Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online
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This was the day! I was so happy, Kazuto had already called me and we had scheduled up, in a few short moments they would be opening the beta-testing servers, I kept myself busy by anxiously staring at the clock in my counter; And finally, letting my agony finally rest, the minute ticked, and I laid down comfortably in my bed, placing the NerveGear in my head, before calmly saying the magic words
"Link Start!"
And soon I did not see my room anymore, instead seeing a kaleidoscope of colors flashing around me, before many spheres checking things like sight, hearing, taste and touch appeared around, and moved to disappear from sight.
Soon, there was a login screen, The fields were automatically filled in, The language was correctly applied, and soon I was moved to a character design screen, where I could see my own reflection, with sliders with things like height, weight, body shape, features and things of such, I didn't mind much for that, so I just swapped a few of the color sliders and pressed the 'finish' button.
Soon, I found myself being teleported away, in a flash of white, and then I saw myself, with many other players around, and others logging in, in the top left of my screen I could see a bar with my name and a health gauge, and in the top right I saw battery life and time, soon, a small pop-up appeared in the center of my vision, with a small 'tutorial' label.
'To open the main menu, Swipe vertically with your dominant hand while not holding anything' And so I did, Swiping my left hand down, to which a few round spheres indicating Character, Community, Messaging, Map, and finally Settings; I poked at the 'Community' tab, which listed a few other options, and then selecting the 'Contacts' menu, and there was he, Kazuto, or rather, 'Kirito', in my list, I then selected him, and saw his location relative to mine, he was too in the plaza, and I saw a small blue crystal floating higher in the sky, I stared at it and started making my way there, and soon I saw someone signaling to me;
"There you are, Sinon" he said, walking up to me, to which I could only stare at him with a rising eyebrow.
"Hey, Kirito-kun, You look... manly" I said, looking at him, giggling a little, no longer the his cutesy face there, instead, a much more well-shaped face, with slightly longer black hair occulting his face, his figure a bit more lean; But he still looked like a girl.
"W-What do you mean with that!?"
I giggled to myself, and looked around the vast space of the plaza of the city of beginnings.
"Well, I mean that you look like a girl in real life, and now you look like a girl here" I said, teasing him just a bit more.
"And you look!- you look... ehh..."
"I look what, Kirito-kun?" I said defiantly, looking him fiercely in the eyes, daring him to come up with a comeback, he was never really good with them, but honestly, neither was I.
"Gah, you got me" he said, huffing to me and turning around, I laughed at bit at his expense, and soon he softened up again and began smiling to me once more; I looked to the pond in the center of the plaza, seeing my reflection in it, My hair, previously black, was now a light teal color, and my eyes were a similar greenish-cerulean color, overall, I looked almost the same, after all I didn't really play with the character creation sliders.
"So this is Sword Art Online" I said, looking around, taking a few test steps "It all feels so real"
"Well, that's what twelve years of development should be able to do" He said, moving around, feeling his movements, and truly, it was almost lifelike, everything was perfectly detailed, the movements were smooth and straightforward, you could feel the calm breeze blowing in your face, as the stray strands of hair flew in front of your eyes, leaves and particles were blown by the wind, the horizon led to a light blue, cloud-filled sky, and soon above was the roof, and floor, to the next level of the titanic iron castle known as Aincrad.
"So what can we do here?"
"Hmm; let me see" he said, rubbing his cheek "If I remember well, there are many classes of weapons, ranging from daggers to war hammers and even bows... although there aren't things like crossbows or composite bows... the game is level and skill-based, killing monsters awards XP and every new level you gain stat points to spend, that's pretty straightforward, although, every individual skill, like one-handed, blacksmithing, crafting, hunting, etcetera, must be leveled individually by training it... Well, it's almost like any other RPG. Except it feels like real life!" He said enthusiastically, twirling around. "Oh, and there's one more thing"
I looked up at him, with a half 'hm?' and half amused face, He always went on and on with his game-tutorial monologues. It was cute.
"Dying" He said, looking to me and crossing his arms "If you die, your character is completely cleared, and you have to start again from scratch, at level 0"
"Wow, that's harsh"
"I think it makes the game a bit more challengingly fun" He said "Makes you sure to not mess up" He said, smiling and stretching his body once again "So! let's get started up, We're here to beta-test are we not? So let's make sure we can get as far as possible before the full game release, without dying even once"
And so we went, Slowly making our way out of the slowly filling area; we walked outside of the plaza, soon finding ourselves in a town setting, with NPC's walking around the place and shopkeepers in small stalls; Soon both of us found ourselves in front of a small shop in a alleyway with a bulky NPC in front, hammering a piece of iron.
"So what will it be?" The man said, looking up to us, he was bald and had a short gray beard, before a small 'shop' pop up appeared in front of our visions; We both nodded to each other, and looked over the menu.
"Ah, so we do have some starting currency, 100 Col, I wonder what that can get us" Kazuto said, looking over the menu "It seems like all starting weapons are that price, everything else is way higher"
"Don't we already have a starting weapon?" I said, looking over to him, before I picked up the rather beat-up blade from the sheath in my waist and waved it a bit
"You don't really want to go around with that... thing, do you?" He said, looking at me with a sweat drop
"Well, it is a indestructible object" I said, looking at him with a small frown.
"That's because it's a starting weapon, Shino" He finished, waving me off "And anyways, its stats are too weak" He pulled his own sword, identical to mine, and gave it a test swing "Although, I do like the feel of it" He turned away from me, facing the shop menu, and after browsing a while, the tapped at I saw a bronze shortsword appearing in his hand from thin air, he gave a few test swings and smiled at me "I guess I'll be going with one-handed swords"
I looked back to my own menu, And also looked over the many options, There was a small 'melee' tab with all kinds of related things, Knives, Cleavers, Hatchets, Axes, Battleaxes, Spears, Polearms, Swords, none of them particularly interested me, and once I scrolled past it, there was another section, smaller, but there nevertheless; Ranged.
Once I opened up the tab, I noticed a few options that were very similar to the ones in the previous section, Throwing axes, Throwing knives, Throwing picks, Javelins... And then I set my eyes on it, the outline of a Bow.
I tapped at the figure and a small information box popped up in my vision «Wooden Bow» it read, with the 100 Col standard price for it, I hesitated for a moment, before I tapped the blue 'purchase' button and the weapon materialized in my hands.
"It was nice doing business with you" The gruff weapon smith said, before he went back to hammering his iron piece.
"A Bow?" I heard Kazuto say as he walked up to me "They're the hardest weapons to use, you know that?" He said, looking at me worriedly.
"Yeah" I replied, putting a hand in my hip and looking to face him "However, They have the highest damage range of any other weapon, and their critical damage is almost overpowered"
"Well, that is if you can use it properly" he said, rubbing at the back of his neck "Anyways, let's get going, I want to have some fun!" He said cheerily, giving a stupid grin and propping his sword in his shoulder, to which I could only give a small giggle.
-/-
"Kirito! Watch out!" I said, As I released my grip on the arrow, as the string shone a bright red "«Piercing Shot»!" The arrow flew precise, piercing the left eye of the iron-clad giant that stood in front of us, as it let out a roar of anguish
"Thanks Sinon!" He yelled back, before he pivoted on his feet and lunged at the monster again "«Horizontal»!" And then he slashed with his blade, entirely removing the monster's left hand from his body, leaving a red stump in its place, as the hand itself popped away in a burst of red polygons.
The monster let out a mighty roar that made my ears ring, as I felt the slight debuff of the 'Dread' status affect me, We finally beat it to its last health bar.
Oh? Why are the two of us fighting a boss without any help, you ask?
Because it was the last day of beta-testing, and we wanted to do something unforgettable.
In the last month, Both me and Kazuto spent most of our free time inside the world of the closed beta of Sword Art Online, Every day we'd go further and further, We had racked our equipment up to the max levels, and went where no-one went before, We were always fighting alongside the parties dedicated to clearing the floors, And every once in a while there would be a great deal of deaths were a bunch of players would get set back to level 0 and have to start over, The floor before was just that, In fact, only me and Kazuto and a few tanks had survived the ordeal, and so many of the high-leveled players were set back to the beginning.
"To the left!" He yelled to me, and I dodged, as the bulky titan rushed towards me, swinging with his massive battleaxe, Why did it target me all of a sudden!? Monsters were always supposed to target the closest attacker!
"Sinon! Dodge!" He yelled once again, as the monster twirled around in a speed that shouldn't be possible with his size, Kazuto was already rushing madly towards me, but I couldn't dodge the sudden movement, and the monsters battleaxe hit my stomach, knocking me off as I tumbled away in Kirito's direction, stopping just before his feet.
"S-Shino!" He said, crouching to me, as I felt the dull numbness of what was supposed to replace and simulate pain hit me, making me feel deadened.
"Aw, I messed it up" I said, looking him in the eyes with a smile "I guess it's game-over for me" I saw my health bar slowly depleting, before I broke apart in a thousand red polygons, and a red 'You're Dead!' message appeared as my field of vision darkened.
Soon I felt myself waking up in the City of Beginnings, I quickly swiped up to see my inventory menu, I looked the same, but all of my levels, skills and equipment were gone, all I had was 100 Col that all starting players began with, I let out a long-drawn sigh; As I lifted myself from the ground and sat in the edge of the fountain nearby.
Soon after I saw blue polygons forming a shape from nowhere, and Kazuto formed in front of me, in the same predicament I had, He smiled to me, before he adopted a depressed look in his face and I did the same, pouting.
"We were so close" I mumbled "That was so unfair"
"Oh well, we got pretty far even, nobody had ever managed to get a boss to one health bar with anything under ten players" He said, sitting beside me "It's a shame we lost when we were almost done with it"
"Ah, So you must be famed Black Swordsman and Night's Huntress, if I recall correctly, Kirito-san and Sinon-san" A man in red robes said walking up to us from the side, his face shadowed, mentioning the nicknames both of us had been awarded as we rose within the game's ranks.
"Oh, hey there, that's us, and you are...?" Kirito said, giving a awkward smile to the cloaked man, He was probably a GM, if his stylized cloak was anything to go by, and Kazuto seemed aware of this fact, as he tensed up bit by bit.
"I'm pretty sure you already know me, After all, I'm the one who constructed this world" The man said, and then the both of us tensed up.
"K-Kayaba Akihiko!?" I said, startled, looking up to him, as I propped myself up in Kazuto's shoulder, looking over his head
"That's correct" The man said, as the shadows faded a bit, allowing us to see his face, it was identical to the one we had been used to see in magazines and in the development website. "It's a pleasure to meet you" The man said, holding out a hand to us.
"T-The pleasure is mine! T-to what do I owe this honor?" Kazuto said shakily, as he stood up and shook the man's hand, to which he could only give a slow chuckle.
"Actually, I'd like to congratulate the two of you before I end the Beta-Test" The man said, and we saw a small crowd forming, whispering things like 'It's a GM!' and 'Is that the Night's Huntress?' or 'Look! It's The Black Swordsman!'
"C-Congratulate us?" I said shyly, looking over Kazuto's shoulder.
"Yes, After all, The game is balanced to make boss fights nigh impossible with few players, making the fact that the two of you almost won a clear display of skill" The man said calmly, Had he been watching us? Nevertheless, it felt wonderful being praised by the game's lead developer "I Hope to see both of you in the game's full release. Well, Now if you excuse me, it's about time" The man said, as the shadows once again covered his face, and he swiped at his menu, soon after disappearing in thin air.
"Sinon, pinch me" Said Kazuto, looking straight into my eyes.
"W-What for?"
"I think I'm hallucinating, My idol just praised me for being a great gamer" He finished, with a glassy look in his eyes.
"Then pinch me too, Because I think I just saw the same thing" I said jokingly
"Okay!" He said, before twirling and pinching my arm.
"W-What was that for!"
"You asked for it" He said, and then looked back to me "And you can't even really feel pain" He finished, with a smirk, waving me off.
"...Oh, Right" I definitely hadn't forgotten that single important fact.
A few moments later, The plaza was filled with the all the currently logged-on Beta-Testers, as they were forcefully teleported, And large green hexagons started popping up in the sky, with the message "Announcement" written in bold white letters, Soon after, Particles started appearing in the sky, as the telltale cloaked figures appeared, floating high up, Kayaba in the middle of them, in his signature red cloak.
"Greetings, To all of you!" Said a green-clad GM "First of all, I'd like to thank all of the present Two-thousand Five-hundred players that applied, for their help in perfecting the game!"
At that, a loud cheer was heard, as the players lifted up their weapons and banged their shields
Another GM stepped forward "If no unforeseen events take place, the official release date for Sword Art Online should be within six months time"
Then the figure of Kayaba stepped forward, "Until then, We bid all of the testers farewell, and hope you join us in this marvelous world!"
There was another chorus of cheering and roaring, as weapons were risen high up in the skies, all players bidding farewell to their guilds and parties for the while, and soon after, the players started being logged off.
And soon enough, Darkness filled my eyes, and soon I found myself waking up, My eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness of my room.
One thing I knew for sure, I really wanted these six months to pass as quickly as they could, At least I had someone to spend it with.
-/-
And we enter Aincrad! Well, beta-testing, and it was over in one episode because I want to go on with the story, oh well, official release next chapter I suppose; Also, I apologize if this chapter looked bland, I really didn't have much to write about, And I think I changed my mind about making things 3rd person, I'll have it first person all the way.
Thanks for reading and please leave a review if you enjoyed.