As I came to I looked around me in the vain hope that maybe all this had been sorted out. Freedom from a game which had already claimed hundreds of lives. I was hoping to see my familiar bedroom with my computer and various game related posters half hidden behind piles of DVDs and blurays but I was not in luck. The wooden floor I lay on did not belong in my bedroom nor did the middle aged man stood behind a counter with a green NPC icon above his head. Climbing to my feet I used my hand to open the menu and saw that it had been four hours since I had passed out. Wondering outside I saw more players walking around now and a few regaining consciousness and getting up. I walked over to a young woman with shoulder length brown hair and an iron rapier and helped her up.

"Thanks" she mumbled as she pulled up the hood to her cloak.

"Do you have any idea what just happened?" I asked not really expecting an answer but trying to start some kind of dialogue with this woman.

"we're in hospital now I would think" she replied looking straight at me with her piercing blue eyes "If I was in charge of things on the outside I would have every player moved to a place where the bodies can be kept alive and looked after straight away, but I guess it would have taken a few days at least to sort out enough bandwidth for people in each place." She stopped and tilted her head as she smiled and looked down. "I'm sorry, my names Silver" she said holding out her hand "I'm known for over thinking things sometimes but I've been expecting this since that announcement from Akihiko Kayoba on launch day' she continued.

'Well I'm Grim" I replied shaking her hand "and I cant say I had given it much thought but it seems logical that's what happened. But how come we weren't all killed when the connection was lost?"

"The Nerve gear has a battery pack in it." She replied "my guess is its designed to set off the microwave pulse when the battery gets to low but Kayoba must have allowed enough time on the batteries for us to be moved somewhere we can be looked after properly or his world would have been empty well before we clear the game."

I guess your right" I said after thinking it over for a few moments. "so what are your plans for surviving this game then?" I asked

"Well I was going to check out the stalls in the village before heading out towards the labyrinth tower and trying to level up on the way," she answered "you?"

"Oh, well pretty much the same but there's a quest on the edge of town I wanted to check out first"

"hmm, well maybe I will see you on the front lines sometime, maybe even party up to explore the labyrinth if your quick enough" she said with a smile. Before I could reply she had spun round on the spot and started walking away "See ya around Grimmy" she called with a wave of her hand. I watched her walk away for a minute before turning to the path which would lead me to the quest I wanted. The outer edge of the village where the cottage I was looking for was maybe 50 yards away from the edge of the forest with the boundary of the safe zone being somewhere in between so I didn't have to worry about fighting any mobs in the evening twilight. Not that I had much to worry about with myself being level three now and most of the mobs here still being levels one or two. Double checking my location on my map I opened the white wooden gate and walked up the short path to the front door of the cottage. As I opened the door I took saw a neat but sparse room with a single door leading to another room. As I looked around a female NPC, wearing an apron and her light brown hair in a bun showing a few streaks of grey at the sides, approached me from the kitchen holding a cup. Behind her was a small iron pot on a stove bubbling away contentedly.

"Good evening brave warrior" she said as she walked closer towards me "I don't have anything to offer you but a drink of water if you have come to me for respite after journeying through the nearby forest" Looking again at the pot bubbling away I wondered why she said she had nothing to offer, but then it was probably the woman's food. I thanked her for the water and began to drink it when I heard a coughing noise from behind the closed door. I looked over and for a second I almost dismissed it until I remembered that in SAO you couldn't hear through a closed door unless your eavesdropping skill was high enough. Looking back at the NPC in front of me I saw her glance at the door as well though she did it with a slightly exaggerated look of concern.

"Is everything ok in there?" I asked gesturing towards the door and as I said those words a small ! Appeared above the woman's head.

"Its my daughter" she explained "she has been ill for some time now and none of the medicines in our little village and been able to help her at all." She paused for a moment and wiped her eyes "I have spent almost everything I have trying to find a cure for my daughter and the only thing that has a chance of helping her are the ovules of a plant that grows in the forest. If you could get me a little nepent ovule then I would be so grateful, I know its not much but you could have my late husbands sword. Its been passed down through the family for generations but my daughter and I have no use for it so its yours if you can help us"

"Of course" I answered handing back the now empty cup "I will go right now" I finished as I saw my quest log update itself and the ! Above the woman's head turned into a ?. As I reached the end of the path I looked towards the forest. In the now late evening twilight it looked very dark under the canopy of those trees and I really didn't fancy starting my quest in the dark. It wasn't that night time ever really got to dark in an MMO as there was always more than enough light to see, but sometimes developers would throw in a twist with larger groups of enemies or extra night themed enemies spawning. Turning towards the village I could see that there were still a few NPC owned stalls still open so I headed over to the armour merchant to see if I could get any upgrades. Twenty minutes later I was back in the inn I had collapsed in earlier today but this time with a paid room. It was the standard fare as inns seemed to go here with a bed, small desk and a chair. All I really needed it for was a safe place to sleep so that didn't matter. Selecting my menu I began to equip my new items. First was the light bronze chest plate followed by my new sturdy leather boots and light bronze bracers. It had been tempting for me to buy a new sword as well but a quick visit to a nearby blacksmith had its durability points back up to full so it should last long enough now to finish the quest I had just taken on. Setting my alarm for an early start I lay on the slightly to hard inn bed. After that afternoons blackout I wasn't sure if I would be able to get to sleep very quickly but within minutes I was fast asleep

The next morning I rose with my alarm and stretched feeling the added weight of my new armour. It wasn't the heaviest armour available but I figured it would give me more protection than the starting gear I'd still been wearing but the extra weight shouldn't slow me down to much. Playing solo you needed every bit of speed and protection you could get, minimising damage taken between sword skills and increasing how many you could use by reducing the delay effect. Checking my map I saw that the area I should be able to find the little nepent plant was a sizeable area near the centre of the forest. Once I had had a quick breakfast I left the inn and set off towards the forest at a brisk jog. It took a little over an hour to get to the spawn zone indicated by the map and I considered myself lucky I had only needed to fight a few dire wolves on my way here. Now I was in the right area I started looking around for small plants that registered as potential quest items. Walking around some bushes I jumped back drawing my sword. In front of me standing at maybe a meter and a half tall now moving towards me on writhing green roots was a large plant like creature. Looking above it I saw the red diamond indicating it was a hostile mob and below that the name, little nepent.

"Oh boy" was all I could mutter to myself as I dodged out of the way of one of its whip-like appendages this wasn't going to be a simple gather quest it was a proper hunt with the odds of the item I needed dropping likely to be pretty low. Darting forward I attacked the creature with full strength and the sword skills at my command swiftly defeating it for a small reward of col and exp but no item drops. Keeping my sword in hand I continued onward, more warily now, searching for more. By day three I had replaced my metal chest plate and bracers with heavy leather ones. The lighter gear helped my keep my agility high and with the materials I was getting whenever I ran into dire wolves I was able to use the leatherworking skill to repair my armour without having to return to town as much. Day six was my lucky break where after having lunch with a party of other players also on the same quest I chanced upon a little nepent with a large flower upon its head. It was a quick fight, the exp I had gained over the last week had raised me to level four well above the average for the area and soon the nepent was exploding into a thousand shards of light. I almost jumped for joy when I saw that the quest item had finally dropped for me and after double checking it was in my inventory I started to head out of the forest. It was a quiet trip back, with the amount of players trying for the quest most of the mobs were killed pretty quickly but I still listened for any noises as I went. Over the last week I had met plenty of others trying for the sword and some had been in the forest even longer than me so the last thing I wanted was to annoy any players who hadn't enjoyed the same amount of luck I just had. Eventually I exited the forest and saw the small cottage ahead of me, increasing my speed to a job I jumped the little white gate and landed halfway up the path. with a few more steps I was at the door and walked in. Not much had changed since I was here six days ago except the woman was not in the room, though the door that had been shut before was now ajar. Crossing the room I pushed the door open and saw the woman sat beside a bed with a young girl lying in it. The girl's shoulder length black hair was splayed out on the pillow and her face was the palest I had ever seen on anyone in the game, NPC or otherwise. I opened my inventory and selected the nepent ovules and held them out to the woman as they materialised into my hand. The woman gratefully took them from me and walked through the door behind me thanking me repeatedly. Crossing to the kitchen she put them into the same bubbling pot I had noticed on my last visit, a small bar appeared above it filling in seconds before the woman dipped in a cup and walked back to the room with her sick daughter. Following her back inside the bedroom I watched as she gave the medicine to her daughter, I found myself smiling along with the mother as colour returned to the little girls face.

"Thank you so much brave warrior" she said as she looked up at me "Please accept this sword as a sign of our gratitude and use it with the same honour you have shown us here"

In front of me a small window opened showing quest completion, exp gain, col and the item I had been working for all week.

The Anneal Blade.

Now my journey through the game, to join the players who would defeat the bosses on each floor and free us all from this game.