Chapter 9: New World

4th December, 2022. Aincrad. Floor 1, The Town Of Beginnings

A young girl, no more than twelve, sat on a bench in the town square. She could see in the distance the colossal pillar that connected Floor 1 and Floor 2. The pillar was a detail of Aincrad that could be seen extending into the sky of each floor, and was thought to be the way that each floor structurally connected to each other. When searching for the Labyrinth of Floor 1, the exploration teams initially checked the area around the pillar, logically assuming that was the way to the next floor. As the labyrinth was in fact not there, it was assumed that perhaps the labyrinth would eventually lead to the massive pillar, when the entrance to Floor 2 would be opened. This aspect of Aincrad was also changed from the beta. After all, the developers didn't want to give too much away.

The girl began to play with the two pigtails in her hair, twirling strands around her finger. She looked up, and suddenly the pillar began to glow in prismatic colors. After the initial burst, it settled back into its dark color, but appeared to be restored. The iron looked brand new now, even from a distance. The girl couldn't help but stare in awe..

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Suguha sat at her desk, her nose buried in her history textbook. Her phone next to her lit up, and made its iconic *ding* sound signaling she had a new message. Instantly she was torn from her book.

"A new email."

She unlocked her phone, and looked at what was sent to her.

Aincrad Incident Report December 4th, 2022. Read the subject line.

She began scrolling through the info, as per usual, skipping the initial part of the message, and going straight to the names of the newly deceased. Kazuto wasn't on the list. She began to scroll up, a feint hope that maybe the players had progressed past the first level of Aincrad. The change caught her eye.

Floors Cleared: 1

"Yes!" she shouted to her room, and to the empty house. She began several sobs of joy. Almost exactly one month after players had entered Aincrad, the first floor had been cleared.

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Asuna watched as Kirito disappeared into the darkness that was through the door at the end of Illfang's throne room. She walked over to examine the throne chair. She noticed something peculiar. On the center of the backrest, an etching of a bird began glowing a very subtle and warm red. She ran her fingers across it, and felt the divet that the etched bird made. Even though the bird was glowing, it was as cool to the touch as the rest of the throne.


Kirito wandered through the mist. All of a sudden the air seemed to ripple around opened his eyes and was greeted by the infamous crimson sunset of Aincrad. He was standing outside of a new town. A beautiful stone archway loomed in front of him. In the closing light of the day, he could just barely make out the word engraved on the archway; Urbus. Kirito examined his surroundings further. The town appeared to be surrounded by mountains, the closest ones being uniform in height, implying to Kirito that the town was settled in the center of a crater. Beyond the boundaries, he could see peaks of other mountains standing even taller in the distance. Based off this, as well as promotional art for Aincrad he had seen in the real world, Kirito concluded the second floor of Aincrad was slightly smaller in diameter than the first. Further beyond the town, Kirito could see the massive obelisk reaching into the sky. The "connection" between all of the floors. Kirito opened up his menu, and opened the map, anticipating it to be blank.

"What?" Kirito gasped.

The map was entirely filled out. The light blue background of the map was already outlined and dotted with yellow markers of all the settlements, for Floor 2, with their accompanying filled out, were points of interest, as well as the most peculiar thing to Kirito, the Labyrinth. The map was showing him plain as day where the Labyrinth for Floor 2 was. He tapped on the yellow marker with his finger to pull up the sub map of the Labyrinth, but was greeted with an all too familiar sight. The map was blank.

"Guess some things are still meant to be discovered." Kirito thought to himself.

Kirito closed his map and menu, and wandered into town. He sought out an inn to rest for the night.


A horde of people from The Town of Beginnings began to flock towards the town square. An oval shaped structure rose from the ground. The pig-tailed girl ran towards the structure, placing her hand on the wall of the structure. Suddenly it burst to life, and a greenish blue vortex appeared within the confines of the oval structure. Hesitantly, she jumped through, and found herself in Urbus' town square

"Strange." She thought.

Immediately she leapt back through, and found herself back in The Town Of Beginnings. She wandered with the crowd back into Urbus.


"Miss Asuna, was it?" Egiru asked, as he approached Asuna, who was beginning to walk towards the same entrance to Floor 2 Kirito took. She looked back and noticed the scene around her. A lot of people were on their knees, resting. Kibaou was still staring at the ground with his head low. She and this man approaching her were the only people on her feet in the throne room.

"Yes? Is something wrong?" Asuna replied.

"Oh no such thing. I just wanted to say you handled yourself incredibly well. Most female players wouldn't have stood in such a dangerous fight like that and…"

"HEY! What did you just say?" shouted a tiny hooded figure from across the room. The figure sprinted towards Asuna and Egiru, and withdrew her hood.

"Oh Argo, you know what I mean." Replied Egiru, seemingly shrugging her off.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. One thousand Cor and I'll tell you?" Playfully replied Argo.

Egiru turned back to Asuna "Anyway, what I was going to ask, is if you had any previous experience?"

"Previous…..experience?" Replied Asuna with a puzzled look.

"Yeah you know, like, maybe a few things seemed really familiar when you got stuck in Aincrad?"

"Oh my god, could you be ANY more ambiguous?" Snapped Argo. "Asuna right? He is asking if you played the SAO beta. If you are a beta tester that got stuck in here also."

"Will you keep your voice down?" Interrupted Egiru. "Kibaou looks like he's about ready to kill anyone who says they are."

"Heh, let him try." Jested Argo.

"Ummm, no I'm, not." Finally answered Asuna.

"Oh ok. Just curious. You certainly fight like you are one." Complemented Egiru.

"Oh, ahha, thanks." Nervously chuckled Asuna. Who were these people? They both seemed friendly enough, and Kirito seemed to know Egiru, with the way they had been speaking with each other during the fight. Still, given people's recent attitudes towards beta testers, she kept her guard up. "Is it true, about him? Was he really a beta tester? Did he actually withhold information?"

"I never formally met him during the beta." Replied Egiru. "And as far as I know, he didn't withhold any information he knew during the fight. He called out the weapon change as soon as he realized it, He did the best he could."

"I suppose so." Agreed Asuna. "What about what he said before he left? Did he really make it farther in the beta? Is he really as skilled as he thinks he is? Or at least, says he is?"

"Possibly." Began Argo. "During the beta, there was a player who gained quite a reputation for himself. The Black Swordsman. This player always wore black gear,fought with a single one handed sword, and was always hooded, even during boss fights. During the beta, we got to Floor 8. He was always in the party fighting the boss. He mostly kept to himself, both socially and during combat, but you could certainly see his actions having an affect during a battle. The Black Swordsman always somehow managed to get his hands on the best gear, so he was either insanely lucky with monster drops or just grinded his way to be able to afford upgrades. More on his skill level, I remember fighting the fifth floor boss, he was of course in the raid party. We had wiped 3 times previously, but during the beta, of course that wasn't a big deal. It wasn't a death game back then. Anyway, we had all wiped on the fourth attempt, and we were about to call it a night and go back the next day to try again. But there he stood. He was the last alive, and was facing down the boss who was still at half health. He refused to give up, and the fiercest battle I had ever seen ensued. When it was all said and done, the boss fell, and he was left with 1 HP. Egiru can attest to this as well."

"I sure can." Continued Egiru. "I don't know for sure, but Kirito's and his fighting style are very similar, and with the coat that dropped from the first boss, he certainly looks the part now. Back in the beta test, he was certainly the point of a lot of jealousy. A lot of players, including myself, wanted his skill. Or gear. Hell, probably both. One thing is for sure, regardless if Kirito is in fact him, he has a target on his back after today. Between beta testers who are beginning to assume his legendary identity and people who view them as "beaters", Kirito should be watching his back more closely."

"You say this as if he needs a bodyguard or something." Kidded Argo.

"Now, I wouldn't go that far, just that he should watch his back. As neutral as Kirito seems to play himself off as, he may not be suspecting any ill will from anyone." Rebutted Egiru.

"As you two are both beta testers," Begun Asuna, "Do you happen to know how many testers are around?"

"Well, let's see here." Replied Argo, thinking up to the ceiling. "There were about a thousand beta testers, I look around the room right now, and from the faces I recognize, which assumes that their character in the beta was made to resemble their real world selves which isn't too farfetch'd, there's 10 here besides Egiru and myself. Regardless of being The Black Swordsman or not, Kirito is one of them, so we're up to 13 now. I do know of 17 others that did not participate in this fight, so they're back in town. Before we came here, I looked at the memorial stone beneath the town square, and there were 200 names etched in gold, meaning they're beta testers who have died playing. I do not know the exact whereabouts or names of others, but that should give you a rough idea."

"There's still so many." Replied Asuna. "Thank you for the information."

"I'm gonna have to charge you….." Jested Argo with a sly smile on her face.

"No you don't." Defended Egiru. "Asuna, we'll let you go about your day. Be safe out there on Floor 2."

"Thank you." Asuna replied, and walked off towards Floor 2, to be met with the same shock of the map already filled out. She didn't quite care right now though, she was exhausted after the battle, and only sought a bed to crash into.

"So, what do you think, Argo? Do you think things are as different as they are on Floor 2 as they were before?" Asked Egiru.

"I'd believe so. Floor 1 is unlike any other floor in Aincrad. A brand new world is about to be discovered and opened up to all of the players. Let's hope it doesn't take the player base such a long time to get settled with the new changes as it did adjusting to life here. Or we'll be here for a while." Replied Argo.

"Agreed. We need to start forming a team. One that is organized and capable of clearing the Labyrinths and taking down the bosses. We need the testers at the core. You should start sending out notices, as we previously discussed."

"Will do. Tomorrow work?"

"For sure."

"No time to waste then!" Argo raised her hood and sprinted off. Egiru turned to enter Floor 2. The throne room had cleared out by this point, except for Kibaou, who was still on his knees, overlooking where Diavel's body used to be.