My(Virtual) Reality

by Tricksterverse

(AU)Kazuto Kirigaya-a woman born with the body of a man-views Sword Art Online as a chance be be her truest self. But when all of that is taken away and SAO becomes a death game, she is left with nothing but a burning will to survive. Might as well put it to use trying to clear the game! Transgender Kirito;

2. This one's yours, Coper'

My(Virtual) Reality Chapter 2: 'This one's yours, Coper.'

By the time I reached Horunka, there was barely any sunlight left to guide me.

The make of the village itself wasn't anything noteworthy. Horunka had a general store that sold better weapons and armor that what you could get in the town of beginnings, so the entire town was built around that one store in order to further entice the players. There was also an Inn where I knew I'd be staying, but neither of those were the main reason I'd come here.

There was a special, 'individual-only' quest in Horunka called 'Secret Medicine of the Forest'. The contents of the quest itself weren't particularly interesting or important. It was a bog-standard fantasy adventure where the player was asked to kill a monster in order to retrieve a special flower from it's body that could be made into medicine, thus saving the life of a little girl.

What made the quest valuable to me was the reward given upon its completion. It was a sword called the Anneal blade, and it was a godsend in the beginning of the game. Most of the weapons this early on could only be upgraded a maximum of four times, resulting in a +4 sword. The Anneal blade, however, could be upgraded eight times. That feature, combined with it's already impressive base stats, would have it lasting me through the second floor and most of the third if I managed to play my cards right.

Still, I needed to take care of some shopping before I started the quest, so I headed over to the general store. Once I got there, I immediately sold everything I had on me, quadrupling my meagre starting funds. After that, I got myself a sword of medium quality that still handily outpaced the one I'd sold. I was gonna be getting rid of it soon enough so I wasn't about to blow funds on the best sword they had. After that I grabbed myself a grey, form-fitting coat with good defense and finally left.

With some of my remaining Col, I got myself a bunch of potions, both health restoring and status relieving. It was night now, and I was starting to feel tired, but I couldn't rest until I'd completed the quest. I made my way over to a seemingly nondescript stone hut. This was where the quest for the Anneal blade should be, but I noticed it's appearance was slightly different from the beta.

It looked older, and the ivy which had been growing on it was more pronounced now. I guess it only makes sense things would look better in the full game. Regardless, I entered the house and immediately came in contact with an older woman; she was the mother of the sick girl. If this situation were to play out normally I'd be shouted at and probably assaulted, but since this was a video game the woman just said, "Good evening, journeying swordswoman. You must be tired-I would like to give you some food, but I do not have any at the moment. All I can give is a cup or two of water."

"That will be fine," I told the NPC before taking a seat on the couch. The first fews times this happened in the beta, I'd felt pretty awkward during the whole ordeal, but I was used to it now. The woman quickly returned with said glass of water, and I drained it in one gulp. I hadn't realized how parched I'd been, but after that glass I felt remarkably refreshed. The NPC walked over to a nearby pot she had resting above a fire. A second later, loud coughing could be heard from deeper inside the house. The woman slumped where she stood, and a glowing exclamation mark appeared above her head.

That was the visual cue that this NPC was a quest giver. I recited one of the activation phrases for a quest, "Is there something troubling you?"

The woman immediately perked up and my quest log was updated. "Yes, journeying Swordswoman. My daughter-" I tuned out the rest of her explanation, already knowing the details of the quest.

"Just leave it to me!" I exclaimed when she finished, formally accepting the quest. With that done, I was off to the forest. The enemies that I had to fight to get the flower were called Little Nepent's. The challenge of the quest came from the fact that there were three variations on the monster. The first was the standard Nepent that spawned ninety-eight percent of the time. It was a plant-like monster that stood on roots, had a bulbous body and used it's vines and acid to attack. The second variant looked exactly like the first but had a red flower which rested on it's crown. That was the one I needed to kill to complete the quest, but it only spawned one percent of the time. The remaining one percent of the time the third variation would spawn. It looked exactly like the second but had a fruit instead of my flower. It was a trap monster, and if my blade so much as tapped that fruit it would explode and spawn an insane amount of Little Nepents.

I would have to be super careful if I came across that one.

Regardless, I was now deep in the forest, exactly where I'd need to be if I was gonna find the Little Nepents. That was when I realized my mistake, and felt like a raging moron. I quickly accessed my menu and navigated to the 'equipped skills' sub-menu. At level one, a player was allowed to equip two skills that would develop and grow the more a player used them. My first slot was occupied by the 'one-handed longsword proficiency' skill for obvious reasons.

I hadn't bothered to select my second skill yet, but now that SAO was a death game I couldn't afford to leave any opportunities lying if I wanted to survive. I also needed to be careful about the skills I chose. I was playing solo-and I'll probably stay that way-so my build needed to balance fighting strength with survival skills. With that mindset in hand, I selected my second skill as 'searching'.

With it, I'd be able to keep myself safe and prepared by sussing out hidden monsters and traps. It would also come in handy for the quest, since I could use it to find the Little Nepents. "Speak of the devil…" I thought aloud when my searching skill immediately found one. It was the normal variant, which was disappointing but expected. I had already resolved to be at this for a few hours when I took the quest.

I couldn't just ignore it either. The more normal variants I took out, the greater the chance the variant I needed would spawn. Also, they offered good EXP, which I needed right now since I was still level one. I raced toward the Little Nepent with my sword drawn. It reacted to my presence immediately, but that was fine. My knowledge from the beta would serve me well in this death game. I could still remember the little tells the monster would give before it attacked.

Sure enough, the Little Nepent hissed and tensed the vine on it's left side. I darted to the right, and the vine struck the open air where I'd been with enough force to create a small vacuum. When I was at a higher level, I'd be able to swat it's vines away with my sword, but for now it was safer to dodge. The right vine tensed this time, so I immediately rolled to the left. Now that it'd attacked with it's vines, I knew I had an opportunity.

I rested my sword at my hip and unleashed the sword skill Vorpal Strike. It was a one-hit skill that launched me forward with a thrust. My sword bit deep into the monster's flesh, opening a red line of damage on its body. It wasn't enough to kill the Little Nepent though, and when I saw it's bulbous body start to shudder and expand, I recognized it as the tell for the monster's acid attack.

Thankfully, the post-sword skill delay for a simple attack like Vorpal Strike wasn't even a second, so I could start moving again pretty quickly. I ran around the Little Nepent while it charged it's acid attack. I didn't want to try to attack it myself right now because it was risky, and risks meant a lot more in SAO now then it did in the beta. The little Nepent shot acid out of its bulbous body, but since I hadn't stopped moving it hit the ground behind me.

Now that the monster was wide open, I charged forward and slammed into it with the sword skill Horizontal, which is kind of self-explanatory. The Little Nepent shuttered and died, shattering into thousands of polygonal shards. I exhaled a big sigh of relief while I sheath my sword. I could do this; as long as I was careful, patient and smart, I could survive Sword Art Online.

A little chime sounded off, and my body flashed gold for a second. I had leveled up, I realized. A menu automatically opened up in front of me, asking me where I wanted to allocate my skill points. All of my stats increased a fixed amount whenever I leveled up, but the game awarded it's players with an amount of skill points so they could specialize in certain stats and create their build.

I had three stat points to play around with, but I already knew what I wanted. I put two of my points into strength and one into agility, then hit 'accept' at the bottom of the menu. My style of fighting was to hit hard and move fast, leaving defense on the back burner. After all, I didn't need it if I never got hit and could defeat whatever was trying to kill me fast.

I jumped when I heard clapping from my right side. I snapped in the direction of the sound with my hand on my sword, but stopped when I saw it was another player. He was around my height and had slightly long brown hair. His equipment consisted of some leather armour, a small buckler shield and a short sword, but neither were drawn so I let go of my sword. I felt stupid for acting as I had after a second; there was no way a player would hurt another player now that SAO was a death game.

The guy rubbed his head sheepishly as he approached me. "S-sorry, I was just gonna say congratulations on the level up," he told me, and then brought his right hand up to his eye before stopping midway, looking embarrassed. He probably wore glasses in the real world, and had habitually moved to adjust them. "You're here to do the quest for the Anneal blade, right?"

There was no reason for me to lie to him, so I nodded. Chances are this guy was a beta tester with the same plan as me. "Well, since we're both here, you wanna work together on it?" he asked me.

"I thought it was an individual-only quest?" It was for that very reason that I had rushed to complete it. The Anneal blade was only gifted to the first person who completed the quest; everyone after that would simply receive a hefty sum of EXP.

"I know, but the flower will spawn quicker if there are fewer Little Nepent's in the area, and we can take them out faster as a group."

I looked off to the side as soon as he said that. Dammit, I had resolved to play solo after Klein refused my invitation, and now this guy was here wanting to party up. It felt like the universe was taunting me for leaving Klein behind.

The guy must've guessed at my thoughts from my face, because the next thing he said was, "Ah, we don't have to party or anything like that if you don't want to. I concede the first flower to you, since you were here first."

I didn't get this guy. Didn't he want the Anneal blade too? That's why he was taking the quest, after all. Then again, he was offering me the first flower, so maybe he was just trying to avoid conflict and was content with the EXP reward. Regardless, he hadn't been wrong about this going faster with some help, and I didn't want to be out here all night. If I was being completely honest, though, I think the guilt from leaving Klein was eating at me, so I didn't want to leave this guy as well.

"Those terms are acceptable…"

The guy nodded. "Great. My name's Coper, by the way."

"Kirito."

"Kirito… isn't that a guy's name?" Coper asked me dubiously. I just shrugged in response. I know most trans people changed their name, but I was fine with it. My heart, soul and body were that of a woman, and that was all I needed to know.

"Let's get going."

"Ah, right."

With that, Coper and I made our way through the forest. I made sure to keep my search skill active the entire time, both to increase its ability and to spot the Little Nepents. Whenever I found one, Coper and I would kill it. It was a little awkward at first since I wasn't used to fighting in a group and Coper wasn't any sort of leader who could direct us during battle. After a bit, though, we started to fall into a routine where Coper would keep the Nepents attention on him while I attacked it.

Eventually, Coper leveled up himself, and I offered him congratulations the same way he had with me. We went back to hunting, and even though I didn't feel in any danger, something was gnawing away at me. Something that I put into proper words after another battle with the normal variation Nepents. "It hasn't shown up…"

We'd been fighting for over an hour and a half, but even with our combined efforts in taking down the Nepents we hadn't seen the red flower variation once. "It's possible the spawn rates have changed since the beta. I've heard of that happening with games before," Coper reasoned.

Ugh, what a pain in the ass. I was getting tired, and that was a dangerous thing to be when my life hung in the balance of every fight. If this went on for too much longer, I might be forced to call it a day and head back. Right as I was thinking that, however, the red flashing of light and accompanying sound effect of a monster spawn appeared close by.

Coper and I observed this new monster, and our hearts soared when we saw that we had finally come across the Little Nepent with the red flower. We raced through the forest towards it while howling our impatience to the heavens when my searching skill picked up on another presence.

My eyes widened and I threw out a hand, stopping Coper in his tracks. "Hold up. Look over there," I told him, pointing to our left. There was another Little Nepent shuffling about over there, and worse still it was the third variant; the one with the fruit. The two Nepents were close enough that a fight with one would inevitably mean a fight with the other. That could be disastrous if one of us accidently hit that fruit.

While I was still pondering the situation in my head, Coper spoke. "I'll take care of the trap Nepent. I promised the first flower to you, after all."

I looked at him askance. "You sure?"

He grinned, but it was lopsided, almost like he didn't trust himself to give an honest smile. "Of course. I've always wanted to give a pretty girl some flowers."

"That was lame," I told him flatly, jabbing at his ribs with my fingers. He winced but made no complaint, moving to deal with the trap Nepent. With our roles assigned, I darted toward the flower Nepent with fire in my eyes. I'm gonna consider this fight a test. If Coper beats the trap monster before I beat mine, I'll let him have the Anneal blade. This felt fair since him having taken the quest after I did was just bad luck.

With those self-imposed conditions set, I started my fight with the flower Nepent. Luckily for me, the Nepent's all had the same attacks, so I could fight this one the same way I'd fought the others. The Nepent's right vine twitched, but I was thrown off guard when it immediately struck at me.

It's faster than the others! My reflexes were the only thing that saved me from a nasty hit, as I managed to swerve my body out of the way of the attack. The second vine lashed out just as quickly, but I managed to dodge it by rolling forward. As soon as I finished rolling I exploded to my feet and lashed out with my sword, cutting a line across its body. I hadn't been able to charge a sword skill in my haste, so my strike was as strong as it could've been.

I consider whether to go for another attack before deciding it's too risky. The Nepent starts charging it's acid attack, so I started running around. I was caught off guard by how quickly the acid came spewing, though. My eyes widened and I was forced to throw myself to the side in order to avoid getting hit, sliding along the grass gracelessly. Before I can bring myself to my feet, a vine strikes me in the gut, sending me rolling backward.

Dammit! I'm being tossed around like a toy! I spare a quick glance to Coper as I draw myself to my feet. He's fighting admirably against his Nepent, and his job is even harder than mine since he can't attack carelessly. I was gonna lose the test I'd made for myself at this rate. Of course, it's not like that would be the end of the world. If I kept playing this cautiously, I could just run out the clock until Coper can assist me and take the Nepent down easy. I would lose the Anneal blade, but I would still be alive. That's what mattered the most, right?

As if!

I was a solo player; that was how I was going to play this game, how I was gonna survive. How could I even consider leaving my life in someone else's hands? Hoping they'd save me so I could live just one more day. That was a load of crap! If I wanted to beat SAO, I couldn't keep pussy-footing around because I was scared to die. I'd have to grab hold of whatever I wanted, and put myself into positions where I had the most to gain.

With a roar of anger, I threw myself head-first into the battle with the Nepent. It's remaining vine streaked towards me, but I swung my blade in a diagonal arc, batting it away without hesitation. I covered the distance between myself and my enemy with Vorpal Strike, my longsword piercing deep into its body. I didn't stop there, though, I could get another hit in! I knew I could!

Forget the risk! Forget the threat of death! I was going to claim everything I wanted with my own hands!

I ripped my sword from the Nepent's body and spun around, crying my victory as I tore into its body with the Horizontal skill. The Nepent wailed in agony before finally shattering like all the others had. The red flower dropped from it's crown and landed on the ground. I picked it up, the rare item immediately disappearing into my inventory. I turned to look at Coper with a victorious smile on my face.

Color me surprised that he didn't return my expression at all. In fact, as he was facing off against the trap Nepent, he bore the look of a man who absolutely detested himself. I was shocked by the startling change in his character, and felt a cold dread slowly creeping up my spine. Coper met my eyes and said, "Sorry, Kirito."

Then he stabbed the fruit on the Nepents crown.

"No, don't!" I cried. Of course, my shout came a little too late. A red mist exploded out of the fruit, covering Coper and myself. Not even a second later, around thirty Little Nepents spawned around us. "Why would you-?" I wasn't able to finish my question, forced to dodge out of the way of a vine.

"I'm sorry, Kirito," Coper said again. Then, he disappeared into the bushes leaving me on my own. My blood ran cold as the reality of my situation hit me like a truck. Coper was trying to kill me. He had purposefully triggered the trap so that the monsters would spawn and kill me, then he was going to take the flower from my dropped items and get the Anneal blade. He had even taken the hiding skill so that he could escape the Little Nepent's assault.

I dove out of the way of more vines, slamming my palm into the ground and throwing myself to my feet in a front hand-spring. I had been too naive. Coper's terms had been way too amicable to me for someone who also wanted the Anneal blade. I'd been too sure in the idea that a player would never harm another now that SAO was a death game; simply because I'd never do that. And now I was surrounded by enemies with my life hanging on by a thread, all because of my own shortsightedness.

But, there was a fatal flaw in Coper's plan.

The hiding skill did hide a person from monsters, but only monsters that used sight to find players. The Little Nepents didn't have eyes; they navigated the world through their sense of smell and hearing. Both Coper and myself were drenched in the smell of the trap Nepents fruit, so they had no problem finding us. Coper must've become very aware of that fact when nearly half of the Nepents swarmed on his position.

I took the opening for what it was, charging for the spot the Nepents had left so I wasn't surrounded. I threw myself behind a tree to protect from an onslaught of acid, before darting back into the fight as soon as it was safe. Coper may have betrayed me, but I wasn't about to let him die because of that. It was way too heartless for my liking.

I tore into the Nepent on the rightmost flank with a sword skill, destroying it in one attack. The post-motion delay for that skill was quick, so I was able to bat away the ensuing vines with my sword. One of the Nepent's was charging up it's acid attack, so I rushed it and took it out before it could finish the attack. This was the pattern I fell into while I dispatched the rest of the monsters. I was moving constantly, dodging or parrying the vines while tearing down the Nepents the second I was given an opening.

After about five minutes, I had finished off all of the Nepents that were aggro-ed on me. I immediately turned my attention to Coper, racing toward where I'd seen him last. The number of Nepents still converged on his position had me worrying, but what I heard next stopped my heart.

It was a pained shout, one that was cut off by the sound of shattering polygons.

Whatever doubts I may have had about Coper's fate were immediately cleared up when the Nepents turned their attention to me. Then I noticed something that made me want to cackle because of the dramatic irony.

The Nepent leading the charge against me had a flower on its head.

Another had spawned after Coper triggered the trap. What a cruel joke; with a man's life as the punchline. My eyes were hardened into steel. A vine whipped toward me, but I just tilted my head to the side and dodged it. I gritted my teeth, then screamed and dashed toward the remaining monsters. It only took me a minute and a half to clear them out. When I was finished, I leveled up again.

The timing was awful, but I allocated the points anyway. Now that the forest was wonderfully, blissfully empty, I could see Coper's sword and buckler lying on the grass. I took his sword, planted it into the stump of the largest tree there, and rested the additional flower next to it. "This one's yours, Coper."

I barely knew him, and his attempted murder of me left a bad taste in my mouth, but he was a victim of this death game. In the end, he was just self-serving, but I couldn't claim I was too much better. I had left Klein in the town of beginnings because it was easier than trying to bring his friends along. I raced to the first town and took the quest for the Anneal blade because having it would increase my own chances of survival.

I let out a shaky sigh. I was fine with that. If I survived this game by being a self-interested solo player, then that's what I'll do. It was better that way. I just let down the kind people of this world, and those that weren't would only betray me.

I finally turned away from the grave and returned to Horunka. More players had arrived in the town now, so I did what I could to avoid them and return to the NPC's house. When I entered, I mechanically offered the woman the flower. She thanked me enthusiastically and made the medicine to cure her daughter. I considered for a second the possibility that the quest had already been completed by someone super lucky, and I wouldn't even receive the sword I'd fought so much for.

I didn't have to worry about that for long, because the woman returned to me with the sword in hand. I took it from her and inspected it. The Anneal blade didn't look like much-a simple black longsword that was jagged near the hilt-but it held an undeniable power in it's cold steel. Having it made me feel safer. I had done it; I had the sword I'd been put through so much for.

But it didn't feel like a gift; it felt like a brand.

A drop of clear liquid fell onto the sword, and as I raised my hand up to my eye I realized I was crying. Was this the price I'd have to pay if I wanted to survive this death game? I didn't know if I could bear it. Still, I was going to try, and maybe that could be enough for now.

I spent the first night of Sword Art Online in a dreamless sleep.

A.N.: Boom; there it is.