AN: Like I said previously, this story is inspired by Cirno Online by Raine-chi and Unyielding by Ikell. But there will be some changes I will made. Firstly, Cirno starts as a newbie as Celcius, just like Yasei and Lucy as Wilder and Ursaline, respectively. This is to prevent Cirno from being accused as Cheater like in Cirno Online. Also, I do acknowledge Kazuto/Kirito's tech expertise, but let's be real. He's 14 by the time SAO starts, and someone pointed out that he might qualify for a Sue Character, so I'll address this by making Lucy/Ursaline as the MMO veteran based from her origin story, The Outsider by Savato93. To further complement it, Yasei/Wilder will be the mapper, while Cirno/Celcius already have swordsmanship expertise based from her rendition from Fugere Illusion by Vaati Star. I'll continue in the ending AN. Then, without further ado! Link Start!
Disclaimers is in Prologue.
Fantasy in Aincrad Chapter 1
Online Tutorial
Gensokyo Trio's POV
"Is the hype seriously this high?" Ursaline asks in disbelief.
"Well, there are ten thousand players in total, after all." Wilder states.
"Not even our local tournaments has this many players..." Celcius mutters.
True enough, the trio of Wilder, Ursaline, and Celcius has to do side jump multiple times to avoid the flashing lights that signals the arrival of new players beside them. Right now, they're searching for the market area in order to buy some starting gears for themselves before then depart to do an early grinding. Their comments just now shows how crowded Aincrad is currently.
Well, not that the trio could blame the players. Aside from beta testers, only they that have complete knowledge of Aincrad (due to the fact that they are literal otherworlders). Still, the sheer realism made the trio struck in awe as soon as they reach the market area. It's only reinforced when they check the available gears to buy. Once they buy the needed gears, they're about to depart to the outskirts when a certain beta tester approaching them.
Kirito's POV
'... From the looks of it, that group is certainly new players here, and yet they're quick to adapt once they mapped the entire town area...' Kirito can't help but became intrigued by Gensokyo Trio, and decided to follow them. He's aware that there are some players who have MMO knowledge despite never hearing about Sword Art Online before. And he's one of the few that is both SAO beta tester and knowledgeable about MMO.
Still, he can't help but feel that the brunette from said group have more MMO experience compared to himself. He feels that he will benefit with learning from MMO veteran like her. With that in mind, he decided to approach them once they leave the market area.
"Hey bro! Wait up!"
'Well, there goes that idea. Oh well, at least I can search for them in the outskirts.'
General POV
Contrary to Kirito's expectations, Gensokyo Trio apparently noticed him when they entered the market area. Wilder urged Celcius to watch the beta tester while Ursaline bought the gear for their group. And when Kirito is stalled by someone who is most likely a new player, they decided to stall and watch to see how the conversation goes.
The one who approached Kirito is a man with light red hair, red bandana across his forehead, and dressed in standard leather cuirass and fitting of a new player. The trio learned that his name (online name) is Klein. Klein begged Kirito to teach him the fundamentals of SAO.
Kirito himself contemplating his options regarding Klein's request. The fact that SAO belongs to MMO category didn't lost to him. Eventually, the game balance will prevent him from going solo due to the increasing difficulty, so it will be prudent to at least make some friends here. And internet anonymity will help safeguard his RL information.
Nodding, he decided his course of action. "Okay. I'm Kirito."
As soon as they hear the word, the trio decided to went ahead and reach the outskirts where wild boars roaming. Without wasting time, they began learning every single interface in their self-made tutorial.
Back to Kirito and Klein, they too made their way to the outskirts. Kirito can see that the trio that intrigued him has already started grinding, and from the way they fight, it's obvious to him that Celcius is the one most experienced fighting with swords, if her fluid moves are to go by. Ursaline actually did pretty good despite being a new player, possibly because of her MMO experience. And Wilder isn't that far off, since the beta tester noticed that he makes a good use of his surroundings in order to maximize his attack efficiency.
Klein, on the other hand...
Kirito can't help but wonder just how often the red-haired man got Groin Attack to be registered as a habit. Well, he already gave his word, so he better help Klein until he can handle the boar himself. They've been at it for the better part of an hour, and compared to Celcius, who managed to activate a Sword Skill all by herself, Klein's timing is way off, and he isn't even close to activating a Sword Skill.
"Remember what I said? The first move is the most important." Picking up a nearby rock, Kirito continues his explanation. "If you do the initial motion right..." He then made a motion, and it seems as if he's about to throw the rock. "... and activate a Sword Skill at the right time..." Kirito narrows his eyes as he aims the rock to the boar, with said rock glowing in pink, much to Klein's surprise. Soon afterwards, he throws it forward, triggering a visual effect at the point where he let go of the rock. Said rock strike the boar in its left flank and startling it. "... the system will guarantee that you'll always hit your target."
The boar now focused its attention to Kirito, and sported an angry expression. Klein mutters about the explanation the black-haired boy told him, and focusing his attention at the boar that is about to gut the young mentor.
"Here's an easier way to look at it." Kirito said as he block the boar's attack. "Right after you start your move, wait 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.
Meanwhile, the Gensokyo Trio has finished grinding and each of them are now at Level 2.
"Good work, Ursaline, Celcius." Wilder addressed the two female players in the group. They nodded in appreciation of the sole male's concern. They're about to start the discussion when they hear a loud shout somewhere.
"YEAH!" Klein screamed, arms raised in the air. Looks like he managed to kill the boar that Kirito kicked just before. It's as if killing it was his life's biggest achievement.
"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 is about as weak as a slime in other games."
"Holy crap!" Klein's joy dissipated just as quickly as it had appeared. "No way! I thought that was a mid-level boss!"
"Yeah, as if." Kirito relaxed a bit, holding his hand on his hip in a slightly-judgemental pose.
Noticing that Klein start practicing his Sword Skills with Kirito's supervision, the trio decided to do the same, with Celcius supervising Wilder and Ursaline. Ursaline then opens the group discussion regarding various thing they discovered in SAO, with Celcius noting the lack of magic skills and Wilder noting the focus on medieval arsenal prowess and any related non-combat skills, confirming the blue-haired girl's suspicion.
While Klein is busy practicing, Kirito grinned as he noticed a boar approaching him from behind. 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. Unbeknownst to him, Wilder also noticed it, and approached the boar while masking his movement with Sword Skill practice.
Just as the boar rearing up to slam Klein with its tusks, Wilder immediately activates «Horizontal» and hit the boar straight into the right flank, interrupting its attack. Kirito immediately looks at Wilder in disbelief, and wonders just how the black-haired man managed to reach the area so quickly. Klein looks at Wilder as well just as the boar chasing the latter (who moves backward while looking at the map). Wilder immediately made a motion, but Kirito noticed that he won't be able to activate another «Horizontal» in time since the boar is now too close.
The beta tester is immediately shocked when Wilder shouts. "«Switch»"!
From behind, Ursaline activates «Slant» from bottom-left to top-right at the same time Wilder jumped to the right, hitting the boar and actually able to toss it in the air. When the boar hits the ground, Celcius finished it with «Vertical», shattering it into shards and pixels. The trio sheathes their swords soon afterwards.
"Sorry about that. I didn't mean to made a surprise entrance like that." Wilder calls out and made a sheepish smile, acting as if he just caught red-handed. "Guess I got a little bit too excited."
Kirito shook his head. "No problem. Klein, you should probably be more aware of your surroundings. If not for them, you probably would got a headbutt from behind to add the front one."
Klein looked flustered at that remark. "Wait, you knew it was behind me? And you're just gonna let it hit me? Not cool, Kirito."
Kirito then looks at Wilder. "That aside, I've never seen you before. Are you a new player?" The latter nod and introduces himself. "Yeah. I'm Wilder. What you see just now is the result of my tendency of mapping every single area I could find. I'm sure it will came in handy." Ursaline follows up. "I'm Ursaline. And you must've noticed that us three already bought some gears. Well, I'm the one who suggested it." Lastly, Celcius' turn. "And I'm Celcius. I'm a real-life sword practitioner, so I managed to adapt pretty easily here."
Kirito gave a friendly, yet distant, smile. "Nice to meet you all, then. I'm Kirito. And the guy you three just saved is Klein..." Kirito began, before noticing the sudden change in Klein's expression.
Sure enough, the red-hair 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's quickly interrupted by a Dope Slap, courtesy of Wilder, much to Kirito's resigned expression and amused expression from Ursaline and Celcius.
"MMO rule number 1: Never assume someone's gender based from their avatar." Ursaline summarily continues. "Just for your info, yes, both me and Celcius here are girls and no, we're not looking for a boyfriend. Wilder here acts as our group leader."
"Yeah, and this kinda reminds me of what I feel when first meeting those two... I'm just glad to have someone teaching me all this time..." Celcius immediately reminded about her first combat experience. (Touhou fans will know what she means, and those who read Fugere Illusion series will know who teaches her.)
Klein rubs his head even though he didn't feel pain from Wilder's Dope Slap. "I see... Well, thanks for the save anyway." He then became curious with Gensokyo Trio. "By the way, I wonder, which stats you guys primarily excels at?"
"Well, if you ask me, I'd like to say that us three are all-rounders with differing focus. So I guess I can answer that. My focus is STR/AGI hybrid, and Kirito here can attest the strength of my «Horizontal» back then, since I planned to be the heavy hitter. Ursaline, meanwhile, geared towards STR/VIT hybrid, since we planned to make her as the tank of our group. Then Celcius excels at AGI/VIT hybrid, since she's our DPS specialist." Wilder summarize his group's strength.
"Two stats focus, huh... Wait, why you didn't include DEX? Is that because of Sword Skills?" Klein interjected in confusion.
Kirito thinks for a second before realizing the reason. "I believe it's because the group collectively agreed to put most focus on DEX. You see, Sword Skills are useful for accuracy and power, but there's a brief period of time after you finish your Sword Skill where you're vulnerable to attack. It's called Post-Motion, and you're unable to move during this period. Once you're freed from Post-Motion, the Sword Skill enters Cooldown period, which means it can't be used until the Cooldown ended. Other Sword Skills can be used so long as it doesn't have Cooldown."
Wilder then continues Kirito's explanation. "Exactly. While attacking without actively using a Sword Skill is usually less accurate and less powerful, you won't have to worry about Post-Motion and Cooldown that follows its usage. And as Celcius said, she's a real-life sword practitioner, so she can help us with the swordsmanship to complement our in-game Sword Skills."
Wilder then explains the reasons why his group already decided the build they prefer.
Wilder: Due to the lack of VIT and collective focus on DEX, he compliments it with STR and AGI, which means he has to be both strong and fast in order to maximize his chance to get Critical Hits given the chance. (Role: Heavy Hitter)
Ursaline: Lack of AGI makes her unable to move as fast as her teammates, so she settles with STR and VIT, which means she can tank the damage and retaliate with strong attacks due to collective focus on DEX. (Role: Tank)
Celcius: What she lacked in STR, she made up with VIT and AGI, which symbolizes her determination. This allows her to deal damage at rapid pace due to collective focus on DEX while still able to take some damage. (Role: DPS)
"By the way, I wonder if you two are interested in more Sword Skill training and grinding until we reach level 3. I feel like this will help you two in the long run." Ursaline offers.
While Kirito considers Ursaline's offer, Klein agreed with an enthusiastic yes. 'Guess we're teaming up, then.' Kirito thought, before then shrugs and joined the routine. He did asked for this, after all.
The quintet spent the next two hours training in the field, with Kirito teaching the new players about SAO, and is surprised to see that Gensokyo Trio already knew how to create a Party. Wilder tells the group about a good farming area he found, and they decided to grind there. With Ursaline's MMO tips and Celcius' swordsmanship tutoring, the group had reached Level 3 by the time they finished. Right now, they're sitting on the grass, while admiring the view of Aincrad's first sunset.
"Soon after I got the money together, I rushed out and bought all the hardware to play SAO. I stood in line and scored one of the 10,000 copies. You could say I was pretty lucky. Though, you were ten times as lucky as a beta tester," Klein glanced at Kirito, the beta tester in their ragtag crew.
"I suppose. Only one thousand got the chance." Kirito admitted while reviewing their latest activities.
"I wonder, how far you got in beta?" Wilder decided to ask the boy.
"Floor 8, and I only played for two months." Kirito said, and then looks at the sky. "You know, I originally want to said that I can get there in a month easily, but Ursaline made me realize that the final release always have something not in beta version." The brunette nods in approval. 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.
As it turns out, most of them agreed with him. Anyone who played online games can tell. Aincrad is a world where your actions with a sword dictates where your life go. Society isn't here to judge or limit you. Here, everyone has an equal chance to succees or fail. A moment of reverent silence hung in the air after that shared realization.
"Should we keep on going? Everyone good on time?" Celcius asked the group.
"Oh, that reminds me! I ordered a pizza for 5:30, so I can't miss that!" Klein exclaimed with a wide grin. "And also, 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, but relieved seeing Gensokyo Trio didn't react negatively. "If you want, you can friend 'em and hang with us."
Kirito stammered and looked down off to the side. He also noticed that Gensokyo Trio has a neutral expression on their faces. Surprisingly, Ursaline's the one who answered it.
"The offer is appreciated, but I think it's a little bit too fast when it comes to real-life meeting. In the meantime though, I can add you to our friend list." She then sends a friend request to Klein, followed by Wilder and Celcius, much to the red-haired man's shock. It's clear though, that he appreciated the trio's sentiment.
"Guess I have no choice, then..." Kirito sighs and sends friend requests to Klein and Gensokyo Trio, which all of them accepted.
"Hey, thanks. I appreciate it." Klein said as he done accepting friend requests from the rest of the group. "I can always introduce you all to them another time. One day, I promise I'll pay you guys back for all of your help. Virtually, that is."
It helps to ease Kirito's apprehension, since he knew that he'll be able to contact the trio should he ever need their advice. Klein held out his hand to everyone. "Again, thanks. Guess I'll see you all around then?" As Klein walked off to the side to log off, Wilder talked to Kirito and the rest of his group.
"Well, I suppose we'll be here for a while, then." Wilder exclaimed, which is met by nod from Ursaline and Celcius. That seems to alerted Kirito that something is wrong. He can tell the difference since he's an avid gamer, and aside from Ursaline, he didn't think that Wilder and Celcius are gamers. Just when Kirito about to question Wilder regarding his exclamation...
"Huh?"
Kirito, Wilder, Ursaline, and Celcius all looked at Klein, who should've logged out by now. Their red-headed friend was sitting with his back to them, menu pulled up.
"Where'd the logout button go?" Klein mumbled. Kirito swiped his fingers down to pull up his own menu, only to find that it too were missing a proper logout button. Strangely, Gensokyo Trio didn't react at all.
"You're right, it's not..." Kirito mumbled. He realized that it must be the reason why the trio seem resigned earlier.
"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."
"I'm sure you will too." Ursaline pointed at her clock. "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. "Noo! 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 already tried that." Wilder interjected, which alarmed Kirito and made Klein confused. "Me, Ursaline, and Celcius already tried that separately. And nothing came up. Either he's ignoring us or is too busy with other requests. I can't help but there's something going on here."
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." Again, there is no reaction from Gensokyo Trio at all.
"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. Frustrated, Klein exclaimed. "I'll just rip the NerveGear off my head!"
"It won't help you." Kirito stated. "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."
"Seriously? Now we have to sit around and wait until someone fixes the bug?" No one can blame the red-hair's frustration at this point, since he did ordered that pizza after all.
"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 Gensokyo Trio. "What about you guys?"
"We shared an apartment, but each of us live alone in our separate rooms." Celcius said while glancing at Wilder and Ursaline, as both of them nod.
"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 Wilder grabbed the back of his collar and yanked him off. "This is serious! We have bigger issues to deal with than your love life right now." Wilder 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."
This time, Gensokyo Trio sighs in resignation.
Kirito then continues "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 five players knew something was happening.
And it will be something big, as Gensokyo Trio braced themselves for things to come.
Players of note (the Gensokyo Trio knew the Elite Players' real name due to their otherworlder status):
Wilder (Yasei Sugaku) (GT)
Ursaline (Lucy Thesda) (GT)
Celcius (Cirno) (GT)
Kirito (Kazuto Kirigaya) (EP)
Klein (Ryotaro Tsuboi) (EP)
AN: As you can see, I decided to list any Players with known real names. Yukari did state that anyone with known RL names in SAO tend to be important. Also, I traced this chapter from Ikell's Unyielding. I do try to deviate from it by changing some details, omitting others, and even creating a new one altogether. I don't know how I fare, but I hope I can continue regardless. Again, big thanks to Ikell for inspiring me to write this.