Kirito wondered the streets of the lonely town at about mid day. It was the second day after the game had become not so much so a game as an alternate reality. Most of the common rabble were still stuck in the first town while our Kirito here was wondering the streets of Chadian, a small fishing town that was considered the second closest town to the town of beginnings.
And so the town was quiet and lonely. NPCs sitting in shops smiling as if a costumer would pop out any given moment. Newly equired anneal blade on his back he cautiously walked through the town toward the looming forest ahead that was the highest level place around. Said forest was infamous for having most of its inhabitants as aggro mobs that will call others for aid like a certain Dire Wolf.
He passed a shop that smelled of smelting iron and heard hammering in the background as he passed admiring the craftsmanship on some of the more finer blades NPCs can produce. He wished he could customize a sword, it would add another layer of individuality to his character but, as the world was, just the blade was fine with him. Most of the housing was made of adobe as he passed the residential district.
passing over the town Kirito set off on his intended objective. which was in fact, to put it simply, Level Up
crossing into the threshold of the forest a recommended level screen poped up on the side telling him he should be lvl 3 or higher. Kirito proudly looked up at the 4 next to his heath bar. 'Level four after two days he' thought to himself. Talk about over achieving.
SEVERAL MINUTES LATER
Kirito just finished dispatching the last of some spore type mobs in the area before hearing the sounds of more fighting going of into the distance.
"What idiots would be out in THIS forest after one day?!" Kirito asked aloud 'said the person who is out in THIS forest alone no less' he reminded himself as he dashed off into the treeline.
Nearing the sound of the fight he quickly activated his hiding skill and started the crouch as he walked.
'cant be too careful'
What he saw was intriguing as what appear to be a no more than ten year old boy with cyan blue hair. wielding a average longsword like a great sword and absolutely OWNING three regular wolves like a boss.
At the sight the boy surrounded I was about to help when one of the three jumped at him only to swallow the end of the sword the boy had swiftly pointed its way. The boy pulled up and cut most of the wolf in half activating an instant kill.(therefor... the wolf died instantly) The other two grew stronger and slightly larger at the sight of there comrade dieing and jumped simultaneously at the child. I tightened my grip on my sword as the boy powered up a 'Horizontal' sword skill and swung the sword hitting the wolf on the left I felt my eyes widen as I realized he had hit it with the blunt side of the blade seemingly by accident. 'Fool you missed' I thought before eating my words on a golden plate as instead of cutting through the wolf like a good hit would have done then getting hit by the last wolf, the bunt hit knocked the left into the right and both wolves fell on top of each other. The Boy jumped almost his full height in the air and came back down with a strong 'Linear' going through both wolves and again pulling his sword upward chopping there heads in half and again activating two instant kills.
'Beautiful'
A screen poped up in front of the boy as he was awarded his xp and items for the fight and I felt no other reaction wold suffice as I started clapping and leaned on a nearby tree trying to look as cool as possible.
Instead of jerking around like any other alert player would be in this forest he simply minimized the window and casually looked over he shoulder to get a good look at his secret audience.
After seeing me he broke into a wide grin and took a low bow.
"Enjoy the show?" he asked with obvious amusement.'This kid wasn't afraid I'd try to rob him or kill him?'
"that was quite an amazing three insta-kills." I replied getting up from tree and stepping out into the clearing."say, Is it safe for you to be leveling here by yourself, you do know that this is a level 3 area right?"
He looked back at me with a smug look on his face."Are you any safer?" he replied bluntly still keeping the childish exited smile as he reopened the reward menu and my mouth fell open at the big WELCOME TO LEVEL 5 sign directly on the front of it."I think I qualify, though it does get kind of lonely out here all alone."
I responded after a few seconds but manged to say:"How did you get to level 5 in TWO DAYS?" the words just kind of spilled out of my mouth at that point.
He took up with an elated face and explained in two words. "Two words my friend: Taking initiative."
I chuckled a bit at his answer while regaining my composure. "so you weren't fazed at all at the announcement yesterday?" I inquired.
The boy took my thoughtless comment in stride as he replied "No," very seriously. "I left as soon as I got the chance and didn't look back because, as you probably figured out as well, this world was going to be in a state of anarchy for a while until people can come to some sort of routine. But I've already seen mass suicides other horrors committed by players so, I went the place that would have the least players: Here!"
wait "So you've been out her the whole two days?!" I was incredulous at this point.
"Yep." the boy chirped." I don't really care where I sleep and I remember from my brother who was a beta tester that this area was just full of wolves who, as you saw, are fairly easy to insta kill. Say," he continued, "you wouldn't happen to be wiling to party up out here would you? It gets kind of depressing with no one around all the time. But I guess its only been a day. And the..." the boy was just talking to himself at this point.
Well this kid didn't seem to fear me at all after all that talk about running away from players into a dense forest filled with aggro mobs.
"Oh!" the boy interjected shutting out my thoughts. " I almost forgot: my names Co, whats your name?"
"erm I'm Kirito, and I guess we could party if actually feel comfortable with that."
"That's great!" Co cheered as the party request appeared in front of me.
'reeeeeeaaaally blunt' I thought asI hit accept and the name Cobalt appeared in my view along with a green and nearly fresh heath bar.
"hmm say, isn't Cobalt the English name for 'kobaruto'? The metal?"
"Yep, Its a transition metal!" he confirmed proudly.
"Well then," I started, "We should get started because I'm at like, level 4.7 currently."
"Sounds good to me!" Co answered and fisted into the air before started walking away from the clearing humming something without a care in the world.
'Well,' I thought after noticing all the depression of past advents seemingly disappear 'having a kid like this around could be good for my health' then started hurrying to catch up with the excitable child.
"Heh, Cobalt," I muttered to myself. "guess that explains the blue hair."
