Yo, welcome to the second chapter.

December 2, 2025

'Already over three weeks in...'

Kirito silently mused to himself as he trekked back to his campsite. It was late evening on the 26th day of the death game SAO. Located in the ‹‹Northern Forest››, Kirito had placed a ‹‹Campsite›› up in a clearing with dense tree's ringing it. The ‹‹Campsite›› was a quest reward he had received after rescuing a lost explorer who decided to retire and no longer had a need for his camping gear. It set up a small safe area that allowed the player, or any player for that matter to sleep safely within its ring of influence.

When set up it produced a two man sized green tent, two sleeping bags, a small campfire that would always be lit unless the player chose otherwise, and if upgraded the ‹‹Campsite›› could have several optional settings. Something Kirito had yet to invest in as he hadn't returned to Aincrad he wanted to repair his gear or vendor some items he frequented the lumber camp near the forest's edge. Kirito was really interested in acquiring the small chest upgrade for his ‹‹Campsite›› as it would be a place for him to store some items allowing him a longer time in between visits to vendor.

Reaching his clearing he was greeted by the flames glowing a brilliant orange as the sun was mid set, the fire easily kept the clearing toasty. Kirito had swept through the forest for two weeks now. Finding random quests and fighting off the packs or hordes the forest's inhabitants favored. His first week within the game had been spent doing all the lumber camp's quests then going on excursions through the forest. He had been lucky to find the lost hiker, as it was a first come first serve quest. Normally such a nice campsite couldn't be crafted till a tailor was at least 800/1000 into the skill. Which could take months of constant grinding. Most likely longer within this game as he guessed many players were too afraid to venture out to where the mats could be found.

Kirito had encountered one player since he fled the city. ‹‹Coper›› was a guy around his age slightly shorter than Kirito and had brown hair. It was the third day of the game and Kirito had met the boy at the lumber camp in the morning. They had spoken and Kirito explained one of the quests to him. He had guessed Coper was a beta tester to have the guts to try the forest out for leveling but he couldn't have been sure. They had split off in different directions that day.

Kirito was on the final quest for the camp as such he had to venture deep into the forest's eaves and slay a local goblin chieftain. ‹‹Glob Skull the Overbearing›› Kirito had laughed at the name at first picturing a large fat housewife version of a goblin screeching as it nagged the tribe day in and day out. When he finally encountered Glob he realized overbearing really just applied to the amount of detail the goblin put into cleaning his weapon.

It was a large halberd that Glob had wielding with both hands. He had swung it around viciously but Kirito had been level eight at this point while the goblin was only five, the amount of damage that bled through anytime Kirito parried the swings was minimal.

After each block Kirito was able to throw the goblin's weapon off in a random direction causing the goblin to stumble, making it easy for Kirito to activate a small-sword skill and he quickly tore the chieftain down after several combos. After that day he had never encountered Coper again. Due to the risk of the forest and the long time since contact, Kirito assumed Coper had bit off more than he could chew and had paid the price.

From the quests completed, Kirito had managed to obtain an ‹‹Anneal Blade››. It was an awesome sword, but he had never seen it before in the beta because he hadn't really spent much time in the ‹‹Northern Forest›› so he hadn't happened upon the old house in the woods with a sick old woman asking you to bring her medicine from a certain flower found somewhere deeper in the woods.

Currently he had enough mats to upgrade his ‹‹Anneal Blade›› fourteen times. However the max was +10 a weapon could be upgraded and he was currently planning on returning to Aincrad to search for a capable player smith. With the lower percentage chance for each upgrade he was hoping having four spares would be enough to guarantee +10. If not, he dreaded how many more goblins he would have to kill for their rare drop of ‹‹Goblin Whet Stone››.

Sitting down on a log next to the campfire Kirito pulled out a small rabbit he had killed with a throwing pick. Thankfully all players could prepare the most basic meals without having to choose the ‹‹Cooking›› skill. So he roasted it over the fire. During the cooking and subsequent eating, Kirito scanned idly through his menu checking all his player data.

In the past twenty six days he had managed to level up to seventeen. His health was currently at a nice 2,800 points. From his starting point at level one, he had 250 hp then every level earned gave players +50 hp while every point in ‹‹VIT›› was worth +100. Kirito was quite happy with his build. He only had seven skill slots filled currently even though he had all fifteen unlocked. His skills were:

‹‹One-Handed Sword››
‹‹Throwing››
‹‹Searching››
‹‹Hiding››
‹‹Battle Healing››
‹‹Night Vision››
‹‹Martial Arts››

He considered all of these skills to be his core skills. Normally a player would want to fill their skill slots up as quickly as possible as they can only be advanced by being used. So waiting to fill slots for a long time means your new skill will be far behind the others. But Kirito had several plans for his other slots that he couldn't yet fill the skill in, because of the prerequisites that accompany them. Choosing skills was permanent in this game so if he incorrectly filled a slot in it could possibly even lead to his death in this game.

Of the large list immediately available, the skills he had already chosen were the only ones he wanted. Besides that lots of other skills existed within the game, there is nearly an infinite number of skills. He wanted to leave an opening in case he finds another rare skill. Since players can only happen across these skills or unlock there prerequisites. Many skills are still unknown or no one knows how to unlock them. For example Kirito had ‹‹Martial Arts››, a skill he happened across.

While exploring the forest just several days ago he had, chanced upon a clearing. Scanning the clearing with his ‹‹Searching›› skill he discovered no hostile mobs, only one lone NPC. The man was clearly based off of Bruce Lee. He was even dressed similarly. Kirito saw the quest icon floating above so he decided to approach. The NPC spoke first.

"Who goes there? This is my training clearing and I don't appreciate being interrupted."

The man's name appeared ‹‹Master Lee››. Kirito thought,

'Ha, he really is based on Bruce Lee.'

Before he could get further sidetracked however Master Lee dropped into a defensive crouch. Quickly trying to avert a fight.

"Hello sir, I was wandering these woods and I happened upon your clearing by chance."

The NPC didn't really recognize what Kirito said, but since he replied to him it further continued the quest.

"Oh you there look like a warrior. Well then warrior would you like to learn a new skill?"

'A new skill? Must be some form of hand to hand combat skill. I could then use my left hand to fight as well. I bet no one even knows this quest exists.'

Quickly deciding to continue the quest since he liked the possible reward Kirito accepted.

"Well then warrior to learn this skill you must prove your worthiness. Do you see those three trees there? Go chop them down with nothing but your hand. Once all three have fallen I will teach you my new skill. But be warned if you leave this clearing before the trees fall I will not train you."

Kirito nearly had a heart attack when the NPC pointed to three massive trees. Each was at least a meter to two meters wide near the base where he would be expected to chop it down.

'How the hell am I going to do this? I bet the trees just have high durability and I have to punch them over and over...'

And so he did. Kirito punched one tree for near two hours before he got bored and started pretending to do karate chops and roundhouse kicks. Surprisingly when he checked the durability his random attacks were working. With one final karate chop while letting out a mighty.

"HIIII YYYAAAAAA!"

Kirito broke the first tree which incidentally was the largest of the three. Greatly inspired by felling his first adversary Kirito jumped to work on the second one. With his random combination of attacks he found the second one to go much faster than the first. After taking a break to rest Kirito renewed his attacks with vigor hoping to bring the final tree down in time to make it back to his campsite before it was too late at night for him to get a decent night's sleep.

"Oh ho! Congratulations warrior. I will now teach you my skill ‹‹Martial Arts››."

A pop window appeared after Kirito replied announcing.

You now know ‹‹Martial Arts›› good luck young grasshopper.

Exhausted from his exertion Kirito had somehow made his way back to his campsite without running into many mobs.

-[S]-[A]-[O]-

December 3, 2025

Kirito woke up early, so early the sun was just rising. But this was his normal habit, he only slept a few hours each night in the attempt to maximize the amount of time he could spend leveling. Stretching he got lost in his thoughts as he prepared to pack the ‹‹Campsite›› up.

'Heading to the city today is certainly going to be interesting. I need to find a smith, and I should definitely find a player merchant to sell off the loot I don't need.'

Checking his friend's list Kirito saw one name.

Argo

'I should probably try to get in contact with Argo. She messaged me once, around a week ago to see if I was still alive, all I replied was.'

Yes

'Then I ignored all the following messages from her. She is probably going to be furious. Ah well time to leave I have a lot to do today.'

With his thoughts concluded Kirito left his forest clearing, his ‹‹Campsite›› returned to his inventory. The walk back through the forest was uneventful. Even though he had come to find things had changed since the beta, the forest eaves still only housed goblin bands and wolf packs as hostile mobs. With their levels now far below him, they posed no threat. Even the several mini bosses he had slain over his outings wouldn't pose a threat to him anymore.

His plan was to head back to Aincrad and then he would stay there and accomplish his business before the ‹‹First Event›› was supposed to occur. Kirito couldn't help himself he was extremely curious as to what it would be. There had been nothing in the beta that he could imagine being used. The several beta events had basically just been parties involving the players and gm's at the time. With demonstrations of high level skills and gear.

Reaching the edge of the forest's eaves Kirito entered a field full of stumps. Across from his position he could see the small wall that surrounded the lumber camp. Smoke rising from several chimneys.

'Well what do you know, back at the lumber camp. Hmmm I never actually checked what the name of this camp was.'

Deciding to solve his query Kirito opened his menu and checked the map.

'Ahh that simple huh?'

‹‹Northern Lumber Camp››

His answer found he marched across the stump field and into the camp. Not surprised at all he found it vacant except for NPC laborers flitting to and fro working and NPC guards lazily standing at attention at the entrances. Finding nothing out of the ordinary he walked toward the southern end of the camp where the cobblestone road that led from the camp to the city began,

'Or ended depending on where you departed from.'

He mused to himself.

It was past mid-day and Kirito was still a mile out from the city. He could easily see Aincrad's tall walls. They were very visible from the surroundings especially when one found themselves on the surrounding plain. For about 1,500 feet in every direction around the city, no mobs spawned. At that border however plenty of level one ‹‹boars›› could be found.

They were the trash of trash mobs basically moving training dummies. They rewarded minimal col and dropped some very basic items. There one main use besides training was they dropped basic tailoring leather. The farther from the city a player got the boars level would increase up to level five which were located on the very outskirts of the ring of grass. Kirito was actually surprised to find players mixed in with the level four boars. Parties of player duking it out with these insignificant mobs.

'I guess they have to start somewhere...'

Kirito was very thankful that this game had so many cosmetic items in it. It meant that his strange cloak which was a unique reward wouldn't draw attention to him. He hated being the center of attention in any social situation, in fact he hated receiving almost any attention. He would often fidget when someone scrutinized him or glared at him. However, doing or looking like a bad ass was something he loved. It was why he always excelled to be the best when playing video games.

The leather armor he is wearing isn't anything special looking. His ‹‹Anneal Blade›› however, while not flashy certainly looked nice. Looking at it one could tell it was a high quality sword. Fortunately he doubted he would be asked about it by some passerby.

Nearing the city the number of players littering the field only grew. It seemed that the majority of people had only just begun to level up within the last week or less, it would explain why so many people were standing around killing a couple of boars then having to wait for them to re spawn as the lower level boars were literally encased in a mass spawn camp massacre.

Finally he made it to the ‹‹North Gate››. It fit as what one would expect, curved at the top coming down from its arc to the ground. A large thick wooden door nailed and lashed together tightly of large logs from the ‹‹Northern Forest›› made it up. It was studded with iron as a reinforcement and coated with an ointment to prevent it from easily catching fire.

When open the gate was wide enough for six people to walk side by side comfortably through and it stood an impressive eight feet tall. It fit nicely within the large wood logs that made up the outer most wall of the city. Which reached up ten feet and was about two feet thick. The gatehouse which left the gate shadowed was nothing special. All in all the outer most wall of Aincrad which was its first line of defense was nothing special but it did a good job.

'And since NPC's don't exactly just attack the city I think the cosmetic value of the walls certainly is nice.'

Kirito thought as he passed through the gate into the third tier of the city. Houses upon houses crowded the lowest tier of the city. Inn's broke up the houses complete dominance over the district but otherwise the third district certainly wasn't that visually varied. Squat wooden houses big enough to house anywhere from one to five people were everywhere.

Kirito figured since no one would yet be able to afford a house in the first district, all thirty whatever thousand players must be renting the inns out or living in these houses. Since most of the NPC's that otherwise lived in the houses had no purpose when the house was owned they disappeared but would reappear to take ownership of the house if it was ever vacated.

Quickly finishing his 'tour' of the third district Kirito found himself at the ‹‹North Gate›› of the second tier. Sadly for the defense of the city, houses and inns were built in some places all the way up directly to the wall. Making it so with short ladders a besieger could quickly climb the wall from the top of a house.

But the second wall was certainly more impressive then the first. This wall was stone. Blackish grey and imposing. Should one find themselves assaulting this wall they would face a wooden portcullis on both sides along with a two inch thick black iron door that would be slammed closed at the sign of an invader.

Over top the gate stood a much more functional and sturdy looking gatehouse of the same stone. This wall was fifteen feet high and four feet thick. Quite a stout wall. The outer face of the wall was rimmed with battlements to help defenders against ranged weaponry. Large stone towers stood twenty feet apart on either side of the gate, creating a nice crossfire zone effect on the gate.

The towers were very short only extending an additional five feet to top off at twenty feet tall. Besides the two on either side of the gatehouse, these towers were placed 60 feet apart from one another along the ring of the wall. Passing through, Kirito could see that the NPC guards at this gate were at least fifteen levels higher than the ones defending the outer wall, based upon their gear's appearance anyway. Wondering why that was Kirito made his way into the blacksmith section of the Craftsmen District.

Bing!

Surprised by the sudden noise Kirito nearly didn't notice the little icon that appeared on his HUD informing him that he had just received a message.

'A message? Argo must have seen me come into town.'

Kirito realized as he had selected that only friends could send him messages. He paused while walking and put his back to a building so no one could read over his shoulder. Then without further delay he opened it.

Dear Kirito

What do I spy with my little eye? Only a player coming from the ‹‹Northern Lumber Camp›› road first give away, but then he is carrying the highest quality sword I have seen yet, hint two, but the thing that gave away it all to me even though I had yet to see your real face was your color scheme. Really Kirito all black... that's how I knew my Kiri boy was back in town.

Seeing as your here but I am currently busy I can only guess you are here to upgrade your equipment. Because I know this and because I am just glad to see you actually hadn't died but have been receiving my messages I will give you two names and two locations.

They will suit the two needs I am certain you are here to fulfill. But YOU OWE ME! I actually was worried about you, don't ever ignore me again. AND I WILL GET YOU BACK FOR IT! For a smith you want, ‹‹Lizbeth›› she runs her own shop, named ‹‹Heart Forged››. And certainly you must have plenty to sell, for a player merchant go find the guy named ‹‹Agil›› he runs his shop named ‹‹The Black Market›› don't worry no shady business or anything. He may not have the biggest player base to sell to but he mostly deals with the higher level players anyway, who I am guessing would be the only ones able to buy your loot.

Catch ya later Kirito.
-Argo

'Damn she is good.'

Kirito thought as he closed the message smirking slightly.

'Well the merchant district is on the western part of this tier and I was heading to the smiths first might, as well search for Lizbeth since she should be in the northern district.'

25 Minutes later finds Kirito walking into the shop ‹‹Heart Forged››. A small bell jingles as he open the door. A voice calls out from somewhere in another room.

"One moment, I will be there shortly."

Finding himself in a decent sized shop Kirito begins to look around and admire the collection of weapons along the walls and on display.

'Well she certainly has been grinding her ‹‹Blacksmith›› skill. I know halberds can't be made till at least 150/1000.'

He admires the displays as he notices several of said weapon hanging on the left wall. Cut from his musings as the voice from before says.

"Welcome to ‹‹Heart Forged›› my name is Lizbeth and this is my shop! May I help you with something?"

Kirito looked up and saw a girl around his age walking out. She had a pretty face with brunette hair and was nicely proportioned, she stood a handful of inches shorter than Kirito.

"Erm... Hello my name is Kirito, and umm err... I need my sword, and this dagger, upgraded if that's at all possible. Also I was looking to purchase several more daggers."

Kirito answered rather awkwardly at first.

'Jeez when is the last time I talked to anyone besides an NPC...'

"I should have no problem upgrading those for you as long as you have all the mats and can pay, while I do that you can browse my selection of daggers on the right over there, or you can come watch. It seems like everyone wants to watch whenever I upgrade their gear, superstition or something I suppose."

Lizbeth answered sweetly.

"Ahh yes I would like to be there when you upgrade my sword but the dagger, I don't mind missing to browse the other daggers."

Talking aside Lizbeth invited Kirito into the forge room.

"Alright how many times am I upgrading what?" Asked Lizbeth as she walked over to her anvil.

"Well I would like my sword upgraded to +10 please. Here I have enough mats for fourteen upgrades so you can keep trying if you fail."

"Arrrgh WHAT! +10? I have never upgraded past +3! And MESS UP! I bet I can get all ten without missing one."

Replied an exasperated smith.

"I would certainly appreciate that. Then for my dagger I have enough mats for a +4 upgrade. Here."

Kirito finished talking as he opened a trade window with Lizbeth. Then proceeded to trade his sword, and dagger, as well hundreds of mats over.

"Thanks Lizbeth I really appreciate this."

Kirito then went over to the wall and leaned against it waiting to see the smith work on his sword.

Astonished at the number of items in the stacks of mats Kirito handed over Liz ignored him when he used her full name. Grumbling to herself realizing this guy was serious she found his ‹‹Anneal Blade›› and opened up a window to designate what she was going to craft. Taking her hammer from her inventory she proceeded to hammer the blade on the anvil upgrading it time and again. At +4 she let a small smile grace her face.

'Ha I can totally upgrade this ten times in a row who cares if it will only have a 10% chance for the final one.'

At +7 her small smile was now a smirk. Getting to +9 in a row made her practically smug. Then...

Upgrade Failure

"ARRGGH NO!"

Leaning against the wall Kirito couldn't help but be amazed, this smith had just done nine successful upgrades in a row.

'Damn, I honestly thought she would get +10 with how she was going.'

Deciding to tease her Kirito let a smirk creep onto his lips.

"Well I guess it can't be helped but I give you a 9/10 for effort."

Sarcasm laced every word.

A small embarrassed smile on her face Lizbeth answered,

"Hey nine upgrades in a row is amazing, I challenge you to find a better smith."

"Ahh no... Thank you Lizbeth you did a wonderful job and now I would appreciate it if you could finish said job. In fact you have proven your skills to me so well, I will leave you in peace to finish the 10th upgrade and the other upgrade, one of your daggers really caught my eye."

-[S]-[A]-[O]-

December 6, 2025

'Today's the day.'

Kirito thought.

'I sure am glad Liz was so helpful.'

After he had left the room to search her daggers, Liz had managed the tenth upgrade on her third try, Kirito told her to keep the extra mats as thanks, and then she managed +3 on his dagger. He found three daggers of hers that he really liked. All perfectly balanced for throwing. He had spent a large amount of his col in her shop but it was col well spent in his mind.

Liz had realized he was a very skilled player by the upgrades he asked for and the sheer amount of mats and col he had. So she had given him a discount if he promised to always have her be his exclusive smith. Making a promise to return Kirito agreed.

Kirito had stopped off at one of the random street vendors, who was a tailor, and got them to upgrade his leather armor six times, as he had lots and lots of leather from all the wolves he had slain.

Next he had found Agil's shop with relative ease. Agil turned out to be a huge dark-skinned man. He was heavily muscled and was very tall. He was not imposing though as he came across as easy-going. Kirito managed to make up more than the col he had spent at Liz's by the time he had left.

Agil was shocked by the amount and quality of gear he was looking to sell. Agil had maybe one piece of gear on the same level. Agil had even tried to buy Kirito's ‹‹Anneal Blade›› upon seeing what high quality it was for this earlier in the game. Kirito had flatly declined. On no circumstance was he going to part with his sword till he found one of greater ability.

After that had been accomplished Kirito set off to find a restaurant and eat a nice cooked meal. He then put himself to bed rather early in an inn in the third tier.

December fourth and fifth had passed by with nothing exciting happening. Kirito had met up with Argo and they had talked for a while, Kirito never told her where he had been since launch. After that meeting with, future ones promised should either find something worth telling the other. Kirito had set off to the first tier to explore it. Over the course of those two days he found that the tier was still vacant of NPC's. One intriguing thing he found was a giant piece of gray metal that had a list of all 40,000 player's names. There was a counter that said how many still were in the game.

38,993

'Over 1,000 people have died within the first month.'

Kirito was of curiosity, he had searched for Coper's name and had found it crossed out signifying that the boy had indeed been killed. His cause of death was,

Mauled by wolf

Kirito realized Coper must have been overwhelmed by a pack.

'It's odd, but I am not particularly upset that he died. He just seemed unstable to me when I talked with him. That's why I made sure to head in the opposite direction of him that day.'

It was just before mid-day and the sky was heavily clouded. As Kirito was brought out of his thoughts he found himself alone at the ‹‹South Gate›› of the third tier. The number of gate NPC guards here was double that of the ‹‹North Gate››. Why no one was really sure. But, last night an NPC had appeared at the gate nearly dead. He brought word of,

"A flood approaches to wipe away Aincrad..."

Naturally Kirito realized this meant some form of mass amount of mobs instead of an actual wave of water.

'It just wouldn't make sense for Kayaba to try to drown everyone thirty days into the game...'

He had logically decided. At that moment the clouds burst and a heavy down pour covered the city.

'Does this signify that the flood is nearly here?'

Again thinking Kirito failed to notice the ‹‹Alarm Bell›› sound from the first tier. He did notice it however after he was distracted by an icon appearing and a loud.

Bing!

Quickly opening Argo's message, Kirito read.

Kirito quick come to the ‹‹East Gate›› as fast as you can. I'm seeing lots of mobs here.

Not bothering to read the rest of the message Kirito raced off in the direction of the ‹‹East Gate››. Now he could clearly hear the city's ‹‹Alarm Bell›› blaring out across Aincrad. Warning the 39,000 remaining players that the ‹‹First Event›› had just begun!

Well, well, well, that's that. End of chapter two. I hope you enjoyed it.

Feel free to leave a review or write me a PM, for any questions, comments, or ideas you may have. I enjoy receiving them. And try to always respond.