Disclaimer: Buy the official release, which this is not.
Edmonton, Alberta
A brown haired, brown eyed, twenty something year old man with glasses sitting on his face chuckled as he picked up the helmet like connection for the NerveGear, tossing it between his hands a bit as he looked over to his TV where a News Station was covering the release of a new game.
"Today is an excitement filled day as the first ever Virtual Reality MMO Game: [Sword Art Online] is being released to stores worldwide!" the news reporter announced. "With over a Million hard copies being sold on the first day alone, and triple that of Digital Downloaded copies, people are naming this as the resurgence of PC Gaming that almost didn't happen for the world outside of Japan. The game's creator,Kayaba Akihito, had originally planned to release it within Japan but world interest was so large, he changed his plans and announced a worldwide release, delaying the games release for a few months to upgrade the servers to allow more players at once!"
The man chuckled a little as he turned off the TV and put on the NerveGear before laying down on his bed. "Glad I got the week off for this," he muttered to himself as he watched the clock tick by slowly, waiting for the chance to load up the new game. "Just wish I had gotten to beta test it."
He rolled his shoulders as the seconds slowly ticked towards 1:00 Japan, although for him that was closer to nine in the evening, he let out a calming breath as he relaxed on his bed.
Finally the clock hit twelve and he smirked. "Link… start!" he commanded, activating the interface, a shudder running down his spine as his body slowly became numb to the world around him, the light fading from his vision as the noise of the nearby highway became muffled.
There was a second or two of absolute darkness and numbness before light exploded into his vision as the Full Dive started, streamers of color swarming around him as the NerveGear tested the assorted senses ensuring that it was working properly before prompting the language, which he set to english, and logged in before entering in his Username [DragonKnightRyu].
The white screen when blank for a moment before a large banner welcoming him to sword art online flashed before him, bringing him to the character creation screen, which he quickly went through, taking his own base model - which he admitted he was kinda chubby looking at, not the 'Otaku Gamer' type chubby, but rather a beer gut type chubby, but, still, he quickly removed that.
He winced as he saw how unkempt his hair looked before changing it to a shorter cut and removed the stubble that had been building up replacing it with a smooth face. Looking over the Avatar he quickly changed the hair color to a whitish silver color while changing the eye color to red.
Finally he came to the character name as he let out a hum before shrugging and going with his own personal favorite of 'Six' it made no sense, but hey, it worked for him.
Satisfied he hit the confirm Avatar button causing the screen to white out for a moment before going black making him blink, the motion causing his virtual eyes to open.
"Holy *Bleep*," he muttered looking around at the ultra-realistic city around him before pausing as he considered what just happened. "Goddamn censorship!"
Shaking his head as more and more people spawned around him he grinned as he looked forward. "Let's see what we got!" he shouted out before charging forward into the city.
United States, South Carolina
"This is gonna be AWESOME!" A young man in his twenties, with short brown hair and brown eyes said, as he spun around in his swivel chair, his NerveGear in his hands as he eagerly awaited for the clock to hit 1:00 PM Japan Time. "I just hope they took in some of my ideas from the Beta… yeah sure its called Sword Art Online, but it would be nice to have some variety outside of swords… bows, axes, and such. Mix things up a bit. If combat becomes too repetitive no one will wanna play it for too long."
His chair came to a stop, as he did a quick check across his room that he had all that he was gonna need for a full week of gaming with no interference from work. 'Some may call this a waste for vacation hours,' he thought grinning, 'But I disagree… alright, Root Beer: Check. Bagel Bites: Check. Pizza Roles: check. Chicken Tenders: Check. Music and videos...' he glanced at his computer as he grinned as his entire music and video library was now downloaded, so he could play them while in SAO. "Double Check."
The Alarm went off, indicating it was finally 1:00 PM. He turned off the alarm, before he put his NerveGear upon his head, as he plugged it in. "Showtime." He said, as he stood up from his chair, and lied down on his bed. He activated the headset as he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. "Here goes… Link… START!"
He felt himself go almost completely numb, as his vision began to blur and fade to black. Then there was a near blinding explosion of light as data streamed around him before he was presented with the game options. After selecting everything he needed, the game allowed him to input his old Beta account. Once he hit the 'okay' button, he was greeted by a line of text.
Welcome to Sword Art Online!
There was one more blinding flash of blue and white light, before suddenly he was enveloped in a ball of blue light, and he suddenly found himself in a city. He blinked a few times before he gave a few experimental movements, ensuring all was well. He glanced around, as he smirked as he saw the city surrounding him. He grinned, his Avatar possessing short spiky black hair and crimson red eyes. "Hello Aincrad!" He shouted, as more players began spawning in. "I'm BA-CK!"
United States, South Carolina
Elsewhere
A man in his 20s was setting up the NerveGear in his room as he eagerly wanted to play the grand world opening of the MMO that is Sword Art Online. He was a bit overweight along with some muscle to add. He had a black caesar haircut, a beard, dark brown eyes and tan skin. After a few minutes he was finally finished and he started to look at the helmet like NerveGear.
"Man I can't believe how far we gotten with video games. We went from 8 bit to virtual reality gaming. What a time to be alive." He said with a small laugh before laying down on his bed. After that he sigh.
"This damn game better be worth the $1000 Nervcrap or I'm going to kick Jordan's ass with it" He said before he looked at his phone which indicated, it was 1pm.
"Alright it's showtime. Link… Start!"
After the system linking he was standing in the character creation zone and looked over his options.
"Okay the usual strength and endurance investments is now set, time for the appearance. Hmm...I want to make Blair but I rather not be one of SAOs first G.I. so I guess I will make her gender bender Libra."The man said as he set the hair to be shoulder length along made it look bed ragged and loose. Then he made the characters eyes green and made the build for the body average.
"Okay I think that's about it." He said as he put in the name Libra and touched the start button on the HUD. He was then transfer to a field close to a town and was wearing chainmail armor without a helmet. He had a round blue wooden shield and an iron longsword. He started to look at his surroundings and was amazed with what he saw and gasped a little as he saw his new appearance in the reflection coming out of his sword.
"So this is SAO. I might as well start practicing my shield and sword skills before I try tanking." He said as he started walking toward a group of weak lv1 boars with shield and sword ready.
A few minutes later
"Alright! I think I got the hang of this." He said as he did a shield bash on a boar that was charging him causing it to be stunned for a moment before he stabbed the head of the boar with his sword.
"Okay so that makes about 20 hides and 10 boar meats. Better try to sell the meat and try my luck on blacksmithing." He said before he saw another player killing his own group of boars. From there he recognize the players name and started walking toward it. As he approached he saw that the player was a male with black spiky hair with red eyes and his armor matched his color, with the red being the trim for the armor and rest being black. He waited for him to finish killing the boars before he finally spoke to him
"I see you're still going with your edgy colors Shadow the Hedgehog" He said to the player with a smug face.
"Oi! These are the colors of the Angry Joe Show Army you son of a-" 117Jorn began to shouted, before he turned around, and blinked as he saw the name over his head. "Wait… Dennis? Dude, is that you?"
"The one and only!" Dennis said with his arms spread before he lowered them. "So have you found the others?"
"No luck yet," Jordan said sighing, "I know DKR has to be around here somewhere… "
"Maybe he went ahead and is in the town below. It's possible he went to the town's center thinking he could find us there. The map says that is where a lot of players are gathering" Dennis said as he enlarged the map from his hud.
"Okay that's cool." Jordan said nodding. "But Dennis... I wanted to ask but why is your character called Libra and why does he look familiar?" Jordan said with his hand on his chin
"Oh this?" Dennis asked gesturing to himself. "Well I wanted to make Blair but I didn't want be a G.I.R.L yet so I just gave this character the same looks she has but male. Anyway I noticed your armor is a light leather and you're carrying a short sword, are you trying to be a myrmidon like class from Fire Emblem?"
"As much as I love Lon'qu from Awakening, no." Jordan said with a smirk, as he put his sword away and then pulled out a set of throwing knives "I can't believe it, but they atually took in some of my ideas! They don't just have swords anymore, they've got a few alternatives like axes, spears and such. No bows yet, but I'm making due with throwing knives. I'm setting myself up to be something like a Ranger, Assassin or something like that… if I'm REALLY lucky I can craft the Assassin's Creed hidden blades… the possibilities in this game are endless!"
He then gestured to Dennis. "What about you?" He asked, "What are you trying to be with that chainmail?
"Oh simple, I am trying to be heavy knight class for tanking once our team is together." Dennis said. " I read that some weapons have strength requirements and that endurance affects equipment and how much you can carry. So it seems like this was taken something from Dark Souls because if so I can swing around a giant sword like the Zweihänder one handed and move around with heavy armor as if it was light."
"Nice," Jorn said nodding before he activated the menu. "Alright, sending ya the party invite - let's start kicking ass... And then find the others. I'm pretty sure Ryu said he got the game, so he should be around here somewhere..."
"Okay, Cool." Dennis said as he accepted the invite. "Let's get going!"
Japan, Tokyo
"Don't get so absorbed in your game that you forget to come for dinner, Sacchi!" a voice called out from the lower floor of the house.
"Right!" a teenaged girl called back as she tried to restrain herself from savaging the box in front of her to liberate its contents.
Prominently marked on the box was the logo for the newest virtual reality game to ever grace the shelves of shops across the world - Sword Art Online. After uselessly trying to open it with her hands, she gave up and retrieved a penknife from her desk and had it open in seconds.
She took a few seconds to realize her moment of stupidity and hurriedly blaming it on her exuberance. Setting it aside for now, she quickly cracked the casing open and pulled out the memory card that contained all of the vital files for the game.
"I can't wait!" she squealed, slotting the card into the appropriate slot of her computer.
She then practically jumped onto her bed in glee, tucking away her waist-length black hair safely off to the side before pulling on the NerveGear, making sure it sat comfortably on her head and on her pillow. Her wide, brown eyes reflected in the machine's visor for a moment - she stopped, took a look at her reflection before winking at it happily.
"Come on… 1:00pm, come faster!" she whispered excitedly, drumming her fingers on the side of her bed.
The clock ticked 12:58pm. She sucked in a deep breath. The Nerve Gear started humming.
The clock ticked 12:59pm. She let the breath out, her face slightly blue from lack of oxygen.
The clock ticked 1:00pm. She pumped her fist in the air, closed her eyes and practically yelled out the phrase that started up the Nerve Gear.
"LINK START!"
Her vision went white as a bunch of multicoloured cylinders appeared in front of her, zooming in closer and past her field of view. It was an odd sensation to her - she couldn't turn her head to follow them as the Nerve Gear hadn't completely booted up and linked to her senses yet. That quickly changed as the interface appeared before her, checking off on each of the five senses before going white again.
And that was when she found the character creation menu floating in front of her, requesting her IGN first. After a few moments of thought, she inputted 'Sayaka' into the field and hoped that no one had picked it yet. She did want her original name in there after all…
A bell rang somewhere, and the window flew away to be replaced by the character customization. A character model reflecting her original looks in the real world appeared, and Saya chuckled as she set about customizing it. She kept her hair the same, but added on a bit of height and turned her curves down a bit - she was a little self-conscious about being an early bloomer after all. For her starting weapon, she picked a standard sword.
"Come on… hurry up!" Saya whispered, jumping up and down in her excitement.
Her vision went white again, the words 'WELCOME TO SWORD ART ONLINE' displayed proudly across her vision on a grey background.
Saya whooped, but it went unheard as the screen dissolved into particles and reformed to show the starting area in the very first city in the game. She blinked a few times, taking in the scenery around her, the buildings which looked like they had come out of an ancient city. The architecture seemed to be a mix of Arabesque and medieval European styles, the former coming as a bit of a surprise to her. Argus had really done a great job with the game…
"Finally!" Saya jumped into the air and squealed happily, ignoring the looks she was getting from the players around her who had just logged in to the game - most of them were similarly excited as well, so why should she care?
She paused for a moment and held up her right hand, making a downward swiping motion with her pointer finger extended like how she had read in the guidebook. A bell rang as the ingame menu appeared floating in the air before her. She let out a small startled squeak, but her surprised look morphed to elation as she began checking out the stats she had started out with. The standard plethora of stats greeted her - STR, AGI, DEX and VIT.
"Alright, off to the field!" she cheered to herself, having checked her virtual wallet and found it barely sufficient for anything but a few health potions.
Aincrad, First Floor Field
"Ole!" [DragonKnightRyu] shouted out tauntingly as he slashed his dagger at the flank of a boar as it charged past him doing a mediocre amount of damage as it turned to face him, snorting angrily.
Ryu smirked as he prepped the [Dagger] Sword Skill Swift Strike, the starting [Dagger] Skill that was a single charging strike.
Once the preparation motion was completed he surged forward slashing the flank of the Boar as he moved past him, the Boar's health bar bleeding into red before hitting zero, causing it to explode into a series of fragments. "Booyah *bleep*!" [DragonKnightRyu] shouted as he did a little jig before pausing. "Ah *bleep* you censorship!"
Rolling his shoulders [DragonKnightRyu] skipped a little in place as he looked around. "Hmm, might be a good idea to take a look at some [Quests] now that I got the basic [Sword Skills] down," he mused to himself as he began strolling towards [Starting City] with a wide grin. "This should be fun."
As he walked - skirting the edges of the [Wild Boar]'s aggression zone - he chuckled at the sight of a red haired player wearing a bandanna getting his ass kicked by a boar as a black haired player watched on in amusement.
He was soon back in the city, navigating through the crowds of players and NPCs, looking for a quest giver to get started with.
He soon found one - an innkeeper with a rather large belly. "You've got to help me stranger, I'm running low on meat and the customers are getting hungry, can you get me a dozen slabs of [Boar Meat]?" The NPC questioned hopefully, prompting a screen to appear before [DragonKnightRyu].
《Quest found, gather 12 slabs of [Boar Meat] for the innkeeper! Accept? Y/N》
Shrugging He hit the 'Yes' to accept the quest causing the innkeeper to thank him profusely.
Walking away [DragonKnightRyu] couldn't help but admire the effort that was put into the game. Everything was done in a painstakingly perfect detail, from NPC voice recognition algorithms to even something as simple as water flow, it was easy to forget that all of this was only virtual reality.
Small things added to the effect, NPCs reacting to small things in a myriad of ways, range from polite to wrathful.
Scanning the crowd [DragonKnightRyu] smirked at the assorted interactions as he headed for the town limits, keeping an eye out for [Party Forming] icons that were automatically generated when someone was looking for a party for the same quest you had in your [Active Quest] slot.
Looking around he spotted a black haired asian looking girl looking around her in confusion, scratching her head as if trying to figure something out.
Taking a wild guess he called out. "Hey, are you lost?" he asked as he stepped closer to ensure that she knew it was her he was talking to.
"A-AH!" the girl took a step back in surprise and ended up banging her head against a wall behind her. "Itai!"
An Immortal Object sign popped up at the point of impact.
"I would ask if you're okay… but there's no pain in this game," [DragonKnightRyu] pointed out as he scratched the back of his head. "But still, sorry, didn't mean to startle you."
"Eh? Oh, you're right…" the girl blinked a few times, rubbing the back of her head where the pain should have been. "That's convenient…"
"Yeah, tell me about it," he agreed. "My character name's Six, by the way, but most people just call me Ryu cause of my user name."
"Character name? User name?" she tilted her head sideways in confusion.
"Well, character name is the name for individual characters, although I think that's going to disappear with SAO," Ryu answered, trailing off into mutters towards the end before shaking his head. "And as for the Username, I use DragonKnightRyu as a Username for a lot of my online personas."
"Oh, I was confused because SAO only uses your email instead of a user name…" the girl laughed sheepishly.
Ryu chuckled along with her, just as sheepish as he scratched at his cheek. "Yeah, that's my bad, sorry," he apologized. "Anyways, you were looking a little lost there, do you need some help?"
"Ah, well…" the girl ducked her head in shame. "I… can't find the way to the fields…"
"Yeah, the [Starting City] is pretty big isn't it?" Ryu commented as he opened up his menu. "Well, I'm heading there to collect [Boar Meat] for a quest, want to party up?"
"I guess I can do that for a while…" she nodded happily. "O-Oh, where are my manners? I'm Sayaka."
"A pleasure to meet you Sayaka," Ryu returned as he sent the party invite. "There we go, unfortunately, you ended up on the opposite side from the fields so…"
"Well, it's fine, I'd like to explore the city a bit more too," Sayaka replied with a smile, looking around her at the buildings. "The designers put a lot of detail into everything that it's just all so interesting to just look at."
"I agree," Ryu said with a nod as he looked up into the sky. "Honestly, this full dive is amazing technology, it's easy to forget this isn't IRL."
"I completely agree!" Sayaka squealed. "I mean, all the full dive games I played before were already interesting, but SAO is just pushing the limit!"
"Honestly, I think those were just to show off possibilities," Ryu admitted. "Kinda like the starting games for the launch of a new system and Kayaba put all his effort into SAO to make it the groundbreaker for NerveGear."
"Yeah! Although I kind of wish the full release didn't get delayed so long…" she sank slightly at the thought. "I feel like I've been missing out on something important in my life…"
"Personally, I'm a okay with the delay, it means I'm able to play the game right now!" Ryu announced with a cheerful laugh.
"... Oh, you're not from Japan?" Sayaka gaped. "I'm sorry for being rude!"
Ryu waved it off. "No need to be worried, I'm Canadian, behind our polite and apologetic venier we're just as rude and crass as the rest of the world," he informed jokingly. "I take it you're from Japan then?"
Sayaka nodded sheepishly. "The Japanese actually weren't too happy that SAO had to be delayed just for the additional international players… or gaijin as we call them."
"Bah, I could care less what people think of me or call me," Ryu admitted with a shrug. "For me, this is more than a game, I think this is a good way to break down the racial barriers and interact with one another without knowing one's true ethnicity or nationality."
"I don't subscribe to the xenophobia either," the girl sighed. "But some of the people who do could give you some trouble in the future…"
Ryu waved it off. "Despite my thuggish appearance, I am actually pretty good at talking my way out," he informed. "It's really simple actually all you need to do is- HOLY CRAP WHAT IS THAT!?"
A startled Sayaka jumped and started looking around hurriedly.
"And then when they're distract I just run away and hide until they give up," Ryu continued with a shit eating grin on his face. "Simple, no?"
Sayaka started shaking in her boots as she spun around and put her hands on her hips. "Ryu-san, that was mean!" she scolded.
Ryu raised his hands in a placating manner as he chuckled. "Forgive me, forgive me," he said. "I can't help but do that, it's always been fun to see people react like that."
"Hmph!" Sayaka folded her arms, pouted and looked away from Ryu in a small fit.
Ryu chuckled weakly as he rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I got about [100 Col], that should be enough to buy a new weapon if you want?" he offered. "For forgiveness?"
"Hmph," Sayaka muttered, with a little less intensity.
"Right… let's see if we can find a weapon shop," Ryu muttered with a defeated sigh. "So, what kind of build are you thinking of doing for your character?"
"I…" Sayaka paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. "I don't like big, heavy weapons, but I just want something that can hit fast."
Ryu hummed. "Well, for starter weapons that leaves [Daggers] and [Light Curved Swords] for quick hitters," he informed. "I've been using a [Dagger] and it's skills cool down quickly but you need to really precise and try to hit as many critical points as you can to do real damage, or chain combos together."
"Daggers don't have the reach I want," his impromptu party member shook her head. "I guess… curved swords then."
Ryu nodded. "Alright then, I think the weapon merchant is right around… here?" he said as he looked around. "Maybe?"
"Er… Ryu-san, don't tell me you're as lost as I am…" the black-haired girl stared at Ryu incredulously.
"Uh…" Ryu responded as he mentally cursed himself out. "Wait…" he declared as he spotted a sign with a sword emblazoned upon it. "Ha! Knew it was around here!"
"You still didn't exactly know it was here…" Sayaka's eyes narrowed suspiciously at the male.
"It counts so long as we're there," Ryu said proudly. "Everything else is just a scenic detour!"
"So… you were lost," Sayaka muttered.
"Not lost, on a scenic detour." Ryu rebutted automatically.
"Lost!" the girl shot back.
"Detour!" the man retorted.
"Lost!"
"Detour!"
"Sooo lost!"
"Veeeery Scenic!"
"Completely lost!"
"Completely scenic!"
The two of them continued arguing all the way until they were in front of the weapons shop, completely ignoring the stares from the other players around them.
"Look, we're here, isn't that good enough?" Ryu asked as he opened the door to the weapon's shop. "Or do you not want the [Light Curved Sword]?"
"Fine!" Sayaka groaned out loud, stepping up to a counter and looking for the most expensive weapon she could equip, or possibly equip in the near future. She tapped on each sword on the rack to check their stats.
As she was doing that Ryu was looking through the collection of [Daggers], seeing if there was anything that stood out as he waited for Sayaka to make her choice. 'I want to do a Dodge Tank Role,' he thought to himself as he looked over the stats of a [Heavy Dagger]. 'So with the five stats points given at each level I'll be putting two into strength and three into agility, so that can only afford me the light-class sword and daggers for my own use, maybe a shortsword of some kind?'
Sayaka was studying the stats of a Japanese-style wakizashi - it was better than her default [Light Iron Curved Sword]. She didn't quite fulfill the stat requirement to wield it yet, but it would only take two levels to get her STR up high enough. So yes, she was definitely interested in it.
"Made a choice?" Ryu asked as he came up to her.
Sayaka just kept staring at the sword and its hefty (for her) price tag of several hundred col.
Ryu hummed as he looked at the price before opening up his inventory and looking through it. "Hmm, picked up a lot of junk and material items earlier when I was testing out the sword skills," he muttered. "Wonder if it's enough to cover the costs…"
"W-Wait, really!?" the girl took a step back and stared at Ryu incredulously.
Ryu raised an eyebrow. "What, said I'd get you a weapon you wanted right?" he retorted. "It's pretty obvious from your stare that's the sword you want."
"But… it's a bit on the expensive side…" Sayaka muttered, pulling up her menu and staring at her virtual wallet which currently only had two zeroes in the number.
Ryu shrugged. "Eh, so what, not like I can't make the money back after a few hours of grinding," he returned. "Plus, I totally understand, your countrymen know how to make kick ass swords."
The girl was stunned for a moment, before she quickly recomposed herself. "O-Of course! We Japanese make way better swords than you Westerners can, after all!" she declared, putting her hands on her hips triumphantly.
Ryu laughed in response. "That is true, you do make better swords, but our booze is leagues ahead of yours," he countered as he moved to the NPC trader and began to sell all his collected junk and material items.
"Ryu-san… I'm underaged," Sayaka blinked.
"Ah, then you wouldn't know, and I can't brag," he sighed in response. "Oh well, you'll understand when you're old enough."
"How old are you anyway, Ryu-san?" the girl asked as she picked the wakizashi up and started testing its weight.
"Twenty five," Ryu answered easily. "And no, I am not too old to be playing video games."
"How can I be sure you didn't purposely pick an older or younger avatar and lie about your age?" Sayaka narrowed her eyes, doing a few practice swings with the weapon… or trying to. She couldn't swing it anywhere near fast enough to attack with it.
Ryu opened up his menu and moved to personal information before manipulating it so that she could see his age. "See, even with the NerveGear you can't lie, kinda amazing technology really."
Sayaka relaxed slightly, knowing the older male was telling the truth. "Sorry, but it's just that I've seen so many people fake their age and gender in MMOs these days… I'm sure there are a few guys walking around in female avatars too."
Ryu nodded. "I use the female avatars in MMO's too, sometimes anyways," he said with a shrug as he finished selling his items. "Whew, just barely enough."
"Pervert," Sayaka lashed out, but in a slightly teasing tone.
"Hey, all warm blooded humans are," Ryu countered in the same teasing tone. "Men are just more honest about it is all."
"Well, if you did it here in SAO I'd be joking a little less about it," Sayaka rolled her eyes. "At least in non-VRMMOs it's a see but not touch thing."
Ryu nodded in agreement. "Maybe when they patch to allow multiple characters I will, but I'm in no hurry," he admitted as he moved through the purchase menu and selected the wakazashi. "And there, wakizashi purchased, and now to trade it to you!"
"Trade window, trade window…" Sayaka muttered, searching for the trade notification window that was supposed to pop up after a trade was initiated.
Ryu accepted the trade request and moved the wakizashi into the window and hit the trade button. "And one Wakizashi for you," he declared with a grin. "Shall we do some grinding so you can use it?"
"Sure!" Sayaka smiled, accepting the trade.
"Alright to the fields, which are this way!" Ryu declared as they left the shop. "I'm absolutely certain of it!"
Fields
"Coming to you!" Ryu called out as he herded a boar towards Sayaka. "Get the skill ready!"
"Right!" Sayaka yelled, raising her curved sword over her right shoulder and lowering her stance just slightly. The weapon began to radiate an orange glow as she settled into the beginning motion for the sword skill Reaver.
The boar squealed as it charged at her, lowering it's head to allow its tusks a proper position to strike at the girl as it charged her directly.
"Hyaaaaah!" Sayaka roared, lowering the sword and dashing forward in a single fast motion, gouging a red trail across the boar's flank.
The boar let off a final squeal before it shattered into fragments, a window appearing showing the gathered EXP and Col dropped by the monster before a window appeared in front of Sayaka declaring a level up.
"Nice!" Ryu declared as he walked up. "That should get you to the point to let you wield the wakizashi, right?"
"Using Sword Skills still feels odd to me though…" Sayaka frowned, sheathing her weapon at her side. "It's like something else is controlling my body when I do…"
Ryu nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it is pretty strange," he commented with a contemplative look. "I wonder if it'll affect muscle memory? Because our minds think that our body itself is doing the movement…"
The girl paused for a moment as she brought up her menu. "It's a little… scary how powerful the Nerve Gear technology is…" she sighed, materializing the wakizashi Ryu had bought for her in place of her starting sword.
"Tell me about it, heard from a friend in the military, the government wants to use it as a training program," Ryu said with a sigh as he looked through his inventory. "I mean, it actually makes sense if they can do stuff like this," he waved to the scenery around them, enhanced by the light of the setting sun.
Sayaka nodded as she sat down on the grass to watch the sunset. "It feels almost like a real sunset…" she whispered, reaching out with a hand and watching as the shadow on the ground reacted to her hand blocking the waning light.
Ryu let out a sigh as he joined her on the ground, laying back with his hands linked behind his head, closing his eyes as he did so. "There's so much potential to this technology," he muttered absently. "Should be interesting to see what comes of it."
"But… I just wish people would stop fighting wars IRL," Sayaka murmured, wrapping her arms around her legs as she stared out at the sunset. "So much more progress can be done if everyone would just set aside their differences and work together… The Nerve Gear is just an example of that."
Ryu opened his eyes and let out a small sigh. "Believe me, I know what you mean, all that potential, and it's wasted," he said, looking over at her with a grin. "Who knows, maybe Nerve Gear will pave the way to peace?"
"Maybe… is it wishful thinking to hope for such a thing as real world peace now, in this age?" Sayaka rocked back and forth gently.
"Nah, it's called hope, and we all need it if we want to get up and out of bed the next day," Ryu explained. "We need some kind of hope if we're to make a change, so, why not aim big?"
"I… guess you're right, Ryu-san," Sayaka smiled. "It's funny having this kind of discussion with a foreigner though… You speak really good Japanese."
"Hm? But… I'm just talking in English, aren't I?" Ryu asked in surprise as he sat up. "I can speak some conversational Japanese, but… not to this level."
"Eh? But I'm listening to you talk in perfect Japanese…" Sayaka trailed off.
"Really?" Ryu blinked as he stared at her before a light of realization went off. "The Cardinal System's translation function, supposedly it was the biggest reason for the delay in SAO's international release!"
"That's awesome…" Sayaka gasped. "I wonder what happens if I try to speak English? Er… You… me… understand…?"
Ryu nodded before concentrating. "Hai," he responded in Japanese. "Watakushiha suru koto ga dekimasu, imasu ka?(I do, you can?)"
Sayaka groaned and started massaging her throat. "I suck at English," she complained. "And your Japanese does have a really bad accent to it that I can only just barely make out what you're saying…"
Ryu let out an embarrassed chuckle. "Yeah, sorry about that, but your English wasn't the worst I've heard," he commented. "I work for an international company, and the owners are German, some of whom are hard to understand."
"I kind of feel jealous that you don't have to go to school anymore…" his companion sighed. "I still have to get my homework done for the next week…"
Ryu laughed merrily. "I'm kinda jealous that all you have to worry about is homework," he admitted. "Bills, rent, savings, so many things."
"All that sounds complicated…" Sayaka muttered, a bead of sweat rolling down her brow at the thought of having to go through that - although she didn't quite get half of it. "Can I not grow up?"
"Unfortunately, growing up, is an inescapable fact of life," Ryu said with a sigh. "Best you can do is live without regrets."
"Mugyuu."
Ryu blinked at the sound and looked at a disgruntled-looking Sayaka with a pout on her face. "Huh," he said. "Never knew anyone actually made that noise."
"W-What noise?" she hurriedly put on a straight face.
"Some kind of mixture of a moan and a groan," Ryu answered with a grin. "It was something I had heard from anime."
"Ummm… I don't know what you're talking about," Sayaka said, beads of cold sweat trailing down her brow.
Ryu gave her a dry look. "You imitating anime aren't you?" he asked teasingly.
"I'm not?" her eyebrow began twitching.
Ryu smirked wider as he looked at her. "You are, which one is it I wonder?" he continued on slyly.
"Not imitating anime," Sayaka muttered stubbornly.
"I'm just teasing you," Ryu informed with a small laugh. "You get flustered pretty easily, you know that right?"
"I don't!" the girl huffed, raising her voice slightly and turning away from Ryu.
"Hmm… I wonder what that red on your cheeks means," Ryu said perceptively.
"What time is it? I'm getting hungry," Sayaka bluntly attempted to change the subject, still looking away from Ryu.
Ryu opened up his menu. "Hmm, says about six Japan time, damn I need to get some sleep," he muttered.
"Wait, it's already 6?" Sayaka spun around, her eyes widened. "Mum's going to kill me if I go down late for dinner!"
Ryu chuckled. "Before we log off though," he announced as he moved through his menu. "Mind if I send you a friend request?"
"Sure! But what time is it where you are?" Sayaka smiled, pulling up her own menu as well.
Ryu paused for a moment as he did some math. "Somewhere around three in the morning," he declared. "Yup, definitely a good thing I took time off from work."
"Uwaah, that's really far ahead… or is it behind?" Sayaka's eyes widened as she took in the difference in time.
Ryu looked thoughtful for a moment. "Y'know, I'm not sure myself," he admitted. "Either way, I should be around this week, took it off from work as vacation pay," he moved to where the logout option was. "Umm… wasn't there supposed to be a logout button here?"
"Er, yeah?" Sayaka blinked a few times as she searched for the logout button. She found it, but it was missing the 'logout' text…
"Okay…?" Ryu said slowly. "Is it a launch glitch or something?"
"My mum's going to kill me!" Sayaka wailed as she repeatedly mashed the button, achieving no visible effect.
"Well, it's something out of your control right?" Ryu offered helpfully. "Maybe she'll just skin you instead."
"Not helping, Ryu-san!" Sayaka punched Ryu in the arm lightly and returned to her ineffective button mashing. "Log out! Log out!"
"Calm down, it'll be alright," Ryu said soothingly. "I'm sure the developers are busting their asses to fix this as we speak."
"I… I guess so…" Sayaka sighed, finally lowering her hand from the menu.
Ryu blinked as he saw light seemingly gathering around them. "Hey, what's going-" he was cut off as they both disappeared in a flash of light.
Meanwhile - with Jordan and Dennis
"Boom! Headshot!" Jordan shouted as he scored yet another headshot with his throwing knives, as another wolf hit the floor. "Seriously, they better release Bows and Arrows into this game, or else I WILL riot."
"Yeah that would be pretty stupid if they didn't have those." Dennis said, "But hey do you think there are javelins on SAO? As much as I like doing melee I still need something for range attacks" He said as he slashed two in coming wolfs by their heads before they bursted as data upon death.
"Well I know they have Axes… I haven't seen any stores sell Javelins or Spears yet." Jordan said, "Though the Cardinal System may change that in the future."
"The what?" Dennis asked blinking.
"The Cardinal System," Jordan said grinning, "Possibly the most brilliant thing Kayaba has built into VRMMO games. It basically manages all resources, processes, and events within the game. However the Cardinal in SAO is ten times more advance, as it can generate its own quests based around internet trends, mythology and stories that it acquires from the Internet, creating quests with the ability to completely change the geography of the game itself, even for those not involved in a quest or event. Its even capable of independently looking for bugs in the system, and fixes them itself on the fly with patches without requiring to take down the entire server for maintenance!"
"Is the Cardinal an AI or something?" Dennis asked, sounding a bit wary, but Jordan shrugged.
"Maybe, though the creators of the game say it's not," he said. "It's more like a super-advanced monitoring and updating system, but the possibilities of this system are endless if they continue to patch the game." He smirked a bit, "The best any of the Beta testers like me ever got was floor 10 out of the 100 levels of the game. Just imagine it - the Cardinal System could be changing these levels constantly, so that even the Beta testers won't even know what to expect!"
"Damn that's a mighty system," Dennis said, before he blinked. "But when you say that it follows internet trends does that mean it also follows memes? It's going to be hard to take SAO serious if there's a giant pop tart cat as a raid boss." He cringed at the thought.
Jordan snorted a laugh at that thought, "I'm pretty sure unless the Cardinal system has a sense of humor, we won't have to worry about that." He said, as he looked around the virtual environment. "Either way… with tech like this, the possibilities are endless to what we can accomplish… just imagine what we could have in just a few years, if this is what we are capable of now… hell, we come come to a point where VR and RL come together. Just think about it: A world where as long as you had the imagination, you could build or do whatever you want, and make impacts in the real world!"
"A world of your imagination…" Dennis said somberly. "You know sometimes I want for such a thing when I feel gloomy. There is some depressing messed up crap in IRL that I want to avoid sometimes. I want to be a hero with a purpose while I adventure amazing unexplored lands with only my armor, shield and weapon as protection. IRL just seems to be filled with too much bitterness for stupid crap and not enough living for people, you know?"
"This world isn't easy for people to live in… Real Life I mean." Jordan said, as he leaned against a tree. "No ways to know the rules of goals, yet there are over 7 billion players making their own moves whenever they want. If you lose or even win too much, there are penalties, you can't pass your turn, and if you talk too much you get ostracized. There are no parameters and no way to even determine the genera… the world is just a shitty game."
"Isn't that from No Game No Life?" Dennis asked, and Jordan shrugged.
"Yes, but it's none the less true." He said, "In real life, we say we have rules and goals… but people never seem to follow them, always going off on their own, repeating the same cycles over and over again. Wake up, eat, go to work, socialize with friends, go home, eat, sleep… and the cycle repeats the next day. VRMMORPG's like SAO allows people to at least feel they're doing something exotic, something new and different from that cycle they're trapped in… but in the future, maybe people can use VRMMO's to truly be free from that damned repetitive cycle… and actually make a name for themselves the way they want too."
"Heh, that's another reason I want be in this fantasy world." He said, "I was getting tired of my own repeated cycles as well. To be honest all the training I been doing to try to join the state troopers felt like it would at least give me a purpose and help prevent some innocent people from getting hurt or killed."
"Some?" Jordan asked
Dennis sighed before answering.
"Even I know I cannot help everyone and that the world isn't black or white but dammit I got to try to cull some of senseless violence and killings." He said, "Puerto Rico alone has it the worst in all of the Caribbean despite it's tropical beauty. The cartels use Puerto Rico as part of a drug highway when smuggling their stuff so the island get a fraction of their goods. A couple years back 'Crocodile' hitted the streets and it wasn't pretty"
"What kind of drug is 'Crocodile' Dennis?" Jordan asked.
"It's a heroin drug with a severe necrosis like effect." He explained, "The stuff it is made of is pretty nasty and it is unfortunately highly addictive. I will spare you the details but in the end of the day the users more or less look like ghouls from Fallout."
Jordan shook his head. "Why people use stuff like that, I'll never know..." he muttered before he sighed. "Well, I think its time we logged off for a bit and grab something to eat - I can't feel it, but I know once I log off I'm gonna be hungrier than all hell."
"Yeah." Dennis said, as he pulled up his menu, "I've got some… wait, what?"
Jordan looked at Dennis. "Something wrong?" He asked.
"Uhh, Jordan… how do I log out?" He asked.
"The button at the bottom," He said, as he looked over Dennis's shoulder, "Right…" however he blinked as well, as he noticed the log out feature was blanked out. "The hell…?"
"Does… it work on yours?" Dennis asked, before Jordan quickly pulled out his own menu. However he had just as much luck, as the log out button was missing.
"The hell is this…?" Jordan muttered, "Where's the *bleep*ing logout-" He paused for a moment as he glanced up. "Oh son of a *bleep* they added a profanity filter! Really?!"
"Is that seriously what you're worried about right now?" Dennis asked, as Jordan sighed.
"I hate things like that…" he muttered, before he looked back at his menu. "It could just be a glitch… I mean hell, we are talking about well nearly 1,000,000 people logging into this game on day one, I'm amazed the servers didn't crash from the sheer volume of people… well if the GM's don't auto-log us out, our families could pull our NervGear from off our heads, and we'll be fine."
Before Dennis could say anything, there was a loud 'Gonging' sound in the distance, as if it was from a brass bell causing them to glance up in surprise. As the clouds began to go passing by much faster, and the sun began to grow brighter as well. "What the hell is-" Jordan began, before he and Dennis were both enveloped in a pair of flashing blue lights.
Starting City, Plaza
"-on?" Ryu finished as he appeared with every other player in the central plaza of [Starting City]. "Wait, what?"
"Eh? What?" Beside Ryu, Sayaka was trying to rub the daze out of her eyes from the flash of light.
"Where… were we teleported?" Ryu asked as he looked around the milling crowd who looked just as confused as he did. "What's going on here?"
"Oi! Up there!" Someone shouted, as the crowd looked up where a small red blinking light could be seen, which read "Warning: System Announcement!" on it. However moments later, the sign duplicated to the point where it covered the entire surrounding sky, giving the skies a dark red hue. Moments later though, what looked like blood began to ooze from out of the sky, gathering together in the sky.
"...and now the sky is bleeding, why is the sky bleeding?"
"Maybe they're trying to really work for that M-Rating?"
The sky blood began to take up a shape in the sky, before it finally too up the shape of a massive dark figure in red and gold robes with a cloak covering his face. "Hey! Its a Game Master!" Someone shouted, "Hey dude! Something's wrong with our Log out features!"
"Attention Players," The Game Master said, as it spread its arms out. "Welcome to my world. My name is Kayaba Akihito, as of this moment, I am the sole person who controls this world."
"Ego much?" Ryu asked with narrowing eyes.
"Wh-what's going on?" Sayaka subconsciously hid behind Ryu, feeling something very, very wrong with the situation.
"I am fairly sure you have noticed, that the logout button has been removed from your menus," He continued, as a much larger version of the game menu appeared in front of him and everyone else. "But this is not a defect in the game, I repeat: This is not a defect in the game, It is a feature of Sword Art Online."
"Oh god no," Ryu breathed out, his eyes widening in a mixture of shock and fear. "Please, no."
"Don't be the Matrix, don't be the Matrix…" Someone within the crowd repeatedly said.
"You cannot log out of SAO yourselves," Kayaba continued, "And no one on the outside can or will shut down your Nerve-Gear. As should this be attempted, the transmitter inside your Nerve Gear will emit a powerful Microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life."
"W-What?" Sayaka said in shock, her eyes widening.
"Why!?" Ryu roared out. "Why do this!?"
"Unfortunately, several player's friends and families have ignored this warning, and have attempted to remove the Nerve-Gear." Kayaba said, ignoring Ryu and the other's shouts of protest as tabs appeared around him revealing newsreels. "As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, both from Aincrad and the Real World. As you can see, News organizations from across the world are reporting this, including the deaths. Thus, you can assume the danger of a Nerve Gear being removed is now Minimal. I hope you will relax, and attempt to clear the game."
Ryu clenched his fists tightly as he glared up at Kayaba angrily. "You *bleep*ing son of a *bleep*"
"Dude, what the actual *Bleep*!" Another person shouted. "This doesn't make me relax - its doing the exact opposite!"
"But I want you to remember this clearly," Kayaba continued. "There is no longer a way to revive someone within the game. If your HP Drops to Zero, your avatar will be forever lost, and simultaneously... the Nerve-Gear will destroy your brain."
"No… nononono…" Sayaka muttered, as she grasped the hem of Ryu's shirt for reassurance. "This… this can't be happening…"
Ryu reached out and steadied Sayaka as she shook in fear, looking at her with concerned eyes. "You will survive," he whispered to her. "If nothing else, I promise you that."
"B-But… it's almost impossible to go through a normal MMO on your first try without dying once…" Sayaka whimpered.
"There is only one means of escape," he continued. "To Complete the game. You are all currently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, floor 1." as he spoke, a large blue 3-D map appeared before them all. "If you make your way through the Dungeons, and the Floor bosses, you will advance a floor for each boss. Defeat all of the bosses, along with the final boss on Floor 100, and you will defeat the game!"
"Sayaka, look at me," Ryu said as he forced the girl to look into his eyes. "I will keep you alive, okay? Trust me."
"But what reason would you have to keep me around, Ryu-san!? I-I'll just be dead weight - I… I don't know if I can fight knowing the risk of dying is real!" Sayaka shouted, shaking uncontrollably as her tears began flowing.
Ryu wrapped Sayaka in his arms, hugging her tightly. "You're my friend, that's why," he whispered to her. "No matter what happens, you are my friend, and I will always protect my friends."
"We've only just met!" Sayaka protested.
"Doesn't matter," Ryu countered. "I can always tell who'll be a good friend, and besides, it's not in me to ignore a crying lady."
Sayaka was silent for several moments, only her sobbing audible through Ryu's armour. "R-Really…?"
"Really," Ryu confirmed. "I promise."
"Finally," Kayaba said, as he pressed one more button on his menu. "I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please see for yourselves."
Everyone, including Ryu and Sayaka took a moment to look through their respective inventories, under the title 'Mirror'. They activated the item, as a small handheld mirror appeared in their hands.
"A Mirror?"
"That's it?"
"What the *Bleep* is this - GAH Profanity filter *bleep* you!"
Ryu rose an eyebrow as he and Sayaka looked at the mirror… and he heard Sayaka scream as she was enveloped in a burst of blue light. "Saya-woa!" He shouted as he too was enveloped, and soon following all of the players in the courtyard were surrounded by the light.
Ryu blinked as the spots left his eyes before looking himself over, his eyes widening as he saw his own real life body. "What in the world?"
"What just happened…?" the girl in his arms groaned, rubbing her eyes again.
"I think… I think Kayaba removed our Avatars," Ryu answered as he looked around.
"Wait, Ryu-san? That's you?" Sayaka gaped.
Ryu gave her a weak grin. "Beer gut and all," he confirmed. "Huh, you don't look much different than your Avatar."
"W-Well, there were some things I tweaked a little…" she confessed, her eyes drooping down to her chest… which was currently mashed into Ryu's stomach. Her cheeks involuntarily turned red.
"Ah," Ryu responded with a light chuckle. "Don't like the stares?"
Sayaka could only nod in response.
"Right now, you are probably asking yourselves 'Why'?" The man continued. "Why would Kayaba Akihito, developer of Sword Art Online and Nerve-Gear, do all of this? My Goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason: To create this world, and intervene in it. And now... it is complete."
"This is insane," he whispered. "Sayaka, as soon as we can leave, stay close, alright?"
"R-Right…" she nodded again, backing off from Ryu slightly and wiping her tears away.
Ryu looked up at Kayaba Akihito with anger. "If I get a chance, I am going to kick that guy's ass."
"This ends the Tutorial for the official launch of Sword Art Online," Kayaba said, and as if mocking them all, he added "Good luck, Players." Moments after he said that, the game master appeared to dissolve into thin air, before the warning signs all disappeared, returning to the sunsetting skies above them.
"Come on!" Ryu shouted as he gripped her hand and started moving. "Don't let go!"
"A-Ah!" Sayaka squeaked as she was practically dragged off her feet. She took a bit of time to gather herself before she started running behind Ryu. "Where are we going?"
"An inn," Ryu answered. "We need to get off the streets, it's going to be chaos out here!"
"A-A-A-A-An inn!?" the girl gasped out loud as her blush returned in full force. "B-B-B-B-But we b-b-barely know e-e-each other a-a-and we're n-n-not involved l-like that!"
"Nothing like that!" Ryu assured as he managed to push them past the still shell shocked crows. "Separate rooms if you want, but I want to get off the streets before they start a riot or something!"
"Alright…" Sayaka let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.
"Here!" he called out as they ran into the inn and quickly purchased two rooms from the innkeeper for the next few days. "Right, I think we'll be fine here for now, we can think about our next move from here."
Sayaka was slumped on a chair in the inn's reception area, panting hard.
"Sorry, did I push you too hard?" Ryu asked in concern as he took a seat next to her.
"I… I'm not a very good… athlete…" she groaned. "A-And I'm still reeling… from the changes to SAO…"
"Yeah, tell me about it," Ryu breathed as he held up his slightly shaking hands. "I put up a good front, but quite honestly, I'm scared shitless too."
"Ryu-san… Do you really think we can get out of this alive?" Sayaka whispered, visibly withdrawing into herself leaving barely any trace behind of the happy-go-lucky, energetic girl Ryu had been talking to earlier.
Ryu frowned in worry before throwing an arm over her shoulder and giving her a hug. "Yes," he affirmed. "We can."
"Even through the full 100 floors when we're not sure what lies ahead?" Sayaka leaned into him for reassurance.
"Yeah, all we gotta do is have faith," Ryu assured, squeezing her shoulders lightly. "It'll be chaotic, and I'm not going to lie, people are going to die, but we'll start coming together."
"I sure hope so…" she whispered, closing her eyes.
"So do I," he admitted in return as he leaned back into her while closing his own eyes.
"By the way…"
"Hm?"
"H-How long are you going to…" Sayaka cast a shy glance down at her chest, with Ryu's arm wrapped around it practically sinking into her abundant bust. The harassment warning window was floating in the air in front of her, even though she was mostly ignoring it.
Ryu blinked before realizing where his hand was resting before practically flying off of her. "Oh god, I'm so sorry!" he cried out apologetically
"It-It's fine… as long as you did it by accident and apologized…" she blushed, still rotating her body away from Ryu anyway and wrapping her arms around her chest, feeling a little violated.
Ryu seemed to generate a cloud of depression around him as he cried anime tears. "I don't mean to, really," he bemoaned.
A tinkling bit of laughter escaped the girl's mouth for a short moment. "You're a good person, Ryu-san…"
"I try to be, oh, and please, call me Tom," the Canadian requested. "My real name, it's Thomas Johnston."
"F-First name so quickly?" Sayaka looked rather taken aback, although she rolled the name out anyway, "T-T-Tom-san…"
Tom chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I'm not much for formalities, even for a Canadian to be honest," he explained. "Besides, if we're going to be doing this no reason to stand on formality."
"Then… my real name's Saya Amagi," Sayaka formally introduced herself with a slight bow. "Just… call me Saya."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Saya," Tom said as he held out his hand to her.
"And you too, Tom-san… I'll be in your care," Sayaka replied, eyeing the hand for a moment before grasping it.
Tom gave it a firm shake before releasing it. "I suppose we should probably get to bed," he said with a small sigh. "Have a good night, Saya."
"Yeah… good night," Sayaka smiled weakly as they headed up to their individual rooms in the inn.
Meanwhile - With Jordan and Dennis
"We should be safe here for now…" Jordan said as he and Dennis stood on top of a building, as the rest of the players descended into chaos, with riots in the square and people running for safety wherever they could find it. "For now, as long as we stay in the city limits we can't get killed. Cities like this are safe zones."
"What the hell is going on here…" Dennis muttered shaking his head as he sat down. "We die here we die for real… why would Kayaba do this?"
"I don't know…" Jordan muttered as he stared up at the sky. "This isn't like him from what I know about him… he's not a psychopath… but this…"
"This isn't good." Dennis said, "By the time this riot is over it is going to be every man for himself. What the hell are we going to do!?"
"Calm down Dennis, panicking like the others won't help things," Jordan said. "We need to take a breather and try to form some kind of plan."
Dennis sighed deeply before he started to speak.
"Okay what do we do?" he said. "I can only think right now is that we watch each others backs as we go through this game."
"Dennis, believe me when I say we're gonna need more than the two of us," Jordan said. "I beta'd this game, the floor bosses are all badass, and taking down one with just two guys - let alone going solo - is nearly impossible unless you've leveled up to the point where you're a SAO Demi-god basically, and even then you're not guaranteed to win… and the biggest problem will be finding where the floor bosses are to begin with."
"Damn," Dennis muttered with a sigh. "Well, we are going to have to be persuasive if we want anyone to join us in this fight."
"Maybe…" Jordan said, as he crossed his arms. "The chaos will likely continue for a few hours… eventually people will simmer down, and people will start to restore order, and people will start to reorganize themselves into their own guilds… though I don't doubt that a lot of people will try to go solo… probably the Beta Testers, steal the best monster spawn points for themselves, and start advancing on their own..."
"Didn't you say you use to be in a Guild?" Dennis asked. "Some Ninja guild thing? Can't we join them?"
Jordan shook his head "No… I doubt Fuumaningun will be willing to help," he said, "We had a bit of a falling out before the Closed beta ended… I left the guild, so I doubt they'll want me back. Our best bet will be to make our own guild for now."
"Where do we start looking for members?" Dennis asked, however Jordan sighed.
"That's gonna be difficult," he admitted. "Normally we'd have the time to assemble members… but with all this newfound chaos, people are gonna be running around like chickens with their heads cut off, scared that anything moving will get them killed."
"Hmm." Dennis hummed. "Well best thing we can only do now is to wait for them to calm down. Though if we do form a guild we will need to get ourselves a blacksmith for our equipment and an alchemist for health potions because there is no doubt in my mind that those things will be in high demand," He stared at the chaos below. As the riot went on he saw that the outside of an inn entrance there was an opening.
"Okay, Jordan here is our chance, see that opening in front of the inn?" Dennis asked as Jordan nodded. "On my count we make a break for it and I will use my shield to shovel off anyone in the way." Dennis pulled out his shield and holded it with both hands.
"Got it, I am right behind you!" Jordan said as he positioned himself.
The two then went downstair of the building and focused on the window as the riot went on.
"Alright… Now!" Dennis said as he charged down toward the crowd pushing off any poor sob that was on his way until they reached the inn's door. "Out of the way, move it people! Move! Move! Move! Coming through!" Dennis shouted, before they reached the door itself, as they opened and slammed it shut.
"Good thinking, Dennis," Jordan said as he paid the Innkeeper for a room. "Got plenty of col from the Beta to keep us afloat for a while."
"It's best we 'sleep' this off until things calm down," Dennis said as they went upstairs to their room.
"Yeah, things should calm down in a few days…" Jordan said sighing as he walked to follow Dennis to the room. "Geez I hope Ryu's alright…"
"Bah, that crazy Canadian knows what he's doing," Dennis said, "You told me this wasn't his first VRMMO."
"Yeah, but this is the first time he's in a game where he dies here, he dies IRL." Jordan said, as they entered their room before he sighed. "I can't help but worry about him… "
"Hopefully we'll meet up with him… strength in numbers, right?" Dennis asked, as Jordan nodded.
"Yeah…" he said before he headed for one of the beds. "Well… we should rest up while we can. We're gonna need it in the morning."
'Coño how did it end up like this' Dennis thought as he took of his chainmail with a simple click from the menu and laid in the virtual bed. He shrugged off the idiotic thought of questioning why they needed sleep in a virtual world since that was the least of their problems.
"Well night Jordan. See you in the virtual morning" Dennis said as he went to sleep.
Jordan didn't immediately go to sleep, as he just sat in bed staring up at the ceiling. 'Kayaba… why?' he thought, 'I used to idolize you… you were my hero… why are you doing this? What do you get out of all this?'
Jordan activated his menu for another moment, as he looked at where the log out function used to be at. 'Die here, die for real...' he thought. 'No second chances, respawns or restarts… that's it, huh?'
He turned the menu off, as he continued to stare up at the ceiling. "What's your aim in all this, Akihiko?" He asked no one. "I'm gonna find out why you're doing this… even if it's the last thing I do… I can never say no to a good mystery." Jordan chuckled a bit to himself, before he finally closed his eyes, and slept.
The Next Morning - Aincrad 1st Floor
"Uwaaah… it's really bad…" a somewhat calmer Sayaka whispered as she looked out the window of the inn.
The streets were filled with people, a lot of which didn't seem to know what to do at all and were just lying around. An air of desolation, fear and depression hung about the town despite its population of just about every player logged into the game. It was depressing enough to look at, so Sayaka decided to simply look away and sigh.
"It's to be expected, I guess," Tom muttered as he shook his head. "Unfortunately, if we want to learn anything, we have to go out there."
"I guess so…" Sayaka slumped into a seat beside Tom. "It's just… too depressing to look at. And it's too easy to… feel like joining them…"
"Hey," Tom said he nudged her slightly. "It'll be alright, we got each other's backs, right?"
"Y-Yeah, Tom-san…" Sayaka slumped onto the table, resting her head on her hands.
"Worried about your real life body?" Tom asked in concern.
She nodded, still looking rather downcast. "I mean… the fact that I'm still alive here means my mum hasn't pulled off the Nerve Gear yet at least… but I… miss her."
"Your mom?" Tom asked for clarification.
Sayaka nodded again, her eyes tearing up. "She… she must be worried sick about me now… I can practically imagine what s-s-she's doing now… lying beside my bed, h-h-holding my hand… wishing it was all just a-a-a-a n-nightmare…"
Tom hugged her gently - being mindful of her… private areas. "You'll see her again," he whispered. "Y'know, I miss my parents, too, and my niece and nephew."
If anything, Sayaka got more withdrawn - Ryu could feel her tucking her arms closer to her body. "I… I want to see my mum and dad again! I don't want to die here!" she whimpered.
"Hey, hey," Tom whispered as he hugged her tightly. "You will, I promise that you will. Didn't I promise you that?"
The girl in his arms let out a small whimper and wiped away her tears. "Y-You did… I don't know why, but hearing you say that, Tom-san… kind of puts me at ease a little…"
Tom smiled at her. "Good, glad to hear that," he whispered back. "Just know I am by your side."
"Yeah…" she smiled weakly up at Tom.
"Anything you need, let me know," he told her. "Even just a shoulder to cry on."
"Um, a way out of the game?" Sayaka attempted to make a joke.
It… kind of fell flat.
Ryu gave her a weak grin in response. "Out of my reach for the time being, but, I'll do what I can."
Sayaka sagged slightly and aimed another look out the window. "Is it… wrong to wish someone else can do the fighting so the rest of us can go home without dying? It's… selfish, right?" she mused.
"It's alright to be selfish like that," Tom admitted, folding his arms across his chest. "Not wanting to risk your life that is… but…"
"It's still selfish… and if everyone thinks like that…" Sayaka cast another look outside. "Nothing will get done… right?"
"Yeah…" Tom said with a look of his own out the window. "Saya… I want to go out there, and help those people, that's… that's my selfish wish…"
"I don't want to die…" Sayaka whispered, fisting her hands in the fabric of Tom's clothes. "But I don't want to be selfish either… But seeing people in this state… it hurts…"
"So… perhaps… perhaps they need people to look up to, to give them hope for freedom," Tom commented, a determined glint in his eyes.
"I'd feel like I was dying anyway if I just stayed in the city all the time and watched depressed people lying around…" Sayaka nodded. "Tom-san, I want to fight this world with everything I have!"
Tom smiled broadly at her and stood up, holding out a hand to her. "Then let's make a difference, shall we?" he asked her.
"Yeah, I don't want to go down without a fight!" Sayaka pumped her fist in the air.
Tom nodded as he looked out the window. "No sense in standing around, now is there?" he asked in amusement. "Shall we get going?"
"To grind?" Sayaka asked somewhat enthusiastically.
"That," Tom agreed with a nod. "And to gather information, ignorance is the enemy after all."
"I want to level up faster…" Sayaka clenched her fist and patted the wakizashi in its sheath by her side. "I don't want to be a useless burden to you!"
Tom smirked in return. "Then let's start of finding good places to grind," he said before looking down at his hands. "Also want to find out if there's any hand-to-hand combat related skills…"
"Should a sword be better though?" the girl asked as she stood up.
"Eh, I'm actually more comfortable with my hands to be honest," Tom admitted with a tinge of embarrassment in his tone. "I used to be a civilian contractor on a military Reservist base and I actually joined in on some of the training there."
"Then… can you also teach me sometime, Tom-san?" Sayaka asked shyly. "I mean… for when we get back to real life…"
Tom blinked but soon grinned and nodded. "Sure," he agreed. "Hey, maybe we can sue Argus when we get out and I can use the money for a trip to Japan or something."
"Y-Y-You don't need to go that far just to see me…" Sayaka gasped.
Tom shrugged. "Well, honestly, it's just part of the reason, always wanted to take a trip to your home country," he commented with a wistful look. "Just… just never managed to kick myself hard enough to go."
"And besides… my mum's going to be very suspicious when I invite an older guy over…" Sayaka muttered with a blush.
Tom chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. "Ah, I don't think we need to go that far," he said assuringly. "But, that can wait, for now, we have some grinding to do."
"Please tell me there aren't any slimes in this game," Sayaka shuddered. "I mean… attacking a slime you don't have to physically touch is one thing, but when you can touch it… it sounds like it'd be very icky…"
"Yeah, it'd make me want to hole myself up into a shower for a week," Tom agreed with a shudder of his own as they began moving for the door, he paused as he rested his hand on the handle. "Ready. Saya?"
"Yeah, Tom-san!" Sayaka nodded, a look of grim resolve on her face.
Tom turned the handle and pushed the door open as they strode out into the chaotic streets of [Starting City], their objective clear in mind.
Beat the [Death Game].
Meanwhile - With Jordan and Dennis
"Alright, it's morning… now what?" Dennis asked as the two got out of their respected beds.
"Now… well, a lot of things." Jordan said, "If we're gonna survive here, we need to start getting good gear, and getting a whole metric *bleep*ton of experience points. Our best bet will be to camp at higher level mob spawn areas… I know a meadow near the floor's northern edge that spawns a few Ruin Kobold Sentinels and Troopers, not exactly high XP but it's a good place to get some for newer players, along with some col."
"Also… it may be worth inspecting the rest of the world," He continued, as he pulled out the SAO Aincrad map for the first floor. "There's virtually no mapping data on the first floor. If we can map out these areas for the other players, we can start sharing the mob spawn points with other players, so they can level up too. And if we're really lucky, we'll find the first floor's Labyrinth."
"The wha?" Dennis asked, blinking.
"In Aincrad, each level has its own boss." Jordan explained, "And each boss is hidden away in the level's Labyrinth. In order to combat the boss, you need to work your way through the mazes and monsters to find the boss, beat him, and advance to the next floor." He then thought for a moment "If I recall correctly, the first floor boss is [Illfang the Kobold Lord], he wasn't that bad of a boss in the Beta, but we have no idea what Kayaba and the Cardinal system has changed yet."
"So… you're suggesting we look for the Labyrinth, and in extension to that, the Boss?" Dennis confirmed, and Jordan nodded.
"Yeah." He said, "No way we're gonna take down floor bosses on our own, we need to work together with other players to beat them one at a time. If the non-beta players can reach a minimum of Level 15 it shouldn't be too hard to take him down. But we first need to map out the Labyrinth, so anyone else won't get lost…"
"But before even that, I need to get you leveled up." He began, "My character's already at Level 25 from being in the Beta, but you've got a LOT of work to do Dennis." He then smirked a bit "I guess you can call me your new mentor now." He pressed a button, as appearing in a blue flash was a simple one-handed curved sword, which he proceeded to holster. "Come now, Grasshopper - we have work to do."
Dennis rolled his eyes. "Grasshopper? Really? " He asked, and Jordan smirked
"Hehe. Come on, with your dedication it shouldn't take long," Jordan said as he headed through the door
"I guess," Dennis said with sigh before following him.
First Floor, Forest Meadow Cave
"Watch the lizard on the left flank!" Tom shouted out as he deflected a spear thrust from a [Kobold Sentry] before slashing at its wrists, let out a tsk sound as all it did was leave red lines and do some damage, rather than rendering its hands useless as he intended.
"What's a flank?" Sayaka tilted her head aside, although she reacted to the new monster anyway with her wakizashi glowing orange as she flashed past it, leaving a gash below the Kobold's waist.
"To our sides," Tom explained quickly as he quickly moved around the Kobold he was fighting as slit its throat, scoring a critical hit making its health deplete and shatter into polygons. "To flank someone it to attack from the blind spot."
"Oh," Sayaka blinked and tried to move.
… The Kobold she had struck with her Reaver sword skill turned and swung its club around, sending her flying a short distance while she was stuck on the cooldown from her sword skill.
"Saya!" Tom shouted out as he moved, charging the Kobold with a flurry of strikes, drawing the aggro of the monster. "Are you alright?"
"Y-Yeah…" Sayaka groaned as she climbed to her feet, checking the health bar in the corner of her vision. That one blow had done enough damage to knock it down into the yellow zone… "Ow…"
"Catch!" Tom called out as he tossed her a health potion. "Heal up, I'll keep them busy."
"Uwaaaa!" Sayaka fumbled with her catch, almost dropping the potion before she popped the cork and downed it in one go. "It's… tasteless," she grumbled, tossing the flask aside and hanging back as she waited for the potion's heal over time effect to replenish her health.
As that was happening Tom was ducking and weaving through the strikes of the monsters, his dagger flashing quickly in regular attacks at critical points of their body.
Sayaka took note of how Tom was aiming his slashes and stabs in between pieces of armour as opposed to trying to hit the armour itself. She partially unsheathed her own wakizashi and studied it closely, wondering if she could use it like her partner was using his dagger.
As one of the [Kobold Sentry] overextended one of its thrusts Tom snapped his hand out, grabbing the collar of the Kobold's armor before yanking him close and wrapping his hands around its head and proceeded to rather violently snap its neck, resulting in an instant kill.
Sayaka winced.
"Saya?" Tom called out as he resumed his ducking weaving. "How you doing?"
"I almost feel sorry for the Kobolds… the way you're killing them like that," she commented.
Tom blinked as he looked over to her. "Oh, the neck snapping," he realized as he stabbed a Kobold in general area of the stomach. "Yeah, I did say I trained with Army men, right?"
The girl nodded as she took a deep breath and stood up again. "It's kind of… brutal," she admitted, charging back into combat as her HP bar returned to full, ducking under a Kobold and jamming her wakizashi through the gap in its armour at the armpit.
"Just like that, Saya!" Tom shouted out encouragingly. as he slew another Kobold. "We're just about finished with the mob!"
"Right!" Sayaka shouted, jamming the blade in all the way with both hands and twisting it, causing the Kobold to screech out in pain and shatter into polygons.
Tom quickly engaged the final Kobold as he slashed at it rapidly, depleting its health. "Switch!" he shouted as he leapt back, allowing Saya to get the final blow in.
"What? Eh, what?" Sayaka blinked, completely missing the opportunity as the Kobold turned around to face Tom again.
"Switch means to change engagements, it's used when the enemy if off guard," Tom called out as he moved around the Kobold. "I'll set you up again!" he quickly slashed at the attacking Kobold, striking the spear and leaving the Kobold Vulnerable. "Switch!"
"Right!" Sayaka dashed in with her wakizashi outstretched in a lunging motion with her wakizashi gripped by her right hand. The attack impacted against the Kobold's chestplate, but she drove her left palm into the pommel of her weapon and rammed it through. The creature vanished into polygons soon after.
"Nice job!" Tom praised as a box appeared before them showing the loot drops and experience points gathered. "Just one problem though."
"Ah, was it the failed Switch?" Sayaka rubbed the back of her head nervously.
"No, no, that was my fault for not explaining it to you earlier, bring up your weapon stats," he ordered. "What's the first thing you notice about it."
"Eh?" Saya did as she was told, tapping on her wakizashi with her free hand. The first thing she noticed was that the durability stat for it was flashing red. "Eeep."
"It's durability is low, right?" Tom speculated with a small grin as he adopted a lecturing pose, his left hand planted on his hip as he used his right with his index finger extended to make motions in the air, as if slashing a sword. "It's because you're not using the wakizashi as a wakizashi, its primary role is as a [Slashing Weapon], it's not exactly suited for puncturing enemy armor with stabs," he explained. "While I am flattered you are trying to imitate my fighting style, you'll find it's just not suited for either yourself or your weapon, my dagger is a [Stabbing Weapon], meaning you can't exactly use my style of fighting. Plus, our body builds are completely different, you're slender and thin, while I'm bulky and thick, staying with me so far?"
Sayaka had swirls in her eyes as she tried to process the information.
"Ah, kinda went overboard, didn't I?" Tom asked in embarrassment as he scratched his cheek. "Sorry, I kinda get passionate when teaching…"
"Um… so basically…" Sayaka still looked a little dizzy as she tried to repeat what Tom had said. "I should focus more on slashing than stabbing…?"
Tom nodded. "Pretty much yeah," he agreed. "Tell me, did you notice how I moved when I was fighting the Kobolds?"
"Umm…" Sayaka racked her brain. "You didn't move much?"
"Exactly, the style of fighting I was taught for CQC was that of 'efficiency within a small area', little movement as possible," Tom explained slowly so that she could properly follow, grabbing a stick of the ground and drawing a circle around himself in the dirt. "When I fight, I only moved within a small area like this, to better allow me to grab hold of my opponents, and with my build - stocky - I am able to take a few more hits than someone with your build - thin - can, understand?"
"But won't that be more about stats than anything in SAO?" Sayaka tilted her head sideways in confusion.
"Perhaps, I'm not quite sure to be honest, especially with how this became a [Death Game]," Tom said with a nod. "Real Life skills are very easy to use here, like how I was able to snap necks, any regular MMO player would never think to do something like that, right?"
"Umm… yeah…" Sayaka nodded, turning around to face a fresh [Kobold Sentry] spawn. "I'll give it a try."
"I wouldn't recommend it," Tom advised. "Not a neck snap anyways, they're harder than they look, instead, do a decapitation."
"Um, with that armour?" Sayaka eyed the piece of armour around the Kobold's throat.
"Work around it," Tom said. "Your sword is a short sword, meaning you can do things with it longer swords can't, like sliding into small gaps."
"Right…" Sayaka nodded, narrowing her eyes at a section that seemed like it would be able to move and a gap between it and the next section…
…
"TOO SMALL!"
Tom sighed as he shook his head. "Alright, then, going to tell you another kill point, for the most part, it seems these enemies have the same 'kill points' as humans, there is on you can reach, see that gap where the shoulder meets the neck?"
"Yeah?" Sayaka nodded, staring at said spot.
"That's where a vital spot is, it's a major blood vessel," Tom explained. "Try it."
"Right!" Sayaka prepared her wakizashi and charged forward, dodging a lunge from the Kobold's spear to slash at a gap in between the armour pieces where the spot was. At least it was slightly larger than the one she had been looking at earlier, she decided as the blade cut effortlessly through and dealt a critical hit for extra damage.
"Now, move around behind it!" Tom shouted out. "Then grab the top of his head, pull it back and slide your sword along its throat!"
Following Tom's instructions on instinct, the girl spun around and yanked the Kobold's head back with her free hand. Her wakizashi dragged across the suddenly much larger chink in the armour she had been looking at, tearing a red gash open along its throat. The Kobold let out a surprisingly realistic gurgle before exploding into polygons.
"And that's how you take advantage of those weak points," Tom declared proudly.
"I think I better not use this sword for a while though…" Sayaka sighed, tapping on the wakizashi again and checking its durability.
Tom nodded in agreement. "Let's head back to town for now then," he said looking up to the sky. "Sort through the loot and get our gear repaired."
"I wonder if we can get any armour made from the loot like in Monster Hunter?" Sayaka smiled, sheathing her wakizashi.
"I believe so," Tom mused as he adopted a thinking pose. "I remember hearing that there's a crafting skill… and such."
"I want to try it out for myself!" Sayaka squealed. "I've always wanted to try making beautiful armour…"
"Right, let's head to town and see what we can find out," Tom said with a grin. "Let's get going before the mob spawns again."
"Kobolds are ugly though," the girl decided. "They won't make nice armour."
"Very," Tom agreed with a nod. "Calling them lizards is an insult to lizards everywhere, as for the armor, never know until you try, right?"
"I want to make dragonskin armour!" Sayaka had apparently completely given up on Kobold armour.
"Well, Kobolds are said to be of the [Dragon] Type," Tom offered with a sly grin.
"Too ugly to be dragons," Sayaka surprisingly dismissed it.
"Well, it'll be good practice then," he concluded. "Plus we should be able to sell it as Player Made Gear at a premium."
"Fine, practice," Sayaka deflated.
Tom patted her back soothingly. "We'll slay a dragon together, alright?" he offered.
"And we'll make some super good gear out of it!" Sayaka cheered.
"Yup," Tom grinned as he gave her a thumbs up. "So, you'll take armor crafting? he asked for confirmation. "Then I'll take blacksmithing."
"Dragontooth katanas!" the girl beside him happily grinned.
"Dragonscale armor!" the adult responded.
"Let's make it happen!" Sayaka laughed, raising her hand to hi-five Tom.
Tom returned the gesture as their hands clapped together and they both started moving towards the town. "Might want to switch to a different weapon in case we run into any mobs," he pointed out. "Don't want to break your sword."
"I've still got the [Light Iron Curved Sword] from the default equipment, I'll use that," she brought up her menu and hit the necessary buttons to swap her wakizashi out for the starter sword.
"Sounds good, let's get going!" Tom called as he started moving at a brisk jog.
First Floor, Open Plains
Jordan cursed as he leaped over a [Kobold Sentinel] that swung its Mace at him, hitting the ground where he was moments ago. He performed a midair cartwheel before landing on the ground behind the Sentinel. The Kobold hefted up his Mace from out of the ground to swing it at Jordan once more, however he ducked under the swing as the mace barely grazed his head, but he used this chance to catch the Kobold off balance as he charged at the NPC monster, his curved sword in hand as he sliced into the creature's legs. "Dennis! Help! Now!" He shouted.
"On it! Rarghhh!" Dennis charged at the sentinel with shield up and hitting its side with a bone breaking shield bash causing the sentinel to be thrown a few feet and before he could get up Dennis stabbed his head causing to creature to shriek in death before bursting into data.
"There ya go," Dennis sighed, as he took the col and EXP from his kill. "Ten col richer, and 230 XP Better."
"Good - one less Kangaroo to deal with." Jordan said, as he holstered his sword, but Dennis blinked.
"Kangaroo? I thought that was a Lizard!" He exclaimed, but Jordan shook his head.
"Nope - Totally Kangaroo's." He said, "I've fought the First level Boss, I know what I'm talking about. Totally a giant freaking Kangaroo."
Dennis pointed at one of the Kobold's standing a fair distance away, outside of its detection range. "Dude, that totally looks like a Lizard!" He said.
"Its a Kangaroo."
"Lizard!"
"Kangaroo!"
"Totally a Lizard!"
"Totally a Kangar-" Jordan paused for a moment as his ears twitched. "Wait, you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Dennis asked, "I didn't hear anything."
"My hearing skill is higher than yours, right… I heard a scream." Jordan explained, as he drew his sword once more. "This way! Come on!"
Dennis cursed as he ran to follow. "Hey! Wait up! I'm wearing a metal suit, not freaking sweatpants!" He shouted as he chased after his friend.
Backed up in a corner were two girls, both with the default gear and equipment standing with their iron swords drawn, and shakily aimed at the surrounding Kobold Soldiers and Sentries, roughly eight of them at the very least. The first woman had long waist-length platinum blonde hair, and dark green eyes, gulping slightly.
"I-I can't believe they just abandoned us like that!" She shouted, as her friend - a woman about the same age with short neck-length purple hair and blue eyes - nodded.
"We can make it out of this… I've still got plenty of health potions." She said, as she used her free hand to activate her inventory. "I'm sending you half of mine right now - we make a break for it when-"
"Rossa! Look out!" The other girl shouted, as the Kobold Warriors made their move, as one armed with an Axe lunged at Rossa. Her eyes widened as she closed her menu, just barely raising her sword in defense in time, the Axe grazed against her shoulder, as her HP bar decreased by one sixth.
"Lux! Sword Skill! Now!" Rossa shouted, as Lux nodded as her own iron sword glowed orange as she charged at the attacking Kobold, shouting out as she used her [Slant] skill as she sliced the face of the Kobold, causing the creature to back off, roaring in pain.
As the wounded backed off two more Kobold came charging to lux as she barely parried one of the Kobold sword but as she did that the other hit her side with a mace, making her fall and stagger in the ground. The two Kobold took their chance and rose their weapons to do the finishing blow.
"Rossa no!" The other girl shouted as she tried to rush towards her friend but was forced to stop in order to block an incoming sword attack from the Kobold to her left. She grunted as she helplessly saw her friend getting ready to be killed.
As the Kobold was going to swing their weapons there was a sudden loud animalistic roar causing everyone to look towards the east where a man wearing chainmail armor went charging at them over the hill. The lizard/Kangaroo's hissed with hatred as they all changed towards the unwanted visitor. As they charged, three of them were hit with javelins in their torso with enough force to penetrate the armor and causing the Kobolds to die and burst into data.
Two kobolds on the right were attempting to flank the newcomer, however they were soon hit with throwing knives on their unprotected heads causing to them to die immediately also - the orign of the knives coming from a second man who leaped into the air, spinning in a rotation as he tossed additional knives at the Kobolds.
The remaining three lizards pressed on with two of them going to the chainmail man while one went to the knife thrower. One lizard swinged its mace at the chainmail man which was blocked by the man's shield and before the lizard could react the man stabbed it's exposed throat causing it to burst upon death. The other lizard went on a slashing ax frenzy at the man with him only blocking constantly with his shield. Upon the last ax swing, Dennis used his strength to not only block it but to push the lizard to ground with a single shield push. Before the lizard could recover, Dennis stabbed its face with one powerful thrust. Dennis sighed a little before he went toward Jordan who was fighting his own lizard.
Jordan ducked and weaved as the Kobold warrior hacked and slashed at him, but none of his attacks manage to connect. "Wow, you guys are out-of-shape," He said tauntingly, tisking. "You REALLY gained weight since the Beta, didn't you?" Jordan said with a smirk causing the warrior to increase the speed and ferocity of its attacks. As it was distracted Dennis stabbed the creature's chest from behind and as the creature shrieked in pain Jordan did the finishing blow by decapitating its head with his curved blade.
"Is that all of them?" Dennis said as he scanned the area.
"Yeah that's all of them," Jordan said. "Come on we better check how those two are doing." He and Dennis walked towards the bewildered woman. As they approached,Rossa had her fighting stance ready with sword still drawn before speaking.
"Don't want to sound ungrateful but what do you guys want?" She said with a serious tone.
"Calm your tits girl, if we wanted to do something bad to you two we wouldn't be having this conversation," Dennis said bluntly. "We just came to check if you girls were alright and needed help."
Jordan to stare at him with shock of the lack of subtlety his bearded friend showed. "Not much for manners are you?" he asked, as as Dennis shrugged.
Rossa glanced at Lux, who shrugged as she lowered her sword. Rossa sighed, as she followed suit. "Alright… well, thank you both for the help," she said. "If you hadn't showed up when you did…"
"Eh, if it wasn't for my friend's good listening, we probably wouldn't be here," Dennis said as he pointed to Jordan with the side of his hand.
"My Hearing Skill was among the first skills I began grinding for when I first started this game," Jordan said nodding. "Name's Jordan Tackett, though some like to call me by my Gamertag 117Jorn, or just Jorn for short." He extended his hand out to shake Rossa's, who somewhat hesitantly shook it, but quickly became used to it.
"Dennis Nieves-Diaz, Gamertag Shadowmaster89, at your service." Dennis introduced, as his hand also shaking Rossa's.
"A pleasure… My name is Shiori Wakana, but you can call me by my own Gamertag, Rossa." She explained, before gesturing to her friend. "My friend behind me is Kashiwaka Hiyori but she likes to be called by Lux." Lux shyly waved her hand with a faint smile while hiding behind Rossa like a scared child next to her mother.
"H-hi," she said weakly before she chuckled a little.
Rossa sighed, shaking her head. "Don't mind her," she said. "She is still a bit shell shocked from yesterday and things today just made things worse." Rossa said before her face scowled. "I swear if I see those bastards again I am going to kill them for leaving us here!"
"Whoa, calm down," Jordan said as he tried to calm the angry violet haired girl. "What the hell happened?"
Rossa took a deep breath before sighing. "Well my so called 'party' left us here to die when things didn't go as planned as we went raiding some dungeon nearby," she began to explain. "A couple of guys died when we got ambushed by these things and everything went to hell fast. After we were able to escape we got separated despite me trying to tell them that staying together and to make things better we somehow got most of the aggro and they ran when we saw them again and asked for help."
"So they went every man for himself, huh?" Jordan observed, nodding. "While I understand them being scared, abandoning you was an idiot maneuver. If any of us are gonna survive this game, we need to work together."
"Umm… e-excuse me," Lux said, raising her hand. "You… you mentioned something about the Beta… were you a… a Beta Tester?"
Jordan sighed, scratching the back of his head before he nodded. "Well, yeah I was," he said, "Like the others, I only got to Floor Ten… this was suppose to be just another game, then Kayaba threw that *Bleep*ing curveball at us… last I heard, the other Betas all either went solo, or banded up with other Beta's… morons, the lot of them. Think they're 'so special' for getting into the Beta, they're better than the other players… you'd think they'd grow some senses with *Bleep* like this going on…"
Both Lux and Rossa blinked at Jordan's rant, though Rossa would have to admit at least he was… vocal about his disapproval of the attitude the other Beta Testers have taken.
"Anywho," Jordan said, "seeing as your last party were a bunch of douchebags, would you care to join us?"
"I know this is sudden and you got screwed over last time," Dennis said. "But if you want we can take you two to town and we can sell our loot from there."
The two girls glanced at one another, as they drew close to each other whispering. "What do you think, Lux?" Rossa whispered.
"Well… these guys already saved us once," Lux said, shrugging. "They look tough… it wouldn't hurt to join for the time being at the very least, till we can get to higher levels ourselves, get more col, and better gear."
Rossa thought about it for a moment, and Lux did have a point. While she wasn't exactly ready to fully throw her lot in with their 'saviors', they had a point that being alone in SAO was a very bad idea now. Rossa sighed, but she nodded before turning around, facing the two. "Alright, I suppose we'll stick with you for now," she stated, before her eyes narrowed. "But don't you dare think of leaving us for dead like our last team."
"Alright awesome!" Jordan said excitedly as he pulled the menu. "Let me give you the invites for the party." With that said, he sent the invites before the girls accepted.
Dennis pulled out the map and enlarged it, revealing a large blue blinking circle
"Alright the teleporter is nearby so we should be in the town in a few minutes," he explained. "But before we leave can you tell me where you found the dungeon? It'd be a good place to avoid before me and Jordan try to tackle it."
"Um, yeah, it's over in the forest," Lux said, pointing towards the nearby forest. "There's some ruins in the middle of the forest so it shouldn't be too hard to find." Rossa proceeded to send the coordinates to them as Lux explained.
"Alright that is good to check out later." Dennis said as he closed the map after making an X in the location.
"There's a heavy concentration of Kobolds here… those ruins might be a good place to start looking fro the floor boss once we get leveled up further." Jordan said, as he began to walk. "Come on, let's get to that teleporter and get out of here - got a lot of loot today, time we cashed in!"
Dennis nodded as he was soon to follow - as were Lux and Rossa as the four players proceeded towards the teleport sight.
Later - Starting City
"Alright… selling the furs and extra weapons we don't need..." Jordan said as he dealed with the store vendor. "And that shall give us… 2,000? Eh, its a start." He hit the enter key as the exes of supplies were sold to the Vendor. "Alright, now that'll be 600 for both you and Lux, while 400 for me and Dennis."
"Eh?" Rossa asked, as Jordan made the transaction as they recieved notices that they were being given 600 col each. "Your giving us more?"
"Consider it compensation for your last teammates being *bleep*holes." He said with a smile.
"Umm thanks." Rossa said blinking "I don't know what to say... Oh I know!" She pulled out her inventory and tried to make a trade for Dennis and Jordan. "I have an excess of health potions. They are easy to make and the ingredients are inexpensive for me so here have it."
Both Jordan and Dennis blinked at that. "Wait, you made these?" The former asked, and at her not he smiled. "Perfect! We were hoping to find someone with some Alchemy skills for health and buff potions!
Dennis nodded. "Yeah, this is awesome Rossa," he said, as the young woman blushed a bit at the praise. "This will definitely help us later. Well with the cash I now have I am going to get that Estoc over there." he pointed at the fifty inch sword and approached it.
"That sword looks kinda heavy," Lux said as Dennis wielded the sword and tried some practice thrusting.
"Quite the opposite. The heaviest the swords can be is six pounds since it was design to be quick as possible while penetrating heavy or plated armor" Dennis said as he did another succession of quick thrusts before sheathing his new sword. The hilt was an amethyst color.
"Nice, but still saving my money for now." Jordan said, "My gear is set for now, but I need to save up till I can afford the gear I REALLY want... They better of added bows and arrows in the higher levels or I swear..."
Dennis blinked "That reminds me, I need to restock those javelins and add some more." He said, as he spoke with the vendor to buy more javelins. "Well Jordan if the bow is here it is best to get an English longbow with steel arrows. I read that the real life version can penetrate armor like a spoon through jelly. After all you can't rely on your falchion and knives forever."
"This isn't a Falchion, Dennis its a Chinese Dao sword." Jordan retorted, "And these will work till we get to higher levels, and purchase their improved versions up there. I've got my eyes set on some nice equipment when we get higher up."
"Huh, you're right. Falchions are more fatter and machete more looking blade with a wider hilt." Dennis said as looked at the sword. "Anyway the sword I want to get is the zweihander. Even back then the germans made some awesome weapons."
"Meh, never was a fan of long straight swords, I prefer curved ones." Jaden said, as he spun his Dao sword in his hand. "More cutting power for slices. I just keep a dagger around for stabbing attacks." He then glanced at Rossa and Lux "So what do you two think? What are your favorite weapons?"
"Umm, w-well, there are so many options..." Lux said, "I… I just stick with something simple..."
"Truth be told, I always wanted something like a Claymore… " Rossa said as she chuckled a bit sheepishly. "I'm… a big fan of the Claymore anime, so… I was trying to make my avatar based off of the Claymore's from the series..."
"Ah, badass demon-slaying women of the fantasy era." Dennis said nodding, causing the two to look at him in surprise. "Not surprising someone would want to try and emulate them somehow."
"I'm pretty sure Claymore's are available in the game… not sure if any are on level one though." Jordan said as he put his sword away. "We'll just have to go hunting for it seems. For now though, I suggest we do some more grinding once we've sold all we can - get more alchemy ingredients for Rossa, and more XP and Col for the rest of us."
"Well that's a good idea. Selling Rossas potions at the auction house should earn us a good profit and we can use it for maintenance and getting gear the npcs sell." Dennis said as he looked over the weapons some more.
"Might be a good idea to use a spear and shield until you build enough strength and vitality before trying the claymore. At your current state you wouldn't be able to last much if you got a couple of hits." Jordan said
"Hmm that might be a good idea for now. Anyway how about we go to the inn? I'll be paying for it after all it is the least thing we can do after helping us out." Rossa said before Dennis spoke.
"We already got the inn but we can extend the days some more. Anyway are we done here?"
"Just need to get the spear and shield. After that we can go to the inn." Rossa said as she browse the items.
A few minutes later
"Done?" Dennis asked
"Done" Rossa said as Lux followed.
"Lets go then"Jordan said as the four went towards their inn
Starting City
"So, where do we learn the goddamn crafting skills," Tom asked as the pair walked through the crowded streets. "None of the vendors are saying anything about it."
"Dragonscale armour…" Sayaka was looking a little crestfallen.
Tom patted her back comfortingly. "Hang in there, we'll get it," he assured her. "After all, we are the heroes right? What's a hero without gear made from the body of a dragon?"
"Umu!" his partner nodded cheerfully. "Say, Tom-san, what do you think of the sexy armour versus functional armour argument?"
Tom coughed slightly at the unexpected question as he stared at her in a flabbergasted manner. "Umm… well, as a warm blooded male, I have to say the look of Sexy Armor… is well, just that," he admitted. "But I do find it hard to believe that armor of legend is a string bikini and thong."
"I thought so, but in some RPGs the armour ends up being skimpier the better it is…" Sayaka blushed. "I… hope it isn't the case in SAO - luckily Kayaba Akihiko seems to be a supporter of the functional armour side of the argument… although I'm not so sure about it when it comes to lighter armour. I want something easy to move around in…"
Tom hummed in thought. "Well, I'm sure we could think of something to use," he scratched his chin as he looked up. "But… only if we find the Crafting Trainers."
"Mm… looking for information are we?" a youngish feminine voice called out from directly behind them.
Tom and Sayaka spun around and came face to face with a short young girl with blonde hair, clad in a cape that hid most of her body. What really stood out about her though, were the red whisker marks on her cheek. Sayaka let out a small squeak and ducked behind Tom on instinct.
"Umm… I guess… miss?" Tom trailed off looking over the girl.
"I'm called Argo, I'm an Information Broker, so, if you need information…" the whiskered girl declared with a grin. "As for Crafting Trainers, that info will cost you 350 Col."
"Argo-san?" Sayaka came out from behind Tom. "You really do have information on the Crafting Trainers?"
"Of course!" Argo cried out proudly. "I may be called [Argo the Rat], but I never sell bad info!"
"The Rat, huh?" Tom replied blandly.
"Why a rat?" Sayaka tilted her head sideways.
Argo's grin became rather… conniving in response. "1000 col for that information," she announced.
Sayaka was taken aback for a moment. "S-So straightforward…"
The whiskered girl let out a giggle in response. "So, does my offer of information for col interest you?" she questioned.
Tom looked over to Saya who was biting her own lip. "We do have quite a bit saved up at the moment from farming those mobs," he pointed out.
"And we do need that info…" she nodded grudgingly.
"Alight, we'll pay for info on the trainers," Tom announced with a sigh as he brought up the trade window and put in the required amount of col.
"It's a win-win situation after all!" Argo grinned, accepting the trade.
"Right," Tom said with a sigh. "So, where can we find the Trainers?"
"Well, first you need to do an associated quest," the broker explained with a sly grin. "But, I won't charge you for that info, it's called 《Armor for the Armorer》 and it's given to you by the female barkeeper at [Beginner's Bar], once you complete it, you'll have access to the crafting trainers."
"No wonder we couldn't learn the skill from the vendors…" Sayaka gaped.
Argo nodded in agreement. "Took the Beta Tester's a while to figure out as well," she informed. "Hey, since I like you, how about I lead you right to the bar and help you with the quest, on the house of course."
"Eh? You like us all of a sudden?" Sayaka blinked in confusion.
"Yup!" Argo declared. "Oh, what are your names by the way?"
"I'm Sayaka!" Sayaka quickly responded.
"T-... er… Ryu," Tom informed, cutting himself off from saying his real name. "Nice to meet you, Argo."
"So… Sacchan and Teryuu?" Argo chuckled. "Nice to meet you!"
Sayaka stifled a giggle.
"We're never going to convince you to call us something else, are we?" Tom asked blandly.
"You DID introduce yourself as T-er-ryu, didn't you?" Argo snickered.
Tom sent her a look that had his eye twitching. "I don't feel like giving my real name to an information broker," he told her. "Want it, it'll be one million col."
"Fine, fine, use my marketing strategy against me," Argo didn't seem that disappointed. "Besides, Tom-san, it's actually considered rude to refer to strangers by their real names among the SAO Beta Testers."
Tom narrowed his eyes. "Oh?" he asked in an eerily calm voice. "Well then, you should make sure no one hears it from you then."
"1 million col," Argo grinned. "You want me to reveal someone's real name, it'll be 1 million col."
Tom nodded. "Alight then, so, which way to the bar, Argo?" he asked.
"Right this way," Argo continued on down the street. "By the way, if you guys ever need any more information in the future, you know who to look for."
Tom nodded as he manipulated his menu. "Mind if I send you a friend request?" he asked. "To get ahold of you if needed."
"Of course!" Argo exclaimed, quickly accepting the request and smiling as [DragonKnightRyu] showed up on her friend list. "I'll sell you info on dragons early if you like, at an early bird's discount of just 50 col!"
"How did you?" Tom asked in confusion. "How in the hell did you know that?"
"Hehe… 150 col," Argo grinned smugly.
Tom narrowed his eyes. "You heard Sayaka talk about Dragonscale armor, didn't you?"
"50 col for the whole lot on Dragon-based equipment, and no, your character name's [DragonKnightRyu]," Argo chuckled.
Tom sighed as he shook his head as he opened his menu and started a trade with her. "Damn money grubbers."
"Hey, I gotta make a living, don't I?" Argo laughed. "There are some early dragon-based mobs on the 10th floor that you'll be able to hunt for their scales and such. They're more akin to snakes at that stage, but some of the stronger ones are the first dragons you encounter in the game."
Tom nodded. "So we got some time to start grinding our crafting gear then," he murmured. "Sorry Sayaka."
"This is just a freebie, you're better off levelling your crafting skills on Kobold armour at this point. The mats are easy to find and you can make a lot of it in a short amount of time," Argo added.
"Kobolds are ugly," Sayaka made a face.
"But it'll be a good intermediary for now," Tom pointed out. "Plus, starting gear sucks."
"It does," Sayaka sighed. "Alright… Argo-san, what's the best armour this floor can offer?"
"Look for Ruin Kobold Troopers when you come across the 1st Floor's Labyrinth," Argo said without missing a beat. "They drop mats you can use to craft the better starting armour."
"Well, I guess we're going to the Labyrinth after this," Tom said with a small nod. "After we do some grinding for our crafting of course."
"Umu! But the hunting grounds around here are starting to get… stuffy…" Sayaka sighed.
"The Labyrinth is still fairly empty, mostly due to the high level," Argo informed. "So it's pretty ripe for picking."
"But aren't the monsters there too powerful for us for now?" Sayaka frowned.
Tom hummed in thought before looking at Argo with a raised eyebrow.
"Hmm, at your levels… I think you'll be fine so long as you stick near the entrance," Argo explained. "Not as many enemies and they're at a lower level."
"I feel like taking a break from grinding for a moment though…" Sayaka sighed, massaging her head. "All that concentration to activate Sword Skills is really getting to me…"
"We can go later," Tom assured as he waved a hand. "Why don't we just spend the rest of the day concentrating on our crafting skills and relaxing."
"I want a bath," Sayaka declared immediately.
Tom and Argo both sweatdropped in response. "Umm… our inn doesn't have a bath, most of them don't seem to," he informed slowly.
"What kind of inn doesn't have a bath!?" Sayaka squawked in indignation. "What kind of backwards world did Kayaba Akihiko create!?"
"Aparently this one," Tom sighed as he looked over to Argo with a raised eyebrow. "Know any inns with actual baths?"
Argo shook her head in a negative. "Not really, well… not on this floor anyways," she answered. "But… I may know someone who does, let me send some messages and see if he does know."
"I wanna go to a hot spring too sometime!" Sayaka had apparently levelled up from wanting a bath to wanting a hot spring.
"Definately not on the First Floor," Argo deadpanned. "Although I think the last floor the Beta Testers got to had one… just a rumour though."
"Hot spring, hot spring!" Sayaka chanted dreamily.
Tom sighed. "Y'know, a nice soak actually does sound good," he admitted with a sigh. "And a nap."
"I know, right?" his companion bounced excitedly. "I feel so icky after fighting those Kobolds…"
"Just be glad there weren't any slimes," Tom returned with a small shudder. "I would not want to try to punch those things."
"Just please, please don't let there be any tentacle monsters or anything of the sort," Sayaka added with a shudder.
"Ew," the whiskered girl said, shuddering herself. "None were seen in the Beta, but with Kayaba changing things…"
"How high did the Beta Testers get anyway? I'm really curious…" Sayaka asked.
"Floor Ten," Argo responded as she worked through her menu. "And that was just before the Beta ended."
"So we only have advance knowledge of what's going on until the 10th floor…" Sayaka sighed, wondering what they'd do about the higher floors above. "It's not very comforting."
"And that's assuming Kayaba and the Cardinal System don't change anything in the meantime," Tom commented with a small frown.
"Well, there's really nothing we can do until we get there," Argo shrugged as she turned to face a nearby bar. "We're here."
"Alright, so what exactly kind of quest is this?" Tom asked curiously.
"A pretty simple fetch quest," Argo explained. "Although the item required is randomized."
"Then let's just get this quest done fast!" Sayaka smiled.
"Right, let's go," Tom said as he opened the door and stepped in.
END CHAPTER