Chapter 3

I stepped out into the light of Aincrad, and despite myself, I couldn't help but gasp at the sheer...beauty, of everything. Even now, these years later, after everything that I've been through, talking to this...cube, thing that I've become so familiar with, I still remember how it felt that first day. Looking out over field that bloomed on strange structures, thin at the base and widening near the top, each with it's own sun, or moon-like light floating above them. My jaw dropped, and I reached up to brush at my trimmed beard as I stared at the sight. The suns seemed to be...rising, from the kind of light that came off of them, and birds fluttered about in the trees all around me.

"Dios mío… I muttered. This...is incredible."

I crouched down, scooping up a handful of dirt and letting it tumble from my fingers. It didn't quite feel right, but right then, I didn't care- I actually laughed, breathing in a long, deep breath.

I jogged in place, then took off down the main road, running different sword techniques through my mind as my feet dug into the dark earth. I glanced off to my left, and saw a warthog turn my way, and I cursed involuntarily, patting my sides. I didn't have a sword- why didn't I have a sword! This whole game was about swords, right!?

I growled, turning as the beast rushed at me, and lifted a foot, slamming it into the creatures face with a sidekick that felt clumsier than usual. Must be the game world- I still wasn't used to being...virtual. My body felt wrong. Maybe it had to do with the fact that the doctors probbably hadn't been able to calibrate the system properly- packing limbs and what-

Something crashed into my side, and there was a burst of pain, as I went rolling. Right- time to focus.

I leapt over a rock, spotting the town before me, a semicircle of stone extending outwards in my direction. The warthog had seen me again, and charged, squealing some kind of cry as it lowered it's head to ram into me. I tried to dodge, but wasn't quite fast enough, a sharp thud slamming into my back.

I cried out, rolling in the dust before my training kicked in and I rolled back to my feet.

I growled, lifting my hands as I fell into a fighting stance, shifting my right leg back.

"FINE." I growled, and the beast charged again.

Now, that first day, I really didn't understand the system, or how to use it- I just knew how to fight. I snapped a fist forward, snapping it under the creature's jaw as I dropped my elbow down onto it's back. I snapped a kick as I spun, sweeping it's legs from underneath it, nearly going down as I always did when I tried to sweep something that way.

The creature squealed, and I pulled my leg up for a roundhouse.

I was startled when my foot began glowing, but I didn't think too much on it when the foot snapped out, cracking against the creature's face. The beast flew through the air, thumping against the ground, before shattering into thousands of blue shards that drifted away through the air. I glanced to see if any of the others were headed my way, but apparently, they didn't really care that much.

I panted, setting my hands on my knees inhaling deeply before I turned back to the gate, stretching and stumbling forward.

A voice called to me- young, though I didn't know how young exactly.

"Aren't you going to collect the items that thing dropped?"

I glanced up, and saw a small person- maybe a boy, maybe a girl, it was hard to tell, sitting on a stone outside the castle wall. THey had pulled a cloak up around their face, and I couldn't help but squint, since the sun for this particular patch of field was right behind them.

I turned back to the warthog. "Not feeling it. I need to check in at town."

THe person squinted. Then shrugged. "Suit yourself, the meat's not half bad."

I blinked. It would make sense that people would eat in this game, and that the monsters might be a source of food, wouldn't it.

The person hopped off of the stone, and I noticed then that it was a girl, short, squat, and seemingly disinterested in everything and depressed.

"All yours." I stated.

"You got a crappy piece of gear, didn't you?" She asked suddenly.

"How do you mean?"

"Your voice- it doesn't match your mouth. That's a pretty bad lag, if you ask me. Ah well, you wouldn't last long anyway."

"And what makes you say that?"

She turned, not stopping her crouching by where the boar had disappeared.

"It took you that long to activate a sword-skill? Don't get me wrong- it looked cool watching you fight, and without a weapon no less, but you'd be pretty dead if that were anything other than a boar."

I nodded, rubbing where the creature had hit. It was still pretty sore. "Yeah, gave me a bit of a whipping, didn't it? How long have you been here?"

"Outside the gate? Since six AM- fewer people to bother me and laugh at the fact that I haven't tried to leave the beginner's town yet."

I nodded, realizing that everyone here probably had only logged in on day one.

"You are dedicated to your silence- I will go ahead and leave you to it."

She nodded, waving me off, and I didn't say anything else as I walked through the gates. There were many people here- some still had armor that looked a lot like mine- a simple bronze looking breastplate and most carried around simple swords, but there were relatively few people out and about. One or two caught my eye as obviously having some better equipment and weapons, but few of them so much as glanced my way.

I spun around me, shocked by how real things felt. Vendors were calling out meats, and blades, and I saw some players talking to each other, faces grim and long as they argued in a corner between buildings.

One of them glanced at me, raising an eyebrow, before shaking his head and moving on. I spun, and something green blocked my vision for a second, and I swatted at it absentmindedly before realising that it was my health bar- and it was pretty close to halfway.

"Ah-" I muttered, "I'm an idiot."

I walked through the main street until I came to a massive plaza, ringed by several stone pillars. I saw a man with oddly blue hair walking down the street, and managed not to miss it as he swiped down vertically with his right hand with his first two fingers- a motion very similar to how the senator had summoned my manila folder, and a drop down menu appeared in the air before him.

I sat down on a set of steps next to a simple square fountain, and crossed one leg underneath me as I mimicked his motion.

A line of circles appeared before me, icons to different parts of the menu, and I grinned, sighing in relief as I opened my inventory.

"So there is a sword after all." I muttered, as it materialized on my hip at the selection. "That's a relief."

There was a piece of bread, and a mug of water, and a few coins.

"Ok…" I muttered to myself. "Haven't been quite this poor since I lived in Salta...but we can work with this."

Someone walked up to me, and I raised an eyebrow.

"Still wearing the starter gear?"

I didn't move.

"I suppose I am. Your point?"

The man smiled. "Risky, that's all. Hey- you have a pretty bad lag, are you from across the sea?"

I nodded. "California." I lied. Let him think what he would- the only big distributors that got more than three copies were all in California anyway.

"Makes sense. You look like you've had a rough start into the game."

I hesitated. "Well, that is putting it pretty mildly. Had an accident right before this, I think something didn't install well. No tutorial or training for me."

The man laughed, deep, and hearty, if a bit hollow. Amusement, yes, but not joy. Seemingly from no one here.

"Ah, well. That would explain it. What have you figured out so far?"

I lifted the short sword in my hand. "With this thing? Nothing yet. Apparently I'm not bad unarmed though."

"Really? Interesting skill choice."

The man stuck out his hand. "The name is Kanto, here at least."

I glanced at my menu- my name slot was vacant- a glaring blank space. What was I going to call myself? I had no idea, not in the slightest!

"Jean." I declared, "Jean Na'Has." I didn't do well under pressure- it was the same name that I had used on any forum or online meeting or game I had ever played since my senior year of high school.

"Pleasure to meet you, Jean. What do you say we go out hunting, try to catch up to the advance party in Tolbana. I've been trying to save up enough to get out of this place, but the Beta Testers didn't really leave the rest of us much in way of quests- I'm sure you've felt that well enough, we've all been in this hellhole for two weeks. Word is the advance parties are already scouting the first floor's tower to try to find the floor boss! No luck so far though."

I placed a hand on my chin. "Huh." I stated. "I hadn't heard. That quickly? Well, I suppose I wouldn't mind someone helping to show me the ropes."

Kanto laughed, practically visibly shaking. He was a large man- almost rotund, and I was surprised. Most people here actually looked surprisingly realistic, not at all the idealized versions of themselves that I would have expected from a virtual game like this.

"Come on then, let's hit the fields make our way through the forest."

The man flipped through several menus, and finally, a small screen popped up before me.

Kanto has invited you to join his party- do you accept?

I hesitated, then pushed the blue accept button.

Kanto nodded, then laughed as he looked at my health bar on his screen- likely the same way I was looking at his.

"Well, you certainly do have a buggy version! You'll need to see if you can get your name to appear, unless you want to go undercover for some reason." He winked. "Well, let's see if we can get our useless behinds out there and earning some better equipment no?"

I grinned, letting him help me up as I flipped the sword in my hand, getting used to the ballance.

"Oh, gladly, friend Kanto. Very very gladly."

We made our way through the streets, and Kanto stopped at a vendor selling some kind of steamed meat chunks, buying one and handing me a piece as he snarfed his down greedily. I wasn't really hungry yet, I wasn't sure why, but I ate the chunk of meat anyway. It was bland, but not horrible.

"Oh- so much better than the rolls that they have in the main bazaar." Kanto declared.

"Wait what?"

"Oh, I'm sure you've tasted them, stale, dry, bleagh- starter food. According to the Player's guide that the more experienced players have been releasing though, eventually you can cook- eat better things- and supposedly the higher floors actually have restaurants with flavored food! Oh I cannot wait, food that tastes good would be something good in this hell-hole, one thing at least."

There was a long pause when Kanto said hell-hole. I figure he'd really said something else and the translator was having to approximate.

We passed the vacant lot where the girl had been earlier, and stepped out into the grasslands around us.

"Lots of different creatures down here." Kanto declared. "Mainly boars, and wolves, but in the forest-" he rubbed his hands together, "out that way there are some slightly tougher ones. What do you say?"

I shrugged. "Lead on Kanto. Can't say I've left the area very much."

He led me deep into the trees - things seemed to blur together very quickly. We ran into a wolf - small, maybe the size of a large dog, or a small german shepherd, and I grinned as I set my stance, bringing my blade up to a guard.

"Well, you look comfy at least." Kanto declared.

The wolf charged, and I set my blade into motion, slashing and thrusting. It was strange, fighting with a sword as short as this one- I'd gotten accustomed to my Longsword or the Katana I had been gifted when I'd reached black belt- It was a bit of a switch up for me, to be using something so short and...stabby.

So stab I did. I brought the blade back to thrust, to find it glowing again, tucked underneath my arm. I waited till the wolf lunged, and lashed out, the blade practically carrying me through the movement, up and into the creature's stomach. It howled, and I flipped the blade around, driving it into the back of the creature's skull.

I grinned, whipping my blade as if to wipe away blood- but, there wasn't any. I sighed, sheathing the sword again on my left hip.

Kanto grinned.

"Well, this should be entertaining at the least!"

We spent the next several hours making our way across the grasslands- following roads, pathways and stairways from one platform to the next, myself entirely entranced by the surroundings. It wasn't long before I started to feel the distinct pangs of hunger, and I pulled the bread out of inventory, taking a bite.

Bland would be generous- but it helped, and it was nice to chew something. I handed Kanto some of my water, and he accepted it gratefully, and we continued our way, following the map on Kanto's HUD deeper into the trees.

He stopped, bringing his short curved sword around as he surveyed the area.

"Shhhh-" He declared.

"What?" I whispered back.

"Something's coming. Be ready."

I nodded, setting a hand to my sword, ready to draw it.

There was the sudden sound of wings, and a wasp stabbed out into the clearing in the trees. Kanto yelped, and it was easy to see why- the thing was easily the size of my arm, chittering angrily. I flashed my blade out and bisected one of them, whipping the short-sword back around, and backing up closer to Kanto.

More were quick to come, rushing in at us in a swarm of five or six. One stung me, and I ignored the pain while I whipped my blade back around, severing one of the creature's legs before I managed to whip my blade down into a wasp that was rushing at my leg.

"Fast little buggers!" I shouted, and Kanto huffed a reply, teetering on one leg. His stance was horrible, and I rolled my eyes despite myself.

"Your balance needs work!" I shouted as I sank into a deeper stance to slash down into a creature that was coming up to try to strike me. "Ground yourself!"

"Easy for you to say!" The large man complained, "You look like this is totally normal for you!"

A wasp slammed into me, and my sword went flying as I rolled along the ground. Yeah, normal to be attacked by wasps. I glanced up. Giant wasps the size of my arm chittering madly as they tried to stab me repeatedly. I looked off to the right, watching my health bar drop. Yellow. Hm. Not good.

"Jean!"

Kanto called out, but I didn't bother answering as I flipped onto my hands, tossing myself back onto my feet. The sword was all the way across the clearing , and the damned bugs weren't leaving an opening for me to rush over to grab it.

I checked Kanto's health, just above mine. He was taking hits- and more of them than I was, but wasn't yet in the yellow- made sense, he'd had two weeks to level up.

I growled, snapping into a jumping roundhouse, kicking one of the wasps against a tree before snapping a fist into the face of another one.

"Bicho de mierda, ¡que venga!" One of the wasps dove at me, and I grinned, snapping my leg up like I had with the boar, feeling the warm glow set in. I leapt, and let the powered-up roundhouse crash into the creature, sending it careening into another of the creatures before erupting into shards or iridescent blue.

"You good!?" I called back to Kanto.

I glanced at him. He was flailing about wildly- getting some hits in, but mainly just slapping the two wasps that were chasing with the flat of his blade as they harried him through the trees.

So no- but he wasn't dying, so I chose not to be too concerned.

I rushed towards another of the attacking bugs, launching myself at a tree to reorient myself, using it as a pole to swing myself back around. I spotted a wasp who was rounding to make a dive at me, and I snapped an arm back into a chamber to punch. I felt that glow again, and nearly knocked myself onto my face with the power of the punch as it crashed into the creature, crushing it firmly to the trunk of a tree. Pain flared up my arm as I slammed against the rough bark,, and I growled, whirling back around. There was one creature between me and my sword, and I rolled out of the way as it rushed me. At some point I'd been stung again, and my health was getting far lower than I would have liked.

My hand gripped the hilt, and I yelled as I hacked upwards, carving through the wasp's thorax.

THe bug's two halves dropped to the ground, and I stood breathing heavily in the clearing.

Kanto hacked down with his sword, dropping the last of the two around him.

He looked at me, and all the bugs around me.

"Well. That was impressive." He glanced at the health-bars. Then at his map. Then at the time. I swiped down with my right hand, pulling up my own menu. 7:00. Really? That late?

"We're nearly to the next town over...shall we continue? Or go back?"

I glanced at my health. Low yellow…

"The town is close?"

He nodded. "Yeah, about a kilometer or so."

I nodded. "Let's go then. I could probably run that."

Kanto raised an eyebrow, then glanced down at his belly. "Do you suppose our stats all start the same, or were they all influenced by what Kayaba did to us at the beginning?"

"Oh?"

"Endurance and stuff. Your stats affect how you feel. What you can do, how things feel to you. Ah well, let's try."

It turns out, I could not run the full kilometer. It turns out that stats did affect you - and while I could run three miles easily back before the crash... I ran about 500 meters easily, then had to walk for a bit to get my lungs to stop burning before running again. The town did quickly come into view, and Kanto laughed, slapping me on the back.

"Well done today, Na'Has! It was a pleasure slaying with you. I've not seen anyone do any fancy footwork like that in here! Most people obsess over their weapons!"

I smiled. "Thanks. I could show you a thing or two tomorrow if you like, keep you from being thrown off balance."

He nodded, smiling. "Why not- better chance of survival right?"

I nodded as well. Right. Death game.

"Absolutely- better chance of survival." I glanced at my health, and then back at my inventory again. "Maybe after I use some of these new earnings to buy some supplies though."

Kanto grinned. I set a hand on my sword.

Another day. Now- where to sleep?

I asked. Kanto practically roared in laughter, before steering me off down the streets.