A/N: Welcome to my third story, Zanpakuto Art Online. Before I start explaining how this works I just want to say that I make use of OCs from my other two stories (Almost all of them are introduced in Damaged Souls). You don't need to go read my other stories to understand this one because I will give you a short description of their personalities and appearances, but if you want to have a better understanding of the characters you might want to check out my other stories. If you are reading this story without reading the other ones than feel free to PM me or leave a review if you need clarification.

For this story I am not simply going to stick some Bleach characters and my OC's into SaO. Instead I will combine elements of both universes to form its own universe, so this first A/N will end up being really long.

To start, this store takes place inside a game called Zanpakuto Art Online, which replaces Sword Art Online in the story. Many of the elements of the games are the same, but there are a few added in aspects. I have created my own stat system, and even created a series of formulas that are used to calculate the various other stats. Basically, I have worked out enough information that if the technology was available, this could be made into a fully complete game. I plan on putting the actual formulas I use to calculate the information in this story in the second A/N but they are not at all required in order to read the story, they are just there in case you are curious.

There are a total of seven base player stats that are used to calculate the other stats, these are:

Reiryoku
Reiatsu Control
Reiatsu Sensing
Muscle
Coordination
Speed
Bond

With the exception of Reiryoku these stats are all static and do not change unless you level. Reiryoku acts similar to stamina, it decreases as you do things and can be increased by eating. There are then nine player combat stats, their values change based on two stats used to represent the players mental state, these are Resolve and Intent. Resolve is how determined the player is, and Intent represents how much of their power the player wants to use. These two stats go from one to ten, and an average value is five, which is considered the natural level of Resolve and Intent. The stats affected by them are:

Reiatsu- Determined from Reiryoku, Reiatsu Control, Resolve, and Intent.
Strength- Determined from Muscle and Reiatsu.
Dexterity- Determined from Coordination and Reiatsu.
Mobility- Determined from Speed and Reiatsu.
Harmony- Determined from Bond, Resolve, and Intent.
Zanjutsu- Determined from Zanjutsu Skill, Harmony, Strength, Dexterity, and Reiatsu.
Hakuda- Determined from Hakuda Skill, Strength, and Reiatsu.
Hoho- Determined from Hoho Skill, Dexterity, Mobility, and Reiatsu.
Kido- Determined from Kido Skill, Reiatsu Control, and Reiatsu.

Strength, Dexterity, and Mobility are self-explanatory. Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hoho, and Kido are the current power of techniques executed within those four categories. Harmony is a representation of how in sync you are with your Zanpakuto spirit, and Reiatsu is how much Reiryoku you are outputting at one time.

All equip-able items fall into one of two categories, Weapons and Armor. The stats for a weapon are as follows:

Shape
Edge
Mass
Heaviness
Weight
Durability

Shape contains the data for the physical shape of the weapon. Edge is a modifier to determine how much damage and of what type the weapon deals. Mass is the physical mass behind the weapon when it is used. Heaviness is unrelated to mass, but instead describes how difficult the weapon is to swing. Weight is the inventory weight of a weapon, this also is different than mass because some special weapons might have a special feature that changes mass (For example, a weapon that is stored as a handle, but forms a blade out of nearby rocks, the handle is the inventory weight, the mass with the rocks is the mass.) The category of weapon also includes shields, which have a large mass and heaviness, but very low edge stats, blocking an attack with a sword is the same as blocking it with a shield because they are considered the same sort of equipment. A weapon is also designated as off-hand, main-hand, or two-handed. In general shields are considered off-hand weapons and swords are considered main-hand. Weapons may also come in sets of sword and shield, or two swords but these weapons are usually part of a unique skill.

The stats for an armor item are similar but different, there are many different parts of the body that can have an armor item, some armors cover multiple slots but all armor items have the same sorts of stats which are added up to a total of everything equipped. The stats are:

Shape
Heaviness
Weight
Physical Resist- Divided into Stab, Slash, and Blunt.
Magical Resist- Deals with Reiatsu based damage.
Elemental Resist- Fire, Water, Air, Electric, Heat, Cold.
De-buff Resist- Resistance to various de-buffs such as poison and paralysis.

The Shape stat for armor is determined both for each individual piece and for a full set after it is equipped. In both cases the Shape stat also details portions of the armor that have different stats, which can be viewed by the player as a three-dimensional model with hit-zones. As mentioned before armor can cover up multiple slots, such as boots taking up both a foot slot and an ankle slot.

In Zanpakuto Art Online there is also magic, known as Kido, it is considered a Skill and different spells and abilities are unlocked at different points. Each spell is also considered its own skill and has its own mastery level. In order to cast a spell one must say the name and rank (Also an incantation for some spells). When you have full mastery of a spell you are able to cast it with just the name.

The Bond stat that I mentioned earlier is arguably the most important stat in the game. It represents the relationship with your Zanpakuto spirit, which is generated based on your own personality. Each one has its own AI and as you form a relationship with the spirit your Bond stat increases. This also makes the Bond stat particularly difficult to level up, as the AI for the Zanpakuto spirits is a nearly perfect imitation of a human. Increasing Bond has a number of effects, the first being that it increases your Harmony, and by extension, your Zanjutsu, which is the most effective offensive stat to use because of the high modifiers on later tier weapons. The second effect of leveling Bond can be found once you reach level one-hundred in the stat. At that point you are given a set of armor and weapons known as True Weapons and True Armor. These items have infinite durability and zero inventory weight; the stats of these items depend on the Harmony stat, which makes them incredibly powerful and superior to nearly any weapon that can be found in the game naturally. The final effect of leveling Bond is found when you reach five-hundred, it is known as True Release, which is essentially a unique skill. True Release typically gives significant stat bonuses as well as changes to the shape of a weapon and additional special abilities. True release also affects True Armor. Another thing about the Bond stat is that there is no upper cap to it; this is balanced out by the sheer difficulty of leveling Bond. Due to the nature of the Bond stat as a relationship with another personality, Beta Testers are able to retain ten percent of their Bond stat even though all character progress is wiped. The easiest way to level the Bond stat is to 'feed' other players True Weapons to your own True Weapon, but this causes the other player to permanently lose their True Weapon and thus is usually frowned upon.

The difference between stats and skills is fairly simple; Stats have an upper limit of one-thousand, and are the same for every player. Skills also tend to have an upper limit of one-thousand with some exceptions, but outside of a few common Skills they are largely dependent on the player and thus much more diverse, however; all non-unique skills can be learned by any other player.

Health increases each level; the amount it increases by depends on your current stats and the level you are at. Leveling is the same as in any other RPG, with various events giving you experience. The difference is that your level only directly affects your health and is instead a reflection of your current power. Every time a stat increases you gain one level. Skill increases and the Bond stat do not affect your level.

The final detail I have to mention is the character creation process. Upon logging in the game generates your Zanpakuto Spirit and also distributes thirty points over six stats; Reiryoku, Reiatsu Control, Reiatsu Sensing, Muscle, Coordination, and Speed, the distribution is determined based on your own personality. In addition to the stats players are also given the option to permanently set the Kido skill to zero in exchange for a permanent one-point-five multiplier to the Muscle and Coordination stats. This option was included in order to accommodate fighting styles that do not contain Kido and give them a form of compensation to keep them competitive with other players. This multiplier ignores the usual one-thousand cap for the Muscle and Coordination stats, instead allowing a maximum value of one-thousand-five-hundred.

Now that I have finished explaining the mechanics of Zanpakuto Art Online I will introduce you to my set of OCs that will be taken from my other two stories, even if you have read my other stories you should skim this section as the relationships between the OCs will be slightly different than you are used to.


Name: Rein (Beta Tester, OC)
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Height: 188 cm
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
Appearance: Fairly thin, pale skin, short and spiky hair.
Personality: Very calm, also perceptive, does not like to show off. Knows his own limits well.
Relationships: Tsume (Sister) Anima (Brother) Klein (Friend)

Name: Anima (OC)
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Height: 176 cm
Eyes: Navy Blue
Hair: Purple
Appearance: Fairly thin, hair is swept to the left and reaches his shoulders.
Personality: On the surface is very calm and polite; he has a dark side and enjoys fighting quite a bit.
Relationships: Rein (Brother) Tsume (Sister) Amber (Friend)

Name: Tsume (OC)
Gender: Female
Age: 14
Height: 148 cm
Eyes: Electric Blue (Slitted pupils)
Hair: Dark Grey
Appearance: Exceptionally pale skin, petite figure. Shoulder length hair that covers her right eye.
Personality: Shy and nervous most of the time. Stutters occasionally and blushes a lot. Slightly clumsy.
Relationships: Rein (Brother) Anima (Brother)

Name: Senna
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Height: 168 cm
Eyes: Orange
Hair: Black
Appearance: Same Senna as in the Bleach movie.
Personality: Moderately hyper and childish, Can be serious at times.
Relationships: Saiden (Friend) Ryuga (Friend)

Name: Saiden (OC)
Gender: Male
Age: 15
Height: 170 cm
Eyes: Dark Green
Hair: White
Appearance: Hair is very long and in a braid.
Personality: Extremely quiet, tends to hide emotions but is loyal to his friends.
Relationships: Senna (Friend) Ryuga (Friend)

Name: Ryuga (OC)
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Height: 194 cm
Eyes: Mint Green
Hair: Black
Appearance: Tall, hair reaches his neck and is fairly straight. Fairly muscular and fit.
Personality: Has a short temper and is very direct and blunt. Not very smart
Relationships: Senna (Friend) Saiden (Friend) Tachikiru (Friend)

Name: Amber (Beta Tester, OC)
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Height: 176 cm
Eyes: Silver
Hair: Light Green
Appearance: Hair is straight and reaches her waist. Thin yet well-developed figure.
Personality: Usually calm but gets playful occasionally and likes to mess with people.
Relationships: Asuna (Friends with her older brother) Anima (Friend)

Name: Tachikiru (Beta Tester, OC)
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Height: 182 cm
Eyes: Green
Hair: Black
Appearance: Thin, pale skin, hair is messy and reaches the middle of his back.
Personality: Quick to anger but also lazy at times. Does not take well to being teased.
Relationships: Ichigo (Friend) Klein (Cousin) Ryuga (Friend)

Name: Ichigo
Gender: Male
Age: 15
Height: 174 cm
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Orange
Appearance: If you know Bleach you know Ichigo.
Personality: See above.
Relationships: Tachikiru (Friend) Klein (Friend)

The names and appearances of these characters will be the same in-game and out-of-game for simplicities sake. Also, I did not put any of the normal SaO Characters here, all of them will be in the story. I made Klein have a few friends with my OCs because I feel like it fits his personality to have a lot of friends. Amber is also good friends with Asuna, but met her brother first. Any Bleach characters not mentioned here will not be in the story (Unless I get a lot of requests for someone to be put in the story, then I will look for a way to stick them in.) Also, I hate to do this to you, but there will be one more list in this chapter, it will detail the starting stats of each of the characters in this story, but after that I promise that the lists will be much fewer in number outside of the first chapter.

Zanpakuto Art Online

Chapter 1


Rein opened the door to his house, carrying two copies of the just-released game, Zanpakuto Art Online, and two NerveGear helmets, one for his younger brother and one for his younger sister. Rein had been in the Beta Test since day one, and was even involved in the very late stages of the Alpha Test. He had been accepted to the Alpha Test in order to help the game developers work out some of the bugs in their physics engine, a field which Rein was exceptionally gifted in despite his age. He had already pre-ordered one copy of the game for himself, and once he had told his siblings about the game and what it was like both of them seemed quite eager to try it out.

"Rein, you are back early." Tsume, his younger sister observed.

"Yeah, one of the developers I helped out was there, he let me cut in line, we will most likely be among the first people to actually log in other than the other Beta Testers." Rein replied, walking up the stairs and placing the games and helmets on a table.

Anima came out of his room "You got them?"

Rein nodded and passed a helmet and game to him "Before you log in I have a few tips for you. First, make sure you use your actual appearance for your avatar, if you don't then the transition from the game back to reality feels strange. I am going to use my real name to make my character so add me as soon as you get in. Another tip, stay away from the option that disables your Kido, while the bonus stats are really nice I don't think it is worth losing the utility of Kido. I can explain the rest in game."

"Sounds good." Anima responded, he took out his phone and dialed a number, walking back into his room.

Rein pulled out his own phone and also dialed a number, waiting for an answer. A few moments later a familiar voice spoke "Hey Rein, what's up?"

"Not much Klein, Anima, Tsume, and myself are going to log in now, when you get into the game add me; I will use my real name for my character." Rein said.

"Sure, I am next in line so I will see you there. My cousin and one of his friends will be joining me." Klein replied.

"Sounds like fun, see you." Rein finished, hanging up the phone.

Anima stepped out of his room "Hey Rein, remember that friend I told you about who was also in the Beta Test?" Rein nodded and Anima continued "She said she is logging in now with her friend's sister so we should meet up with them."

"Alright, I just spoke to one of my friends and we will be meeting up with them as well. At this rate we will have our own little army before lunch time." Rein joked. He quickly helped his siblings set up and log in to the game before entering his own room and lying down on the bed with the NerveGear on his head "Link Start."

Before he loaded in to the game he was taken through the usual series of calibrations and then was greeted with a text box in front of him that said 'Generating Stats. Would you like to use your actual appearance or a custom appearance?' Rein selected actual appearance and entered the name 'Rein' when he was prompted. Once he had finished his stats had been generated.

Reiryoku: 2
Reiatsu Control: 10
Reiatsu Sensing: 10
Muscle: 2
Coordination: 2
Speed: 2
Bond: 10 (You have retained ten percent of your Bond stat from the Beta Test)

Rein was quite surprised at this, by his calculations having a bond stat that high would make his Zanjutsu above average for other level one players. Of course, due to his low Muscle and Coordination stats he would still be best off using Kido, which was most heavily impacted by Reiatsu Control. As he thought he was placed into the game. Once he had fully spawned he raised his right hand, opening the menu and going to friends, noticing four requests from Anima, Tsume, Amber, and Asuna, clearly Klein had not logged in yet so he sent a request to the name, it would be waiting for him when he logged in. He accepted all four and headed to their location, as he walked he went through his inventory, sorting the few items he had into an arrangement he was more comfortable to and equipping his starting armor and weapon. The weapon did not feel right at all, compared to what he had been using during the Beta Test. He had been the only Beta Tester to get his Bond stat to one-hundred during the test, and thus was mostly used to using his True Weapon and Armor. He shook his head and kept walking; he would start working on his Bond later.


Tsume was very excited as she logged in, thinking about how it might be easier to get along with people in a game where the shape of her pupils would not put people off as much. She pressed the button to use her actual appearance for her character and entered 'Tsume' for her name. Her starting stats were fairly balanced.

Reiryoku: 6
Reiatsu Control: 6
Reiatsu Sensing: 6
Muscle: 4
Coordination: 4
Speed: 4
Bond: 1

Based on what Rein had told her she guessed that Zanjutsu and Kido would be her two greatest strengths. When she loaded in to the game she reached out her right hand and quickly sent out two friend requests, to Anima and Rein. She also sent a message to Rein with the stats she had started with so he could give her advice.


Anima logged in, feeling very excited as he pressed the 'Use your actual appearance' button and entered 'Anima' for his character name. His stats seemed to be very focused into one area.

Reiryoku: 2
Reiatsu Control: 3
Reiatsu Sensing: 3
Muscle: 10
Coordination: 10
Speed: 2
Bond: 1

He sent his stats to Rein, and also sent friend requests to his siblings and his friend, Amber.


Amber was very relaxed as she logged in to the game. She had just came back from her friend's house where she had been helping his younger sister, Asuna, set up and log in to the game. She lazily selected the 'Use your actual appearance' option and entered 'Amber' for her name. Her stats seemed fairly good; they were mostly focused in one area but still had a good spread throughout the other areas.

Reiryoku: 2
Reiatsu Control: 8
Reiatsu Sensing: 8
Muscle: 2
Coordination: 6
Speed: 4
Bond: 3 (You have retained ten percent of your Bond stat from the Beta Test)

She frowned when she saw her elevated Bond. Not only did that give her a slight advantage over other players, but it also meant that all the Beta Testers would be stronger, especially Rein, who had somehow managed to form his True Weapon and Armor in the Beta. With her stats her two strengths would be Zanjutsu and Kido, her Hoho was good but not amazing. She raised her right hand and sent friend requests to Asuna, Anima, Rein, and Tsume.


Asuna nervously logged in to the game. Originally the game had belonged to her older brother, but he had left on a trip today and instead had allowed her to try it with Amber. She elected to use her actual appearance and entered 'Asuna' for her character name. She saw a set of stats appear and had no real idea what they meant.

Reiryoku: 3
Reiatsu Control: 3
Reiatsu Sensing: 3
Muscle: 5
Coordination: 8
Speed: 8
Bond: 1

She raised her right hand and opened the menu, sending a friend request to Amber and another person who Amber had told her to add, Rein. She sent Amber a copy of her stats so she could help her.


(A/N: I am just going to stick with one name for the characters that don't change their name in game; it is easier for you to read and for me to write.)

Klein logged in to his new game, Zanpakuto Art Online. He eagerly went through the character creation process, deciding to customize it but still used 'Klein' for his name. His stats seemed to be fairly balanced.

Reiryoku: 4
Reiatsu Control: 4
Reiatsu Sensing: 4
Muscle: 6
Coordination: 6
Speed: 6
Bond: 1

Once he was in the game he sent out friend requests to his cousin, Tachikiru and his friend Ichigo. He also accepted a request from his good friend Rein. He decided to send a copy of his stats to Tachikiru, who had also been in the Beta Test.


Ichigo eventually figured out how to log in to the game, deciding to use his actual appearance and name. When his stats were generated he noted an option to permanently set his Kido stat to zero in exchange for increased Muscle and Coordination. Kido did not sound like his sort of thing so he selected the option.

Reiryoku: 10
Reiatsu Control: 1
Reiatsu Sensing: 1
Muscle: 15
Coordination: 6
Speed: 4
Bond: 1

Once he had spawned he accepted a friend request from Klein, his friend's cousin and sent a request to Tachikiru along with a copy of his stats.


Tachikiru logged in to Zanpakuto Art Online, rushing through the character creation by simply selecting his actual appearance and name. His stats were very appealing to him.

Reiryoku: 3
Reiatsu Control: 4
Reiatsu Sensing: 1
Muscle: 1
Coordination: 10
Speed: 10
Bond: 4 (You have retained ten percent of your Bond stat from the Beta Test)

His stats would give him a very respectable proficiency in Hoho, which was his favorite aspect of the game, while still maintaining a decent level of Zanjutsu and Kido due to his high Bond, which he did not think much of. He opened the menu and accepted friend requests from Ichigo and Klein, also sending one to his friend Ryuga. He looked over the Stats that Ichigo had sent him and planted his palm firmly on his face. With only one point in Reiatsu Control he would not be able to do much of anything; at least his Zanjutsu and Hakuda would be fairly high though.


Ryuga logged in to Zanpakuto Art Online, deciding to use his actual appearance and entering 'Ryuga' for his name. As his stats were being generated he selected the option to disable Kido in favor of better physical stats as the idea of magic just didn't fit his style.

Reiryoku: 8
Reiatsu Control: 2
Reiatsu Sensing: 2
Muscle: 15
Coordination: 6
Speed: 4
Bond: 1

He opened the menu and accepted a friend request from his friend Tachikiru, and also sent requests to Senna and Saiden. Since he had absolutely no idea what the numbers meant he decided to send them to Tachikiru, who would most likely be able to figure it out.


Senna logged in to the game, selecting her actual appearance and 'Senna' for her character name. Her stats seemed fairly evenly spread out, but she had no idea if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Reiryoku: 5
Reiatsu Control: 6
Reiatsu Sensing: 4
Muscle: 3
Coordination: 6
Speed: 6
Bond: 1

She accepted a friend request from Ryuga and sent one to Saiden.


Saiden logged in to Zanpakuto Art Online, deciding to go with his actual appearance and name to make himself easier to recognize for his friends. His stats seemed to be rather random.

Reiryoku: 2
Reiatsu Control: 8
Reiatsu Sensing: 4
Muscle: 10
Coordination: 5
Speed: 1
Bond 1

He accepted friend requests from Senna and Ryuga, quickly heading to their location.


Kirito eagerly logged in to Zanpakuto Art Online, the game he had been Beta Testing for a long time. He copied the appearance he had used for the Beta Test and entered 'Kirito' for his name. His stats amused him quite a bit.

Reiryoku: 5
Reiatsu Control: 5
Reiatsu Sensing: 5
Muscle: 5
Coordination: 5
Speed: 5
Bond: 5 (You have retained ten percent of your Bond stat from the Beta Test)

He was fairly surprised that the developers had decided to let the Beta Testers start off with such an advantage, considering their experience was already enough of an advantage. He supposed that with his dead even stats he would be able to do everything fairly well. He quickly headed out of the spawning town, wasting no time admiring his surroundings.

"Hey wait up!" A voice said behind him.

He turned around and saw a tall man with long red hair "What is it?" He asked coldly.

"Well, judging by how you ran out of the town so quickly you are a Beta Tester. I was just wondering if you could show me the ropes." He asked "My name is Klein by the way."

"I'm Kirito, I guess I could help you out, I am not in any real rush anyway." Kirito replied, leading him out of the town.


Rein looked at his map, noting that Klein's position was heading out of the town. He sighed before turning to the group behind him "Come on, one of my friends is getting ahead of himself, we should follow him." He led Anima, Tsume, Amber, and Asuna out of the town. They arrived at Klein's position just in time to see Klein, assisted by someone that Rein vaguely remembered from the Beta, successfully perform a Zanjutsu Skill and kill a monster. Rein waved his hand, drawing their attention.

"Hey Klein, what's up." Rein asked in a relaxed voice.

"Oh, I just noticed that this guy here was a Beta Tester and asked him if he could help me out a bit." Klein explained.

"I thought you looked familiar, if I remember correctly you are Kirito right?" Rein commented.

Kirito nodded "And you're Rein, the only Beta Tester to reach one-hundred Bond."

Rein scratched the back of head sheepishly "Yeah."

A few seconds later another group of people arrived at their location. The group consisted of Senna, Saiden, Ryuga, Ichigo, and Tachikiru.

Tachikiru spoke up "Hey Klein."

"Hey Tachikiru, this is great, now there are three Beta Testers here." Klein said happily.

"Four actually." Amber stated.

After introductions had been made the four Beta Testers explained the game to the other eight players in the area. Tsume decided to take on a monster and Rein followed her. She drew her sword and ran at it; however, as she got close she tripped and fell. The monster advanced on her and prepared to attack.

"Hado number one, Sho." Rein said, pointing his finger at the boar. He paid close attention to the three bars below his health representing Intent, Resolve, and Reiatsu. He managed to max out his Intent and raise his resolve significantly, giving him a Reiatsu level of approximately six-point-two. He released the spell on the boar, the level of power behind it easily killing it instantly. He quickly closed the rewards menu and helped his sister up from the ground.

"I am going to go out on a limb here and say you started with ten in Reiatsu Control." Amber said dryly.

"Yes. My stats are 4/10/10/2/2/2/10." Rein informed.

"Why would you tell other players your stats?" Kirito looked confused.

"Because I trust everyone here." Rein answered, giving Kirito a strange look.

Before they could say anything Klein spoke "Guys, there is no log out button!"

Everyone else opened their menus and nobody found the button.

"Don't worry too much; a bug this serious is bound to be fixed really quickly." Rein comforted, confident that they would be able to log out soon.

Just then everyone was teleported to a plaza, where a large, red, hooded figure in the sky was waiting. All around them other players began to appear.

The figure spoke "Welcome to the Tutorial, here I will explain all of the rules of Zanpakuto Art Online. The first and most important rule is that you may not log out; any attempt to remove the helmet will result in your actual death in the real world. In addition, if your hit-points reach zero in game you will die in the real world. The only way for you to escape this is to clear all one-hundred floors and beat the game. I strongly urge you not to worry about your real bodies, as preparations have already been made to keep them alive."

One of the players yelled "This must be joke, there is no way you could do that."

In response the figure created images of news articles "As you can see this is very real, a significant number of players have already lost their lives due to attempts to remove the helmets by family members and friends. None of you need to worry about that anymore though, as I said arrangements have been made. In case you doubt the truth of my words feel free to examine the gift I have given all of you." After that the figure dissolved. Across the plaza there were a large number of shocked screams as the players all took the form of their actual bodies rather than the appearances they had created. Other than Kirito and Klein nobody in Rein's group changed in appearance.

Rein noted that some of the people around him looked panicked. He quickly spoke to the other eleven people with him "Come with me guys, we will figure something out." He led his friends out of the plaza before speaking again "Based on what he said we have two options, either stay here where it is safe and wait for everyone else to beat the game, or we can go try to beat the game ourselves. Obviously this decision is your own, and I will not blame anyone if you want to stay safe."

To Rein's shock, everyone in the group stuck with him. Kirito spoke up "We will not be able to level effectively in a group this large, we need to split up a bit."

Rein nodded "Yes, but before we do everyone here should add everyone else, this way we can stay in contact. If you have any questions at all about what to do feel free to ask me at any time. My suggestion is that we split into four groups, each led by one of the Beta Testers."

Kirito shook his head "I am sorry, but I work best alone." He turned to leave.

"That's fine, but don't get yourself killed." Klein said with a sigh.

"Good luck Kirito." Rein said before turning back to the rest of the group "Right, so my suggestion still holds, we should divide into three groups, each led by a Beta Tester." The rest of the group seemed to agree so Amber, Tachikiru, and Rein stood apart from each other "Everyone come join one of us." Anima and Tsume both walked over to Rein. Ichigo and Klein joined Tachikiru and Asuna joined Amber. This left Senna, Saiden, and Ryuga without a group "Looks like you guys will have to split up." Rein said sadly.

"I am sure we will be fine." Senna replied, folding her arms and walking over to Rein's group. Ryuga joined Tachikiru and Saiden joined Amber.

"Ok, I guess this will be it for a while, everyone be careful." Rein said and the groups went their separate ways.


Words: 3,268 (Without A/Ns, I usually average 4,000 words per chapter.)

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter; leave me a review if you want to say something.

Here are the various formulas I came up with in case anyone is interested and likes math like I do…

ZanSkill, HakSkill, HohSkill, and KidSkill all represent the skill levels of Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hoho, and Kido respectively.

Reiatsu = Reiryoku * ReiatsuControl * sqrt( Intent * Resolve ) / 50
Strength = Muscle * ( 1 + sqrt( Reiatsu ) / 5 )
Dexterity = Coordination * ( 1 + sqrt( Reiatsu ) / 5 )
Mobility = Speed * ( 1 + sqrt( Reiatsu ) / 5 )
Harmony = Bond * sqrt( Intent * Resolve ) / 5
Zanjutsu = ZanSkill * ( 1 + sqrt( Harmony * sqrt( Reiatsu ) / 5 ) * sqrt( Strength * Dexterity ) )
Hakuda = HakSkill * ( 1 + Strength * sqrt( Reiatsu ) / 5 )
Hoho = HohSkill * ( 1 + sqrt( Dexterity * Mobility ) * sqrt( Reiatsu ) / 5 )
Kido = KidSkill * ( 1 + ReiatsuControl * sqrt(sqrt( Reiatsu ) / 5 * ReiatsuControl ) )