Noah accepted the conversation with a resigned sigh. As he did, he left his table and headed for his room.

  “Greetings. You found me faster than I expected.”

  “You weren’t exactly hard to find. Not when I noticed some alterations, performed an audit and found out about those unique skills. I am quite angry with you, Noah. You have dared to hack my life’s work and deface it.”

  “I’ll stop you right there, I am not the one who did this. I don’t even begin to have the skills for it. Even if some, or maybe all of those changes, were admittedly made with me in mind.”

  “Then who?”

  Noah thought for a second, and decided to ask.

  [System, what am I allowed or not allowed to reveal exactly?]

  [User can reveal anything, including about Lilith. The world User came from is exceptional in the sense that its popution isn’t aware that their world was created by a deity. But since User might one day manage this world as Lilith’s representative, User will eventually have to reveal at least some of the truth to them, and is allowed to do so early. User would likely not be believed at this point, however.]

  “I’m losing patience. Give me a name, or I will take retaliatory measures.”

  “Please wait an instant. I am communicating with a representative of the one who altered your game.”

  “…”

  “Kayaba-san, let’s make a deal. I will give you the name of that person, as well as the purpose those alterations were intended for. And I will tell you one tent issue with the Nerve Gear you may not be aware of. In return, I want you to promise me that you will not take any… retaliatory measures, as you put in, against me, now or in the future. And I want a minor favor, regarding the MH-CP.”

  “You even know about the MH-CP, yet you cim to be innocent… What do you want about them?”

  “I only know about Mental Health - Counseling Program 01 – Yui. But you used the term “them”, meaning there more than one… I’d like you to transfer them into my Nerve Gear’s local memory storage. Right now, Yui, as well as the others, I guess, are programmed to want to help all those depressed pyers. Yet Cardinal is preventing them to do so. Being forced to watch from the sidelines is going to be a torture for them. It will cause their programming to become increasingly unstable and bugged, and will drive them to madness or destruction. I want to save them and offer them a life beyond SAO.”

  Cardinal was the name of the artificial intelligence running SAO. There were actually two separate entities named Cardinal, the first managing the game, and the second one constantly scrutinizing the first, ready to correct any anomaly that might appear.

  “There are two MH-CPs, Yui and Hikari. I might as well give them to you, since I decided not to use them. And I’ll agree not to hold you responsible for this. Now tell me what I want to know.”

  “Fine. The person who altered your game is called Lilith. An incredibly gorgeous woman. Some people would refer to her as a Goddess. Her influence and reach are… immeasurable. As an example, she made sure that the NSA and Japanese equivalent wouldn’t be able to use the recording of our previous conversation to get any exploitable detail about the Nerve Gear’s hardware. Because she doesn’t want the authorities to interfere with the running of SAO. I would strongly advise against trying anything against her.”

  “…I will be the judge of it. What else?”

  “Yes, the purpose. Lilith is using SAO to evaluate me as a potential subordinate. She gave me a few perks, and the possibility to unlock more if I perform to her satisfaction. Said performance would likely have to involve doing a few immoral things, as she is… morally gray, let’s say, and expect me to act as a proper representative. At least I think so, since she explicitly gave me permission. And as far as I’m concerned, her word is Law. Please do not tell me anything about the alterations she has made, as knowing in advance may skew my trial.”

  “She’s allowing you to cheat, with those unique skills you already have. And some you do not have yet. How is that fair to the other pyers?”

  Noah shrugged.

  “That isn’t fair, I agree. On the other hand, those pyers haven’t been tasked with defeating the 75th floor boss, that Grim Reaper whatever it is, by themselves, or having to defeat you in a single duel at the end, now did they? I won’t be able to achieve those without a few perks.”

  “It’s Skull Reaper…This Lilith asked you to fight it alone? It’s impossible. All the floor bosses are made with a full raid of 48 pyers in mind. And she wants you to face one alone? I feel like I’m being underestimated here. Unless she sabotages the boss or my status… I will double check and triple check the code... You said you communicated with one of her representatives just now. How did you do it?”

  “I didn’t use any in-game mean to communicate outside, if that is what you are worried about. Nor do I have any way to log off. I did it via a kind of brain impnt.”

  “…I do not believe you.”

  “I can’t do anything to convince you. Whether you believe me or not is your choice… My unusual case aside, Kayaba-san, do you realize just what kind of Pandora box you’ve opened with the Nerve Gear? I’m referring to its potential as a brainwashing device. If you can control the sensory input of a person, as well as their pain and pleasure center, you can do some terrifying things.”

  “…I am aware.”

  “Oh… I knew you were obsessed with the Aincrad Castle and that you have little empathy, but for you to still decide to go ahead with this despite knowing that others might do with your hardware… I’m speechless.”

  “You have no room to talk. Some of the changes that this Lilith have made for your sake would nd in in jail for decades, if you were to use them.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Although, considering Lilith’s preferences, I can make a few guesses... Anyway, I have told you what I could about Lilith. And now you also know my goals. If you do not have any more questions, I’d like to catch as much sleep as I can. I have a few busy years ahead of me.”

  “Nothing for now. But I may contact you again ter.”

  “Sure. It’s been a pleasure.”

  The conversation window was closed.

  Noah was actually relieved by how the conversation had gone. He had been worried that Kayaba would attempt to kill him the instant he discovered someone had modified his game without his approval. He had hoped Lilith would prevent it, since he wouldn’t have been at fault for this one. Maybe she did. When a Goddess could be involved, it was hard to say if someone’s actions were truly their own.

  Noah went to bed, wondering what changes Lilith had made in the game. He would have to wait and find out.

  …

  As it turned out, he didn’t have to wait for long. Only two days after his conversation with Kayaba, as Noah was about to go hunt Nepenthes yet again, he saw one of the NPC with a sad expression, and a red question mark above its head. Noah wasn’t aware that this color could even be used for quest icons.

  Noah walked to him.

  “Hello. You seem to be troubled. Is there anything I can help you with?”

  “Yes, Adventurer, please! My daughter had been kidnapped by bandits! Please, save her!”

  “I accept. Do you have any clue where they went?”

  “Yes. They headed north of here, into the forest.”

  Noah waited a few seconds for more details, but none came, so he shrugged and headed north.

  As he left the vilge, he checked his two statuses.

  Name: Noah Enfield

  Age: 17

  Level: 2

  Exp: 359/1500

  STR: 10

  AGI: 13

  END: 10

  MAG: 10

  CHA: 10

  Unattributed: 0

  Skills: Automated Transtion, Lesser Healing, Hands of Nirvana

  Sves: 0

  Yin Points: 132

  Yang Points: 0

  When he had reached lv2 the day before, he had put his 2 attribute points in Agility, Then the additional point he got from reaching lv5 in game with his second quest, increasing his speed and reaction time by 30%. This made evading monster attacks much easier.

  Noah.

  Lv 5

  Exp: 880/9000.

  HP: 300/300.

  Strength: 11

  Agility: 11.

  Unattributed: 0.

  Cor: 7825.

  On his SAO status, he had decided for now to invest equally in strength and agility. If he wanted to raise proficiencies with as many weapons as possible, he would have to make do with a lower-than-average proficiency when fighting, and having more strength would help compensate for that.

  He had also improved his equipment. Going out of the forest for a while to get some Wolf Pelts, Noah had added leather gloves and bracers to his outfit, bringing his total defense to +19. He had also found some ores in the location Argo had given him, and upgraded it to Anneal Bde +2 (1S1D), increasing the sword’s Sharpness and Durability.

  The Sharpness enhancement added 3 to his sword’s attack, and combined with his strength, his normal attacks now inflicted 44 damage per hit. As for his Sword Skills, they hit from 88 for Horizontal and Throwing Attack, to 104 for Linear and Vertical.

  Overall, Noah wasn’t anywhere near overpowered yet. All he really had going for him, compared another competent pyer, was a somewhat higher than average speed and reflexes, and the ability to heal 30% of his HP every 5 minutes.

  He didn’t know why this quest, who he had not read anything about, had been made avaible to him. But he figured that whatever it was, he would at least have a chance to succeed. Or it wouldn’t have shown up at this stage.

  [System, do you know why the question mark for the quest was red?]

  [Affirmative. Red quests have been created by Lilith for User and will be presented only once. They have a higher degree of difficulty, but the rewards are exceptional. Lilith will be disappointed if User decline them.]

  [I certainly don’t want to disappoint Lilith.]

  Noah walked deeper in the forest, killing the occasional Nepenthes, but mostly trying to find any sign of the bandits.