Chapter One: First Step

I just stood there, frozen to the ground as Kayaba's GameMaster character vanished from the system. Sword Art Online, the first VRMMORPG and most highly anticipated game, just became a death game. I stared at my life bar, where almost two hours ago it was hovering in the red area. Had I taken one more hit by accident from a boar... I shuddered as I realized low close to death I was. Would it be a painful death? Probably not, the game doesn't simulate actual pain. No, I simply would have shattered into thousands of pieces, unaware that my brain was going to be fried for the miscalculation...

I shook my head and immediately ran back towards an inn where I rented a room for the night. Collapsing on the bed, I thought long and hard on what I wanted to do. I can simply just stay in the first floor, as I am sure countless of other people will do, in hope that one day other people can clear the game and I can avoid the risk of dying. It would be the safer route, and I have to live in order to resume my responsibility back in the real world...

…. But...

As a player from the beta, I have a responsibility here also. I have to use everything that I learned from the beta to guide the other people who wish to fight through the first eight levels at least. Besides, I can't really live with myself if I found out that many people died because they did not have the knowledge that I have earned from the beta.

With my resolution settled, the first thing to do is to find one of the only person I really got along with during the beta. She's a real pain to deal with but for the right price she should be able to get the job done. Besides, I can't recall an informant that has as reliable information as Argo the Rat.

30 Minutes Later...

As I sat on the bench waiting for the person to show up I noticed that there were a lot of scared people around the area. Most likely most of them are shocked as to what Kayaba had said, and I feel like the people that are still her are those that won't be joining up the cause to free the people anytime soon. Of course, with the idea of death being just outside the safe zone can cause many people to be hesitant in going out. In fact, I have a good guess that most of the beta testers will be sitting out for a long while, since not many of them were very experienced in the game. But hopefully we can gather enough people to fight our way through.

"Vendoo-kun!"

I sighed as Argo called out the nickname she gave me during the beta test. It was an annoying nickname, and part of the reason why I didn't want to deal with Argo often, but she really is the best at what she does, so I put up with it.

"It was an interesting request you made, forming a guide for helping out players using sword skills and training grounds, especially since you don't use sword skills much if at all..."

"Get to it Argo. What's your price?"

She smirked at this. "For you just 1500 col."

I sighed again as I made a trade offer for the requested amount. That was most of the col I had left after grinding and spending them on potions to stay alive, but if giving people information on how to beat the game get more people to join the front line, then it's worth every col.

"Thank you, Vendo. As promised the guide will be at every store tomorrow," she said before disappearing. I swear she does this to try to get me embarrassed.

As there are nothing else to do, I headed out towards the inn where one of the best quests for the next few floors exists. It is extremely useful for the one-handed blade user as the reward, the Anneal Blade, is arguably the best weapon you can get for the next two floors, and when fully upgraded can last up to floor 6 before considering a change in weapon. With that in mind I headed off towards Horunka Village, the location of the quest.

One thing about grinding at night is that the mobs become stronger. It might be because animals are not as scared at night time or something, but some people have nearly gotten killed because they stayed out too long and didn't notice the change. Being at level 5 already however gave me an edge against the enhanced mob and I dealt with them at ease as I headed out toward my destiny.

I am looking for OCs to include to this story. I will be using OCs of any variants from hero, villains, supporters, etc so please submit any OC you want. I can not guarantee every OC will be used but I shall do my best to incorporate as many OCs as needed. Please have the format something like the example although if you want to include extra information about your OC go ahead.

Sword Art Online OC Character:

Real Name: Kenya Hawagua

In-Game Name: Vendette (Nickname Midnight Warrior)

Beta Tester? Yes

Age: 19

Stat Focus: Speed and Strength

In-Game Status: Soloist, Clearer

Guild? No

Weapon: One-Handed Sword with Off-Hand Sword

Primary Weapon: Midnight's Edge. Dark blue blade with random streaks of black, light blue hilt and handle, edge of blade glitters like the stars.

Secondary Weapon (Optional): The Eclipse. Mix of dark orange and red blade, yellow handle and light red hilt.

Armor (Clothes, Light, Heavy): Light

Weapon Skill: One-Handed Sword, Martial Art

Battle Skill: Parry, Delay, Battle Healing, Light Metal Equipment, Light Shield Equipment, Armor Pierce

Non-Combatant Skill: Cooking

Passive Skills: Searching, Night Vision, Acrobatics

Fighting Style: Against non-players, he charges in with a fury of slashes and stabs to steal damage fast, then falls back and alternates between defense and offense. In PvP he charges in with high speed and uses slashes to either drive opponent back or force to defense, then assess the opponent's fighting style and adjusts accordingly. Prefers to dodge and parry as he does not have high STA and DEF. Good reflexes and tends to rely on his hunches at a spur of the moment. He doesn't use sword skills often as it feels unnatural to him, and he has martial art along with some throwing daggers as a secret weapon.

Appearance: Brown hair that covers his right eye and reaches down his neck. Black eyes and a square-jawed face. Wears a dark blue cloak with silver borderlines, black jacket, light blue undershirt with a picture of a full moon on it. Black gloves with a crescent moon on the back. For especially challenging tasks he has a dark blue set of light armor with black edges and a black shield with a star enigma.

Characteristic: He is considered the strong silent type person, but is actually shy of people (especially girls) and is nice towards anyone that doesn't strike him as a bad person. He is always willing to help people and even take days off to help out at the lower floors. He has a soft spot for kids and makes an effort to spend some time each day at an orphanage for the kids that somehow logged on to the death game. He doesn't like crowds and tries to not attract attention despite how he always does anyway. He is self-reliant due to his childhood and believes that he can do whatever he needs to do if he puts in enough effort.

Backstory: Oldest of 3, he often takes care of his brother and sister in place of his parents who were too busy to spend time with them. He grew into the brother/parent role and at age 15 took at job at the dojo he goes to to earn money and to get some time for himself. He uses the two-sword style of fighting and is familiar with hand-to-hand combat. He continued to take care of his brother and sister, making sure they get the best that they can. He won a spot at the beta testing from a competition and enjoyed taking a break from reality.

Life in SAO: During the beta, he learned the outlines of the game and quickly soared to one of the best players in the beta. He is well known for hardly using any sword skills as all as they seem unnatural to him to use unless the situation calls for it. He helps out people who ask for it but otherwise is a loner similar to life at school. After Kayaba announces the death game he decides to help out clear the game.

Of course, in the first few chapters the characters will be wearing standard armor and using weapons normally obtained as the levels are too low to start having custom weapons and armors on the spot. Also only 1-2 skills will be used as that is how many slots available during the first floors of the game. Please R&R and thank you ^^.