Link start.

The Nervegear on my head whirrs for a moment, then I go full dive. Down and through, like going through a wormhole, and I'm in again. Sword Art Online. Aincrad. One-hundred levels of swordplay, monsters and treasure, and maybe even some cute girls, too.

My name in this world is Kirito. I'm a beta tester, so I've been around this world's block a few times. Today, though, is Launch Day for the public server, which means lots of new players to get lost in and fight with against the denizens of the floating world above the starter city.

I'm used to playing this game alone, though. There weren't that many beta players compared to the sheer size of Aincrad, so I've become used to flying solo. Every now and then, I'd team up, but only out of necessity.

Now? There's easily a few thousand players logged into the game, and a good portion of them are in the starter city, milling about, looking as lost as I remember myself feeling the first time I entered SAO.

It's too crowded for me, so I head out at a run, since fatigue isn't a thing. Some people are actually walking around, like they're roleplaying their characters, and that's fine. If that's how they want to play SAO, then what do I care? I just want to get some practice swings on the monsters outside the starter city. Loosen up the sword.

I head down a red-bricked alley, turn right, and make a break for sunlight. When I reach it, I stop in awe at the sight of stalagmite-strewn plains stretching out over a deep expanse of more plains and cliffs—wouldn't want to fall here.

Kirito, I chide myself, stop acting like a newb and get out there. You've seen this all before in beta.

I shake my head and smile to myself with no around to see, dashing off to find a monster.

01

It doesn't take me long to find a warthog rooting around the stalagmite. Level 1. Easy mode.

I launch into an overhead swing.

Cling!

My sword bounces off metal instead of beast, and I jump back a few steps to check out what just happened.

It seems I'm not alone out here. A swordsman in red robes with short brown hair is standing between me and the warthog. "That was my kill!" he says. "I saw it first!"

"Well, excuse me," I reply. "You've gotta tag it to get kill credit."

"What?"

"Kill credit. Tagging. You must be new?"

A moment's hesitation, then a quick nod.

"Ah, okay," I say. "Look. This warthog—"

"Boar," he says, still standing between me and the beast.

"Beast, or whatever. Look, again, in this game you gotta injure—damage—a monster to claim kill credit. First come, first serve."

"Oh?" he says. "Well, I was there first, so let me tag it."

"Careful," I say.

"What?"

"Once you attack it, it'll become aggressive and attack you."

He looks between me and the warthog/boar/beast/whatever. "Will it hurt?" he asks.

"No, no way," I reply. "You can't feel pain in this game. You'll just lose some HP, that's all."

"What's 'HP'?"

"Wowww…"

"What?"

"You say that a lot."

"What?"

"What?"

"If you say 'chicken-butt', I will cut you," he says with his sword pointed at me. He opted for a rapier at start? That's a girl's weapon!

I raise my hands in surrender. "I had no intention, seriously. Never crossed my mind."

"Good," he says, and lowers his weapon. "I'm going to kill this boar-thing now." He points his sword at the warthog for crying out loud. "Oh."

"Well, at least you didn't say 'what'," I say.

"What'd you say?"

"Nothing!"

"Okay." He waves his sword at the warthog (cough cough). "What was HP, again?"

"Oh, for crying out—" I say. "Okay, look, it means 'health points.' Since we're all level 1s (unless you've done some mad power leveling in the past hour the game's been online), you should have 86 HP maximum."

"Uh-huh."

I scratch idly at my cheek. "Well, if the warthog—"

"Boar."

"Whatever!"

Sheesh.

"If it hits you," I continue, "you'll probably lose 5 or 6 HP. That's every time it hits, okay?"

"Okay," he says.

"Good. Now, this monster has HP, too. Probably about 40 or so. Easy kill. Just hit him about 4 times, okay?"

He looks at me from under his hood. Brown eyes. "You know a lot about this game?" he asks.

"'Course!" I reply. "I get into the beta."

"Oh, okay." He points his rapier at the monster. We'll just call it that for now. "Uh?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you get credit if you help me kill it?" he asks. "I'm not 100% on my sword skills. This is my first monster."

"Your very first monster!" I say. "Aww, isn't that the sweetest thing. It's like losing your—"

His bladetip is pointing at me.

"Nothing!" I say. "Nothing at all." I draw my own blade. Level 1. Nothing special. Long sword, best sword, I say. "You strike first."

"Okay, here I go!" He stabs the monster that had been sitting there idly, chewing on grass, before the pointy end went in. Then it got aggressive.

"Hey," I tell him. "Good strike!"

"Yeah? Oof!" He goes stumbling back, hit in the thighs by the monster. "Ow!" He jumps back, then starts backpedaling some more, opening the distance. "Oh my God!" he says. "It's really attacking back!"

I can't help it. "Well, duh…"

The monster was chasing him around and around, neither gaining nor giving ground. "Oh God, what if it kills me?"

"Relax," I yell at him. "You'll just respawn back in town. I mean, it's just a level 1 freakin' monster! It can't really hurt you."

"Stab it stab it stab it!'

I apply my palm to my face. "Oh. Boy." Around and around… "Look," I yell at him, "you can't progress in this game without killing stuff, so kill it! You stabbed it good the first time! Stab it some more!" I emphasize the stabbing with a stabbing motion off my own. "You. Can't. Feel. Pain!"

He stops and turns around. "Really?" he asks.

"That was just a trick of your mind," I tell him. "Now stab that boar! Stab stab stab! It has like 3 hits left in it."

"Okay." He stands in front of the monster's charge, and stabs! Woo! "Ow!" The monster hits him in the thighs, again.

"Oh for crying out loud…" I cup my hands around my mouth to yell some more. "Dodge next time! And use a Special Skill with your weapon!"

He's running again. "How do I do that?"

"What? Dodge?"

"No, idiot! I know how to dodge—

"Clearly…"

"—what 'Special Skill'?"

I imitate with my own sword arm. "Just cock it back, then wait a moment for the server to register your intent, and fire it off! You get, like, double damage on your basic attack this way."

He's still going around and around with the monster. "'Just cock it back…'" he says to himself. "And—"

"Wait for it...and strike! You'll know!"

He spins back around to face the monster one more time. I wonder if the monsters get tired, instead of the players. All this running around with each other.

The monster is coming in low.

"Dodge!" I yell.

He jumps to the right, letting the monster fly past him on his left. The wind blown from its passage flutters the swordman's cloak. The monster goes about a dozen more feet, then snorts and turns around.

"Now!" I say. "While it's stopped!"

He hesitates. "Do I call my attack or something. Like 'Super Strike Attack Go'?"

Oh boy.

"Wha? No! Just cock back—"

He's already in action, sprinting across the distance, parting the grass with the wind off of his motion. He brings his rapier back, then waits, like I told him to. After a moment, there's a winding-up sound and his blade glows white.

"Now! Stab 'em!"

He pushes his blade forward, tip first, kinetic energy glistening off the edge, and scores a hit right between the monster's eyes!

"Bingo!"

The swordsman lingers a few moments, blade buried deep in the monster's head. Then the monster turns multicolored, glows brightly, becomes an outline of itself, and shatters like glass to dissolve back into the playing field.

"Hah!" he says. "Got 'em!"

"All right!" I cheer at him, genuinely clapping my hands. "One down, thousands more like that one to kill."

"Seriously?" he asks, resheathing his sword. "I have to do that every time?"

"Eh," I shrug. "It'll come naturally later, with practice." I hold out my hand. "What's your name, anyway?" He logged on anonymously: no name shown on my visual. Well, that's not that strange, I guess.

He just shrugs, shaking out his robe. "Just call me 'Rapier' for now," he says with a smile.

"Laaame," I say.

He glares at me. "Do you wanna get cut, too?"

"Hah!" I tell him, "You can't PVP without a duel request, so do your worst."

"What's 'PVP'?" he asks.

"Oh boy, you really are new to this whole gaming experience, aren't you?"

"Would you just shut up and tell me, Mr. Beta?"

"Well, you see—"

That's when we were cut off by a server-wide announcement: Town hall meeting in the starter city in 30 seconds. We were all to be— Wait.

"It's going to teleport us all there?" I say to myself.

"What's that mean?" the swordsman asks.

"Well, they only do mass teleports for special circumstances, like world events! Yes!"

The swordsman sighs. "I don't have time for that," he says. "My family is probably waiting on me in the real world, so I'm just going to log out, okay?"

"Yeah, sure, fine," I reply. "Grats on your first kill."

"Thanks," he says with a small smile, then opens his HUD menu with his fingers, and presses [Logout].

"Error?" he asks, looking at me.

"What do you mean?" I open my own menu and go through to [Logout], only to have the same error pop up on my screen.

"What in the—" I begin to say, but then the mass teleport hits, and we're all back in starter city's town square with ominous red skies above...