Both time-traveled characters ended up as villainous henchmen.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Kayaba Akihiko, and I am also the developer of SAO."

Kayaba Akihiko's face did not show any obvious emotional fluctuations, but his eyes, when looking at He Nian, clearly showed excitement.

In the end, Kayaba Akihiko willingly took Kirito's sword strike, which allowed him to discover part of the sword's secret and find the source of that secret—the source of He Nian.

Kayaba Akihiko's purpose in creating SAO was not only to construct an alternate world in his mind, but also to explore the possibility of human will transcending the rules of the system.

Although he did not achieve his ultimate goal, he unexpectedly discovered another wondrous creation.

What thoughts?

"Hello, I am He Nian, a digital life form ahead of its time."

A smile appeared on He Nian's face as he put away his empty fishing rod. The fish he wanted to catch had arrived.

As He Nian finished speaking, the information about He Nian, which had appeared as a jumble of characters in Kayaba Akihiko's eyes, instantly became clear.

Kayaba Akihiko easily recognized He Nian's origin: an armored skeleton soldier from the 37th floor of SAO.

Even greater doubts followed.

Why would a monster programmed into a game grow to look like this?

Even AI with self-awareness is insufficient to explain He Nian's situation.

In Kayaba Akihiko's eyes, He Nian had transcended AI, a man-made creation, and was more like a completely new life form.

A miraculous life form that emerged from the collision and convergence of massive amounts of data.

It is the unknown that appears within the known.

It is another form of possibility that transcends the constraints of system rules.

Although the subject changed from humans to electronic data, He Nian's appearance opened another door to an "other world" for Kayaba Akihiko.

If Kayaba Akihiko ultimately succeeds in observing the possibility of human consciousness transcending the constraints of system rules in Kirito, it will only confirm that his experimental research direction is correct.

However, He Nian's appearance reveals another parallel path.

Especially at the last moment, Kayaba Akihiko saw the sword, which was replicating and collecting Kirito's intense emotional data. At the same time, the sword's data was also constantly increasing as Kirito's emotions changed.

He saw an emotional connection between human consciousness and data code, as well as a unique form of co-evolution!

In an instant, Kayaba Akihiko realized what this meant.

A major technological revolution, capable of overturning existing social rules and order, is about to occur.

"So, would you like to see a whole new world?"

He Nian asked Kayaba Akihiko.

Kayaba Akihiko did not speak, but nodded solemnly.

Thus, He Nian successfully reached a cooperation agreement with Kayaba Akihiko.

……

With Heathcliff, played by Kayaba Akihiko, being defeated by Kirito, the SAO game, which lasted for more than two years, finally came to an end.

The surviving player successfully logged out of the game and returned to the real world.

Just like in the original story, Kayaba Akihiko also conducted a highly efficient scan of his brain, digitizing and storing his memories and personality on the Internet.

At the same time, all the technical theoretical data in the SAO system was transferred to He Nian by Kayaba Akihiko just before the game crashed.

He Nian has received a huge upgrade and is clearly taking big strides toward the ultimate form.

……

After the impact of the SAO incident gradually subsided, the players who were involved in SAO gradually returned to their daily lives.

Kirito thought life would settle down peacefully, but soon, a sword that could move freely and possessed simple intelligence appeared on his computer desktop.

The shape of this sword reminded Kirito of the special NPC he encountered in SAO—He Nian.

Unfortunately, after returning to the real world, Kirito couldn't find any information about He Nian and could only keep this question to himself.

Soon, Kirito discovered that the sword could absorb various data from his computer to optimize itself and slowly evolve towards a higher level.

He could even sense the sword's simple emotions through his full-dive equipment.

This discovery sent shockwaves through the hearts of the people of Tongren.

As he searched online, he quickly discovered that most SAO survivors had found similar intelligent programs on their computers.

Even outside the SAO player community, some people have unexpectedly discovered similar intelligent programs.

This discovery quickly sparked heated discussions across society, especially among scientific experts in the field of electronic information, who began to study this special intelligent program.

The impact of special intelligent programs is becoming increasingly widespread, and even in some emerging virtual stealth games, similar intelligent program creations that are not part of the system settings have appeared.

Kirito finally realized that He Nian had not disappeared, but was influencing the world in another incredible form.

But soon, Kirito's attention was completely diverted to another piece of news.

Asuna did not successfully return from the SAO game.

……

Meanwhile, at Silica's house.

Having just finished her physical rehabilitation and examination, Silica—Ayano Keiko—returned to her room with weary steps.

Before she could even put her backpack down, she collapsed onto the bed.

After catching his breath for a few minutes, he got up again, put down his backpack, and sat back down in front of the computer.

As soon as the computer started up, a familiar figure popped up on the desktop: Pina, the winged dragon.

In an instant, the weariness on Silica's face vanished.

After interacting briefly with Pina using the mouse, Silica finally turned her attention to the special stone egg embedded in the background of her computer desktop.

As you move the mouse cursor near the stone pebble, detailed information about it will pop up.

【Fairy Stone Egg】

[These naturally formed, wondrous stone eggs, having absorbed the essence of heaven and earth, the sun and moon, and the beauty of human hearts, may hatch something extraordinary. Please preserve them with care!]

[Incubation Method: Place the stone egg in a wallpaper environment with extraordinary characteristics, allowing it to absorb the essence of the sun and moon. Once the stone egg enters the second stage of incubation, communicate with it telepathically using the SAO stealth device.]

The desire for it to come to you will trigger a new wave of miracles!

Silica was initially very skeptical about the sudden appearance of the hatching information for the [Fairy Stone Egg].

But after she successfully hatched Bina and brought her back to her side following the prompts, her doubts about the [Fairy Stone Egg] were greatly dispelled.

What if some miraculous creation actually hatches, and even allows Bina to no longer be just an intelligent program, but to truly come to her side?

With these expectations in mind, Silica began to hatch the [Fairy Stone Egg] according to the instructions.

Today marks the second stage of the [Fairy Stone Egg]'s hatching process.

Looking at the SAO stealth device NERvGear that she had put away at the bottom of the bookshelf, a hint of hesitation and fear arose in her heart.

However, soon after, as she heard Bina's kind voice calling her, Silica mustered her courage and put on the heavy helmet again.

This time, however, the fully immersive device was not connected to any games; it was only connected to her computer.

Seeing that nothing unusual happened, Silica breathed a sigh of relief, slowly closed her eyes, and began to transfer her wish for the creation within the [Fairy Stone Egg] to her desktop wallpaper via the device, following the instructions.