A/N: Present and accounted for. Is there gonna be Meat in this fanfic? Yeah. Probably a digitized version of it though. (I know Mito is a character).

We made our way deeper into the Horunka Forest Zone and not long after found ourselves face to face with more and more of the monsters. Though with three of us together and in a party, conquering this forest turned out to be a cakewalk. Just as most MMORPGs are designed. The grind ensures that you can easily defeat monsters roughly two levels above you. However, this was skill based combat and we had the capacity to circumvent the overwhelming differences in level by never taking a single hit with well-timed dodges and predictions. That didn't save us from the vibes of just how creepy this forest actually was at night though.

There, more of those things… and their disgusting appendages. I refused to call them tentacles. So they were tendrils. Lashing out and covered in mucous-like ichor that glinted in the night sky. It was terrifying out here. I hated the dark, but not only that, the pangs of hunger hit my stomach like a raging storm. I wanted food and I wanted it now. I didn't want to say anything though, even though we weren't even a third of the way into the number of monsters we needed to kill I felt like these debilitating growls could… maybe be put on hold for now.

Sinon used her sword deftly. Silently slashing through the body of another bulbous plant monster with lips. It let out a high-pitched screech with its death throes and then erupted into a rain of white pixelated particles. Gone from this world, but would eventually respawn. Much unlike we players.

"Good work." Kirito said with a slight smile. I was surprised he was willing to drag us along, given his mentality before I was his sister. He was good at SAO because of the cultivated instinct and skill during the beta.

"Couldn't you outpace us if you decided to play alone? Ride solo?" I asked, that was the case with most MMORPGs though. You just played solo until you reached the higher ranks.

Sinon walked up beside me to listen to his reply, she didn't play MMOs like we did, but she did seem interested. She was a good girl, and had often tried to push me forward to do something other than spend time with her, all because she didn't like to hold others back. She'd stopped that recently though. This situation was different though.

"Well. If I did that, I could probably do as you say, I am definitely skilled enough to play solo, and could become one of the top players in a month. But just like Klein, I can't abandon my friends in the real world to the whims of this death game." He stated.

"Hm." I nodded.

"Additionally there's no telling when I would hit a wall I can't overcome alone and end up dying alone in a cave somewhere."

"Hm. And with your reliable older sister watching your back, the odds of that happening are close to zero percent." I nodded slightly, and pressed my hand against my chin, contemplative, but wearing a smirk.

"Exactly." He replied then looked at Sinon.

"She'll learn. She's sharp. Talented. Beautiful." I said, maybe the last word was unnecessary, but it distracted me from the fact that I was currently nowhere near Kirito in skill. Sinon was also sharp and a practical learner, everything you taught her was not forgotten. Her ability to flawlessly and quickly use sword skills was on par with my own.

"I wonder if swords are the only thing we can use. There has to be some other kinds of weapons." I muttered as we walked along, in search of more Little Nepenthes. Ah there's a group of three. We each chose a target, saying left, center or right and then charging our sword skills to dispatch the monsters without a word.

"Well, I am the type to stick to one type of weapon to the end." Kirito said, "However, there are in fact different weapon types, and you can also equip shields."

"I just want to use a big two-hander like I always do honestly, this flimsy little one-handed sword is more your style Kirito." I said with a smirk.

He looked taken aback for a moment, "Are you compensating for something?" He asked.

Ack. God damn right in the heart. I tried not to let it show. I did miss my the male parts of my old body, but no, I've always like heavy armor and big weapons. I then looked down at my chest. Ah, so that's what he meant. No, I prefered small chests.

Bastard.

"Ah. Sorry. I said that without thinking." He apologized half-assedly.

I just nodded slightly. I didn't really hold much against him, because being a guy myself in the past I understood guy humor, preferences and our tastes in women were basically the same. So despite him asking that, he didn't really mean anything by that.

Sinon's voice took a serious and somber tone, "Don't worry, we're in the same boat." She gently bumped shoulders with me.

I let out a deep sigh, that just made me feel kind of worse, actually no. I was being consoled by my beloved Sinon! This was actually a win!

I took in a deep breath, and resisted the urge to cheer and leap for joy, I just put more heart and soul into the fight. Regardless I mentally reiterated our current combat techniques. Kirito's skill-level was high, he'd fought these monsters in the past and knew their movies inside and out. Sinon took a couple hits per fight but whenever she took damage that reduced her HP to about 60% she'd drop back and let us take over, she learned fast however and that number was gradually reduced to a skillful 0% damage like the rest of us.. That made me glad since up until this point each extra point of HP lost did in fact fill me with a feeling of dread. Considering that, there would probably be a serious lack of tanks in this game, with the people of this world acknowledging that this was in fact reality, nobody would be willing to trust their lives to another human being and have faith that they'd get backed up. Plus being a tank in SAO seemed difficult. From the mechanics I understood from fighting the little nepenthes, the only way to counter a skill and reduce it to 0% damage was to use a skill from the opposite direction and begin a preparation motion and release it in the instant before the enemy attack hit. Dealing full damage to your target whilst reflecting a percentile damage I would've received. I discovered this mechanic by accident and I have named it Instant Guard. At the moment it only reduced and reflected damage taken by 10%.

Apparently it unlocked a new skill called Weapon Guard and the only way to level it seemed to be by Instant Guards. Which meant that I'd have to deflect within a limited number of frames of an incoming attack. To say it was hard was an understatement, it made my brain hurt and my lack of ability to hit that spot was frusturating to say the least., and while this was good practice I'd only try it on every tenth attack or so. Since it was simply easier to dodge the attack. However, being the stubborn MMORPG player I was, I wanted to level this skill since it was clearly strong. Balanced only by the difficulty with how hard it was to level it. I only cared to level it because it was a Personal Skill, rather than a Sword Skill specifically for the Shortsword.

"Riyu. Why are you intentionally taking damage?" Kirito asked suddenly.

So I explained it to him, despite wanting to keep the skill to myself. He looked at me and nodded. "Ah. I see. That makes a lot more sense." He noted and then contemplated something for a moment. "I guess I'll share a secret skill with you too… not so much a secret as just something I discovered in the beta. It's called Battle Healing. To level it, you have to spend a lot of time in the red, or 33% HP."

"How does that work? Constant regeneration or just regeneration in combat?" I asked, I'd seen it in action maybe once from the anime, when he was being ganked by PKers and regenerated more health than they did damage to him. A good skill to have.

"From the testing I did for a friend named Argo, it was constant. But the amount of regeneration per every 10 seconds is basically a percentage of your health that can be raised by gear stats as well." He said and shrugged.

"Sounds useless for groups of players. 10 seconds is a long time to wait, especially in combat." I said and crossed my arms.

"It sounds very dangerous to level up… is it a really necessary skill?" Sinon asked Kirito.

He shrugged, "I'm going to stuff it into a skill slot and maybe it'll save my life one day."

I just scoffed, "Maybe I'll save your life one day."

"There! Isn't that the one we're looking for?!" Sinon shouted and charged forward at a Nepenthes without hesitation. Oh no, it was always a bad sign when somebody charged forward.

As if the whimsical universe read my mind, we were met with our first life or death challenge, it wasn't the one we wanted and she was lunging forward to the plant monster with a bulbous fruit hanging from the back of its head. Kirito stiffened, unsure of how to stop her.

"Well. At least we won't have to look for them now." Kirito said with a sigh.

"What do you mean?" I asked, and watched as Sinon's sword chopped right through the monster, and it let out a scream, then exploded into pixels.

"The ones with the fruit have a chance to activate a trap when taking damage, but Sinon's skill was a vertical aimed at its back, cutting right through the fruit that releases pheromones to attract more of those things." He explained and we ran forward to meet her.

Screams of nepenthes filled the forest and then they were upon us. Slinking out from the undergrowth, numbers upon numbers. This is one hell of a mob swarm. "Stay close, don't get surrounded." I started and charged forward with several quick to cast sword skills, Horizontal, Vertical, Upward Slice. There was AOE damage, that was good. Their attacks were slow and easy to dodge. Kirito went the other way, Sinon followed after me, finishing off any that were weakened by my skills.

As long as she stayed safe.

I met with Kirito and behind him were Nepenthes with obvious slash marks. I cut them all down. With our combined efforts we were able to dodge attacks, cut tentacles and slice through their plant flesh with ease. Then we saw one of the things with a flower, and another, and another? Wait, why are there four of them? Well whatever. I used my sword to cut down monster after monster. Not good, I was starting to take hits.

I risked a glance at my HP 350/725.

Proceed.

I grit my teeth, and started deflecting hits where they came. Instantly killing the nepenthes with the additional reflected damage. I risked an assessment, just a few left. I disengaged from combat, and then popped a health potion. Slow regenerative process. Sinon covered me, I checked her health. Just under 50%.

I glanced at our party screen and looked at Kirito. He was alive and well, still at 75%.

Sinon popped a potion and then I started to cover her. She nodded. I had no idea how low my health was when I finally took a potion but it can't have been good.

Kirito mopped up the rest, sharing a glance with me. He was at 50% now. Then when combat ended we all erupted into golden light. I glanced at the party interface and saw that he was now level 6, while we hit level 8. Obvious difference in skill.

Oh the pain, it sucks to suck. Being lower leveled than us and still doing more and taking less damage.

"Good work staying alive you two. With your help that was surprisingly easy, and we got enough quest items to finish this quest." He said with a thumbs up.

Sinon looked sullen, "That was a trap wasn't it? And I activated it?" She sighed, if she was a puppy her ears would've drooped..

"It was a lure, and we got through it. That's all that matters." I said, that's honestly what I felt. Kirito wasn't so kind.

"Let this serve as a lesson that if you see something bright or shiny, it's probably a trap." He said with his arms crossed and nodding his head.

"He means in a dungeon or on the battlefield." I elaborated.

She just nodded silently. So with that. The battle was over and we made our way back to Horunka.

The NPC's cries of gratitude that her baby was safe rang in my ears. A feeling of accomplishment rose in my chest and a reward screen popped up for each of us.

Kirito as per usual chose the Anneal Blade.

Sinon chose the Anneal Spear.

As for me, well there was an Anneal Helmet in here. So I went that heavy armor route.

"Eh? Defence?" Kirito looked at me with disgust apparent on his face.

"Yes. This world will need tanks." I stated bluntly.

He nodded slightly, "Well don't die."

"Just attack better." I said bluntly in reply. With that, the quest was over and we had finally managed to survive the horrors of the first day. Although the first floor was definitely easier than the others.

Now we just needed to find something to sate our hunger and desire for sleep. Or I could just survive without eating for years like a freak.