Crowded was an understatement.
Kirigaya Kazuto - or rather, Kirito, as he'd come to name his avatar in a stroke of originality and brilliance - could hardly move through the throng of new players popping into the starting plaza in the Town of Beginnings. Several times already, Kirito had to abruptly jump to the side when a flash of light burst forth in front of him, signaling that a new player spawning in was about to become a new obstacle to dodge for the beta tester. He had nearly shoulder-checked a rather large man shortly after spawning in, it was so crowded. After a minute or two, Kirito finally broke free of the crowd of awe-stricken newbies and entered the market area.
Not that he could blame them, of course. Aincrad was magnificent. No, that word wouldn't do Aincrad justice. Everything felt so real. Kayaba Akihiko had really outdone himself. The feel of the wind on your face. The subtle smell of baked goods wafting on the air. Even the sounds of boots on the cobblestones below was subtle, yet nuanced and immersive. The Town of Beginnings seemed so alive. Kirito mused that even if you were to remove the thousands of players from the Town of Beginnings, it would still feel organic and living. He could stay here for hours if he wanted to, just to let it all soak in.
Kirito, however, was a boy on a mission. He wanted to jump into the action as soon as possible and experience all that Aincrad had to offer, so he set out running towards the town's exit. He might have had all the time in the world, but nothing was going to stop him from getting a head start.
"Hey bro! Wait up!"
Well, there went that idea. Kirito slowed to a halt. Bro? He looked back to see a man running his way. The man had light red hair (you could almost call it pink), a red bandana wrapped across his forehead, and was dressed in the standard leather cuirass and fittings of a newly-spawned player. Apart from his obvious inclination towards the color red, this man looked pretty ordinary. Kirito waited patiently while the red bandit in front of him crouched over in a desperate bid to catch his breath.
"What's up?" Kirito couldn't help but be just a little amused by how much effort the guy had put into running after him.
"Hoo! You act like you know your way around here. You were in the beta test, weren't you?" The man was trying his best to compose himself after his sprint.
"Uh… yeah," Kirito paused for a moment. Was it that obvious?
"Cool! Today's my first day," the man said as he started to creep his way closer. "So, could you give some tips on the lower floors?"
"Yeah… I don't know if - "
The man closed his eyes and clasped his hands together in a half-hearted begging position. There was a pause as the bandit slowly opened one eye. "Aww, please! I'm beggin' ya! Look, my name's Klein. Good to meet ya!"
Kirito stopped for a moment, considering Klein's request. SAO was a VRMMORPG, after all. The multiplayer aspect of the game wasn't just a feature, but rather one of the main selling points. Eventually the game would be too strong for a solo player to take on by themselves. It might not be the worst idea to make some friends here. It was certainly easier to make friends this way, safe behind the smokescreen that was internet anonymity.
"Alright, I'm Kirito."
How am I supposed to find this shop if I can't see 5 feet in front of me?
Having gone from that solid, solitary black room where she crafted her avatar to this was environmental whiplash, to put it mildly. Shino did her best to push down the anxiety that came from being around so many people and finally oriented herself with where she was in the plaza and where she needed to go.
After pushing her way through the crowd, which was no small feat given the sheer volume of players present, Sinon finally found the weapon shop Dan mentioned over the phone. As she slowly made her way into the shop, she couldn't help but be amazed at the wide variety of weapons that were available. Swords, maces, axes, rapiers, you name it. If it could kill a man with a simple swing, it was here.
Almost immediately she spotted a tall man, easily over 6 feet tall, sporting dark hair off to the side. She could see his blue eyes scanning over the weapon racks in front of him. He looked to be browsing the maces and mauls. That had to be him. She walked over and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Dan?"
Instantly the man froze up as his sapphire eyes darted down to where Shino was standing. He brought up a finger and placed the tip on her lips before holding a finger up to his own.
Oops. Right, we don't use our real names here.
The man she presumed to be Dan seemed to notice her eyes flare with recognition of the internet taboo she'd just broken, so he lowered his fingers. "Leonn. Call me Leonn while we're here."
"Sinon," Shino replied.
Leonn cocked his head to the side while an amused smile crossed his face. "Sinon? Cutting it a little close there, don't you think?"
"At least I'm not roleplaying," Sinon lied. She'd never openly admit it, but Shino created Sinon as an escape from her own insecurities. Where Shino was a shy, reclusive girl with a phobia of firearms, Sinon would be calm, collected, and a certifiable badass. That was the plan, at least.
"I-I'm not…" Leonn began, his macho virtual persona slipping up as he'd just been called out.
Sinon let loose a sly grin before changing the subject. "So, you're obviously buying a maul. What else do they have?"
"Well, what sort of playstyle do you want? What do you see yourself using?" Leonn asked.
"Hmm…" Sinon hummed as she scanned over the weapons on display around the room. An idea began to form in her head. "Do they have bows in this game?"
"Yeah, but not until later. The best ranged weapons they have right now for newbies are throwing picks." Leonn gestured towards a display case with what looked like a series of needles, each about as long as a finger.
"Might make for good practice in the meantime, I guess." Sinon walked over to the case full of throwing picks.
There was a chime behind her as she browsed the throwing pick selection. Turning around, she saw Leonn, new maul in hand, walking up to join her. His new weapon wasn't particularly impressive to behold. After all, to her it just looked like a long stick with a hunk of metal on the end of it. She could definitely tell that it was heavy, though, and Leonn seemed to enjoy having his weapon of choice back in his hands.
"Go ahead and buy a couple of sets and we can hit the fields for practice. We'll see if you like it or not. Best to find out now rather than later," Leonn suggested.
Sinon tapped the display case where the picks were stored. A menu window opened up and with a grin, Sinon tapped [Buy].
This should be fun.
"Oh come on, seriously? You can't feel any pain," Kirito said with a sigh. The red bandit was lying on the ground, curled into a fetal position and clutching the area he'd just been headbutted by a boar. Good thing they were alone in a field, because Kirito was getting second-hand embarrassment just looking at the guy.
"Oh yeah, you're right," Klein said as he raised his head in surprise. "Sorry, habit."
Just how often do you get slammed in the groin for that to register as a 'habit'? Kirito couldn't help but wonder. "Remember what I said? The first move is the most important."
He and Klein had been at this for the better part of an hour. Klein was clearly no stranger to MMORPGs, if the way he navigated his menu was anything to go off of, but he also clearly wasn't used to operating his avatar in this way. His timing was off, and he hadn't yet even come close to using a sword skill. Not successfully, anyway.
Klein stood up, looking towards the boar as it walked away. His shoulders slouched just a little. "Yeah, that's easy for you to say, but he won't stand still!" The boar presented its back to him and shifted its weight. Did that thing just wag its ass at me? Klein thought, with just a little irritation.
Kirito picked up a rock laying nearby, tossing it up in the air before catching it. "If you do your initial motion right…" Kirito started, bringing his elbow back so the rock was near his cheek, "... and activate a sword skill at the right time…"
Kirito's eyes narrowed as he took aim. The rock seemed to glow pink as the sword skill took hold, much to Klein's surprise. Just a second later, he launched the rock forward, triggering a visual effect that looked like a radiating pink circle at the point where Kirito let go of the rock. The rock shot forward, striking the boar in its left flank and startling it.
"...the system pretty much guarantees you'll always hit your target," Kirito finished, just as the boar turned around and set its sights on the black-haired pebble wielder.
Despite the angry boar in front of them, Klein looked down pensively. "Initial motion…" Klein looked up again, focusing on the boar that was now desperately trying to gore his newfound mentor.
Noticing his red-haired student was still trying to grasp the concept, Kirito continued, "Here's an easier way to look at it. Right after you start your move, wait for a little bit. When you feel the skill start to activate, drive it home!" After shoving the boar back with the flat edge of his sword, Kirito gave the beast a swift kick, sending it on over Klein.
"Drive it home…?" Klein mulled over those words for a moment. He widened his stance and brought his sword back. The sword glowed orange and as Klein yelled and brought it forward, the blade almost dragged him along, executing the sword skill perfectly and dispatching the boar with fluid efficiency. The sound of shattering glass came from behind as the boar exploded into a cloud of shards and pixels.
"YEAH!" Klein screamed, arms raised in the air. It was as if killing this boar was his biggest accomplishment in life.
"Congratulations," Kirito remarked as he walked forward, hand raised and outstretched. Klein eagerly met him in the middle for a high five. "That was nice, but that boar's about as weak as slimes in other games are."
"Holy crap!" Klein's joy dissipated just as quickly as it had appeared. "You gotta be kiddin'! I thought that thing was a mid-level boss!"
"Yeah, as if." Kirito relaxed a bit, holding his hand on his hip in a slightly-judgemental pose.
Klein spent the next few minutes practicing his sword skills, thrusting and slashing at thin air. It was a good practice, since sword skills were just as much about muscle memory as they were about game mechanics. The two began to talk about the different skills in the game, such as non-combat skills like blacksmithing, as well as the lack of any magic skills in game. There were ranged weapons and skills in game, sure, but SAO seemed to pride itself on its realistic combat. Magic had no place in a game whose focus was martial prowess.
Kirito grinned, but not at his practicing pupil. No, his eyes were on the boar coming up from behind Klein. Lesson number two. Always be aware of your surroundings. Kirito chuckled to himself. The boars weren't any real threat, but this would serve as a nice lesson for Klein.
Just as the boar was rearing up to slam into Klein with its tusks, a small, thin object flew in from the right, slamming into the boar's face and interrupting its attack. Kirito's eyes immediately shot over to the source of the attack and looked up to see a blue-haired girl standing at the crest of a hill, throwing picks in hand. Klein looked up too, but not until the boar was halfway up the hill, charging at this strange girl. She drew her arm back, ready to throw another pick at it, but Kirito noticed that she wouldn't get to throw it in time; the boar was just too close.
It never reached her.
Coming out from behind the girl, a large man stepped forward and swung a maul out in an uppercut, catching the boar under the jaw with a satisfying crunch and sending it careening into the air.
"Now, Sinon!" the maul-wielder shouted.
As soon as the boar hit the ground, another throwing pick found its mark in the boar's flank, sending its health down to zero and shattering the beast. The girl stowed away her picks and the large man hefted his maul over his shoulder before the two of them started walking down the hill.
"Sorry! Didn't mean to kill-steal ya like that," the man called out, his empty hand nervously scratching the back of his neck. "Sinon here kind of jumped the - " He paused, reconsidering his words. "She got a little excited."
Kirito shook his head. "No problem. Klein, you should probably be more aware of your surroundings. If it wasn't for her, you would have gotten a headbutt from behind to match the one in front."
Klein looked flustered at that remark. "Wait, you knew it was behind me? And you were just gonna let it hit me? Not cool, Kirito."
"Kirito?" the maul user stepped forward. A look of recognition crossed his face. "Hey! Hardly recognized ya. Guess a month away from SAO will do that to your memory."
Kirito turned around to face him. He knows me? How? He's gotta be from the beta. I never really talked with a lot of people back then, though. In fact, the only ones I ever really associated with were Argo and …
"Leonn! Yeah, guess you're right. Didn't think we'd run into each other so soon," Kirito said. Leonn was one of a handful of beta testers Kirito remembered during the beta, the other being Argo the Rat. Argo had made a name for herself as an information broker back then, and there was no reason to suspect any less of her now. Leonn, on the other hand, was one of the only players he knew of that used a maul. Kind of hard to forget a large man wielding an oversized hammer as his weapon of choice.
"I suppose introductions are in order," Leonn began. "I'm Leonn, and this is Sinon." He gestured towards his pick-wielding companion, who in turn gave a slight nod in greeting. "Sinon, this is Kirito. I partied with him from time to time during the beta."
Kirito gave a friendly, albeit distant, smile. "Nice to meet you, Sinon. The guy you saved over here is Klein…" Kirito began, before stopping as he noticed the sudden change in expression in his red-haired student.
Klein snapped to attention, bowed his head, and stretched out his hand. "G-g-good afternoon! My name is Klein. I'm 22 years old, single, and looking for a girlfr - " He was summarily interrupted by a sharp slap to the back of the head, given generously by Kirito. Sinon and Leonn could only look on in shock and mild amusement, respectively.
"You don't even know if she's actually a girl, dude. Here I thought you played MMOs before. That's one of the first things you learn," Kirito began before turning to Sinon. "No offense, and sorry about that."
"It's fine. Leonn warned me something like this might happen. Just to get it out of the way, yes I am a girl and no, I'm not looking for a boyfriend. Thanks though," Sinon said with a sigh. Leonn had covered his face with his hand, looking either exasperated or embarrassed. Kirito couldn't tell which.
Whether it was from the smack or the sudden rejection, Klein seemed to have regained his composure. "Well, thanks for the save anyway." His focus suddenly shifted towards the weapon slung over Leonn's shoulder. "Is that a maul? I didn't even know those were a thing in SAO."
"Yep!" the giant of a man started. "They may be slower than every other weapon in the game, but they hit like a truck."
Feeling the need to elaborate further, Kirito stepped in to explain. "That's putting it lightly. They're so slow that they often leave you exposed to attack after a swing. The upside is that because they're so heavy, they deal a lot of damage and are great at interrupting or cancelling enemy attacks. You have to time your swings just right to make the most of a maul. As a result, most maul wielders have next to nothing in the way of AGI or DEX stats since they need to invest so heavily in STR and VIT to make a maul build work. It's not a well-rounded build, but in the right hands it can be devastating."
Leonn shrugged. "That's why you don't see many people using them. They just don't have the patience for it."
Sinon had a confused look on her face after that revelation. She looked to Kirito. "Could you explain what each stat is? I think I've got it, but hearing it from someone other than Leonn might help."
"Hey now…" Leonn frowned.
"Sure. STR, or strength, determines how powerful your attacks are. AGI, or agility, is your speed stat, and helps with how fast you move. VIT, or vitality, is the stat responsible for how much health you have. DEX, or dexterity, helps with your aim and accuracy. LUK, or luck, is the stat that determines the frequency of your critical hits. It's also useful for crafting, since it increases the chance of you creating a better quality item. If you stay with throwing picks, you probably want to invest in AGI and DEX mostly so that you can stay faster than your opponents and to make sure you land your shots," Kirito explained.
"I thought sword skills were always guaranteed to hit, though?" Klein interjected.
"That's true, but DEX comes in handy when you're not actively using your sword skills," Leonn admitted. "Sword skills are useful for accuracy and power, but there's a hidden cost. There's a brief period of time after you finish your sword skill where you're vulnerable to attack. It's often referred to as a cooldown, and is caused by the animation having to finish before giving you back control of your actions. Attacking without actively using a sword skill is usually less accurate and less powerful, but you don't have to suffer with the cooldown period that follows a sword skill."
Both Sinon and Klein nodded in understanding.
"Anyway, I was just teaching Sinon the ropes while getting some practice and grinding in. You two are welcome to join us, if you want," Leonn offered.
Before Kirito could decline, Klein agreed with an enthusiastic 'yes'. Guess we're teaming up for now, Kirito thought, somewhat exasperated.
The quartet spent the next couple of hours training in the field, with the two beta testers taking a back seat to let the newbies get used to how combat worked. By the time they'd finished, all four of them had reached level 2. Aincrad was experiencing its first sunset, painting the sky in a dazzling orange. All four players were sitting on the grass, admiring the view while talking amongst themselves.
"... as soon as I got the money together, I rushed out and bought all the hardware to play SAO. Stood in line and scored one of the 10,000 copies. Guess you could say I was pretty lucky. We were pretty lucky," Klein corrected himself as he glanced over at Sinon. "Although, you two were ten times as lucky getting to beta test it," Klein continued as he glanced at the two testers in their motley crew.
Both Kirito and Leonn looked over to Klein, waiting for an explanation.
"Dudes, only a thousand people got the chance!" Klein was nothing if not shameless in his praise and envy.
"Yeah, we were lucky," Leonn easily admitted.
"Hey, mind if I ask how far you two got in the beta?" Klein decided to dig a little.
"Eh, two months and I couldn't get any further than floor 8," Kirito turned towards the other tester. "You?"
"Floor 7," Leonn confessed.
"... but now? I think I can get there within a month, easy," Kirito said with confidence. The three other players looked at the black-haired swordsman with varying levels of awe and incredulity. Kirito then went on to describe how much SAO had taken precedence in his life, and how much more alive and in control of his life he was in the virtual world than he ever did in the real world.
And you know what? Most of them agreed with him. Here was a brand new world, free from the shackles of past mistakes, ugly histories, and regrettable choices. Aincrad was a world where your actions with a sword dictated where your life went. Society wasn't here to judge or limit you. Here, everyone had an equal chance to succeed or fail. A moment of reverent silence hung in the air after that shared realization.
"Should we keep on going? Everyone good on time?" Leonn asked the group.
Sinon stood up first. "I need to study some more for school, so I'll have to pass."
"Same here. Well, minus the school and studying part. I ordered a pizza for 5:30, so I can't miss that!" Klein exclaimed with a wide grin.
"Oh, right. Food. I should probably eat too before it gets too late," Leonn admitted as he looked down at his stomach.
"Hey, I was gonna go meet up with some people I know from another game. I don't know what you all are up to after this, so…" Klein hesitated, seeing the expression on everyone's faces, "if you want, you can friend 'em and hang with us."
Kirito stammered and looked down off to the side. Sinon awkwardly looked towards Leonn. Leonn looked the most receptive of the three, but even he was hesitant of the idea of meeting up outside the game.
"Appreciate the offer, really. Maybe some other time, once we've all gotten to know each other a little better, eh? You know what they say, stranger danger and all that." Leonn chuckled awkwardly, doing his best to dispel the tense situation.
Sinon scanned over her friend's face carefully. American colloquialism aside, Leonn was good at talking his way out of uncomfortable situations, and this virtual persona of his seemed to have inherited that trait.
"No, it's cool man. No pressure," Klein said while waving his hand around in an attempt to literally waft away the tense atmosphere. "I can always introduce you to them another time. One of these days I promise I'll pay you guys back for all of your help. Virtually, that is."
That seemed to help things, as all four players were now smiling, at least a little. Klein held out his hand to everyone. "Thanks for everything, really. Guess I'll see you all around then?"
Everyone exchanged friend requests to make sure they could easily contact one another. As Klein walked off to the side to log off, Leonn turned to Kirito and Sinon.
"Did you want a study buddy, Sinon? I can head over after I eat."
"No, I think I should be ok," Sinon answered. She glanced over at Kirito, then back at Leonn.
Leonn looked back over at Kirito. "Oh, right, sorry. Sinon and I know each other IRL. Probably should have led with that. Well, you sticking around for much longer, Kirito? I'll probably log back on after I eat if you wanted to duo some stuff later."
"I'm not sure. Maybe," Kirito lied. He'd no intention of logging off early, but his playstyle had always been that of a lone wolf. In his experience, party members tended to drag him down. While he remembered Leonn being a capable player, that heavy maul of his would only slow them down. "If I'm still online - " Kirito began.
"Huh…?"
Kirito, Sinon, and Leonn all looked over at Klein, who they figured would have logged out by now. The red-headed friend was sitting with his back to them, menu pulled up.
"Where'd the logout button go?" Klein mumbled. The others all swiped their fingers down to pull up their own menus, only to find that they too were missing a proper logout button.
"You're right, it's not..." Kirito mumbled. Something didn't seem right about this.
"Oh well, today's the first day out of beta, right?" Klein asked. "There's bound to be some bugs. I bet the server people are freaking out right now."
"You will, too." Sinon pointed up at her clock. "Look, it's 5:25."
Klein's expression had been lighthearted. Now it was one of panic as he threw his hands up and clutched his head. "Crap! My teriyaki-mayo pizza and ginger ale!"
Kirito couldn't help but chuckle about the fuss made over a simple, albeit oddly topped, pizza. "Why don't you just contact a game master?"
"We just tried that," Leonn interjected. Kirito and Klein looked over at the other duo, who were sharing confused looks between one another. Leonn looked up at the two swordsmen. "Nothing. Either he's ignoring us or is too busy with other requests. We can't be the only ones having this problem."
Klein shifted his attention back to Kirito. "You know if there's another way to log out of this thing?"
Kirito looked thoughtful for a moment. "No. The only way a player can log out of SAO is by going through the menu."
"Isn't there another way out?" Sinon, who had been mostly quiet and reserved over the past few hours, said. Leonn could see the worry start to creep in on his friend's virtual face.
"Return! Logout! Escape!" For lack of other options, Klein had apparently resorted to verbal command and sudden jumps and gestures in a desperate bid to log off, all to no avail. Were it not for the seriousness of the situation, Leonn might have actually laughed at that. "I'll just rip the NerveGear off my head!"
"You're not going to get very far, Klein," Leonn corrected him. "The NerveGear intercepts all signals from the brain from reaching the rest of your body. A handful of beta players found that out when they tried to rage-quit for one reason or other." He looked over towards Kirito, who only nodded in affirmation.
"Seriously? Now we have to sit around and wait until someone fixes the bug?" Klein seemed genuinely frustrated at this point, not that anyone could blame him.
"Well, someone in the real world could come along and take the NerveGear off us. That's it." Kirito's tone was grim.
"Well I live alone," Klein said, staring Kirito straight in the eye before shifting his attention to Leonn and Sinon. "What about you guys?"
"Yeah, same here. We both live alone in our own places," Leonn said while glancing over at Sinon.
"I got a mom and a sister, and I'm pretty sure they'll notice by dinner time - " Kirito started before Klein grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Y-you got a sister? How old is she? What's she li - "
Klein, in turn, was interrupted when the maul-wielder grabbed the back of his collar and yanked him off. "Hey man, focus! We've got bigger issues to deal with than your love life right now," Leonn scolded.
"Don't you think this is weird?" Kirito brushed himself off before turning his attention back to Klein.
"Yeah totally, but it's just a bug." Klein said as he regained his control on reality.
Kirito shifted his focus off into the distance. "It's not just a bug. If we can't log out, it's going to cause some serious problems for the game."
"Not to mention our bodies," Leonn chimed in. "Hunger and thirst are going to be the first things to kick in, and when those needs aren't met the body's going to start cannibalizing itself for energy. We're talking about muscle loss and atrophy, and I don't need to tell you what comes next if we don't get food and water."
The group looked over at Leonn with confused or shocked looks on their faces.
Leonn shrugged. "What? I'm a biology nerd. Sue me."
Kirito attempted to bring the group back on topic. "I wonder if the developers even know what's happening, because they could just shut down the server and log everyone out. Why haven't they made an announcement?"
Just then, as if on cue, a bell rang out. The sound seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere, reverberating through the field. The clouds in the sky almost seemed to fast-forward, streaking through the sky. All four players knew something was happening.
But what?