Chapter 1
Kitake Haru
"This world feels so real!" Many exclaimed the same thing as they stood around the courtyard of the Town of Beginnings. One could smell freshly baked pie's from the market square, you could feel the wind lightly blowing through the town. Many where just looking around and getting accustomed to the mechanics of the game. Though it felt like it was your own body, you felt lighter and awkward.
A body formed near the fountain in the square. He measured a little past five feet, had medium length brown hair and pale skin. He had based his character off of his real appearance. Most would advise against that but he believed it was some sort of reverse psychology. The name "Zaymosepher" appeared whenever someone looked at him from close up, When his dark brown eyes opened his breath held.
"T-this is amazing!" He exclaimed with a goofy grin. He had played many games before but never with the "full-dive" system. He took the time to look over his character and take in his surroundings. He saw many others do the same and he couldn't help but smile. Only so many copies of Sword Art Online had been sold and Zaymosepher had been lucky enough to get one of those copies.
"Okay. Let's see" Zaymosepher waved his hand before him and a menu appeared. "It worked!" He exclaimed, probably more excited than he should have been. He took the time to look through the options and menus. There where was a guild menu, friends, equipment, messages, and a few more options to the hovering menu in front of him. "Hm, starter light gear. Might need to change that." He noted to himself after looking over his gear. He looked around him and noticed an NPC wearing full armor that was surrounded by boxes and players. "That must be where I'm to choose a starter weapon?" He wondered aloud before flicking through the skills menu. "There's so many!" He exclaimed excitedly. He had read that Sword Art Online had been rumored to have an infinite number of skills. He could see many who where labeled as "?" and he had some discovered already. He also noticed that he had a few skill points he could distribute to learn some skills.
"Okay, the tough decisions." He felt a little strange that he was talking to himself in the middle of the square so he moved over to the fountain where he leaned against it. Zaymosepher looked over the menu and noticed that he needed to level up the skill in one handed swords first before he could unlock skills for two-handed swords. "Normally the heavy hitter in these kinds of games." He said proudly to himself. He had always been able to work out character builds so he had heavy armor to defend himself but dished out a lot of damage with big weapons. He put in a few points to get a passive skill in Heavy metal equipment then put the rest into one-handed sword in order to get a starting skill. He then turned to the armored NPC to start the beginning gear quest.
"Welcome to the Town of Beginnings! It's best to take some equipment with you if you leave town. Select a weapon or tool and item." A quest icon appeared and Zaymosepher pressed the confirm button before him.
"A long sword and a few potions seem to be best for now." He muttered and selected the items to complete the quest. He noticed that if he had wanted to select a smith's hammer or sewing kit, he would have needed to finish the quest in the market to learn the starting skills for that. "There's a lot of diversity in this game." He would have to look into the crafting skills more later on. If he could become a smith he wouldn't really need to rely on others to repair his gear. That's a drawback he noticed though. All gear and items had a durability. In order to keep any good gear he would need to either pay an NPC or other player to repair what he had. But if he learned it himself he wouldn't need to rely on anyone. "Who knows what kind of prices someone could charge me for a repair."
Zaymosepher walked around the town square a while so he could get used to moving around in a much lighter body. After equipping the sword, he decided to head to the edge of town and try out the fighting mechanics of Sword Art Online. It took him some time to make his way through the market as it was packed with people talking and buying starter items. Over ten thousand people all packed in one town. Though the town was massive in scale, he still felt very closed in as he walked through the streets.
Finally he made to the fields outside the town. He could see various people hunting the wild boar that spawned throughout the field. He wondered if there was a spawn rate in the game. Would the boar ever stop spawning? Was there a possibility that spawn points for monsters would run dry at some point? What about quests? He didn't remember reading about it in the manual but anything was possible in a game like this he thought.
"Let's try this." Zaymosepher reached down and drew his new sword. He held it tightly in his hand and stared down a boar. "Okay." He breathed in sharply and charged. He remembered reading that he would have to feel out the skill then use it? He hadn't been exactly sure what it meant but as he began to swing the way that his new skill had told him to. He could hear a hum and the blade of the sword began to shine a bright blue color. Zaymosepher brought the blade down in an arc and through the boar. It's health bar dropped dramatically as it was knocked off balance. "Now!" He stepped back once then jumped forward, bringing the sword through the boar. An item drop box appeared in front of him telling him how much experience points and cor he had earned for defeating the boar. He smiled and gave the sword a few more practice swings. "That was...exciting." He grinned and sheathed the sword back into the scabbard at his side. "Now the question is do I grind out to get the money I need or find a quest to do." After deciding he would practice fighting more, Zaymosepher heard the town square bell toll loudly.
((Author's note: Check out my profile for details about characters! I'm taking applications for future characters of this story. Message me if interested!))