Welcome to SAO ch 1
The day had finally arrived. Today was the release date of the first virtual reality massive multiplayer online game: Sword Art Online. It was exciting day for my brother Chuck, my best friend Mark, and me, Tom. My mom did not support video games much. She found the idea of virtual reality a bit troubling. She preferred when my brother and I played real sports. But after Chuck cracked his head open and got a metal plate, she calmed down a little.
I managed to snag a copy of SAO by competing in a math competition. Nerdy I know, but at least my collage will be free. Mark was a beta tester and managed to pick up a copy for Chuck.
When the game was released, my mom gave my brother and I two hours. To save time, Mark logged in before us to pick us up the basic equipment.
Like I said before, the day had finally arrived. An hour after the server went live, Chuck and I logged on. We didn't share a room, but mine had a computer so we decided to dive from there.
Chuck laid down on my bed while I leaned back in my beloved lazzyboy. We put on our NerveGears and looked at each other.
"You ready?" I asked.
"Heck ya!"
"Link start!" we yelled together.
The was a flash of color then a transparent window opened up.
"What the heck," said Chuck. "This is not how it was advertised." He sat up.
"Please follow the on screen instructions," came a voice.
"I guess we still need to calibrate it," I said. After doing some basic movement and big green check appeared on screen.
"Okay," I said, "for real this time. Link start!"
The colors reappeared but much bright this time. My mind went into sensory overload. The next thing I knew I was floating in space. A menu and keyboard appeared in front of me. I reached out and touched it. It felt real and the movement was natural. Clearly, this was the most freaking awesome thing ever. And now I had to pick a name.
Honestly, I had no idea of what to pick. It didn't accrue to me me that I would have to pick a name. I knew that in a massive game like this I could not use my own. I could chose a normal name but I decided against it because that would be lame. Next came a name from all the nerd universes I knew of. I picked Silver. Sadly, it was already taken. The next thing that popped into my head Hydro Cannon. That was a bit long for my lazy self so I shortened it to Hydro.
I didn't care much for my appearance. I figured I would be wearing a helmet most of the time anyway. I randomly clicked on all the facial option. The only thing that I took notice on was my nose. It was ridiculously huge. Needles to say I fixed that.
With evenly thing set I pressed the confirm button and continued on. Big blue letters ready "WELCOME TO SWORD ART ONLINE" and then I was teleported into a small room. I walked out and let out a gasp.
I was in a huge market with thousands of others. In the distance I could see large pillars. It was amazing the graphics were so lifelike I couldn't even tell I was in a game anymore.
"Chuck?" a red head asked as soon as took a few more steps.
"Close," I replied. "Tom. Is that you Mark?"
"Ya, but we're in game so call me Frenzy."
"Fine, whatever," I said. "What is taking Chuck so long?"
Just then, a new character walked out of spawn.
"What the heck!" He yelled. "You look just like me. Is that you Tom?"
"Maybe. What are the chances that randomizing would look like you?"
"Some I guess."
"Who cares," said Mark. "Check out the class packages that I found you guys."
Mark opened up a trading menu and game my brother and I our starter packs.
"As request I got you the assassin pack. Chuck, sorry there was no pack for guy-that-beats-people-up, but I found something you might like.
Chuck opened his pack first. He press the equip all box before even bothering to see what he got. In a flash Chuck was reequipped with armor that looked like metal football pads and a huge ax. The lineman look very happy with his items.
"Some one was born to be a front guard," I said. "Let's see what I got."
I went threw my inventory and found an assassin cloak, lock pick, and Last Breath weapon. I eagerly equipped the gear. To my dismay, my awesomely named weapon was nothing more than a pansyish knife.
I frowned at Mark.
"I want something bigger."
"It is not about the size, it's how you use it."
"Oh course you would say that. I'm talking about swords."
"So was I," smirked Mark.
"You're a perv and I hate you," I said with a straight face.
"No seriously, looks at the bonus."
I check it out. To my surprised, to compliment the lowest attack increase in the game came a nice bonus effect. One percent chance to instantly kill any monster killed 20 times. Plus five percent for every five levels the monster higher is then you with a max of thirty. The only down side was that it could only be used on the weakest monster of the floor. It was basically the perfect grinding level, but only if you fall behind the leading players.
"I guess it will do for now. I'm still going to need a sword."
"Ya ya ya, who cares," said Chuck. "Let's go kill stuff. My ax is sick."
We went into the field right outside of of the Town of Beginnings. Mark showed us the basic of combat like how to use sword skills. I had some much fun. It took twenty five hits for me to kill a bore with out sword skills. Luckily I could easily get five hits on a single approach. The sword skills were over powered too. I could kill bore in two hits with my LUNGE attack.
Needless to say, time flew by. Two and a half hours past. I got a lucky and kill a bore with my first hit. I turned around and raised my arm in triumph. Just then my brother exploded in an burst of rainbow pixels.
"Oh crap," I said check in the in game time. "We went over by half an hour."
I tried to logout. To my alarm the option was missing.
"Sucks to be you," said Mark. "Being forced off IRL sucks like no other. I would brace yourself."
I did. Seconds turned into into minutes.
"Your bro must have been nice enough to stop your mom from removing your NerveGear. We better pick up his stuff for him."
So we gathered his stuff. We went back to grinding. Just then, we saw a new creature. It was a wolf. I didn't know if we could take it. My knife did like no damage, and the monster was level five. It had a whopping two hundred hit points. I really didn't want to die on the first floor, let alone my first day. Out of no where, another player charged it. He had a cloak like mine, but a sword instead of a dagger.
His first attack was a LUNGE sword skill. Rookie mistake. While the attack was powerful, it was not enough for a one hit kill. Now he had to take a three second cool down. The wolf attacked before he could even move again. It bit onto his arm and started to slowly drain his hp. Not wanting to be a jerk that lets new players die, I charged into battle.
Using my normal attack, I dealt some minor damage. The wolf let go a bit me for some major damage. It leaped back. It didn't more for a few seconds. Then it jumped at me again. I used a LUNGE of my own and slashed the wolf right along its underbelly. The new comer finished it with an OVERHEAD skill.
"Dude, are you okay," said Mark. "You're almost dead. Check your hp bar in the conner."
I glanced at it. Seven percent. Dang that was close. Just then, a new window opened. It read "battle healing skill available. Auto regain health while in combat. Level up by spending time with hp in red zone. Would you like to accept?" Of course I would. After that, every few seconds, I regained some life. Now I wouldn't have to worry about dying anytime soon.
"Hey," I said turning to the new guy. "I'm Tom, I mean Hydro."
"Sup," came the reply. "I'm Taylor, I mean Blast. Thanks for the help."
I took a second to look at him. Immediately I started laughing. The guy had both features of a guy and a girl. He had big red lips and eyelashes that went oh so perfectly with his beard and side burns.
"Your face," I said and fell and the ground laughing.
"Yes, yes. Laugh it up. I clicked some wrong buttons and now I look stupid. You can stop now."
"Don't sweat it," said Mark walking over. "If you could change your appearance in the beta, I'm sure you can do it in the full game."
"I totally have to see what you look like after you get it all fixed. Friend me?"
"Why not?" came Blast's answer.
And thus I became friends with the first person I met online. Blast then left to go and find some friends. Ten minutes latter, everyone was teleported to the Town of Beginnings.
Opening announcements were made. I didn't really pay attention. I knew that my mom wouldn't let me play much so I figures I would soon fall behind the people beating floor bosses and what not. My ears perked up when there was mention if the missing logout button.
My jaw dropped at the news that it was a part of the game. We were in this for the long haul. To make things worse, death meant death. I started to get nervous, but only for a second. Then I call it as bull crap. It was the announcement to the players already dead the really struck me home. Some players were dead because their NervrGear fried their brains when it was forced off. Sure enough, I saw what a feared the most. One of the news articles showed it. My room. Me. And worst of all, my big brother with a sheet over his head.
He was dead. My mom killed him. It was an accident. He was dead. It could have been me. But he was dead. The same thing had happened to many others. But also to my brother. He was dead. We had a soccer match tomorrow. But he couldn't go. He was dead. I couldn't go. I would soon be dead.
It wad too much. I sunk to my knees and wailed. Soon I would be with my brother. Soon. But not yet. Not without a fight.
So here is the first chapter of my own experience in SAO. If I were to really play, I probably would have died like Chuck. But that's boring so I just made him my brother. Unlike my other story, this one will be much more chill. Make sure to review or favorite. It really helps me when you do.
