I can't believe it… Trapped in a game. A death game. If you die here, you die in real life. I am way too scared to leave the starting town. I don't want to die! I am curling up in the back of an inn. The only way to get out of this hell of a game. Is if someone reaches the 100th floor of the Aincrad castle. But that is easier said than done. 2.000 out of 10.000 have already died. And the first floor has yet to be cleared. My name is Sachi, I have black hair and blue eyes. My weapon of choice is the shield, because if I get attacked, at least it will buy me some time for me to escape. I am almost out of money… my last 100 gold coins are to provide a bed and food. I am going to starve if I don't move… but if I move I might die. I am crying in the back of the inn and try covering my face. The violin music playing through the town is calming though… it is one of the few plus points in Starting town. A waiter comes up to me and asks "Do you want something to drink or eat?" I am supposed to say yes or no. his program is simple. If I say yes, he shows me a menu. If I say no, he just walks further and says "Thank you." I see some other people are just like me. Drinking and trying to escape this game's death penalty by staying here.

All of the sudden, a message pops in front of my face. It reads "We found the Boss room of Floor 1" I open the message. It calls everyone to meet at the arena. So we can have an organized attack on the Boss. I am staring at the message for at least half an hour, before I shakily accept the invite. I grab my shield and small wooden sword, and start heading out to the Arena. I am shaking, but slowly open the inn door to the outside. The same waiter waves and says goodbye. I see a small group of people talking. I try to hear what they are saying, but can't quite know for sure. I had better chances of surviving in a group, so I walked up to them. They look at me and open their circle for me "Who are you if I may ask?" a guy in purple asks and looks down at me.

I shyly look up at them and speak, almost whisper "Sachi… a-are you also heading to the Arena?" they look at each other for a moment and laugh "Want to join us? Extra help is always welcome" a guy in yellow offers me a hand "I am Keita, the leader of our guild. These are Tetsuo, Sasamaru and Ducker" They all offered me a hand. I smiled for the first time in this game, they accepted me, even though I was a level 1. With zero battle knowledge or items. But they invite me to their guild. Keita makes a movement with his hand that makes a menu pop up. After a short while I see the same pop up "Guild invite to : Moonlit Black Cats : Accept or Deny" I clicked the Accept button and see some confetti jump out. With the words 'Congratulations' it startles me a little but they just smile at me "Let's get going, I want to reach the Arena tonight" Keita yells and marches towards the wilderness.

I stay close to Sasamaru because he looked pretty strong. I have never been out of starting town and look a little scared seeing some level 1 boars. They point at it and push me towards it "Come on, Go! Don't be scared" They say and I see an exclamation mark pop up above the boar. It charges at me and I hide behind my shield. It knocks me back a couple of meters and readies for another charge. I stay behind my shield and am too scared to look at it. It hits me again and knocks my shield away. I look at it for a second and it already is charging another attack. I weakly hold my sword and prepare for impact "Do something!" Keita shouts at me. I close my eyes so I can't see when it is going to hit me. But after a couple of seconds… it still didn't hit. I peek and see that it has a dagger in its side. It slowly dissolves into bits and leaves some meat and gold on the ground "You owe me that one Sachi" Ducker walks toward the pile of items and picks up his dagger. A pop up comes in front of me "Loot items? 2 boar meat, 10 gold" I click the accept button and feel my pockets getting a little heavier.

I feel embarrassed, but Ducker just smiles at me "Don't worry, there is a first time for everything" he pats my back and twirls his dagger through his fingers. I look at it and smile "Is that a skill you can learn? Throwing knives?" He nods and puts the knife in his pocket "It takes some time though, to learn. But it can be very handy for starting fights or saving someone from a distance." I look at my shield, I used my point for blocking. Not too smart, but I'll have to deal with it. The rest of the walk was silent. We had some other encounters with boars. But they took care of it. The sun sets and I can see the town in the distance. "There it is guys. Tolbana, the second largest city on the first floor" Keita smiles and makes a run for it "Last one there needs to pay the bill!" the others quickly follow and I try running too. I end up being last and since I only have 110 gold. It is going to be a light meal for them. We reach a small restaurant called "The Fried boar" and as soon as we enter the building, a waiter comes towards us. "A table for five?" Keita accepts and follows the waiter. We are placed on a round table near the window. We each get a menu and there is a timer with 60.00 seconds left to order. They all took something worth less than 20 gold. Some took Boar meat, and others took the Dire wolf steak. I took the Toad soup, and it was surprisingly tasty. I paid for the dinner and am left with 30 Gold. But Keita said he would pay me back later. If I would remind him to. All we needed now is a place to sleep for two days. We would split up and find the cheapest one possible in town. I have been living in cheap inns for thirty days. So this wasn't very different for me. I was supposed to look through the west side of the town. I saw some cheap ones for 5 gold per night, and 10 gold per 3 nights. Our rendezvous point was at Fountain square at 19:00.

After 25 minutes of searching, I found the cheapest inn with 5 gold per night, and 7 for two nights. I was walking back to the Fountain square when I saw a black figure walking past me. He looked like he knew exactly was doing, I could catch a glimpse of his level, it was 2 digits long and contained an 8. He was way too quick for me and within seconds, I lost him. I hurried back to the Fountain square and see the rest of the group playing with the fountain water. Making each other wet. They notice me after a short while and wave, signing me to come closer. I do so and almost trip over a lose brick in the floor. They laugh silently "And? Found anything good?" Keita asks. I show him the ad I had found. But Sasamaru had a better one, with a party bonus. It was on the far end of the east of town.

As we walk, we pass a market with countless cool little items. Healing gems, steel swords, and decorated shields. Each at a steep price of 500 Gold. I can't afford that of course. But I'll have to remember that there are nice shops here. I see Ducker talking with a knife trader, and he just fills his pockets with more knifes. I smile and pay close attention to Keita. He waits at the end of the street for his members to finish shopping. I shyly ask him about my money. As soon as I said that he pops up his menu again and starts preparing the money "Here you go, 20 Gold for the dinner." I watch How Tetsuo is holding two swords and a shield on his back. "Hey Sachi! Catch" he throws me one of the swords, it quickly sparkles in the dim streetlight before I catch it. "This is a pretty expensive sword… 1000 Gold?!" I drop it on the ground and take a step back "I can't accept that, Tetsuo…" He picks it up and shoves it in my arms "Take it or leave it" he smiles.

"I don't want to accept it… I am scared of fighting..." I say silently and drop the sword in front of him. "If there was a way I wouldn't have to come close…" Tetsuo frowns for a second, but grabs the sword off of the ground, and sells it back to the merchant. Keita was looking at me with a confused look, why so scared of taking damage? You don't die that quickly. You have 1050 hit points, and each enemy can take a portion of that away. But it takes a long time. Suddenly Keita shocks, like he realized something. He quickly looks through his menu and scrolls through all the items he found "Where… is it…." After a short while I hear him yelp out of joy and he hands me a spear "Here you go, you won't have to come close to them at all" he says smiling at me. I hesitate for a second. But take the spear. Pretty light with a metal tip. I thank him and practice it on him immediately by hitting him. In towns you are protected, so it will only knock him back a little. He makes a surprised yell but smiles afterwards "That was straight out sly." The other members just laugh and we continue our walk to the place Sasamaru found. It is nighttime. But the town is still full of people, laughing and enjoying the things that make this game fun. A place where you can let yourself go, and live your dreams. There are no real laws, because everything illegal is being fixed by the system that made this game. Except for player killing. When you are out of town, players can kill each other. Why anyone would do that is a mystery. But it has happened a couple of times already. Also one of the reasons why I don't like leaving towns. But if I don't leave the towns, I will starve… and die. Keita snaps me out of my thoughts with a finger snap "Hey, Sachi. Try staying awake" he smiles. I look down and just walk further, following Sasamaru.

We finally reach the resident. An old windmill with a farm next to it. The guy offers two nights rest for 6 gold each. We pay the owner and he lets us in. it is a well decorated place actually. The beds are on the first floor and look neat. "Tomorrow morning, we need to start killing some stuff. Sachi, we want you to be the one doing the damage, I'll protect you" Keita smiles "Goodnight everyone" the rest of the members bid each other a good night and try sleeping as quickly as possible. I on the other hand ,have trouble… I stay awake for maybe one more hour until I fall asleep out of exhaustion.


I really am hoping i am doing this right. because i am Always scared to make horrible mistakes and i might be seen as a failure. but it is worth a shot
Sincerely, the voice you hear in your head when you are reading this