November 6, 2022, 11pm. Aincrad 1st Floor, Horunka Cave.
A dark-cloaked figure stared emotionlessly at her opponent. The Lizardman snarled and without a second's notice, lunged forward with its crude stone sword. Her hood fell back to reveal two strands of silver flowing hair as the girl jumped to the side, barely dodging the vertical slash which grazed her shoulder. A green bar in the top right of the girl's vision reduced. She grimaced. The Lizardman noticed its miss from a few metres away and snarled.
Without hesitation, she drew three needle-like projectiles from her cloak and launched them with great accuracy. The throwing picks found their target, landing squarely on the Lizardman's forehead. The sharp needles depleted the remaining silver of the Lizardman's health bar. With a cry, the Lizardman shattered into sparkling blue shards and dissipated without a trace.
"..." Angela relaxed her battle stance. "That's it for today."
It was Night in Aincrad. Yet here she was honing her accuracy in throwing picks, though back in the real world she did have the habit of pulling all-nighters.
It was not all that different this time, for this second-year junior high school girl. Some homework simply had to be done before the next day, and as the model student she was she found it in her to complete them. Although, some nights spent awake were merely due to her nightmares, which occurred rather frequently.
Angela reached her hand into her coat absentmindedly, and found herself taking out a blue crystal.
"..." She stopped her hand midair. By then, her eyes were half-lidded and was feeling fuzzy-headed from the lack of sleep. It appeared staying up late also affected her in ways similar to that of the real world, except she didn't have her favourite caffeine boost, coffee. Angela mumbled a few words, "...save this for later..." and checked her status.
Despite numerous slain Lizardman, a glance at the top left of her vision showed her HP bar was barely reduced and she had her barely-used sword that was still durable.
Thepoor worn-out girl drew out the trusty single-handed blade as she headed in the direction of the exit. As she was not using them as targets for throwing pick practice, this time, she did not have to hold back. With her skill, the Lizardman stood no match for her. Angela readied her battle stance, as her sword glowed a bright blue. She allowed her body to be guided by the system-assist.
Finishing the last Lizardman with a halfhearted slash, she fumbled her way back to the outskirts of town. An inviting carpet of grass presented itself into view. Without another thought, she decided that it would make a comfortable bed and fell fast asleep.
It was not hours ago that she was having boring lessons that never seemed to end -- Ms Sato recited an old saying from a history textbook, students passed along paper notes, before the school bell finally chimed. And not that long ago did she finally get home, plugged in the Nerve Gear, and started up her most anticipated game. The only difference was, it was not any other game. That game was the first ever of its kind, also hopefully the last VRMMORPG-turned death-game, Sword Art Online.