Chapter 1

Cold Eyes

Kirito made his way toward the outdoor theatre where the meeting was being held. Apparently there was a meeting being held to discuss strategy, organized by a man named Diabel. Kirito took a seat in the higher rows, away from other people.

"Okay, let's get started people!"

A man with blue hair, a sword and a shield made his way forward.

"Thank you all for coming today," he continued. "My name is Diabel. I like to consider my 'job' as knight.

The crowd laughed at Diabel.

"There's no job system in this game!"

"A knight?"

"Is this meeting a joke too?

"You should take this seriously!"

When the crowd died down, Diabel, with a serious look on his face, spoke. "Today, our party found the boss room at the top of the tower.

The crowd let out a collective gasp, some watching with disbelief while some faces turned white.

"We need to defeat the boss, reach the second floor, and tell everyone waiting in the town of beginnings that it is possible," proclaimed Diabel. "Everyone present here shares this duty! Do you all agree!?"

The crowd was silent for a brief moment. But quickly after that the crowd began murmuring assent, followed by clapping and cheering.

"Alright," said Diabel, grinning slightly. "First, divide into parties of six."

Kirito gasped, looking rapidly around the theatre, watching everybody form parties, and flew into a panic trying to find someone to partner with.

"I'll be the leader," said one person to a group of people.

"An ordinary party has no chance against a floor boss. We'll need to form a raid group using multiple parties," Continued Diabel."

"Of course we'll be in the same party," one man said to his friend.

"Let's do this," grinned another boy.

Seeing a lone female figure far off to the left side of the stands, alone. She appeared to be female, her head and face covered by a cowl. She wore standard red and white beginners gear with a bronze breastplate. Scooting along the bench toward her, he spoke."You got left out too?"

"No," she said. "I wasn't left out. I just stayed out of it because everyone seemed to know each other already."

"A solo player?" Kirito asked quizzically. "Then want to form a party with me?"

The girl moved her head a little, but said nothing.

"He just said we can't beat the boss on our own," pushed Kirito. "So just for this fight?"

The girl stared blankly for a couple more seconds before nodding slightly, accepting the request. Kirito grinned slightly as Diabel called the crown back to attention.

"Okay, have you found your parties? Then-"

"JUST A SECOND!"

A lone figure bounded down the stairs. A spiky red-head with a small goatee.

"I wanna say something before we fight the boss," he proclaimed loudly. "Some of you Here need to apologize for the two-thousand people who died so far!"

"Kibau," inquired Diabel. "are you referring to the beta testers?"

"Of course I am!" said Kibau. "On the day this stupid game started, the beta guys ditched us beginners, and they all disappeared. They took all the good hunting spots and easy quests for themselves, so only they could get stronger. And then, they just ignored the rest of us!" Kibau glared at the crowd. "I'm sure someone here was in the beta!" he continued. "They should get on their knees and apologize, and give up all the items and money they hoarded. Otherwise we can't trust them as party members, and they shouldn't trust us!" Kibau crossed his arms defiantly, daring anyone to challenge him.

"I don't think the Beta testers have anything to do with that."

A person walked out of the shadows of the theatre entrance to the right of Diabel. He looked as though he had been listening to the whole meeting in the shadows. He wore the same beginning training clothes as Kirito. He had neat, but wild brown hair that went almost into his eyes,which were bright blue, and almost to his shoulders in the back. His eyebrows were thicker than the average person and he looked about as old as Kirito, and about as tall. His sword was short and had a black handle.

"And when did I ask you?" said Kibau contemptuously.

"You didn't. But I'm talking anyway." He starigtened his back a little as he moved closer to Kibau. "You have no proof that this is the beta tester's fault." the stranger continued. "You base your thoughts on your own opinion aand thoughts. If you think about it, the beta testers don't have that much of an advantage. So get lost."

Kibau's face grew red with anger. "Care to put your weapon where your mouth is?" sending the stranger a duel request.

The side of the stranger's mouth curled up a little. "Sure…" accepting the request.

"Stop, we shouldn't fight wi-" Started Diabel.

"Shut up." The stranger pulled out his sword. It was a Swordbreaker. A short sword with the blade covered in square indentations. Kirito gazed at it with awe, having not seen it in the beta test. " He needs to see that it's not right to judge without knowing the circumstances."

"I know the circumstances perfectly well," roared Kibau. "The beta testers left us to die. There's no way that we're even close to their level."

"Lets see then," snarled the stranger, readying his weapon.

The countdown for the duel started, the winner being the first to knock the other into the yellow. Kibau also readied his sword, glaring at his opponent and breathing heavily. The stranger standing still, staring coldly at Kibau. As the timer reached zero, The stranger charged at Kibau at an incredible speed, giving Kibau barely enough time to raise his weapon, pushing Kibau back a couple feet and astonishing the crowd. Kibau grimaced as the stranger pushed his blade closer to his face, staring into the cold eyes of the stranger, slowly realizing that he had no chance of winning.

Suddenly, the stranger moved his blade near the hilt of Kibau's and twisted, his Swordbreaker's indentations catching the blade and throwing it off to the side.

Kibau gaped as he watched his sword fly off to the side. The crowd did the same, for they had not expected a higher level player to be beaten so easily.

Kibau's shock morphed into rage. Leaping up and glaring at the stranger, he said with a red face, "Y-YOU! You're a beta tester, aren't you?! That's how you beat me so easily and how you got that sword!"

The stranger chuckled. "I'm no beta tester. I'm a normal player like you. That's the point. The beta testers may have a head start, but anyone can be powerful even without that head start. Remember that."

Kirito stared at the stranger with wide eyes, unable to believe the power that he had seen. "Who is this guy?" Kirito thought to himself.

Everything was quiet for a second, then a tall black man stood up and walked to the center of the stage.

"May I speak?" he asked in a deep voice.

After Diabel and Kibau nodded, the man continued speaking. "My name is Egil. Kibau, tell me if I have this right. You're saying that because the beta testers didn't take care of them, many beginners died. That they should take responsibility, apologize, and provide compensation, correct?"

"Y-yeah," stammered Kibau.

Egil brought out a small brown book. "You got this guide book didn't you? It was provided for free at the item store."

"S-sure, why?"

"It was compiled from information given by the beta testers."

Kibau grimaced hearing this, while the crowd whispered to each other.

"Listen," Egil said. "Everyone had equal access to this information, and even still, many players died. I thought the topic of discussion here was what we could learn from their deaths, and how that can help us defeat the boss."

Kibau, hearing this, stormed off to the front row of seats and folded his arms, clearly not happy that his opinion was not being represented the way he wanted it to be.

"There we go, we did NOT need to fight to make that point." Egil emphasized as he watched the stranger return to the shadows.

"I was going to show him the book," the stranger said, not turning around. "He just started blabbling about fighting before I could. So I improvised."

The stranger continued walking into the theatre side door and leaned against the wall, unseeable against the dark shadows.

"All right then," Diabel began. "Can we resume?

The crowd nodded collectively, ready to finally get to business.

"The latest edition of that guide book was just issued, and it contains information on the boss." Diabel opened the book, reading out loud. "According to it, the boss's name is Illfang the Kobold lord. He is guarded by assistants known as ruin kolbold sentinels. He is armed with an axe and a buckler. He has four health bars, and when the las one enters the red, he switches to a curved sword-type called a talwar. His attack pattern changes, as well."

Diabel closed the book as people murrmurred in amazement. "This concludes the briefing. Lastly, items will be automatically distributed. EXP goes to the party that defeats the monster, and whoever receives an item keeps it. Any objections?"

Nobody spoke. "Ok," finished Diabel. "We leave tomorrow at ten in the morning. See you there!"

Everyone immediately stood and either left or started talking. The stranger who fought Kibau emerged from the shadows and began walking up the stairs. Kirito, having a sudden desire to follow him did so, catching up about 50 feet away from the theatre. It wasn't hard, seeing as the stranger seemed to be in no hurry to go anywhere.

"Hey!" Kirito called, about 5 feet from him. "Hold on."

"Yeah?" Answered the stranger, turning his head to gaze at Kirito with his cold eyes. "What do you want?"

"Its just...uhh…" Stammered Kirito.

"Make it quick." The stranger growled.

"Sorry, I was just wandering if you were solo," Kirito said quickly.

"What's it to you?" The stranger snapped.

"I was wondering if you'd consider partying with me."

The stranger turned his head forward, away from Kirito, hiding a bit of suprise. But he responded. 'Why?"

"Well…" Kirito chose his words carefully. "It's just that I also happen to be solo, and I have another member of the party who was solo, and I figured small groups would be better than alone."

Kirito waited anxiously while the stranger quietly pondered the proposal. "Fine," he said. "But I warn you, I'm not easy to get along with."

"It's alright," Kirito replied with a small smile on his face. "What's your name?"

The stranger hesitated. "Robyn," he answered carefully. "With a Y mind you. There was already a Robin with an I who created his account first. I met him. He was a jerk."

Kirito grinned. "I'm Kirito. It's a pleasure to meet you Robyn."

Kirito then proceeded to send Robyn a party invitation, which Robyn accepted.

"Well if you excuse me, I'm going to go fight some mobs."

"Mind if I come with?"

"If you insist," The swordsman replied, walking toward the dungeon.

"I insist then."

"Fine."

Nothing was said as the two walked into the dungeon, but it seemed that a little something new had entered Robyn's cold, blue eyes.