It's crazy to think that two words changed my life. Two words led to the best, worst, and craziest two years that I, or anyone, could ever experience.
When my brother and I first heard of the NerveGear, we instantly wrote it off as another VR platform that was gonna be way too expensive and probably not worth the trouble to save for it. But, come to find out, it was so much more. The NerveGear was a full dive system that beamed you into the world of the game, body and all. And it was aimed to have a much lower price range to allow a wider range of gamers by using low cost materials and low cost mass production (We'd be here for a while if I went into detail).
So we shelled and bought the headsets even though there were no full feature games that were released in America yet. But we didn't do it just to have the headsets. After all, what's the point of having a platform and no games? Queue the birth country of cutting-edge game development.
Sword Art Online was originally slated for launch exclusively in Japan, so we figured we were gonna miss out and have to wait for either an American developer or one of the big worldwide publishing studios to step up to the task of making anything compatible with the NerveGear. But after my brother and I finished a Player vs. Player battle in a different game, we were approached by two random players. They asked if we wanted to play Sword Art Online, or more commonly known as SAO.
Rumors had been spreading of people trying to con players into giving them money by saying they could hook players up with NerveGears and Copies of SAO, so we wrote them off. Because even if we could get a copy of SAO, we wouldn't be able to understand anyone as it would only be in Japanese and all the players would be the same. As we were about to leave and go do something else in the game, a game admin himself (proven by a chat text color unique to admins) confirmed that they were legit workers for Argus, the developers of SAO. That's when the Argus people told us that SAO was actually slated to eventually release around the world after the initial launch in Japan. They were scouting for 'hearty' players to participate in the US to beta test the international servers that were also going live at the same time as the Japanese servers. They didn't want to do a mass stress test and they knew they would get such an overwhelming response that they couldn't go public yet for fear of possible favoritism call-outs. They said they wanted dedicated players, and the best place to find them is playing games.
So we agreed, and we were able to video chat with the man that developed SAO, as well as created the NerveGear; Akihiko Kayaba. Thanks to advances in technology, we were able to talk without needing to have a translator (the app we were using had a translate feature that had subtitles). He said he had picked us as well as 100 others in the US to participate in the test. He said that he watched a replay of the PVP event we were playing and was impressed with my leadership, which basically won the game; and my brother's skill, which put him on the top of the performance charts. The usual outcome to our matches.
Kayaba went on to explain that we showed the most dedication and the best attitude that he had ever seen in any of the candidates. And that he would be interested in our interactions in his world.
We didn't understand what he was talking about but we didn't really care. He was giving us a chance to play SAO, we weren't about to say no. Especially since they were able to implement a translator feature into the NerveGear for the US players. We both digitally signed Non-Disclosure Agreements and our fate was sealed... literally.
So now here we are, a few months later, preparing ourselves for the ultimate gaming experience.
1
My brother and I were sitting in the living room of our apartment, listening to a livestream of the launch of SAO. People swarmed a store in an attempt to be one of the 10,000 people to score a physical copy of the game. People ran out of the store and screamed in excitement, others took group pictures with their games held up. It was as if you could feel their energy through the screen.
It was pumping me up and I could tell it was pumping my brother up too. He was rocking back in his chair while tapping on his desk. His leg was bobbing at a million miles an hour. I was sitting on one of two couches we were gonna use to lay down on while we were in the game, watching the TV that sat on his desk.
"Man look at 'em run, would be awesome to be there..." My brother snarked. He got up and started pacing a bit, probably to avoid breaking his old computer chair.
"I've never seen a mob quite like that for a game launch," I replied. I started to set up one of the two NereGear helmets that we had. I had been fiddling with the settings the minute we got them to make sure everything was as it should be.
"Would have been awesome to be there. But then again... It's on the other side of the world." My brother knelt in front of me and grabbed my shoulders and asked forcefully but playfully: "Speaking of other worlds, is everything ready? Huh? Huh? Is it?"
"It's been ready and running for half a week now. But you know me, getting this put all together and not have a single problem has me paranoid," I replied. "It would suck to have them crash or something while there. Who knows what that could do."
"SSSSHHHH! Don't go jinxing it you fool!" He said, covering my mouth.
We've always had some rotten luck. We never expect anything to go off without a hitch. Like having it snow the whole weekend that we moved into this apartment. Or having the heat give out during the coldest week in winter. More recently, having my least favorite baseball team win the world series, then getting into a car accident as they scored the winning run.
So to have the NerveGears arrive on time and work properly is quite a shock. My computer started playing music, signaling that there were about 3 minutes left until SAO's servers were live.
"Yes... YES!"
I must have spaced out while fiddling with everything because I didn't even notice that my brother had walked into the kitchen. I clicked the icon that starts up SAO on his screen, then walked over and did the same for mine. The NerveGears both beeped and the indicator lights turned on.
"Jesus, it's about damn time. I don't know how much longer I could stand waiting around," I said, impatiently. "Alright, the headsets are warmed up. Everything looks good." It's still bugging me that nothing has messed up yet.
"I can tell when you think something is off. What's up?" My brother who had returned from the kitchen asked.
"Nothing really. Just my mind racing is all," I replied. "OK, lay down. It's time to get ready. Have you decided on your name yet?"
"I'm still torn. Choosing a name is so hard, always has been."
"I agree. Good thing we got past games for that. I think you know what I'm using. It's the same name I always use."
"Oh, I know, Mr. Original. Flastor, right?"
"Damn straight, I like it. Why don't you just use your warlock's name?"
"You mean Maj? Majiku..." He thought for a minute, then smiled. "You know what, that sounds good. Majiku it is!"
"Good deal. So as soon as we get in, we friend each other so we can find each other. Then we immediately go hunting and grab all the quests we can. I want to be ahead of all the potential assholes out there," I laid out the plan that we already had ironed out.
"Use our same strategy for other games. Make sure we stay close, but also move as quickly as possible. You act like this is our first MMO. Now come on, lay your ass down and let's go!" He flopped down on the couch and put the NerveGear on his head. "Oh... Here we go... Link Start!" All at once his body went limp and I know he's in.
"Alright, I guess it's my turn," I said to myself.
My phone beeped, and I pulled it out to see that a friend said he was on the way. So I ran down to leave the door to the complex open. Then I ran back up the stairs skipping two at a time. I sent him a message that said to keep an eye on the live stream that Kayaba was doing to explain how SAO was played and also expressed the safety concerns about people using the Nervegear. I laid down on the couch opposite my brother and said the same words he did.
"Link Start!"
I felt a rush as my mind left my body and entered the virtual world. Before I knew it, I was in a white room with an interface in front of me. The menu read "Character Customization". I didn't really get into detail on the customization. I already didn't look like myself anyway. I got to the point of naming my character and typed "Flastor". A female voice echoed through the room.
"You are now entering the world of Sword Art Online, known as Aincrad. Good luck, and enjoy a new world..."
Suddenly my vision went dark, and stayed that way for a minute, even though it felt like ten. Then there was a flash of light and I was standing in the center of a town, surrounded by other people. They were all commenting on how freaking cool this is and I had to agree.
This was amazing. It felt exactly like my body. I could smell different smells, and feel the wind just like I was in the real world. I started walking around looking for my brother, though it's pointless looking because I have no idea what he was going to look like. Then, a message popped up saying:
"New Friend Request from MAJIKU"
"Good man, he didn't change on me last minute." I clicked the yellow accept button, and immediately a person that was about 5 feet from me, who looked nothing like the brother I knew, flashed and his cursor above his head changed from green to blue. "That must be him." I ran up behind him and jumped on his back. "Surprise bro!"
"Jesus Christ! Hi!" He said as he wiggled me off. "So what do you think of this, man? We're in a virtual world. It feels so real it's ridiculous."
"I know right? It's crazy, but we're here; so let's get to work. As much as I really want to explore this town, we need to try to get a head-start on progressing."
"I hear ya, we can come back after we advance to about level 5 or so and explore." The way we are always on the same page is just freaky sometimes.
"I was literally thinking the same thing. Let's get going!" We both made our way towards the gate in the distance. Not knowing that in the real world, things had taken a massive turn for the worst.
2
We finally got our excitement under control and started strategizing. Throughout the week we poured over the SAO manual, reading about the different styles of combat and how to effectively fight while in Aincrad. Although the translation from Japanese to English wasn't the best, so we still had a lot to learn.
We practiced in the field right outside of town so as to not aggro any monsters, swinging different weapons around and getting a feel for the way this world works.
The game provided one of each weapon type for 20 minutes before you pick which one you wanted to pursue.
"So, Flastor, what are you thinking? I am probably going to go Two-Handed Sword. Try to pack as much punch in a single blow as I can."
"Well, Majiku, I was thinking a One-Handed Sword. I've always liked to strike as fast as possible. Plus, with actually fighting using my real body, it would feel really cool to pull some of these moves off on the skills list." We emphasized our in-game names just 'cause we couldn't help it. Plus we would actually have to be careful about using our real names in-game. Never know who you could run into.
"I was feeling the same with the Two-Handed. I'm watching little clips of what these skills look like if done properly and it's just great. I'm also thinking I'm gonna roll as a tank since there aren't any healing specs. It would probably be wise if one of us was a tank to make sure we stay alive."
We continued to strategize and make sure we had everything down to a science.
"Yo Maj, let's duel."
"Oh ho... Am I in the presence of a wannabe badass?" He replied.
"Bite me, I was thinking we could get a sense of fighting here before we go into the field. It would be awkward to die from a freakin' pig. I'd never get over it."
We both laughed and decided to duel. But instead of going all out we just spared. We made sure to not hit each other. After we determined that we were ready I surrendered the duel.
"Alright, I think we are ready, bro. Let's go kick ass!" I said.
We fist bumped and headed out on our first quest, which was to kill 10 of the boars that roam outside the area known as the Town of Beginnings.
"Alright here would be a good time to split up, make sure to stay within twenty meters from each other so we can get to each other if we have to. Keep an eye on each other's HP," Majiku said. I nodded in agreement.
"Let's go kill some boars then!"
About two hours had passed and we didn't even realize it. We went from killing boars, to running errands for a merchant in town (which allowed us to explore while running around), to killing some high level... plant... things... Well, they were called Neptunes. They proved slightly difficult especially since it was the first time where we had to engage an enemy one at a time because they had so much health.
So we began to practice a method that we read in the manual called Switching. Where the tank, in our case Majiku, would stand in front and draw aggro until he had a stunning skill ready. Then he uses said skill to stun the enemy while I, the damage dealer, take his place and wail on it until it's dead. This is general practice in most games, but you can usually immediately start attacking after aggro was drawn on the tank. Having to actively not engage before the time was right was different than just spamming skills while your avatar auto-attacks.
Majiku, taking the roll of tank for the first time in the game, attacked first and made sure he had full aggro while I positioned myself behind the monster and prepared to strike the weak point behind the Neptunes head. After the monster's health dropped 15%, Maj would unleash his powerful sword skill which was an upward strike called "Slash" that knocks an enemy off balance, or Staggers as it's called in the game. Then I would jump from behind and strike the weak point with a skill of my own called "Vertical", which had the same concept as "Slash" except faster and doesn't have the Stagger debuff.
It was pretty crude and we could tell it wasn't quite efficient, but it was working so we made do. Plus it was just fun. We repeated that 5 times, and it took about 30 minutes or so.
We finally found a safe place to sit down and take in what was around us. Aincrad was basically a massive floating castle with 100 floors. Each floor was about 2 to 3 miles in diameter with its own unique terrain. The first floor had Islands that were being held up by skinny metal spires, mountains in the distance, and a looming white tower on the horizon that connected to the floor above us.
"Jesus, who knew a plant would be such a pain to take down," Maj said, laying back on the hill we were on.
"At least it's not a stupid tiny dog that instantly kills you," I shot back. I was referring to a different game where, in the main city, there was a tiny dog that was neutral so you could attack it if you wanted. But the dog always had about 10 million more HP than you and kills you as soon as it catches up to you.
Maj picked up my reference instantly.
"Dude, not even a full raid could beat that monstrosity! He's a menace!" We both laughed. I looked up to check the clock, it read 12 AM. I was shocked that it was so late. I could see this being a problem in the future.
"Crap man, it's going on 12. And Sam (the friend who was coming to the apartment) has been sitting there basically since we started diving," I said, laughing at Sam's annoyed face that I know he is making.
"Oh snap, and I'm sure we're both hungry too. We just can't tell in this world unless our stomachs start to grumble," Maj said back to me. Almost on cue, a low rumble came from both of our stomachs. We exchanged looks and laughed again. "Well that settles it, we made good progress today. For being day one and only a couple of hours, level 6 isn't bad."
"I agree, especially since I know we aren't being as efficient as we could be," I said.
"Well, it doesn't help that it's just the two of us. When did you say your friends were gonna dive in?" Maj asked as he looked to the horizon.
"Think they said next Friday is when they have time off. It's cool we were able to talk Kyaba into giving us two more copies for them."
"For sure. Once they get in we could roll as two Tanks and two DPS. That way we can split for those kill quests."
"Sounds like a plan to me. For now, we can only get better so we can know what to tell them when they get here."
Just then the sky went from a light blue to a bluish red tone, signaling that the sun was going down. I was the first to say what we were thinking
"Well, as much as I would love to stay, we should probably bail. I'm sensing our usual 'one more quest' attitude coming on."
"Dang man get outta my head would ya? I was literally just thinking that!"
"It's almost like we're related or something," I retort to him. "I wonder if there's a Rested buff that comes with sleeping at an inn?"
"...You know I'm not sure... How did we not look into this?" Maj stood up and offered me a hand.
"I guess I just didn't think about it. We can probably just log here and be OK." I said as I got to my feet.
I took one last look around and thought to myself, 'No worries, I'll be back soon'.
"Well, time to log," I said as I waved my right hand to open the menu. I looked over and Maj has already done the same. Only the look on his face was disturbing, to say the least. "Hey man, what's up?"
He looked at me with a puzzled look. "Um... You haven't noticed? It's not there..."
"What's not there?"
"The freaking Logout button is grayed out." I looked over to my menu and navigated to where the Logout button should have been. Sure enough, my own button was grayed out, like it wasn't functioning.
"Um, OK... I'll say it. What the hell?" I looked up at Maj.
When I met his gaze, he was fixated on something that was above my head. I instantly assumed there's a monster behind me, so I drew my sword and jumped to Majiku's side. What met my eyes was not another horrible plant monster, but an open plain. I glanced at Maj and saw his gaze is upward, so I followed it and saw a blinking red hexagon in the sky that read "System Announcement".
"Well good. I bet it's just a glitch and they're working on it." Right as I said that, my body began to be enveloped in light. "And what the hell is this now?" I said, trying to step away from it.
"Hell if I know. But it's happening to me too," Maj replied.
Once the light fully enveloped me It felt like my body lifted slightly, then lowered to the ground until the light faded and my eyesight adjusted. What was around me was not an open field. But the center of the Town of Beginnings, where we started 2 hours ago.
"So that's what teleportation feels like. Weird..." I said to try to break the tension that I knew was growing in Maj
"Yea... Weird. Hey, that message is still up there." Maj looked up. Before I looked up I noticed that the plaza was filled with players. It looked like every player online was teleported. "What the heck is going on?"
"Well, hopefully, this 'announcement' will shed some light on the subject." As if the message heard me, it went from a single hexagon in the sky, or technically the ceiling; to multiple hexagons covering the entire sky, filling the air with a reddish glow.
From the sky oozed red liquid that looked disturbingly like blood. It slowly formed into a large hooded figure with no face. After it fully formed, the figure slowly raised its arms and spoke in a deep voice.
"Hello everyone. I welcome you to my world".
Just those words were enough to give me chills. The way he said 'my world'... I knew exactly who he was without him saying it... And I knew we were in some deep trouble. "My name is Akihiko Kayaba, and as of this moment I am in control." My mind instantly went to this is a really flashy opening ceremony. At least that's what I was hoping. Kayaba lowered his arms as he commanded his menu to appear.
"I am sure by now you have noticed an item missing from your menu. The 'Logout' button. Let me assure you, this is not a defect." Kayaba continued emotionlessly. "I repeat, this is not a defect, this is how Sword Art Online was designed to be." Not a defect? Are you freakin' kidding me? "One thing to note, in the event your HP hits zero, your avatar will be deleted from this world. And the Nerve Gear will simultaneously destroy your brain."
That sentence hit me like a shock-wave, my knees began to tremble.
"It is also impossible to leave the game if the NerveGear is removed from your head, it will also set off the signal to destroy your brain," Kayaba continued. "I have broadcasted this worldwide. Despite my warnings, the family and friends of other players have attempted to remove their NerveGear. As a result, there are now 200 less players than when the game began. This has been covered by major news outlets, so the likelihood of a NerveGear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you comfort as you progress."
"Oh yea, so comforting that I have a brain zapper strapped to my head. Thanks, buddy," I thought to myself.
I kept wishing that he would stop his speech short and shout: "Gotcha didn't I?"
Majiku must have been reading my face because he spoke up. "You know he's serious, right? We tried to joke around with him when we talked and he never so much as cracked a smile." He was right, which made this whole thing that much worse.
"The only way to get out of this world is by beating all 100 floors of Aincrad, and clearing the game." Kayaba seemed to be wrapping up his death sentence. "Last but not least, I've placed an item in everyone's storage. Please, have a look."
I did as he said and produced a mirror that wasn't there before. When I held it up to my face, I was enveloped in white light. When it died down, and I looked back into the mirror, I saw me.
Not my game avatar, but my real face. Rosy puffy cheeks, short black hair spiked in the front and dark brown eyes. Lookimg down,, my skinny body was replaced by my real, somewhat big frame.I looked at Majiku and he was the same way. Scruffy beard and messy curly hair and everything. He went from being about the same height as me to being about a half a foot taller. I could not comprehend why a game developer that literally revolutionized the gaming world would do this. He's basically destroying his reputation and his humanity.
As if on cue, Kayaba spoke again. "Right now, you are all probably wondering, 'Why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and Nervegear, do this?'" His voice remained void of emotion. As if what he was doing was perfectly acceptable. "Ultimately My goal was a simple one. To control the fate of a word of my design." Right then I understood why he let us play. He just wanted us to populate 'his world'. That's what he meant when he said he wanted to see how we react. My body became red hot with rage.
"Kayaba, you bastard," Maj mumbled. I looked over and I could tell he was ready to burst. His brow was furrowed, and his now dark brown eyes had darkened to almost black in rage.
"This marks the end of the tutorial and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best." The massive figure slowly dissolved into nothing and the sky went back to the pink glow of sunset. For 20 solid seconds, there was dead silence.
Then the entire plaza erupted in shouts, screams, and sobs.
3
Panic, disbelief, despair, determination. Those were my exact emotions in that order.
'What if Sam tries to get us out?' Unlikely... I guessed/hoped he was paying attention to the safety live-stream Kayaba had mentioned, and that was where he revealed this whole ordeal. Sam is smart and cautious. He wouldn't take the chance.
"This can't really be happening... Can it?" Of course, it is. Like Maj said, Kayaba has no sense of humor. This is real...
"Are you kidding me? Beat an MMO? That's hilarious. MMOs can't be beaten, that's the point! They're supposed to last forever." I suppose this was just me thinking low. On the flip side to Kayaba not having a sense of humor, he's also not sadistic... OK, not sadistic enough to trap people forever. The goal was there. The 100th floor of Aincrad... It's just gonna be a royal pain to get to.
"So, Kayaba, you want us to play through your world? Fine, It had better look good, pal, or the punch you're gonna get from me is gonna turn into a kick in the balls."
All these thoughts went off like rapid fire in my head. Once I regained focus on the world around me, I started to take in everything. To my left, I saw a glimpse of a kid in a blue shirt hauling another older looking dude with a red bandanna out of the town center. Then my mind finally kicked into gear.
We had to move. Now.
Apparently, Maj had the same thought because he was already looking for the fastest way out of the town square. There was mass panic everywhere, but soon we were able to dodge through the waving arms and the occasional punch that was being thrown by people arguing. We broke through the crowd and made a dead sprint out of town.
While we ran Maj spoke. "So you're thinking what I'm thinking, right?"
"'If I ever see Kayaba again I'm planting my boot as far up his ass as it will go.' That about cover it?" I replied.
"Well... Yea, that too... But I was thinking about now. We gotta start grinding like crazy to get stronger. We can't screw around anymore. The best way to survive is staying ahead of that mob back there." He jabbed a thumb behind him towards the gate of the Town of Beginnings.
"Ok, so we need quests that drop gear. Good gear." I had to strain my terrible memory for anything we could use. I was going to go over this with Maj and Sam when we logged out so we would have a more solid plan after Maj and I had a chance to experience full dive VR.
I reached for anything I could remember... Then it hit me like a freight train. "We have to set up in the next town." Maj looked at me like I had blown a fuse.
"Where's this coming from?" He asked. His face was full of worry and I couldn't blame him. Early-game in anything is dangerous. Anything can kill you with one wrong move.
"I remember reading up on quests we would need to do. Me in particular for this one-handed sword called the Annel Blade. It will last me till at least the 4th or 5th floor before I will need to look at upgrading or replacing. If I remember right, there may be a decent two-handed sword as a quest reward or at the shops there."
"Well look at you Mr. Walking-Game-Guide." Majs' tone seemed to be lightening. It probably helped that we were talking about a game. This was pretty much home-court advantage for us with all the co-op and MMO games we've played.
"Well one of us needed to be prepared. I'm just glad I decided to read up before we came. Otherwise, we would probably be back in the town panicking with the rest." I said back. The only thing I was going on was the little information that was made public by some of the beta testers in Japan. But that information could easily be wrong in the current state of the game. "So, not that I'm picking favorites, but me first."
"Woah now! Why you?" We were interrupted by a shimmering sound like digital leaves being rustled.
It was the sound of a monster spawning nearby. I focused my attention forward as a wolf shimmered into existence. Without thinking I drew my blade and dashed. I held my sword up to my head with the blade parallel to the ground. The initial move for Vorpal Strike. I felt the blade wanting to tug forward. I held it back until I couldn't anymore, then I let the blade pull me forward. I added as much force as I could with a strong step, making sure it was my right leg that pushed me.
I let all my anger and aggression I had out on the wolf. In one strike the wolf was gone. I did all that without stopping my sprint. I sheathed my sword, and Maj kept the conversation going like nothing happened.
"My question stands, why you?"
"Because, I'm awesome," I said with as much sarcasm as I could. "Because, dumb-dumb, I know exactly where the one-handed sword quest is. I don't know where the two-handed sword is," I replied. "So when we get there, I will go accept the Annel Blade quest, while you head to the stores to look for the two-handed sword. It will have a fancy name. If it's not there, we will have to hunt for the quest after we are done with mine. It'll be the fastest way to stay ahead."
Majiku pondered this for a minute. While he did, another monster appeared in front of us. This time, it was a boar. I reached behind me to grab my sword again, but Majiku stepped in front of me and slashed the boar in half before I could draw.
"Alright then, you seem to have a plan worked out. Let's get moving."
4
We arrived in the next town to see it completely deserted besides the NPCs walking around. The only sound, aside from the leaves rustling in the breeze, was of the sound of a hammer hitting metal coming from the blacksmith. We had to be one of the first players here if not the first ones.
"OK, I'll go accept the quest, you go check out the shops. Stock up on healing potions while you're there too," I explained. "Meet back here in like, 10 minutes?"
"Okie dokie," Majiku replied.
We fist-bumped and parted ways. I ran towards the house that I was told sat at the western edge of town. I rounded around a building and saw the house in question. It looked like a house and store in one. It had a large window on the front with smoke rising from the chimney.
I walked up to the door and out of habit, knocked. "Um... Hello? Is anyone here?" I wasn't 100% sure I was in the right place. And I didn't know if there were repercussions for breaking into a home.
I opened the door slightly and poked my head through. Inside was a storefront lined with shelves. Each shelf had something different. Potions, food, armor. I stepped in and closed the door behind me. As soon as it clicked shut, a woman appeared from the back room.
"Hello, traveler. I would offer you food, but I'm afraid all I have is water." Her face looked flustered and exhausted, for a moment I thought she was a player. Then I noticed that she was wearing a long period style dress and had a yellow cursor above her head, indicating that she was an NPC. Also floating above her head was a yellow !, Indicating she had a quest to give. Which meant I was in the right place.
I approached her and asked, "It's no problem, Ma'am. Is there anywhere you need to go?" No response... OK, not the right line. I read that you have to say the correct phrase that would correspond with the quest the NPC was giving. Clearly this chick didn't want to leave. "Is there anything you need?" The '!' above her head turned into a '?'. Sweet, said the magic words...
"My daughter needs medicine urgently, but I lack the ingredients to make it! And I can't leave her unattended. Would you be so kind as to obtain them for me?" The woman explained. "I would be happy to reward you with a sword that has been passed down in my family." And like that the quest window opened and read 'retrieve 5 Neptune Seeds and return them to the shopkeeper.' I turned toward the woman.
"I would be happy to, ma'am. I'll get those seeds in no time at all!" I turned on my heel and ran out the door.
I got back into the square with almost no time to spare. I saw Majiku, who had driven a new, massive sword into the ground and was leaning on it with his arms crossed, waiting under a tree. I ran up and inspected his new blade.
"Jesus that thing is huge! So it was at one of the shops?" I asked.
"Not quite, it was a reward for a quest the blacksmith gave. But it was super simple... Beat the snot out of some iron ores while he rested." He replied. "Pretty easy for such an awesome sword. Turns out that quest starts you out in blacksmithing. This sword is meant to be powered up later by the player that took the quest. I guess our luck runs out here, eh?"
"You're sadly not wrong." We had both calmed down after the whole 'You are stuck here' fiasco. "Good news is we already know where to go. Bad news, it's a looting quest."
"Sweet Jesus, nooo!" Majiku threw his arms up in exasperation. "Looting quests suck! We have horrible luck with drop rates. I can't do this so soon after all that..."
"I know this! There's more."
"When is there not more?"
"Remember the giant plant things? The Neptunes?"
"...Are you kidding me?"
"Nope, even better we will have to go deeper into the forest to find the ones with the flowers that we need. Which means if we hit one of the ones with the bulbs on the head instead of the flowers, and they scream, we will be screwed." I wrapped up the heartwarming speech with a pat on his back. "Let's go kick some plant ass".
"This is gonna be my whole damn night, isn't it?" Majiku leaned up from his sword and moved it to his back. It was so big that instead of a sheath, a thick black belt appeared and strapped the sword to his back.
We walked out of town and headed back southwest towards the forest where we found the most Neptunes before. On the way, we discussed how we would handle this. Since we couldn't attack everything we saw and now dying was very real here, we came to the conclusion that we should stay close to each other in case a monster got a lucky hit.
So we decided to use the same strategy of Majiku attacking first, but instead of me circling behind the monster, I would stay right behind Maj, ready to vault over him to deliver the killing blow. We practiced this a few times before venturing into the woods and discovered that If I were to plant a foot on his shoulder before he activated Slash, I could use his momentum from the skill to launch myself forward to get more out of my Vertical. The way it worked is you can either let the system move your body for you. Or you can add your own strength to make the skill go faster or do more damage, if not both at the same time. You can also hold the skill back to build up energy. You just have to balance between the skill almost activating and canceling. The downside to trying to add your own power is the system only allows so much deviation from the original skills movement before it cancels and locks your body temporarily due to a failed skill. Example being if you tried to move your arm to the left or right while doing a Vertical, meant to go from down to up.
After we finalized a strategy and split the potions that Majiku picked up, we dived into the forest. The sun had already set when we found the first Neptune. Luckily for us, it was the one with the flower on it, which dropped the seeds we needed. We killed it without much trouble. It turns out that those ones were a lot faster than the ones we fought closer to the town. We were able to repeat the process of switching and killing 8 times, 5 of them dropping seeds we needed.
"That wasn't as bad as it could've been. And only one close call with that bulb," I said.
"Close as in if I hadn't grabbed your leg and pulled you back we would be dead? Learn to pick a target, man!" Majiku sarcastically snarked. "We got all the seeds right? Let's get out of here before we get surrounded. I've got a bad-" Majiku was cut off by a haunting, inhuman scream that echoed from somewhere close. To this day, it still freaks me out.
Someone else was in the forest... And they hit one of the Neptunes with the bulbs on its head.
"Then there was that..." Maj cursed. "On a scale of one to screwed-"
"Run..." I sheathed my sword and started pushing Majiku. He was still trying to figure out where the sound came from and just generally distracted with the sudden turn of events. "Run NOW!"
Majiku snapped out of it and we started to dash out of the woods as fast as we could. We got close to the edge when two Neptunes cut us off.
About a million curses ran through my head that would have made a sailor faint, but all I could manage was:
"Crap."
There was no way we could each solo one of these things yet. They were each level 15 monsters, and we both sat at 9. We were at least 4 levels below what we would need to take them on.
"We gotta get around them somehow. We can't fight them like this."
"My turn for crazy ideas," Majiku drew his blade and spun on one foot. He drove his sword right into a tree and knocked it down. I watched as the tree crushed the two plants like bugs. They, along with the fallen tree, shattered into crystals.
"That... That works," I said, stunned. We both bolted out of the woods as fast as we could.
We managed to get back to the village without running into any more monsters, which was surprising.
We got to the center of town and grinded to a halt, both of us breathing heavily mainly from panic. After a minute of contemplating how close we came to dying, Majiku turned to me. "I'm gonna go rent us some rooms at the inn. I'm completely exhausted..."
"Sounds good, I'll go turn this in and meet you there. Good move out there bro." I turned to walk towards the store where the woman was waiting. While I walked my mind started to think of everything. How long would it take? It hasn't even been a day and it already feels like a century. What were my parents doing? Do they know yet?
"Oh god... My parents..." I said aloud before I could stop it.
They had to have been driven absolutely crazy by now. They already had so much on their plate with my little sister being sick. And I told them I couldn't make it see her because Majiku and I got SAO. They were weirdly OK with it since they knew that we were lucky just to be here. When they hear that we are trapped in here, they might go crazy.
I had to stop and steady myself. I had to keep my emotions in check or I wouldn't be able to survive here. It's all a mental game... Literally and figuratively. I needed to keep my mind sharp and on the goal. I would get out and keep them from worrying for too long. I righted myself and walked the rest of the way in a daze. When I got to the store it was past 4 AM. I opened the door and saw the shopkeeper was still in the same spot with the ? over her head.
"I was able to gather the seeds, ma'am. Here you go." I presented the pouch to her and she took them while bowing.
"Bless you, brave traveler. With this, my daughter will have a clean bill of health." Were those tears in her eyes?
"It was nothing, ma'am. Glad I could help." The woman presented a sword that was bluish with silver lining the blade.
"Accept this sword. May it protect you in your many battles to come."
"I will gladly accept this, ma'am. Thank you."
The ? over her head disappeared and a window opened in front of me displaying the EXP, Col (currency), and the Annel Blade that I earned which had appeared on my back, replacing the Basic One-handed Sword I had.
The woman turned off and walked into the back room. I was turning to walk out when something told me to go check on them. I nudged myself into the room and saw a little girl, maybe 7 or 8, lying in a bed with a washcloth on her forehead. The woman, who was sitting next to her, looked up at me, smiled and tapped the little girl's shoulder.
"Look there honey, that's the brave man that brought you the medicine." The words barely registered in my head. I locked eyes with the little girl and froze. She reminded me of my youngest sister. Her eyes were sleepy, but still bright with life.
"Thank you, brother!" The young girl said, smiling a big smile. Of all things to call me... It had to be brother. A single tear streamed down my face. The girl frowned, noticing that I was troubled. "What's wrong?" I forgot that I can't hide that kind of stuff in VR. For an NPC, this kid felt real.
I smiled, wiping the tears away. "It's nothing kiddo. Just tired is all," I said, like I was actually reassuring this NPC. She smiled and patted the bed next to her.
"Can you stay?" And of all things to say... It had to be the exact line my sister used when she asked that.
But unlike my usual response, I nodded. "I don't see why I can't hang for a few." I sat on the ground next to the bed. Without knowing it... I fell asleep to the little girl humming a tune.
5
I woke up still sitting at the edge of the shopkeeper's bed. About 5 different beeps were sounding off, each one was a message.
"Christ, I'm up..." I said without remembering where I was or what had happened. I got up and took in my surroundings, then it hit me. "Oh... Crap... CRAP!" I swiped my right hand down to pull up my messages, all 5 were from Majiku.
"You lost?"
"Where did you go?"
"Are you leveling without me?"
"Seriously bro WTF?"
"She had better be hot..." I sent a quick message back to him answering all 5.
"I'm fine. No, I didn't go leveling. I just sat down and nodded off... What?" I sent it and walked out of the store.
It was morning the next day. My clock read 9 AM. I jogged back to the inn. When I walked through the door there was a flash of red and I had to bend like the Matrix to dodge it.
"What the hell, man?" I turned to see who had tried to deck me. When I locked eyes with him I immediately felt sorry. It was Maj, standing next to the door wearing a new red long-coat that came down to his ankles.
"That! Is for scaring the unholy hell out of me you son of a-"
"Alright, alright. I'm sorry." I said to him before he could finish his sentence. "I sat down for a sec and nodded off, my bad". I lied, there was no way that I was gonna tell him I had cried just because of thinking of my sister.
"Uh-huh, yeah, sure. When I meet her she had better be hot, and she better have a sister," Maj said while smiling like an idiot.
"Yea, OK come back to earth... I mean Aincrad. What's with the coat?"
"Found it in a shop. Thought it looked cool. Figured try to be styling while we are here." I raised an eyebrow at him, questionably. "And it would look cool for the ladies as well."
"I knew it. Focus on the task, man. We have work to do." I said, pushing him to a table.
We sat down, ordered drinks, and discussed our plans for the day. We had both concluded that before the boss fight for this floor we needed to be at the very least level 15. So we set out with that goal in mind. Quests day in and day out until we had to take a break before passing out from exhaustion.
We were hoping that since this was a virtual world that we could just go without having to stop, but we found out quickly that we could still get mentally tired. Which was as bad if not worse than being physically tired. We started hearing stories and reading articles from the player run newspapers that players were passing out in the middle of fights, and had to be dragged away by their party members.
So we decided to fight until we started to feel tired, then head back to town, but fight on the way back. Once the town we were in started to have a few more people in it we moved on. On the way, I picked up a coat that was almost Identical to Majiku's. Only mine was a navy blue color. Unlike my showoff of a brother, I got mine because it came with an aggro reduction buff, to keep monsters focused on Maj while we fought.
"Ha! We match now. Soon we will be known as the Brothers Crimson!" Maj joked as we were walking out of the store where I got it.
"Why Crimson you self-centered jerk-wad? Why not the Blue Brothers?"
"Cause I hate Blues music and so do you..."
"...I have no argument to come back to that. Either way, I will not be called 'Crimson' as I am wearing blue." I gestured to my coat.
"Details man! It would strike fear into the hearts of our enemies!" He said sarcastically.
"Yea, cause we look sooo scary!" Neither of us looked very scary or intimidating. Especially with our bodies from the real world. The only thing that could be considered intimidating for either of us is that our eyes are the darkest brown, they could be mistaken as black. "Oh yea, we will be feared by all of the nothing. Come on Red Riding Hood. We have Levels to get." I started pushing him out of the town while he was still babbling something about being a 'dynamic duo'.
Based on the reports that I've gotten from Argo, an info broker we met, Maj and I were still in the top running in terms of levels and progress on the floor. There were only 2 people ahead of us. Argo dropped the hint that she was getting more people asking about us. Sooner or later people would seek us out for tips or wanting to duel us to see if we were all that. We really wanted to avoid that kind of stuff, as it would take time away from us getting stronger and beating the game, so we made sure to stay at least a town ahead of the front lines.
6
A month had passed. Maj and I were one of the first ones into the labyrinth tower that connected the first floor of Aincrad to the second. The goal was to explore and find the boss room. But even with us plowing through everything the dungeon could throw at us, declining all drops so we had more room in our inventory for potions so we could stay there longer, working out a deal with Argo to pool our map data with hers, and camping out for a week, we still couldn't find the boss room. After about the 50th dead-end we ended up at, Majiku punched the wall so hard I thought the ceiling was gonna collapse.
"I... Hate... DUNGEONS!" Majiku proclaimed. His yell echoed down the rocky walls.
"Yea, no kidding, this is starting to get old." I shared in his annoyance. If every floor was gonna take this long to search for the boss, then we were gonna be here for a really long time. "The front has been here, what, about a week and a half?"
"Yes," Maj replied with an annoyed tone. "And we've been here longer, almost 3 weeks man! As soon as we hit 15 we made our way here. I'm level 17 and you're, what, 18?"
"Turned 18 yesterday," I replied.
The way we had our style is, I ended up with slightly more EXP at the end of our fights because I normally ended up with the last attack. We were also almost to the point that this floor would not help us level anymore because even the strongest mobs wouldn't give a substantial amount of XP. "Still though, it feels like we have been through every inch of dungeon here. It would be kinda hard to miss doors to a boss room I would think."
"No kidding. This is driving me bonkers man!" I couldn't blame him. In every game we played, there was one thing we both hated, and that was giant maze-like dungeons. No way to get through them quickly and the monsters were almost twice as strong as the ones in the field. It was good for leveling but given the circumstances one of the most dangerous methods. Plus we also had to accommodate getting out of the labyrinth while we went forward. Passing out here would be a death sentence.
A message popped up in front of me. It was from Argo.
It read: "Hey there, Flastii! Rumor has it the front runners are gonna have a meetin' to discuss what we are gonna do with this boss. It starts at 3 PM today. Since I know you and Maj are in the dungeon you better get a move on. Your pal, Argo."
"Man, you can almost hear her laid-back tone in her message," I said.
"What are you mumbling about, you?" Majiku turned and saw that I had my window open. "What's up? Is it Argo?"
"Yea, she said that they're gonna have a meeting at 3 to talk about the boss. Not sure what they are gonna talk about since we still don't know where it's at."
"Got that right. Plus, I don't want to talk to people."
"Me neither... We're gonna need to get one of those wide-brimmed hats to hide our faces. Or, you know, not wear blazing red," I said, looking at his coat.
"You ain't one to talk Blue Boy! I look styling in this coat, man!"
"Yea, OK, walking away now. It's 2 so we gotta get moving."
I turned and started running back the way we came, the heavy footsteps behind me meant Majiku was hot on my trail. After about 15 minutes we emerged from the dungeon. The white stone floor turned to grass and the fresh air hit me like a wave of awesome.
After we got out we sprinted full speed back to town. Using a path that we had set, we made it to the outskirts of town in half the time if we had taken the main roads. Just as we were about to hit the main road to town, a big green creature appeared in front of us.
We skidded to a stop, and I inspected the monster... About 7 feet tall, fatter than Fat Albert, and held a massive club that rested on its shoulder. The cursor above its head was a pretty dark shade of red, indicating that it was about 3 levels stronger than me.
"You know?" Maj was in a joking mood. "I always hated Orcs.
"Me too..." I drew my sword as Majiku stepped forward. An Orc has two weak spots that are pretty obvious... Its head, and its heart. We decided to go for the head based on our style.
Majiku grabbed his massive sword as the black belt that wrapped around his body to hold his sword disappeared. He swung down and to the left, trying to hit the heart. Sadly, the critical spot is very small, and while Maj scored a direct slash on the Orc's chest, he very rarely hit the mark.
Instead, it put Maj in a perfect position to block the attack that came next. The Orc raised his club, then brought it down on Maj. He raised his sword to meet the club, holding his sword flat and slightly horizontal. This is where I came in.
I leaped from behind Majiku, used his sword as a foothold, then Maj swung upwards while I jumped and activated Vorpal Strike. I carefully aimed for a predetermined spot right between the Orc's eyes that I went for every time. Only this time, something was off...
Just as my skill activated and I shot forward, the beast's eyes flashed. Right before my sword shanked him, the Orc leaned to the left and dodged...
The Orc's eyes flashed again, and it swung its club at me in an unexpected attack pattern. I was still flying midair. I had no way of dodging or deflecting it...
"Flastor!" I heard Maj yell and step towards the beast, no doubt winding up a massive strike to try to throw off the Orc's swipe... But I knew I would get hit before Maj could swing.
Right before the club hit me, I was smashed from the side, moving me out of the Orc's range.
I fell to the ground and only barely kept myself from falling over.
I looked up and was met by a small, slender figure wearing a brown cloak standing in front of me, a pair of claws in each hand.
The figure turned their head to face me, and I could feel my cheeks burn in embarrassment...
"Hey, Argo..." I sighed.
"Thought you were fighting a regular Orc, didn't ya Flastii?" Argo smiled, the orange painted whiskers on her face curling, adding to her devious nature. "Better take a closer look."
I examined the monster again. As I did, I realized my misclassification... This one's hairstyle was different than the other Orcs we usually fight... Which means.
"Maj! Guardian Orc! Flank it!" I shouted.
Maj understood immediately and ran to the monster's left side. I ran to its right picking up as much speed as I could. Then I picked the closest tree and started to run up it. I could only manage two to three steps before having to jump, but it was enough. I was above the Orc now, falling with my body horizontal to the ground.
Then I activated Horizontal. A skill similar to Slant, but horizontal instead of vertical. With me being in midair, the skill had no resistance as it tore through the air. My blade connected with the Guardian, who had no time to react, let alone choose between me, or Majiku; who had come at the beast with a well-placed Slash that mirrored my own attack, but went feet to head.
My skill was complete, and I landed on the ground, kneeling and waiting to launch Slant if I needed to.
But luckily for us, the monster started to shimmer, then it shattered into a rain of floating crystals.
I stood up straight and sheathed my sword. Maj straightened up and gave me an annoyed look.
"Of all the times to mistake a monster..." He groaned.
"I'll take the fall this time..." I looked at the spot where the monster once stood. "The Guardians are normally closer to the towers... I just assumed one wouldn't have wandered this far."
"Least I got a good shot!" I turned to face Argo as she walked up to me. "That'll make a good addition to my paper. I was planning to announce that the Guardians are moving closer now that we are close to raiding the boss." She opened her menu and tapped a few times. "Here. The usual that I offer for pics."
A trade window opened and an amount of 1000 Col was coming from Argo. I thought for a moment... Then, made a choice.
"Hey, look at that!" Even Majiku was fooled as I pointed behind Argo. She spun around. While she was distracted, I declined the Col, then offered the map data that we had got from today. I hit accept.
The window closed, ending the trade. Argo realized it and reviewed her screen. Her face twisted in confusion.
"What is this?" She asked.
"The map data we got today. You want it, right?" I kinda hoped she didn't notice the Col. I was just trying to be nice since she just saved us.
"But the Col?" She scowled at me. "Chivalry won't go far here, bub."
"Consider helping us out payment enough. Plus I don't make money on map data. We need that to clear the game..." I tried for my most confident smile.
There was an awkward stare-off between her and me.
Then she finally sighed... "You better get moving... The meeting-"
"Already started!" Majiku appeared behind me and grabbed my coat collar. "Thanks, Argo! Let us know if you need anything!"
Before another word could be said, Maj pulled me away and we ran to town...
"Kinda rude, aren't you? Just leaving her there after fighting a monster..." I shot at Maj.
"One, we're late. Two, Argo can handle herself. Three, you gotta play it slower!"
"The hell you mean slower?" I asked.
"Turning down 1000 Col, then giving her the sweet smile." Maj sneered at me. "Don't want to freak her out. Gotta work on being subtle when you hit on chicks."
"I wasn't hitting on her, you ass!" I shot. "I was just thanking her for saving our sorry hide!"
"Yea, yea. Shut up and run, Romeo!"
We picked up our pace and made it to town at 2:30.
We had gotten to the meeting just in time to hear the second part of the speaker's introduction as being a knight, followed by everyone ripping him for calling himself a knight. Since there was no actual class system in the game he was just talking out of his ass. He calmed the crowd down and continued as we were sitting down in the back row. The speaker, who was named Diavel, continued.
"OK, so today, our party found the boss room." Everyone in the crowd stopped murmuring and got deadly serious. "Right, so we have two things to take care of. First, we need to defeat the boss for this floor and continue to the next."
"No shit, Sherlock," Majiku muttered under his breath. I elbowed him to shut him up.
"Second, we need to get the word back to the people in the Town of Beginnings, that it is possible to beat this game." A few people in the crowd nodded in agreement. "In order to beat the boss, we are gonna need a raid. As many people as we can get. Everyone here who wants to participate needs to split up into groups of at least 3." Me and Majiku both tensed up.
"Well crap... This sucks." I said. Instantly the groups formed, it looked like everyone here were already friends.
"Well looks like we won't be the only duo out there." Majiku pointed across the Colosseum to a guy in a blue shirt and a silver breastplate. Sitting next to him... Well, I could only guess it was a girl. They had a slender figure but it was covered in a red cloak with a hood. "I like her style."
"Is it because of the red cloak or because it's a girl?"
"Yes." He smiled from ear to ear. I smacked him in the back of the head.
"Pay attention, man." I looked down and Diavel was raising his hands to get everyone's attention
"OK, it looks like everyone is divided up. Now then-"
"HOLD ON A SECOND!"
I nearly jumped, which I'm glad I didn't. The voice came from right behind me. Before I could turn around, a shadow passed over me as a dude with orange spiky hair flew over my head and landed in the center of the theater.
"My name's Kibau, got that?" I could tell this guy wanted trouble. "Before we keep going I want to get something off my chest. We all know about the 200 people that have died so far?" He ranted. "Well, some of you need to apologize for them right now!"
Yup, trouble. I looked at Majiku and I could tell he had the same feeling that we should bail. We decided to stay because we both wanted to be in the raid. Before Kibau could continue, Diavel spoke up.
"Kibau, I think I know who you are talking about... You mean the beta testers and MMO veterans right?"
"You're damn right that's who I mean!" Kibau shouted. "Ever since this game started they ran off and snagged all the good hunting spots and quests out there. They ditched all of us, beginners. They were the only ones getting stronger here."
Need mommy to hold your hand, you freakin' wuss? Figure it out man, it isn't that hard.
"We should make them apologize, and give up their money, and their loot. There's no point in trusting them if they can't trust us!" He was half right, half wrong, fully annoying.
Why make the ones that you claim are the strongest here give up their gear before a boss fight, moron? He did have a point of the vets and testers bailing, though I still didn't care much. If you want to fight, figure it out. I could tell the crowd was just as torn. Maybe because I was sure there were some testers and vets here, now. Just then in the front row, a deep voice spoke up.
"Can I say something?" I saw a tall guy with dark skin stand up and walk towards Kibau. Kibau started to say something but stopped when he saw that the guy was about twice his size. "The name's Agil. Kibau, right? I want to make sure I understand something. You want to blame the testers and vets for not helping, and have them give up the earnings that they worked for. That about cover it?"
"Yea, so what?" Kibau said nervously. Agil dug something out of his back pocket.
"The item store is still handing these out for free. It's a guidebook. You got one right?" He said holding the book in front of him.
"Yea, and?"
"You know who put this together? The ex-testers and vets." I knew the book well. Argo wrote it. Majiku and I even helped write some of it with info on questing in parties of two. Kibau got wide-eyed since he knew he messed up. Agil turned and faced the audience. "Listen up! Everyone had equal access to this information. Even so, a lot of people still died. Now, I didn't come here to point fingers. I came here to learn from their mistakes. I came here to beat the boss."
Silence, so I broke it by clapping. Not because the guy, Agil, was right and pretty well-spoken. It was for the face of sheer defeat that Kibau had. No free Col for you pal. Kibau turned and walked to the nearest seat and sat down, Agil followed and sat next to him. I'm not sure if it was just a coincidence, or if it was to keep him quiet.
Diavel took center stage again. "Now that's out of the way, can we get going with the briefing?" Diavel pulled out his own copy of the guidebook. "For info on the boss, it's all in here, the latest issue of the guidebook."
Oh crap, really? I have reading to do later.
"The boss' name is 'Illfang the Kobold Lord' and he is surrounded by his minions, the 'Ruined Kobold Sentinels'. He is armed with an Axe and a buckler. When his last health bar goes red he switches to a curved weapon called a Talwar." Diavel closed his guide. "That's it for the briefing. As for the distribution of loot, money will be split equally. The party that beats the boss gets the XP, and whoever gets an item, gets to keep it!" Seems fair to me, I looked at Maj and he was nodding his head in agreement. "Right, we meet here at 10 AM. Meeting adjourned people!"
7
We made sure to sleep long for this, something we haven't done in a while. We would normally only sleep for about an hour or so to keep ourselves moving.
We set our alarms for 9 AM so we could go out and stock up on potions and reinforce our gear. We found this player ran blacksmith in the square. Running it was a girl with short brown hair, she was surrounded by what seemed like her friends. We walked up and asked what she was able to do. She looked up proudly and said.
"Well since it's early not much. I can add some temporary buffs to your swords if you want?" I looked at Maj and he nodded.
"Sounds good! What are your rates?" He asked.
"Since my level is still low I'm only charging about 150 col. Just in case it fails." I extended my hand.
"Sounds like a deal to me, miss...?" She shook my hand then my brothers.
"Lisbeth, you can call me Liz." Liz smiled a big smile, kinda surprising given our situation. But it was nice to see someone actually having fun here.
We must have been the only ones that gave her some business besides her friends. Majiku handed his massive sword to her, I did the same with mine as well as a pouch of col and Liz went to work. We made some small talk with her friends while we waited, we asked if they were participating in the raid.
"Nah, we're only about level 10 each. That boss would squash us like a bug."
"Fair enough," Majiku replied.
After about 5 minutes Liz turned from her anvil that was set up.
"All done! Each has a temporary buff of sharpness. It'll run out as soon as you return to a town." She presented our swords to us. I couldn't describe it. There was a certain gleam to my sword that I had never seen any blacksmith give my sword. Majiku's was the same way. I decided to ignore it since it was the first time I had a player work on my blade.
"Thanks a lot, Liz. Keep up the good work!" She clicked her heels together and saluted us.
"You got it! Good luck in the raid!" We turned and made our way to the edge of town to wait for the raiding party to assemble.
We hiked towards the labyrinth, the dude with the blue shirt was trailing behind us with the girl in the red cloak. I overheard their conversation without trying to eavesdrop and I was losing faith in our backup companions. He had to explain the concept of switching and being in a party. It got me thinking about how we were gonna handle the Sentinels that we were charged to keep occupied.
"Will you still be up to go forward with these guys? They're gonna be fast. Would you rather me take point?" I asked Maj.
"Are you calling me slow, punk?" He put me in a headlock and lightly slapped my face. "I'll show those Sentinels who's boss, don't you worry. Just be ready to smack them good."
"Maybe we should change it up a bit? After we switch the one that switches in can play as the tank while the other heals quick if needed."
"That's actually a good call little bro, sounds like we got a game plan! Go Red Riders!" He pumped his fist like he was blowing the whistle on a train.
"We gotta talk about this name business later, friend." I pulled myself out of his headlock. "We should see if the other two behind us want to coordinate. We are all on backup after all."
"You mean the 'reject squad'? I'll show them to put me on backup..."
While he was mostly kidding, he and I were both annoyed that we didn't get to help fight the actual boss. But whatever, XP is still XP and Col is still Col, no matter where it comes from. The only thing that neither of us will get is the Last Attack bonus.
"I got distracted, yea if you wanna fall back there and strategize. I'll keep the others from shooting any more funny looks."
We both looked forward and noticed the group in front of us was giving us a look like they were thinking: 'Man they are lucky we let the small fries be cannon fodder for the front lines'. What they didn't know is that at least two of the 'small fries' that were on backup could probably mop the floor with any of them. I couldn't speak for the two behind us. The guy seemed knowledgeable so that was a good sign.
Majiku faced forward and glared at them completely straight-faced. If he had done that in the real world it wouldn't have meant much. But he did have a sword that was about as long as he was strapped to his back and the black eyes of a demon when he got angry, so they turned back around and walked a little faster.
"Well, good to know we're outcasts," I said.
"Good. I like it that way, anyway. People annoy me," Majiku replied.
I fell back to walk side by side with the guy and girl. The guy immediately went on guard, his face was half anger, half anguish. Like I was about to spill a secret of his and he would gladly cut me down if I did. The girl's hand went straight for the silver rapier that hung at her waist.
"Easy guys, I'm not here to patronize or anything. If you haven't noticed we've been getting the same looks too." I extended my hand to the guy. "My name is Flastor. The guy in the red death-staring the jerks is my brother, Majiku." He hesitated but finally let his guard down and shook my hand.
"I'm Kirito, nice to meet you." I extended my hand to the girl but she didn't take it, nor introduce herself.
"OK..." I retracted my hand awkwardly. "Well, we got assigned backup as well. So I came back to ask how you wanted to play this?" I asked.
Kirito clearly looked troubled. He must be about as antisocial as I am, even this much conversation made me uncomfortable. But it was to stay alive so I sucked it up.
"I'm not asking you to join our party or anything. I was mainly thinking for each of us to flank the boss. Just so we aren't falling over each other or messing up each other's combos."
Kirito contemplated this for a minute, then nodded. "Yeah sounds good. We can go left. If you go right, we'll be in perfect position for the final assault. We will yell your way if we need something."
"Sounds good. Good hunting, and stay safe... Well, as safe as we can be." I held up my fist and surprisingly he obliged. Even the girl gave me a fist bump, though she still wouldn't meet my eyes.
I didn't get a good look because the hood covered a lot of her face. But I got a glimpse, and I saw a really pretty face and... Chestnut hair? It was hard to tell but I didn't stare, because that would be weird. I picked up my pace to catch back up with Majiku.
"The game plan is this. We each take a side, they will go left, we will go right. If either of us needs anything we just need to yell."
"Straightforward. I like it. We should buy them drinks after," Maj said.
"Doubt that would go over well. The dude, Kirito, seems really reserved. And the girl wouldn't even introduce herself or shake my hand. I barely got a fist bump out of her."
"Ouch, no drinks then."
"I mean we could ask, but I'm pretty sure his answer will be 'no thanks', and hers would either be nothing or 'piss off'."
"The quiet, fiery type... I like her."
"She will chew you up and spit you out."
We made small talk the rest of the way. Trying to keep the pre-battle jitters away. This boss will be no joke. The potential for loss of life is huge. I didn't even notice that we had gotten to the entrance of the dungeon. Up at the front of the group the party that had the map data to the boss room took the lead. We made our way through the dungeon with no trouble at all... Which is always a lovely sign.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Majiku asked.
"Shut up," I said.
"I know you are."
"Yes... I am... Shut your hole."
The last time things went this well, we had our lives in the real world taken away and basically put on the chopping block. Finally, we reached the entrance to the boss chamber. Maj and I had missed this narrow walkway that had stairs going up it. Diavel walked up to the doors, turned to face the raid, and drove his sword into the ground.
"Alright, everyone. I only have one thing to say. Let's win this thing!"
Somebody give this man the 'greatest motivational speech' award. I glanced back and Kirito and the girl had drawn their swords, ready to dash to the left. He nodded at me and I nodded back.
"You ready?" I asked Maj.
"Born ready. Let's kick this boss right on its ass." I should have sent him up to pump everyone up. That was way better than 'Let's win!' but maybe slightly inappropriate. The doors of the boss room opened and the room lit up. I could hear the Kobold Lord roar and slam into the center of the room.
Diavel raised his sword and shouted. "Commence attack!"
A battle cry went out and the party flooded in. We waited for the group to clear the doors and me and Maj ran to the right side of the room, while Kirito and the girl ran left. The battle to clear the first floor had begun.
The battle raged for a solid 20 minutes. Surprisingly there had been no casualties at all.
Most of that was thanks to Diavel's leadership. He had perfect timing to the boss' attacks like he could see them coming. I suspected that he was a former beta tester, but even if he was I didn't care. Honestly, if you think about it, the beta testers only had outdated information and minimal experience. With enough work, the experience could be obtained, and information was far from sparse thanks to the network of info brokers.
I was able to catch a glimpse of Kirito and the girl as they fought and they were doing well. The girl had blinding speed, I could never actually see the tip of her sword when she attacked. Kirito also moved like he had been in this fight before. He kept their timing down perfect for their switch attacks. As for Maj and I, we had offed five of the Sentinels and were still on a roll.
"Hey, this is actually kinda fun," Majiku said as I spun over him. I used the momentum of my spin to add to my new skill Horizontal Arc. It was basically a slant, but a horizontal slash. It was stronger and had a wider area of affect than the Horizontal that I used on the Neptunes. With that, it was plenty to take down the Sentinels and move on.
"Well we are in a game, it had better be fun," I said as we moved on to the sixth.
Just then Illfang roared and his buckler landed next to us. We looked over and his last health bar had dipped into the red. It was time for the switch. Only the plan for everyone to rush it had apparently changed. Diavel stepped forward and yelled something. I was too far away to hear him, but it looked like he was challenging the boss by himself.
"You idiot! Don't go in by yourself!" I yelled as loud as I could. Diavel didn't hear me, but Kirito did. He looked over just as Illfang was drawing his... What the heck kind of Talwar is that?
Wait... Not a Talwar... I think that's a Nodachi. Oh, crap... Our info is wrong. It must have changed from the beta. Kirito must have caught on to cause he made a beeline to Diavel.
"Wait! It's no good! GET OUT OF THERE!" He yelled. I turned to Maj and he nodded, his expression clear. Go.
I dashed as fast as I could. By the time I was about halfway through the room (which was maybe a second or so) the boss lunged. Only his patterns were so random that I couldn't follow them. Then he bounced off of a pillar and went straight for Diavel. Before Diavel could raise his shield to defend, the boss got him right across the chest.
"Damn, NO!" I accelerated as fast as I could and slid under the boss to place myself right in front of him. I deflected his second blow while Kirito tended to Diavel.
Everyone was too stunned to move so I snapped them out of it.
"Tanks, aggro, get him away from Diavel!" I yelled.
Someone picked up because they started bashing their shields to get the attention of the boss. Illfang growled and jumped away. By the time I turned to look at Diavel, he was already disappearing. I focused and caught his final words to Kirito.
"For everyone here."
He shattered, gone. It fully sunk in how quick death can be here, and how dangerous and almost stupid all of this is.
Rage filled my body. The Sentinals must have stopped spawning because Majiku and the girl were running to us. Before either of them got to us I dashed to the boss and yelled
"I'm gonna cut you into little pieces you overgrown wolf!"
Majiku had to grab me and pull me back. "Easy man, I wanna kill him too but we can't just rush in. Look where that got Diavel." Kirito turned to us.
"No offense to you guys, but it would be better if we took the boss since we are faster. Just stay close and watch our backs." He dashed off with the girl hot on his heels.
I didn't argue. We definitely were wired for hitting hard, not fast. Still, I was pissed. We followed behind and stopped just out of range of the boss's attacks. We watched as Kirito deflected the boss's sword up with perfect form, while the girl jumped in.
I saw one of the eyes of the boss flash. Apparently, Kirito did too because he shouted.
"Look out, Asuna!"
Asuna got the hint and ducked at the last second, the boss' sword flew over her. She was fine but her cloak had disintegrated, revealing a beautiful face with long chestnut hair braided into the center. She raised her rapier and lunged at the boss full force. She hit it so hard that the boss stumbled back.
Sadly, It didn't take him long to regain his balance. He lunged at Asuna with blinding speed. Kirito moved fast, putting himself and his blade between Asuna and Illfang. But he was a fraction of a second to slow and some of the boss' sword caught Kirito and sent him flying into Asuna, and in turn, her flying.
Kirito was lying on his back while Asuna leaned over him. I was sure the hit wouldn't kill him, but it probably didn't feel good either. Maj and I raced to their aid. The boss had closed the distance fast and I was worried that we wouldn't make it in time. Just as the boss swung his sword, there was a flash of yellow over Asuna. It intercepted the boss' blade and hit it away. It was Agil. Wielding an Ax as long as he was. A shout came from behind him and his group advanced on the boss.
"We can hold this bastard off until your Health's back up." He said turning to Kirito.
Then Agil turned to us, we nodded to him, and raced to the boss to hold him off if not beat him. We skirmished with the boss for about a minute when one of Agil's group misstepped and lost his balance. I was about to rush to him, but Kirito and Asuna dashed past me. Kirito jumped in and swiped The boss's sword away. Then Asuna jumped in with rapid-fire attacks and knocking the boss off balance again.
The final hit came from a devastating slash from Kirito, who bellowed in anger as he cut the boss in half vertically. The boss stumbled then froze, then he began to shine. Then he exploded in a sea of white crystals, that almost looked like snow.
The entire room was silent. Then it was broken by screams of victory. Majiku drove his sword into the ground and leaned on it.
"Damn, that guy was tough." He said, clearly exhausted.
"Yeah," was all I could manage.
I felt like hell. I was tired, angry, and sad.
Why would Diavel just run in? He was reading the attacks so well. Like he had seen them before. He was so confident in what the boss was gonna do that he had a sword skill ready before the boss had fully switched weapons. It hit me... He WAS a former beta tester. If that was the case then he was gunning for the Last attack. I drove my fist into the wall next to me.
"You stupid, reckless, idiot," I said under my breath. Then a shout came from the center of the room.
"STOP CHEERING!"
It was Kibau, slumped over and in tears. "Why did you do it, huh? Why did you let Diavel die?" He directed his question to Kirito, who was kneeling where the boss was. He looked like someone had just slapped him.
"Let him die?" Kirito must have been wiped too because that's all that came out.
"You heard me!" Kibau yelled. "You knew what the boss' attacks were gonna be, didn't you? You could have warned him!" I was so stunned I couldn't process a thought. Of course he didn't know beforehand. And if Kibau was listening, Kirito and myself told Diavel to get out. But he didn't.
Another player chimed in. "I know how he knew, he used to be a beta tester!" The random guy explained. "Think about it! He knew the boss' attacks! He knew, but he kept it from us!"
I couldn't stop myself... "You twit!" Everyone looked at me wide-eyed while I stared Kibau down. "Diavel wasn't thinking. Any real gamer with experience knows you shouldn't rush a boss headfirst alone unless you have a death wish."
"Seriously," Majiku chimed in. "What's more, the information we had was based on info from a beta. We can't take that as 100% truth. We have to be smarter."
"Tsk," Kibau snorted. "Who do you think you are, lecturing us?"
"Someone who can tell the difference between a Talwar and a Nodachi you arrogant-" I was luckily cut off before I could finish my insult.. But the cause was unexpected.
Kirito was chuckling... Then his chuckle turned into all-out laughter. I turned to look at Kirito as he got to his feet.
"So you guys think I used to be a beta tester?" Kirito stood, his eyes took a sinister shadow to them, but I could tell he was freaking out. "It's not right to put me in the same class as those NOOBs," he said with a condescending tone.
What are you doing, man? You're gonna make them... Wait, is that what you want?
Kibau spoke up. "Wha-What did you say?"
"You heard me! Most of the testers in SAO were new. They were so green, they didn't even know how to level up. Hell, even you guys are better than them," Kirito explained, walking to the center of the room. "But me. I'm nothing like those guys, man. I made it to floors higher than any of the testers. I knew about the boss because I fought more monsters on higher floors with way more sword skills." He lowered his gaze and smirked. "I know a bunch of other things too. More than you can imagine. More than any info broker."
Thoughts were racing through my head. You made your point man, they were bad, you're a badass, shut up now. Kibau looked up from the ground and looked eyes with Kritio. Bitterness and anger welled up in him.
"If that's true then you're worse than a tester. You're a goddamned cheater, that's what you are!" Others chimed in with Kibaus remarks.
"He's a beta tester and a cheater! He's a Beater!" One yelled. This made Kirito perk up.
"A Beater, yea that's good. OK, you can call me a Beater. Just make sure you don't class me with those testers anymore."
Kirito opened his inventory and equipped a studded blue trench coat that flowed to rest around his ankles. He shot another proud smile to Kibau and walked away. I wanted to run after him, but that would kill the effect he was going for. Suddenly the girl, Asuna, ran up to meet him before he got all the way up the stairs. They had a quick exchange, It almost sounded like Asuna laughed. Then, Kirito turned away and walked out of the room towards the staircase to the next floor. Leaving Asuna, and everyone else behind.
End of Part One.