When I joined the game...I didn't expect it to be to the death, but then again, who did?

I was just a regular gamer, only 13, when I tried the game's beta test. The game was difficult, more difficult than I could have predicted. I only made it halfway into the 10th floor after working for months. The fruits of my labor were few.

Before long, it was time for the release.

I had a few minutes before I could log on, so I quickly ate and checked on my sister.

"Hey Sky-" I started, but she cut me off

"Yeah, yeah, I know, eat something because your not making anything because you're 'on the grind'. You've gone over this." She made sure to add the air quotes.

Maybe I did repeat myself too many times. "I'm sorry, I've been excited, ok? I'm just worried about you being alone for several hours."

"I'm fine. You work enough, enjoy yourself. You're acting like you can't come back," she laughed.

After chucking myself, I continued, "Oh boy, that would be something. Just in case I hypothetically can't come back, I want you to go stay at-"

"No. No, no, no. I'm not going back to him even if you can't come back." She quickly cut me off and spat the words out in rapid-fire succession.

"...He's trying...you know that right?"

"I don't want to talk about this, go eat before you log on." She turned away from me signaling that the discussion was over.

I always did find it funny how much control she had considering she was the younger one. I was going to miss her more than anything. After I had made my sister a small meal I made sure I had eaten, showered, and laid on my bed. I was sure I had prepped for a small gaming trip. With the headset equipped, I said the words that would rip me from the world I knew.

"Link Start!"

I'm instantly greeted with the beautiful login zone, otherwise known as the start, first floor, etc… In the world I spent so much time in, I rarely felt more at home.

I checked out my avatar and it looked the same as I set it up. I couldn't find one that looked much like me so I grabbed one that wasn't too dark-skinned and went with it. The face was sort of like a triangle, I think. Now that I'm paying attention, I'm a bit shorter than before. I also changed my hair color to white with a bit of black mixed in. I figured if my avatar was inaccurate might as well make it more so.

I had gotten used to my shortened height in the beta but it was still a bit weird not being my usual height.

I put my thumb and index finger together and made a simple downward swipe. A simple white summary box with 5 different categories just like the beta.

[inventory/equipment]

[friends/guild]

[communications]

[Map/quests]

[systems/ main menu]

I quickly clicked on the first button and saw that I had only one item. I had [basic sword] a good starter item. I had traded the option for potions for a small stat increase. I equipped the sword, feeling the familiar weight of a sword on my back. "Hmm," I said as I pulled it out. "Not as heavy as I'm used to but it will do." It was also a bit shorter than I was hoping for.

I looked at the info-box and cringed at my name.

[Dark Flame]

[Level: 1]

[Col: 500]

Back to square one. Well, I did have 1 friend...but I'd prefer not to speak to her this early. If I wanted to keep my money that is.

I just skipped exploring and shopping, to go to an area that few knew about. It wasn't a very big nor good hunting spot, so not many that knew about it came here. I didn't even know about it until I had bought the location.

I had this little thing that I would always do, In games like this, I would always do a character set up completely different from the last one. For example, I could be very frail but good with magic in one game (if magic was within the game and here it is not), and then in the next, I have a character with no magic abilities whatsoever but is a physical tank.

I was hoping to be a complete speed demon, so I could get a nickname like the blood ninja or something. Red is my color for this game.

The sword I had was overall basic, everything about it was even and low. Makes sense because it's a starting sword but damn this is bad. It's either that or I'm being picky as fuck right now...probably both.

I pulled the sword out. "This blade, this blade right here, shall be the start of when I finally surpass him." 'Him' is Kirito, he was always ahead of me, no matter the game, I swore that one day I'll beat him and let my name be heard by players.

As I put my sword away suddenly I was covered in blue light. I looked around and saw I was back at the first-floor main town. I was forced to teleport here. No one this early could do that but...

I was surrounded by so many different avatars, my head started to spin, I forgot I could have made a custom one but that would be too much work. That wasn't the main problem here. The "problem" was upwards.

The sky was covered in red system announcement signs. That can't be good. Then the signs started to ooze a red substance that slowly formed into a robbed wizard thing.

Well, this probably means we're fucked.

The big wizard-like thing that covered the sky started speaking. After a few sentences of the craziest shit I ever heard, I had stopped listening all together so I could try and force myself to process. Trapped...death game...small gift...and a scream.

Wait a gift?

I opened the menu and hit the inventory button. Inside was a single new item, [Mirror]. I hesitantly clicked on it causing it to fall into my hand. I looked into the small mirror and saw my actual face, my height, and body proportions too! My dark brown eyes, messy black hair, dark skin, and all. I still had on the basic guy outfit, mine was black, with black pants which was surprisingly an uncommon choice.

I fearfully looked at my now regular hand. It was shaking, shaking more than I ever had seen it. They must have grabbed this information with the body calibration and just scanned our faces.

One person dropped their mirror and all hell broke out. I quickly headed back to my training area. On the way I saw a boy, that was about my age. There was something about the way he held himself that seemed familiar. I shook my head and continued on my way.

I barely made it out of the town when someone latched on to me begging for help, frantically. They claimed that they didn't know how to use their sword or understand how this game works, how they didn't want to die and all that. Confused as much as they are, I yelled, "Alright, CALM DOWN! OK?" I can't even see their face.

"O-ok." A small timid voice replied.

"Come with me." As soon as I could I turned to see who had grabbed me. It was a small girl, with black hair and deep blue eyes. Seemed to be maybe 13? I don't know, I'm bad at dictating age. "Ok, I'm..." Shit, I forgot my username already. "Know what, what is your name?" I asked as I tried to remember what I picked.

"My name is ..." She mumbled.

"I'm sorry, could you say that again?"

"Yua."

"Ok, I'm assuming you're new to this kind of thing so you picked your real name."

"Yeah..."

"You can call me Flame, my username isn't a nickname or anything." My user name is Dark Flame. It is an old joke I had with one of my friends and thought it would be a good idea to put it to use. Not really. I don't want people calling me Dark Flame, for personal and racial reasons.

"Let me see your sword." Yua opened her inventory and pulled out a simple broadsword. I could tell by looking at it that it's a good weapon to start with. "Hmm, do you want to use it?" I asked slowly.

"No, not really...unless it's a good idea? If not, could you help me with getting a new one?" She asked, looking me dead in the face with puppy dog eyes. Fuck.

"I-um-yeah. No need to ask me, I was ah-already planning on it." I tried my best to speak to her without looking at her in those damned eyes. How did she even know I would be a softy? Why did she think she needed to beg like that? That's one of the few things I can't handle. "If that is the type of blade you like then we'll have to get you a better one," I said.

"I see," she replied softly. Why does she speak so low? And is the floor more interesting than my face by that much?

"Alright here is a good area for you now"

"Here?"

"Yes, here. You see, this is a small area close to a healing spot." I pointed to a path to the right, "The left path leads to the main area," I said, motioning to the area we came from. "Also, no big monsters spawn here, so you should be fine to attack all you want without worrying about a big one coming out of nowhere."

"I-I see."

"So let's get to-" I stopped suddenly. Yua looked up to see if anything was wrong, then I laughed while she looked at me confused. "I'm sorry," I said between laughs. "It's just, this is the first time you looked me in the eyes without trying to beg me for anything," I said, rolling on the ground.

"I still don't see what's so funny," said a still puzzled Yua.

"It just seems like you find the floor something to be muuuch more attentive to rather than my face."

"I still don't see what's so funny." She demanded, completely changing personalities.

That just made me laugh harder. Oh, she has another one? Great. After 3 (cough 10 cough) minutes, I calmed down. "Alright, let's get grinding," I said with a grin

The next day

I'm proud to say that this time, I was not disappointed. The fruits of my labor were plentiful.

Yua was an extremely fast learner, and I'm not much of a teacher that's for sure. No matter who I tried to teach before, it was like my student was Luffy and the subject was math.

I taught her how to activate her skills, how to work the menu, the cursor thingy, levels, how stats worked, etc. In a nutshell, she could live as long as not attacked by another player. Combat with mobs? No problem. With players? That's when things went downhill. She lacked, ah-killing intent. Probably a bad word choice considering the game when I think about it. I could say she...hesitates? Yeah, she is too peaceful. So I gave her skills that would make her handy in a group.

"Yua, you must never travel alone if you are attacked by PKers (aka player killers). They will not hesitate to kill you," I warned her.

After I was sure she could survive, I sent her a friend request. "I have to try and make sure you survive this all right? This way just message me and I'll come flying." I also told her to stay with some people that knew what they were doing until I get her a better sword.

I left in the morning, after leaving her a note in a little campsite she insisted on making even though it's amazing out at night. I checked I had everything. I equipped my sword once again (I had taken it off for uh-reasons), placing it over my shoulder. Might change that some other time for a quicker draw. I grabbed the hilt and activated a single sword skill without worrying about Yua.

[Vertical]

My blade glowed with a red light as I slashed through a single boar in my path. Killing it instantly. All that was left was a white screen in front of me and small triangle particles. I thought for a second and remembered a small quest on this floor. It was close to an NPC shop...It was far as hell. I groaned. What did I get myself into?

[Horizantal]

I slashed through another boar that thought it could get me from the side. These boars were no issue to me due to a slight increase in my STR stat and I always hit the head. A good damage spot if you ask me.

A week later

After one GOD DAMN WEEK, I had finally found the NPC, clicked the blue circle, and set off to a mountainous area. There were a few mobs, nothing too tricky. My sword was pretty good for this part. Before I walked in, I manually clicked on a sword skill because why not?

[Slant]

My sword was a red blur as I slashed through the mobs.

What most people do, which is hacking at things blindly, I make sure I'm hitting spots that would cause more damage (such as vital spot like the head, heart, lungs) and hitting them repeatedly. I got 4 levels before I completed that quest. I ended up having to start over a few times, not that I minded. Farming quest mobs is a small habit of mine.

So now I'm level 8 and speed was my lowest stat. I'll have to fix that. I had a few skill points but I decided to save them for later. I was already probably one of the highest leveled players here.

So let's see, I guess I'll have to do a lot of running and things that involve speed, maybe a few of those special side quests. Few players know this but you don't have to level up to boost your stats. I, myself, didn't learn this until I met Argo the Rat. an info broker. I'm good friends with her. At least, I think?

There is very little that she wouldn't sell. Once she sold all my stats, my "type", every sword skill I had, and what color my underwear was. Does that make us friends? She also nearly sold where I lived but I quickly paid her to shut up. I don't even know how she got my address. I was mostly fine with everything else but not my Irl house. I don't need people stopping by to check if the info was accurate (which it was).

She was one of the 2 friends I had in this game.

I charged up my blade and delivered a single downward slash to end the quest that had taken me all day. I claimed the reward and headed off to the shop.

I heard a slight commotion over there and knew that problems between players were arising. I dashed over to find some jerk threatening some other player. "Give me the damned sword and no one has to get hurt!" Great, some guy taking advantage of some weaker player. I looked over and saw a familiar blade being kept away from the bully. Oh shit, that's Yua! I barely thought about it as I activated a little skill I had picked up along the way.

[Sword Dash]

I pulled out my sword and slashed forward, which propelled me right next to them. Why do they look shocked? I guess my skill was pretty cool. "Yua-ah nice to see you. I was just about to get you that sword I promised." I awkwardly said.

"Tha-that's not possible! H-how are you that fast?" The guy stammered.

I put my sword on my back, and scratched the back of my head, "Well, it's not my speed, just a skill that you get when you get to a certain speed level. So actually, it might be that I'm fast." Wow, talk about shit explanations. Anyway back to the topic at hand, I dropped all the friendliness that I had shown. "So tell me why you were going to hit this kind girl here with your sword?" I placed my hand on my sword for quick access.

"I-um-I can explain!" I could smell the fear coming off him.

"You hurt her or do anything to her, your cursor, the one over your head will go from green to orange for a bit. If you kill her, then you'll stay orange, but to us gamers, you'd be known as a red player. All of these colors would make you a target, and you'll be treated like dirt. You'll be a criminal." I said I looked him in the eyes, getting close. "I'm mostly a solo player. I don't like jerks." As I spoke, my blade glowed red. "Red is just a color to me. I wonder if it suits me."

He was frozen in his place.

"Why don't you shop somewhere else before I test that?" I asked slowly.

He still didn't move.

"Or you can just stand there." I turned to face the small girl. "Are you alright?"

She was slightly red in the face. "Y-yeah."

"Let's get you that sword then."

I took the sword she had and sold that, now I should be able to get her an upgrade. I found a good weapon for her body type. Not too long, decent durability, speed, damage, etc. I didn't expect weapons this good from an NPC this far out but sometimes I'm wrong. I purchased the weapon called [Light Rapier].

"Wow..." She seemed speechless as I pulled it out.

"Seems perfect for you, huh?"

"Yeah, it does."

I transferred it to her and she clicked the blue button to accept the new weapon. "Looks like I know how to pick huh?" I chucked.

"Yeah." She started slashing around getting used to the increased weight in her hands.

I wanted a new sword badly but I didn't have enough money. I did have some drops but I normally don't sell mob drops, for some special reasons. "So how did you end up here?" I asked her, hoping she could hear me over her excitement.

"Oh, I followed you."

"You did what?"

"Followed you. You know, you could have waited for me to wake up and say goodbye."

"I see… So what about that punk?" I motioned to said punk over my shoulder.

"Him? He wanted my sword after seeing me kill something with it. He figured that he could buy an even better one for himself."

I grabbed her arm gently, "Come with me."

"OW! That hurts!" She complained. Maybe my strength stat is better than I thought. I loosened my already weak grip and pulled her along. Soon we reached a small dock with no boats. I sat her down and pull out a sandwich for each of us.

"To living as long as we have," I said after pulling out something that is kinda like juice.

She picked her own up and said "To living."

We cheered and ate in silence.

"I found a group," she said quietly.

"Ah, that's good." I looked over to her but she seemed...disappointed.

"They're really nice, but they don't know as much about this game as you wanted the people for me to hang out with too."

"As long as they are diverse in skills and good people you'll be fine. Just don't fall for anything that could be an obvious trap."

"Ok" was her only reply

We had finished eating a while ago. Now we were just sitting there. After a few moments, I chose to speak up. "I want to check up on you, every 3 floors this place progresses"

"Really?" She now was beaming.

"Yes. I want to make sure that every person I come across survives this death game." I said. "I know that's nearly impossible but hey, what do I know about beating the system?"

"A lot?"

"Exactly." I stood and stretched a bit, "This is farewell for now." I reached down to pick her up. After she was standing right in front of me I gave her a small pat on the shoulder. "Take care, Yua. Don't die on me now."

"I won't."

"Don't want to lose my best student."

"Same goes for you. Don't die"

I just laughed, "I got too much waiting for me to die." I walked her off the dock, then took off running to the right.

This is my story of how I became the fastest mother fucker to ever exist in video games. I just hope my speed will be enough to run from this game and back into my real-life problems.