DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Assume this applies to the whole fic.
-«Prologue»-
Chapter 1 – Intro to ALO
4th Altar of Ascension, Salamander territory
Short, red hair. Pointed ears like all the other fairy races, but decorated with a single red teardrop earring on the left ear. Default player height. Renegade crest located on upper-right wing. Last seen wearing a black cloak with red accents (crest displayed prominently on back) and unarmed, but favors using a single one-handed sword with no offhand. Extremely proficient at grounded combat. Disdains ranged magic, but reasonably skilled with self-enhancement. No other notable features.
Kirito smirked as he read his Renegade profile while he waited for the ritual to start.
[Catalyst confirmed. Starting Transmigration Ritual…]
[Congratulations, «Player»! As a result of your efforts in clearing the quests scattered across the lands, you have earned the right to undergo «Transmigration»!]
[This action will reset almost all player progress in Alfheim Online, including your level, all items*, and all quests, dungeons, and NPC interactions.]
[*Mythical items may be re-obtained through a unique quest available at max level.]
"They even thought of that? Not that I have one of the national treasures, but still… that's some pretty impressive forethought. Then again, maybe the fact that I'm impressed just means I'm an still an amateur? Hahaha…"
[In exchange, you will be allowed to select a new race and avatar, keeping progress on learned proficiencies and any allocated stat points.]
A quick swipe with one hand brought up the familiar «Status» window.
Name: «Kirito», Lv.110 (Max), EXP 0/- (Total 756794)
Race: High Salamander (Ascension Complete)
STR 325 (+50, +25%), END 210, INT 220 (+10), WIS 247 (+50, -5%), Remaining: 0
"Good to go." A pause. "I shouldn't have let her talk me into those ten points… Too late now, I guess."
[Please select your new race:]
[Cait Sith / Gnome / Imp / Leprechaun / Pooka / Salamander / Spriggan / Sylph / Undine]
The nine fairy races of Alfheim appeared, each race represented by a small character model displaying with its default look on top of the race's insignia. Other than aesthetics, each race also had its own unique racial magic tree and unique passive ability. While there were other games that employed things like races and classes as methods of governing player stats and abilities, Alfheim Online took it to a whole new level. In addition to gameplay differences such as base stats and weapon affinities, the nine player races of the game each had their own territory, capital city, and even government, all of which could be controlled by player actions in some way.
Kirito considered his options briefly.
He was currently a Salamander. Salamanders received a large bonus to Strength, abbreviated STR, which affected physical attack power, in exchange for a small penalty to Wisdom (WIS), which affected magical defense. The other stats were Endurance (END) for physical defense and Intelligence (INT) for magical attack. The Salamanders' unique racial ability allowed them to be resurrected without any penalties. Normally, a player lost all their current experience points towards the next level and a portion of their money and inventory if they died. Being resurrected before the death timer counted to zero halved this penalty, and Salamanders ignored it altogether.
Being a combat junkie who never really got into the magic system of Alfheim in the first place, Kirito considered Salamanders the ideal race for his playstyle. He tried not to die too often in the first place, but those few times he had, he was also thankful for the racial passive. There were a couple of time when there had been nobody around to actually resurrect him though.
I'm going to miss that STR bonus, if nothing else… Well, at least I won't take extra magic damage anymore.
His eyes flickered over to the Spriggans, the only other race that boasted a STR bonus, albeit a lesser one. He had no idea what illusion magic was good for since he'd never seen a Spriggan use it against him in battle, but then again it was rare to see Spriggans in Player-vs-Player (PvP) combat in the first place. Their racial passive gave them a bonus to treasure hunting, which meant most of them spent their time exploring the game's many randomly-generated dungeons. Most of his current gear was sourced from one Spriggan expedition or another, since he couldn't afford the price of custom-forged equipment from the Leprechauns.
The setting of Alfheim was a large continent surrounded by an endless ocean. The continent itself was divided into ten different territories, one for each of the races, surrounding a central territory that was neutral ground. If one were to liken the position of the races to a clock's face, then the Cait Sith territory would be at the 9 o'clock position in the west, the Salamander territory would be at the 6 o'clock position in the south, and the Undine territory would be at the 3 o'clock position in the east. The Salamanders were bordered by the Sylphs to the west (southwest of the continent) and the Imps to the east (southeast of the continent). The northern half of the continent was divided among the Pooka and the Gnomes in the northwest and the Leprechauns and Spriggans in the northeast.
Since Kirito was technically a wanted man (or Salamander), whose territory was in the south, it would be ideal if he "escaped" to the north. He had Sylph friends and allies, but they unfortunately shared a border with the Salamanders, and the two races were at war all the time.
Plus, I don't think I'd hear the end of it from Leafa if I joined the Sylphs. That Spriggan option is looking more appealing now though. Opposite side of the continent from Sylphs and Salamanders both.
Still, it wouldn't hurt to consider the other options. With a few clicks and a sweeping motion, a new screen popped up that listed the nine races and their abilities.
Cait Sith. No base stat changes. Lightweight. Uses Lunar magic. Racial passive grants them beast traits and allows them to tame monsters and grants increased mobility, among other things. Mascot race the first. The ears and tail look cute on girls, but it's not for me. No stat bonuses hurts too. They have to rely on tamed monsters or their allies for a lot of things.
Gnomes. Large bonus to END with a penalty to INT. Heavyweight. Uses Earth magic. Racial passive grants a boost to mining efficiency and rarity of resources obtained. The "tank" race. Heavy armor lets them double up on physical resistance and makes it near impossible to beat them that way. Not my thing though. Mining's boring.
Imps. Small bonus to INT. Lightweight. Uses Dark magic. Racial passive allows for underground flight. Being able to fly without sunlight or moonlight is useful, but most of Alfheim is aboveground. Besides, what am I gonna do with an INT bonus? And they share a border with the Salamanders. Yeah, no.
Leprechauns. Small bonus to END. Heavyweight. Uses Solar magic. Racial passive grants a boost to items created using blacksmithing. Discount Gnomes, except they make stuff. Really good, really expensive stuff. Solar magic is annoying to fight against, but they're basically helpless at night.
Pooka. Small bonus to WIS. Middleweight. Uses Song magic. Racial passive grants a boost to items made using alchemy. Mascot race the second. Allied with the Cait Sith. Both of them are welcome in all the territories and nobody declares war on them because they're the only allied races in the game. And the rest of the continent will beat you up afterwards. Fans are scary.
Salamanders. Large bonus to STR with a penalty to WIS. Heavyweight. Uses Fire magic. Racial passive allows for resurrection without penalties. The most combative and PvP-heavy race. We wage the most wars. Most of them are against our neighbors, the Sylph. We're also the only race that decides its leader by PvP. Thanks to that, we have a new leader every other month. Eugene and Mortimer probably won't be going anywhere soon though.
Spriggans. Small bonus to STR. Middleweight. Uses Illusion magic. Racial passive grants a boost to rarity of items found in treasure chests. The most combative race in a non-PvP context. Really competitive when it comes to clearing dungeons. I'm pretty sure they hold the records for all the current ones, and they're always the first to clear any new ones that get released.
Sylphs. Large bonus to INT with a penalty to END. Lightweight. Uses Wind magic. Racial passive grants increased aerial mobility. The magical counterpart to the Salamanders. Would explain why we war so much. The END penalty hurts more than a WIS penalty. It's easier to reduce damage from spells with gear and other spells, but your physical defense doesn't really change that much unless you have heavy armor. Then again, it's also much easier to avoid normal attacks than it is spells, so I guess it evens out somehow.
Undines. Large bonus to WIS with a penalty to STR. Middleweight. Uses Water magic. Racial passive boosts the effects of recovery magic. The best support race, with Pooka as a distant second. Easiest and earliest access to resurrection spells, and their passive actually reduces the resurrection penalty by itself. I know some Water magic for self-healing, but it's not something I want to do all the time.
Kirito closed the window.
In the end, it looks like Spriggan is the way to go.
[ARE YOU SURE YOU WISH TO PROCEED?]
[YES / NO]
Without any further hesitation, Kirito confirmed his choice and was swallowed by a pillar of light.
…
[Transmigration in progress…]
[Reading memory… 33% complete]
…
One Week Earlier
«SYSTEM ALERT»
[Attention «Players». Due to a minor system error, the «Log Out» feature has been temporarily disabled. Please bear with us as we attempt to isolate and remedy the issue. All players will be forcibly logged out one hour from now, so in the meantime, please conclude your current activities. Upon restarting the server, all non-Renegade players will spawn in their home capitals. Renegades will spawn at the base of the Yggdrasil Tree. We apologize for any inconveniences this may cause.]
"I don't suppose we could put this off until after the server resets?"
"Hah. Well, you can just count yourself unlucky. Wrong place, wrong time. No hard feelings, right Kirito?"
"See, that's kind of what I didn't want to hear…"
Standing across from Kirito in the large room leading to the Salamander Treasury was General Eugene, the current leader of the largest standing army in the game. He was one of the tallest players in the game, even counting the larger-than-average Gnomes, and built like one, wearing decorated crimson full-body armor. Also, accompanied by twenty or so of his elite troops, some faces Kirito recognized from the regular standing army he wasn't officially a part of. It was a rebellion.
"Eugene, we should get on with it," one of the many Salamanders said. "Mortimer's waiting on word from us."
"Don't rush me."
Kirito tensed as the man across from him readied his sword. Any Salamander worth his salt would recognize it as the national treasure, «Demonic Sword Gram». Its stats were already overwhelming enough by themselves, but the real danger of the weapon was in its special ability. When its user attacked with it, the sword was able to pass through one layer of defenses automatically. Whether that was an opposing weapon, a shield, or a magical barrier, «Gram» ignored the first thing it encountered.
"What else do you even need from the Treasury? You already have that sword. Can't you just let me go?"
His question was answered by an attack. Instinctively, Kirito tried to defend against the oncoming strike with his own sword, an item he'd bought from a Spriggan merchant a couple of days earlier. The slash across his torso was a painful reminder of just what he was dealing with. Dropping his guard due to having taken excessive damage, he was kicked aside by the much larger Eugene in short order.
Groaning in pain, Kirito allowed himself to fall limp by the wall he'd collided with. It was useless to feign death since dead Salamanders quite literally burst into flames, but hopefully if he didn't stand back up, the rebel (or was it newly-crowned at this point?) Salamander would leave him alone like the other players he'd already defeated.
"Hmph. That's it? These guards are all talk. I at least expected better from you."
Ouch, my pride. Well, this is good enough, right? I can say I tried.
As he lay on the ground, Kirito saw a system notification in the corner of his field of view. The small player emblem next to it caught his attention. It was a message from the current Salamander Lord.
…Please don't do this to me, Setsuna.
Holding his breath, Kirito subtly manipulated his System menu and opened the message.
[Kirito, if you don't die trying to defend the vault, I'll kill you myself.] -Setsuna
Kirito sighed, materializing his wings for a moment to float to his feet.
"Hm? What's wrong? I was going to do as you asked if you stayed there."
"Damned if I do, damned if I don't…" he muttered, brandishing his sword once more. In contrast to his words, Kirito wore a fierce smile.
Eugene raised a questioning eyebrow. One of the Salamanders standing behind him sneered and raised his hand to cast a spell.
"«Fire Bolt»!"
The smile never left his face as Kirito sidestepped the spell despite its speed and began dashing towards the group to close the distance. His action briefly shocked many of his opponents, since avoiding magic while grounded was typically considered foolhardy at best. True to their experience however, they gathered themselves quickly.
"So you're motivated now? Good! Show me a good time!"
His vision was filled with a familiar blade. Eugene hadn't been shocked in the slightest by the evasion, not that Kirito had expected him to be. Without hesitation, Kirito retaliated. Two swords collided with a spectacular sound of steel clashing. Eugene looked taken aback for a moment as both swordsman staggered backwards from the recoil.
"What?!"
"«Blazing Weapon»."
It was a spell Kirito had learned to combat opponents with high physical defense, one of exactly two combat-oriented spells he could cast without reading from a guidebook, not counting the basic starting spells for Fire magic. The magic took effect and flames roared to life around the blade of his sword.
Another oncoming slash. Bracing his sword, Kirito parried it off to the side clumsily due to its unexpected weight.
"How are you blocking it?" the General demanded.
«Gram» ignores the first defensive layer it encounters. Opposing attacks don't count, or else you couldn't block with it, and «Blazing Weapon» covers my sword with a constant layer of damaging flames, which makes it always count as an attack. Not that I'll say that out loud.
Eugene's confusion was due to his unfamiliarity with «Demonic Sword Gram». He had been entrusted with the weapon just yesterday following a major victory against the Sylphs. In truth, similar countermeasures were employed by enemies of the Salamanders, Sylphs especially, but since «Gram» was typically only used by the Lord, and the current Lord shirked this tradition, it had been a while since the sword had seen combat.
I told her it was a bad idea to give him the sword. What did she think was going to happen?
Wordlessly, Kirito parried yet another strike, more cleanly than before, keeping a careful eye on the other players in the room.
Eugene was accompanied by at least twenty people, and there was no telling if more were on the way. Even if he killed the man, Kirito concluded he would not be able to defeat the rest of the invaders. Maybe if he was wielding «Gram» himself and had better armor. Or an ally.
Alfheim was a game with a relatively easy-to-reach level cap and comparatively little benefits to leveling up. Players at the normal max level of 100 had exactly double the base stats of a starting player at level 0, and there were no restrictions on gear or available spells. A beginner could wear the same thing as a veteran, further closing the gap stat-wise, and cast the same spells, albeit with a much greater MP cost and a ridiculously long incantation time. In conclusion, the only thing more levels got you was more stat points.
This meant, with the exception of truly legendary equipment, a single player was severely limited in his or her options against a group. Even the strongest solo player would eventually be whittled down by area-of-effect magic. This disadvantage could be overcome with something as simple as a single ally who could heal or otherwise occupy or divide the focus of opposing mages, but, fighting alone as he was, Kirito was screwed.
Dodging another swing from Eugene and countering with a slash of his own, Kirito winced as he was tagged by another unavoidable spell. Since he couldn't see any sign of his opponent taking damage from the explosive attack, they must have all been in an army unit. Friendly fire was disabled for party members, after all.
At this rate…
Kirito swung his sword in a wide arc to gain some space and leaped backwards to avoid the most recent spell fired at him. It splashed harmlessly over Eugene as he raised one hand to stop his allies from continuing to attack.
"I'll say this as many times as I need to, but your talent is being wasted. How about it? Want to join after we take control?"
"Sorry, but I'm only here as a favor."
"…I see. Always a favor, isn't it? Well, if you ever change your mind, we'll take you on. It's disappointing to me as a general, but we're in a rush. Men, take aim."
As one, the twenty or so Salamanders, Eugene included, began preparing to cast wide-area magic at Kirito. There was nowhere to escape to.
I guess that's that then.
The situation had been hopeless from the start. Their short-lived duel, interrupted as it was by spells from time to time, was only due to Eugene's whim. With that in mind…
"Fire! «Inferno»!" "«Flare Burst»!" "«Blast Lance»!"
A multitude of spells raced at him, overlapping voices making it difficult to discern how many people had cast each spell. In response:
"'No hard feelings', right?! «Blaze of Glory»!"
Eugene's eyes widened.
"A suicide spell?! You-!"
And then light consumed the room.
…
[Transmigration in progress…]
[Clearing data…]
[Resetting quests…]
[Resetting items…]
[Memory read in progress… 66% complete]
…
One month earlier
"…Onii-chan, you aren't listening to me, are you?"
A grunt of pain answered the blonde Sylph as a blur of red slammed headfirst into a sturdy tree and bounced off its trunk like a rubber ball. Her waist-length hair, fashioned into a ponytail, fluttered as the blur passed by. Following behind it easily, she floated to the ground with the ease of much practice and gave her brother a flat look as he shot to his feet instantly and rematerialized his wings.
"One more time!"
"Cut it out already! You have to level up sometime!"
"I'm going to learn how to fly first!" Kirito protested. "Leveling can wait. Why am I level zero anyway? Don't most games start you at level one?"
Adopting the familiar pose of disappointment, Leafa crossed her arms underneath her bust. She knew from experience her adoptive brother (cousin in actuality) listened to her more earnestly when she did this, even before she had a large bust to emphasize with it.
"If you had been listening, you'd know that you gain your first level after the tutorial quest. You can't even exit this zone until you do. Wait, where are you going?"
"Trying again."
"«Wind Hammer»!"
The large hammer of wind caught Kirito in the back as he slowly rose and smashed him into the ground facedown. Leafa gave a tired sigh.
"What's the point of being my «Apprentice» if you aren't going to listen to me?"
"…The bonus items?"
Kirito instantly raised his hands in a sign of surrender as he was threatened with another spell. He hadn't gotten around to learning about magic yet, so there was little he could do against it besides try to evade. It was impossible to block magic without using magic yourself. Since his flight skills were just as likely to injure him further as to help, that meant scrambling around on the ground, which he had already figured out was much slower than flying. Plenty of spells had wide areas of effect, which meant the only feasible way to avoid them was through flight.
"Okay okay. So what do I do?"
"Read the quest text! It's there for a reason!"
Chuckling to himself at how easy it was to get her worked up, and quickly stopping when he was glared at, Kirito swiped open his System menu and gave it a brief look.
Name: «Kirito», Lv.0, EXP 0/100 (Total 0)
Race: Salamander (Ascension Locked)
STR 120 (+20%), END 100, INT 100, WIS 90 (-10%), Remaining: 0
Nodding to himself, he opened a different tab.
Basic starting equipment. No items, no money, no skills… Wait. Where's the "Skills"? Is it this thing? "Proficiencies"?
"Hey Sugu-"
"It's Leafa in-game Onii-chan."
"If you get to call me 'Onii-chan', I get to call you 'Sugu'."
"Fine. Kirito…-niichan."
Kirito gave her a triumphant look, to which she responded by turning her head.
"So, where are the Skills?"
"'Skills'? Oh, you're talking about those things in SAO, aren't you?"
"They're in a lot of other games too, y'know."
Sword Art Online, abbreviated SAO, was another VRMMORPG that had been released a couple of years earlier, designed by the same creator. Kayaba Akihiko was considered a rare, once-in-a-century genius in terms of coding and technology. Releasing two games with such immersive and intricate systems spoke volumes of the man's prowess, and both now boasted a playerbase exceeding the hundreds of thousands. Each game ran on numerous servers, so it didn't always feel like there were that many people online, but cross-server events were common. Kirito especially looked forward to the seasonal cross-server war that took place every three months.
"Well, not in this one. I heard the Proficiency system is pretty close?"
Leafa shrugged and twirled a finger in the air, causing a small ball of condensed wind to appear in her hands.
"PvP in this game is really all dependent on your skill. How good you are at flying, how well you can handle your weapon… Magic is the only thing you can improve on that has an actual sort of progression system in Proficiency. You can eventually cast most spells without an incantation, which is a huge advantage in combat for those who can't be bothered to learn the game's language or memorize stuff."
"So… no Sword Skills?" Kirito questioned while giving his starting weapon a few test swings.
"Nope. Magic's the big thing in this game. You can still deal plenty of damage using weapons though."
"No skill levels? Nothing like a «Hiding» skill?"
"Nuh uh. Actually, why is that considered a skill?"
"Beats me. What does leveling up do again?"
"You get stat points. Oh, but your HP and MP don't change."
"Interesting. And Proficiency?"
"You get better at magic as you cast more. Anybody can cast anything in their racial magic tree from the very beginning, but other races' spells are locked behind Proficiency. You have to practice their spells from the beginning."
Kirito's expression suddenly turned pensive. Leafa immediately became wary. Nothing good ever came of her brother thinking deeply about something.
"I don't know why, but I feel like you just thought something really offensive. Anyway, you're telling me I could cast some sort of nuclear explosion right now?"
"I mean, yeah, if you don't mind standing still for a while reciting a bunch of nonsense words. As your Proficiency goes up, the incantation gets shorter and the spell costs less MP, not to mention the spell itself is a lot weaker than normal if you cast it without the minimum recommended Proficiency."
"But, I could totally cast some sort of massive explosion right now?"
"You could cast your race's strongest spell using all your MP right now if you really wanted to and were determined enough to… Ah."
"I'm going to do it," Kirito declared resolutely, sheathing his sword.
Leafa realized her mistake too late. Sighing to herself, she taught him how to message her and left to do other things in the interim. There was no stopping him when he got that look in his eyes. She teleported out of the special tutorial zone using her menu as Kirito began slowly reading from the game's built-in guidebook for spells.
Much later…
"…«Prominence»!"
And so, Kirito blew up the tutorial forest after chanting in the language of the game for over an hour. The reason it took him so long was because he kept messing up. In the end, he ended up killing the tutorial boss by accident and reaching level one on his own. Later, he would learn that the tutorial "boss" was actually a rather common monster that could be killed in a couple of sword swings and decide that magic was largely useless other than for flashy displays, though he did concede that support magic was useful enough to be worth learning. Leafa's insistence that he learn the basics of using magic to attack only reinforced his desire to play the game using as little offensive magic as possible to prove her wrong.
Thus, Kirito leveled up to 100 without firing a single attack spell besides the one he used in the game's tutorial. His sister's exasperation with him was such that it could not properly be described in words. But that's a story for another time.
…
[Transmigration in progress…]
[Memory read complete.]
[Erasing temporary data…]
[Changing player attributes…]
[Recalculating player stats…]
[Transmigration Ritual 99% complete.]
Awaiting input_
…
Kirito was vaguely aware of a garbled voice speaking unintelligible words to him as he was blinded by the pillar of light. Moments later, his consciousness deserted him entirely.
…
[Initiating secondary memory read…]
[Displaying results:]
…
Six days ago
«SERVER ANNOUNCEMENT»
[Thank you for your patience, «Players». We hope you continue to enjoy Alfheim Online.]
Respawning in the Salamander capital Gattan, Kirito cautiously looked around for one person in particular.
"No system message yet, so did they not make it?"
"The ceremony is later today."
"GAH!"
Whirling around in a panic, Kirito came face-to-face with the very Salamander he was hoping to avoid. Her face was obscured by a specially-made hood, but having seen it so often, it was impossible for him to mistake the design even if she hadn't spoken aloud.
"S-Setsu-"
"Shh."
Kirito was slightly miffed at being shushed like a child by someone who looked about his age, but he knew better than to make her angry. She was still the Lord of his race, and she had a history of abusing her power in rather ridiculous ways.
I still can't believe she had me declared a Renegade for a day.
"Are you… okay?" he tried.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Are you maybe… mad at me?" he tried again.
He couldn't see her eyes, but he was sure they'd narrowed at him. Her glares somehow had the magical property of being able to convey themselves without line of sight. Most of the time, it was the government officials were usually subject to them. That the NPCs also seemed to shrink away from her was a source of much amusement for Kirito and the other Salamanders who frequented the government building.
"Is there a reason I should be mad at you?"
"Ah, no? Probably?"
"Then no, I'm not mad at you."
Kirito sighed, thinking back to how they'd met. Very early on in his Alfheim journey, he'd gone to the capital to participate in a mock skirmish. He wanted to see what mass PvP in the game was like, and the mock skirmishes the standing Salamander army held, free to participate for all challengers, were a perfect way to find out. Everyone knew they doubled as tryouts for entering the army as well, but Kirito wasn't there for that.
His side had lost. Horribly. His own performance had actually been pretty good, but since he wasn't even level 20 yet, he hadn't been placed in command. The player who was assigned the post of commander for their battle was clearly inept at the role. They had dissolved into a disorganized mess after the initial clash, and it had only gone downhill from there. Still, Kirito had managed to kill two opposing Salamanders who were part of the regular army.
His achievement caught the eye of the opposing commander, one Eugene. At the time, the future General of the Salamander army was still just a generic commander. Kirito declined the offer to duel, much to the man's disappointment, but stayed to watch the exhibition match between Eugene and the current Salamander Lord out of curiosity.
Lord Setsuna appeared as a slim teenage girl of about seventeen with short, blood-red hair that stopped at her shoulders, ever so slightly shorter than Kirito, though her avatar wasn't necessarily representative of her actual age or appearance. Kirito imagined she would have resembled his sister Suguha in real life with red hair, minus the "growth spurt" in the chest region. She wore streamlined armor that emphasized movement over defensive capability and insisted on being addressed as a Lord even though other female leaders like Sakuya of the Sylphs were called Lady so-and-so. Like all Lords, she earned her position by defeating her older brother, the previous Lord, who announced beforehand that he planned on quitting. Many Salamanders who thought Gekkou took it easy on his sibling were promptly defeated afterwards by said sibling, often by a hilarious margin.
Setsuna was serious to a fault, blunt with her words, and quick to resolve problems through violence with her superior swordsmanship skills, though her personality softened somewhat when it came to people she recognized as possessing some skill of their own.
She was also notoriously incapable of holding back.
In their bout, Eugene, wielding a large two-handed sword, had been hard-pressed to hit the smaller girl who danced about the arena with a two-handed sword of her own. At the time, Kirito had wondered why she wasn't using «Demonic Sword Gram», since it was well known that the past Salamander Lords all favored it. He reasoned it would make the competition rather unfair, but wasn't half the point of the match to showcase the strength of the Lord anyway?
The match ended when Setsuna had managed to trigger a network of cleverly-hidden spells she had been placing throughout the fight. The conclusion was met with cheers from the crowd, and Eugene shook her hand in a show of sportsmanship after being resurrected. Still, nothing could have prepared Kirito for his sudden introduction to Setsuna courtesy of Eugene himself. He didn't even know how they had found him. Later, he would discover that the current Lord was able to determine his location at any time.
"This one was interesting," Eugene had said.
"You're… new," Setsuna commented in place of a proper greeting.
"I am," Kirito confirmed. "Can I do something for you?"
Setsuna took one look at his equipment and poised a question of her own.
"Why the light armor?"
Salamanders were a heavyweight race. This meant they could equip the heaviest gear in the game without penalties in exchange for naturally shorter flight time. Armor class did not affect flight speed in any way, so most players didn't bother with anything less than the heaviest they could safely use. Both Setsuna and Kirito were outliers in this respect.
On the other hand…
"I like being able to move around."
Ground mobility was affected. Lighter armor allowed players to run faster. However, grounded movement was almost always worse than aerial movement. You couldn't avoid most spells by running from them. Even underground, where races besides Imps couldn't fly, the extra defense afforded by heavier armor in Alfheim's narrow cave systems made most consider it worth wearing over the lighter variants. The only exception to this were the lightweight races, who could run along walls while wearing light armor.
"Weirdo."
"Hey, that's mean. You're the same, aren't you?"
"I guess I am."
Eugene had just laughed boisterously.
"I'm bored of governing."
"Huh?"
Setsuna's seemingly random quip brought Kirito back to the present.
"…Did you give Eugene the national treasure on purpose?"
"I made an arrangement with Mortimer already. He can have the position. He has the strength to keep it too."
"Then why did you make me defend the Treasury?!"
"Part of the agreement. Eugene wanted to test «Demonic Sword Gram»."
Kirito was speechless.
"You…"
"Thanks."
Her smile stopped his rising anger in its tracks. He looked away hurriedly, inwardly grateful that he couldn't blush.
«SYSTEM ERROR»
Kirito blinked.
"What?"
"What?" Setsuna parroted.
"…Nothing. Just my imagination."
"If you say so. By the way, you're going to be declared a Renegade once Mortimer takes office."
It took Kirito a second to process what he'd just been told.
"Eh? Wait, why?!"
"Because I told him to, and because you're dragging your feet. Part of the agreement."
"Why am I such a big part of the agreement?!"
Setsuna simply smirked at him.
"You should get stronger, Kirito."
Kirito paused. The crowd around them seemed to grow louder as his response was lost in the noise.
…
[Secondary memory read complete.]
[Multiple system errors detected.]
[Resolving… complete.]
[No further errors detected.]
[Transmigration Ritual complete.]
[Transporting player…]
…
Truro, capital of Spriggan territory
[Welcome to «Truro», capital of the Spriggan race! To get started, please register yourself as a citizen in the government office. If you are lost-]
Kirito dismissed the system message after skimming the rest and determining that it didn't say anything else important.
"At least they let me skip the tutorial. Oh, and I start with the same weapon. It's been a while since I used this."
His hair was now black, his earring had become a necklace, and he was a couple of centimeters taller than before, but otherwise, nothing had really changed. He was wearing the default equipment for Spriggans too, which consisted of a plain black shirt, grey trousers, and an armored coat, along with the beginner's one-handed sword he had chosen when he was starting out as a Salamander. Tucking the teardrop gem into the front of his shirt, he rolled his shoulders a few times and smirked to himself.
"Oh, before I forget…"
He opened his «Status» window and allocated the one stat point he had at level one. Nodding to himself, he began walking towards the government building.
Next chapter: Ruins Expedition, First Steps
Name: «Kirito», Lv.1, EXP 0/200 (Total 100)
Race: Spriggan (Ascension Locked)
STR 167 (+51, +10%), END 101, INT 111 (+10), WIS 151 (+50), Remaining: 0
Proficiencies (magic):
«Fire» 287/1000
«Illusion» 0/1000
«Water» 68/1000
«Wind» 102/1000
Current Party:
N/A
A/N: Best enjoyed if you've read or watched SAO up to the end of Mother's Rosario. Based on canonical ALO map. Will eventually feature characters from LNs, games (up to and including Fatal Bullet), and spinoffs, as well as plenty of OCs. Every character with a canon appearance has that appearance. For non-OCs who never appeared in ALO, take their appearance elsewhere and just stick their race's fairy wings on.
100% AU from the very beginning. Nothing canon in either SAO, ALO, GGO, or the Underworld happened and any existing relationships will be explained over the course of the story. The only past events that matter are those that occurred within the virtual world, with very few minor exceptions.
Don't mind the character tags too much; I'd add everyone if I could. Those tagged are the first characters that join Kirito in his daily activities, and as such will be featured the most in the beginning. A majority of the female cast will be friendly with Kirito, but very few will pursue a serious relationship with him. I will not be spoiling the final "pairing", but it is a three-way relationship.
Check profile for updates.