I was born in America, but moved to Japan with my mother when I was 18, barely. A month after my birthday in 2021, my mother, Mary was accepted for an accounting position at a video game company called Argus. In Q1 of 2022, Argus announced that the first ever VRMMORPG would be hitting shelves on November 24th, 2022. As an employee of Argus, Mary would receive her own free copy of the game, and the console needed to run it; the NerveGear. While I missed my chance to get in on the beta for Sword Art Online, I did not miss the worldwide release. In fact, I was second in line to receive my preordered copy, behind a very pretty girl with chestnut hair and brown eyes. After camping out for days outside the GameStop closest to his house, Asuna (the girl) and I had become very close. Asuna was a year younger than I at 18, and a few months into her last year of high school.
"That's called Senior Year, in America." I told her.
"Oh! Are you from America? I've always wanted to meet an American." Asuna replied, cocking her head to the side. "Now that I think about it, I should've pegged you as one immediately."
My hand flew to his neck, rubbing it awkwardly. A shy smile graced his lips. "Is that good or bad?"
"Good! You're very attractive for an American." The words left her mouth before she could stop them, and she slapped a hand over her mouth and blushed red in embarrassment.
The shy smile turned to a shit-eating grin at that. "Oh, you find me attractive, huh? No worries, same to you." I shot back, winking. "Okay, now that we're done flirting, I assume you're here for SAO as well?" I asked, brows furrowing in confusion. "I would have never expected a girl to be into games as in-depth as a VRMMORPG." At the look at her face, I quickly added. "Pardon me, I did not mean to offend."
"None taken. My Father works for Argus, and ever since I heard about SAO, I've wanted to play it. So, here I am."
"Interesting; my mother works for Argus as well, and I'd never turn down the chance to be a part of history in the making." I returned, smiling.
"Ten minutes! Ten minutes until we start giving out NerveGear and SAO!" The sales rep called out from the front door, loud enough for all 250 people in line to hear.
"Shit, it's so close!" I spoke to Asuna over the murmuring buzz behind them.
"I know, I'm so excited! Oh, before the shit-storm starts, we should trade sign-ins, so we can meet up in game." Asuna turned to me, a piece of scratch paper and a pen in hand. I quickly wrote down my name and my username. Tearing off the other half of the page, I handed her the pen. A few quick pen movements later, she returned my half of the page to me.
"What the hell kind of name is Splazin101?" She exclaimed, confused.
"Old name. Came up with it when I was at a retro night, playing Halo."
"Fair enough; what specifically made you come up wi-"
"Ma'am, it's time. Come get your NerveGear and SAO copy!" The sales rep called out to Asuna, a smile on his face.
"Oh thank god. See you in Aincrad Mark!" Asuna called out over her shoulder before showing her I.D. to the rep, snagging her NerveGear and game, and running towards the entrance of the mall the store was in.
I quickly showed my I.D. and grabbed my console and game before running out of the mall and to my car. The drive back to our house was the longest 15 minutes of my life. I didn't even wait for the garage door to shut all the way before leaping out of my car, grabbing my things, and sprinting inside. Half an hour later, the NerveGear was properly set up and I laid down on my bed, the NerveGear on my head. Turning it on, the screen in front of me flashed white, before a long string of script ran in front of my eyes; diagnostics.
Suddenly, everything was gone. Moments later, my eyes opened to blinding white. I looked around, finding nothing but a floating menu before me.
I filled it out and reviewed it.
Username: Splazin101
Name: Mark Sherman
Age: 19
I was surprised at the simplicity of the login; most MMO's have a longer sign-up page. I tapped the green check-mark down at the bottom, and the menu grew larger and displayed a body; my body, to be exact.
Use displayed physical form?
I always strived to create an avatar as close to my actual body as possible in other games; SAO would be no different. Tapping the green check-mark again, another box popped up. This one, however, held a countdown.
Entering Aincrad in 5...4...3...2...1...0
My vision turned to black for the second time today.
Welcome to Sword Art Online!
Flashed on a black screen before my vision cleared. I was no longer on my bed, or in a white room. A courtyard spread out before me; hedges ran along a path straight ahead, to massive double doors. Taking two steps forward, I stopped. Pulling up my menu and accessing my friends list, I sent a friend request to Asuna's username. A few moments later, my menu pinged, informing me that she accepted. I grinned, closing my menu before looking down. I wore the clothes that the display had shown me; a red shirt on black pants. A tip popped up in the bottom right of my vision.
Visit the market to purchase beginner armor and a weapon!
I shrugged. As good an idea as any. I strode to the double doors and pushed them open, stepping out into the Starting City.
The streets were packed with people and market stalls, NPC vendors hawking their wares claiming they had the best store in Aincrad.
I browsed idly as I wandered the city. One stall caught my attention.
Learn a new skill! 500 Cor!
Intrigued, I made my way to the stall owner.
"What skill are you teaching?" I asked the NPC.
"Polearms, my good sir! Halberds, poleaxes, naginatas, and glaives."
"What's a glaive?" I asked, my brow furrowed.
"Think curved blade mounted on top of a pole; not unlike a spear, but more for slashing attacks."
"I like it. Do you know how much a basic glaive would cost me?"
"Tell you what, my good sir. I like you, so I'll tell you about the deal the weapon smith and I made. You get trained in polearms from me, and he throws in a free polearm of your choice; within reason of course."
I checked my account. 750 Cor to my name, and I'm about to drop 2/3rds of it already.
"I'll take it." I grinned at the NPC, and his smile got even wider.
"I knew I liked you for a reason, good sir!" Opening my menu, I watched my 750 Cor drain to 250; opening my skills tab, a new one had appeared, Polearms, at level two; the rest of my skills were at level one, unsurprisingly. "Now," the NPC spoke, and I looked back to him. "Go to the Weaponsmith three stalls down and tell him the Trainer sent you. I'll give you this letter for him, proving your authenticity good sir. Good luck, and good hunting!" He called out as I took the letter and turned away, waving as I made my way to the Weaponsmith.
This stall was crowded; while the Trainer's stall had been all but abandoned, this stall had players flocked to it like white on rice. After waiting in line, it was finally my turn.
"What can I get for you, Splazin101?" The Weaponsmith asked, hands on his hips.
"I have this, ah, note from the Trainer. Something about a free polearm?"
The Weaponsmith's eyes lit up and he grinned.
"Congrats, friend! You're the first one to get training in SAO ever! I'll give you the polearm of your choice, and an IOU for a free set of armor from the Armorsmith."
"God, you're kidding!" Someone in line called out behind me. "What makes him so special?!" Another cried out, outraged. I spun on my heels to address everyone behind me.
"All I did was pay 2/3rds of my starting Cor for polearm training; I doubt any of you have spent more than a hundred today. I had no idea I'd get all this free stuff, so you all can stuff it!" I shouted, irate at the ignorance of the other players.
"Bullshit! You must be a Beta tester!" Another one cried out.
"What? No!" I responded, flustered. As the cries of the line behind me raised in intensity, I turned back to the Weaponsmith, accepted the glaive he offered me; the Tempered Steel Glaive. Equipping it and strapping it to my back, I jogged away from the line of angry, jeering players and towards the Armorsmith.
"Here's your new armor." The Armorsmith spoke, smiling as my inventory registered four new items. Equipping the Iron Gauntlets, Iron Breastplate, Iron Greaves, and Iron Boots, I thanked the NPC and moved out of the way of the hustle and bustle of the Starting City. I took a moment to examine my armor; I figured weak spots would be something I would have to become accustomed to protecting. My gauntlets were fingerless leather gloves with a long and wide piece of iron covering the top of my forearm, extending down over the back of my hand. The boots were leather boots with iron covering the front. The breastplate was pretty standard; no shoulder-plates, covering my chest to my navel and from my neck to the small of my back. The greaves were much like the boots, covering the front and sides of my thighs. Thankfully, the crotch wasn't uncomfortably tight.
"What, no helmet?" An unfamiliar voice asked. I looked up to see a man with long red hair and a red and yellow bandana around his forehead.
"I could ask you the same thing." I shot back as I rose to my full 6'3" height. The man had basic leather armor on.
"I don't like helmets; they impede vision." I laughed at that. "What's so funny?!" He asked, getting a little riled up.
"Nothing, nothing! It's just funny, that's why I don't have one either." I smiled apologetically, and after a moment we both burst out laughing. I spoke first, introducing myself. "I'm Splazin101, nice to meet you." I thrust my hand out. He shook it with a grin before responding.
"I'm Klein, nice to meet you as well." Klein looked back and forth, almost suspiciously, before leaning forward and whispering in my ear. "Did you play in the beta?" I looked at him, brows furrowed, before shaking my head. He leans back, shrugging. "Sorry. Had to ask; you seem too well equipped to be a normal player." I shrugged as well.
"It was weird, honestly. I got training for Polearms from the Trainer and he gave me an IOU for a free polearm of my choice from the Weaponsmith, who then gave me an IOU for an armor set of my choice at the Armorsmith." Klein's jaw dropped.
"No way, seriously?! Do you think it'll work for me?" I shook my head.
"I doubt it; the reason I got the IOU from the Trainer was that I was the first to get training. Like, out of all..." I checked the general game info before continuing. "25,000 or so of us logged on right now."
"Holy shit, there are 25,000 logged on right now? I thought it'd be closer to 10,000."
I leaned back against the wall. "I don't know, 25,000 makes more sense. NerveGear may be expensive, but it's not THAT expensive." I felt my fingers begin to tap a tune against the brick; at that, I pushed off the wall and turned to Klein. "C'mon, let's go kill stuff." I said, holding out my hand. He shook it, nodding his head before following me towards the main gate.
"Nice one, Splazin!" Klein called out as I made short work of yet another Frenzy Boar. Another 30 Cor to my wallet, bringing me up to 400.
"That's five for me, Klein! Get off your ass and keep up!" I called out, charging towards another boar. As it neared, I brought my glaive in a diagonal slash; then the weirdest thing happened. The blade of my glaive glowed blue, then slashed through the Frenzy Boar at a speed that I could've never reached. I watched as the boar burst into glittering shards, and the pop-up menu confirm another kill. It took me a second to be able to move again. I turned, and looked at Klein.
"Did you see that?" He nodded, dumbstruck. "You try it!" I called out, lifting my glaive above my right shoulder before bringing it down. Right as the blade was parallel with my body, it glowed blue again before coming down at a blinding speed. I noticed that for a second after the swing, I couldn't move. Once I regained control over my body again, I turned to see Klein slash through a boar using the same technique I had. I jogged over to him to compete notes.
"So, this must be one of those Sword Skills that the trailer went on about." Klein spoke first.
"Oh yeah! It's what the creator used to take the place of magic in-game, right?" I asked. "That was a ballsy move by Akihiko Kayaba honestly. No magic in an MMO? Crazy." I spoke, thinking aloud.
"I'm going to have to agree with you there, friend." Klein said. "But anyways." He continued, pulling up his menu. I watched as he went through the tabs before reaching the Skills tab, then accessing the Sword Skills page. "Check this out, Splazin; there are two more basic sword skills we have access to; Vertical, and Horizontal." He brought his sword to his non-dominant side; it glowed yellow before cutting a wide arc in front of him. His eyes glittered with excitement. "This is so cool!"
I grinned and nodded before turning away from Klein and raising my glaive above my head. The blade glowed red, and then I brought it down in a killer swing, faster than I thought I ever could have. I turned to Klein with the same look in my eyes. "This isn't just cool; this is fucking wicked!" I called out. "Now come on, Klein! We may be even, but I think these skills will make grinding way easier; prepare to eat my kill-counts dust!" I yelled over my shoulder, charging another boar with my glaive raised. One Vertical later and I was 30 Cor richer and closer to level 2.
The next few hours were a blur of sword skills, playful banter with Klein, and lots of dead boars. Before we both knew it, it was 5:20.
"Shit!" I exclaimed, checking the time. Klein cut down another boar, but he didn't even let it finish dissolving before he was by my side.
"What, Splazin? What's wrong?" I shook my head, opening my menu.
"Mom's going to be home in ten minutes, and I haven't done my chores yet! She's going to freak!" I cried, frantically searching my menu. A minute later, I still had no luck. "Hey Klein, do you know where the logout button is?"
"Should be right under 'help' and 'options'." He responded from his spot he'd taken in the grass. "Hey Splaz, check out this view." I turned to see an orange sun I'm lowering towards the horizon while it cast warm rays onto the plains.
"Amazing." I muttered. "I can't believe we're in a game, you know?" I asked, my logout problems momentarily forgotten. "This looks like something out of a painting, not an MMO."
"I know what you mean." Klein replied, smiling softly. I turned back to my menu, brows furrowed.
"Klein? Can you check your menu for the logout button?"
"Yeah, sure bud." Klein flipped through his menu, his face turning graver. "Huh, weird. I can't find it."
"Me either." I replied. Before I could say any more, a bell sounded. Klein and I looked around in confusion; there was nothing nearby that could've housed a bell. The sound rang out again, and my vision flashed white before it changed. Suddenly, it wasn't just me and Klein out in the fields. We were in a throng of people, back in the Starting City. "Must've been a forced teleport." I commented. "I wouldn't be surprised, since it's Day One." Klein just nodded in agreement, scanning his surroundings. A flash of red caught my eye suddenly; red oozed from the sky. I was startled. This ooze morphed into a giant, hooded, faceless figure in the sky.
"Players!" The figure called out. "My name Akihiko Kayaba. This is my game. By now, I'm sure you've noticed that the logout button is not there. This is not an error, or a glitch." A collective gasp rose from the crowd. "There are two ways out of SAO. You win, or you die." The sky behind him soon became fettered with news casts in all manner of language, all with the same three letters. SAO. "There were 25,000 copies of Sword Art Online released earlier today. All 25,000 of those copies logged someone on today. There are now 24,787 players online. The 213 missing players are dead. They either died in the field, or someone tried to remove their NerveGear. There are 100 floors to clear before you can all go home. Here's a gift to get you all started."
Every player in the city received a notification of a gifted item. I opened my gift, equipping it.
"A Hand Mirror?" As I looked into the mirror, it flashed. I saw everyone else's mirror flash as well, and they changed. Some shortened, others changed gender. "It changes you back to who you are IRL..." I muttered before turning to Klein. He hadn't changed much, beyond a scruffier face and shorter, spikier hair. I turned full circle, watching as everyone came to the same realization I had. "Klein." I said, loud enough to get his attention. "I'm going to go. I have a feeling this place is going to go downhill in a few minutes, so I'm going to get out there, and win this damn thing. You in?" He thought for a second, but then began slowly shaking his head.
"I'm sorry Splaz but I can't. A bunch of friends and I got this game, and I can't just leave them in here to fend for themselves." I nodded, grudgingly.
"I understand." I spoke, giving him a smile.
"Thanks Splaz, that means a lot. But hey, I'll add you to my friends list, yeah? Don't be a stranger."
"Yeah, you too Klein." He turned to go, but I called to him again. "Oh, and Klein?" He looked over his shoulder, eyebrow raised. "Call me Mark. Keep it on the down-low though, yeah?" He rolled his eyes and winked; and with that, my time with Klein was over, for now. I pushed my way through the crowd towards the nearest exit before taking off at a brisk jog. The streets were all but abandoned, save for the NPC's. The road sign pointed towards Horunka Village. Deciding that level 3 was good enough to change settlements, I took off towards the main gate.