CHAPTER 1
One month passed, over 2,000 players have died, but the first floor had yet to be cleared.
The fact that so many players have died within only a month meant that most are at a loss if they'll really make it out alive. Some expected that the first floor would be cleared in two to three weeks, but they got fruitless results.
But now... They might have some hope. As of the moment, a meeting is being organized where only some players are brave enough to attend gathered.
Jyun attended too, but she stayed at the very back. Hence, almost everyone didn't notice her. But the raven head noticed a young girl wearing a hooded cloak glance at her for a moment before turning her head back to below.
Jyun inhaled before looking at the front, where a man with blue hair with the attire of a knight spoke to all those who gathered. The audience was silent as the man named Diabel stated that they found the boss of the first floor.
Surprised by the news and the fact that they do have a chance to beat this virtual game, many men whooped and clapped. Jyun smiled and sighed out in relief, thinking the same thing that almost everyone does.
They can make it out alive, after all.
"First, divine into parties of six." Diabel stated, and almost everyone followed automatically. Jyun frowned at that, her eyes creasing from what was said to them.
"That sounds impossible for me. I never do good in a group, and I'm not even comfortable in grouping with anybody."
She knew that the knight had a point in what she said, since people who fights a floor boss alone does not stand a chance. But even if she had a choice, she would rather stay on her own; which was why she didn't do anything and just watched the others form a party. The two people in front of her, as she noticed, had no one else to party with so they just partied with each other.
Jyun sighed again, but this time from a very unpleasant feeling. "I hope they won't ask me to party. I hope they won't-"
"Hey, you there." a young man with black hair and gray eyes called out and she twitched, but she replied nonetheless.
"Yes?"
"Are you in a party with anyone right now?" he asked. Jyun shook her head honestly.
"Oh. Is it okay then if you party with us? Just only until we clear the first floor." the teen requested.
Jyun contemplated about it for a moment. She knew that no player has any chance whatsoever in taking a floor boss by him or herself, but since he said it was only for the first floor and for nothing more, she pressed the 'Yes' button of the question board that flashed in front of her.
"Good luck in the battle." She bid to the man, whose name as she looked at the 'screen' in her eyes and she made sure to remember the teen that she now knows as Kirito.
Diabel explained more about the boss and everyone listened with very open ears as they couldn't let this be treated like it was any quest. It was already very clear in everyone's minds that game over is death for everyone in SAO.
The knight stated that the boss is Illfang the Kobold Lord accompanied by Ruin Kobold Sentinels. They all listened to the additional information about the boss, how it attacks, and where the boss floor is.
Jyun recalled fighting the same monster, and the information given to them was right as she analyzed deeply. The weapon was the same in the beta test, along with the name and everything else.
It was all accurate, and she knew exactly where the information would come from. "Who else would it be but beta testers?" she sighed in her head and she waited until the meeting would end as there was nothing else needed to be said.
But before Diabel could do it himself, another man named Kibaou intervened and jumped down to shout to the entire audience about the beta testers, who he claimed to be responsible for the deaths of the many thousand players that died because they left the inexperienced players on their own to die. And he even called out to everyone in the area, telling those who are beta testers to come out and relieve themselves of all their equipment and money as compensation.
Jyun was not happy about that, and something in her gut told her that he had another motive for asking her and all the other beta testers that could be there right now, to give up all what they had.
"Who the hell was he to ask that? I do feel sorry for those who died, but it doesn't mean we should forsake all our stuff. That's just the same as leaving us for dead."
She paused in her thoughts when she saw Kirito shaking slightly, and she knew that he's a beta tester just from that. Who else would feel uneasy from what that brash bastard said? She felt uneasy too, but somehow she felt more angered than she was nervous.
It just so happened that another man with a tall and muscular physique with dark skin named Agil stepped in and defended her, Kirito, and all the other beta testers out there by stating that the information about the boss came from the beta testers themselves, as well as all the other information in the guide book that was being distributed by the merchants for free.
Jyun felt relief in her chest when she realized that there were people who cared for everyone's well-being, whether they're beta testers or not. And she felt a little pleased that she made the smallest of smirks when Kibaou stopped saying anything else and just retired to the seats.
With all that over, Diabel dismissed them and they all took separate ways. Jyun didn't even try to make a conversation with Kirito or the other party member, Asuna.
With the meeting over, night quickly fell and the sky turned to black. The only source of light now for the Town of Beginnings were the fire-lit street lamps illuminating the streets, and even in the evening many were still outside.
Jyun quietly walked outside the safe zone of the town and waited until several wolf monsters appeared in front of her. Even though they are many, their HP was very low hence she immediately obliterated them all with one slash each. The fight earned her 100 XP, and a notification board appeared in front of her.
Level up! Jyun
Lvl 3
With that notification more than enough for one night, she went back inside the town and headed for the inn. She knew that tomorrow she would have to face the difficulty that 7,000 other players had yet to face as they didn't get to participate in the beta test.
Everything was hell in just one month.
The causes of most of the 2,000 who died were from suicide by falling down to the sky, and into the endless void where everything is nothing for all eternity.
And from this news, more found it hopeless to move on so they just shriveled up and waited until they withered more and more until they're at the stage of death. That was why she hoped that this fight would bring everyone back to their senses.
Right as she stepped in the safe zone, a figure approached her but there was no threat shown so she didn't put up her guard and merely sighed.
"I'm okay." She replied, thinking that Kirito was just there to check on her.
"I know you are. It's just that I noticed you fighting monsters outside, and I wanted to ask you something." Jyun expects the next words coming, and it took five seconds until she nods for him to continue and he does.
"Are you a beta tester?"
She nods instantly, not hesitating or anything. She always answers what is asked to her in a very direct manner, and even in the game, that part of her does not change.
She continued with what she expected Kirito was thinking. "You know from watching me fight in an area where monsters usually spawn. Beta testers know where they spawn, where to get the good stuff, and thus you know I am like you."
A pause.
"I saw you. You were shaking when that man told us to give away our money and equipment. You wouldn't be shaking unless you were a beta tester."
"I see. So I was right." Kirito mused and didn't say anything else for a moment. Jyun blinked in wonder to why the man was making a solemn expression, but then she understood. Like her, he's apprehensive of revealing himself as a beta tester for once that everyone gets word of it, they'll be immediately treated like outcasts.
But it's not like it would affect her like it would affect others. She was already past the stage of getting used to the feeling of isolation.
"You're not bothered that you are a beta tester, Jyun?" he asked with a calm voice, not so bothered from the confirmed truth. She shook her head and walked to a wall where she leaned her back against the hard object and sighed deeply.
"It is expected of most to be bothered. But I guess, it's better for me. I don't do well with groups anyway. What about you?"
"I also prefer being on my own. But if I have to, I'll be in groups with other people... as long as I can get along with them. I find it difficult to get friendly with others, honestly." Jyun raised her head and listened intently as Kirito confessed briefly, "No matter what I do, I come out as an outsider in the end. So games become my solace, and led me here."
Jyun felt her heart warming up a little the moment he said that. She never trusts anybody, but the fact that Kirito would say even just those words to her, it meant that he didn't think of her the way many in her life would.
"So do I." she replied, opening up to him unlike to many other people who shunned her like she's evil. He let her speak, and she collected her breath before she continued straight ahead without pausing once.
"But my reason is different. If your reason is because you're just unable to, mine is because everyone in my world hates me even though I did nothing wrong. Like you, I find comfort in playing games and soon they became important to me. I thought that SAO was like everything else with just more advanced settings, but I was wrong."
"Everyone thinks that." Kirito sympathized, standing beside her against the wall. His gaze was directed elsewhere before he moved his eyes towards her for a quick second. "But I'm surprised that even you are strong enough to handle this on your own."
Jyun responded in an instant, "It's better than letting yourself die. And I'm not the type to chicken out. Thinking about it makes me wish I'm dead. Like those brave enough to take on the boss, I'll help clear the game."
Kirito smiled in understanding, and with nothing else to say to each other they parted ways for the rest of the night.
The fight finally ended and everyone whooped in victory, making loud shouts and cheers of overwhelming joy. Jyun didn't join them and just stayed taciturn while she looked at the exact spot on the floor where Diabel died.
She knew that he's a good man. But yet, he had to make the blind move of rushing in alone to deal the finishing blow and get the last attack bonus.
Yes, that is a very good reward but it didn't mean that he shouldn't have strategized a kind of attack. Well, none of them saw it coming. The attack pattern of the boss changed drastically that it was hard to read and therefore it led to the man's demise. She didn't even know that the boss would use a Nodachi and not the one in the guide book.
"That damned game creator sure did it now." She muttered under her breath, getting even more furious at the man who made what was thought to be just a game.
"Why?!"
Everyone stopped cheering the instant that yell was heard, and they turned their attention to Kibaou who was on his knees on the floor. He yelled at Kirito, blaming him for letting Diabel die and not telling them about the boss' change in the attack pattern as Kirito knew that it was different from what was told to them. And what's worse, he revealed Kirito's status as a beta tester.
Now, almost everyone spat accusations towards Kirito, and he didn't give any emotion for a moment and didn't look at any of them. He stayed on the floor and stared at the small board in front of him that stated he won the last attack bonus item. He knew that he shouldn't have let Diabel die, but it wasn't like he even expected the boss to use a different weapon. None of them knew.
"This is not good. At this rate..." Kirito grimaced in his thoughts and silence overtook him for a moment. There was nothing else he could do, and he knew sweet talk wouldn't ease the matter right now. The hatred for beta testers is strong, as proved by recent events, and he blinked in wonder to what he could do.
There was no fix to this. But there He tensed slightly and swallowed a lump in his throat, wondering what he could to stop all this. He couldn't let the other beta testers get blamed too from this event.
Agil didn't seem so bothered that Kirito was a beta tester as he tried to calm down the angry crowd of men, and the same went with Asuna, but suddenly the black-haired man started to laugh, his smile and eyes showing malignance.
"A beta tester?" he scoffed with a little chuckle at the end. "I wish you wouldn't compare me to those newbies." He said as he got back up on his feet, facing them.
"W-What?!"
In a condescending tone, he explained, "Most of the thousand beta testers were beginners who didn't even know how to level up. You guys are better than they are." Others were puzzled to what just came out his lips, and in a very haunting tone at that.
"Kirito...?" Jyun knew that Kirito was not that kind of person. And that was why she was also confused to what made him suddenly act like that. "Has he gone mad? No... it's not. But why is he then acting like..." Even though she barely knew the teen, she could in the very least tell that the way he is acting now is completely not like him.
"But, I'm not like them." The arrogance in his voice grew worse as the bangs of his hair shadowed over his eyes. "I made it higher than anyone else during the beta test." He declared, almost boasted. "The reason I knew the boss's skills is because I fought monsters with katana skills on floors far above us."
Jyun had a feeling that he was lying about that part. No beta tester would make it that far in a complex game like SAO, no matter how skilled in games that person is. SAO is different from all the games she played, and as an expert herself she knew that what he said was not true, hence his actions confused her even further.
"I know a lot more. Way more than any information broker." He grinned slyly, his eyes narrowing and his dark smile widening. It unnerved some of the players as the look on his face seemed scary.
Kibaou shouted back at Kirito that it was even worse than a beta tester, as in way worse, and that it was already cheating, the worst form of cheating in fact as one who uses his knowledge only for his benefit and leaves others to die was completely selfish.
It was even uglier to think about since they're in the virtual game that has their life hanged on a thin thread that can break in any minute.
"A beta tester and a cheater... a Beater!" a player yelled in aggravation, many others riding on to badmouth Kirito who was now a villain in their eyes.
"Beater? I like it." Jyun didn't seem to flinch or make anything as Kirito tapped on his player data screen. "That's right... I'm a beater. From now on, don't compare me with the other testers." The smirk on his face did not disappear as he pressed on a button and a dark coat – The Coat of Midnight – appeared on him as a clothing and he started to walk to the stairs that would lead to the next floor.
Jyun sighed inwardly in realization.
The fact that he told them twice to not compare him with the other people who got selected in the beta test, like her, meant that he really wasn't cheating nor did he mean anything he said. She knows he's a beta tester, but if she gave it really deep thought, she could know right away that Kirito was just preventing them from judging the other beta testers.
He directed all the hate to himself.
She tried to step in, but with one glance from Kirito, her body stiffened. There was pity in those gray eyes of his, along with understanding of what she was trying to do. He was telling her to not get herself involved, and as much as she'd like to do otherwise, she respected his wishes and just lowered her head to let the next events happen.
To be continued...
