PROJECT: BLADEWORLD

/Chapter 2: Welcome to Remnant Sword Online

November 4th 2022

"Link Start!"

As soon as those words were uttered, Akira's world burst into a kaleidoscope of colours, racing around him, he felt giddy with excitement, the sensations of the full dive began slowly kicking in as the system began its checks and calibrations.

[/BOOTING SYSTEM...]

[/ESTABLISHING NEURAL SENSING PATHWAYS...]

...

[/SIGHT: ...OK!]

[/TOUCH: ...OK!]

[/HEARING: ...OK!]

[/SMELL: ...OK!]

[/TASTE: ...OK!]

[/LOADING GUI...]

...

[/NEURAL LINK COMPLETE...]

…

His vision refocused to a grey circular room appeared with a backdrop of a galaxy in space and stars around him. This was the NerveGear OS main menu room. He brought his hand up which was just a wireframe skeleton at the time and selected the icon for Remnant Sword Online activating it and pressed launch.

There was a sudden flash of colours and he found himself in on a floating platform overlooking at the entirety of the world of Ainground with the Crystal Spire under him and the words he had been waiting for appearing on a floating screen before him.

[WELCOME TO REMNANT SWORD ONLINE!]

"Press Start."

He chuckled at the archaic but nostalgic "Press Start" option and pressed it. A menu popped up in front of him,

[Beta test data detected: Would you like to import previous character data?]

[WARNING!: Your stats and inventory will not be imported with the exception of your selected Beta Rewards and your appearance, you re-edit your appearance.]

[Proceed?]

[Yes/No?]

Akira thought about it and selected yes, he didn't really mind starting from scratch as long as he still had some of his hard work from before with him. A mirror appeared before him with his character avatar and the customization options appearing before him in the reflection. Your character's appearance will be randomized but Beta testers since they played the game before have a choice to import their characters face.

He chose to keep most aspects of his facial features intact but adjusting it so that he looked older in appearance, and giving himself long dark blue-tinted black hair tied to short ponytail that graduates to fully-blackened ends with a side fringe that went past the right side of his cheeks. He then gave a name for his avatar: "Arashi_R" and confirmed that this was the avatar he was going to use and selected yes. The room changed to a place that looked like a smithy and another menu popped up in front of him:

[Please select an equipment blueprint to create]

Back during the Beta Test, the Beta Testers could freely create their own equipment in blueprints as the developers were testing the combat and crafting systems to their limits. As a result, a lot of blueprints circulated around the beta during the time it was up. Unfortunately after beta ended, they only had the option to transfer three equipment blueprints to be constructed in the actual game: one weapon, one armor set, one accessory, and only one of the three selected blueprints could be created at the start of the game. He has already preselected his choices to transfer over, but now he needs to select a blueprint to create as his starter item.

"I need to choose carefully." Arashi thought, mulling over his choices before he picked a weapon: a tachi-type sword he named [Chidori], it was an unfinished prototype he was creating during the beta that he hadn't finished, it's only unique augmentation was a special attack to launch multiple bird-like energy bolts, while its stats would be equivalent to a low-tier item from the start the weapon has its own level and will grow alongside its user but in order to push it to its full potential he would need to gather materials to modify and upgrade it.

The other two blueprints he had selected were a set of medium weight samurai armour and a talisman, those he can take his time in the game to construct and modify to suit his future playstyle.

Selecting the blueprint for [Chidori] the sword materialised before him, the tachi was a straight grey single edged blade with a green and gold aura with five small notches near the habaki of the blade, which is decorated with a symbol of a sparrow. It has a small oval tsuba handguard with a dark green tinted wooden hilt with maroon cord wrappings around it. He checked the blade over and being satisfied with it, he selected [Confirm? Y] and the smithy faded in a rush of blue lights which engulfed him. He felt his created character avatar forming, wrapping around his consciousness. feeling the sudden sensation of weight and gravity as his feet touched the ground. Arashi blinked as his vision focused, lifting his hands up to eye level, he admired the tiny polygons that made up his avatar. Clenching them into fists, he breathed in, drinking in all the familiar and new sensations, The sounds of the many players and NPCs, the soothing BGM, as a sudden simulated gust of wind that blew across his face, he took a deep breath and sighed making him feel giddy as the realisation sunk in.

"I'm back..." He grinned, whispering to himself. "It feels good to be back in this world!"

A ping brought Arashi out of his thoughts and he checked what it was.

"A System Message?" He wondered and opened it.

"Welcome back, Beta Tester, to Remnant Sword Online and thank you for participating in the Closed Beta. As thanks for your participation, you have been gifted a Unlocked Codex Sphere, a custom weapon of your choice, bonus equipment blueprints, and commendation awards to help get you back to your original strength and prowess in the beta. You can retrieve your rewards in the Guild Hall located within [Hinansho Castle]."

"Well, I was gonna head over there and meet up with Aya anyway." He closed the tab and began making his way there.

Arashi began making his way through the bustling castle plaza admiring all the buildings and shops, he glanced at the many different players walking around, some were partying up and others were busy doing random beginner quests.

"MMOs have become really popular, huh…" He thought, letting out a small chuckle to himself. When he reached the central plaza that had the large Japanese Style Castle in the central district named after the city it was located in, he immediately noticed with growing horror that the gates were completely congested with players.

"Crap." He groaned in frustration, "I hope Aya isn't trapped inside already." and began pushing his way into the masses.

It took him awhile, but Arashi managed to get inside without too much fuss and he saw that the Guild was not completely crowded to his relief, it was packed sure but it wasn't as bad as outside. He began searching for Ayase but couldn't find her anywhere. While he was looking around, he received a notification of a private chat message from someone in the game.

"I really hope it isn't Argo." He shivered at the name and opened the chat interface, that damned rat had given him a lot of grief and lost years during the beta test.

"Look up?" He read it and noticing a shadow in the rafters, he looked up and spotted Ayase hiding away on a low hanging rafter like a ninja.

"How did you get up there?" he typed in the chat box, and a reply came back.

"Jumped from the balcony, help me get down please! Q.Q"

Rolling his eyes, he typed back, "Just jump down, you won't receive fall damage from that height."

Ayase waited a few moments before she jumped down, landing gracefully in front of him. She made her avatar like her real body but had her twin tails longer reaching to up to her lower back, she wore a dark bluish-green cloak and a close fitting leather armour with an armoured red skirt, with a simple Iron-class kodachi strapped to her back.

"Sorry for making you wait for me" he apologised.

She glared at him and mumbled "You weren't gonna run off without me, were you?"

"Of course not." he chuckled and sent her a party invite and her character name "Ayatsuki" popped up below his health bar with its own Health and Soul bar. "Come on, let's go and get you leveled up."

They approached the NPC clerk and got access to their personal banks, he opened his Beta lockbox quickly retrieving the items within it and vanished and was deleted as soon as the items were claimed he equipped Chidori as he looked at its stats although it looked more like a normal Steel class tachi weapon in its non-upgraded state.

He smiled "I will level you up for sure" he thought to himself.

After managing to push past the crowds and doing a few starter quests within the town with Ayatsuki and helping her get to level 4 and he was level 7. Now they were finally at a high enough level out of the town in one of the Northeastern plains with a good view of the Sakurayuki mountain range in the distance.

"Why are doing these quests, A-nii?" Ayatsuki asked her brother as she slashed a Level 5: Crazed Boar and jumped out of the way as it tried to charge her "Can't we just simply grind monsters to level up and get stronger that way?"

They were doing a hunting quest that sent them out to the Northeastern Plains outside Hinasho and Arashi thought this might be a good opportunity to get Ayasuki used to the combat mechanics and skills in the game.

"Because..." Arashi responded to the question as he drew Chidori and delivered a powerful slash the boar with a flash of blue, exploding into polygons, before he flicked the blade to remove the imaginary blood and resheathing it "Just leveling up doesn't make you that much stronger. Sure, your stats and attributes will go up but your skills and proficiency in them will not, it's like having a bodybuilder go up against a trained martial artist who do you think will win. you know the answer, don't you."

"The martial artist...Oh!" she answered before lighting up in realisation like a lightbulb.

"Exactly, sure; the bodybuilder will be stronger by strength and weight but if they don't know any fighting techniques they will most likely be on the losing side."

"I see..." she whispered, thinking about it.

He smiled warmly patting her head, making her blush and giggle softly as she skipped away to kill more boars and get a basic feel for her weapon. He sighed and smiled, dismissing his menu. He followed behind her shouting, "Hey, don't get too far ahead!"

Ayatsuki turned around to retort back, not noticing the Crazed Boar charging at speed as it suddenly rammed into her knocking her down making shout out and scream in shock, it turned and immediately charged the downed Ayatsuki, her blade having been wrenched from her when she was knocked away. Arashi panicked, feeling like time slowed down and his mouth opened and he felt his voice call out her name but it was felt muted in his ears, his vision sharpened like a hawk and his body was faster and already reaching to draw Chidori in a flash just before a burst of light slashed down from above and the boar as cut down, exploding into fragments of polygons

A teenager with a heroic face and black hair that went past down to his cheeks stood in front of her as he sheathed his longsword on his back. "Are you alright?" He extended his gloved hand out to her and she stared at it for a moment before she shook off the shock and she goes quiet shrinking to herself as she wobbles backwards mumbling "Y-Yeah"

The boy smiles sheepishly at her before he turned to his red-haired companion who was behind him as he was running after the boar, "Klein! I thought I told you to keep an eye and make sure the mob was aggroed to only you!" The rugged, scruffy red haired guy yells "Sorry! It got past me." he runs up to to them panting and worried

"Hey! what do you think you're doing to…?!" Arashi runs towards them in slight panic he shouts but the words die on his lips but when he nears them and sees who it is he slows down to a jog.

"Kirito, is that you?" He asks the boy while coming to a stop behind Ayatsuki who quickly regained her senses, and fled behind Arashi, peeking over his arm. The boy turns at the mention of that name and his eyes widen in recognition.

"Arashi!" Kirito smiles widely, letting a small huff of laughter as he gives a fistbump to Arashi who smiled eagerly returning it, "What are you doing here?" he asks as he appraises Arashi's gear.

"What? Can't I just simply go and explore the world of Ainground in peace?" Arashi chuckles rhetorically as he glances at the longsword on Kirito's back, "What about you? What are you doing out here? Were you testing your new sword?"

"Yeah, it's one of the unfinished ones, haven't figured out a name for it." he unsheathed it from its scabbard on his back It was an obsidian black longsword with a ruby crystal in the middle of its forward swept cross guard connected to a metal hilt wrapped in dark leather.

Arashi whistled in approval, admiring the blade, "That's a good blade can't wait to test against it in a duel sometime in the future" he smirked at Kirito who laughs awkwardly. "Someday perhaps..."

Before their conversation could continue however, a cough from the red haired player interrupts the both of them. "Kirito, Do you know this person?"

"Ah sorry Klein" Kirito laughs as he had forgotten his red haired companion was there "Klein, this is Arashi, He's a mercenary player I partied up every now and then during the Closed Beta Test in Japan."

"Oi Oi, isn't that selling it a bit short, didn't you forget the times we both struggled together whenever that stupid Rat sent us to do stupid quests, all for the sake of 'infomation gathering'?" Arashi snarks in a deadpan tone which Kirito laughed awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

"Ohhh…!" Klein's eyes lit up in excitement "So you are Beta Tester too?! Wow, I'm so lucky to meet two Beta testers on the same day! Oh something good must happen today!" He remarks happily "I'm Klein. It's nice to meet a fellow samurai like myself. Arashi-san! I hope you can help train me to become a better samurai and warrior!" He bows exaggeratedly to Arashi who laughs awkwardly and embarrassed at the exuberant greeting "It's nice to meet you too Klein-san...wait train you?" He replies politely trying to hide the awkwardness and embarrassment and being confused at the last part.

Kirito chimes in "Apparently he thinks that all the Beta Testers are like celebrities or something" Placing a hand on his face groaning in exasperation, which Arashi gives a small laugh at, "Well I am a Beta Tester yeah, but a samurai is debatable, heck you look more like a tough guy samurai yourself, Klein-'dono'." jokingly emphasising the "dono" honorific.

"Really? You really think so?" Klein asked looking hopeful when Ayatsuki cut him off and making her presence known with a soft deadpan "No" causing Klein to facefault and immediately falling into a depressed state with the sound of his mental HP going down and Ayatsuki earning herself a chastising whack on the head by her brother.

"Itai! A-nii is a meanie!" She pouted annoyed rubbing on her head. "Don't be so rude then." He chastises again, earning him a weak punch to the arm and making him laugh.

Klein and Kirito look at the two squabbling siblings and the latter interrupts them "Hey Arashi, by the way, I have been meaning to ask, who is that girl?" which caused Ayatsuki to fluster and hide again behind her brothers back. Arashi sighed "She is my younger sister but she is incredibly shy" He turned his head to look at her and gently tried to coax her out. "Come on, don't be shy, introduce yourself" She pouts angrily and giving him a sour look knowing full well what his motives were but after being met with a stern gaze from him she pouts, making a relenting sigh and shyly peeking out "H-Hi, My n-name is is..Ayatsu...k..ki.."but before she could finish she momentarily blanks and quickly hides again hiding her red face and she was breathing heavily in a anxious pace.

"No good huh..." He sighs putting his hand behind his back and she grips it immediately and and he rubs her hand soothingly and as he felt her breathing slow and her head lean into his back. "Sorry guys, she gets quite shy around others and can get very anxious and skittish without me and usually leaves conversations to me when we are together which admittedly I'm no good at either." He laughs while silently calming his sister down as he gives a squeeze on her hand, he could feel her nod slowly behind his back getting his unspoken message.

Klein grinned unabashed "Ah, don't sweat it, that's alright, right Kirito?" Which Kirito doesn't reply right away as he seems to have been looking at them, lost in thought. "Huh? Oh yeah...Yeah, it's alright don't push yourself Ayatsuki-san."

"There you see" Klein smiles "Nothing to worry about" He extends his hand out to her I hope we can get along well with you and your brother. I promise I'll take care of him, I swear on my bushido honor as a samurai. So don't you worry, Aya-chan."

Suddenly her gaze changed to a sharp glare and her tone and mood suddenly darkened, "Don't call me that, only my family gets to call me that and Aki-nii can take care of himself." She slapped his hand away growling before getting a smack on the head again.

"Sigh, Just accept that as a greeting, Ouch!" Arashi laughs with a sigh of defeat mixed in as Aya punches her brother from behind, Klein bursts out in laughter at the duos antics and Kirito even cracks a small wry smile at them

"You guys must be pretty close huh, well anyway since while we are here why don't we party up together?" Klein asks the duo "Might as well right?"

Kirito nods "It might be more efficient for us to party up for grinding out levels if that's what you guys were doing." Arashi nodded his hand resting the hilt of his blade "Well I was helping Ayatsuki to level and train up in combat so I guess we can help each other out so why not." He shrugged, "Besides, it's no fun to play an MMO on your own and solo am I right?, Kiiirito." He shrugged and laughed as Kirito turned away grumbled, mumbling something about stupid nusiances and rats. Klein not noticing Kirito's new mood, lets of a huff of laughter extending his hand to clasp with Arashi's hand in a handshake.

"Alright then! Let's GO! Led by the illustrious Klein-dono the samurai! This party is going to kick ass today, they won't even see me coming!"

Less than 5 minutes later…

"UWAHH! OW ow ow ow! They got me; they totally saw me coming!" Klein "the wannabe samurai" cried out as a [Crazed Boar] successfully managed to ram him in the crotch, knocking him down on his ass, causing him to lose about 15% of his HP and his pride as a "warrior" while Kirito, Arashi, and Ayatsuki stood off to the side shaking their heads at the ridiculousness.

Soon after they agreed to party up and Klein boldly stating that he will lead the party to "greatness", they moved to a new area where the mobs were at a slightly higher level and decided go by a 2 by 4 team formation or what Arashi called the modified Thach weave formation where two players will draw and lead the monster to follow them parallel while the other two players loosely follows ready to switch as the leading players attack to slow down the monster and the trailing two players switch and attack and gaining aggro and as the first team falls behind to lose their aggro on them.

"Or at least that was the plan" Kirito thought to himself "before Klein just messed it up." He quickly rushed to intercept the next charge while Arashi reached out to pull Klein up handing him a health potion to drink and recover. "You were technically asking for it… by the way you can stop complaining now, the pain inhibitors in the game are set to 50% pain reduction by default so relax man, jeez."

"Oh right, just have to get used to that then." He slowly stood up throwing the depleted bottle away shattering it into motes of light. "So why aren't my attacks connecting then like yours and Kirito-shi's?"

"What do you mean by that? You mean like they aren't hitting? Isn't the system compensating for that with the System Assist?" Kirito asked slashing down on the boar with a powerful swing, shattering into fragments as Klein looks unsure "No, it's more like that." he gestures to Kirito "why aren't my attacks doing as much damage like yours?"

"Wait do you even know how to use your Blade Arts skills? Did you even go through the tutorial?" Arashi asked his eyebrow twitching. Klein suddenly looked down mumbling and rubbing the back of his neck slightly embarrassed "No...Not really, I was just so excited to start playing the game I blazed through the tutorials and didn't really pay much attention to them…"

When Arashi heard this he pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment letting out a pitying laugh and sighs, "Alright then, well I suppose we are going to be your tutors for how to play the game and its combat mechanics."

"First things first, RSO doesn't have the usual orthodox magic and class system of your run of the mill MMORPG Instead its replaced by what's called [Arts System]." Arashi started, trying to imitate and channel his kenjutsu mentor and how she taught him kenjutsu. He drew out Chidori from its scabbard, blade reflecting the gleam of the simulated sunlight. "There are no set classes except what you picked as your starter race, and what you build that center around The [Skills System] and [Proficiency & Mastery System]. The skills called the [Arts] are split into two different categories: [Martial Arts] and [Force Arts], each with their own types, classes, and schools for training. For today though, the focus of this lesson will be about [Martial Arts]. Martial Arts have two types; [Blade Arts] and [Unarmed Arts], they are different in how they are executed even though they both are the same thing in general. They are powerful melee abilities and attacks that surpass the normal human ability and power within this world." He spotted Ayasuki struggling to lead the boar in their direction and nodded at Kirito who took the cue to continue the conversation without him as he rushed forward to assist her.

Kirito brought his one-handed longsword to bear on his right side "What you have to do is think of the Blade Art you want to use and you put your body and your weapon into what called the input stance and ready for the skill activation." he dropped into a stance, his sword began to glow blue with a soft whine; exuding a powerful aura. He spotted Arashi leading the boar towards their direction and he readied the skill "...You let it explode!" He shouted as he heard Arashi yell out to him, "Switch!"

Arashi jumped out of the way for Kirito to lunge forward and unleash a charge stab skill on the boar during its mid charge and successfully stunning it, causing it to crash to the side. "Like that." he smiles as Arashi calls out "Now Klein, you have a go at it! Try placing your sword on your shoulder like you are powering up a slash attack with your sword and when you feel it charged up ready, you release the attack. Don't worry if your skill will hit or miss, the system would calculate that for you, taking in account your stats and positioning to ensure it will hit or not but since now it's stunned and immobile you will certainly have a 100% chance of hitting it."

"Right...get into the motion input..." Klein mumbled as he placed his Iron Scimitar over his shoulder and he felt his sword start to hum and it glowed a glimmering orange with potential energy, Kirito smiling knowing that was the Blade Art: [Reaver's Edge] and shouted, "Alright you got it, now let it explode!"

Klein yelled unleashing his attack with a yell, before it turned into a terrified scream as he was launched forward and he instinctively turned the blade on the boar delivering a quick slash at the boar and sending its HP past the red to 0 making it fizzle before bursting into fragments of light indicating it was slain the menu showing the EXP gained, Col received, and loot and materials earned.

"I...did it?" Klein looked back in disbelief at the sight before it slowly turned to amazement and excitement, "Yes! I did it! Yataaa!" he cheers as he excitedly jumps up for joy.

Kirito walked up to him, bemused by his red haired companion's antics. "Good Job. Don't worry you will get used to it soon enough" He smiled warmly and reached to give a high five Klein eagerly returned. "Just be aware that there is a movement penalty after using Martial Arts, they range from your movements being slowed to being frozen for a period of time for higher level Arts and that while we say the system will ensure that the skill will hit that's only if you aim it properly and it won't stop player from trying to dodge, block or parry it. So I wouldn't recommend starting a battle right away with a powerful attack right away but chain them together with a normal attack and use it as a finisher. Anyway if you thought that was exhilarating wait till you play long enough to learn the other aspects of the game and you start fighting bosses and higher level enemies." Klein laughs "Haha! You're right, that will be fun!" Then turned to watch Arashi and Ayatsuki working together to take down another boar when Kirito realised something, He noticed it was larger than the other boars in the area and had a different feeling and aura. That's when it clicked and he shouted.

"That's an Elite Monster; that monster has a higher level and is harder to kill than the rest, we have to go and help them!" He quickly ran off to join them with Klein hastily stumbling forward before running after Kirito "O-oi, Hey! Wait for me!"

Arashi and Ayatsuki rushed to attack it but Ayatsuki was slightly faster than him since her leveling up placed her earned stat points mostly into her AGI stat. She ran ahead of him charging and ignoring her brother's shouts to stay back, reacting too late to the boar turning around and charge her its horns glowing yellow. Luckily this sudden attack was avoided as her brother caught up to her to yank her away with one hand, using the momentum to push himself in front of her hastily switching Chidori to a ice-pick grip, barely managing to parry the attack with an 1-hit upwards half-spin Blade Arts. The force of the hit and the momentum of the skill sent him flying up in the air taking 15% of his HP putting him in a stunned state momentarily. he grit his teeth as he fell back down, tucking into a roll and maintaining his balance, quickly getting up on his feet. He called out to Kirito who was helping Ayastuki recover, "Kirito, it's an Elite Mob, how do you want to take this one down?" Kirito called back, "Can you see what Modifiers it has?"

"Erm…" He focused on the Heath bar and name; "Lvl 10, Berserk Tyrant Boar, it has three Special Attributes: Tyrant, Knockback, and Health Link."

"Right, it should be easy to deal with then!" Kirito took charge of the situation "Okay Klein! I need you and Ayatsuki to do CC for its minions and then overwatch for other monsters. Their health is linked to the Boss so if we can take them down it will be easier to kill the champion but it will be difficult if any of the surrounding mobs get in the way as well. Arashi and I will take care of the boss until it gets down to at least 50% health then we will give you a signal to join up with us, remember to use your healing pots to keep your HP up and be careful, Elites with the Tyrant affix will pass a lesser version of their attributes to any surrounding monster within a 15 metre radius so try to avoid being charged by them."

"Ayatsuki! I want you to support Klein as best as you can. You have more experience in using Blade Art and Force Arts so I need you to be a DPS dealer while you let Klein tank any damage. Don't worry I'll be close by if you need support. If you can do that I'll treat you to some ice cream afterwards"

"But, ah jeez…fine! Strawberry flavour alright? Promise?" Ayatsuki pouted and grumbled annoyed that she has to help the scraggy newbie, only caving in to the promise of sweets.

Arashi patted her head assuring her "Yeah, I promise, just be careful." She smiled brightly once again and ran past Klein, who was already attacking a boar that got within the circle. her kodachi glowed a bright pink as she slashed the boar making it burst, stealing the kill from Klein who cried out in indignation.

"I think they'll be fine" He thought to himself as he switched his focus back to the Tyrant Boar as its large tusks began to glow yellow, signalling its devastating charge again.

"Dodge!" Kirito yelled as the boar charged forward with a burst of speed, Arashi doing well to not get hit by the the same attack twice quickly rolled out of the way as the Tyrant Boar rushed past leaving a cool breeze blowing past them, its movements were slowed down by its own penalty at the end of the charge. Arashi took a breath, calming his nerves and relishing the rush as his virtual lungs expanded. he readied himself holding Chidori in a overhead stance while Kirito rushed from the side to attack it with the 3-hit Blade Art, his longsword blazed a bright crimson red as he began by slashing upwards vertically before bringing it back down instantly for a vicious parallel slash downwards and instantly slashing upwards. The injuries inflicted by the skill looked as if a giant claw had slashed its side and gouged out a large chuck of its HP.

The Tyrant Boar screeched as in pain and reared to kick Kirito when Arashi dashed forward with a rapid burst of speed his sword glowing a vibrant green as he quickly sliced down on the boar knocking its HP further down to 65% causing the kick to miss the slowed Kirito by a foot and was momentarily taken off balance. The Boar turned to face Arashi now that he pulled the Boar's attention. It snorted and stamped its hoofs, its tusks glowing a dark orange signalling a third but more powerful charge. Arashi breathed in once again as the Boar rushed towards him, his foot glowed green and he leaped up further and higher than a normal jump leaving a swirling emerald whirlwind trail in his wake and soaring over the boar as he quickly observed his surroundings from his vantage point in the air and seeing Klein and Ayatsuki hunting down any mobs that got to close with Ayatsuki getting most of the kills.

He shouted to them "Hey! It's time!" activating Chidori's special ability and slashed midair towards the boar, the glow around the blade suddenly launched from it splitting off into bird-shaped slashes that flew towards the Tyrant Boar, cutting it three times and knocking down its health down to 25% before disappearing as he landed back on his feet, crouching down and holding his sword behind him. He was frozen as he glanced at the cooldown for Chidori's ability while Ayastuki rushed in with a flurry of pink, slicing up the boar in multiple cuts as Kirito leaped in with a thrust of his sword striking the boar sending its HP low enough that Klein could finally deal the final blow activating Reaver's Edge and slashing the boar horizontally and dealing a Critical Hit. It screamed its final death throes and fell down, bursting into light fragments.

Klein screamed "W-We did it! Yes! YEAAH!" He jumped once again for joy when he and Ayatsuki were bathed with a white light around the both of them. A buzzing flash pulsed around them for a second but as quickly as the light came it disappeared away and a screen appeared in front of them.

[Klein/Ayatsuki: LEVEL UP! 4-6!]

Kirito smiled "Congrats on leveling up and beating your first Elite Monster you two. But you still have a long way to go before you want to fight a real Boss."

"Eh that was an Elite Monster?!" Klein exclaimed surprised and he looked in shock at where the Boar died. "Is that some kind of Field Boss?"

Arashi he flicked away the nonexistent blood on his blade and sheathed it watching Ayatsuki run off to chase some virtual butterflies nearby. He chuckled and turned back to Klein. "No, that was just a randomly generated Elite Monster. They are like minibosses but they can appear randomly on the map, normally two players are enough to deal with it and one can solo them but it's more difficult. But the reason we had to treat this one carefully is because our levels were too low to deal with it effectively. Normally these guys actually don't actually appear until higher level areas and when the average player levels are high enough, usually around levels 20-25. So it is strange for one to spawn here right now especially given the players overall average level is not even high enough to warrant them spawning."

Klein shrugged "It's probably just a bug, you know how it is with opening days of MMOs there bound to be bugs. And besides we got stronger because of that"

Arashi shook his head "I question your definition of stronger, but I suppose you're right." but he was unable to shake off the weird feeling of unease in him.

Klein smirked not noticing Arashi's and Kirito strange mood charging up Reaver's Edge as the skill activated. "By the way what was that you did Arashi-san? That enhanced jump and glowing energy ki attack you did with your sword, was that what you called a Force Arts?"

"Ah" He shook his head to shake the unpleasant sense off, answering Klein "Yes, that jump and that attack was a [Force Art] ability. Force Arts is basically the magic system in the game and are split into two different types: Reinforcing and Projection. The jump I did was a Reinforcing type Force Art called [Whirlwind Leap]. The special attack from my blade [Chidori] is an example of a Projective Force Art that is embedded in the blade. But each race has its own way of deploying Force Arts and in each region there are different schools that can teach you unique Martial Arts Styles and Force Arts and have their unique buffs and stat boosts. In addition the school of Arts you join and equipment you earn can enhance what Arts you use or change them completely but you can choose what to learn and what equipment to use so you can focus on what you want as your playstyle."

Arashi sighed with a tired smile "But honestly talking about it too much makes me tired mentally, so I'll continue more some other time. I'm better at teaching while in battle. Want to continue hunting more mobs?"

"Yeah!" Klein activated [Reaver's Edge] leaving a orange spiral trail from the Blade Art and giggled like a kid in a candy store.

Kirito smiles in amusement at the red-haired samurai wannabe's antics "It is pretty exciting isn't it."

"Yeah it is!" Klein turned to face them with a giddy look on his face, he then looked around, "By the way Arashi-san… Where is your sister? Wasn't she with us earlier?"

Arashi eyes widened, "OH CRAP!" and the three of them frantically looked around for her until they saw her weaving around and slashing a group of three boars as they tried to attack her and soon enough they died in quick succession, exploding as she sheathed her kodachi on her lower back ignoring the EXP and Loot screens and continued to chase more butterflies trying to catch them making them breathe a sigh of relief as Arashi called out to her and she ran towards him in a tackle hug and then she hid behind him again

"Ferocious as a tiger in one moment then like a skittish housecat the next." Klein remarks laughing softly before screaming like a girl as a thrown shuriken whizzes past his ear.

"Who the hell are you calling a scared housecat!" Ayatsuki snarls and Klein stiffly responds "N-No-one." at which Arashi burst out laughing loudly and Kirito tried his best but failed to stifle his genuine laughter.

"Ok, ok..." Arashi sighed as he tried to catch his breath, wiping the tears of mirth from his eyes and patted Ayatsuki to calm her down. He pointed over to a few more Boars nearby which just respawned "Shall we continue?"

Klein drew his blade "Hell yeah, bring it on!" and the four of them went to continue fighting more boars for another 3 hours.

Hope you enjoy this chapter and the next one! I'm still trying to figure out what style I'm trying to write this in so forgive any errors.