Chapter 386 — Player Xiao Yan, the Hidden-Class Battle Qi Cultivator

"Sorry, I was just thinking about Lu Mingze and got a little distracted."

Kirito offered an apologetic smile. "Has something new been posted on the SAO official site? A new version? A new boss? Or did they open a real-money purchase service?"

SAO had only been in open beta for three days; everything for the players was starting from scratch, and he genuinely could not imagine what on the official site would warrant a special announcement.

"It's..."

Asuna's voice seemed to tremble, as though she were afraid of something. "The killing permission!"

At those four words, Kirito narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.

He quickly opened his computer, logged onto SAO's official website, and saw the notice concerning the killing permission.

Page after page of bureaucratic boilerplate—Kirito had not the slightest interest in it.

Skimming it at a glance, he roughly grasped the gist of the announcement.

In the game, the top ten players in overall combat power possessed the killing permission!

The players they killed in the game would likewise die in the real world!

Kirito's lips curled upward, ever so faintly.

He did not even notice the change in his own expression.

Soon, Kirito found his own name on the roster published on the SAO official site.

On the SAO top ten player ranking, he stood in third place.

Second place belonged to Lu Mingze—Lu Yaochuan—who was online twenty-four hours a day.

First place went to a strange ID.

Xiao Yan.

"A Chinese player, like Lu Mingze? I never saw this person in the closed beta..."

Kirito eyes narrowed slightly as he sank into thought.

Judging from the data the officials had released, this player called Xiao Yan held no advantage in levels; he merely spent long hours online, and without proper guide maps or game planning, his acquisition of experience resources was hardly rational.

But the man had a hidden class: [Battle Qi Cultivator].

Thinking of the rumors flying about lately, even a cold-natured fellow like Kirito felt a touch of envy.

Battle qi cultivation—perhaps it could forge supernatural power akin to magic in the real world?

If so, could the man carry all the abilities from the game back into reality, even releasing skills without maintaining an electrical connection?

As for the intelligence published on SAO's official website, gamers across the globe protested in droves.

In the comment sections, curses thundered to the heavens, with only the occasional one or two voices expressing approval.

"Damn it! Playing a lousy game and you might actually die for real? To hell with that!"

"I figure this is just an April Fool's joke from the SAO officials. No need to take it to heart."

"How many years has the guy above been offline? Lots of knowledge in SAO can be brought into the real world—didn't you know?"

"I heard someone found the design blueprint for the [Portable Personal Terminal] on the [White Realm] map, and they've already started producing it over in China..."

"Let's all boycott this garbage game! A united boycott!"

"Boycott it yourself, you idiot. This old man still wants to charge into the top ten and cut that bitch to pieces!"

"Hey, hey! If someone really kills, won't they face legal punishment?"

"...That's the part that scares me the most..."

"All the permanent members of the UN and the member states have urgently promulgated relevant legal statutes—killing in SAO that leads to another's death carries no criminal liability, not even civil liability..."

"How can such a law exist! What kind of joke is this! Have the heads of government all been hypnotized? Have they lost their minds?"

Having read this much, Kirito closed the SAO official site and checked the headlines on several news websites.

He soon confirmed the authenticity of this intelligence.

Those netizens were not simply shooting their mouths off.

Thinking it over carefully, it was probably all driven by interests, wasn't it?

Hypnosis and the like—that was far too unscientific.

The elite hackers of every nation, from the moment SAO revealed the tip of its iceberg, had begun trying to attack its servers and seize the data and knowledge directly.

Unfortunately, not a single one of them could breach even the first line of defense.

Every top-tier hacker was left staring helplessly.

He had no idea why the politicians of various nations had not used force in the real world to compel the upper echelons of the SAO Group to share their secrets, but such matters seemed far too distant to Kirito, so he simply stopped thinking about them.

"Asuna, I've read that news. Are you still going into the game?"

Kirito asked.

Soon Asuna's conflicted voice came through the phone. "My parents won't let me go into the game. They know about the killing permission too..."

"That's... a real shame."

Kirito sighed.

Asuna was one of the few friends he had.

And he was quite fond of this considerate girl.

If possible, he wanted to become her boyfriend—and, after achieving fame and fortune through SAO, to marry her.

"I'll fight for it!"

Asuna's voice came through the phone into Kirito's ear. "No one would be willing to give up the resources and knowledge in SAO! Thanks to Kirito's help, my combat ranking in the game has already broken into the top hundred! If I let an advantage like this slip away, the me of the future would never forgive the me who gave up so easily!"

Over the past few days, Kirito had come to understand a little of Asuna's family circumstances.

Her father was the CEO of RECT, a major electronics manufacturer, and her mother was a professor at a certain university.

Owing to her family background, Asuna had received an elite upbringing since childhood, and her family expected her to achieve great things in the future.

Seen in this light, she might truly be able to persuade her parents.

"Lately... Mom and Dad seem to want to arrange an engagement for me..."

Asuna's voice was somewhat despondent and forlorn.

Kirito nearly crushed the phone in his grip.

He drew a deep breath and struggled to calm himself, making his voice sound even and mild. "That family—what's the man's name?"

Asuna's aggrieved voice came through. "Nobuyuki Sugou. I don't like him. The man is a hypocrite. A political marriage, of all things—I hate it!"

Suddenly, a muffled exclamation came from the other end: "Do I really have to go to dinner with this man tonight?"

Then Asuna said "Mm," as though she had compromised.

Her voice was a little weary. "Kirito, my family lives in Setagaya, Tokyo. Come with me tonight to meet this Nobuyuki Sugou..."

"No problem."

Kirito smiled faintly, his tone gentle as he answered.

Only, within that smile, something faintly bloody seemed to lurk.

Nobuyuki Sugou...

This man—wouldn't it be better to just kill him outright?

In the esports company's brainwashing training, Wang Huai'an had added a few extra ingredients.

The Kirito of today had already turned thoroughly dark—and did not even know it.

...

Battle Through the Heavens plane.

Black Rock City, the Xiao family.

In the young clan chief's room.

Xiao Yan removed the gaming helmet from his head, his bearing weary, yet his eyes glimmered with the light of hope...