Chapter 3: Hope
The sunlight streamed in through the window, casting the room in a dusky glow. Very faintly, one could hear the chirping of the virtual birds outside.
It was a pretty simple room really; a bedside table, a dresser-cabinet, and a single queen size bed - all made of a certain wood. (A few gamers suspected virtual pine wood.) The layout was almost identical to hotels in the real world.
That single bed contained two suspiciously human shaped lumps.
The one closer to the door was a bundle of blankets, wrapped around a slumbering figure. Completely cocooned in fabric, the only parts that could be seen were her relaxed, serene face and black, shoulder length hair, hanging outside her protective - cloth - barrier.
With a yawn like a cat, the girl curled up even further into a kind of fetal position, arms tucked and legs pulled in. Her hair gently shined as the movement reflected the light. Murmuring something in her dreams, her hand made a scratching motion.
Next to her, silently watching her, was a boy. His face was impassive, his black hair messy. He too had a blanket wrapped around him, to keep the chilly, crisp air away from his exposed skin.
After a while, his eye twitched.
Kirito had just woken up, alerted by the «Alarm Clock» function found under the time-options in the menu. Once a set time was inputted, the player could go to sleep peacefully, at least until a shrill blast of noise unmercifully wakes them up. Only the player could hear their own «Alarm Clock» tones, so Mane, in the adjacent bed, had not been roused from her sound slumber.
Heart still pounding from the sheer abruptness of the alarm, Kirito took several deep breaths to calm himself down. His mind still a jumble of disorganized thoughts and feelings, he stared dumbly at Mane's sleeping form for a long time.
By the time they had left the private house, it had already reached 11:00 Aincrad Standard Time, and both of them were completely exhausted. However, Kirito only knew the locations of rentable rooms with only one bed, as he had played solo during the Beta. Not wanting to waste time searching for a double-bed room, they agreed to sleep in one bed, albeit a pretty large one with both of them on opposite ends.
Though Mane had lost most of her memories, she still remembered gender differences and retained her sense of privacy.
In Aincrad, there were no germs or illnesses apart from status conditions, so one did not have to shower or wash their hands. They had quickly changed in the adjacent bathroom, one at a time, and went straight to sleep.
Now, just after 9:00 in the morning, Kirito finally somewhat regained control of his thoughts.
You were sleeping with a girl in the same bed. A voice echoed in his head.
His eye twitched again. Opposite sides! As far apart as possible. It might as well have just been two beds. Besides, the system prohibits that kind of stuff!
Well, whatever you say. The voice snickered, then faded.
Sighing, Kirito turned away to face the window. He pinched his thumb and index finger together and pulled downwards, drawing out the faintly glowing menu.
Scrolling down the list of options, he dragged his finger right across Friends/Guild, bringing out three sub-menus: Party, Friends, and Guild. With another tap, a list with three names on it appeared in an overlapping window. All three were glowing green, signaling they were online.
Basically, now that SAO was a death game, it meant that they were still alive.
Kirito selected the first name on the list. Several actions popped up: Private Chat, Private Messaging, Position Check, and Profile. He hesitated, and then tapped Private Chat.
The window minimized, leaving another screen in its place. The animated image of an letter flapping in the wind appeared, with the words, "Sending chat request" in old-style cursive.
Kirito had waited for less than five seconds before the animation vanished. The screen filled up with a live image coming from somewhere on the first floor. Most of the picture was taken up by a man with reddish, spiky hair held up by a bandanna. The stubble on his chin and raffish look of his eyes gave him the impression of a «Bandit».
In the background, all Kirito could see was a wall, consisting of wooden boards. That probably meant the guy was in one of Starting City's many Inns...
"-this how I do it? Hey! Kirito!" The man's face split into a wide smile.
"Klein. You all right? Did you find your friends?"
Klein waved his hands in front of him in a HOLD IT gesture. "Hey, hey, hold up Kirito. You all right? You seem different."
"I... different? What?"
"You seem more... happy. Eh, never mind. Yeah, I found my friends." Klein turned around to face someone off-screen and called, "Hey, Kunimittz! Daichi! Riku! Where's Takumi!? Still asleep? Whatever, come over here! This is Kirito!"
Three heads poked into view, two over Klein's shoulders and one barely visible behind all of them.
"Yeah, Kirito, these are my friends! Say hello, guys!"
"Haiyas!"
"Hello."
"Hi!"
Klein indicated a cyan-haired man with a small goatee leaning on his shoulder. "This is Kunimittz, and this guy..." He pointed to the man on his other shoulder, with a thin face and spiky brown hair. "...is Riku. The guy behind me is Daichi. Takumi is still sleeping."
"Hey! Can you guys move over!?" Daichi tried to push his way into view.
"No!"
The four people on-screen started a friendly bout of bickering, vying for a clear position on the video chat. Kirito couldn't help but smile.
After a small scuffle, the black-haired man, Daichi, suddenly remembered that Klein still had his chat open with Kirito. "Hey, you're Kirito, right? This might be a little late, but thanks for helping Klein out!"
The fighting abruptly stopped, and the other two also turned to face Kirito. "Yeah! Thank you!"
Surprised, Kirito didn't react for a few moments, mouth slightly open. He blinked several times. "Uh... yeah... it was nothing. You're... welcome?"
The three men, probably around the same age as Klein and definitely at least 5 years older than Kirito, continued to bow and express their gratitude while Kirito sat in awkward silence.
After what seemed like ages to Kirito, Klein noticed his friend's discomfort and pushed all of them ruthlessly aside. "Oi, Oi! He gets it! Yeah, I'm thankful too, but he doesn't need you guys worshiping him!" He made a Shoo, pest! motion. "Go on, go wake up Takumi. I want to talk with young Kirito here for a while."
With several laughs, indicating they were just poking fun at the embarrassed swordsman on-screen, they ran out of the room, eagerly discussing ways they could unmercifully end Takumi's peaceful sleep.
Both Klein and Kirito heaved deep sighs as soon as the trio was out of earshot.
"We might be men but we'll always be children at heart." Klein said with a tired smile. "Not a lot of people here are as optimistic as we are though... or as crazy."
"...how's the situation at Starting City?"
"Not very good." Klein shook his head, his expression now becoming more serious. "Lots of players are wandering aimlessly in the streets. Some are crying... some just stare blankly. The inns are full with people saying that they'll wait there until they got logged out, no matter how long it took."
Kirito looked down at his knees. His brow furrowed.
"Yeah, I still can't really believe it either... how can Kayaba Akihiko just trap all of us like this? When I found my friends, they were just as shocked. Daichi was even crying, I feel like he almost went mad..." Shutting his eyes for a long moment, Klein continued, "There was a kid... he was about your age. He jumped off the side of Aincrad."
Kirito's head shot up and his eyes widened. "What!?"
"I was there, with the rest of my friends..." He paused, and took a deep breath. "He shouted something about how the NerveGear's programming would automatically wake you up if you got disconnected from the system, and he jumped off the north edge of the city, the viewing platform. He fell..."
The black-haired boy stared at Klein in stunned silence.
"...there was a player who had already put a skill point into «Searching», and he was one of the people at the edge watching. Nobody else could track the boy to the end, but he said the boy's avatar had shattered into polygons as soon as he reached the cloud cover below... that was when he died, right?"
Kirito regained limited control of his speech. "That... that's..."
"Not only him, but about a hundred others followed his example... they all jumped off. They all died... in-game, at least. We don't know if they really died in the real world... I guess we'll never know."
Kirito finally spluttered out, "That's... horrible. Why... they could have at least tried! Why...?"
"...they wanted to go home... they didn't have any hope or faith that the 100th floor could be cleared, I think. They've done what they've done. We can't change their actions..."
Kirito was still unable to completely grasp the meaning of the situation. He looked down at his open palm. "I...but..."
The news of over a hundred people committing suicide was too much for him.
All those people... Gone?
"But!" Klein thrust his finger at the screen, causing Kirito to flinch and look back up. "My friends and I aren't like that! We believe we can clear the game! We won't give up or lose hope"
Blinking rapidly, Kirito hung open slightly. "Klein..." Some indescribable emotion welled up in his heart.
"We've all agreed we'll be part of those clearing the 100th floor! I'm not going to kick the bucket until I get back home and eat that pizza!"
Kirito instinctively slammed his fist into the screen. Klein jerked back, though it seemed like he had expected it.
"Hey, hey, watch it man. So... Kirito, can you help us? We can't do it without you."
"...eh?" Kirito lowered his arm.
"Out of all of us, only I know a little about swords skills, which I learned from you. The rest of us are still pretty much newbies... we still need info and teaching. Even I still don't know everything, I only learned a little. You're a beta tester, you can help us a lot..." Klein nodded. "So... please, can you teach us?"
Kirito opened his mouth to answer, then paused. "I...uh..."
Indecision wracked him. He wanted to help, yet at the same time, he wanted to just go off and train by himself. His old solo tendencies, his selfishness, were fighting with his desire to help Klein.
And it looked like selfishness was winning.
"Eh... I..."
"...Kirito-kun?"
Startled, Kirito jerked his head around and saw Mane sitting behind him, still wrapped in blankets. Her hair was slightly messy, her eyes still half closed from sleep.
She yawned, then perched her head on his shoulder. "Kirito-kun... who is this?"
She must have gotten up while I was still talking with Klein...
"Uh, Mane, do you feel better now?"
She stretched an arm, shivering as her virtual blood flow started up again. "Yes... I feel a lot better... who is this?"
Kirito indicated Klein, on-screen. "This is my friend... I met him yesterday in Starting City... his name is Klein. Klein...?"
He turned back to the video chat and blinked. Klein was staring at him with a huge frown on his face.
"Uh... Klein?"
No response.
"Klein? Kleeiiiiinnn? You lagging or something?"
Klein finally spoke, his voice coming out dangerously menacing.
"Kirito... you said your sister didn't play this game."
"Huh?"
"You said your sister didn't play this game! Yet there she is!" Klein pointed an accusing finger. "She's so cute! You lieeeeed to me!"
If this were a manga, Kirito would have a large sweatdrop on the back of his head. "Uh... Klein... I, uh... She's not..."
"YOU LIEEEEEEEEEE-URK!"
A four-man dog-pile fell on top of Klein, crushing him into the floor with a resounding crash.
An eerie silence descended. Kirito could just feel the rage and tension emanating from the man at the bottom.
"DARN YOU ALL!" Klein roared.
"Haha, gotcha chief."
"We sure got you good this time!"
"This is payback for that door-water bucket trap a few days ago."
"Sorry Klein... they talked me into it. I couldn't resist."
Both Mane and Kirito watched with incredulous looks on their faces as Klein jumped up and started bashing the brains out of his friends. Yelled profanities and general screams of pain wafted up from the screen.
It looked like the group had completely forgotten about the pair watching them.
Mane giggled, covering her mouth with one hand. "Eh... they're funny."
Suddenly, the fighting froze. As one, Klein and all four of his friends turned to face Mane and Kirito, faces deadpan.
Kirito became nervous. He fidgeted. "Uh... I, er, I mean... Klein, she's... not my sister."
The mood in the room did a complete one-eighty, from rage to questioning. Klein jumped back to the screen, and the rest of the guys crowded around him. "What do you mean not your sister? You two are obviously siblings. Look at the resemblance!"
His friends studied Mane and Kirito's faces, then chimed in with "Yup"s and "That's right"s.
Kirito looked at Mane, seeing some of his features reflected in her. He sighed, then turned back to the chat. "While, yes, we do look alike... she's not my sister. We only met yesterday..."
Mane nodded in confirmation. Klein made a noise of disbelief, something akin to a fart.
"Well," Klein screwed up his face. "if you say so..."
An awkward silence filled the air as neither party knew what to talk about next.
The blue-haired one, Kunimittz, abruptly leaned in. "Your name is Mane, right? Can you be my girlfriend?"
Mane flinched, then blinked. "I... er... what?"
Kunimittz clasped his hands together in an I beg you way. "Pretty please?"
The other three, Daichi, Riku, and Takumi, instantly pushed Kunimittz aside and all began shouting variations of "Will you go out with me?" and "Please!".
Mane just sat there in amazement, completely confused.
Kirito turned his head to look at her. She wasn't blushing at all...
I guess she forgot what a girlfriend is...Kirito thought.
Klein suddenly stood up. With an annoyed tone, "Oi! Guys, I'm not done talking with Kirito here yet! Go mess around somewhere else! Sheesh..."
And he booted all of them out of the door, slammed it shut, and latched it. With the deepest sigh Kirito ever heard, Klein turned back to the chat screen and half-smiled.
"Such a rowdy bunch... at least they're in a better condition than most players. We have more of a hope... so, Kirito, can you help us train?"
Kirito hesitated. "Ah... I..."
"Can we?"
"Huh?"
Mane leaned forward, still over his shoulder. There was a smile on her face. "Uh, Can we help them?"
"You want to?"
"Yes... I... just want to help... help them. They... eh, are..." Mane giggled again. "very... funny. And… they're your friends, right, Kirito-kun?"
"Uh…"
Mane then continued with innocent logic, "They also want to help get everyone back to the real world, right? We should help them… like… you helped me."
She started stuttering near to end, for some reason. Kirito watched her for a moment.
If he were to go help Klein and his friends, he would lose valuable training time, time that could be used to get himself stronger. He would fall behind the other beta testers.
But... if he did so… he would be abandoning his friend… and the friends of his friend. A cold, heartless élite player not caring about anyone but himself…
Kirito remembered the events from the day before, his meeting with Mane and his farewell to Klein. He remembered the strange pain and sadness… the feeling of loneliness, solitude.
What am I fighting for? The question suddenly presented itself to him.
I am… fighting for…
For everyone, for his friends, for his family. To break open the cage of Sword Art Online, to safely bring home everyone…
"Eh, alright, if you say so…"
"Yay!" Mane happily squeezed his shoulders, causing Kirito to flush slightly. She got up. "I'll get ready!"
And she crawled back to the other side of the bed, brought out the menu, and began putting on her armor/clothes. Kirito remembered to look away.
He turned his attention back to Klein, who was studying them intently. Suddenly, Kirito was reminded of how Heathcliff had watched him yesterday when he first met. The two stares were uncannily identical.
"Uh, Klein? Klein, we'll help you…"
Klein watched them for a few more seconds, mouth open, then snapped it shut and clapped his hands together. "Alright! Where do you want to meet? By the way, where are you right now?"
"You can use the «Find Location» function on your friend's list, you know… I'm at Horunka Village. It's too dangerous here for people who don't know the monster attack patterns, especially in larger groups. I'll go back to Starting City to meet you. Which inn are you in?"
Klein exited the room, video chat following him around. He looked up, reading the room plaque. "Eh… the Sleepy Wolf Inn."
"I'll meet you there."
"Okay…" Klein looked back down and smiled.
"Klein..."
"Yeah?"
"How... how are you guys so calm? We're trapped here... People are committing suicide... Mane cried... people are crying... I... even... even I cried yesterday..."
It bugged Kirito. "How are you guys so happy? You and Kunimittz... Daichi, Takumi, Riku. How are you all so carefree?"
Klein was silent for a long moment.
"I guess... it's because we have each other. We've overcome many things together, before. We... believe in each other, all of us together. We know we'll overcome this too... we trust each other."
Kirito stared. Trust...? Friends...?
"Either that, or we're pretty much totally insane nutcases... Eh, Kirito?"
"Yes… Klein?"
"Thank you. Thanks for helping us. I always… knew you were a good guy."
Kirito blinked several times as a foreign feeling welled up in his heart. "I… Thank you, Klein."
"No problem. We're friends, aren't we?" Klein waved. "See ya in a bit."
The screen blinked black, and the window vanished from existence. Kirito suddenly felt exhausted.
He finally recognized the feeling in his chest as gratitude. Happiness.
The left corner of his mouth tipped upwards.
Friends… eh…
"Kirito-kun!"
Kirito looked up. Mane walked out of the bathroom. She had shed the blankets and was now clothed in her basic armor. Historica hung on her back, hilt glittering in the dusky morning sun.
"Come on, Kirito-kun! Hurry up!"
Suddenly conscious of still being in his default sleepwear and having a blanket wrapped around him, he quickly moved to towards the bathroom, shooing Mane away.
The thoughts of friends were pushed aside for the moment.
The road back to the city was deserted. Neither players nor monsters were encountered, which made Kirito wary.
With soft footsteps, Kirito silently glanced both ways, then behind him. His enhanced vision from his «Searching» revealed only Mane, who was stretching behind him, yawning.
"There should be at least some enemies around..." he muttered. Mane looked at him quizzically, and he waved his hand in dismissal.
The absence of any monster mobs meant that there was someone, or a party, hunting them, and that they had only recently moved on, since the mobs haven't respawned yet.
Strangely, he felt... relieved some people were hunting the mobs. As if a great weight had been lifted from him, to see that not all the players had given up hope like Klein had said.
The morning sun shone brightly from the side, illuminating the plains area. Once the time reached somewhere around noon, the sun would disappear behind the ceiling of the first floor, and the bottom of the second floor would shine a bright blue, imitating a clear azure sky.
Kirito looked in the direction of the sunrise, a picturesque scene of trees, grass, and light. The sight calmed him, warmed his heart. His movement paused as he contemplated the scene.
Next to him, Mane followed his eyes and beheld the landscape.
"It's... pretty." She said quietly.
"...yeah." Kirito softly replied.
Back in real life, Kirito liked to watch scenes such as this. In anime, or perhaps the rare beautiful sunrise in the Tokyo skyline. It was one of the few things Kirito had appreciated in the real world...
"I... like this. It's so... peaceful." Mane's voice was barely a whisper.
Kirito simply nodded in response. After watching the plains for a while longer, he turned to continue.
His boot clanked on something hard. Flinching at the sudden contact, Kirito looked down.
A long, steel object. A sword. A Basic Sword, to be exact.
A basic sword, lying down here with no owner in sight.
...!
Kirito's throat went dry. Kneeling over, he tapped on the blade and examined the stats.
The durability was almost completely full, which meant the sword had only just dropped to the ground, without an owner. Possibly less than 10 minutes ago.
...that means...
Something prickled at the back of his neck. His «Searching» alerted him to another dropped item on the ground with a bleep.
Slowly looking up, he eyes focused upon another Basic Sword, lying on the ground a few meters away. The steel glinted at him knowingly.
And another, slightly to the left.
And another. And another.
And another.
Six Basic Swords lying on the ground with their owners nowhere in sight. Kirito's hand trembled.
What... how did...?
Mane looked away from the sunrise and ran over to him. "Kirito-kun? What...?"
A sound rung softly in Kirito's ears, «Searching» alerting him to another player. Kirito's head snapped up.
A cursor, green in color, due North. Obscured by a clump of trees, it moved erratically, back and forth.
Rising to a crouch, Kirito quickly rushed forward. Confused, Mane followed.
The cursor abruptly changed course, settling on a path straight towards the two. Unlike before, it approached linearly, without any bends.
Suddenly, the undergrowth rustled, and a figure leaped through the bushes. Kirito quickly identified it as a player. Panting, the man rolled head over heels, clumsily stumbled to his feet, and continued running towards them.
The HP bar curved around his body around shoulder height was in the red zone, denoting serious damage.
Almost immediately after him, a large "SQUEEEE" was heard, and a «Blue Boar» came hurtling out. It's HP was still just barely in the green, hovering at around 51%.
It's little red eyes squinted with anger. Squealing again, it charged straight towards the retreating player, closing the distance at an astonishing rate.
But before it could close half the distance, a sharp blade swung in and cut open its side. Rearing, the «Blue Boar» screamed in pain, halting its charge.
Kirito, having unleashed a charging «Horizontal» attack, stepped past the boar a few paces due to momentum, then turned to deal the killing blow.
Mane had already launched herself at the boar, Historica in hand. The sword, with a thin streak of silver light trailing behind it, flew perfectly straight and pierced the boar through its snout, mounting it like a shish-kebab.
It's HP dropped to zero. With no further sounds, the boar glowed and shattered.
In the aftermath of the quick execution, the silence felt heavy as a blanket, broken only by the panting of the player as he rested, hands on his knees.
Kirito sheathed the «Anneal Blade» he had recently acquired, and Mane did likewise with Historica. Kirito turned towards the player, digging in the pouch on his belt. He withdrew two bottles of red liquid.
"Hey, you alright? Here, take this. It'll heal you..."
Without looking up, the player extended his hand for the potions. His breathing was ragged, and had this occurred in the real world, Kirito guessed he would be covered in sweat. He handed over the healing items, and the guy popped the cork from one and started inhaling it.
The player had silver hair, which was most likely the color in real life, since it was highly improbably one would have had the time, Col, and heart to change their appearance so early in the game. His features showed he was in his teenage years, perhaps the same age as Kirito, so it wasn't likely it was his natural hair color. Perhaps he had dyed it... it was mostly short, with the exception of a small manly ponytail hanging down his back.
His face was tense, due to the close brush with death he had earlier. His grey eyes looked clouded over, and his mouth hung slightly open due to exhaustion and fear. A few droplets of potion dribbled onto the grass below.
Both potions disappeared in a matter of seconds. Sighing as some of his tension abated, he looked at Kirito with gratitude.
That expression also contained a bit of sorrow.
"Thanks, guys. You saved my life."
"...what happened here? I can tell... six people have died here. What's your name?"
"..." The player looked down at his lap. Mane stepped closer to Kirito, listening. She clutched his arm.
The silver-haired guy, taking a few moments to gather his thoughts and ready himself, began talking.
"My name... my name is Sirius." He swallowed, and continued.
"...My friends and I, we... we wanted to clear the game. We thought... we thought we would be able to actually do something. Something to help us get back to reality..."
Kirito and Mane listened in silence.
"We got together this morning, and decided to start by hunting these small mobs, the «Blue Boars». They were just milling around here... we attacked one with our weapons, but it seemed like we couldn't do much damage..."
They didn't use sword skills!? Kirito's eyes narrowed.
If one didn't allocate their skill points into some sort of combat skill tree before battle, they wouldn't be able to use sword skills... likewise, if they just swung their swords wildly, without assuming the starting position of the skill in some way, the skills would not activate. Without the power of the «System Assist», attacks made by any weapons dealt minimal to zero damage. In addition, the movements were slow and could easily be dodged even by the simple AI of the «Blue Boars».
"Then it got mad... it charged into one of my friends, and he started to scream and run away... he was trampled... he died."
Sirius gulped, the memory momentarily overwhelming him. "A bunch of them showed up. I tried to fight back... but I... those boars were screaming, my friends were screaming, and their eyes... those boars, they were... horrifying." He shivered. "It was... just pure chaos. We were all screaming. Everyone... they all died, one by one..."
His eyes looked haunted, hollow, as if all he could see were the boars slaughtering his friends instead of Mane and Kirito.
As opposed to those on a flat, screen-based game on a computer monitor, the monsters in Sword Art Online looked and felt real, their glowing eyes, the knock back of the attacks. The bare, primal killing intent that could be felt from the enemies. To those gamers used to safety behind a screen, the stark reality of the game had caused much panic among players during the beta testing. The sheer fear, the feeling of danger from a living, breathing opponent ready to actually kill you, not your avatar on-screen, caused players to break down and flee out of pure terror, presenting themselves as easy targets for the hostile monsters.
Kirito himself had run around screaming during his first encounter with a «Blue Boar». He had been trampled from behind and had respawned in the «Room of the Resurrected» with his heart pounding and eyes wide, breathing hard.
But now, there was no more «Room of the Resurrected». Death meant death. No second chances. Sirius' friends would not have the opportunity to learn, to try to cope with the fear. They were gone, an unnoticed part of history now.
Kirito's imagination showed him a cinematic of a group of anonymous players, screaming as they were chased around by hordes of red-eyed «Blue Boars». One by one, their HP was reduced to zero and they shattered mid-cry. Blue particles filled the air as the screams intensified.
It was very likely what Sirius had experienced was exactly the same as what Kirito had imagined.
It seemed a similar image was going through Sirius' mind. His shoulders were shaking.
"I... I was too scared." He gritted his teeth, his hands spasming. "I never stopped to think... I just ran... I didn't think about my friends... I..." His voice broke. "I'm just... despicable."
He looked up. His eyes were hollow and full of... self loathing. His tone rising with anger, he clutched the side of his head. Kirito's eyes narrowed.
"I'm just a failure... I can't even kill the weakest monster in the game!" Sirius gestured violently towards the wilds, where, presumably, more «Blue Boars» were respawning. "I... I... I'm just dead weight... all I did was run!"
Kirito felt Mane's grip on his arm tighten.
Sirius seemed to expend his energy, his rage dissipating and leaving behind an empty husk. His silver hair swung as his head dropped down.
"I'm nothing... I'm just useless. I'll never be able to help, failure as I am..."
Kirito opened his mouth-
"No. Nobody is useless."
-and closed it as he heard the words he had just been about to say come from Mane instead. Surprised, he blinked several times before he looked at her.
Mane was glaring at Sirius, mouth set in a hard line. Her hand shook as she continued to grip Kirito's arm, but her face showed no sign of it.
Yet, Sirius had not reacted at all, as if he hadn't heard. Frowning, Kirito opened-
"No. Nobody is useless."
This time, Sirius reacted. He looked up. "What?"
Mane hesitated, and then Kirito heard, "Life is precious... nobody should just give up! We can all get back to reality, if we have hope!"
Yet, Mane's mouth wasn't moving.
...huh? Kirito thought.
"..eh? Kirito-kun...?"
Kirito was sure heard her, but her voice was rapidly growing fainter. "Mane..?"
"..you...me...?"
Silence. Kirito couldn't hear Mane anymore.
Both of them blinked and looked at each other, bewildered at what had just occurred. Sirius stared blankly at them.
Kirito recovered first and turned back to Sirius.
"...Life is precious. Never, ever give up on life. As long as you have hope, the drive... we can all get back. But we need strategy, too. We can't just rush into things blindly..."
Sirius didn't respond, his eyes showing, wordlessly, just how much he cared.
"...I'm going to Starting City to meet a friend of mine. I... I'm going to teach him and his friends how to survive in this world. I was a beta tester... so I know how. Sirius... would you like to come along?"
The silver-haired boy's eyes slowly lit up, showing interest. He straightened.
"...Sirius. You... should never give up on life."
"I...?"
"Here."
Mane cut in, pulling out her menu and opening her inventory. After a few deft pokes, a longsword materialized in her hands. Kirito recognized it as the «Anneal Blade» she had received from the quest they had completed yesterday. She pushed it into Sirius' hands.
"Take it. Use it. Just help everyone get back to reality... please?"
Stunned, Sirius simply looked at the regal blade in his hands. There was a small ding as ownership was transferred from Mane to Sirius.
"I..." He looked up into their faces, expression incredulous. "Why are you helping me? I... I'm just a worthless person! I... I don't even know your names! Why?"
"...We don't know." Mane and Kirito said in unison.
"Hmm?" Kirito thought.
"Huh?" He heard.
"What... Mane?"
"Eeeh?... Kirito...un..?"
A brief moment of confusion followed as Mane's voice faded again. Sirius gave no sign of him hearing the latter conversation, though, as he looked curious in response to their answer.
Again, Kirito was the one to turn back to Sirius. "Never... ever abandon hope. Your friends... they didn't give up, even until the very end."
Sirius gritted his teeth, then straightened up. With a tired expression, he murmured, "Well... They all died for it, didn't they? Murdered by this thrice blasted game of Kayaba's..."
Kirito felt some kind of emotion, something in his heart. Something directed at the player in front of him, someone who had survived while all his friends had died. He was still alive.
He could fight. He could still clear the game, for the crushed dreams of his friends.
Yet he acted and moved as if most of him had died with his friends.
"It's no use, there's no point anymore. I give up..."
Kirito suddenly snapped. His mouth opened and out spilled out the words he hadn't even realized he was thinking.
"Don't you have any hope?"
"Huh?"
Kirito marched straight up to him. "Don't you have any faith? DON'T YOU THINK THERE'S A CHANCE WE CAN GO HOME!?"
He couldn't explain why he felt so enraged. His hand shot out and hooked onto Sirius' armor, dragging him closer. Mane froze, surprised.
"Listen. The fact, that you, and your friends," Kirito's statements were punctuated with gasps, emphasizing every word as well as making clear his thoughts. "went out, to try and kill these boars, it shows, that you GUYS BELIEVED YOU COULD RETURN TO REALITY!"
Sirius' mouth was half open. Not a sound came from him.
"Your friends, they died, they died trying to help. I'm sure, each and every one them, they had hope! They believed the game could be cleared! That's why you all tried! And you... only you survived... and you... you!... you just don't... you're just..."
Kirito's fingers abruptly opened, releasing Sirius, who stumbled back. He fell silent, hand outstretched in the same position.
His head felt fuzzy, cloudy. Conflicting emotions twisted and clashed.
Kirito's rage, directed at Sirius' lack of faith, was suddenly replaced by sorrow. Sorrow, at the state of, he assumed, most of the people in Aincrad.
And at himself. His violent reaction. Kirito felt ashamed.
There was a tense silence as Kirito stared into space, wrestling with his thoughts, arm still outstretched. Mane was still frozen on her spot, and Sirius was in shock.
Finally, Kirito took a deep breath, and lowered his arm. Feeling weary, he murmured, "Do you... have anything in real life you care about... Anyone you care for?"
Sirius stayed silent. He seemed deep in thought.
"Never, ever give up hope... it is one of the only things we have. Here, in Sword Art Online."
Kirito turned and slowly walked back to where Mane was standing. She was looking at him silently, slightly afraid.
Understandably afraid. He had never acted like this before... Kirito himself was mildly scared of what he had just done.
"Kirito-kun..." Mane began.
He slowly waved his hand in a small, no. motion. "Mane..." He paused, then sighed.
Eyes downcast, Kirito continued to walk away. After some hesitation, Mane followed him.
Sirius remained where he knelt, looking at the ground. The «Anneal Blade» Mane had given him was still grasped in his right hand.
They traveled in silence for a few minutes. The beautiful scenery passing by didn't seem as alluring as it had before.
Even though it was still the morning, Kirito felt incredibly weary as he trudged along the path. He hadn't completely understood what Klein had said until he saw an example of it in Sirius.
"...they wanted to go home... they didn't have any hope or faith that the 100th floor could be cleared, I think. They've done what they've done. We can't change their actions..."
No hope...
If nobody had any hope Sword Art Online could be cleared, how would anybody return to reality?
Mane tugged at his sleeve worriedly. "Um, Kirito..."
He turned his head. "...yes..?"
Mane hesitated, then asked, "Are... are you okay?"
Am I okay?
"I... I just need to think for a while." He turned his focus back to the path.
No faith...
...
A bleep sounded in his ears, alerting him to a nearby player. Kirito didn't turn around, though Mane did. He already knew who it was.
He stopped walking and just stood there, still facing starting city. Mane bumped into him and almost pushed them both over, but they caught themselves just in time.
No longer masked by the sound of their footsteps, the sound of the player approaching was clear to both Kirito and Mane, echoing over the plains.
The sound grew louder until Kirito could tell the maker was right behind him. Then it stopped, and was replaced with the sound of hard breathing. Mane leaned on Kirito's shoulder, but didn't speak.
Kirito waited until the man's breathing had returned to normal, then turned his head around to look at Sirius, who was looking at him with a slightly more determined look than before.
Both wordlessly stared at each other, silently willing the other to start, but each refusing to give in.
Sirius finally said quietly, "I... have a brother. A younger brother. Our parents died in a car crash a few years ago... I've been taking care of him. I... I can't just leave him alone... I need to go home."
Kirito stayed silent.
"I... I need to clear the game... for him. So... I can take care of him. That... is my hope." He hesitated. "So... please... can I come along with you?"
For a few seconds, Kirito didn't respond. Then, almost imperceptibly, he nodded his head.
Then Mane broke the silence. "What's a car?"
…She forgot what a car was? Well, she didn't remember the real world… should make sense.
"Eh, a car is a thing we use to transport people..." Mane appeared to not completely understand, but made no further comment.
Sirius stared at Mane with an incredulous expression on his face. He turned to Kirito for an answer.
Later, Kirito mouthed. Sirius nodded back.
The black-haired swordsman started to walk back towards Starting City. This time, both Mane and Sirius followed, both of them keeping pace with Kirito.
In his rage against Sirius, he had forgotten all about the few moments where he could hear Mane, but Sirius couldn't.
...hope, eh...
Starting City was eerily silent. Normally, at a time such as this, one could hear the sounds of voices, boots on cobblestones, agents hawking their wares.
As the trio approached, not a sound rose from the City, as if the place were deserted.
Mane shivered. "This is scarier than the forest yesterday..."
Kirito felt unnaturally tense, the atmosphere of the city getting to him. The air held a menacing feeling, and Kirito half expected zombies to jump out at them at any moment. The breeze felt dead, with no cool or refreshing feel to it.
The entire city felt like a city of the dead.
The sound of their boots echoed on the stone floor underfoot, ringing desolately as they walked under the giant archway of the Northwest gate. A small notice popped up, signaling they were entering Starting City, and an icon underneath denoted the presence of the «Area Protection Code».
The city streets were mostly deserted at first. However, as they neared the center of the city, the paths began to fill up with players. Most of them were silent, some were crying, some were moping around, staring straight ahead with dead eyes. They usually ignored the three of them, though some bolted their eyes on them with pleading expressions.
Kirito looked around with a heavy feeling on his heart. The bare hopelessness that the denizens of the city gave off caused Kirito to despair. It was as if everyone in the city had already given up.
This… I thought…
Sirius, on the other hand, seemed mostly unaffected by the despairing air that hung over the city. Probably because, he had already spent the night through it, and just before, he had been a part of it.
Mane, however, was ever the frightened girl. She clung to Kirito's arm like a lifeline, casting quick glances with wide eyes at the other players. Kirito could feel her hand shaking as her breathing became louder.
"Kirito-kun…" She whispered eventually after passing a group of dead-eyed girls, huddled together. "I…this is…scary…"
"…I know…" Kirito murmured back. His mouth tightened as he saw one of the girls suddenly break into tears, sobbing. The other girls didn't respond at all.
"It's been like this since the tutorial yesterday…" Sirius grimaced. "People are in shock… my friends and I were in shock, too… then we decided to try to clear the game, like Kayaba told us too… We thought…"
His voice trailed off, and Sirius fell silent. They passed another group of teenagers, who were agitatedly discussing something in hushed whispers. The group gave the trio a look, then went back to their discussion.
Kirito took one last look at the scene around him, then wrenched his mind free of any lingering thoughts and pulled out his menu, bringing out the map of Starting City. Locating the Sleepy Wolf Inn on the eastern quarter of the city, he motioned Mane and Sirius to follow.
From time to time, they witnessed groups of players who had barricaded themselves into inns, claiming that help would come soon. Their plan of action was to wait it out, until, they claimed, Argus would find a loophole in the system Kayaba Akihiko had set in place and free them all. To every player they saw, they warned, don't risk death. You'll be freed soon, don't try going out of the city.
The «Area Protection Code» was set inside almost every city or town in Aincrad, protecting its inhabitants. Should an attempt to harm a player be made, the damage would be negated and in its place, there would be a bright system effect and perhaps a small knockback, depending on the magnitude of the blow. In addition, monsters roaming around could not enter a «Protected Area», therefore creating a safe haven for players.
As it was a large city, Starting City was under the influence of the «Area Protection Code», therefore a completely safe place. These players counted on that fact and decided to wait out freedom in the relative safety of the «Code».
What they didn't know, however, was that once during the beta testing, the «Code» had been disabled in Starting City as a test. While this event had been announced and prepared for in advance, the event still caused many casualties. Hordes of monsters had invaded the streets, and the players had barely managed to fight them off. Respawning had been disabled for both players and monsters, and by the time the last enemy had been slain, more than 75% of the players had been slain, Kirito among them.
Thus, many beta testers, including Kirito, mostly lost their faith in the power of the «Code». If it had happened before, it could happen again.
After passing by several inns full of these kinds of people, the three of them stepped onto the street housing the Sleepy Wolf Inn. It was a commercial kind of street, lined with NPC stalls and shops selling various types of battle equipment, of which included armor, swords, knives, lances, axes, wrist-blades, helms, and even sheaths. Other shops sold miscellaneous items, such as potions, food and drink, and perhaps the rare crystal with only one in stock priced at over five thousand col.
It was a far cry from other areas in Starting City, which were full of unused buildings reserved for player-made item stores and markets. As it was only the second day of Sword Art Online, most of those were empty.
However, the street was deserted. Only a few players buying a late-morning meal or snack could be seen going about. The equipment shops had no customers.
That was why it was easy to spot the group of players standing outside the Sleepy Wolf Inn, talking in hushed voices. As Kirito got closer, he could easily make out the distinctive red spiky hair and bandana that Klein wore.
"Klein!"
Klein looked up from his discussion and waved.
Breaking into a jog, he grabbed Mane's arm and quickly ran over to them. Sirius was left behind for a moment, then he caught up.
"Kirito! You got here alright?" Klein greeted them.
"…sort of." Kirito looked over Klein's friends before continuing, "…we found…"
"Hey, who's this guy?" Klein cut in. He pointed at Sirius, who was lingering uncomfortably near them.
"…eh… Sirius, come over here."
Sirius slowly walked over, then looked over Klein. He carefully stuck out his hand. "Um… I'm Sirius…"
"Nice to meetcha. I'm Klein." Klein took the hand and shook it warmly. Sirius seemed taken aback.
Suddenly, all of Klein's friends showed up out of nowhere, surrounding Sirius. The brown-haired one, Riku, reached out and grabbed his arm. Sirius tried to back off, suddenly sensing danger, but to no avail.
"Hey, you're name's Sirius, right? Hai! My name's…"
And the silver-haired boy was deluged with introductions and carried away. Mane looked incredulously at the scene while Klein snickered.
"Um… Klein. Mane. Can you come over here?" Kirito motioned them closer to the Sleepy Wolf Inn.
When they were clearly out of earshot of Klein's friends, Kirito began explaining what they had encountered on the way to Starting City.
"-six basic swords lying abandoned on the ground. I checked their durability and they had only been dropped seconds ago… Those belonged to Sirius' friends. They tried to go train against the boars, but they didn't know about sword skills… they all died."
Klein's brow furrowed, and he waved Kirito to continue.
"Sirius was the only survivor. I think most of the blue boars went somewhere else after their HP had been lowered slightly… that's part of their AI, if they have any amount of damage and there aren't any enemies in sight, they go to this thicket area and sleep to regenerate. Only one more noticed Sirius and chased him… we managed to kill it and save him."
Kirito suddenly remembered the strange moments where only he had been able to hear Mane, but didn't mention it.
"…so… that's how we found him. I… I think I can teach him as well as you guys…"
Klein still stayed silent.
"Um, Klein?"
Klein finally nodded. "Alright… but later. Kirito, there's something I need to visit with you first."
"Huh? Where?" Kirito tilted his head. Mane, who had been listening, leaned in.
"…It was just discovered this morning, I only heard about it after you called me. Apparently, the «Room of the Resurrected» in the Black Iron Castle? There's a big fat stone tablet in there."
"Stone tablet?"
"Yeah. It has all the names of all the players on it."
Kirito blinked, stunned. "All of them?"
"Yes… all ten thousand. In alphabetical order… Also, those who have died have their name crossed out, with the reason of death written next to it. Remember the kid I told you about who committed suicide yesterday? All those people who followed him?"
"…yes…?" Kirito didn't want to remember.
"Apparently all their names are there, crossed out. It says, 'Suicide: Falling' next to all of them. Also, the 213 who… died… because their NerveGear had been removed, their name are there too, with 'NerveGear Removed' next to them."
Kirito leaned against the side of the building, head spinning. "So… it's a record. A record of all the players."
Mane abruptly latched herself onto Kirito's arm again, laying her head on his shoulder. She was trembling slightly, and Kirito gently laid an arm around her shoulder.
Klein frowned. "Yes… apparently. I want to go check it out before we start… see if we can find our names."
Kirito stared ahead. "…alright."
It was a small chance, but maybe, maybe Kirito could find his name…
"…oh, and Kirito." Some of the good humor returned to Klein's voice.
"Eh..?"
"What's the deal with Mane?" Mane looked up at this. "I'll take your word for it that you're not siblings, but who is she? A relative? Close IRL person?" Klein smiled wryly. "Your girlfriend?"
"…"
He looked to Mane, who was still leaning on his shoulder. She, by the same impulse, looked back at him.
"Umm… is it okay? To tell him you…?" Kirito asked quietly.
Mane tilted her head. "I… I think it's okay. He's your friend, right? You trust him?"
"..yes, he's my friend… I trust him."
"…then it's okay."
Kirito swallowed, wetting his throat, then addressed Klein. "…Mane lost her memories. I found her in Starting City yesterday…" He suddenly remembered how Mane had strangely appeared in front of him, then pushed the memory aside.
"No memories!?" Klein nearly shouted in surprise, then he lowered his voice again as several NPCs looked at him irritably. "No memories? She doesn't remember anything?"
"No… nothing except her name and some random scattered memories. She has some knowledge of the game… but she doesn't remember other things. She… she can't remember anything from reality."
Klein stared in apparent horror at Mane, who shrunk slightly under his gaze. "That… that's…"
Kirito made a gesture with his free hand. "I think… I think she may have been a player… and died, but somehow survived having her brain burnt out… but that doesn't answer many questions. I mean, Kayaba said…"
"…all forms of revival had been disabled, right?" Klein scratched his chin. "Yeah, that doesn't make much sense… but why do you two look so similar?"
"…we don't know." Kirito grimaced. "We don't know…"
Klein gazed at the two of them, deep in thought.
"Well, she's a human being, that's all we know for sure… let's go see that big tablet monument thing. See if there's anything wrong with her name…"
Klein turned and called to his friends. "Oi! Guys, we're going to the Black Iron Castle right now to see that tablet thingy!"
They quickly jogged over, and Kirito was mildly amused to see Sirius's uncomfortable face. While Klein told off his friends for scaring Sirius, the boy in question sidled over closer to Kirito and Mane.
"…they're horrifying." Sirius muttered to Kirito. "I thought the torture would never end… Never, ever again..."
"That sounds... bad." Mane murmured simply.
Kirito gave him a deadpan stare. "…I'll take your word for it."
Sirius abruptly smiled, and gave a small chuckle, before sinking back into his usual gloomy state.
The Black Iron Castle, as the name implied, was an imposing structure constructed completely out of black iron. Over fifty meters high, the castle cast a long shadow in the late morning sun. The dark material seemed to absorb light, giving a commanding and dignified aura. Two towers, twice as high as the surrounding buildings, flanked the front of the building.
During the beta test, it had been a center of activity as game moderators swarmed around trying to file and fix any bugs in the game. Now, the castle was unoccupied, as no Game Moderators were logged on. There were several groups of player talking in hushed tones outside, though.
The inside of the castle was just as regal as the outside. Tall columns lined the walls to support the arched ceiling, which housed a large skylight. Tinted windows were located high on the walls, allowing a small amount of light to gently permeate the room.
The entire construct felt as serene as a library. The air brushed coolly against Kirito's cheek.
As Kirito entered the castle, he immediately noticed a key difference from the beta. Where the entrance to the «Room of the Resurrected» had been during the beta, a tall, black stone monolith stood in its place.
Suddenly walking faster, he noticed the smooth inscriptions upon the tablet's surface. The names of all the players in Aincrad. At the top, the words «Monument of Life» were embossed. Which, he presumed, was the name of the monolith.
He approached the left hand side, leaving behind the rest of the group, and tilted his head to look at the names.
|Aaron
|Aba
|Aberant
|Accelera
The list continued. The names were both a mixture of real names, pseudonyms, or old usernames. Kirito noted a large quantity of (x.X.X) (X.X.x) brackets near the bottom right side of the tablet.
|Audrey
|Aureola
|Auvan : Suicide: Falling
|Avary: Monster: Blue Boar
The first of the crossed out (underlined) names appeared. Kirito began ignoring the ones that were still alive and focused on the names of the dead.
|BaronD : Suicide: Falling
|Bastion: Suicide: Falling
|Benson : Suicide: Falling
|Byakushi: Monster: Blue Boar
|Caishi: Suicide: Falling
|Cooper : Monster: Little Nepent
Kirito paused as he saw the last one.
Cooper… Little Nepent?
The time stamp next to Cooper's name showed he had died yesterday, 9:46 PM Aincrad Standard Time.
There was no doubt.
Cooper… so that was your name.
The name of the player who had tried to MPK him, Mane, and Heathcliff, but died due to inexperience with the «Concealment» skill in the «Hiding» Skillset. Slaughtered, overwhelmed by Little Nepents. Which had, ironically, saved their lives.
Cooper.
"…"
Kirito changed his target, moving around to the center of the «Monument of Life». He bumped into Klein, who was also searching the monolith. Klein gave him a quick glance, before turning his attention back to the names.
"Here's the K section…" Klein pointed it out. Kirito read down it.
|Kain
|Karl
Kirito quickly skipped ahead, to the Ki- list.
|Kim
|Kimberly
A few more seconds, then Kirito found his name, hovering under Kira.
|Kirito
He put a finger on his name. A small electric tingle raced down his spine.
Should he ever die, his name would be crossed out, and the reason for his death would be written here, on the «Monument of Life». The thought made him feel vulnerable.
Shaking the feeling off, Kirito memorized the position of his name, then continued down the list.
"Hey, Kirito, here's my name." Klein waved him over, then pointed it out.
|Klein
"So it is... looks like you're not dead." Kirito examined the name closely. "I suppose you'll die from overeating pizza someday."
"Har Har."
Suddenly struck by a thought, Kirito looked over to see Mane also searching down the list with her finger. He walked over to her and laid a hand on her shoulder.
Mane looked up, then turned her attention back to the list. "Kirito-kun..."
"Hmm?"
"I can't find my name."
Kirito jerked, eyes widening. "What!?"
"I... here... Ma-?"
Kirito quickly scanned the list.
|Mamine
|Manami
|Mao
|Mariko
Mane should have been under Manami and above Mao.
Yet, as Kirito scanned the list again, her name wasn't there.
...how?
She wasn't on the «Monument of Life». Her name was not there.
Confused, he pulled out his menu and friends list, reaffirming the fact that Mane was spelled M-A-N-E. Then he checked the monument again.
No. M-A-N-E did not appear anywhere on the list of names.
He pulled Mane close, as if the fact that her name was not on the monument would cause her to disappear. "Mane... do not mention this to anyone. Anyone, okay?"
"Eh? Uh... okay..."
Kirito stared hard at the space where Mane's name should have been. Slowly, he let go of Mane, who blinked several times.
Mane's name is not on the «Monument of Life».
His eyes turned slightly to the left to look at the girl in question. Innocent expression, wide eyes, slowly scanning the list of names.
Appearing in front of him without any system-assisted teleports. Fragmented memory. Historica. Uncanny similarity. The absence of her name.
Kirito clutched his head and glared back at the obelisk.
The «Monument of Life» carried the names of all ten thousand players on Aincrad.
Mane wasn't on the list.
Yet, Mane was right there. Right in front of him. She was most definitely a player.
...how?
"Klein... let's go." Kirito called without looking away from the obelisk.
"...Yeah. We should go now." Klein scratched his head. "This thing is creeping me out... guys! We're going."
Some sighs of relief came from the side of the room, as all four of Klein's friends turned away from the tablet and walked back outside.
Kirito peeled his eyes from the names and spotted Sirius near the right end of the monument. He jogged over.
"Sirius...?"
Sirius ignored him, gazing at a certain name. Kirito followed his line of sight.
|Susumu: Monster: Blue Boar
The time of death read just a little over an hour ago.
"Oh..." Kirito swallowed. "Was he... one of your...?"
Sirius nodded slowly. "Susumu... he was always the optimistic one. A pretty nice guy..."
It seemed his next words had gotten stuck in his throat; he closed his eyes and bowed his head.
Kirito stayed still for a few moments, then laid an encouraging hand on Sirius' shoulder. Sirius glanced at him for a second, then sighed and walked away.
"Oi, Kirito! We're leaving!" Klein's voice called.
Looking up, Kirito realized he and Mane were the only ones left by the tablet. Everyone else had left and was waiting by the large arched doorway.
Mane looked at him, giving him a look that basically said, "I'll wait for you." He returned it.
This girl... such an enigma. Yet, she felt so unbearably familiar.
He turned back and examined the large monument one last time, locating his name. The obelisk caught a solitary ray of illumination for a moment, winking knowingly.
|Kirito
His name, his life. Crossed out when he dies.
How very fitting.
No. It will never be crossed out.
He had something to do first. He had a goal to accomplish.
Until then, he would not die.
He hoped.
Kirito whirled around and ran back towards Klein and Sirius, Mane following behind.
Author's Note:
I oringinally intended this to be half a chapter... then my beta told me, post in half, and I thought, well, it's New Years. POST IT FOR GOODNESS SAKE.
Yes, this is mostly a filler chapter, but the next chapter will be more action, I promise.
Some of you may have noticed some logical inconsistencies in the previous chapter. I've edited some parts to make it make more sense, but I'll also go back soon and make the reasons more watertight. Thanks to those who reviewed and notified me.
Sirius will be pretty important soon. He's my second OC, whatcha think of him?
I do notice that only Kunimittz remains of Klein's original canon friends. I felt their names were too, eh, I dunno, I just didn't like them. So I gave them some new names. :3
Review Answers
Some reviews cannot be answered for the sake of spoiling, but let me see...
Mane isn't the opposite of Kirito, she's very similar. She has all his old habits, thoughts, etc.
Actually, if you read the light novel chapter, "First Day", he does get to level 4 as well. Quote: "The quest completion message floated in the middle of my vision, the bonus experience points added, and my level got to four." Plus, he, Mane, and Heathcliff fought 3 times as many Nepents as he did in that chapter, the exp was divided up evenly, and so he also gets to level 4 here. Mane does too.
Thanks, Inconspicuous Llama. Avoided certain danger! TAIC is now rated T for safety.
Don't worry about Kirito becoming a sue as well. He's gonna get some serious things coming for him... eheheh...
*Gets stabbed by Kirito, smiles shakily as HP decreases*
Thanks to all who gave constructive criticism and compliments. I really do appreciate it. If you have the time, please review for this chapter as well and help a growing writer bloom :3
Special thanks to Rainbowlalaland, who beta'd this story, and ToumaFF, who referenced TAIC in his story the Prince of Swords. If you haven't read it yet (which I highly doubt), by all means, try it out! It's a well-written fiction. Certainly better than this piece you're reading~
This time, I remembered to do the Disclaimer BEFORE I posted the chapter. I do not own Sword Art Online, only the OCs and the story itself.