Xamusel: Well… this is a thing. Not only are we dealing a severe blow to canon, this story will have a lot of crossover material, especially given the circumstances involved in this fanfic. Hopefully this story will get some good constructive criticism, and even garner some nice reviews, more or less.

Before we get started with the story, I would like to thank Takeshi Yamato for helping me decide how this will go about, at least for this prologue (and whatever else will happen in the future for this story). Here's a salute to you, man, you deserve it!

Well… on with the story!


Prologue: Opening Time


I don't believe it... even though I had a character already made ready to import from the Beta Period, it says I'm unable to access the data involved with my character, so I have to redo everything involving said crummy piece of code!

Oh well... I guess now would be the right time to play as my real gender. Still, before I do that, I need to confirm something. I type in my previous character's name in the name field.

Data involving this name is corrupted

Well... seems like that was the reason why I can't use my previous character. So... now that I have absolutely no idea what to do with this, I'll start my character creation over again, just to see what I might get out of this.

Almost as soon as I decide that, I started making my character the right way, from the ground up. Therefore, I'll start with my name.

The name my character will have needs to be based on some part of me… well, my only options seem to be a toss-up between Touka, Kirika, and Tougaya.

Eventually, I chose Kirika. Anyway, after inputting my screen name, I decided to shrink my proportions, so to speak… I always felt uncomfortable with my real three sizes for some reason. Besides which, the game wouldn't support the rack I have, as it turned out.

Letting out a small sigh as I saw the floating screen with my ingame avatar floating in it reflect the changes I had made, I made a few last minute adjustments before I panned the screen around the avatar to see it from all angles. Mmm, I was practically itching to get into the game, so I'd just have to ignore the finest of the adjustments. If there was an option to change my avatar's appearance later on, maybe I could use it… but that would have to wait.

Without further ado, I accepted the changes and started configuring my stats, which were simply… wait, hold on a second. These aren't the right stats!

It turns out that I have eight stats to fill in… with 70 points to divvy between them. The stats apparently are:

Strength, Dexterity, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence (and I was seriously wondering what sort of stat that was), Power, Willpower, and Perception.

…seriously, what is wrong with the people making this game?

In any event, I decided to look up the explanations for each stat, hoping beyond all hope that they made sense. The results surprised me:

Strength: The ability to lift heavy weights, deal major damage, and break objects.

Dexterity: Physical skill and coordination, it's the ability to make precise attacks, as well as block them.

Agility: The ability to be acrobatic and dodge better.

Dexterity and Agility define reaction speed together.

Constitution: Good for gaining extra Hit Points, and is also needed for physical resistance and recovering from wounds and diseases, too.

Intelligence: Learning and other logical skills require this one (same with spell usage).

Power: The ability to influence and resist the supernatural (and stand out in a crowd).

Willpower: Mental strength (especially useful for Psychics).

Perception: Represents your five senses and instinct.

Friendly reminder: no stat can go over 10 right off the bat. Neither should a stat be under 4.

…well, time to decide how to handle this. I decided to divvy my point total as follows:

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 10

Agility: 10

Constitution: 8

Intelligence: 8

Power: 8

Willpower: 8

Perception: 10

Taking the time to look over my stats one more time, I nodded in satisfaction and pressed the button confirming my selection. My surroundings quickly faded away to white as I was greeted by the message congratulating me on successfully creating my character. It was a short while before it faded away - I could almost feel the system working to process my entry into the world once again as bright colors faded into view and I started to regain sensation in my virtual body.


Upon arriving in the Starting Town, I rushed through the town, as I already knew the layout of the 1st Floor by heart. It was while I was running when something strange occurred… well, strange for me, anyway.

From behind me, as I rushed towards an exit, I heard a female voice call out to me. "E-Excuse me, miss!"

Slowing down to stop in place, I turn around to see a girl about my age, with long honey-brown hair and golden-brown eyes, wearing a basic outfit for female PCs. "Me?" I asked her, just to make sure she was talking about me.

As she slowed down herself, she asked me, "I don't recall seeing any other females around this alleyway, do you?"

"Er, no, I don't…" I said, looking around for any other people in the alleyway. Upon noticing we were the only people in the alley, I was about to give her my full attention when I saw a strange, out of place doorway with the door open.

As if ignoring the fact that I wasn't paying her any attention, I could vaguely make out that she was saying something to me, needing a Beta Tester to help her get started in the game. Instead, something was… I dunno, compelling me to go through the door and close it behind me. As soon as I started walking towards the door, however, the girl who I was going to walk past gripped one of my arms and asked me, "What's wrong? Don't you have knowledge of what it's like to be a Beta Tester for this game?"

Blinking, I shook my head to clear the cobwebs out of it. "No, that's not it," I answered. "I don't know what's wrong with me, though, but I don't recall that door over there being where it is now…" As I said that, I pointed at said door, causing her to look at it.

"Eh?" she blinked in surprise and looked at the door. "What's wrong with the door?" she asked.

I couldn't answer then, but, if I could go back in time, I'd probably have said it was a life changing door that could easily force both of us to be lost on a quest to get back home.


Xamusel: Well… hope this helps you guys know the differences compared to canon SAO. This is actually meant more to be an obvious AU on the original storyline, but it's got some elements of a Quest-fic, which will only be obvious if you look at it from a certain perspective… or from a specific site.

Well, anyway, time to see what you guys think.