Author Notes: hey guys, yeah I'm back. school and work created the long break from stories. i plan on sticking with this one now. things have slowed down and i hope to get more chapters to you soon. now i will be focusing my attention on this story rather than my other. i always appreciate feedback so please leave a review! other than that I have created this story and i hope you all come to enjoy it. now this will actually follow the events of the games more so but i am also taking liberties and modifying the story of both aincrad and what happens in the games. so no events will not be the exact same but they will follow along. i will be breaking the full harem vibe and making this more about the grittiness of surviving the death game. i will still make reference to this "Harem" kirito develops but it wont be such a big thing in this. i am leaving ships open at the moment and looking for input on who should be with who, of course first chapter i doubt the ships will form so i look forward to input in the future. thats about all from me and i hope enjoy the story, sorry this was long the rest of these will not be like this I promise.
disclaimer: i do not own SAO or any of its Characters.
Today was the day! Sword Art Online was officially released and Vincent could not wait to get logged in. The seventeen-year-old fell in love with the game when he played the beta and could not wait to jump back in.
"Yes, I know, I'm sorry I can't wait for you. I'll see you in there tomorrow and we can go on some quests then okay? Hey, did you decide on a username yet Momiji? Kureha? Sounds cool, I think I'm going with Lowell. Yeah, I'll get a head start today and show you the ropes tomorrow. It will be great to hang out again like we used to. Seeya later" Vincent said and then hung up the phone.
He turned to look at the Nervegear resting on his bed and felt excited to jump back into that world. He jumped in bed and put the Nervegear on. Looking at the ceiling he took a deep breath before speaking the start words. "Link Start!"
Bright light and colors filled his vision as the game started and went through the startup screen and settings. Vincent quickly went through this and got to the character creation screen. He took a moment to customize the character, he was going to be using this avatar for a while so he should make it look cool right? He gave the character dark black hair color and it was about a medium length and messy. He had a stubbly beard and bright red eyes. He set the characters height to roughly his own, he didn't want to be disoriented by a height difference. Giving a satisfied sigh Vincent entered his avatar name, Lowell, and started the game. The screen went black before he once again had his vision.
The first thing he saw was the blue sky. He could hear the voices of what he assumed were other players. He took a deep breath and looked forward to seeing the buildings of the starting town. Lowell lifted his hands up to look at them. They were not his hands and yet they were. He closed a fist and smiled, he was back and ready to play again.
He used his right hand to pull down the menu and scanned his items really quick. "Basic leather armor and a longsword. So just like the starting equipment for the beta." He then swiped to the skills menu and skimmed some of the skill trees. "ah so they did some changes to the skills, good to know. Now let's see… what kind of build will I go for this time? Ah fuck it, I'll figure that out later I want to play!"
Lowell quickly closed the menu and took off to a spot he remembered from the beta for being a good grinding spot. He ran past many other players, many talking or running off to their own quests. It felt good to be back in the world, and it all felt real. He ran past the city limits which meant he exited the safety zone of the town. He drew his blade ready to attack the first thing he saw.
A single lone wolf found its way in front of Lowell. At a full sprint Lowell took his blade and held it at eye level, pointed towards the wolf. The blade began to hum with power and glow a light green as he activated the sword skill Vorpal Strike. With a powerful lunge, he dashed through the beast dealing a significant amount of damage. Lowell turned around, and with a grin, slashed the wolf as it lunged at him. The wolf's HP hit zero as the sword carved through it causing it to shatter into the blueish polygons.
"Nice! I still got it." Lowell said turning around to find his next target. Lowell spent the next few hours hunting and had just finished slaying a giant rat when he heard someone shouting. Instincts taking over, Lowell ran to find its source. What he found was someone cornered by a pack of wolves. The person seemed to be very inexperienced considering they were taking on so many enemies at once. Lowell glanced at his HP noting how he should have bought some health potions before leaving town. Lowell took the stance and used Vorpal Strike to not only attack one of the wolves but also to cover some ground.
With a shout Lowell's blade cut through one of the wolves killing the beast in a single blow. The other four wolves split two turning their attention to Lowell and the other two towards the other player. "get up and fight or we're both gonna die here, and I really don't wanna lose any of the crap I got already." Lowell shouted at the other player. If they responded Lowell didn't hear it as he turned to focus on the two wolves in front of him. One wolf lunged trying to surprise Lowell. Lowell saw through this and was already sidestepping the attack and plunged the blade into its side. The beats jumped back with a whimper from the attack. Lowell then felt a sharp pain in his leg. He looked down to see the other wolf had come up as he was distracted and bit him. He slashed at the beast causing it to back off as it took damage. "shit!" Lowell cursed as his HP was low in the yellow.
Lowell started circling the wolves till he had them lined up and used Vorpal Strike once again to hit both of them. Both wolves fell with a howl and shattered. Lowell then turned to check on the other player. They had already dispatched one wolf but the other was being cautious and staying out of her reach. Lowell took this opportunity while the other player took the wolf's agro to attack it while it was distracted. With a quick few slashes from his sword the wolf died.
With that out of the way Lowell turned to face the player he had helped, keeping his blade at the ready in case this one was into Player Killing. It was only then he noticed the player was a woman, then again it could also be a guy using a female avatar.
"uh hey. You okay there?" Lowell asked, warry of the players intentions now.
"y-yes, Thank you very much for your help there? I'm sorry I don't really know what I'm doing." The girl replied bashfully bowing in thanks.
Lowell lowered his blade but kept it out just in case this was an act. He looked above her head to see her name. "So Asuna? What are you doing out here all alone?"
"wha? H-how did you know my name?" Asuna asked surprised.
"oh god… you really have no idea how to play do you?" Lowell asked with a sympathetic look.
The girl shook her head. "this is my first time playing a game like this. Its actually my brothers, I just wanted to see what the appeal was about."
"well what did you think so far?" Lowell asked now sheathing his blade.
"honestly, I don't really get it yet, but I can see how this could be fun, but I think I had enough for one day… how do I log out?" Asuna asked.
"well if your ever up for it I would be happy to show you the ropes. Now, swipe down with your right hand like this" Lowell Said and showed her how. Then he went to where the log out button would be, only it wasn't there. "wait, that's not right. It should be right here."
"the button it's blank, wait are we stuck in here forever?" Asuna asked
"no, I'm sure it's just a small bug, they should have it fixed soon." Lowell said before he was enveloped by blue light.
When the light faded, and vision returned to him Lowell looked around to see he was in the center of the starting town. Players were popping in all around him, and Asuna stood next to him with a confused look on her face.
"what's going on?" Asuna asked looking at Lowell
"it was a forced teleportation; I'm guessing it's some sort of announcement about the log out button being broken." Lowell said explaining his theory.
That's when the sky started to bleed. The blood collected and formed a robed figure lording over everyone. Lowell remained silent watching as the figure raised its arms.
"attention player, welcome to my world." The robed figure said.
"Kabaya… has to be" Lowell muttered.
"my name is Kabaya Akihiko, I am currently the one and only person who can control this world." The figure said.
Murmurs broke out amongst the crowd. "who is that?" Asuna asked
"he's the guy that pretty much made SAO" Lowell said.
"I'm sure that many of you have already noticed, the logout button on the main menu has been removed. However, this is by no means a mistake." The figure said opening up his own menu to showcase just that.
"I repeat, it is not a mistake, but a feature of the true Sword Art Online. You are all unable to log out of SAO, and nobody in the real world can remove or interrupt its function. Should it be attempted a powerful burst of microwave radiation emitted from a transmitter in the Nervegear. Will destroy your brain, thus ending your life." Kayaba said and fell silent as he let that sink in.
"That can't be true right?" Asuna asked looking at Lowell, he was the only person she seemed to have any trust right now.
"It's possible, I think. If someone disables the safety protocols on the Nervegear." Lowell said, he wasn't well versed in all the specs but it seemed like something it could do.
"Unfortunately, it's certainly possible that a player's family or friends would ignore this warning and attempt to forcibly remove the Nervegear." The figure began speaking once again. "as proof of this, 213 players have retired from both this world and the real one."
Video feeds and news articles began popping up around the figure. "as you can see, news of my warning and the numerous victims are being spread worldwide. Thus, it should be safe to say that the danger of removal attempts has become minimal. I hope you will all be at ease and focus on completing the game. But I'd like you all to keep this in mind. From this point on, all methods of revival in the game will no longer function. If your HP hits zero, your avatar will perish for eternity, and at that moment… the Nervegear will destroy your brain." The figure said.
Lowell's eyes widened and he grit his teeth, "this bastard…" he muttered. Thank god Momoji didn't join me today Lowell thought then looked at Asuna. She was scared he could tell, they were quite friends yet but he reached out and took her hand to comfort her. Asuna was startled when Lowell grabbed her hand, but it was reassuring, and she squeezed his hand.
"there is only one condition you must meet to be free: the completion of this game. You are all currently on the first floor, the lowest point in Aincrad. If you conquer a floor's dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may continue up to the next one. Assuming you manage to defeat the final boss on the 100th floor, the game will be considered cleared. And lastly, I've prepared a present for all of you in your item storages. Take a look." Kayaba said.
Lowell and everyone else opened their menu and looked at their inventory. He clicked on the new item and a mirror appeared in his hands. "what's the point of this?" Lowell asked before his appearance changed. He was no longer the older rugged warrior avatar he had created. What he saw was the seventeen-year-old boy from the real world. Long dark grey hair very messy up front and fell into his eyes. The back tied into a lose ponytail that went down to the middle of his back. His one really weird feature was his yellow eyes. He was back to his 5'11 height and average in build.
Realizing what had happened Lowell quickly turned to where Asuna was. She too had changed, but she was indeed a girl. She couldn't have been more than 14 and she had long brown hair and Brown eyes. Honestly, she was cute. "Asuna?" Lowell asked still surprised.
"y-you?" Asuna looked just as surprised. That's when Lowell realized he never introduced himself. "oh, uh sorry I'm Lowell." He said and pointed to where his name should have been displayed for other players. Asuna looked up and saw as such and nodded.
"right now, you're probably wondering why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and Nervegear do this? Ultimately my goal was a simple one. The reason I created SAO; was to create a world whose fate was of my own design. As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial and marks the official start of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck." Kayaba said just as the giant robed form faded.
There was an eerie silence that seemed to last forever before the crowd erupted in panic. Lowell grabbed Asuna's hand "come one we need to move away from this."
"ah wait." Asuna said as she was dragged along.
"it's going to be chaos for a bit who knows what anyone is going to do at the moment, but once the reality sets in people will flood from the town and grinding will be near impossible here. We need to get away and start grinding in tougher areas. I know my way around so I think the two of us can handle this." Lowell said not stopping until Asuna pulled her hand from his.
"I said wait!" Asuna shouted as she stopped. "we can't just run out there! We could die!"
"And if we don't go out there we will never get out. We have to fight, or we will die here anyway. You're not alone here. I know we just met but trust me, we need to go." Lowell said and held his hand out to Asuna.
Asuna stared at him for a long while as if she was reading him like a book. Slowly she put her hand in his, "let's go, let's survive."
Lowell gave her as much of a smile as he could muster and lead the way heading away from town into what would be the constant struggle to survive.