AN: I'm back again… Just start reading this chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online or any of the characters (which is probably for the best).
Spoken words
"Written text"
Chapter 3: Voting
I was getting reckless. The labyrinth of the 1st floor was the best place to level. The drops were decent and it was probably the only place on the 1st floor that wasn't crowded. There was a very good reason for that though. The Ruin Kobold Troopers that flooded this place were the first humanoid-type monsters in the game that the players had encountered. After dozens of players falling to the trooper's sword skills, most players deemed the place too dangerous to train and went back to fighting boars and nepents. It would mean would mean a long delay in clearing the first floor, but who could blame them? Death really meant death in this game after all. And so it came to be that I was practically alone in the labyrinth hunting all these mobs without any backup. Not that there would be backup in the safer hunting grounds. All the players treated each other as rivals rather than fellow prisoners of Kayaba just like he had probably planned. That bastard had even turned the pain dampener off which made almost everyone refuse to help players in need for fear of getting hurt.
In order to accommodate to this new function that wasn't used in the beta, a few other changes had to be made. Injuries like broken bones or bleeding wounds could now be inflicted on players, making it harder to pull out of a battle when thing got tuff. If you are wondering why then just imagine trying to run away from a horde of monsters with a broken leg. The seriousness of an injury is influenced by the percentage hp you have left. It is also impossible for one injury to cause another. This meant that a broken rib cant cause a punctured lung. A higher defence stat will also make your skin harder to penetrate and your bones less likely to break. While battle regeneration and potions can heal your injuries alongside your hp which meant it was impossible to be maimed.
Right now I was fighting three Kobold Troopers simultaneously. They weren't such a problem to deal with as long as you remembered to bring enough health potions and fight them one at the time… I almost decapitated one when a forth Kobold who had just spawned snuck up to me and rammed his axe in my back sending my hp straight into the yellow zone. The feeling of the axe breaking a few of my ribs was horrible. Luckily the Kobold just did normal strike. If he had used a sword skill I would have been a goner. I somehow managed to get enough strength together to create some space between me and the Kobolds by using a horizontal sword skill and quickly jumping back. As soon as I landed I gulped down a health potion. I started to run while grimacing. No matter how many times I healed my bone fractures, it just feeling of bones suddenly popping back into place was something I would probably never get used to.
It was shame that I couldn't finish the Kobolds off, but it was necessary. Fighting on was doable, fighting two was dangerous, fighting three was just plain suicide while even I wasn't reckless enough to take on four of them at the same time when I had just reached level 5. I was Starting to run a little faster while quickly looking around the corner before taking a path to my left . There was a safe zone nearby that I was heading for. The voting that was going to release the beta tester would begin in a few minutes. The beta testers were forced to stay in the Town of Beginnings for the past two weeks because of Kayaba's stupid level cap. It could have been worse though. They had only lost two weeks. Sure, it must have been pretty frustrating to be unable to do anything when there is so much at stake. Today that would end, I thought while taking a seat on a tree stump inside the safe zone.
Already planning ahead, I decided should probably pay a visit to Argo again after she was released. After all, there wasn't any information broker in the Beta that knew even half as much as Argo did. If she was still in the information dealing business she could become a very valuable ally if one could be smart enough to be able to deal with her. She could be very nice if she wanted to since being rude was bad for her business, but if you let your guard down when dealing with her you would find yourself without both useful information and col. If you knew how to deal with here than you had a huge advantage over the other players. Argo always knew where to find the best hunting spots and quests, which players were willing to sell some good equipment and even when and were certain events would take place. I absently wondered how this being a death game now would affect the prices she set for het valuable knowledge.
I almost failed to notice the small message I received that signalled that the poll had been opened. I jumped up and opened the message which triggered a small screen to appear in front of me.
The beta tester's level should cap be removed
No
Yes
(You can only select one option)
I immediately selected the second option making the screen disappear again. I sat back down on the tree stump waiting for the results to come in. What was Kayaba trying to accomplish with this? Two weeks just weren't enough to cause the players a major setback. Of course it was still annoying, but the changes caused by this weren't anything major. This would only make the frustrated beta testers even more motivated. What was his plan?
A new message appeared in to tell me that the results of the first vote were counted by the system. I took a quick glance at the results before moving my hand to delete it again. I stopped myself just before I could delete the screen. Something seemed off about the results. This time I actually read the results but they didn't seem to make any sense. It was just impossible to grasp.
The beta tester's level should cap be removed
Results:
Players in favour: 578
Players opposed: 6689
…
AN: That's it for now. I would first like to thank Delta Marauder who gave me the idea to turn the pain dampener off. I hope you that at least some of you like the wounding system I will be using in this fanfic. I quite like it. Anyway, thanks for reading! And please review.