NOTE ; this author is still inexperienced , so do not expect an amazing fic from him , reviews that would point out the mistakes on this fic is gladly appreciated but flames will be doused with a fire hose. There will be mentions of other series so don't be surprised when you see something from another anime.

Disclaimer : i do not own anything related to SAO except the plot of this story (Parts that isn't cannon anyway), the ocs , the weapons, and the identity of the weapons/oc

Location: 1st Floor, Horunka Village

"This place is small compared to the Town of Beginnings" Kusanagi mused as he checked the village named Horunka. There are only ten buildings here and he can see three buildings that he liked to visit now. The inn, the weapon shop and the tool shop.

"Your acquaintance is already here, right?" Sinon asked as she walked forward to take a better look at the village.

"Yes, but he is probably doing a quest right now." Kusanagi nodded as he answered her question. "Hey, Sinon" He said, getting her attention. "Wanna go on a quest?" He asked.

"At this time?" She asked. It was already 6:30 and its starting to get dark. She shook her head in response to his question. "I'll take one tomorrow, I just want to rest right now" She answered.

'It's just that a lot has happened today' She thought to herself.

"I see…" 'A lot has happened today, no wonder she's tired' Kusanagi thought to himself. "See you tomorrow then." He smiled before he left her at the village entrance.

"Good luck, Kusanagi-san" Sinon whispered before she headed for the inn. She was slightly glad that he didn't dissolve the party after they got here but that might be because he just forgot to do so. 'Impossible, my health bar is always visible to him as long as we are in the same party. There's no way he would forget that' She thought to herself as she entered the inn. Booking herself a room with a single bed, she turned in for the night, even though it is early and decided on forgoing dinner. The events today just took a lot on her.

'I wonder how Kusanagi-san does it.' She thought as she lay down on the bed. 'To remain calm throughout the entire situation and not panic… He is strong' She pulled the blankets over her body and just stared at the ceiling. She idly noted that the bed and the blanket feels like a real one. There was one final thought that passed her mind as sleep overtook her mind.

'I need that kind of strength'


"This makes three" Kusanagi mused as he left the last house in the village. He decided to take as much quests as he could and finish it in one go to avoid wasting time. Opening his menu, he checked his [Quest List]

[Nepent Extermination]

Kill 20 nepents

Nepents slain ( 0/20 )

He got that quest though an old man inside one of the NPC houses. Apparently, nepent population is rising for some unknown reason and it was getting too dangerous for the citizens of this village to go out, the old man would like to kill them by himself but his age has prevented him from doing so, so he volunteered and got this quest.

[A Medic's Request]

Find the following items:

5 Red Nepent herb ( 0/5 )

5 Green Nepent herb ( 0/5 )

5 Yellow Nepent herb ( 0/5 )

This one he got from an old lady, which was apparently a medic if the quest's name was anything to go by, who asked him if he came to her house for any treatment of sorts and asked him for herbs when he told her he didn't. He accepted the quest since the old lady said that the herbs she requested can be gained from killing [Little Nepents].

[Secret Medicine of the Forest]

Get the following item/s:

Little Nepent's Ovule ( 0/1 )

This one he got from an NPC mother asking requested him to get a flower of sorts from the [Little Nepents] by once again killing it. Apparently, the flower was a cure of sorts for her daughter's illness ant the reward, as the NPC said was her family's heirloom.

"Time to go, I guess" Kusanagi said as he walked to leave but as he passed the weapon shop, he wondered if there is a better blade than his Steel Blade that he can use with the current level of his weapon's skill level. 'I do have to replace my Training Blade anyways' Kusanagi thought as he entered the shop. Observing the blades, one in particular caught his attention.

Serrated Steel Blade

Type : One Handed Curved Blade ( 20 / 1000 )

Damage: Normal

Rarity : D+

Desc : A serrated variant of the steel blade.

Price : 850

"I'll have one of this" Kusanagi said and looked at the shopkeeper NPC only to see him holding another blade, a copy of the blade he ordered. Chuckling slightly, he paid for the item and equipped it immediately, the blade appearing on the side of his left hip. Nodding in approval, he proceeded to leave and finish the quests he took as soon as possible.

"Ah! I didn't use my points earlier" Kusanagi remembered just as he left the village. On the way here, he levelled up a few times but didn't bother setting up his stats. Opening his menu, he checked his stats.

Kusanagi

Lv.7

STR - 24

AGI - 36

DEX - 22

Unused points – 12

$==={========

Skills

Weaponsmith ( 29/1000 )

$==={========

Sword Skills

One Handed Curved Blade

( 52/1000 )

Reaver

( 0/1000 )

Fell Crescent

( 0/1000 )

"I guess I'll put those points in AGI. Can't hit what you can't see, right?" Kusanagi asked himself. His Weaponsmith skill was only there because he didn't want to spend money on repairing and upgrading his weapons. It does help that Weaponsmith has increased success rate when it comes to upgrading wepons, the only thing is, he can't make anything not related to weapons.

I still have a few more skill slots…. Can't decide what to put in there though" Kusanagi mused as he checked his only skill not related to his Sword Skills and saw that there are only a few things that are only a few things that are going to be enhanced as he upgraded this skill.

Bladed Weapons Forging

Blunt Weapons Forging

Ranged Weapons Crafting

Upgrading Efficiency

Durability Bonus

Apparently, every fifty mastery points, one of the five options can be upgraded which he was giddy inside as he didn't sell any of the materials he has just for this skill and has been doing the maintenance for his weapons during their trip here in order to raise his skill mastery.

"I'm getting off track, might as well finish this early" Kusanagi mused as he shook his head, ridding himself of the questions regarding his skills, those are better left for later when he is inside a Safe Zone.


Location: 1st Floor, Horunka Forest

"What happened here?" Kusanagi thought as he observed the items in front of him, the starter set and an Iron Sword all on the ground, as if someone left them there.

Or dropped after killed.

Kusanagi widened his eyes as he realized what this means. Someone was here before me and was killed by the monsters here. 'Kirito' He shook himself of that particular idea and opened his menu. Despite meeting him just recently, he did consider him as a friend and as a good friend; he will help him if he ever needed it. Checking his friend list, he saw Kirito's name in it and his current location, which was the forest he was in and sighed in relief. The items in front of him, especially the sword was the same as him and feared for the worst, the only question right now is, where are the [Little Nepents]?

Suddenly, the sound of something shattering entered his ears and raced forward towards the source, putting his AGI to good use only to step back at what he saw.

A Lot of [Little Nepents] gathering around a single place, about 30 or more, all focused on a single area and from the middle, blue shards are floating upwards before fading.

'Someone's got to be in the middle' Kusanagi thought, drawing his Steel Blade in his left and the Serrated Steel Blade in his right before charging forward and starting his deadly dance of blades and death.

-With Kirito-

'This is bad' He thought as he killed another of those ugly plants. 'My HP is dropping fast and I'm nearly out of healing potions' He cut another one in half with a well placed Horizontal 'And I'm burning through my MP faster than I would like' He thought as he killed yet another one of those ugly plants.

Earlier, as soon as he reached Horunka Village, he searched for the NPC that gives the quest for the [Anneal Blade] and somewhere along the way, a player named Coper joined him. Things are going fine but when a [Little Nepent] with a flower on its head appeared, that's where trouble started.

Coper purposefully struck the fruit at the [Little Nepent's] head and started running away using his [Hiding] skill, but sadly, that particular skill doesn't work on monsters that don't use sight to detect their target and the result was the pile of equipment a little somewhere around here.

"Huh?" Kirito said as he heard several shattering sounds and looked around him to check only to see a green cursor among the sea of red ones around him. 'Who was it?' he thought as several more crashing sounds followed before someone he recognized jumped towards his location using the monsters as a stepping stone.

Kusanagi.

"Need a hand?" Kusanagi asked as he cut an offending vine, disarming the monster attacking him.

Invite

Kusanagi invites you to join his party.

[ Accept ] [ Decline ]

Pressing the accept button, Kirito smiled a little as he asked. "Nice timing to ask. Still using that dangerous style of yours?" Kusanagi chuckled a little at that as he spun around thrice, his blades cutting through monsters with ease and killing them fast. Kirito checked the party only to raise an eyebrow at the unfamiliar name.

Kirito [LV. 10]

[HP: 35%][MP: 35%]

Kusanagi [LV. 7]

[HP: 90%][MP: 100%]

Sinon [LV.6]

[HP: 100%][MP: 100%]

"Got a party member?" Kirito asked as he and Kusanagi were back to back. There were about 20 or less [Little Nepents] remaining and among those are a flowered variant of [Little Nepents]. He already has the necessary item to complete the quest but getting another one won't hurt. He was about to charge towards it when a black blur stopped him in his tracks followed by the screams of the monster and finally a shattering sound.

Kusanagi beat him to it.

"Finally! I thought finding this will take longer" Kusanagi exclaimed. 'It does take longer, you just got lucky because of the constant killing here' Kirito thought to himself as he watched Kusanagi kill two [Little Nepents] by spinning again.

"You got faster?" Kirito asked as a [Little Nepent] tried to attack him only to get hit with a horizontal and a cross slash from Kusanagi, Killing it immediately.

"Yup. I spent most of my attribute points towards AGI" Kusanagi answered as he weaved through the monster's attacks before cutting their vines, leaving them defenceless. "My health and defence sucks though, but it's nothing I can't handle. If I don't get hit, then I won't take damage" Kusanagi smirked as he spun once, leaving a two horizontal marks at the monster before moving out, letting Kirito kill the said monster.

"By the way, who is this Sinon?" Kirito asked. Now, he's the one doing the vine cutting and Kusanagi does the last hit.

"Ah, She's an archer. She asked me to party up with her when I was stocking up (S)HP Potions. I Left her at the town because she said she's tired and wanted to rest" Kusanagi answered, taking a potion. By now, the [Little Nepents] are about below 15, how much, he didn't count, just that they are below 15. 'I'm still getting hit by some attacks; maybe investing some points in DEX will benefit me greatly.' Kusanagi thought to himself.

"You can't blame her though" Kirito said, killing the last monster. "A lot has happened today. It takes a lot of mental fortitude to keep yourself focused in that kind of situation" After he said that , he took a potion just to be safe.

"Yeah. Heading back now?" Kusanagi asked and Kirito nodded in response. Both have levelled up a bit for now.

"Yeah, I had enough fighting for today" Kirito said and both walked towards the village.

'In one moment, a life and death situation, the next, a casual chatter, what the hell?' Kirito idly thought as they left the forest.


Location: 1st Floor, Horunka Village

"Your turn, Kusanagi" Kirito said as he left the NPC's house, sheathed at his back was the reward, the Anneal Blade. Kusanagi didn't know that though.

"Thanks" Kusanagi said as he entered the house. "See ya later, Kirito" He said as Kirito nodded and left for the inn. Earlier, while Kirito was inside the house, he took the rewards for the other quests and he even received the [Extra Skill: Alchemy]. Apparently, the skill allows him to make potions like the basic two and potions for different status ailments. It's quite a useful skill to have.

Approaching the NPC, he took the Little Nepent's Ovule and presented it to the NPC.

"Here's the flower you requested" Kusanagi said.

Relief and joy was what he saw from her face as she took the item from his hands and put it inside the pot, which he didn't notice earlier. "Thank you, young man. With this, my daughter will be cured. Take this" She said as she opened a chest at the south of the room. Getting a curved blade from it, he handed it to him.

The blade was bluish, contrary to the usual chrome and was slightly longer than the one he is currently using. Taking the blade from her, he was greeted with the stats of the said blade.

Anneal Blade ( +0/8 )

Type: One Handed Curved Blade (Variant) ( 100/1000 )

Damage: High

Rarity: C+

Desc: A powerful and sturdy blade that was passed through generations of a family of swordsmen whose task was to defend Horunka Village from invading monsters.

'Must be an event of some sort and probably exclusive to the wielders of this blade' Kusanagi thought as he read the description of the blade. This was the longest and most descriptive one he read so far and it's possible that it was connected to an event or something and apparently, this was another variant of the Anneal Blade and he idly wondered what type of weapon the original one was.

"Thank you, can I see her?" Kusanagi said and the woman smiled and nodded before she took the pot with the ovule in it and walked upstairs. Kusanagi followed her and watched as the young girl took the soup and got better almost instantly and the mother hugged her daughter and said something to her. What she said to her, he didn't hear but when the girl looked at him with a smile, He was reminded of his sister in the real world.

The girl looked at him and said the words that made his heart weak "Thank you, Onii-chan" He just smiled and nodded before he left. His vision became somewhat blurred.

'Thank you, onii-chan' Those words reminded him greatly of his sister. He was sure his sister was probably beside him, silently asking him to wake up. After their parents died a long time ago, he took the role of a father, mother and a brother to her, and while his uncle took them in, he didn't want to bother him too much and took part time jobs without his knowledge the moment he turned 16. Sure, he's quite skilled in graphical design but he knew that no matter how skilled he was, no one will take a minor on a company so he honed his skills in that department whenever he got the time. He was just lucky that there was a program that allows a student to work in their school in consideration to the orphaned students like him.

Shaking his head to get a hold of his emotions, Kusanagi briskly walked out of the house. He was thankful that there are only a few people there and quickly walked towards the inn. Entering his room and locking it, He let his emotions out and silently cried to himself.


Location: Real world, Hospital for SAO Victims, Kusanagi's Room.

"Uncle, is there any other way to wake up onii-chan?" A young girl about the age of 12 asked as she held her brother's hand in her own. She was sitting on a wheelchair as she looked at the sleeping face of her brother. She wanted to rip off that helmet on his head but refrained from doing as she knew what the consequences would be.

The girl has straight black hair that reaches her waist and also has crimson eyes like her brother.

She has a fair complexion and wears a white sundress.

"Sorry, but the only way for them to leave that game safely is to finish that game" Her uncle said with remorse evident in his tone. "I shouldn't have given him that game if I have known this would happen" He whispered.

"Onii-chan's going to buy it anyway if you didn't" She replied. She knew her brother was saving some cash for the game but didn't say anything about it. She knew how hard his brother worked for her and he deserved to have some relaxation time. His chosen relaxation time turned out to be a death game though.

"Hey, uncle" she said, gaining her uncle's attention "are the rumours true about the medical version of the Nerve Gear?" She asked. Since the incident started, she researched anything she could about the hardware and deduced that if any PWD used the said hardware, the game won't register the problem which means a blind person can see in the game and in her case, she can walk inside the game.

"Yes, Why do you ask?" their uncle asked curiously.

"I want to help onii-chan" She replied, shocking her uncle into silence.

'You're not going to be alone in this one, Raijin onii-chan'


Location: 1st Floor, Horunka Village

When Sinon woke up this morning, she was startled by the congratulatory message showing up on her face.

"What happened?" She thought out loud and noticed the changes in the party.

Sinon [LV.8]

[HP: 100%][MP: 100%]

Kusanagi [LV. 10]

[HP: 100%][MP: 100%]

Kirito [LV. 11]

[HP: 100%][MP: 100%]

"Who's Kirito?" She asked no one in particular before shrugging and fixing herself for the day.

After she finished, she walked down the lobby and saw Kusanagi talking with a black haired boy on one of the tables. Walking towards them, she sat beside Kusanagi and spoke.

"Who's this?" She asked. Kusanagi just looked at her then at Kirito before introducing them both.

"Kirito, this is Sinon. Sinon, this is Kirito" Short and efficient, Kusanagi would have said more but didn't know what to say in this situation.

Silence….

"Back to what I was saying.." Kusanagi began to get rid of the awkward silence. "Kirito, are you going to leave now?" Kusanagi asked, knowing that the Kirito wanted to level up as soon as possible.

"Yes" Kirito answered as she took a sip of his tea. "I wanted to level up as fast as I can and to do that, I need to go to places where the monster levels are higher." He explained and Kusanagi nodded in response.

"Can we join you?" Sinon asked, prompting the two boys to look at her. "We do need to level up too, and fast. We need to get as high as we could if we are going to face the first floor boss" She explained.

"It makes sense, I guess.." Kusanagi began as he took a sip of his tea. "There are people coming here now and we already took quests last night…." Kusanagi glanced at her. "Are you fine with that? You didn't take any quest from this place" He asked.

"I'm fine, I gained EXP from the party anyways." She waved off his concern and Kusanagi chuckled in response.

"I was going to dissolve the party today but with the way things are, we are going to be stuck for a while" Kusanagi said, amused.

"Dissolve? Why?" Sinon asked. 'I still need to learn more about his strength' She thought as she observed Kusanagi discreetly.

She still doesn't get how he can be calm in this situation, most people are probably still moping at the Town of Beginnings and some of the brave ones probably took quests on that place but the exceptional ones like the two in front of her pushed forward and took the risk despite the knowledge that dying here meant dying in the real world.

She needed to learn how to get that kind of strength, the courage to face your own fear.

"I was planning to tell you later but I'm going to dissolve this party to let you go on your own way because I'm planning to forge a new blade for myself and it might take some time…" Kusanagi explained to her. "But I suppose I can do that later and I can get some new materials on the way" She nodded at his explanation.

"You're not getting rid of me any time soon; archers don't go as forwards you know?" Sinon said as she smirked at him and Kusanagi chuckled in response.

"So Kirito, it seems like you don't have any choices now." Kusanagi said, getting his attention. "If you leave the party now, we'll just follow you, you know"

"It's just as you said" Kirito said as he sighed. "I didn't have any choices in the first place so might as well come with you" he said as he stood up.

"Gather some supplies first" Kusanagi said and Kirito looked at him as if asking why. "You're nearly killed yesterday so fix your dammed sword first and buy some potions next!" Kirito just chuckled in response to his words as he left the inn.


Location: 1st Floor, Horunka Village

Kusanagi chuckled as he left the weapon shop, apparently, there was a forge there that allows the players with the Blacksmith or Weaponsmith skill to make weapons there and he took advantage of it by using all of his materials until nothing was left.

Earlier, the three of them agreed to meet at one of the village gates in an hour so to make use of his idle time, he decided to test what items he can make or upgrade with the materials he had and used all of it just to make his [Weaponsmith] skill to level up.

Anneal Blade ( +4/8 )

Type: One Handed Curved Blade ( 100/1000 )

Damage: High

Rarity: C+

Desc: A powerful and sturdy blade that was passed through generations of a family of swordsmen whose task was to defend Horunka Village from invading monsters.

Black Thorn Bow ( +0/8 )

Made by: Kusanagi

Type: Bow ( 75/1000 )

Damage: High

Rarity: C

Desc: A black bow wrapped in thorns that was harvested from Horunka Forest. The vines act as a security for anyone trying to steal this bow. This bow was said to poison anyone that was not its owner.

Black Thorn Blade ( +0/8 )

Made by: Kusanagi

Type: One Handed Curved Blade ( 75/1000 )

Damage: High

Rarity: C

Desc: A poisonous blade that was made for assassination. High ranking officials hand this blade to an assassin when they want someone to be 'silenced'. Be wary of the wielders of this blade.

He was sure that his skill levelled up significantly from this experiment and he planned to give Sinon the bow since hers was the starter one. The other two though, he was going to use those seeing as his weapons are weak in comparison.

Walking towards the gate, he noticed that Kirito is there, who nodded at him, and Sinon, who was leaning against the gate. Opening up his trade window, he placed the Black Thorn Bow on the list.

Sinon raised an eyebrow when a trade window appeared in front of her showing the new bow and before she can even react, Kusanagi pressed the ok button, ending the transaction.

"What was that?" She asked curiously since most people would just sell it rather than give it away.

"Your bow is severely low for your level so I gave you a better one." Kusanagi explained and she nodded in response. Opening up her menu, he saw the said bow and equipped it.

Just like the name suggests, the bow was covered in some sort of a vine with tiny black thorns. The thorns are not sharp and the vines didn't reach the handle so she has no problem using it but when Kirito tried to touch the bow, seeing as Sinon wasn't pricked with the thorns, the thorns suddenly grew a few centimetres and by the looks of it, the thorns are now sharper than ever.

"Thanks" She said as she nodded in appreciation for the bow. The bow was actually light so her strength parameters could handle the bow.

"You're a blacksmith?" Kirito asked curiously and Kusanagi shook his head in response.

"Weaponsmith, not Blacksmith" He answered. Kirito noticed the two new blades at his waist, the Anneal Blade variant at the left and the Black Thorn Blade at the right. 'Probably from his Weaponsmith skill' he thought to himself since that item cannot be found in any NPC shops.

"You ready?" Kirito asked, drawing his Anneal Blade (Sword) prompting Sinon to prepare an arrow and Kusanagi to draw his blades, the Anneal Blade (Blade) on the right and the Black Thorn Blade on his left in a reverse grip.

Kusanagi smirked, which was followed by Sinon and asked. "What do you think?" before they both took on a sprint. Kirito just shook his head in amusement and followed after them.


AN: This one was finished earlier than expected, and much more easier to manage than my other story but that was probably because I have a lot of research materials here and experience in RPGs.

By the way, apparently, there are three villages in the first floor (source: SAO Wiki) and some only has one so I researched into it and the result was, as the floor gets higher, the area gets smaller, meaning the first floor is the largest area and the 100th floor is the smallest one in SAO.

I'm trying to stick on my initial plan to go through all floors one by one and I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

That's all, thanks for taking your reading this fic and I hope that this was satisfactory to the readers.

See ya later!