xxx
By the username of Kirito, Kazuto was never the most social guy, always retreating to pushing people away to keep his personal zone. However, once the long-awaited game of Sword Art Online traps him and many others, how will this deadly world change him and the players around him? What will be the difference between reality and gaming fantasy?
Loosely canon, considerable amount of OCs. Instead of 100 Floors, it's gonna be only 25, but each floor will be explored.
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The Chains That Conform Us
Formerly Sword Art Online : Another Story
Written by BlazingKeld
「The author of this fanfiction does not own Sword Art Online nor its proper characters.
Some original characters may be based off of other fictional characters.
This fanfiction was created to aid in the author's writing skills. Please do not expect frequent updates.」
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Due to the amount of rewrites I had to do,
I thought to myself, 'might as well just revamp the entire series now that I have a better idea of what the hell I'm actually doing.'
Yes, SAO:AS is to be deleted in favour of this story eventually.
Now, it's called "The Chains That Conform Us", which sounds a lot better than "Another Story".
Alright, please enjoy this revamp of the rewrite of my rewrite of my first fanfiction.
「XaiXron : 30s」
The squadron of players circled around the battlefield, looking for their next position to hold out on. Their characters were constantly moving in order to have the intended response speed. Tanks, fighters, mages and healers alike heard—or rather, saw— the call of their raid leader, and immediately stopped in their plans. Even though the player had only revealed three characters in the chat, everyone knew what he had been referring. They opting for the implied retreat towards the standing frozen pillars. Dealing damage might have been the way to beat the raid boss, but the thirty players within the group had to prioritize their safety. Some of the more tankier players stalled the demon monster, while the flight was being executed.
Without much communication, but with maximum cooperation, the tanks slowly peeled off with their soft crowd control abilities, debuffing the demon's movement speed specifically. The healers stayed close to them, returning whatever health they lost from the brutal attacks it launched out. Mages were aiding in pushing the demon back, peeling whatever damage they could do before they had to inevitably take cover. The only ones that couldn't do anything directly were the close combat fighters. That wasn't to say they hadn't been idle or afk, but they were spamming consumable items and ability buffs for whatever stat they needed to regenerate or strengthened, whether it be health, mana, physical attack or mixed defenses.
「kakao : we're doing good」
「TheGameIsBroken : someone pass me an attack pot」
「C053 : fam i got u」
「TheGameIsBroken: ty ty」
「asdfTy: need sum healing」
「DeadUnrising: bruh, your 80%」
The players heard the roaring from the demon. From the corner of their vision, the boss ignited into a blue flame—exactly what the doctor ordered. Everyone was in a good position, and if they weren't—not the squadron's problem. Actually, it was really surprising that they managed to get this far into the fight without losing anyone, especially for a raid comprised of players who weren't acquainted with another beforehand. They were just lucky that no one wanted to troll the battle.
「XaiXron : get ready」
With both of its muscular arms, the blue flame slammed downwards onto the field, with the multiple rings fire burning towards the players at an alarming rate. There was no way to dodge the attack, as the blast covered the entire arena. If it weren't for the obstruction against the natural terrain, the boss would indeed be impossible, but as the waves grew in intensity, they also dwindled in production rate.
Without any warning nor hesitation, the pillars shattered into a million digital pieces, but that was fine by them. It had served its purpose. The players raised their held weapons, with a single goal in mind, and prepared to—
「XaiXron : jfc blader get back in formation」
「Azrael: he doesnt care」
Believing that they were all unified was a mistake. Out of thirty present players, there was no way that all of them had been on the same plan. Everyone did suspect their beliefs the moment they noticed his username, but after chunking 95% of the boss' total health bar, they thought that he was finally cooperating, that he was turning over a new leaf. However, others saw it as the final test for the player, and he was probably going to fail.
Not the raid boss, mind they added though. In fact, this had been the true battle the players had to face.
「DeadUnrising: hes trying to ks」
「XaiXron: let him」
「XaiXron: i stopped caring about the drop when he showed up」
「TheGameIsBroken : nah we fighting this, f**k that kid」
As the lone player dashed out towards the main body, the demon struggled to move due to the major end lag it had. Brandishing the sword, the character slashed against the arms repeatedly and showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. The backline from the mages increased their DPS, trying to secure the kill for themselves. In the meanwhile, the tanks and fighters broke out of their formation to rush down the remaining few percentages. Risky, but they had been aware how that player had been capable of soloing bosses where he had the time. 5% was literally nothing to him. They could have tried to kill-steal the kill-steal by coordinating a burst all at the same time, but there was a limited amount of coordination one could have with a group of strangers—this assuming that everyone had no lag issues. Either way in which they sliced the cake, the results would always be the same somehow.
The echoing of the final strike landed, as the demon froze in his movements. Everyone stayed still, holding their breaths as the raid boss was devoured by its own blue flame, though this animation hadn't been an attack. It brutally disintegrating the monster, with each player's camera being given the multiple angled perspectives of the demon being reduced to ashes, by the same flame that caused so many people trouble.
The demon was gone. The raid boss had been cleared. Silence filled the room, until the victory fanfare played as the victory screen covered their vision. A player wasted no time, and wanted to get down to the serious part of the boss raid. If anything had been on the line, it was their pride as players. No one wanted to say it first, but it had to be done. They had to know.
「DeadUnrising: who f**king got it」
There had been a small delay in the chat, as everyone anxiously awaited for a response. However, there was one response they didn't want to hear. This time around, there had to have been someone else who got the special kill secure drop. Perhaps, the person who got the item had been lagging hard. Maybe they went afk to get the doorbell or a phone call or something. There just had to—
「Blader: i got the drop」
「Blader: ggwp boys」
「Blader has disconnected.」
None of the players could hear the other in real life, but there was certainly a loud groan being exerted from each of their side of the computer screen. Add them up together, and one wouldn't be able to keep the speakers on without having them be blown out.
「XaiXron: i told you」
「DeadUnrising: felt like we had a chance」
「DeadUnrising: dont blame me for it」
「kakao : how does he even get the kill drop every time he's in a raid」
「XaiXron: we're just licky that he cooperated」
「XaiXron: *lucky」
「kakao : lol licky」
「XaiXron: stfu」
「DeadUnrising: so whats that now? 50ish consecutive drops?」
「asdfTy: 70 actually」
「Azrael: i stopped counting after 10 tho」
The players knew there had to be some trick to it, but no one knew exactly how this 'Blader' player had been scoring the last hits literally every time. Any approach to the player had been rejected flatly. No one had the player on his friend's list, and if they were able to, it was only for a short amount of time after the player was done using them. Discouragement had been a key word used to describe his atmosphere, since partying up with him meant that they would get the shorter end of the stick.
In the game of «Ender Soul», there were quite a few hot topics that constantly circled the community. Of course, there had been the top guilds in the games, most known for their perfect clearings, or their sense of family, and in some cases, both. There had also been the streamers and content creators of profit out of playing the game in front of an audience, aiding the community with helpful videos, or talking about the game in general.
Then, there were the infamous players. There were layers of entirely different calibers in this subcategory. They were players who didn't fit into any of the former topics, but for good reason. There were the toxic players, there were the role models of the community, there were the ones who memed hard, and then the trolls.
The player dubbed 'Blader' had been one of those infamous players, although a part of a rare breed among this MMORPG. If there was a generalization of this archetype, it would have to be the solo player. Even in raid bosses, it feels like the team is actively trying to fight him and not the enemy. Otherwise, he had been exploring the multiplayer dungeons by himself, returning with all types of loot. The news of the matter would have been slightly comprendable, if it weren't for the fact that the player had only been playing for only a year, and he had already achieved the reichs of the higher tier veteran players, who had been playing since the game was released three years ago.
No one knew where the hell he came from. He just appeared one day. The mystery regarding his identity has been challenging, since the community concluded that this wasn't some normal person. Whoever Blader was, there was a silent agreement among the players.
There was no way that he was a normal person.
Why couldn't he just be a normal person for once?
Not even in front of a computer screen, towards strangers he'll probably never meet again, could he say what he actually wanted to say. He didn't want to come off as intimidating, but it just naturally happened.
"What am even I doing in this game anymore?"
He grabbed himself and candled his skull back and front, cringing in front of his triple screen setup. Those final words in the chat had been the reason why he had been regarded as such a figure. He never knew what to say, even inside of video games. His mind was a sorry excuse of a messed up thought process, but maybe it was because his mind had been lacking social awareness, it made up for it by allowing him to play beyond excellently in these types of games.
Who the hell was he trying to convince? He played «Ender Soul» for an entire quarter of the game's current lifespan and he had already made it on the front of the gaming forums as this ruthless solo player. It wasn't as if he wanted to be a solo player, he just felt it was easier to be one for certain things like dungeon exploration, loot grinding, monster fighting— all right, maybe he did intend to be a solo player from the beginning, but he hadn't realize it until a few months had already passed. By that point though, his reputation had steadily been growing, so it was difficult to be otherwise. It was so much easier to be distant, so you could get away with more stuff in video games without looking like a jerk, but in another sense, he supposed he already looked like jerk in doing so.
He just wanted something to do while he was off from the beta testing of a certain long-awaited game. None of the other games on the same console could satisfy him like that game did. The only reason he considered «Ender Soul» was because it had been similar to it.
The life of Kazuto Kirigaya hadn't been as simple as it seems. Sure, the majority of his time had been spent on technology, with video games demonstrating their strength as a pastime, however there came a cost with such a lifestyle. A tired sigh escaped from his mouth.
His eyes rounded to his alarm clock next to his bed, noticing the time. It had only been eleven—almost twelve—in the morning on the weekend, so there wasn't that much time left. Normally, if he had been unlucky, he would have been forced to await outside the gaming stores until they opened up. Even then, those who waited were not guaranteed to get what they wanted.
November 6, 2022.
That specific date had been the reason why everyone had been waiting so eagerly in the break of morning. There were people who even camped out throughout the night, just so they could secure a copy. Kazuto had to admit that the dedication had been solid, but he didn't need to do any of that. He, alongside a few hundred other people, had been given an special opportunity that many others applied for. The probability of the special testing had been less than a percent for Kazuto. That was why he couldn't believe it when the verification for the test had been sitting in his email. It was a dream come true.
It was the beta test of a brand new game, called «Sword Art Online». It hadn't been a normal game though, like «Ender Soul». It was the first of its kind, and an advancement into the world of gaming as a whole. «Sword Art Online» was a virtual reality MMORPG, but nothing like where former consoles try to pretend that you're inside the game. With «Sword Art Online», players were literally in the game since the special console could access the user's brain and transfer its senses over to the digital world.
While his head had been pushed back by volition against his computer chair, his gaze drifted towards the mentioned console, positioned carefully onto his shelves of books of computer and technology. With the help of the NerveGear, Kazuto experienced the world of «Sword Art Online» firsthand, and since his beta ended about a year ago, he had yearned for it. He wanted in back in his life desperately.
Fortunately as a beta tester, they were given the choice to pre-order the game as a thanks for their contributions. If anything, they would have been the ones to be giving back to the developers for allowing them to feel excitement that they have never felt before. It had been unimaginable that a group of creators could be possible so so much detail in their gameplay, their environment, and their enemies. If someone had told him that it was a real world, Kazuto would have been inclined to believe them. However, such a job had only been possible by one man.
Akihiko Kayaba, the prodigy of technology.
Even from a young age—about Kazuto's own age—Akihiko had revealed theories on how they could create a world that transcended their own. It was a world that teetered on the line of fiction and reality, and for someone who's main reason of staying in reality was his hobby, it immediately caught his attention. With his concrete understanding of the human brain, and his connections with multiple sources, it led to the creation of the NerveGear, and eventually «Sword Art Online».
Needless to say as a computer and gaming nerd, Akihiko Kayaba was an idol to him. Everyone who understood the premise of what a computer did knew the name Akihiko Kayaba. With him and his specially selected team of assistants, he showed everyone what the future of technology could do, disproving anyone who said it was just science fiction.
A loud knock came from his door, causing him to turn around in his chair and beckon the one person who could possibly do such a thing. "What do you want, Suguha?" A lackluster demeanor to refer to his sis—
He struggled to find the words to call him his sister. Calling her by her given name had been just fine, opposed to how she always referred to him. She just didn't know, and he did. That was what made his words so tame. The door hadn't been opened, but the atmosphere between the two 'siblings' had been anything but warm.
"Mom left your share of the food on the dinner table, since you weren't coming out of your room anytime soon." He hadn't realized that they were having lunch, or rather, he chose to ignore his sister's calls, delaying the time bit by bit until it was already over. "It's just teriyaki rice, nothing special."
"T-Thanks…"
Suguha sighed, probably brushing back her short hair with her hand. It was a tendency of her to do that whenever she was annoyed. Kazuto heard the tone and gestures far too much that he couldn't simply disregard it when he heard it.
"C'mon, Bro. You should at least come out once a week to some place that isn't school." Another one of her dismissive lectures. Wash rinse and repeat, this was always her attempts at dragging him out of his room. "Come and watch the kendo tournament later tonight, you know, after you're done with that… game thing."
"Sword Art Online," Kazuto quickly corrected. "That's the name of 'that game thing'."
"Anyways," she continued, showing no concern over the correction, "you have to come this time around. It'll be important for me since it's the nationals."
'Nationals? Had it already been this long?' Kazuto contemplated in his mind. He wanted to come to support Suguha, but once he started playing the game, it'll be difficult to return by his own discretion. He just wanted to play endlessly, only quitting for food, sleep, and the occasional washroom break. However, he understood that the nationals was a huge event. Suguha must have trained with fortitude and tenacity to be able to reach the competition in the first place. In the meanwhile, Kazuto had been immersed in his own little world.
It had felt like a year ago ever since he dropped kendo, but it had been in fact, six years though. It was those years ago that he abandoned his training, leaving Suguha to practice kendo by herself. He shook his head, swaying away the negative feelings.
He had to go, not because she considered him as her brother, but because he owed Suguha for leaving her to practice kendo all by herself. It was the least he could do for her, to acknowledge the work she put in to master her craft. This was the first time she qualified for nationals, at least to Kazuto's knowledge.
"I'll come, don't worry."
"You have to promise that, all right?" Her voice became cheerful behind the closed door, as Kazuto heard a faint tap along its surface. "I won't ever forgive you if you left me for some game."
He chuckled, as he imagined Suguha pouting those words. "I promise, Suguha. I'll be there by the time the opening ceremony starts, so I can cheer you on."
"You better!" Her triumph-filled statement made Kazuto's heart happy, out of the morality and the common sense he had remaining. The footsteps climbed down the hallway and eventually down the stairs, where Kazuto couldn't hear Suguha's presence anymore.
Now with that out of the way, Kazuto stood up from his chair and he strided towards his NerveGear. He couldn't see it that well from the angle he was sitting at, but there had been a game—no, the game—right next to the console, luring Kazuto to come closer.
He opened it up from its sealed packaging for the first time, and inside had laid a carefully placed cartridge. With delicate movements, he took the game out of its case and opened up the a slot within the console, sliding it in without any hesitation.
Bringing it over towards his desk, he connected it with his desktop computer. Laced with wires, he placed his attention towards a computer software that he could link with the console. The program had been set in a way that the system would save his progress than forcefully eject him at any given time. He hated going outside, but he keeps his promises whenever he manages to make one. This was no different.
'If I remember, the nationals always took place during the evening, so setting it to four o'clock is good for now. It gives me enough time to get ready by five thirty.' Kazuto debated whether or not he should eat or not, but the servers were about to be live in a few minutes. Since the NerveGear disables all bodily functions, he could last until the forced ejection.
The alarm clock turned to its final minutes before it hit noon.
Kazuto padded out his bed, wanting it to be as smooth as possible so that he wouldn't wake up with back pains suddenly. It happened one time during the beta test, and he never wanted to experience the uncomfortable feeling again. The pillows were fluffed up, as Kazuto placed the NerveGear onto his head, inhaling and exhaling slowly. The butterflies in his stomach refused to stop until they were satisfied, and satisfy Kazuto shall do.
With the software ongoing, he laid down on his bed, being careful with the wires that linked his escape, and he smiled. He couldn't wait. He couldn't linger around any longer.
Tick, tick, tick. Despite being an digital alarm, Kazuto's mind counted the seconds of an an analog clock, until it released a single, short beep. It was twelve o'clock.
'Time to do this! Let's see what you've given us, Akihiko Kayaba!'
"Link Start!"
"Uh… I think we have a problem…"
Their office was not akin to many normal offices. If anything, it was similar to a control center, but instead of a spaceship that they had been guiding, it was a video game. It appeared absurd at first, with many people questioning the extraordinary lengths that its director put into his dedication, but then again, this was Akihiko Kayaba they were talking about. The man was like some sort of mad scientist in his own way.
However, Akihiko hadn't been in the room. He had been looking over other important paperwork in his personal office, so the assistances grabbed the next best thing—the unknown personal assistant that no one in the public's eyes knew. Even though the assistant had only been a teenager, close to becoming eighteen in the next month, Akihiko made the recruitment decision for one of the highest position due to the level of thinking the assistance had compared to a normal teenager.
It took a few weeks for people to get used to the… interesting, stylish appearance that this person had. Literally for the first week, everyone assumed that the personal assistant was a girl, with her long, blonde hair, and clear, blue eyes. She had been almost like a model, leaving the workers in a state of disbelief that such a person would choose to be a gamer designer. The second week flew in, and the personal assistant thought that it had to be made clear.
He was a guy, not a girl. He was just too lazy to get his hair cut, which eventually grew to lengths that rivalled some of the female workers in the building. Apparent, he also found it hilarious how people would mistake him for a girl, and that had been another reason as to why he stayed like that. Needless to say, people were slightly disturbed that a guy could look so much like a girl, but this somehow had been more understandable.
In their defense, the figure couldn't be observed properly due to the baggy clothing, and his adam's apple would be covered by the collar of the lab coat he wore to resemble their boss.
However, the calls of a situation beckoned him over to a worker, raising his eyebrow the moment he stepped within his personal radius. His laptop bag swung around accordingly.
"What do you mean by, 'we have a problem'?"
"I mean, we've been compromised."
"Like, how?" The personal assistant scratched his forehead. "You're saying words, but you're not explaining what."
"Look, the finalized and released version of the game has been bugged, and it's synced up with the server."
"When you say synced up, you mean the bug, right?"
"Yeah, but there's something about this bug is weird."
The carefree expression had been written all over his face, as he tilted his head in a… cute way, for a lack of a better term. He crossed his arms ever-so casually. "Well, just stall the servers and recall the games. They waited for a few years, I suppose that they won't mind waiting for like another week. Not that many copies were sold in the first place, since Kayaba saw something weird in the code that he couldn't figure it out, so he wanted to limit the amount of players coming in just in case it was game-breaking. Maybe it's the bug you're referring to?" He stood silently, pondering away in his own thoughts openly. "How much did we sell anyways? Like, ten thousand or something?"
"Anyways," the worker brushed off the little self-conversation that the personal assistant had, "there's a small problem with that…" The worker mumbled and dragged on his words.
"You keep finding more great news, don't you?" he groaned. "What is it now?"
"We no longer have access to the game's server, specifically, we can no longer edit anything there."
"Wait, no." The sudden shift in intensity had been noticeable. The personal assistant shook his head, clenching his fist. "T-That's impossible. There was no way anyone could have gotten through my specially-created firewall without me knowing. There hasn't even been any attacks as far as I'm aware, and if I'm not aware of one, then Kayaba would." His eyes widened as he realized something. "What about the project? Do we still have access to that?"
The worker spun to his computer, typing and locating the files and engines of what he had been referring. "We do, but it appears that they haven't discovered it. It's untampered. What about it?"
He sighed in relief. "That's great, for now. As long as that project is still intact and within our hands… no, we still need the game to be in our control for it to be tested properly." He turned to walk up the small flight of stairs leading to the room's exit. "See if you can regain that control. I'll investigate my security system and let Kayaba know what's going on."
"I'll see what I can do, but don't expect much."
The personal assistant chuckled. "I didn't expect anything in the first place."
If only computer technology had been as simple as walking up the stairs and passing through the door. Actually to him, it was. Despite the core simplicity, the difficulty came from the opposing forces that wanted to hinder his success. The technology field hadn't been so easy to strive in as a creator of the future. It was like the world went against them.
They were scared though. They knew of what changes that this successful game could imply. A world that can be created with mankind's two hands—it sounded like a dream come true, and Kayaba was the one to make it a reality. There were people who didn't like that idea, looking at it as a nightmare. He couldn't remember how many times protesters were outside their front gates to the building just to reiterate the fact that the entire notion was disgusting, saying things like they shouldn't mess with the nature of the world.
Remember those words, the personal assistant scoffed at the idiocy of their nature. If it hadn't been discovered and explored now, it was going to be done in the near future, and their development team wanted to be the ones who broke that idea—by bringing the future to this day.
November 6, 2022.
This was the day that «Sword Art Online» were to be released to the public. Although he wanted to be part of the experience, it appeared that he made the better decision to hold off the temptation by a few hours, so that this problem were to be investigated. He doesn't like it when others try to control what he can and can't do.
When he finds out who would do such a thing to the game he helped create, there will be no mercy.
Ironically, he had been skipping through the hallway in an non-discret fashion, completely eradicating any sense of a threat he had been imposing with his thoughts. A cheerful tune hummed out of his mouth, while he just thought about what the protesters would do when they discovered the true project under «Sword Art Online».
Probably really badly, and the thought of that situation had only made him laugh under his breath.
"But, why would they sneak into own servers if it weren't for the project?" he pondered silently.
「TOUCH - OK」
「HEARING - OK」
「SIGHT - OK」
「SMELL - OK」
「TASTE- OK」
The circles darted in front of his eyes as the world filled up with a white backdrop. It had been quite boring, just waiting here in the bright abyss, but for a game of this capability, it was easy to understand why. To have the most fluent experience, the game loaded up much of its assets first before a player could enter the game. An impossible feat, but Kazuto saw it with his own eyes during the beta test. The loading zones between the two worlds could take a few minutes for all he cared, just not too long though.
Without much delay, and faster than he had expected, the opening menus had appeared before him. An elegant voice, echoing from the boundless area, read the bestowed words.
「Welcome to Sword Art Online! Beta tester data has been read. Would you like to transfer over your appearance and username? You will receive a small Col bonus for your help!」
"Yeah." That special gimmick in «Sword Art Online» is call AI Voice Recognition. Basically, some menus could be controlled by a player's voice, invoking some immersion into the game. He just needed to throw keywords into the sentence to ensure that the menus, and even some NPCs would understand. The Col bonus was definitely an added plus too, meaning that he could accelerate his intentions even faster now.
「Analyzing data… Data completed.」
The menu was suddenly overtaken by a bright light, somehow overpowering the backdrop. Kazuto wouldn't believe it to be possible, if this had been his first dive-in, but he accepted it as his body felt light. A blue glare covered his body while he had been left with an ever-fading
No longer would Kazuto Kirigaya be referred to as 'Kazuto' or 'Blader'. From this point on inside of the game, he would be known as Kirito once again.
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November 6, 2022
Floor One - Town of Beginnings
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When he regain consciousness from the blue light, he found himself in front of a familiar palace. The fierce black tone to its walls would frighten any new player at first, like they've been immediately been dropped off at some boss' lair. To be fair, it was possible to use that building for a headquarters or a guild hall, so the feelings were comprehensible by Kirito. The front steps lead into its open entrance, for those who dared to explore. The dome resting on top of the black rectangular building sent interest, while the standing, glossy, black pillars looked majestic. The large castle walls helped to endorse the emphasis given, as if it wasn't good enough.
In the beta, this building had no proper name. Kirito walked forward, with a name menu popping up in his vision, indicating the new name given by the developers.
"The Black Iron Palace." It was certainly a step up from what the beta players called it, which had been 'that black dome'.
He broke away from the stunning architecture to peer behind him, facing the rapid explosion of numbers fading into this world with a similar blue light. There were a small collection of players who immediately ran off into the town after their initial daze, which Kazuto assumed to be the other beta testers. The remainder of the players had watched in awe the stillness of the structures, and the wandering path of the clouds above. To what had been the distinction between the buildings and clouds of this world to their own? They gazed as if they could find the answer carved into the walls.
That had only been the encircling wall, isolating the central plaza from the rest of the town. Kazuto couldn't imagine how they would react to the level of detail that Akihiko's development team put into not only the Town of Beginnings, but every town, city, forest, dungeons, and even the plains which had their own level of depth, down to the specks of grass. Kazuto smiled, as he dashed past the bewildered players and towards the central marketplaces. Of course, there were things that even he hadn't seen in the beta, but he could enjoy those luxuries later.
He had a plan originally, to maximize his time in this world, but with the added bonus Col—the currency of the game—it was worth his time to get better starting gear that he would have otherwise skipped. Free stats had always been good stats after all.
A quick revelation of his menu while he traversed the lengthy streets had informed him of what he had started with. It was more than he expected. "[Beginner Armour Set], [Simple Sword], [Simple Rapier], [Simple Dagger]—they really started me off with almost every weapon type in the game. What else was there?" Upon a brief inspection, Kirito found a small collection of consumables regarding to regenerating his health, granting small stat buffs, and tending to certain status ailments that one might come across on the first floor. He noticed that skill point regeneration items had not been part of the starting roster, but it could have been moved to upper levels, where the understanding of using skill points had been well-nourished.
In any case, Kirito disregarded everything, but the consumables. He was the most confident with the sword, and comfortability had been prioritized in fights. The system's battle mechanics had been altered compared to other regular games to fit the open-ended world of the game, but it had a familiar scent to most keyboard-and-mouse MMORPGs. Although, instead of clicking with a right mouse button or a keyboard command to attack or to cast an ability, the player would have to perform the attack by themselves, just like how they would in real life. If they swung the weapon and it hits the monster, it deals damage—it was as simple as that, yet the complexity that could be combined with the physical environment and a player's natural intuition caused the gameplay to be vast. If one wanted to, a monster could literally be pushed off a cliff and die because of it, granting the killer full experience and gold.
There was also a benefit to sticking with one weapon type. As he used a sword, skill corresponding to the weapon type would gain efficiency points. As the total points increased and as it leveled up, the wielder would be able to learn weapon-exclusive skills, typically increasing in damage ratios as the level increased. However, they wouldn't automatically learn it and the entire list of potential skills that a player could learn would be hidden. Typically, they would have to use dialogue and hints from the game environment to realize that they could learn such an attack, and imagine unleashing that skill repeatedly. That, or they could use the community to reveal the entire list.
Kirito was able to 'maximize' the one-handed sword skill slot in about a month of hardcore grinding, so it went without saying that it would be his choice of weapon this run through as well. There were limits though, as the skill level could not exceed their actual level multiplied by ten. To actually be able to 'max' out the skill slot, a player would have to be level 75, which Kirito was not. He had only reached level 53, allowing him to reach one-handed sword skill level 530. There was an exception to the rule, where if the player reached level 75, the cap would not be at level 750 as expected, but a drastic increase to level 1000. Needless to say, it took a considerable amount of time to max one of the skills.
Although, he had been interested by the new weapon type in his inventory, the [Simple Spear]. It may have been weaker than the other weapons, but the range on it could probably ease boss fighting by a significant amount with the kiting potential it had. This was probably the most consisted damage-dealing weapon type that could be done at a range, since the game didn't have anything like magic or bows. It was definitely appealing. He'll have to try it out when he gets a chance, but for now, Kirito found the place he had been looking for.
There was a muscular man, generic as any other NPC—is what he would have said if he could match the general appearance with anyone else in his sights. Akihiko did want the game to be as realistic as possible, so Kirito shrugged it off.
"Ah, a seasoned veteran of the art!" The muscular shopkeeper waved, noticing Kirito approaching the stall. By seasoned veteran, Kirito assumed that Akihiko must have programmed in different lines for some NPCs to say towards beta testers. It was a nice touch, making Kirito smiled internally. "I can sense that you want some might fine weaponry."
"If you sense it, then show me your wares." Kirito wanted to try out the entire conversation gimmick with the shopkeeper. The keywords had been any possible variations of the phrase, 'show me your wares'. With his statement, the shopkeeper grinned, and a menu appeared before Kirito, indeed showing what the man had in stock.
As it was a weapon shop, there hadn't been much that he could select from, considering that it had been the first town in the game. However, the [Stone Sword] had been perfect for what he wanted. When Kirito selected the item, he confirmed his purchase for about 500 Col, which had been about half of his starting amount. If everyone had started out of the same items as he did, there would be no doubt that it was counterbalanced by the amount of Col in their pocket. He wouldn't say it was more than 250 Col tops. Digressing aside, when Kirito confirmed the purchase, the man pulled out the same sword and passed it over to Kirito on top of the stall's table surface.
"Hope you're satisfied with the quality!" he boisterously smiled.
The overwhelming warmth had made Kirito uneasy, who had simply laughed sheepishly, while he slowly walked away. Perhaps that had been too realistic for his taste.
With 500 Col left in his pocket, he could run to get an upgrade on the [Stone Sword], but with his plan, he was going to replace it by the end of his second session of playing, so it wouldn't make much sense to invest in such an idea. It couldn't be upgraded that much too, so it was practically next to useless in terms of future-proofing. Maybe saving the money would be a good idea for future investments.
Right now, he should be running around town to grab some of the side quests that are available to all of the players. Issued by NPCs of the town, they would want the players to do something for them in exchange for a reward of some kind. Ninety percent of the time, it had been generic loot, like craftable materials, consumables, extra Col, or an extra monster drop. The rest however may reward one with a favoured prize, generally being a weapon or an armour piece. There were none that he could remember in the Town of Beginnings that held such a reward, but in terms of efficiency, it was better to have the sidequest under his belt than to not and miss out on free Col and items just for what he intended to do originally. He'll eventually return to the Town of Beginnings someday to cash these quests in, since they technically didn't have a time limit to them.
If he remembered, there was a good amount of side quests he can come across just from walking from the merchant's distinct towards the—
"Hey, you!"
Kazuto froze in his steps. That wasn't a NPC. The call sounded like it was being directed to him from behind, but that couldn't be. Who would want to just approach a random player on the first day any—
He heard the panting get closer, as Kirito hesitated to look back. Regrettably, he did eventually, and what he was met with was an older player, who looked like he was a young adult. His red hairs' bangs had been completely denied by his bandana, while the rest of the strands were free to slide down towards his shoulders. A single piece managed to peek their way over the bandana though.
"You sure know your way around here! You were zipping through town like you got the place mapped already!"
"Y-Yeah, I guess so..." He nervously responded to the energetic voice. You know what was worse than talking to a realistic person? Talking to an actual person, and that was no exageration by Kirito. He supposed that this was one of the downsides to the game.
"You're a beta tester, right?"
"What about it?"
"Is it possible that you can help me get used to the game? It's my first day here."
A deadpanned face was what the man got as a response from Kirito. "It's literally 90% of the player base's first day here. You're not any different…"
"C'mon, man! Maybe a few tips!?" The man bowed forwards in front of him. "I still feel a little stiff from the movements, so anything would help!"
"If you feel stiff, then just practice your movements. It's not rocket science." In other words, Kirito really didn't want to be wasting the man's time with half-assed explanations that other players—hell, even the tutorial would do a better job than him to explain the game. At least, that would be the excuse he'll go with. However, that's when Kirito raised when eyebrow. "Dude, have you even went through the tutorial?"
"I would if there was one."
Kirito was caught off guard, twisting his entire body to face the player. "No, you're playing a prank on me. What game doesn't have a tutorial? The beta test had one, so it doesn't make sense why they would just remove it."
The man scratched his head, in the same state of confusion as Kirito. "Look, I'm not kidding. You can go back to the main plaza or where ever that tutorial is supposed to be."
"Are you sure that you just didn't miss it? It's only been a few minutes since the servers went live."
"If a tutorial isn't found within the first few minutes of gameplay, it's safe to assume there's no tutorial, right?"
"I… suppose you're right…"
He hadn't appeared to be lying. If he was, what would the man gain from asking him specifically on how to play the game? Kirito weighed his options, thinking on what he should do. His plans would be delayed by a considerable amount by helping this player out. An easy decision for a normal player, but a difficult one for a player such as himself.
"Fine," Kirito had allowed his push-over nature get the better of him. The man was practically begging, and Kirito didn't know what else to do without looking like an asshole. "I mean, you're better off trying to find another beta tester that could actually teach properly though."
"Nah, I'm fine with you." The man grinned, flicking a thumbs-up to Kirito. "I got a good gut feeling about you! My name's Klein, by the way!"
"Kirito, likewise." He paused for a brief moment to realize what the 'likewise' was for, Klein didn't appear to be bothered by it as much as he was. He scratched the back of his head. "Don't be complaining when you don't understand anything that comes out of my mouth, all right?"
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November 6, 2022
Floor One - Origin Fields
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"Gah!"
Kirito watched in disbelief as Klein hit the ground. Hard.
In Kirito's mind, there couldn't be a way that a player who had been so excited for the game's launch be so bad at fighting one of the most basic enemies. It was a normal {Frenzy Boar}, for crying out loud. They've been fighting for a while, and Klein still hasn't gotten used to the battle mechanics yet. Kirito had been telling him to just jump out when it was attacking him, but apparently that wasn't good enough. He'd completely forgotten to tell Klein to attack with his sword since Kirito assumed that he was going to do that anyways.
What a clown fiesta this fight had been.
Klein instinctively grabbed his stomach, groaning in pain, while the monster was watching Klein get up. It was logical to ease the wound where it was struck, but Kirito glared without much sympathy. Instead, he aided Klein from his defeat by pulling out the sword he recently bought and blocked the incoming boar as it tried to ram Klein into submission. A well-timed flick of his wrist had pushed the monster back a considerable distance and it became unable to move, staggering in place. With the boar dazed, he looked down to Klein, who definitely had been overreacting.
"You can't be serious, Klein. The pain tolerance has been ramped up, so that no one feels anything from the monsters. Just imagine the number of lawsuits that Kayaba would have on his hands if that wasn't the case."
The groans of pain suddenly stopped, while he froze in realization. "Oh, right."
He got off the ground, as if nothing happened, and dusted off his pants. Again, Kirito couldn't resist internally gushing over the attention to detail that the developers put into it. If a player was on the dirt ground, it would make sense that their clothing had some dirt stuck to it, and indeed, that course of action remained true in «Sword Art Online».
"Do you at least know how to use a sword skill?"
"It has to do with imagining the attack, right?"
"Something like that." As the boar recovered from his temporary status, Kirito drew his blade once more and dangled it in front of him. "Just watch."
Kirito followed the boar's movements carefully, as its front legs patted the ground. In a swift moment, its eyes shined red and it rushed towards him, pointing its husk towards his gut. A clever sidestep allowed the boar to pass right by him, but he was ensuring it didn't get another chance. Changing his momentum back into his spine, his arm began to swing the sword. The second it accelerated, the blade glinted a bright, blue light, acting like a sheath, but it wasn't going to keep its opponent safe.
"[Slant]!" The sword ripped through the flesh and blood of the boar. A single sword skill was not enough to defeat a boar, especially when he hadn't land the attack anywhere grandiose, so a handful of follow-up slashes had done the job quite well in executing the monster. Klein watched as the player angled his strikes delicately, but precise. The boar didn't even get a single chance to lift off one health point from Kirito, and it had already shattered into polygons.
"You see?" Kirito returned the sword to its rightful rest on his back. "If you do the motion, wait a split second for that sense of a burst. When that happens, unleash it outwards."
"I heard that there were sword skills that didn't do damage. What about those?"
"Normally, you won't come across them in the early game, but it's simple." He pointed a finger upwards with a lackluster motion of his arm. "Just imagine the sword skill explode inside of you."
"E-Explode?" Klein tilted his head, not understanding how that would work.
Kirito got frustrated with how much Klein wanted to go in-depth about the system. "Don't worry about it," he quietly experated. "It's just practice, like everything else in life."
"I guess it is something that I would have to experience to understand, isn't it?" Klein chuckled, while Kirito didn't see the same joke.
"That's literally what I've been saying this entire time."
"Did you say something, Kirito?" Klein barely heard the deep mumbling from Kirito.
"No, it's nothing." Kirito sighed. He really just wanted to grind at his own pace at this point. He peered into his menu, checking his level. 'Only Lv.2 …' If Kirito hadn't been interrupted by a certain someone, he would have easily gotten to level 7 by now and have been at the next town.
However, it hadn't been like he hated the opportunity though. From what he understood from the way Klein acted, he was a very chill person who does come up with the occasional joke. Either that, or he was the occasional joke, but he digressed. Maybe it was a given chance of the higher forces that gave Kirito this moment, to separate from his own self.
"Is that all? Anything else you need?" Though, he wasn't ready to step out of his safe zone yet, trying to imply to Klein that they should part ways without actually saying it. Hopefully, Klein didn't know how to send friend requests as well.
"Well, I got everything that a tutorial would have given me, so thanks for everything." Klein smiled brightly towards Kirito, who returned with a gentled, albeit forced, grin. "If I need anything else, I'll message you. You can add friends in this game, right?"
"Shit."
"Huh?"
"I said, yeah." There was no point in lying anyways if he was going to find out eventually, and his menu was already out in front of him. "I'll send you a request."
As the message passed through from Kirito, Klein grabbed a seat on the grass and gazed towards the horizon. Kirito noticed a gaze similar to how one would fall in love with a girl at first sight. His fingers hovered the button to send the request, as he shared Klein's perspective. They were on top of a hill, so they had a good view of it all.
Was it just Kirito's imagination that the spectacle was more beautiful than he had remembered?
The grasslands in the distance had their luscious curvatures elegantly dancing in the wind. They ran on endlessly into the skyline, a distance that which Klein probably couldn't visualize. The floating islands that cascaded their lakes into the land below causing a rainbow to form, a smooth, yet crisp confectionary to the eyes. If they squint their eyes, they could even spot the settlements in the distance. The bright blue sky had only been interrupted by a towering pillar that drilled into the heavens above.
"It's really nice, isn't it?" Kirito asked, knowing what the response was by seeing Klein's expression.
"Yeah. Makes you think that you're not really inside a virtual game. Those towns…" Klein pointed at a group of buildings in the far outskirts. "We can reach those, right?"
"If you can see it, it's a place you can reach. As long as you have a weapon on you, that is."
"Of course, I'm going to have a weapon on me. It's called Sword Art Online, after all. What am I going to do if I come across a monster then? Hit it with a book?"
"Considering the effort that went into the game, I wouldn't put it past the realm of possibility if you could do that."
"Wha—seriously? Then—!"
"Please, for crying out loud, don't do it." Klein laughed at his own implied joke, while Kirito respired with a chuckle. How long has it been since he bantered with another person for this extended duration?
"So, you sending that friend request?" Kirito begrudgingly dropped his finger on the button, doing the deed requested by Klein. Shortly after, he noted the small notification at the corner of his vision, disclosing the acceptance.
"You leaving now?" Kirito inquired.
"Yeah. My friends were getting on later, so I thought it would be a good idea to get ahead of them, you know what I'm saying? Get in the quick advantage if I wasn't doing anything else."
"Yeah, sure." Kirito said casually as he watched as Klein stood back up. "You're heading back to town?"
"They should be around there. We said that we would meet up in the plaza, but I'm not too sure if they're here yet. They said that they may come earlier than expected, but they weren't certain." Klein crossed his arms, with an idea to follow. "Kirito, you wanna come with me? I could show you to the squad!"
"I'll pass." Klein's surprised look had been expected. "I wanted to finish up something today, and because I took the time to help you out, I'm pretty much behind on what I had to do," Kirito explained.
"Oh, uh," Klein stammered, "s-sorry about that. If you said something, I would have found someone else."
Kirito shook his head. There was no taking back the actions of his past now. He had to make do with what he had. "It's… really isn't a major problem. I have to go out in a few hours either way."
"Ah, I see! A date, perhaps?" Klein smirked.
"Yeah, I'm meeting up with a CEO of a mining company. I'm looking to mine stuff."
"A mining company?" Klein asked, confused. "Wait, what are you trying to mine?"
"I mine my own business, that's what," Kirito ruthlessly snapped back. "You should do the same."
Klein laughed instead of the expression Kirito thought he would do. "Man, I totally walked right into that one!" He cradled his stomach, as it the intestines would come bursting out at any minute, while small tears creaked from his eyes. "I gotta remember that for whatever I'm in your situation!"
"Go ahead," Kirito shrugged as he watched the skies, "I didn't copyright the sentence or anything."
"Hey, Kirito?" Klein's call caused Kirito to look behind him to the other player. "You know what time it is?"
"It's in the menus, if you didn't know."
"Ah, sorry." Klein scratched his forehead in embarrassment. "So used to doing that in real life."
"Asking for the time? Or generally not knowing things?" A genuine question that Kirito wanted to know, but the way he phrased it caused it to seem rude.
"Ouch, man." Klein giggled despite the insult. Thankfully, Klein didn't take any of it personally. "I meant asking the time."
"Well, it's been about two hours since the launch, so I would say it's about two o'clock," Kirito answered properly.
"Two o'clock? Perfect, my pizza's coming in like a few minutes then." Klein fistbumped the air, cheering on the universe's splendid turn of events.
"You ordered pizza?"
"Yeah, the plan was to play a bit, see if any of my friends logged on, and log out by the time my teriyaki pizza arrived. I need to message them from the real world to see if they're on or not." The word 'teriyaki' made him remember the food that his sister informed him of. He debated in his mind, before he came to a conclusion. He guessed he'll just log off now before he gets too into it. His body must be starving in the real world.
"I'll get off too."
"All right, Kirito. It was nice meeting you, and I hope we can go dungeon crawling together soon!"
"Maybe if you get better, I will," Kirito teased. At least, Klein believed he was teasing him.
The two players called up their menus. There, Kirito panned through the numerous tools he had been given. (Inventory) had been self-explanatory, as with (Allies) and (Communications). The (LogBook) had essentially been his taken quests, and a neat feature of mapping, where only the territory that one had been at had shown with that pull-up. That keyed into a major aspect of exploration within «Sword Art Online», so that it hadn't been all about the fighting.
However, Kirito hadn't been worrying about those menus. He dragged his finger towards the last option, which had been called (Settings). With access, Kirito went towards the words that said (Log Ou—
It wasn't there.
No, he must have missed it with his quick glance. His finger hovered over each menu choice available to him. He slowly descended through them as his stress levels increase in correlation.
"(Options)... (Sync)... (Help)..." Kirito mumbled the menu as he wandered the three available choices. There were really only three choices, and Kirito hadn't been hallucinating. It should have been there, but for some reason, it hadn't. There was no fourth choice.
"H-Hey, Kirito?" He heard Klein call his name another time, but Kirito struggled to listen. That tone hadn't been a call of a casual question. Kirito feared to what Klein had to asked. "This may seem like another stupid question—"
Kirito froze as the words emerged from Klein's mouth.
"How do you log out from the game?"
It wasn't just him. Kirito was heavily concerned over the fact that none of them could find it. It hadn't been rocket science, after all. It shouldn't be rocket science.
"It's suppose to be under (Settings), but… it's not there." Kirito walked towards Klein, peering over to see his menu. It was the same state as his own, with the option of logging out being non-existent. There wasn't even a greyed out option, it just wasn't there.
"Look, maybe it's a bug in the system. We'll just send an issue report to the admins. That's what the (Help) option is for, right?" Klein suggested.
"We could," Kirito agreed as he went into his own menus to do as Klein recommended. However, as the issue was being formulated into words, a thought glided into his mind. "Wait."
"What is it?"
"I refuse to believe that Akihiko Kayaba's development team forgot something this important in the launch version of the game." His hand dropped from the message, as he looked to Klein. "Especially when the (Log Out) option was literally inside the beta test."
"I mean, mistakes can happen sometimes," Klein shrugged of the issue at hand. "they're probably working on the fix right now, if I'm perfectly honest. Kayaba's dev team is probably that good."
"If they are that good, there shouldn't be a problem to begin with. Look at this landscape." Kirito beckoned Klein to watch the same scenery that they had been enjoying a few minutes ago. "You can't convince me that they put in this amount of detail into the game, but forgot something as simple as a (Log Out) feature."
"Right, it's like believing that a book was written by an illiterate author by himself."
"Exactly."
"Well, what do we do?" Klein grabbed his hip with a hand, slouching forwards. "Do we just wait until someone forcibly pulls the NerveGear off?"
"Considering how it disables our motor functions in the real world, that's about all we could do."
Kazuto pondered at his situation. Hopefully, his alarm on his computer would do the job for him, allowing him to exit the game world and head off to see Suguha's kendo tournament, as promised. He really wanted to hope that it was the case, but Kirito's heart felt uneasy. He knew this wasn't natural. He knew that this course of action wasn't possible by the developers to be done by a mistake.
However, if it hadn't been a mistake, what else could it be? There wasn't any real options left.
"You need to go do whatever you need to do, right?" Klein asked. "I guess I'll walk back to town then, to see if any of my friends decided to log on early."
"Y-Yeah," Kirito stammered, nodding in response. "I guess this is farewell for now."
"I'll see you later."
With Klein walking into the distance, Kirito walked his back as his grew smaller and smaller to his relative eye. However, this situation had been peculiar, but he shouldn't fret over it much. Kirito slapped his cheeks, to regain his attention, and had his sights set on the place he wanted to go initially.
Rivalry Forest.
Inside of the office, there had been two people within the organized room. One had been the disciple, and the other, the master, who had been sitting at his desk, exasperated to the news that his disciple had given him. Two laptops were on the desk, each one facing a person.
"So, what you're saying, Kiyoshi… That our grip on the game is no longer existing."
"Yeah, basically," he answered with with a carefree tone—something that shouldn't reflect the grave situation, but Akihiko Kayaba knew this from him the first moment they met. "You think it has to do with something about the bug you found?"
"No, I don't think. I know it has to do with the bug I found. I just decoded it and discovered what its purpose was."
"Hmm?" With a grave atmosphere lurking around Kayaba's words, Kiyoshi was rather invested and intriguted, dipping his upper half of the body above his desk to look at what had been on the computer.
"The players can't log out. None of them can, and considering the status, we can't do anything about it."
"I'm actually more interested on how someone was able to get past my firewall." Kiyoshi retreated back, sliding his finger along his cheek. "Like, it shouldn't be possible with the amount of effort I put into that baby."
"It's not possible, but it appeared that they got the change in a different way." Kayaba kept his eyes on the computer, constantly analyzing what he could do. "If you dig under of fly over the wall, it's suddenly not a great defense, now is it?"
"So what? Do we send out a report to the news station to stop everyone who hasn't logged in to log in?"
"It's aggravating, really."
Kiyoshi tilted his head. "Aggravating?"
"I can see the current status of the server, but I can't do anything about it. Right now, about ninety-five percent of all of the copies are being used." Kayaba took a deep breath. "Even if we get the report out, people are eventually going to discover it by themselves."
Kiyoshi waddled over towards Kayaba's bookshelves, his fingers flowing past the past of the books. "So, do I send the report or not?"
"Do as you wish, but the outcome will be the same." Kayaba leaned back into his chair. "There's no doubt that many people will cast us as enemies of humanity now."
"Well, if some person has theoretically hacked into the game and removed our access from it just to trap everyone inside the game," Kiyoshi wondered as he pulled out a book, "wouldn't it mean it's a hostage situation? But, it doesn't make sense to create a hostage situation for the NerveGear. People could just rip the console off forcibly and they're be right back where they left off in the real world. It makes no sense."
"It does if they understand how the NerveGear works."
Kiyoshi dropped the book in his hand, and darted his head back. "Surprise after surprise today for me, isn't it?" He exhaled heavily, throwing his hands against his hips,
"If the offenders managed to grab a hold on the game, they could easily change the code."
"The microwaves transceivers… inside the NerveGear."
"Since our team were the only one who understood the console, I only assumed that the kill code wouldn't be developed." Kayaba dragged in arms onto the desk. His mouth hid behind his supporting hands. "It's entirely possible that they're using that for the hostage situation."
"Son of a—"
"I really hoped that wasn't the case."
Clenching his hands, Kiyoshi held them tightly against his chest. "If it's like that, then everyone is going to see us as the villains in this story, regardless of what we say. Most likely, we're going to have to fix this by ourselves."
Suddenly, as if the world knew of their plans, Kayaba's computer started to act weird. The screen bugged from the software of code that he had been inspecting towards a jumbled up mess. Kayaba hadn't pressed anything to cause it to happen, but he had a feeling of what was transpiring. As Kiyoshi dropped next to him to watch the odd static, the two started to see a figure—a hooded figure. None of them could identify the face under it, for it had been vastly darkened. Even if they could see, there was a high chance that the hooded person had a mask on.
A glint of red came from the shadowed eye.
"What are the chances that this is the guy who caused our game to go haywire?"
Kayaba answered with another question—a rhetorical one. "What do you think, Kiyoshi?"
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November 6, 2022
Floor One - Rivalry Forest
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'As if the wolves could flank me! You're merely making my job easier!'
The three remaining wolves growled as their leader was slaughtered the moment it came into Kirito's small radius. An downward slash rained onto the skull, followed promptly with a thrust that pushed the leader back. The moment it hit the ground, it was no longer a wolf, but polygons that Kirito had been so used to seeing.
Despite the lengthy duration of his grinding, he had only realized something before the three wolves made their last resort assaults. His eyes widened, as his sword lowered carefully. "I didn't get the side quests in the Town of Beginnings." He held his head with his free arm. Klein had distracted him from what he wanted to do before he left the starting town. "I didn't get the damn—!"
Two wolves dashed forwards, but broke from from each other to bounce on Kirito's opposite sides. One on the right, one on the left, but even with the numbers avantage, Kirito returned his eyes onto both of them as he drew back his sword. Shifting to side to side, accelerating with every split second, they finally pounced, coordinating a perfect combination with their fangs hungry for blood.
Kirito wasn't in the mood to play anymore, as the sword sparked a blue light behind his torso, unleashing it swiftly in a horizontal arc.
"[Horizontal]!" The two wolves collided with the single fang of the sword, knocking them backwards. They rolled onto the ground, struggling to stand. Kirito walked up to them, striking them down cold-bloodedly. There was no reason to hesitate anyways. They were just numbers and codes in a system.
The remaining wolf watched as its entire pack was annihilated by what they assumed to be a single prey. It whimpered in fear, as it attempted to escape. Luckily for Kirito, unluckily for the wolf, weapons weren't glued onto their characters in combat, as Kirito propelled his unused dagger at the retreating monster, delaying its movement. That was all Kirito needed to hunt it down.
Any pieces of Col and experience were good Col and experience at this point. He wasn't going to let them run away with his rewards.
As the cries of the dying wolf was obscured by the shattering effect of its defeat, Kazuto came to pick up his dagger, storing it back onto his inventory. He watched as his level went up, and his Col sum increase steadily. He was only level 4 now, but if he was stuck in this game temporarily, he might as well make the best use of his time.
But damn, he remembered that levelling up had been easier though. Kayaba did say during a post-beta test interview that he wanted to leveling system to feel more like a landmark in a player's journey than a checkpoint. If he noticed the slow accumulation of experience during his time with Klein, he would have said something earlier.
Who was he trying to kid? This would have been the outcome regardless of what he actually noticed. Kirito sighed as he continued his pathing.
Rivalry Forest had been a few minutes' journey from the center of Origin Plains, though the size had been vastly bigger. As expected, there were trees, but not too many. Hell, Kirito would doubt calling this place a forest to begin with, but he wasn't the one in charge of that part of development.
He closed off his menu, and began wandering the forest—although, 'wandering' had been an incorrect term to use, since he knew where everything generally was. So far, his memory had matched up with the game, with monster spawns being in similar places as they were in the beta. However, there had been new things he had never seen before. There were new monster placements, and the general area had been altered slightly, so the pathing Kirito had to take changed accordingly.
It mattered not, as long as the area boss of Rivalry Forest remained in the exactly same location. That had been his goal for his first session of the game. It typically needed a small group of players to beat it, but Kirito had the confidence that he could solo it. It wasn't that tough to do so in the first place, and doing so would allow his to reap the chance reward, which had been what he wanted.
There was a low chance that it would drop from this monster's defeat, but if he got it, it would scale excellently into the later floors. If he didn't, then he could still get the dropped materials and the final hit bonus item, which had been guaranteed since he was the only one fighting the area boss.
Kirito walked through the forest, looking for any monsters that he could farm. Besides the intervention from Klein, he was in a good position. As long as nothing else gets in his way, he'll be—
The sky suddenly filled red. The moment Kirito blinked, a red shade had covered the entire environment, leaving. He darted his eyes forward and backwards, as the shift left him in a complete state of confusion. If this happened even once during the beta, Kirito would be less dazed, but this had been a new occurrence.
'What's going on!?' If it was some sort of day-one event, he hadn't known about it. If it was a day-one event, it hadn't been advertised by the developers. All he could conclude is that—
"This isn't normal? Am I correct?"
The voice was aimed towards Kirito, but he didn't know where it had been sent from. Nowhere around him contained another player that could speak, as he darted his head endlessly searching.
"You search wryly in the mistaken places," the voice spoke. "Do remember that this is Sword Art Online, beta tester. The environment is a key aspect of the game."
Of course. If Kirito couldn't see anybody on the ground—Kirito panned his vision up into the trees, where he saw a different appearance than usual.
There was a player merely sitting in the trees. He still had the [Beginner Armour Set] on, matching its brown colour palette with his black hair and eyes. That image would have been the first thing to arise in front of new male players. He had chosen the default avatar as his playable character, with no spec of creativity etched into the design.
"How did you know I was a beta tester?"
"You're not any normal beta tester though." Kirito raised his eyebrow. "You've been bestowed many names during your adventures of the olden Aincrad. The Desolate Demon, The Stag Solo, The Black Swordsman, and perhaps even more. However, your real username is Kirito, and there's nobody from the beta test who doesn't know who you are."
"You're…" The way this player articulated his words made Kirito uncomfortable under the red-shaded sun. "You're also… a beta tester?"
His bangs had covered his eyes, as the soft wind blew against his body. "What matters is you, not me." The player stood on top of the tree branch, watching Kirito ponder at his words. "This world was a ploy, and we've all fallen for it already."
"A ploy?" Kirito couldn't keep up with the sudden confrontation, but the words collided with the recent memory. "Do you mean the (Log Out) option, or really, the lack of one?"
The player looked up the the drenched sky. "We may not have much time left, but I wish to convey a message." Kirito, despite not knowing had been happening, was willing to listen. The will and possibility had been different though.
A familiar blue light had been encircling the two players. Despite that oddity, the player continued, uninterrupted or unfazed.
"You have one chance." he said bleakly. "If there is any possibility of escaping, you're one of the options, regretfully. Therefore, you may roam how you see fit, however hinder any progress," the player's tone suddenly reached a chilling threat. "And I will see to it that you will die."
Kirito was left breathless. "Wait, what do you mean—!?"
Those were the only words Kirito could scream before the two players were devoured by the light, disappearing from the positions they were in.
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November 6, 2022
Floor One - Town of Beginnings
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Before he realized it, he found himself to a place, recognizable to anyone who logged into the game and had a spec of attention to what was in front of them. He was back in the Town of Beginning, no doubt, being in the central plaza. Standing tall before the darken sky, the Black Iron Palace stood triumphantly, amused at its own motionless performance. Though, what audience had it been presenting to?
Kirito watched as blue lights flickered on and off, dropping players at a rapid rate. He could heard the disorientation and turmoil caused by the unforeseen kidnapping. They were murmuring to one another, trying to conclude what had been going on. There were talks on how there wasn't a (Log Out) option, either.
Kirito's heart started to pound. Whether was happening, this is starting to really seem less and less of a mistake. His mind was all over the place.
To add in, those threatening words from the player he didn't even know echoed in his ears. The way to phrased it, it made one of the scenarios that Kirito refused to acknowledge more likely, but Kirito had done just that—refuse the possibility. He had too much respect of Akihiko to think that it would happen.
"Kirito!" He recognized that voice. When he turned towards the direction, he noticed the same red-bandana trying to traverse the human sea. Behind him had been a few heads following at his discretion. "Kirito, over here!"
"K-Klein?" It appeared that he's been transferred over here as well. Was everyone in the game currently in the plaza?
Breaking through the bodies, Klein managed to stumble and stop right in front of him, an anxious expression fixated onto his face. "Kirito, thank god! What the hell's going on?"
"Your guess is as good as mine." Kirito allowed his hand to rest under his chin. "Nothing like this happened in the beta test."
"Nothing!?"
"Look, if I knew, I would probably tell you! For now though, I'm running on nothing!" The desperate identity managed to creep its way into Kirito's heart. He wanted answers as much as Klein did. However, he felt like he wouldn't like them—that it would lead to a terrible fate. His teeth gritted as he clenched his hand.
"Hey, what's that in the sky!?" "What the hell!?" "I thought this was a MMORPG, not a horror game!"
Kirito and Klein snapped his head to what the crowd was staring at, and they widened his eyes as their jaws slowly dropped.
As if a knife sliced it open, a wound opened up in the red sky. From the opening, a figure walked—no, floated out. The figure towered over the players, managing to make the Black Iron Palace some kid's toy. It was a hooded figure that revealed itself towards the players, but it had been just that—a hooded figure. No matter how Kirito tried to look at it, there were no limbs or face. It was just an empty void that refused to be filled.
Like how a king notices their servants and the civilians, the hooded figure bestowed itself in similar colour. A red drape covered in golden embroidery along the edges, and the hood raised its arms up, as if it wanted everyone to cheer.
No one had been excited.
No one had been thrilled.
This moment did not scream of a wondrous moment.
Kirito stared blankly at the figure, but not in the way others feared it. Kirito recognized those robes. They could be seen during the beta at rare moments, but it hadn't been an equipment piece or an item that a player could get.
They were exclusive to the game moderators, to indicate their importance.
「Welcome, everyone. Welcome to Aincrad, the world within Sword Art Online.」His word roared throughout the land, trampling any mutters of concern that stood in its way. It echoed, despite the vast space surrounding the figure, sending a distressing slash along Kirito's spine.
He refused to believe it. He absolutely refused it. Innocent until proven guilty, he'll deny it to the bitter end. However, those dreams were dashed, completely annihilated the moment they arose. His heart crumbled to pieces as he heard its next words.
「My name is Akihiko Kayaba. From this day onwards, I am in control of this world.」
"If they die in the game, they die in real life?" Kiyoshi posed the question aloud. The broadcast had wrapped up from the mysterious individual, posing as Akihiko. It hadn;t been directly to them though. It felt like it was being broadcasted to everyone, from the way he spoke. This was supported by the numerous complaint emails that had been convinced that Akihiko had been the mastermind. They were coming into Akihiko's inbox at an alarming rate, while the two needed to debrief.
What exactly were they to do? Their options were vastly limited.
They could have talked to the media on how this was a hacking, but protesters would still find a way to destroy them. Also, that wouldn't aid their situation by much, with the ten thousand players still stuck in virtual reality.
This message had also been conveyed to the players of «Sword Art Online», who were probably antagonizing Akihiko at this moment. If they still had an ounce of access, he could send an announcement regarding the grave situation, but if he have access—
"Wait, Kiyoshi." His call made him dart his head to the brooding Akihiko. "We still have access to Project Soul, right?"
"Yeah?" he answered questionably. "Although, I wanted to develop it a bit more before we actually did the thing—" Kiyoshi suddenly realized what Akihiko was trying to plan. "Oh."
"If we still have Project Soul, we can at least help the players from our end. It won't allow us our access, but it can override the current state of the server, like a bandage that won't come off. Is that right?"
"If we're going to use it for that, then I just need an hour or two to make some adjustments. Only then, will it work as we want it to." Kiyoshi grinned as he spun to the door. "I'll get on it as soon as possible. It's probably our only chance, since any contact from the government hackers to stop the servers will result in a mass murder in less than a second."
"We're not stopping the servers though. We're just altering it slightly."
"You think the mastermind will notice though?"
Akihiko pressed his hand together. "I don't know what he wants, but I don't think he wants to kill."
"If he wanted to, he would have done so by now," Kiyoshi stated, completing Akihiko's thought. "He really does want to create a hostage situation."
"My only concern of the matter is the method in which the players could exit; to beat the game," Akihiko pondered. "Why did he implement that?"
"You ask me like I know the answer," Kiyoshi shrugged, closing his laptop. "I quickly checked the code, and it really does allow that to log out when the game is beaten."
"To ask for ransom or ownership isn't within my personality, as everyone knows," Kiyoshi raised his eyebrow. "Hypothetically, if I were to do something similar, I would do it in the exact same manner. This mastermind is trying to make me look like him," Akihiko mulled.
"So what?" Kiyoshi answered. "That still doesn't explain a lot. The protestors would probably increased in numbers, but the media would understand a hacking. That doesn't explain the motive."
"Would the people understand though? The country knows that the NerveGear is flawed now, thus pushing back any type of development for virtual reality ten times fold." Akihiko clicked his tongue. "Someone wanted to show the danger of virtual reality, instead of the wonders it could bring without murdering ten thousand people."
Akihiko darted his eyes on his personal assistant. Implementing Project Soul would help the players in one way, but would it help them clear the game? It wasn't as if he didn't believe in the player base, but how many would succumb to its effects? How fast would they be able to clear the game?
"Kiyoshi, don't worry about Project Soul." Akihiko stood up from his desk and stepped forward towards him. "I'll take care of it."
"Oh?" Kiyoshi looked to face his teacher, a grin on his face. He knew exactly what Akihiko wanted him to do, and he was more than ready to do so.
"We have copies of the game here in the office. I want you to dive in and help their situation."
"You're not diving?" Kiyoshi asked smugly.
"I need to take care of the media and people on the outside. I plan to come in as soon as possible, to aid, but for now, I can't leave this world until I sort out everything—or rather, anything that could be resolved." He wanted to come in as soon a possible, but he couldn't leave his personal assistant to deal with the country's arms. He'll just make it worse somehow, just to see what would happen. His eyes glared on the corners of Kiyoshi's grin. "People's lives are at stake, Kiyoshi. The only reason that I am even considering you is that you proven to be one of the better players in the game that I could luckily reach easily. Keep this in mind, Kiyoshi Taisuru. Do not fool around."
Without another word, Kiyoshi walked out of the room, with a grim atmosphere engulfing his radius. As the door closed behind him, he scrunched up his eyes and responded to his teacher's request.
He laughed.
"Sorry. Can't make any promises."
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The Chains That Conform Us
Chapter 1 : Sword Art Online
END
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Author's Notes
And I'm suddenly at 31 pages on the document. What the actual fu—
So I read through my fanfiction again. It was kinda shit, not gonna lie, but that's what practice is for, right? As I mentioned, this is going to be the revamped version of Sword Art Online : Another Story, whilst I delete the original series in a considerable amount of time. I'll give you guys a grace period. There's a lot more going on with this first chapter than the other one. Speaking of changes—
What's going to change from this and the previous version?
First of all, no more bullshiting what the game mechanics are. I'm just going to stick with what the canon says about the entire skills, weapons, upgrades, and all that jazz. There will be slight modifications regarding the numbers, but not much. I didn't make it to that point in the former version, but Unique Skills will be a thing, but that will be the only thing that will be completely altered. Like, everyone gets a unique skill of their own, altered.
Second of all, the writing style. I noticed that I have round-about ways of describing things, and sometimes, I describe things a little too deeply. Part of a good writing includes leaving some parts for the readers to imagine, or so I read online.
Third of all, I want to put an emphasis on the characters, as I believed they were a bit too… I don't know the specific word, but I don't like how portrayed them. I also needed to keep in mind everyone's original personalities and try to be careful not to overstep my boundaries and put them into a situation in which they would not be in normally.
Fourth, as you seen from this first chapter, I will try to keep the canon intact, but changing it as how I see fit. By the way, no harem—screw that noise.
Fifth, I wrote to aimlessly improve myself and remix Sword Art Online to how I would like it. However, it was wrong of me to do it aimlessly. When I wrote the first revamped chapter, I'm writing with a generalized theme in mind, to help keep the story somewhat consistent.
If you read my previous version, I would like your opinions on the differences of quality. Was it better? Did I mess up in some areas? Did you personally enjoy it? Any parts you hated? Should I go kill my—wrong list of questions, my bad.
Also, sorry if I made any technical mistakes in terms of computer coding or whatever. I'm not looking to study just to write fiction on my own time.
I'll see you next time, BlazingKeld.
EDIT : Level scalings to the skills and mistakes I missed.