Jumping free from the cage Asuna felt uncertainty. After a year of pure conviction and surety of her every action, it was almost like a new sensation for her. What was her next move? Would Zuko be able to track her? What would happen if she died, would she return to her prison? If the cardinal system was broken but self-aware, what did that mean to this world as a whole? And why was it/she helping her at all?
Of the questions she had flooding her mind, those last two were of the least importance as far as she was concerned. That first one was all important and most immediate. The remaining two helping to determine the answer. She needed to get a lot of distance from this tree, and she needed information.
She wasn't sure if distance would truly help in stopping Zuko from finding her. She knew Yui had trouble pinpointing anything at a distance but she was only a nav pixie, not an admin. It was her only point of information and her only real hope.
Looking down, she had dropped in elevation dramatically and could now see more clearly the war zone the city below was. Her only certainty was she didn't want to go to see it closer.
"Yui, do you know where the nearest safe zone is?"
"Yes mommy. There's a town about five minutes from here, that way," as she pointed.
Asuna didn't waste time, heading in the direction indicated. Her flight wasn't the fastest, but her practice paid off in that it was steady. The travel time gave her the opportunity to gather information from her daughter. She started with the one that scared her the most.
"Will a system admin be able to find me Yui?"
"Normally yes mommy. They can do searches on the entire server not limited to simply map data, but mommy isn't mommy anymore so you'll be okay."
That answer left her puzzled. "What do you mean mommy isn't mommy?"
"Your account name and player ID have both been changed by the cardinal system. They could do a search on your old information but it would show as if you had closed your account."
Another gift of the cardinal system? It had to be. What was the point of it freeing her if Zuko could simply find and capture her again? Looking at the horizon she allowed that to settle in, the relief almost palpable.
"Did the Cardinal system also fix her log out ability?"
"No mommy. The cardinal system could have, but she chose not to. I can't tell you why."
Cardinal wanted something from her was the obvious guess, but what? She sincerely wished the system had given her more to go on.
Perhaps that came with her being "broken?" "Can you tell me anything more about what's wrong with the cardinal system?"
"Give me a moment mommy to find out." She saw Yui fly above her, then felt her weight as she landed on her back and settled. Unable to see her directly Asuna none the less could imagine her daughter holding her head as she often did when searching the game data.
"This version of the cardinal system was a direct copy of the one that controlled Aincrad three years ago, but in that time her programming hasn't been updated to keep pace with the changes in technology except for small patches. Those patches sometimes were not programmed properly causing further errors. One of those errors is what made her self aware about two years ago. Kinda like how the errors building up in me made me aware in Sword Art Online."
Asuna allowed that information to digest as she finished her flight to the next town. To her horror when she got there it was under siege by flaming giants who looked even scarier than the ice ones before. "Yui, I thought you said this was a safe zone?"
"It is mommy, except one of the errors allow the ice and fire giants to attack in safe zones."
Looking over the fight among the players and the flame giants she noticed that a small group of them had gathered outside the town. To coordinate their group or just to socialize she couldn't say.
Landing far enough away not to be noticed she approached them on foot. She used her stealth skill to approach without notice. Caution was her best friend right now.
Peering around a tree she listened to their conversation and confirmed her second guess was correct. Mostly they complained about the giants, one of them going so far as to say he was quitting before logging out.
If this was the norm in the game currently, why weren't they changing things to improve the player's experience? Every player lost was lost revenue for whichever company was running it. From what they were saying this had been going on for almost a year. Could it be a symptom of the Cardinal system's current state, mismanagement by the system admins, or both?
Not that it mattered currently. Looking at them she guessed they were of different races judging by their ears, and in one case ears and a tail. None of them appeared to have wings.
"Yui, how many races fly here?" She whispered.
"All players can mommy." Somehow Yui managed to keep her childlike voice, full of unrestrained excitement, to a whisper.
That lead to the next question, "Then why don't they have wings like me?
"Because you're an Alf. All the normal races have their wings disappear when they aren't using them."
"So Alf's are rare, like a race that needs unlocked?"
"Yes! In fact as far as my scan of players can tell you are the only one."
Hm. If she was the only one then news of her would spread quickly. She needed to hide her wings somehow, and maybe her ears as well. All the other features, aside from the one with the animal parts, seemed to be human.
Silently she cursed herself for not getting more specifics about the game she was in instead of practicing her flying and magic. No helping for it now though. She backed off just as quietly as she arrived, never noticed.
"Yui, I need a crash course on this game."
ns 15.158.61.48da2
