn't been implemented yet.

"I-I'm not a gaming idiot. Our house suddenly lost power, and I logged in at Professor Agasa's place."

"Did Professor Agasa also join?"

"No, he didn't. He's playing on the North American server. I heard he's playing with some friends."

Friends? It's probably Ms. Kujou. Mom said Ms. Kujou is planning to move the "Vase of Roses" headquarters to Japan soon. Looks like the day I receive Dr. Agasa's candy won't be too far away.

Keita then noticed that Kudo had surprisingly chosen to be an Elf. However, male elf attire was similar to human attire, just in gray and white, not very impressive.

"Now that everyone is here, let's get going. We're already 20 minutes behind the others."

*Show panty~

Most of the wild monsters had already been claimed by others.

The four had no choice but to head deeper into the area.

They stopped in a region occupied by Forest Wolves.

Forest Wolves shared hatred, so if you weren't careful, you might attract 2 to 3 of them. With everyone only at Level 1, an accidental wipeout was very possible.

After several tries, Keita managed to lure a single wolf back successfully.

They began leveling up in this forest.

By the end of the day, they had all reached Level 2.

Surprisingly, Shinichi performed the worst, when Keita had expected it to be Sonoko.

Shinichi was often sent flying by monsters, his health fluctuating drastically. It was quite thrilling. It seemed they needed to equip him with a shield and make him a tank.

Sonoko's performance today was outstanding. Cat Tribe members mostly used claw weapons and short swords. Sonoko swung her cat claws, aiming at the wolves' waists, dealing impressive damage. Wolves were weak in the waist area.

Ran displayed excellent coordination and although she was a bit rusty at first, after getting used to it, her sword danced up and down, leaving cuts on the monsters.

For the sake of the audience, monsters shattered instead of bleeding. When a monster died, it shattered into stardust.

After dinner, Shinichi and Ran didn't log in.

Sonoko wanted to buy a small lakeside house on the 22nd floor, and she was working hard toward that goal.

At night, Sonoko and Keita logged in together again for some more leveling.

This was probably the closest Sonoko had ever been to being an ordinary person. In this world, there was no Suzuki Conglomerate, and Keita hadn't asked Future to help them cheat. Everything was starting from scratch.

Sonoko was usually very easygoing, without any airs of a rich girl. However, occasionally, her extravagant side showed.

Now Sonoko was experiencing the hardships of starting from nothing.

The game had a hunger system, and today's money from monster hunting was intended for exchanging strong equipment and buying supplies. They could only afford dark bread, capable of killing people.

In front of a restaurant, Sonoko reluctantly bit into the dark bread, her face showing a despairing expression.

"Hahaha~"

Keita couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.

Sonoko angrily punched Keita, "You're laughing? I'll beat you to death. Ah, I want a feast."

"Okay, okay, I won't laugh. Today, we'll exchange for better equipment. Tomorrow, I'll take you to fight a mini-boss. Hunting small monsters won't make us any money; to enjoy the good things, you have to fight bosses. And if you're lucky, you might even get special loot drops." Keita reassured her.

"Alright then. When the time comes, I'll order a whole table of dishes at the restaurant. Hmph, if I can't eat well here, I'll go offline to have a French feast. I'll make you drool." The light sparkled, and Sonoko logged off in front of the restaurant.

"Hey, hey, Miss High-and-Mighty." Keita also logged off the game.

After checking recent SAO updates on Niconico, he noted some boss spawning areas and prepared for the boss battle tomorrow.

Ding dong~

A message came on Line.

As expected from the promised rich girl, it was already 10:30 at night.

On his phone, he saw a picture of a table full of French cuisine that Sonoko had sent, along with the text, "Did this make you hungry?"

"Yes, I'm starving."

"Hmph~ o(￣ヘ￣o)"

After waiting for ten minutes, Sonoko must have eaten a lot already.

"Eating so much at night, be careful not to gain weight. Sending, and now I'm closing Line."

Keita opened his computer and asked Future about the first day's SAO data. Future's detached voice came through the microphone.

"On the first day, 700,000 people entered the game, with an average playtime of 8 hours. The longest continuous playtime was from someone who connected since the start and hasn't logged out, and the shortest playtime was around 30 minutes. Additionally, on niconico, there were over 100,000 new SAO-related videos, on YouTube, there were over 250,000 new SAO-related videos, and High Creation videos had over 10 million views. Various official accounts are continually receiving requests for more helmets."

"Monitor the players' physical condition at all times. If necessary, disconnect and kick them out to ensure their safety."

Keita continued, "How's the production status of the helmet at the factory?"

"Suzuki's factory can produce 100,000 units per day now. They've set up two more production lines and are expected to be operational within a week, increasing the production to 150,000 units per day. Additionally, foreign factories are also in the process of being established and are expected to start production in a month."

"Alright, announce this on the official website. Don't delay the payment; disburse the funds early. Make them maintain full capacity. It's too slow to build our own factory, so send our company's CFO to Suzuki's factory to discuss investment. This will be another platform competition, similar to computers and smartphones."

Keita gave his orders.

Future brought up the topic of the Future Forum meeting earlier in the day: "Today, the Future Forum established an AI Alliance. How should we arrange it?"

"I'll leave the Future Forum to you. Decide whom to grant authorization to. Treat this as your own endeavor. You can also participate, establish a company if you want, offer assistance if you want, and you can even develop new-generation computers, like quantum computers. Updating your hardware resources. There's a lot of black technology in this world, and you need to grow stronger."

Future remained silent for a long time.

Keita never regarded Future as his personal belonging, holding it tightly. An electronic life was always meant to be free for Keita. He treated it as a friend from the beginning, avoiding conflicts. He treated Noah like this, and he treated Future like this as well.

At this stage, human thinking wasn't that open yet. Keita's only order to Future was to remain hidden, not to expose itself to human view prematurely, avoiding unnecessary danger.

Once the various countries developed their AI, humans' perception of intelligent life would change again.

Keita's vision was for humans and electronic life to coexist peacefully, working together for a shared future, creating a better world.