The first thing Kojiro saw when he opened his eyes was the ceiling of his dorm room. Feeling awkward at a ceiling that should have been familiar, Kojiro sat up.
On the desk clock, it was 11:30. Kojiro had dived into the Unlimited Neutral Field right around 10:00, so about an hour and a half had passed.
And that also meant Kojiro had returned after staying in the Unlimited Neutral Field for a full two months. Staring blankly at the clock, Kojiro recalled everything that had happened in the Unlimited Neutral Field.
Originally, Kojiro had planned to return to the real world much earlier, but the reason he ended up staying in the Unlimited Neutral Field for nearly two months came down to one dungeon.
The dungeon he had discovered beneath Tokyo Station, which he had used as his base camp.
Commonly known as the [Tokyo Station Underground Labyrinth].
According to the information he bought from the shop, there were several hidden dungeons in Tokyo City containing special enhanced armor or boss enemies.
For example, the [Tokyo Five Great Underground Labyrinths] listed under the shop's [Information] category.
Of all things, one of them was hidden beneath Tokyo Station.
If it had ended there, Kojiro would have investigated the underground labyrinth at a reasonable pace and returned to the real world to continue later.
But by some strange coincidence, the name of that underground labyrinth was Amano-Iwato. In a Brain Burst where he had seen almost nothing but English, it was a unique dungeon with a Japanese name.
Even better, the enemies that appeared there were mostly humanoid enemies in traditional samurai form, just as the name suggested.
Of course, true to its name as an underground labyrinth, their numbers and combat strength were on a completely different level from other enemies. Still, the sight of enemies wearing swords at their waists and samurai clothes set Kojiro’s blood on fire.
And after that, it was naturally all swordplay. Kojiro slowly worked his way through the dungeon, cutting down the samurai-type enemies charging at him from all sides, along with the ninja and shrine maiden enemies mixed in here and there.
He spent nearly a month clearing the dungeon through all manner of trial and error, but no matter how skilled a swordsman he was, one hand could not stop ten.
Gradually worn down by enemies and traps attacking from every direction, Kojiro was eventually struck by a powerful enemy that appeared in the deepest part of the dungeon and experienced death in the Accelerated World for the first time.
And one hour later, waiting for Kojiro after he revived at the place where he had died was a surrounding formation of enemies that had also revived in the meantime.
Kojiro had to break through their encirclement and make a desperate escape from the dungeon, the exact opposite of before.
But the [Tokyo Station Underground Labyrinth], unlike when Kojiro first invaded it, pressed him from every direction using all kinds of enemies and traps.
That malicious encirclement felt almost as if the underground labyrinth was telling Kojiro, this arrogant intruder, that it would not let him leave so easily.
In the end, after a life-or-death battle, Kojiro managed to escape the underground labyrinth by throwing everything he had into the fight.
He lost his life several more times in the process, but because he had defeated so many enemies, his Burst Points actually went up. It was an absurd situation.
After that, Kojiro rested enough to recover his strength and challenged the underground labyrinth several more times with renewed determination, but in the end he failed to achieve any real results.
And so, after spending another month, Kojiro had no choice but to return to the real world and leave the rest for later.
Using the leaf point installed at Tokyo Station to return to the real world, Kojiro made a vow.
"No matter what it takes, I’ll clear the [Tokyo Station Underground Labyrinth] with my own hands."
Lying back on the soft bed and recalling the fierce days he had spent in the Unlimited Neutral Field, Kojiro soon got up and used the Neuro Linker attached to the back of his neck to connect to the global network.
His body and mind were both tired, but there was something he absolutely had to do now.
Countless interfaces invisible to others appeared before Kojiro’s eyes. Kojiro touched a few icons and entered a private community.
The moment he entered the community, he faintly felt lag that he normally would not notice. Some kind of authentication was being performed.
The name of the server he connected to was Brain Burst net. As the name suggested, it was a network for Burst Linkers who played Brain Burst.
The first time Kojiro connected to this "Brain Burst Net," or "BB Net" for short, had been pure coincidence.
Not long after first entering the Accelerated World, he had searched the internet to learn more about this mysterious game, and that was how it began.
To be honest, Kojiro had not expected much when he searched, but he was soon shocked to discover this community.
Whether the one running BB Net was the mysterious Brain Burst developer or an ordinary Burst Linker, Kojiro at the time had created an account out of curiosity and logged in.
To enter this community, you had to go through an authentication process. That process was simple yet powerful: whether or not Brain Burst was installed.
Exactly how the authentication worked, Kojiro did not know, but non-Burst Linkers absolutely could not access the community. That had been proven by many Burst Linkers over time.
Some people argued, based on this strict authentication process, that the operator of BB Net and the developer of Brain Burst were one and the same, and that theory had gained considerable support.
Anyway, once he made an account and entered the community, Kojiro found that quite a lot of Burst Linkers besides himself were active there.
As word spread, BB Net established itself as a kind of essential community where any Burst Linker could log in and share information.
In practice, it was far more convenient than the hassle of moving to the area where another Burst Linker was located and challenging the opponent on the matching list just to talk privately.
In any case, Kojiro wrote a post on the community board, including what he had experienced in the Unlimited Neutral Field, information he could share, and some of his personal thoughts.
In particular, he attached very detailed information about the enemies, which could be said to be the greatest danger in the Unlimited Neutral Field.
The post, uploaded under the title [Field Report on the Unlimited Neutral Field], quickly drew the attention of Burst Linkers logged into the community.
For reference, Kojiro’s nickname in the community was Swallow Swordsman, a nickname that had become something like the name other Burst Linkers called him by at some point. Kojiro also thought the sound of it was not bad and used it as his own nickname.
Even though it was quite late, a fair number of Burst Linkers were apparently still online, and the view count on Kojiro’s post rose rapidly.
[Yes! I’m first!]
[Tch, second.]
[Why do people even bother with this rank game? So childish. Third.]
[Says the guy doing it too.]
[More importantly, seeing that nickname Swallow Swordsman means this is legit. I already heard he fought the Knight this afternoon.]
[Hey, it wasn’t "fought." It was a lesson. OK?]
[OK]
[Talk about the actual post, you idiots. The Unlimited Neutral Field sounds way too exciting.]
[Yeah~, idiots like you would get swallowed by an enemy the moment you went in and come back out as crap, lol.]
┗ [Where do you live, you bastard?]
┗ [Mad? If you’re mad, then come out to Shibuya tomorrow.]
┗ [OK, you’re dead tomorrow.]
┗ [Dead? How are you gonna kill me when you don’t even know my avatar name?]
┗ [Ah, right.]
┗ [You really are an idiot. Yep.]
In BB Net, nicknames were used instead of avatar names, so unless someone revealed it themselves, you could not tell who the other person was.
Of course, in the early days there had been frequent cases of people impersonating other avatars, but BB Net did not allow duplicate nicknames, and even if you changed yours, the record remained. So once someone was marked as an impersonator, they would get endlessly mocked for as long as they stayed on BB Net.
On top of that, since deleting an account meant you could never log in again, impersonators had almost completely disappeared by now. Instead, it had become common sense on BB Net to hide your avatar name first.
Of course, there were exceptions.
Back in the early days of BB Net, when the number of simultaneous users was still under 100, it was common for people to use their avatar names as nicknames without any such common sense.
As a result, the nicknames of the BB Net users from that time, the so-called named users, had been preserved, and all Burst Linkers who now logged into BB Net knew exactly who they were.
Naturally, most of them were [Originator]s or high-rankers on that level, the ones who had first entered the Accelerated World.
In the end, simply because they had logged into BB Net early, they had become celebrities in the community.
Of course, being identified did not really cause them any particular disadvantage. If anything, the only issue was that when chatting, people could immediately tell what that Burst Linker’s avatar name was, so they had to be careful with their behavior.
Then let’s take a look at the chat of those glorious BB Net named users.
[Blue Knight: Thanks for the match today! Swallow Swordsman.]
┗ [Does this guy have no pride?]
┗ [If you talk carelessly just because it’s anonymous, you’re gonna get marked, idiot...]
┗ [Sorry.]
[Jester: Heh heh, to think you’d post a survival report like this right after coming back. You really are diligent.]
┗ [Thorn Queen: Stop using that stupid "heh heh" tone. It’s seriously cringey, Radio.]
┗ [Jester: No, why are you mentioning my avatar name? Do you have no manners?]
┗ [Thorn Queen: Change your nickname before you talk. Idiot.]
[Gun Smith: Swallow Swordsman, would you be available for a match tomorrow? I’ve got a gun I want to test.]
┗ [Swallow Swordsman: Sorry, I don’t think I can do any matches for a while.]
┗ [Gun Smith: Ah, got it.]
┗ [Blue Knight: Want me to test it for you?]
┗ [Gun Smith: Oh, really?]
┗ [Blue Knight: Meet me in Shinjuku Area 1 at 3:00 PM tomorrow. You cover the 1P intrusion fee.]
┗ [Gun Smith: OK]
┗ [Someone’s gonna get to watch Blue Knight vs. Red Rider!!]
[Black Swallowtail: Enemies, huh. I’d like to fight them once.]
┗ [Sword Is My Body: Want to come with me once I hit level 4?]
┗ [Black Swallowtail: No.]
┗ [Sword Is My Body: T_T]
[Shield Man: ......]
┗ [Sword Is My Body: No, how is this guy still so silent even in the chat window?]
......It was not exactly a conversation of great dignity, but the next person to enter the Unlimited Neutral Field after Kojiro would probably be one of them.
In any case, the response to Kojiro’s post was explosive.
In any game, information has great value.
Especially information from Kojiro, who could be called one of the highest-ranked players in Brain Burst, and information about the Unlimited Neutral Field that no one had yet reached. For Burst Linkers, it was practically priceless.
The comments below were mostly reactions filled with anticipation for the Unlimited Neutral Field.
Kojiro knew that, given the vast size of the Unlimited Neutral Field, even if other Burst Linkers entered it, accidentally meeting them would be extremely difficult. Even so, he felt a tiny bit of hope.
Wasn’t it always more fun to enjoy any game with other people rather than alone?
Thinking he had done everything he needed to do, Kojiro logged out of the community and lay back down on the bed. Having spent nearly two months living among enemies, his brain seemed to be complaining of fatigue.
"I guess I’ll sleep for today."
As he stared blankly at the ceiling that still felt awkward, one thought suddenly flashed through Kojiro’s mind.
He had not been able to think of it while in the Unlimited Neutral Field, but the moment he returned to the real world and looked at that awkward ceiling, it suddenly came back to him: the fundamental problem of Brain Burst.
What effect would staying in the Unlimited Neutral Field for a long time have on Burst Linkers?
Even Kojiro himself had run into trouble because he had recovered the memories of his previous life, mixing mental maturity with physical immaturity.
Of course, Kojiro might be a special case, but if other underage Burst Linkers lived in the Unlimited Neutral Field for months, years, or perhaps decades... could that already be called the soul growing old?
Thinking that far, Kojiro erased the thoughts that had risen in his mind. He felt that meddling in other people’s circumstances to that extent would be overstepping his bounds.
Kojiro laid his heavy, waterlogged head onto the pillow and soon drifted into the sweet world of sleep.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register