A/N: Hello all, so here we have it; THE OFFICIAL RETURN OF SWORD ART ONLINE - RE:START!
I have made really good progress with the story so far and I have a lot of content to post, even if I do go on another writing hiatus (i hope not though)
Now then, I have just a couple of things to say but most of them will be addressed at the bottom of the chapter. What I will say now though is that in the previous chapters, I mention this new thing I imagined called the ExoLinker which was a machine installed into all NerveGears that would allow communication between the real world and the virtual world. I totally forgot I made this a thing and as such, there is no mention or use of from here on. But the good news with that is, now that I'll have all of them be able to log out soon, it won't be necessary anyway so that problem fixed itself.
The other thing I'll quickly mention now is that, with the release of this chapter, I have removed that special chapter where I apologized for not updating the story in two years. Obviously, I will still be forever indebted to you all for being patient with my sorry ass, but that chapter is now unnecessary since I have returned.
Rest of my rambling is at the bottom of the chapter.
I DO NOT OWN SWORD ART ONLINE OR IT'S CHARACTERS, REKI KAWAHARA DOES :)
After cleaning up the weapons store and getting away with only a warning, Kirito and Toran made their way back through a teleport zone and into Urbus. Kirito had told Toran about his group before but this would be his first time meeting them. The duo approached the small house on the outskirts of Urbus and upon entering, the noise in the room died down completely and all eyes were on him. Before any of them could voice their confusion, Kirito started the introduction.
"Before any of you ask, this guy's name is Toran. I met him just after I had been teleported from the town of beginnings in front of you guys," He knew there would be questions afterward so he continued the meeting. "Toran this my partner Asuna, my cousin Leafa, my daughter Yui, and my friends Sinon, Agil, Klein, Silica and Lisbeth," He pointed to each of them as he named them as to not confuse Toran and continued. "He's going to be joining our group from now on, or at least until he becomes more acquainted with the game." With that, he was finished and it was Toran's turn to speak.
"Yeah um, hi! Guess I'll be in your guys care for a while, huh? My name's Toran. Oh wait, Kirito just told you that. Um….I hope we can get along!" His self-introduction left much to be desired but it seemed to resonate well enough with everyone else as they said their own greetings. However, Asuna was quick to change the subject.
"I meant to ask you about that; What exactly happened after you got teleported?" She asked with a hint of worry in her voice.
"Well, we both ended up in this strange dark room with four door's in front of us, each of which represented an element," He started. Everyone listened earnestly to what he had to say "When we entered the door that represented earth, we were thrown into a fight with these strange wolves that weren't in the old SAO. It took a fair few minutes but we eventually got past them and made it to the other side."
"Was there anything on the other side? Perhaps a reward?" Klein asked from his cross-legged position on the ground.
"Nope, nothing at all," Kirito said before hesitating for a moment. The group started to look confused until Kirito opened his menu and pressed on something. "Except for this," Upon pressing the button, the menu disappeared and in his previously empty hands formed an Earth Gem, one of only four element gems in the game. An extremely rare find.
"An earth gem?!" Asuna shouted in surprise.
"Hey, that looks like the one I found after we defeated that troll," Sinon opened her inventory and pulled out a similar looking gem, only her one was a rich blue rather than green. "Asuna told me that it was a shock gem and that there were only four of these things in the entire game. Though, Asuna also told me that there was something called a shadow gem instead of an earth gem," Sinon shot an annoyed expression towards Asuna which made her slightly nervous.
"Did I say that? My bad, there's a shadow gem in ALO so I must've gotten my games mixed up," She said slightly nervously. "Well anyway, our group now has two of the four gems in the entire game. But if Sinon's gem was on the first floor and assuming Kirito was on the first floor somewhere as well, the other two will definitely be on much higher floors." Kirito nodded in agreement to her deduction.
"So that's really about all that happened," Kirito told them, with only Toran and himself knowing that that was kind of a lie. Kirito considered himself lucky that Toran understood his intentions and kept his mouth shut about the other things.
"Alright, so what's the plan now?" Lisbeth asked causing Kirito to bring his hand up to his chin in thought. "We know where the floor boss is so we could just go straight after it especially since we know the paths through the labyrinths up to floor seventy-five, but this floor does have some notable quests with good rewards. I personally think we should loot this floor for a while and maybe even leave Asterius to someone else."
"I would like to have my Martial Arts extra skill back if I could, that quest was on this floor if I remember right," Kirito thought aloud before making his decision. "I guess we'll be staying here for a bit."
"Urbus is also home to one of the much better restaurants in Aincrad, perhaps sometime soon I'll show the newbie's around there," Asuna beamed towards Sinon and Leafa. After some planning and casual banter was thrown around the room, the party split up to do their own things for the day.
It was roughly three o'clock in the afternoon in Aincrad so they still had time to do some grinding or a quest since Aincrad ran on time equivalent to that of real life, so Kirito used this opportunity to go and do the Martial Arts extra skill quest to get the martial arts skill that he had in the old game. But a few meters from the gate of Urbus he heard a familiar voice come from behind.
"Hey, Kirito! Long time no see," The voice said. Kirito knew who it was but whipped around anyway to see a familiar petite avatar wearing a hooded cloak and sporting the same old whiskers from way back when.
"Long time no see indeed, Argo," Kirito greeted the former information dealer with a friendly smile. She had the exact same SAO avatar as before from her brown eyes and curly auburn hair to her leather armor and claw-like weapon of choice. "What brings you to Aincrad once again?"
"Destiny it seems," she said with a casual smile while looking up at the sky. Her eyes came back down to meet him again before continuing. "Perhaps we were fated to see the end of SAO after all,"
"I never really guessed that you would be the type to want to re-play SAO all over again, especially since there's not much use for an information broker when we already know everything, no offense," Kirito said apologetically, Argo huffed up a little at this.
"I could say the same to you of all people, you probably went through some of the most trouble back then," She lightened up before walking towards him. "So anyway let me guess, you're heading out to do that martial arts quest, right? Let's go then!" Argo grabbed his arm and pulled along. Kirito thought about objecting but ultimately decided that he owed it to Argo for being a good friend during his time in SAO. It was then when he realized that with every friend he met, his confidence grew.
"It's good to see you, Argo," Kirito told her after pulling his hand away.
"Y'know, I've kind of always regretted not snatching you up before Asuna did, but I definitely reckon that was for the best anyway. You two are just way too cute together." Argo poked fun at Kirito, to which he replied with a light friendly push.
"You never change do you," Kirito said happily before Argo pushed him back a little harder, but considering her petiteness, he barely felt it.
The two continued to catch up during the entire walk to the edge of the crater before they started heading southbound towards the beginning of the martial arts quest. In the old SAO, Argo had tried and failed to finish the quest which is what led Kirito to complete it afterward. Though she held no grudge against Kirito, the whiskers on her face were a reminder of her failure back then. Plus, she also liked the way they looked.
After a long trek to the south and some wild Ox battles, Kirito and Argo made it to the bottom of the mountain that acted as the start of the martial arts quest, now all that was left was to get to the top and start it. The quest itself was a solo only one, but it didn't mean that someone couldn't tag along as a bystander. Kirito assumed that this was Argo's intention and that she perhaps wanted to watch him do it for old times sake.
When they reached the top of the quite steep mountain, they found a little hut with an old man standing outside the door. The hut was very basic with a straw roof and very ugly looking cement for walls. Next to the hut on the left was a little garden that seemed to be growing carrots and beetroot, though Kirito couldn't really tell since they had only barely just started to sprout. On the right of the hut however was the focal point of the quest. A 2-meter high and 1.5-meter wide massive boulder sat right next to the tiny hut, dwarfing it completely. The bottom two or three inches of the rock was buried into the ground as a result of the boulders immense weight.
"This is it," Argo said after catching her breath. "Looks exactly the same as before, just like everything else." The duo went to take a step forward but the sound of a creaky door opening halted them. The door of the small hut had been opened and a little old man who was even shorter than Argo walked out and proceeded towards them. He stopped about two meters away from them.
"Ah, young adventurers," The little old man greeted them with a bow. "I assume you have come to pass my martial arts trial, have you not?"
Now, this was where SAO got advanced. In terms of quests, most normal games just required the press of a 'Yes' button in order to proceed. But since Kayaba was as innovative as he was crazy, he made it so that to start a quest, you had to reply to the quest giver with your own voice. This was a system that was made so that no one could get around it or find any loopholes. But Kirito had an idea. Instead of replying, he stayed silent and hoped Argo wouldn't catch on.
There were a few seconds of pause and Argo finally turned to him with confusion, but before she could speak, his plan worked. "Oh I'm terribly sorry, forgive my old age," The little old man walked over to Argo and grabbed her hand before she could pull away. "Looks like you're all ready to go already." Argo tried to struggle her way out of the old man's grip but to no avail. She turned back to Kirito with a 'Help me!' expression, but Kirito just stood there and smiled. This was his plan.
His original intention, of course, was to get the Martial Arts extra skill for himself once again, but after running into Argo in Urbus, he was reminded of her past involving this quest and decided that she needed some redemption. So his hope was that the old man would notice Argo's whiskers and think that she was already doing the quest. Much to his relief, it had worked. Kirito followed as the old man dragged Argo to the boulder and started explaining the quest. "In order to complete my martial arts trial, you must break this boulder with your bare hands. The use of weapons, items, and skills is absolutely prohibited. If you cannot break the boulder within seven days, you will not pass. Your trial begins…now." The old man announced before walking back into his hut and shutting the door behind him. Kirito quietly laughed as Argo stood dumbfounded in front of the boulder for a few seconds before turning to yell at him.
"What the hell Kirito, I thought you were gonna do the quest, not me!" She pouted angrily.
"What, you don't want the martial arts skill?" Kirito asked in almost a teasing fashion. Argo stuttered a bit before replying.
"W-Well, no I do, but…," Argo seemed to be having an internal conflict with herself as she spoke. "I don't deserve to have it, that's why I have these whiskers, remember?" She spoke quietly while looking downwards.
"All the more reason to do it again then," Kirito said causing Argo to look back up him again. "You've been torturing yourself with that guilt ever since you failed the quest all that time ago, isn't it time you at least tried to put that to rest?" Argo thought about combating his words, but the logic they held was there. "I'll help you in any way I can as well, I won't leave until you've done it," Kirito then walked over to her, standing just to the side of the boulder. "Whadya says, let's do it together." Argo brought a finger up to her whiskers and caressed them for a second before finding some sort of resolve.
"Alright then, but you're not allowed to leave until I'm done, capiche?" Argo said, seemingly retaining some of her teasing nature which relieved Kirito a bit.
"Of course, I said I would, didn't I?" Kirito calmed Argo's nerves as she prepped herself for a moment before sending her first right-hander into the face of the boulder. Kirito was quick to start making comments. "You'll do a lot more damage if you thrust with your body rather than your arms. Not only that but it'll use up a lot less stamina over time. Remember, this will take a few days so don't use up all your strength in the first few hours. Also, don't half-ass your punches, when you punch, imagine that you're punching a hole right through the boulder. Basically, don't negate your thrust as soon as you hit the rock, keep pushing it and allow the impact to spread inwards as well. Oh, and if your arms do get tired, it's okay to kick. Just remember to maintain your core and you'll be done in no time." After what felt like an eternity of blabbering to Argo, Kirito finally took a breath and stopped.
"Are you going make me regret doing this or are you going to shut up and let me focus?" Argo threatened to which Kirito zipped his mouth shut in reply. However, even though she said those things, it wasn't as if Argo wasn't listening. She digested the information and put it into action on her next hit which, even to Kirito, was a heck of a lot more impactful than the first.
Over the next few hours, Kirito continued to provide useful tips in ten to fifteen-minute intervals as per Argo's request after she yelled at him again for talking too much. Argo also realized that every time she did an extra hard hit, the impact would cause her health bar to drop by about 5% but since they were in a peaceful area (basically an area that has no enemies) her health regenerated almost immediately.
The two kept at it for a while longer until the artificial sun had just dipped under the horizon completely. Naturally, there was still a little bit of light but the two decided that now was a good place to take a couple hours break and rest. After all, Argo had done some impressive damage to the boulder already considering it had only been around six hours since the quest started so some shuteye was well deserved. But it was at this moment when Kirito realized something.
"Oh crap, I forgot to buy a sleeping bag," Kirito complained as he finished searching his inventory for one. He was usually pretty good at buying essentials like this without even thinking about it so that fact that it had slipped his mind made him worry a bit. "Guess I'll sleep on the ground then, shame I won't get the well rested stat boosts though." He prepared himself to lay on the ground until Argo summoned her sleeping bag.
"We can both use my sleeping bag, it's quite a big one, to be honest," Argo offered as she lay it on the ground a few feet away from where Kirito was. "It's up to you though." Her offer gave Kirito some heavy mixed feelings. For one thing, if he shared a sleeping bag with her, he would get the well-rested stat boosts and be ever so slightly stronger the next day which in SAO is still extremely helpful. Not only that but stat boosts like the well-rested one gives you slightly more speed, stamina, defense etc. But on the other hand, not only would Asuna kill him if she found out, but all the other girls in his group would get really bothered by it for some reason that Kirito just didn't understand. Plus, Argo was his friend and sharing a bed with a friend, let alone a female at that, made him feel weirdly uncomfortable. He struggled with it for a moment or two before making his mind up.
"It's okay, you use it. I'll be fine on the grass." Kirito claimed as he readied himself for an uncomfortable nights sleep. Back in old SAO though, he had done this any number of times. In fact, of the 730-ish days he spent in the old Aincrad, he would say that he spent close to 50 of those nights sleeping on the ground. The experience never made it any less uncomfortable, but at least he could do it with relative ease.
"K, goodnight." Argo shrugged and got comfy herself in her brown layered sleeping bag. Kirito intertwined his hands behind his head and laid his head on them as a headrest of sorts and waited for Argo to enter sleep mode. It didn't take too long for the triple Z icon that indicated someone was asleep to appear above her head and when it did, Kirito got up from his lying down position and walked about twenty meters away before closing his eyes and performing a certain command.
"System Command, log out user. I.D Kirito," He spoke quietly but confidently and after a few short seconds, was whisked away back to reality.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Yes, I know it was another small-ish one but I promise that either next chapter or the chapter after will be a nice long one.
Now, where was I? Ah yes;
I want to know from you, the readers, what kind of story do you want this to be? And by that I mean;
Do you want this to be a Harem with all the girls getting some Kirito love or just a Kirito x One person (likely Asuna)? Let me add that my definition of a Harem isn't just girls moaning, crying and throwing themselves over a guy constantly for little reason, should i make this a Harem, I would have it that each girl got their own little lovey-dovey moment with Kirito via a small (or large) arc of their own. Asuna will still, obviously, be the main love interest but I wouldn't mind at all if you guys wanted to see the other girls get their dues with him as well. Plus, I would find a way to have Asuna be okay with it to make it easier to write.
So with that in mind; I would like you all to vote; [Harem] or [NO Harem]?
HOWEVER, that's not all! As I had stated previously, my OC Toran will be getting with one of the girls, that being either Sinon or Leafa.
So the second poll I would you all to vote in is; Should I have Toran get with [Sinon] or [Leafa]? The girl who loses the poll will be in the Harem with Kirito instead.
Alright, now that's finally over! See ya next time and Please Make Sure To Vote In The Polls! I need at least a decent amount of input before I make a decision.
pls excuse any and all spelling mistakes, proof-reading ain't my strong suit.