Chapter 609: Penalty Quest, SAO
After Yukari left, a heavy mood started spreading in the entire villa. They all lowered their heads in dejection as they looked at the spot where Yukari disappeared just now.
“Onii-chan…”
Flandre-chan pulled Wu Yan’s hand. Because she used his hand to pet herself, he couldn’t see her face. He did, however, heard a soft voice coming from her.
“Will we ever see Yukari-nee again?”
Wu Yan returned to his senses and he continued rubbing her head.
“Yes, this won’t be the last time we see her!”
He didn’t yell that out loud but everyone could hear the resolve within his words.
Flandre-chan lifted her head and she beamed at him. The other ladies also started laughing, lightening the heavy air.
Wu Yan smiled as he opened his palm after taking one last look at the place where Yukari got de-summoned.
He had a drop of her blood which had her mystical essence within his palm.
When Yukari left, she sent this drop of blood towards him.
He grasped the object in his hand and he looked outside the window at the hanging sky overhead. He mumbled while deep in thought.
“Gensokyo…”
Suddenly, the System disrupted his thoughts.
The summon has been recalled, free summoning service ended. Initiating Penalty Quest!”
Penalty Quest: Clearing floors
Main mission: Enter SAO’s universe, enter the VRMMORPG game and clear all 100 floors of Aincrad.
Additional conditions: During the Penalty Quest, the user will not be able to access the System’s help. The user is not allowed to use abilities, equipment, items, and the user cannot bring summons into SAO’s world.
Transferring user in 10… 9… 8…
“What the…”
Wu Yan turned back towards the other girls with a look of panic.
“My Penalty Quest is here! I am being teleported into that world!”
“Penalty Quest?”
The other girls were stunned at first, Hinagiku responded the quickest to this turn of events.
“Okay, be careful in that world, got it?”
Hinagiku reminded him with a hurried look.
“Yes madam…’
Wu Yan had enough time to say those two words before the timer ended. He immediately vanished from the spot.
The departure of two individuals left a bad taste in the ladies’ mouths. They couldn’t stop this so the best thing they can do right now is to accept the situation and cope with it as best as they can.
Hinagiku turned around and she addressed everybody.
“Alright, Yan just entered another world. The time dilation between the real world and the other universes means that he will return very soon. The last thing he would want would be for us to freak out over this…”
The other girls nodded but they still continued gazing at the spot where Wu Yan left for the other world, including Hinagiku…
Because Wu Yan & co got pushed into a desperate situation, Wu Yan had to beg the System for a way out. Wu Yan got what a free summon with a limited duration, but, in exchange, he has to complete a Penalty Quest given by the System.
The summon was originally meant for 10 minutes but Yukari used her powers to delay the de-summoning until a week later.
With Yukari’s departure, the System’s Penalty Quest came.
Fortunately for him, Yukari indirectly gave him one week of extra time by using her powers to interfere with the System’s ability. If she didn’t use her ability to delay her departure, Wu Yan wouldn’t have been able to summon Kurumi, Tohka, Kotori, and Yoshino.
Penalty Quest enforcement canceled the sub-quests in this world. Upon completion of the Penalty Quest, the user will be allowed to leave this world!
100 seconds in the transcript world is only 1 second in the original world. The user is advised to use this world as a training place to further the user’s development and skills. Happy adventuring.
“So this is SAO’s universe, huh?…”
Wu Yan looked around and he could see people coming and going without paying him any heed. Cars zoomed past the busy streets while tall concrete buildings made this whole town look like a concrete jungle. This place looked like a typical city and he sighed.
“I see, so this is why the System restricted me from using rule-breaking stuff…”
Wu Yan closed his eyes and he examined the flow of blood within him. His passive ability of EM perception is also still here. The golden key, a symbol of the Gate of Babylon, is also still within him. After confirming all of these, he sighed in relief.
“Good, although the System restricted me from using them, at least it didn’t forcefully seal them up…”
He can still use his abilities, items, and skills but then he will fail this Penalty Quest.
If he failed the Penalty Quest, another one will be issued and this process will repeat until he completes the Penalty Quest given to him.
He’s glad that the System was reasonable enough not to seal his abilities and equipment.
“Yukari was right, it might screw me over for the fun of it but at least it won’t harm me significantly, what with the System’s merging with my soul and all…”
He was given this Penalty (forced) Quest, sure, but he accepted this quest when he first asked the System for help so it’s not really forced in the first place.
He opened the System’s user interface and he examined the quest in detail.
“Clearing 100 floors huh…”
Wu Yan rubbed his aching temples and he sighed.
“This ain’t funny, you know? Not even the original Main character was able to do this in the original work…”
In the original work, conventional clearing was forgone since Kirito, the original main character blew the creator’s cover, Kayaba Akihiko and he pushed forward the final battle, earlier than he had scheduled. At that time, the main character and his comrades only managed to clear up until the 75th Floor.
In other words, if he wants to clear this Penalty Quest, he will not be able to completely copy the methods used in the original work.
Not only that, but he must also help Kayaba Akihiko hide his identity. It won’t be funny if he failed his mission because some schmuck brought forward the final battle by calling Kayaba out and ended the boss before he can clear 100 floors in Aincrad.
“Well, let’s leave that for now.”
Wu Yan continued rubbing his head.
“My first problem, where do I get one of those VR headsets? I need the game, equipment, and I need to hook them up, so many problems to solve…”
The System “generously” offered help on this when it read Wu Yan’s mind.
The user can enter Aincrad by connecting through the System.
“Wait, you can do that?”
Wu Yan gasped.
“System, did you just say I can enter Aincrad through you?”
Ignoring him, the System continued explaining.
The System can connect the user to Aincrad. However, the System can only do this if the desired Realized World is already opened for all players!
“Good, that will save me a lot of trouble…”
Wu Yan chuckled when he recalled something.
“Oh yes, System, what about Eternal Arms Mastery? This ability allows me to use anything perceived as weapons to a perfect mastery in addition to having components from my previous passive abilities. It’s more like muscle memory than an active skill at this point, does this still count as a violation of the rules or are you going to say something like memories are counted as active abilities?”
The System stopped for a short while.
Techniques and skills stemming from that ability count as memory enhancement and infusion, it constitutes the user’s natural abilities so it is not a violation to use them!
Wu Yan grinned when he got the green light.
With a peerless skill like Eternal Arms Mastery, this game is going to be a cinch for him.
“Well, I am going to enjoy this…”
He looked around and he found the place he was looking for. He ran off in that direction.
He will always be placed at T-minus one day before the plot begins. Right now, he entered this universe a day before the official opening of the server for SAO’s Aincrad. Tomorrow, the game will be online!