Alpha Phase

Before I begin this story there are a couple things I need to clarify.

I do not own Sword Art Online (ソードアートオンライン), the characters, or the storyline. All rights belong to A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara.

The events depicted in this story are not part of the official SAO canon.

I am not profiting from writing this story.

Some of the events or mentioned events are based on some of my real life experiences. If one or more of these events are similar to one of your own it is unintentional and coincidental.

Please support Sword Art Online and its affiliates.

Author's Note: Hi guys! My name is Thomas and this is my first fanfiction. I hope you like it. Now before you yell at me because my character's names suck or my title makes no sense or the story is boring, I will say that I don't have a lot of experience when it comes to writing. I have written a short story or two in my time but it still isn't enough for me to really qualify as an "author". So remember, this is my first story, I am more than aware that there are flaws, and I am open to suggestions. So please, feel free to tell me what you think.

Chapter X

POV: Akuma

December 15, 2022

What have I gotten myself into? I decided to try out this new Nerve Gear thing everyone was raging about. I was like, "Well, RPG's aren't really my thing. I much prefer FPS games but it's virtual reality. They'll make shooters for it eventually so I'll just try it out." Now, I'm trapped in this game, unable to log out, and if I die in the game I die in real life. I have two options at this point. First option, commit suicide. Second option, find Hikaru, who is undoubtedly somewhere to be found, and try to survive until the game is cleared. I took the second option, because I have to get out of here. There are so many things I haven't done yet. I heard that floor 7 was opened recently, so I headed there in the hopes of finding Hikaru and anyone else that might be able to help me. I talked to everyone I ran into on the streets if they have seen a player named Hikaru anywhere. Some say they haven't heard of him. Others say they've heard of him, but don't know where he is now. Others go, "Hikaru? You mean that Beater from the first boss raid? I don't care where he is! Hell, I hope he's one of the first two thousand to die!" What the hell's a Beater? Where is Hikaru? What should I be doing? What does RPG stand for? So many questions and no one to answer any of them. Miserable, I walked into the inn, sat in a booth in the corner, and sulked. An hour must have passed before someone noticed me.

"Hey, whatcha doin'?" I heard a female voice say to me. I looked up to see a girl with pink hair, a short red dress, and a mace at her side.

"Nothing much, just questioning my life decisions. I should have never put that damn Nerve Gear on. You ever think that?" I replied.

"All the time, almost every day. But what are you doing in here? You should be in the fields grinding and gaining levels."

"Maybe I would if I knew what the hell grinding was." The girl sat down next to me.

"Why don't you tell me why you're here? In SAO, not the inn."

"Well, I guess I have some time to kill. It all started on the sixth of last November when this thing called a Nerve Gear was released and my friend said it would be awesome so I got one even though the flagship title was RPG and I'm not good at RPG's. Then I found out that I can't leave and death in the game means death in real life. I tried looking for anyone I may know that can help me but I haven't had any luck. So now I'm just sulking in an inn."

"Looks like you could use some help. Alright, get up let's go to the fields and do some grinding."

"I don't know. I've just met you. I don't know anything about you."

"Look, you need help right? I'm the only one you've found that has offered to help you, right? Think about it, do you really have a choice?" She had a point, I had to trust her.

"Alright, I'm getting up." I got up and followed her to this place she called the fields. I guess it's supposed to that grassy area where all the enemies spawn on each floor?

"By the way, my name's Lisbeth. Nice to meet you," she said as we walked.

"I'm Akuma. And thanks for helping me," I said to her. She put her arm out, causing me to stop.

"It's a little early to be thanking me. Do you see that moving thing over there?" Lisbeth pointed at a boar-like creature about one hundred meters away from us.

"Yeah, I see it. Do you want me to attack it?"

"Yeah, let's see how you fight. Go on, hit it!" I drew my sword and ran at the boar. I swung at it and the green bar next to it turned yellow. The boar knocked me to the ground. I got up and swung at it again but it moved out of the way and hit me again. Lisbeth ran past me. "Heavy Slam!" she shouted. Her mace glowed green and she hit the boar. It exploded into blue triangles and a results screen appeared in front of me and Lisbeth. She reached down to help me up.

"Needs a lot of work. Why didn't you use a sword skill?" she asked me.

"Sword Skill? Oh yeah… um, what's a sword skill?" I asked her. She stared at me, her eyes as big as donuts.

"You… don't know what a sword skill is?"

"Nope."

"You may be harder to teach than I thought. Okay, open you menu, like this." She swung her hand downward in front of her and a menu appeared. I did the same thing and the same thing happened.

"Have you ever opened this before?"

"Yeah, I've seen people doing it in town and I tried it out but I have no idea what to do from here."

"Well the main thing we want to do now is look at your skills. Go to your character menu and select the 'Skills' tab. Then select 'Sword Skills'" I did as she told me and there was a list of items came up, the first one being "Power Slash."

"I think the only sword skill I have now is 'Power Slash.'"

"What level are you?"

"Three."

"You should have some skill points to spend. Try scrolling down the list and see what the next skill you can get is." The next skill that I could get was called "Flash Thrust." I clicked "Learn" and the item turned yellow.

"What do I do now?"

"Now, go over to that boar and shout 'Flash Thrust' and try thrusting your sword at it. Oh, and this time, I'm not going to come in and help you." I took a deep breath and ran up to the boar.

"Flash Thrust!" I cried. My sword glowed blue and I thrusted it at the boar. It was impaled and its health bar completely depleted. I killed an enemy with one hit. Maybe I can do this without Hikaru.

"Good. Now, do you have any profession skill points?" Lisbeth asked.

"Let me see…" I opened my menu and view my skills. Instead of clicking the Sword Skill tab I clicked the Profession Skill tab. See? Thinking! I had 250 points to spend.

"Most people will divide their points among several professions but if you want you can put all of them into one. What will you do?" I looked at all the skills I could choose from. Cooking… Charisma… Detection… Stealth… Then I saw a skill that caught my eye: Blacksmithing. If I remember rightly, blacksmiths make weapons and armor and other equipment. A blacksmith must know a lot about what equipment is best. Lisbeth noticed my interest in this skill.

"If you want to put points into Blacksmithing you might want to increase your Appraisal skill too." I took her advice and put 125 points into Blacksmithing and 125 into Appraisal.

"Thanks a lot, Lisbeth, for all the advice. I'll put it to good use. Anyway, I'll see you later," I said. But, as I turned to walk deeper into the fields, Lisbeth grabbed my arm. "What is it?"

"Listen, Akuma. I kinda want to stay with you for a little while. You think that, maybe, we could start a party together?" I was pretty surprised at this but I nodded. She opened her menu and invited me into her party. After that, both of us walked into the fields and grinded for EXP until the sun went down.

END OF CHAPTER X