Disclaimer: All properties and/or references belong to their respective owners, creator, and/or distributors.
"Well, shit. Looks like we'll be missing work tomorrow." I say as the people around us break into hysterics. "That's what you're worried about?!" Don says as he gives me an incredulous look from my right. "Well, yeah." I say looking back at him, "I was about to get a promotion as well. So of course I'm going to be a little annoyed." I finish as I start heading out of town.
"Why are you annoyed at that and not at the fact that we're playing hardcore mode on SAO?" Don replies as he catches up to me. I give him a 'you know why look' with a slight turn of my head. He mutters an 'ah right' while looking away sheepishly. "Anyways," I start,"We better head out towards Horunka village for the Anneal Blade that can be found there. And yes. We will do some grinding on the way there, so don't worry. Anyways I don't know why you're so worried. We're already level 2, so it's not like we have to worry about anyone around us, for the most part at least." We've entered the forest by now and it's almost completely dark out. A couple minutes after we've entered the forest we encounter our first group of aggressive mobs since the announcement.
We stumble into a clearing that's housing a group of 20 Lv. 3 goblins. "Wow." I state in aw. "That's a lot of goblins, probably more than we can handle." " I think those aren't just any old goblins, they're a high level then us." Don states with a hint of worry in his voice. "There's also a Lv. 21 Hobgoblin that seems like it's leading them." Don points out.
Once Don pointed them out, the Hobgoblin notices us and, with an order barked out, the group of goblins starts running at us. "Split up and RUN!" I yell as I start running to the left. Don nods his head and books it to the right. "Don't forget," I yell. "Meet up at the village!" Don responds with a nod as he disappears into the trees, with 11 of the goblins following.
I turn back around to face the front upon noticing the rest of the group following me close behind.
'Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK' I panic as I sprint away as fast as I can. I take another look behind me, only to see the hobgoblin closing in on me. 'Why the hell is that mob level 21?! The floor boss isn't even that high of a level!?' I frantically think as I pull my sword from my inventory. 'God I hope this works.' I think as I turn around to sprint at it.
A ferocious smile grows on the hobgoblin's face as it notices me charging at it. It lets out a powerful rawr as it speeds up it's charge. The hobgoblin takes a swing with it's club. 'Where the hell did it get that club from?!" I frantically think as I slide under it's swing and between its legs, popping back up onto my feet behind it and resuming my dead sprint. When I close on the group of normal goblins, I take a swing at the closet one too me's head and land a critical that kills it instantly.
'Whelp,' I think as I kill it' that was one of my dumber ideas. But thankfully, it worked. Now, I need to kill… two more and I get a level up. Wow it is disturbingly easy to level up early on and when you're against stronger mobs.' I realize as I start my run again, charging at another goblin. I perform a Vorpal Strike that kills the one in front of me and heavily damages the one behind it. Right before I can finish off the injured goblin, I hear heavy footsteps behind me. I leap forward into the hurt goblin, slamming both it and me, into the ground, killing it and taking 2% off my health as I hear a ding. "Damn," I mutter. 'That hurt a surprising amount.' I finish in my head. I flip myself onto my back to try and catch my breath. As I flip myself I notice the hobgoblin's blood thirsty smile looking down at me. I roll out of the way as it swings its club down, launching me 5 feet away with the force created by the impact. "Fuck," I gasp, trying to catch my breath. "Aren't you a strong one?"
It growls at me as I open my stats menu as I resume my sprint. 'Okay,' I think. 'Let's put all of my recently acquired stat points into agility' I finish as I shove my recently acquired points into Agility. Giving me a much needed speed boost, allowing me to leave the group of creatures behind me as I make my getaway. 'Now that was a close one.' I state after I ran until I couldn't see them anymore. I stop to catch my breath, leaning up against a tree as I do so, clumsy swiping away the sweat dripping into my eyes, and my hair out of my face. 'Now, I need to find a group of weaker mobs that I can farm, ' I contemplate as I start to think of places nearby that I can grind for the rest of the night until I resume my trek towards Horunka village. 'There's a couple of farming spots, that I vaguely remember from the beta, around the borders of Horunka village. Hmm, how about I go to the one by the pond. Yeah that sounds like a good idea, I'll go there!' I decide as I get off the tree and continue my journey.
It takes me another hour or two until I get to my destination. As I enter the clearing where the pond resides, I decide to be cautious this time before I blatantly enter an area that is still unknown to me. As I crouch walk around the perimeter of the clear I notice a group of thankfully lower level goblins then what I ran away from a while ago. The group sitting around the pond are normal level 3 goblins. 'Bummer,' I think,'It would've been nicer if they were a level or two above me, that way I could level up faster. Oh well. Not much I can do about it now, might as well 'use the hand that was dealt to me' as the saying goes.' I decide as I crouch walk up to the one closest to me, sliding my short sword into its abdomen with a ding from the system, and putting my hand over it's mouth to try and keep it silent. Though sadly I wasn't quick enough in muting him, because, as I look up from my handy work, I notice the rest of the small group charge at me.
I grunt as I get up from my crouch and pull my sword out of the disappearing corpse of the goblin, sliding my left foot back and putting more weight onto my right foot. I move my right arm, which holds the sword, so that it's pointing down to the ground while being parallel with my left leg. I close my eyes as I breath slowly in through my nose and out through my mouth, reopening them as I snap them up to stare at the charging group of goblins. I swing my sword at an upward angle, throwing the goblin leading the charge to the side, with another one taking its place.
I swing my sword over my head, bringing it back up front to decapitate the second goblin. I dash forwards after my swing, slamming the pommel of the blade into another goblin's nose, forcing it to jerk backwards with a screech as it holds its bleeding nose. With a twist of my abdomen and a repositioning of my hand, I swing my sword horizontally into a fourth goblin's chest, leaving a deep gash in its torso that glows a bright red. Once I finish my swing I bring the sword over my head and perform an overhead swing, killing it in an explosion of blue shards. I kick out with my left foot, hitting recuperated goblin, pushing it into 3 more of it's brethren, toppling them into a pile of limbs. I flip my grip on the sword so it's a backward grip, and then perform a downwards stab into the goblin on top of the pile, finishing it off. I tip the sword out, stomp my left foot on one of the goblins caught in the stumble, crushing it's head and stabbing the sword into the other goblin, killing it. I catch my breath as I pull the sword out of its corpse, causing it to explode into blue shards. "Hope that was the last one." I mutter breathlessly, tilting my head back and dropping my arms. I hear footsteps to my left, snapping my head in that direction while being closely followed behind by my left elbow, stunning the goblin with a gouge in it's chest. I finish it off with a final stab into its chest. "Now that was the last one, has to be." I say exasperatedly.
I swipe my left hand down, opening the menu. I click the character, checking how close I am to leveling up.
"Lv.3 26%"
"Damn, all that work and I'm only 26%?! Ugh!" I whine. 'Looks like I'll be here a little while longer.'
Deweydadestroy Lv. 3
Attributes:
Charisma:5
Constitution:5
Agility:5 (+5)= 10
Intelligence:5
Perception:5
Strength:8
Willpower:7
Skills:
Single handed sword: 4 (+3)= 7
