I was steadily running out of {health potions}. I didn't have that many to begin with and now I had to drink one almost every other minute. The {Little Nepenthes} were closing in from all around me, leaving absolutely no gaps to escape through. Trying to dodge vines and acid splatter had quickly become as pointless as trying to dodge the rain in a storm. All I could do was focus on minimizing the damage taken, trying my best to avoid big attacks.

I was in a daze. The panic was making my mind muddy and my thoughts slow. My breathing was fast and my heart was trying it's best to pound its way through my ribs. I could say that it was only from the intense fighting, but I would be lying if I did. I was so scared, I didn't want to die. I was only fifteen after all, still just a child. I remember thinking it was weird that I didn't see my life flash before my eyes, but now I suppose it wasn't. I thought about a surprising number of things in the time it took them to close in around me. Amongst my thoughts was the wish to sever the vines of the {Little Nepenthes}. I also thought about the man I had killed. He probably didn't want to die either, yet I had killed him. I thought that maybe I deserved to die too, maybe this was karma. I was just about to lay down, to drop my weapon and accept my fate, but then I had one final thought.

I thought of Sugu. How was she doing? Did she miss me? Was she sad that I was trapped in here? Did she get angry on my behalf again? Did I make her cry yet again? I hadn't exactly been the best brother in the last couple of years. To be honest I had been a right prick and a daft moron. After learning that I was in fact adopted I had started pushing my family away from me. In some stupid and self-righteous train of thought I felt lied to and betrayed. The person I had thought of as my mom was in fact my aunt. The sister I had valued above everyone else wasn't my sister? It made me confused, but instead of dealing with them I hid from my confusing thoughts and emotions. I locked myself into my room and immerged myself into the world that was MMORPGs. How could I be so stupid? Had my mom not treated me like her beloved son for as long as I could remember? Had my sister not cherished me and depended on me as a big brother? Yes, they had. But I hadn't cared about that, hadn't even seen it.

But being there, surrounded by monsters and fighting hopelessly for my life helped me see. Moments before my life could have ended I finally opened my eyes. I couldn't die here, I simply wasn't allowed to. I had people I had to apologise to. I had to survive this death game. If not for me then so that I could kneel before Sugu and tell her how sorry I am. So that I could hug my mom and tell her how incredibly much I love her, blood relations be damned. I had to live so that I could right the wrongs I had committed to my family. No, that was wrong too. I didn't have to simply survive; I had to do more. I have to beat this game; I have to do everything I can and then some to get out of here as fast as possible. I have a mission, no, I have a purpose.

My mind that had been slowed from fear suddenly sped up. The {Little Nepenthes} were now so close that they had stopped moving towards me. I thought they would keep crawling towards me until I couldn't move in between them but it seems not. What I didn't consider is that the {Little Nepenthes} have an optimal range. Since their vines are long and their acid range longer they actually don't want players too close. Because of this they would actually try to keep just a little bit of distance between themselves and players. Not too much but still a noticeable range. This was good, this left me some room to move around.

I had an idea. All this time I have been running around randomly, lashing out at whatever {Little Nepenthe} was in front of me. But what if I kept more to one side of the circle? Could I move the horde? It turns out I could. I spotted a big tree not too far away, just at the edge of the clearing, and decided to move towards it. I still ran around in the entirety of the circle, but I ran on one side of it a lot more frequently, hugging it closer as well. And just as I'd hoped the horde was slowly but surely moving towards the tree. I didn't even know what I'd do when I got there but I could probably use it for something. If nothing else it would be in the way of some {Little Nepenthes} if I ran around it.

A bit more than halfway to the tree I found the remains of the would-be MPKer. He probably hadn't realised that [Hiding] doesn't do mucg against monsters that don't rely on sight until it's much higher leveled. I quickly picked up his items and kept maneuvering the horde. This made me take quite a bit of damage, but it would all be worth it later. SAO was different from many other RPGs, in numerous ways. The most obvious being the complete lack of magic and classes as well as the absence of many weapon types, like bows. But most important to me is the lack of dual wielding. One of the biggest advantages to a One-handed Sword is that it frees up the other hand. Most players who use them will therefore also equip a shield. Personally I don't like shields, my playstyle revolves more around dodging than blocking and a shield will only weigh me down. In the Beta I simply left my other hand empty. The [Martial Arts] Extra Skill from the second floor allowed me to execute punches with it that often caught opponents off guard.

But why leave it empty? Why should I follow the rules of this game? Just because there aren't any two handed skills or sword skills doesn't mean I can't use two of them. Sure I might only be able to have one of them equipped at one time, but there were quick ways to change weapons. The only difference was that I wouldn't be pulling them in and out of my inventory. I also wouldn't be able to drink potions as easily, but that was a minor issue.

I put my manipulating of the horde on pause and focused only on dodging for a while. I knew I needed to hurry before I completely ran out of health potions, but if this worked it would be more than worth the risk. I pulled the other sword out of my Inventory and held it in my left hand. I was rather ambidextrous but had gotten used to using mainly my right hand through daily life. I tried switching which sword was equipped a few times, on my first try I accidentally sent my old blade into my inventory but after that I got the hang of it. If I focused I didn't need to do more than flick my wrist, that was a good sign.

After experimenting for a minute, I got back to fighting the {Little Nepenthes}. My first few attacks were clumsy and inaccurate. It was hard to focus on both attacking and switching which sword was equipped at the same time. Coupled with my inexperience in dual wielding and I must have looked almost pathetic, I'm glad no one saw me. My biggest problem now was the lack of time. I didn't have time to practise, didn't have time to get better, but I had to. At more than one point, I wanted to give up on my idea, to equip his shield instead. But whenever I did, I saw the image of my family, burning behind my eyes, and I fought on. I had already proved that it could work, now I just needed to make it into reality.

After almost randomly flailing them around for far longer than I am willing to admit I had another breakthrough of sorts. Combos. There was a reason for combos being so popular even in games that didn't rely on them. They are easy to learn, consistent and more often than not highly effective. If I could design a few effective sequences and commit them to memory I could reduce the amount of thinking I have to put into attacking. This would allow me to put focus back into dodging attacks and manipulating the horde. The first combo I made was simple... very simple. Two slanted, forehand, slashes right after each other. But I had to start somewhere. So each time I found a gap I repeated it. Slant, switch, slant. Slant, switch, slant. Slant, switch, slant. Slant, switch, slant... You get the idea. After a while I started building upon it, by adding two backhanded horizontal slashes right after. Slant, switch, slant, horizontal, switch, horizontal. I also tried to add some stabs afterwards but at that point it became too long and I took too much damage. Might still be good in a 1v1 one though, I filed that away for later.

I created several more combos, most just series of slanted, horizontal and vertical slashes with some stabs thrown in for good measure. I treated my combos almost like Sword Skills. I wasn't competent enough with dual swords to fight properly so I had to rely on premade attacks. I didn't like it; it made me feel like a noob, but there were other things about that situation that I liked even less. As the fight went on, I got faster and faster, the combos became more natural and I regained the room to think again. I relearned how to dodge, sometimes even blocking attacks with my unequipped sword. And finally I restarted my manipulation of the horde, slowly steering them towards the big tree.

The horde was moving faster now, not because they were walking faster, no. But because I was spending most of my time in the front of the circle that was also where I did most of my damage. When a {Little Nepenthe} died another took it's place almost immediately, but there was a surprising side-effect. As the {Little Nepenthes} moved to fill the gap they also shifted the hoard forwards. I wasn't entirely sure, but I also suspected that the hoard was slightly thinner at the front. Not much mind you, but just enough to make a difference.

When I finally arrived by the tree trunk, I started thinking again. I ran laps around it to minimize incoming attacks and focused on dodging the rest, effectively stalling for time. What was my next step? If I kept fighting like this, I would run out of health pots before the horde ran out of {Little Nepenthes}. But I also couldn't escape. They stood too close to one another for me to simply run through them. If I got up into the tree, there was a possibility of me managing to jump out of the circle but I would surely die while trying to climb it. I also couldn't think for too long. Damn, why hadn't I bought more health potions?

There had to be something I could do to survive. There had to, it was simply the only option. Even if there was no intended way there had to be some way to exploit the game, another way to abuse the game engine. Let's see. I knew I could move the horde already, that surely wasn't intended. Were there other ways to manipulate it? Could I shape it? Experiment time it is. I ran back and forth within the circle, spending as much time as possible at two opposite sides while minimizing it anywhere else. Oh, the gods did know mercy, slowly but surely the circle definitely took on more of an oval shape. It wasn't overly obvious at first but as I increased my speed it became more pronounced. Could I make it bigger? I started racing along the edges instead of zigging and zagging around sporadically. It took some time but once more the clear area definitely became bigger. Now I only had to figure out what to do with this information.

I had an idea. It was probably another really stupid idea but they had worked surprisingly well so far, so I decided to roll with it. Not that I had any other options but still. If I made the clearing bigger it would also thin the horde. And if I made them switch shapes there should be a slight time period where some areas are thinner than others. If I combine that with purposefully killing several {Little Nepenthes} at the same time, it should make them thin enough in one area for me to [Sonic Leap] off of the tree trunk and land on the other side of them. The only problem with this was that you couldn't use [Sonic Leap] until your level in the [One-Handed Sword] skill was at least 10. Mine wasn't. This was one of the times when choosing [Ammunition Zealot] came back to bite me in the ass. Normally this wouldn't be a problem since it would be well over 50 by the time you hit level 2, skills were ridiculously easy to level up in the beginning after all. But when I looked at my skills menu, I saw [Ammunition Zealot 8]. And while that certainly sounds bad it wasn't actually as bad as you might think, because by the time I was level two it was 3. Meaning that I had gained five more levels and I was just over halfway to level 3. I wasn't sure why but my leveling speed has definitely increased, my best theory at the moment was that it's because I used two swords.

So what did I do? The only thing one can do when they need more levels. I started grinding. I put all of my effort into killing as many of the bloody monsters as I possibly could, ASAP. But I also implemented one key exception. I chose one section of the circle and avoided killing any {Little Nepenthes} there at all costs, only bringing their health bar as close to zero as humanly possible. And it worked too. Some 20 minutes later I finally heard that second delightable sound letting me know that [Ammunition Zealot] had hit 10. I immediately put my plan into action.

I double checked everything. I made sure I actually gained [Sonic Leap], which I did. I looked over the 4 {Little Nepenthes} I had chosen, their health bar was indeed one hit away from certain death. And I drank one last health potion for good measure. Then I began shaping the horde into another oval, with my chosen Nepenthes as far away from the tree as possible. I also moved the centre of the clear area behind the tree so that the chosen ones would be closer to the trunk after the reshaping.

Now everything was about speed. I had to be fast, very very fast. I reshaped the oval so that the chosen Nepenthes were now in the middle of the close side, as close to the trunk as possible with just enough room for me to move in between. Then I quickly slashed the first two, only to spin around and slash the other two with my other sword. It worked, and I heard the sound queue of pixels breaking as I ran to the trunk.

In the description of [Sonic Leap] it says that it is a charge-type Sword Skill that consists of a single top to bottom vertical slash, similar to the 1-hit skill [Vertical]; however [Sonic Leap] allows the user to charge from over twice the distance in an instant. This however is only the partial truth. As long as the sword starts over your player character you can slash in any which direction you choose. Although not many Beta testers noticed this as it required some manipulating of sword skills, which admittedly is quite hard.

So as I got my second foot onto the trunk, I also brought my right sword above me and activated the Sword Skill. From someone else's perspective I might have slashed from top to bottom as I flew through the air but for me it was a bottom to top slash, going from above my legs to behind my head. Everything up to this point had gone surprisingly well, the horde was indeed thinner right here and I was indeed soaring over them. The problem? The horde wasn't thin enough, and I wasn't flying far enough. At my current trajectory I was going to crashland into one of them, which was most definitely a bad thing. Out of reflex I switched swords, preparing for some sort of desperate slash, not knowing what it would accomplish but feeling the need to do something. The moment I did I felt something, the tugging of the system, somehow I was ready to use [Sonic Leap] again. While the cooldown for [Sonic Leap] was relatively short it was definitely longer than the split second I had been in the air, so why could I use it? I didn't dare dwell on it, at that moment; I had to capitalize.

I tucked my knees to my chin and tried to lean back in the air. I had to get my feet onto something solid, in this case I was aiming for the top of a {Little Nepenthe}. It was crude but it was going to have to work. As soon as I felt something under my feet I kicked as hard as I could, leaned back and swung my sword all at once. I leaned in to the swing this time, instead of trying to plane out in the air. It was the only way I was going to get my sword above me in order to activate the skill. As soon as I felt the system itch, I let it take over, and I was sent spinning indeed. When I crash landed against the hard and unforgiving mother earth, I was dizzy and disoriented, but I had to run. While Nepenthes are slow, a horde of them could push each other to surprising speeds so I wasted no time whatsoever.

I didn't even realize that I could stop running until I ran into the door of the mussus's house. My head was spinning as the emotions I had been pushing down began to bubble back up. I knocked hard on the door, not even bothering to make sure I was presentable this time around. There was still a warm light shining through the window so she should be up. When she opened the door, she looked annoyed, which was understandable I suppose. But then something flashed in her eyes. I'm not sure what it was but the next moment I was crying in her arms. She led me inside and sat me down. I bled my heart out to her. I told her about how I never meant to kill anyone, how I couldn't redeem myself. I told her about how I almost died, about how scared I was. I told her about my family and how I needed to right the wrongs I had committed them. Throughout it all she said nothing. She just simply hugged me and listened. Stroked my back gently and dried my tears as they made their way down my face.

We must have sat like that for hours, because when I looked up it was pitch black outside the windows. I tried to apologize, but she just shushed me and squeezed me a bit tighter. It felt so nice, I just let myself relax into her shoulder. She made me feel safe, feel like everything was going to be okay. She made me feel a way only my mother had before, until I pushed them away.

I placed the {Little Nepenthes's Ovule} on the table and watched her pick it up. She chopped and ground the leaves before straining them into the pot. "Thank you so much," she turned to me with a sincere expression, "this will last us an entire week." I was happy, I really was. Not only because I had cleared the quest and was going to receive the {Anneal Blade}. It wasn't even the main reason I realised. It was her warm smile and thankful eyes that made me feel like everything was alright in the world. I suppose her gratitude must have been addicting, because I offered to give her daughter the medicine myself.

She was a petite, little thing, despite looking only one or two years younger than me she was a lot shorter and oh so thin. She had long black hair framing a round face and grey eyes. With some proper muscles and a haircut she would probably look a lot like Suguha, damn. She was pale, almost ghastly so, and her cheeks were gaunt. The sickness must affect her harder than I thought, I wonder how long it had been since she had gotten to play outside.

She didn't even say anything, she just gently smiled at me in gratitude. Her smile would surely look a lot like her mothers as she grew up... if she grew up. The thought of how much she must suffer, all for the enjoyment of the players and the backstory to a single quest. The knowledge that the mother could do nothing for her suffering daughter except pray that more players come around to obtain the {Anneal Blade}. The fact that players would stop coming to help once the first floor was beaten and she would be left to suffer until the game was completed. The all equally horrifying ideas of what would happen to them once it was. These things circulated in my head as I watched her try to finish the contents of the bowl as her mother stroked her hair lovingly.

As I watched the missus stroke her hair one more time I knew what I had to do. I couldn't let her suffer so, I simply couldn't. Not after already hurting my family, after killing a man. I had to do better, not only apologize. I had to change, to become a person, deserving of their forgiveness. I would farm my levels on the Nepenthes in this forest, and I would return any and all Ovules I could get my hands on. And after I beat this floor I would already be strong enough to easily farm up some more. So I would keep supplying them, even if it cost me a little bit of time.

When I told the missus of my plan, two things happened. The first was that she cried. I think that on some level she knew what was awaiting them in their future. The second was an unexpected system board appearing in front of me.

-New Quest: The missus's hero, has been discovered-
-Keep supplying the missus with enough Ovules to keep her daughter healthy-
-Reward upon acception: Obtain the {True Anneal Blade}-
-Other Rewards: Unknown-
-Accept?: Y/N-

New quest? Is it because it didn't exist in the Beta? Or maybe because I'm the first one to find it? That sounds more plausible. Of course I'm going to accept; I was planning on doing that anyways.

-Unique Quest: The missus's hero, has been accepted-
-Keep supplying the missus with enough Ovules to keep her daughter healthy-
-Reward upon acception: Obtain the {True Anneal Blade}-
-Other Rewards: Unknown-
-Punishment upon failure: Hidden-