The time rewound to the day before the game's fourth-anniversary celebration.
[Commander, according to the countdown protocol, there are only five months left until the five-year deadline set by Sir Augustus Valentine.]
"I know." Allen tapped his fingertips lightly against the armrest of his throne, producing a rhythmic TAP, TAP sound that resembled the ticking second hand of fate.
Thanks to Sword Art Online's three-fold time dilation, he had effectively conjured an additional thirteen-year window for research and development.
Over these thirteen years, he had completed the technical iteration of artificial souls from "zero" to "one," amassing a terrifying amount of data samples. The path leading to the Core Witchcraft of "Consciousness Uploading" had been paved by him, brick by brick.
