I couldn't resist updating again. I didn't feel that the first chapter indulged into my OC's much. So, I decided to add this chapter and will probably update tomorrow. I'm going to try my best to shove as many chapters as I can into this story before I get bored and turn to another one of my other works. So, chapters will be on the short side maybe five, six, seven, or eight pages. It will be rare if it's four pages.

Anyway, I do now own anything other then my OC's.

Pleas enjoy and sorry for any errors!

Two weeks later.

"Switch!" Malia commanded.

Jordan and Elaina jumped back with their newly updated shields allowing Nami and Malia to lunge forward with light swords drawn. The leve nine ogre roared furiously swiping his large wooden club at the Shen and Ryku who had been distracting the massive, green monster. Nami lunged with her new pink and white light sword attacking the monster in the gut while Malia struck at its feet trying to make it move away from the large brown chest it was guarding.

They hadn't intended to stumble across the rare and high leveled monster but they did and Malia was never one to stray from a challenge especially when she was extremely positive that her and her friends could take this thing easily. The ogre snarled and moved the club high above his head. "Get back!" Shen shouted at Nami and Malia.

Both girls reacted with wicked agility and bounced out of the way as the wooden club slammed into the ground violently. Malia and Nami, being the two fastest players in the group, saw an opportunity to strike it's vulnerable spot. The two agile-orientated girls rushed up the club of the slow monster striking with wicked precision at its eyes. "Shen! Ryku! Strike it's lower belly! Shields up front!" Malia strictly ordered grunting as the ogre tried to throw off Malia and Nami.

Malia maneuvered onto the shoulders of the beast with Nami managing to get knocked off by the rough movements of the furious, low health creature. Her other four friends followed orders and began to distract the monster successfully away from Nami, who had fallen but wasn't badly injured, and Malia who was struggling to keep her balance and get a good angle to hit it's weak spot.

"Steady, guys! We need a five second distraction!" Shen snarled easily side-dodging the huge wooden club.

"Got it!" Jordan yelled.

"Hold on, Malia!" Elaina called as both shields steadied themselves into the ground with their shields upwards as the ogre went to slam his club down but with less force since it was beginning to tire rather quickly. Malia almost tumbled off the monster's shoulders but managed to hold onto it's lumpy ear. The ogre was leaned over panting and looking exhausted. Shen, Ryku, and Nami were striking the monster constantly with rapid blows. Malia saw its double health bar depleting rapidly. Malia jumped onto its back before plunging her blue sword into the back of the monster's neck.

The tired creature gave a mighty, defeated roar before slumping over and shattering into tiny pieces. Malia lightly hit the ground as a familiar ding filled the air.

Level 9!

Exp. 200

Col. 400

Items. 3

"Yes, baby! Level freakin' nine!" Jordan hooted throwing up a fist.

Elaina grinned dropping her large shield and wiping her forehead, "That bastard was a piece of cake!"

Nami was giggling and twirlig around happily. Malia smiled kindly. Nami had been such a wreck when they were first trapped in SAO but now, the girl was much different now. She was back to her normal, bubbly, and spontaneous personality. "Look at that money! We haven't even gotten to the best part!" Ryku crowed as he and Shen moved towards the chest resting inside the large oak tree.

"Is it a rare item?" Nami gasped with bright eyes.

"God, I hope so. Something rare so we can get better weapons again!" Elaina smirked but looked at her new shield with fondness.

Shen and Ryku dropped the chest on the ground as the group gathered around it. All six of them were excited to see what reward they would get for their hard work. "Malia, would you like to do the honors?" Shen smirked at their leader.

Malia would never understand why they considered her the leader but she made no arguments as she moved forward, kneeled down, and unlocked the chest with an easy flick of her wrist. The chest was bathed in a light glow as it opened and a storage inventory popped up in front of them.

Items:

1000 Col.

5 Healing Potions

Agility Necklace- 15+ Agility to Party.

"Holy hell!" Shen swore out loud with a wide grin.

"That's super rare! 15 agility to the entire party?" Nami gawked.

"We scored big time!" Jordan and Ryku were high fiving.

"To sell or not to sell?" Elaina teased with a smirk.

"This is going be a massive advantage." Malia murmured quietly as she accepted the items into their joint storage.

They all watched with grinning faces as their money increased, their heal potions increased, and as Malia equipped the necklace…they watched with loud hoots as their agility increased too. "Now, we move faster with these big lugs." Jordan sighed happily as he kicked his shield playfully before picking it up and strapping it onto his back.

"That was beautiful." Nami beamed, "We are really improving in battles." She compliments and her compliments, as always, went straight to their heads. Malia rolled her eyes as the boys puffed out their chest as they walked away from area. Malia knew Nami was right. They were way above where they should be. It had only been two weeks and they normally should've been at level six or seven but they were two levels above normal players.

Malia knew they were lucky. They had taken quests around several villages after leaving Town of Beginnings but those were of lower quality. It was only a week ago when Malia decided to verge off of the main trails and off into the unexplored parts of the first floor. It had been one of her best decisions yet because they had leveled up three times in just one week. Malia and her friends had stumbled upon quest she had no idea even existed and found high level creatures with great drops.

They even had done a raid on a dire wolf den and came out with enough money to upgrade all of their weapons and armor.

Now, it was getting dark and they were traveling back to the nearest village. They were a great distance from the Starting City. They were close to the edges of the first floor. Far in the southwest regions that had gone untouched by other players due to fear of what lied in the woods, mountains, and valleys. It made no difference to Malia or her group. It gave them better pickings anyway. Malia and her group had been trying to find the first level boss that no one has yet to find yet hence another reason why Malia was so far from the major towns and cities.

She thought that if no one could find the first floor boss around the cities or towns; maybe the dungeon was somewhere away from the hustle and bustle of the towns and cities.

Anyway, each of them had obtained some sort of quest or item dropped weapons from the raids, quests, and creatures in this area. Malia would definitely plan on picking this area clean while continuing to search for the first level boss.

"I'm keener on finding that damn first floor boss." Shen muttered kicking at a rock, "No one can find the damn bastard."

Nami nodded in agreement with Ryku and Elaina, "We can't move on without defeating him and I don't plan on living here for the rest of my life." Nami spoke with a bit of a sad tone in her silvery, accented voice.

"Yeah, I wonder if anyone is actually looking besides us." Scowled Jordan.

"We've lost so many players in just two weeks," Ryku sighed with sorrow, "Many of the players left are residing in the Town of Beginnings." He added.

Elaina scoffed blackly, "Cowards, the lot of them, how can they just lock themselves in a room and just wait for someone to rescue them? They should be out here like us!" She spat out in an almost angry tone.

Despite her words being cruel, Elaina had been right. They needed every able body looking for the first boss so they can get closer to clearing the damn game.

"They're scared, Elaina." Nami added almost timidly.

"So, were you and look at how you've improved!" Elaina countered back.

Nami blushed and mumbled, "Because I have amazing friends helping me. Many aren't so lucky." Her words had struck a cord with the group. Malia kept silent. Nami was right. Malia felt a stab of guilt hit her heart. Not everyone had been lucky like her and her friends. While they had major luck on their earnings and quest…others weren't so lucky. Malia had the safety of her friends and she was sure they had her back but others had no one to look after them in a fight.

And most of the players hadn't been lucky to be in the beta like Malia had been. She had vast knowledge of the game while others didn't even know which direction the next town was located at or how to properly fight off wild creatures or even how to level up correctly.

Malia felt her heart go out painfully to the players struggling. She did feel guilty but she knew damn well that the other beta-testers had given our handbooks with tons of information. She should know because she was one of the beta-testers reporting back information to head beta-tester composing the weekly handbook.

It was a bit daunting when not even the beta-testers could find this first level boss. Malia had found the boss on her own within the first week in the beta. She was finding it annoying that they couldn't find him now when their lives depended on it—literally.

"All that work definitely worked up an appetite." Jordan had said out of nowhere and rubbed his armor-clad stomach in an attempt to lighten up the mood.

"The town is only thirty minutes away. I say we go out to eat today! We've earned it, right?" Ryku looked at Malia, Elaina, and Nami since they were the ones who kept an eye on spending. The boys, if they had it their way, would spend most of their money on food alone. The girls were more practical with their spending and put major restrictions on their spending. They were definite strict when it came to spending their hard earned Col.

The three girls exchanged glances. "I mean, we haven't gone out to eat in almost two weeks." Nami shrugged.

Malia looked at Elaina, who was the strictest out of the three of them, "Elaina?"

Elaina was glaring at the boys with a hard stare as she thought about it. After a second, the stoic girl sighed softly and nodded, "I suppose we've earned some good, warm food."

The boys hooted and hollered with glee as they continued to march onwards to the village with renewed vigor. Malia smiled softly and looked up at the fading sky. She liked that about SAO. Despite being forced to clear the game, she loved the way SAO was; the sky, the weather, the land, and the scenic views. It was all breath-taking to her. She enjoyed sunsets the most though. She particularly enjoyed sunsets with light blues and purples. Today was one of those sunsets.

The sky was glowing emitting a pinkish glow. The white clouds were darkening. The sky was twirling with all sorts of light purples, blues, pinks, and oranges. The sun was barely peaking out from a tall mountain from the north. Malia wished her family could see this especially her mother. Her mother loved sunsets because California did have some amazing sunsets.

She felt at peace again.

She usually did during this time in the game especially after an eventful day. They had worked hard and earned a good amount of Col and items. They had leveled up over the normal rate but the best part? They were all safe and alive. Malia couldn't ask for anything better then that.

"Is that a smile on your face, O'Mighty one?" Malia jolted with awareness when she felt someone poke her cheek.

She sheepishly blinked when she took note of her friends grinning and smirking at her, "Sorry, I was lost in thought." She apologized with a small shrug.

Shen snorted, since he was the one who poked her cheek, "You always get that way when you look at the sunset." Shen pointed out.

Malia laughed, "You've all noticed?"

"You aren't exactly discreet about it, Malia." Elaina bluntly stated with an eye roll.

They all shared a laugh. "I feel most at peace during this certain point of our day. We're all safe and unharmed. We've leveled up again. We have a large amount of well-earned Col and we obtained a super rare item. How can I not smile?" Malia questioned with a small smile.

Her friends didn't want to bring it up but every since they left the Town of Beginnings, Malia smiled less which was a bit sad for them. Malia was always quick to smile and make a joke and they all feared that maybe the game had taken a negative toll on their fearless leader in a way they had no clue about.

"We were just worried about you, ya know? You hardly smile nowadays." Nami murmured in her thick accent.

Malia frowned, "Have I?" She hadn't even noticed.

Her friends nodded, "You didn't know, did you?" Ryku had asked her with his usual kind, worried voice.

Malia chuckled, "I'm sorry if I've worried you guys. I honestly didn't know." She shrugged trying her best to reassure them. She didn't know she had worried her friends but she was fine. Well, as fine as you could be when you were trapped in a death game. She was trying to keep her and her friends alive by doing her best to be prepared. She did often forget that she was human and she had friends who cared for her wellbeing. There was a lot on her shoulders and she didn't even know it.

"Just know that you don't have to carry that burden on your own." Shen spoke in an usually soft voice.

"Yeah, we're all in this together, okay? You don't have to fight this world on your own, Malia." Jordan nudged her shoulder playfully.

Malia's chest swelled as she gazed at the faces of her friends. She hadn't noticed how stoic she had been or how she had worried her fears but…she was glad they called her out on it because they were right. She wasn't the only one fighting to keep loved ones alive. She wasn't the only one with something to lose. She wasn't the only one who was trapped in a death game.

With her friends in tow, Malia made way to the town with a bigger smile on her face reassured by the fact that her friends had her back no matter what would happen.