Author's Note: Hello! I appreciate all who have read thus far. Thank you to the reviewer who provided some initial feedback, I've done my best to implement it in my writing. With that being said, the format for things like scene switches and location data is more or less finalized, with only minor changes coming to it. I have a better idea of organization for the story now, so things like chapter titles will be added as well. Also the first two chapters will be updated due to formatting concerns. This only largely affects dialogue structure, not any story details. Please enjoy chapter four, and the rest of the story. - Inferius
Chapter 4: Adjustment
14th November, 2022. Aincrad, Floor 1, The Town Of Beginnings
Kirito sat alone at the park bench, eating his lunch. A simple sandwich he bought from the NPCs. The simulated food tasted alright in Aincrad, and could be furthered enhanced by additives like mayonnaise or butter. Typically not enjoying mayonnaise in the real world, the only way Kirito could stomach the virtual sandwich was by adding mayonnaise to it. Kirito's level and gear hadn't increased in the week since fighting Arana. All of the creatures on floor one no longer yielded experience to Kirito. Even when killing Arana again the game recognized he had done it already, and no longer awarded experience. Kirito had considered the thought that Arana could have been the floor's boss, but due to the second floor not opening up and Arana respawning after a short delay, it was not the case. He hadn't seen Klein or his friends that he rescued from the cave in a week, and hoped they were doing alright, as Kirito nor Klein bothered to add each other to the in game "Friends List", which would have allowed the viewing of their location from the menu system. A couple sat down next to Kirito with their lunch. The woman had blue hair, and the man had a haircut that could only be found in Aincrad. Further character customizations were limited ever since the first day. Major physical appearances could not be changed, but minor things like hair and tattoos could be.
"Have you killed Arana yet?" The man asked the woman.
"Oh no, not yet." Came the reply.
"Well you should, if you want to have a hope of beating the floor boss. Arana drops a breast plate that I'm sure would be useful for the fight. You should get into a group to go do it. Even if you don't get the last hit, the experience gain is worth it."
"Well, I've considered it. It's just that spiders scare me to death. I'd rather fight a murderous rabbit or something else absurd besides spiders." She giggled.
"You haven't heard anything about the floor boss have you?"
"No," Began the woman. "Arana has been the closest thing so far. No one has even found the dungeon leading to the floor boss yet."
"Clearing the game may take a while then. It's been a week and no one is close to even completing the first floor."
"Well, that's just the thing though. It's only been a week. People are still getting adjusted to Aincrad. This first floor may take a while just because of this adjustment period, but after that, it'll probably get quicker. Let people figure out how to live in the world, and then we can focus on escaping it."
"Fair enough." Concluded the man.
"Have you heard the latest rumor though?" The woman asked, resparking the conversation.
"No, rumor about what?"
"There's a quest found out in the forest near Arana. No one has talked about completing it yet. Apparently, it gives you the antidote to Arana's poison."
"That could definitely be life saving if you lead a group to kill Arana."
Kirito looked up. That antidote could have saved Soma. Regardless, it was content, and although he had no use for the antidote now, he was bored and wanted to do something. In his way out from The Town of Beginnings he stopped by a blacksmith to see about a new weapon. The Era Blade that everyone started out with was fine enough for the first floor, and was a one handed long sword, which had suited Kirito's fighting style thus far. None of the weapons at the blacksmith had stats too significantly higher than the Era Blade, outside of the difference found weapon type variation. Kirito examined and tested many weapons from the merchant. Rapiers, polearms, axes, and maces. They all felt too slow compared to his sword, except for the rapier, which was almost too fast and light for Kirito's liking. He didn't even bother with the two handed options of each weapon. Sure you could get higher damage numbers with two handed weapons, but it wasn't worth the hit in both attack speed and mobility. He left the shop with a full wallet. Era Blade would do for now. Kirito departed for the forest near Horunka.
"Alright, nice job Lis!" Shouted Klein.
"Thanks!" Lis replied, standing proud over a newly deceased spider. The group had spent the past week in Horunka, taking day trips to the forest in order get better at combat as well as more experience points to increase their levels. Lis had become relatively proficient at combat over the past week, surpassing Haro and almost matching Klein. After witnessing Kirito fight, she wanted to get as skilled as him.
"Let's practice group fights now!" Klein said, dashing off into the forest. He returned to Haro and Lis with a group of 8 spiders following him. "This may may be too much, but we got this!" After a fierce battle, the group had emerged victorious. "Alright guys, let's break for lunch!" Suggested Klein.
Kirito wandered through the forest of Horunka, he could hear laughing coming from deeper in the forest. He wandered some more, before coming across Klein and his friends. Klein looked up from his sandwich.
"Kirito, hey, how have you been man?" Asked Klein, standing up.
"Klein, good to see you again." Greeted Kirito
"Aw man, you wandered off after the Arana fight, I haven't seen you in a week!"
"What are you guys doing out here?"
"We've been out here practicing our skills against the spiders of the forest. What are you doing?"
"I've heard that there may be a quest that rewards a cure for Arana's venom. So I came out here to go do it."
"Why would you need it? I thought you were past the point of fighting Arana."
"I am, but I'm bored. I can't gain levels off of the creatures of this floor anymore. And besides, it may come in handy someday."
"Well, mind if we tag along?"
"Sure."
Klein invited Kirito to his party. The party system allowed the game to determine how to split experience points from killed monsters, as well as other features like viewing a party member's location on the map, a shared feature from the friends list. If someone in a party of four killed a creature, it's experience was split evenly among the members in a thirty meter vicinity, even if a member in the range didn't actually participate in combat. If someone not in a party as well as party members killed a creature, experience was split two ways. Half of the experience dropped would go solely to the player not in the party. The other half would be further split evenly among the players in a party. Aincrad rewarded solo players, for those daring enough to do it. The group journeyed deeper into the forest, almost to Arana's cave, before finding a NPC hiding in a grove. The quest had been found.
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Suguha was sitting by Kazuto's bedside. Everyday after school and kendo practice, she would go to visit him, just to make sure he was still alive. Very little information from Sword Art Online made it back to the outside world. Occasionally logs would be released, but the details were sparse. The only information was a list of deceased, and the number of floors cleared. Argus was already facing numerous lawsuits and backlash from the Japanese government. Pretty soon, server maintenance and the entire Sword Art Online "project" would be transferred to another "trusted" entity. The hospital was quiet today. The silence was broken by the squeaking of wheels coming down the hallway towards Kazuto's room. Suguha glanced towards the hallway, and saw hospital staff transporting a body, covered by a bag.
"Another one perished." Thought Suguha. The latest log was released only two days prior, and the number of floors cleared still remained at zero. "Please hurry back, Kazuto." She hoped that logs would become more frequent when Argus relinquished control. It had already come out in various court hearings that attempts to shutdown the servers would only cause the death of all players still logged in. The only way to safely end the game and logout the players would be to clear the game. Argus had thought of the long term. Suguha released Kazuto's hand, and departed.
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"Thank you so much, here is the payment as promised!" The NPC said with a wide grin, and gave Kirito the antidote to Arana's venom. Kirito looked around, and noticed Lis.
"Here, keep this." Kirito said, tossing the antidote to Lis. "You still don't have the breastplate. You'll need to fight Arana, take this just in case."
"Thanks!" Lis replied.
"Oh, I never caught your names. I know Klein, but what's yours?" Kirito asked.
"It's Lisbeth. But just Lis for short. That's Haro." Lis said, pointing towards Haro.
"Nice to meet you all, formally this time." Kirito said.
"What do you plan on doing now? Klein asked.
"I'll probably just head back towards The Town Of Beginnings. I may start looking for the floor boss as well. How about you guys?" Kirito asked.
"We'll probably keep practicing out here for a bit. Eventually, we'll fight Arana again to try and get Lis her breast plate. Maybe after that, we'll join the search for the boss room."
"Take care of yourselves." Kirito said, leaving the party and beginning to walk away back towards town.
"Wait, Kirito!" Klein dashed towards him, stopping him in his tracks. "We should add each other." Klein began to pull up his friends menu.
"Alright, I guess." Said Kirito. Immediately Klein had a dot on Kirito's map.
Kirito returned to The Town of Beginnings and returned to his long term rental room at the inn. "Where could the boss possibly be?" Thought Kirito. That was for another day. For now, he would rest.