The Tales of a Red Reaper
By: Darkpop269
Chapter 1: The Start of a Death Game
United States of America
Lansing, Michigan
Dec-27-13, 11:27pm
In a quiet neighborhood in the middle of the night in a average size house a young man was jumping happily around in circles. The reason he was jumping was a strange helmet looking object in a box from Japan. This strange helmet was actually a fancy and expensive piece of hardware that allowed a person the ability to enter a video game and play it in a way that was similar to real life. This object was called a NerveGear.
"This just goes to prove that I can trust Teru!" The young man bellowed as he continued to go in circles. "He got me something that was not supposed to be released to the U.S. for a few more months!"
The young man was referring to Teru Taisho one of his Japanese gaming buddies. They had started as rivals in random MMORPG's. But since then they had become an unstoppable tagteam. Now they were going to explore the possibilities of VRMMORPG's. The young man finally calmed down and bolted across the room for his phone.
"I really hate the international call fee but he has to be thanked." The young man said as he hit the familiar phone number.
"Hello you have..." The young man had done this so many times that he skipped over introduction message. "Hit 1 to accept the charged price of: $24.50 or hit 2 to..."
The 1 was hit as the young man mumbled about the rising price of his calls. Now the young man stood there waiting for his friend to answer. He stood there for a full 25 seconds and then was sent to voicemail.
"You have reached the residents of Teru Taisho who is currently unable to answer the phone due to the fact that he is using a NerveGear. Please leave a message after the beep!" A synthetic version of the young man's friend played and he hung up.
"And now all my trust is gone!" Raged the young man. "We were going to start together and I just wasted 24 bucks! I'm going to sleep!"
He walked away from the phone muttering many dark things. As he walked through the halls of his small house he realized he hadn't brushed his teeth. With that he took a sharp turn to the left and entered his bathroom.
He flipped the light switch and headed to the sink. When he reached it he looked into the mirror just above the sink. A sight of messy brown hair, chaotic hazel eyes, black rimmed glasses, and a scraggly half grown beard met his eyes. He was slouched over due to fact he was almost 7 feet tall and had a skinny but muscular body. He opened his mouth and frowned at his yellowish teeth.
"Sometimes I wish I remembered to do this more." Mumbled the young man to himself. "These teeth make it so I can't smile."
After he brushed his teeth he walked to his bedroom. When he entered the room a jacket fell off the door handle on the other side. On the jacket the name Corton Vertex was proudly stitched. The now named Corton threw the jacket onto his gaming chair and laid down on his king sized bed and slipped under its covers.
"..." Corton stared at his bedroom ceiling in boredom.
"Okay who am I kidding." Corton said sitting up. "I need to play a game on that thing!"
With that Corton threw off his blankets and ran to his living room. When he reached the box he lifted out the NerveGear and ran back towards his room only to stop when his hand brushed a piece of paper. He turned over the the NerveGear and saw a note taped to it.
So Corton here's that NerveGear you asked for. It was not easy getting it out there legally but I still did it. Oh and something for you to know. It's already got a game on it! It's called Sword Art Online! Hope to see you in the virtual world soon!
Your friend Teru.
"Sword Art Online?" Cotton asked himself. "Oh wait that's the game Teru tested! He said it was really good so hopefully this isn't a let down."
Corton continued to his room and then he synced the NerveGear to his Wi-Fi. After that he placed on his head and waited for it to activate. When it did he saw a massive line of Japanese text appeared before him.
"Thank you Teru for your random Japanese lessons." Corton said as he read it. "Okay let's see. I have say 'link start' then pat down my body for some reason. Then after those two things I can play."
After he did what it asked he was assaulted by colors that forced him to close his eyes. When the bright light was gone he cracked open his left eye. In front of him was character customization menu for Sword Art Online. A few minutes later Corton's avatar was as close to his original self as possible but a lot shorter. The final touch was naming himself.
"I shall call myself Equinox!" Equinox said happily as he hit the start button. "And now to join the game!"
A bright flash of light and then Equinox was in a large city. As he looked around he heard a few Japanese voices yell out in rage. When he turned and looked behind him he saw a crowd of people. Equinox turned towards them and started walking hoping to find Teru.
"Thank you again Teru for teaching me Japanese." Equinox muttered to himself.
"That dual was rigged!" He heard a girl's voice yell out.
"Yeah!" A man's voice yelled out. "There was no way he could win!"
"It's not my fault he agreed to the fight." A cocky male teenager yelled out.
"You're level 5!" The girl's voice ringed out again. "You shouldn't be going around challenging the newbs!"
"You're just using it to make cheap money!" A new guy voice yelled out.
"So what if I am!" The cocky voice yelled again. "It's not like it's doing anything."
"It is doing something!" A familiar voice yelled out. "It's making it harder on the new players!"
Equinox tuned out the other voices now that he had heard Teru. As he drew close to the group he realized how under powered he was. Everywhere he looked he saw players in armor and had some kind of weapon. He was in a red shirt and black pants with no shoes. A 2-foot dagger was at his hip.
"Hey you there!" A voice yelled making Equinox jump. "How come you ain't in armor?"
Equinox turned to see a massive African American in heavy armor with a great axe strapped to his back walking towards him. Equinox just stared in shock as the massive man as they walked towards him. As he got closer he realized that he was not a violent soul but just someone who wanted to be help out.
"I just started." Equinox replied.
"We then let me help you out." The new man said reaching out a hand. "The name is Agil."
"Equinox." He responded accepting the hand.
"We then Equinox follow me. I know a good place to get some cheap but good armor and maybe a better weapon." Agil said before turning around and started walking. Equinox followed him knowing that he could always talk to Teru later.
When they finally stopped walking they were at a blacksmith's shop. The random sets of armor inside looked weak but in reality they were the toughest armor in the city. The weapons didn't look much better than his knife but Equinox wanted more reach.
"Hey Agil? How am I supposed to buy this? I don't got any money." Equinox said looking over to his temporary companion.
"All new players start out with 5000 col. Col is the currency of Sword Art Online if you didn't know." Agil told Equinox.
"Well that's convenient." Equinox said but blinked when he thought of something. "Hey Agil how do I get into my inventory?"
"You swipe down with your right index finger." Agil responded.
Equinox did just that and sure enough a main menu opened up in front of him. He saw a relatively simple menu. It had six options to choose between a Inventory/character menu, a friends/guild menu, a communication menu, a maps/quests menu, and finally a settings menu.
Equinox hit the inventory/character menu and looked at his Stats. 250-HP, 12-AR, 18-STR, and 15-AGI. As for non-combat skills he had Light Armor Proficiency, First Aid, and Simple Weapon Proficiency. For minor skills he had Cocking-10, Sewing-10, Sprint-15, Searching-20, Hearing-15, Acrobatics-10, Intimidation-15 and Hiding-25. As for combat-skills he had Firm Defense and Blind Fighting. But strangest of all was a skill that said Unique: ? Mastery.
Equinox shrugged at the last one and then went over to his Equipment. All that was there was Civilian Clothes and a 2 foot Dagger that did 10 damage. He closed his menu and then started to explore the shop.
As he passed a armor rack something caught his eye. Red and black armor with spikes all over it. Equinox walked up to it and a menu popped up in front of it. He hit it and read the info on the armor.
Rare Item: Demon Blood Iron Armor: +12 to AR, -3 AGI, and +8 to STR. Bonus +8 to Intimidation and Skill: Fists of Steel. Heavy Armor. Item HP-1500. Cost 2300 col. Buy: Yes or No?
Equinox bought the armor almost instantly. Then he went over to the weapons were once again something caught his eye immediately. It was a spear mixed with a hook and a axe. Or simply a Halberd. He approached it and activated its menu.
Uncommon Item: Imperial Halberd: STR level of 26 needed to weiled. 28 Damage. +2 STR, -1 AGI. Bonus Skill: Deep Wounds. Exotic Weapon. Item HP-1100. Cost 1850 col. Buy: Yes or No?
He accepted it and then walked over to Agil who was talking to an NPC. Then he stopped when one last thing caught his eye. A simple red cloak. He stepped up to it and hit the menu.
Common Item: Red Cloak: +8 to Hiding and +2 to Intimidate. Bonus Skill: Shadow Walker. Simple Armor. Item HP-870. Cost 250 col. Buy: Yes or No?
With 600 col to his name Equinox finally went back to Agil. Agil was still talking to the NPC who he had been earlier but was now leaning up against a wall. When Equinox reached him Agil stopped talking to the NPC and they left the shop.
"How come you're not in your armor?" Agil asked.
"I need a skill to put it on." Equinox responded.
"If it's Heavy Armor I'll trade you the knowledge for 250 col." Agil offered bringing up the trade menu out of his communication menu.
"Thanks!" And with a simple swipe of his right finger Equinox could put on his armour. "Hey you know any weapon trainers?"
"Yeah my buddy Thinker found an NPC over by the Hand-to-Hand Dogo." Agil replied.
After 30 minutes of walking they reach the NPC. When Equinox talked to the NPC he found the skill he needed. Exotic Weapons: You can use Scimitars, Claymores, Halberds, Flails, Crossbows, and ?s. Cost 300 col and an exotic weapon must me in your possession. Yes or No?
Now with 50 col to his name Equinox followed Agil out of the trading room and equipped his new gear. The Halberd was strapped to the back of his cloak while his cloak hide his armor from view. To others he looked like a cloaked demon with a hybrid weapon on his back. Agil suddenly stopped and looked at Equinox.
"Okay I can only do one more thing for you." He told his companion. "And that is to teach you how to fight."
"Yeah that's a good idea." Equinox said.
"Right! Now follow me!" Agil commanded.
A few minutes later they were outside the city in a valley filled with low level monsters. Agil and Equinox were holding their weapons but only Equinox was fighting. The opponents were a few cat sized wasps that seemed content about attacking only one player.
"Okay remember the green bar to your left is your health bar and the green bar above there heads are there health!" Agil yelled to Equinox. "The crystal above heads also tell you about people. Green is good player, Yellow means they've committed a crime, while Red means they're either a monster or a Player Killer! While the bar next to them shows the current health."
Equinox swung his Halberd with it on its axe side. As it cut through the air it cleaved a wasp in half. Then he dodged to the left to avoid one of the wasp's stingers but hooked it as it flew over him and slammed it to the ground. And with the final wasp he simply stabbed it with the spear end of the Halberd.
"You got some skill!" Agil said. "You use the axe, the spike, and the hook almost perfectly."
"I got no rewards from that but I did manage to level up." Equinox said as he put 3 main skill points into HP raising it by 30. With the minor skill points he put 3 into Sneak and 3 into Acrobatics.
"Well now you know the ropes of the game." Agil said. "I am going to friend request you and then move on back to the city."
After accepting the request Equinox and Agil went separate ways. Agil to the city to help newbies and Equinox kept fighting monsters. After a few more fights he decided to head back to the city. But on the way he saw two people.
"They're doing the exact same thing me and Agil did." Equinox said watching the guy in a bandanna get beat up by a boar while a guy in black gave him tips. "Well might as well meet them."
So with that Equinox was on his next mission: Talking to those two people. As he made his way towards them he noticed the guy with the bandanna curved short sword start to glow a bright red when he put it on his shoulder. The next thing Equinox knew the bandanna dude was on the other side of the boar and it disintegrated.
"Why does he get a glowing weapon!" Equinox bellowed. "I want a glowing weapon!"
Now Equinox was now sprinting full force at the two unknown people when felt an urge to dodge to the right. He did that and the ground ripped open and a over-sized worm burst from the ground in the place he had just been. The worm continued to raise from the ground until it was 24 feet tall. The name Noob Slayer was hanging above it's head and the large number of 340 was its health bar. Also it was covered with random weapons from past fights.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Equinox roared. "It's got 340 health and it's got a name! This is not a normal monster!"
Equinox rolled to the left to avoid its maw and then the swang the hook of his halberd into the worm doing 58 damage. That got the worm to real back and send Equinox flying without his halberd. As he skidded to a stop he found his health 5 points lower and his head next to a black boot.
"Hey! Are you alright?" The bandanna dude asked.
Equinox shot up and bellowed. "Give me my halberd back! I just bought it!" Before equipping his dagger and charging Noob Slayer.
"Hey get back here!" The dude in black said.
Equinox jumped into the air and flipped the dagger into a backhanded position. The dagger started to glow a dark purple as Equinox descended upon the worm. Equinox dropped the dagger in shock and face planted into the side of Noob Slayer taking 9 damage.
"Chaaarge!" The dude in the bandanna bellowed.
The two other people started attacking the giant worm. Flashes of red and blue hit the worm as Equinox tried to regain his bearings. When he finally could see straight he saw his halberd in front of him.
"MINE!" Equinox roared as he grabbed the halberds shaft and pulled it out and stabbed the worm again but this time his weapon flashed purple doing 82 damage. The flash once again scared Equinox.
Noob Slayer roared and turned to face Equinox and sent Equinox flying threw the air again but this time with his halberd. He took 76 damage and then 7 from skidding. The other two people ran towards Equinox and helped him up.
"Hey what's your HP at?" Bandanna dude asked Equinox.
"282 of 380." Equinox said.
"That thing hits really hard." Black clothes said. "Klein and I did about 37 damage to it so it should be have 163-HP left."
"We all need to hit it with Sword Skills." The now named Klein said.
"Sword Skills?" Equinox asked.
"The magical glowy weapon thing." Klein said. "How do you not known what it is? You just used one."
"I have no idea how I did it." Equinox groans.
"You have to find the weapons Skill Stance to use it." Black tolled Equinox. "With that weapon I'd say it's holding the weapon like a javelin."
"No time to test! The worm is coming at us." Klein said.
The three scattered just in time. The worm had pulled itself underground and then had moved over to them as they had talked. As the worm broke through the ground it met two glowing swords and a non-glowing halberd. These three attacks only did 45 damage to the beast who had seemed to grow armor plates.
"Those attacks should have killed it!" Klein yelled.
"I remember this guy from when I Beta tested the game!" Black yelled. "As soon as it gets lower than half health it grows armor!"
"We need to kill that thing!" Equinox roared.
The three charged Noob Slayer again but this time all three weapons glowed. Equinox held his weapon just like Black had suggested and it had worked. A dark purple was surrounding his halberd. Blue, red, and purple was the last thing Noob Slayer saw.
Congratulations! You have defeated a minor boss players: Kirito, Klein, and Equinox. +1500 col and +12 Rare Items: Worm Armor Plates.
"Well that was a thing." Klein said.
The other two people looked at him and then shook their heads. The three then collapsed onto the ground. Equinox looked over to his dagger and then cursed. He spent about five minutes trying to drag it over to him before giving up and walking to it.
"You know what I hate?" Kirito asked and when the other two shook their heads he continued. "There is no pain in the game but plenty of fatigue."
"Okay so the name is Klein." He said after a few minutes of silence. He was also holding his out to Equinox. "And he is Kirito."
"I'm Equinox." He replied after taking hand.
"So you use a halberd?" Kirito asked. "I tested the game and didn't even know they were in the game."
"I like the reach." Equinox replied. "Plus it does a lot of damage."
"So now what?" Klein asked.
"Well I got to logout to do a few things." Equinox said looking at the time in his Menu.
"Same for me." Kirito said pulling up his Menu.
"I got a Pizza waiting for me so…" Klein paused as he stared at his Menu.
"Klein you okay?" Equinox asked looking away from his Menu.
"WHERE IS THE LOGOUT BUTTON!?" Klein suddenly bellowed.
Kirito and Equinox looked over to their own logout buttons or at least where they should have been. Equinox started spamming the place where it should be while Kirito just stared at it blankly. Klein on the other hand had collapsed and started whining about his pizza.
"DA HELL IS GOING ON?" Equinox yelled in English causing the other two young men stop what they were doing and stare at him.
"Was that English?" Kirito asked.
"What do you think!" Equinox roared in English.
"I don't understand what you're saying." Klein complained.
"I was saying that you two are imbeciles." Equinox said in now accented Japanese.
"Hey what's up with your voice?" Kirito asked. "It was perfect Japanese and now it has an accent."
"I was trying not to use my accent but what's the point now you've heard the english." Equinox said.
"So were you from? " Kirito asked.
"The States." Equinox said as he turned away and started running towards the City.
"Were you going?" Klein yelled out.
"Someone in the city might know what's going on." Equinox called back to Klein.
When Equinox reached the city he noticed a large number of people in their Menus freaking out. Equinox frowned when he saw the panic starting to spread. Just a Equinox was about to talk to Agil who Equinox had just spotted, the world turned white causing his eyes to snap shut.
"What in the Nine Hells?" Equinox yelled out in English when he could see again.
He was now in a Area like town square filled thousands of people. All these people seemed to be going through something similar to him. As Equinox scanned the crowed he realized something.
"Hey this is the Cites main square." Equinox yelled. "I wonder how I got here."
Before Equinox could continue questioning the sky darkened. Equinox looked up to see electronic panels appearing in the sky. As the panels spread blood started flowing through them. Then blood started to collect in a spinning spiral only to separate into a giant floating man. All was silent until the man spoke.
"My name is Kayaba Akihiko I have come with a warning. You cannot log out due to the fact that this game was designed not to have a way to logout. Also if you die here in the game you die in real life. But not all is bad I have left you with a gift." With that the man disappeared in a flash of light and the blood started to pull itself into the panels as they started disappearing.
"A gift eh?" Equinox said pulling up his Menu. "Let me see, a Mirror of Truth?"
After a bright flash next to him Equinox turned to see someone change. After that person started freaking out about being their real self. Equinox took out his Mirror and looked into it. Once again a flash forced him close his eyes. When he opened the he realized he was taller than everyone else.
"Well ain't that great. I'm me!" Equinox said after looked himself over then he blinked and shook the very ground as he bellowed in English. "WAIT! DID HE JUST SAY IF WE DIED IN HERE WE DIED IN REAL LIFE!?"
A/N: Was this acceptable? If so tell me why or if not please tell me why. Yelling at me is perfectly acceptable but please spare me from an endless assault of death threats. This story was born from me being bored beyond belief on the last day of summer.
To explain the skills I tell you outright. I mixed the DDO, SAO, and Skyrim skills systems. But here's what the Skills do. Blind Fighting: 50% chance of sensing unseen attacks - Firm Defense: Gives you ability to block strikes without taking damage - First Aid: Stand next to a Party Member or a Guild Member for 8 seconds to heal them for 25% of total HP - Light Armor Proficiency: Gives you the ability to wear all light armor - Heavy Armor Proficiency: Similar effect to Light Armor Proficiency but with heavy armor - Deep Wounds: Your strikes hit with 25% more damage - Fists of Iron: Instead of unarmed attacks doing your 50% strength level you do 100% of your strength level - Light Weapon Proficiency: Grants you the ability to use Daggers, Short Swords, Maces, War Axes, Hammers, Long Swords, Spears, and Bows - Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Same as Simple Weapon Proficiency but with Scimitars, Claymores, Halberds, Flails, Crossbows, and ?s(Scythes) - Shadow Cloaked: In the shadows you almost invisible, to be spotted the person must have a Search or Detection of 75 - ?(Scythe) Mastery: ?s(Scythes) do 15% more damage and you handle it with absolute skill.