Chapter Two: The Game Begins
May 21st, 2027
Bright colors flashed in Zane's eyes as he entered the virtual world. "Welcome to Sword Art Online!" The colors faded into a light blue as Zane felt himself materialize into the virtual world.
Zane found himself standing in the middle of a large town, with a few people turning their heads to stare at him. Someone pointed towards him while whispering to their friend.
"Hey, you!" Yelled an angry sounding voice.
"Yes?" Asked Zane.
"How are you just now spawning in for the first time?"
"I was sent to help free you all."
"Well, the front lines are on floor 75, which will be impossible for a level one to even make a dent in those enemies."
"I guess I'll level up some then."
"Remember though, be careful. Your health bar goes down to zero, you die in real life." Said the player ominously. Zane walked off towards a the outskirts of the town, which was marked on the map appearing in the corner of his vision as The Town of Beginnings. Surrounding the town was a large field full of large boars. Zane assumed these to be early game grind enemies.
Zane pulled his finger downward, mimicking what he'd seen another player do in town. The User Interface opened up, and prompted an inventory tutorial. Once he'd figured out how to use items and weapons, Zane selected the default Beginner's Bronze Sword, which was the only item in his inventory. The sword appeared on his back, sheathed in a scabbard. He pulled the sword from the sheath and pulled it into a combat position. He wasn't the most adept sword fighter, as his primary ninja weapon was shurikens.
A nearby boar noticed Zane, and began charging towards him. As the boar came into fighting range, Zane swung the sword forward, creating a clean slice of red pixels on the boar's body. The boar, apparently defeated, shattered into a million blue polygons.
A new tab appeared in front of him, which read "Victory!". Zane's experience bar added the small amount of exp from the boar, which put him about halfway to level two. Zane sighed. This was going to be a long grinding session.
June 12th, 2027
Zane swung his large broadsword into the charging boar, causing the "animal" to shatter. His experience bar inched it's way forward to level 64. "Level Up!" said the newly appeared tab.
"I think that the time is right to make my way to the front lines." He said, walking into town to get to the teleport gate. As he reached the center of town, the same player from three weeks earlier approached him.
"Hey! I haven't seen you in three weeks! I thought for sure that you'd been killed. Where have you been?" Asked the player
"I've been grinding levels so I can fight on the front lines."
"For three weeks straight!?"
"Yes."
"Where did you sleep?"
"I didn´t."
"Even in a video game, humans need sleep."
"I´m not a human. I´m a robot." This left the player skeptically staring at Zane, who walked on towards the teleport gate.