Real quick before I get started, I just want to mention I'm running a poll on my page regarding this story, I'd tell you the question but you guys can very easily click the button to my page and find out if you want to vote. Enjoy the chapter

If you had told Flame that he had the possibility of becoming even more hated than the beta testers, he would thank you and run into isolation until everyone forgot he existed. I wanted to do that so badly. Not because of the hated thing, because people are a pain in the ass to deal with.

I quickly teleported to the next floor's main area, Urbus. Now, normally, I would take my newly upgraded blade, [Sacrificial Swerve+2], and go out to grind and take a peek at some of the changes maybe get like a cloak or something to look extra cool. Nope, I noticed that Argo was in a hurry, being chased by some players and I had a few people on my tail.

So cursing my ever so caring heart, I tailed them. I briefly noted how different this floor was from the last, this floor was mainly savannas, cliffs, and plateaus, unlike the first floor which was more on the grassy side of things with forests and grasslands.

.

Third Person P.O.V

Two ninjas had backed the Info broker, Argo the Rat into a corner and Kirito had jumped between them.

"All we want is to buy the info from you Argo," one of the ninjas said casually. "I fail to see the reason for your resistance."

"Because that info isn't for sale. I keep telling you Larpers that but you refuse to listen!" Argo snapped back.

Kirito, who was still lacking some information here just stood there staring down the two roleplayers.

"Agro, do we have to resort to other forms of negotiation? Or will you allow us to be civil?" One of the ninjas said as a hand was not so subtly placed on the hilt of a dagger.

Kirito placed his hand on his sword in response. "I think the lady has made her choice clear."

A flash of red blurred behind the two ninjas. "Well, well, well. If it isn't my 2 pupils?" A newly emerged Flame said with a chuckle.

Their heads quickly whirled around, to come face to face with the signature wavey blade of a Kris sword pointed at their faces. "I don't believe we have met."

"I get a little taller and a slightly different skin tone and you don't recognize me?" Flame said with a look of mock hurt on his face. "Shame, I taught you guys a lot about being speedy. Then again, I taught you guys some better gamer manners but here we are."

Both eyes widened.

"S-sensei?! I never would have thought you would be so...young!" one of them exclaimed.

"You nailed it!" Flame said with a smirk. "I'd hate to hurt you fellas and would love to catch up with you but if you threaten my friends again-" The sword in his hand glowed briefly, he made it clear he was in a position to land a sword skill straight to their faces. "Kirito and I won't hesitate to hurt you two."

They both curtly nodded. "Sensei! Forgive us! We will go and reevaluate our actions!" they said in sync before running off.

Flame put his sword away as Kirito did the same. "You guys alright?"

"I could have handled it, but thanks anyway," Kirito said with a shrug.

Flames head whipped behind him and he quickly grabbed five throwing picks from his inventory, they glowed blue before he threw them, the shattering of polygons signifying he had killed something.

"Kotaro and Isuke are a bit of a pain sometimes but you got to give them credit for still wanting to be ninjas in a death game." Flame said with a bit of a shrug. "I assume they were after the skill, right?"

Argo nodded. "Yeah. I don't want to tell them, you barely made it work."

"Nah, I didn't even, I had the marks, that's why I was so quick to put on that helmet that covered my entire face." Flame said casually.

"What are you guys talking about?" Kirito asked.

"I'm not going to strip Argo of a profit,*cough when-she's-in-front-of-me cough* I might go and see you there Kirito." With that, Flame flashed out of existence.

.

Four days later, Flame P.O.V

.

My day didn't start well. First off I had this crazy nightmare, like should we even have dreams here? Not to mention-

"Answer the goddamn question you damn beater!" Apollo growled. "According to several calculations getting to level 15 would have been impossible in the timeframe you gave or downright insane because of the grind required!"

"I already told you, I bought a bunch of cheap weapons and beat the life out of every mob I saw." I sighed.

"Yeah but that doesn't tell us why the hell you're holding back on us!" Apollo growled. "I thought you were a semi-decent guy until I learned you were right behind a player that supposedly got past everyone in terms of the floors!"

"I already explained this! First off, even if either of us got that far, everyone would know of a player like that, especially if there were two! Even still, I don't know much more than your average player, I got rid of all the details I didn't deem important. Your weapons and survival are on that list!" I snapped. "Besides, anyone with brain cells would be able to tell the beta would be different from the finished product! The old SAO data only gives you a basic idea of what is needed to know. The boss, for example, your 'grand leader' was a beta himself, and not only that, was after the LA! The boss didn't have a Nodachi or skills like that when I had fought it!"

"I think you're full of crap."

"But what Flame says does make a great deal of sense," Achira spoke up.

Exost pipped up in my defense. "I agree. I don't know about you guys but I trust Flame!"

Ok two back on my side.

Yua remained silent.

They hunted me down and as it is clear to see, they found me. To be fair, my mood was ruined. They have been going at me for 30 minutes! I explained everything I knew, which admittedly wasn't much. After yelling at me, they had filled me in on everything that had happened from the last time we met and I (being the massive nerd I am) quickly explained that the sword boss had was a nodachi, a Japanese greatsword.

Holding myself back from growling at the guy I spoke in my most level voice, "What Kirito said was true, those sword skills can be found with mobs on higher floors. On floor ten, it was swarming with them; last I checked it was a samurai-oriented floor."

"How high did you go?" Yua asked, softly, but loud enough to make us all stop.

"Floor ten. I didn't even make it to the boss's room for the fight, I was late. I know for a fact that Kirito was one of the leading the boss raid."

"Bullshit-"

"Why didn't you show up to the raid?" Yua asked, her voice holding an icy undertone. I looked away, not replying.

"Tell us."

"I...lost a bet alright."

"A fucking bet? That's why you ditched us? If you had shown up then Diavel-"

"A bet that had all of our lives on the line!" I snapped once again with all my patience lost for this guy, I didn't care how many times I'll end up cutting Apollo off.

"What do you mean?" Achira asked.

"I was challenged by a player, he said if I lose I don't show up to the raid, if I did you guys would die. I lost and they told me that if I told a soul before the raid, you were all dead anyway. At first, I thought he was bluffing until he and his squad killed someone in front of me."

"Why- why would someone do such a thing?!" Exost exclaimed, seeming shocked that people still used death as a threat.

"I assume they either had beef with me or they didn't want me in on the boss raid. After that, I grinded until my body couldn't take anymore. I'm not making the same mistake. Not to mention it seemed they had the audacity to try and scout me."

"What did they want you to join? Did you?" Achira asked, sounding vaguely like a worried mother.

"No, that was optional," I said with a small sigh.

"Flame...I have a lot of questions for you..." Yua spoke again, once again freezing me in place even though her voice was barely above a whisper. "You vanished for 4 days and we just found you outside of Urbus. You looked so pissed like someone had spilled a secret about you that you never wanted anyone to know. We had thought you had lied to us or something and you knew we discovered you! You scared the life out of me! What was I supposed to think when I was being fed all of these rumors about you and you were never there once to reassure me?!" She had quickly escalated to yelling a little too quickly for my liking.

Bitting the inside of my mouth, I calmly responded, "Whatever you heard isn't true."

"How can you prove that?!"

"Because you spent some time with me, did you not? You and me alone." I let off a little smile. "Besides, by that logic whatever you heard about me would need proof."

"Why am I just hearing about you two being alone? What did you do to her?!" Achira asked, sounding like a gossipy school girl and worried mother strangely at the same time.

"I trained her alone, just the two of us." I slowly said. "My point is, you have known me from the very beginning, the very start of this death game. You would know me the best."

"That doesn't change anything! Who are you really?"

"I'm just a guy that was lucky and that luck soured. I'm a fairly basic guy Yua, out of everyone you should know that. I wouldn't hold anything back without a good reason."

"You-your right...I was wrong to doubt you." she said, her anger had, thankfully, deflated.

"Y'all done with your lover's spat? Is it still not time for me to get some character development?" Exost asked randomly.

"Sorry, I don't think you'll get any development, your most likely the tragic death of the main friend group," I replied jokingly.

Before Exost could hit me back with her own possibly witty remark, Apollo got tired of our bull shit. "Let's just get this next boss thing over with," he growled. "We probably are going to be stuck with minion duty again."

"You guys are stuck with minion duty, I have plenty I can do," I said.

"This is only a field boss, right? Do we have to fight it?" Yua asked.

"Yeah, field bosses normally block progress until you beat them. They're like normal bosses, just slightly weaker and don't unlock a new floor upon death. I'm also pretty sure they respawn every once and a while," I explained as we headed off.

.

So Floor 2 is a fairly... cow-based floor. The field boss fit the bill...er, hoof. While most of the mobs were very oxen-like, such as Minotaurs, the field boss was-

"That is just a fucking oversized cow" Apollo commented, nailing it. "You need help with that?"

The [Bulbous Bow, is a 4 meter, dark-skinned, four-horned, giant cow/bullish creature with a massive forehead.

Kibaou was there and so was Lind, the one who was taking the mantle to try and fill in Diavel's shoes. He was Diavel-light, with nearly the same look, half the charisma and not to mention none of the original good taste!

"You shouldn't be so quick to judge. Not only does this wield some nasty attacks, but the wasps are nothing to scoff at," Lind said, clearly offended that Apollo was insinuating he was weak. I don't blame him, not as many people showed up to this little raid as the first raid, which was bad. Last time we were short 4 people.

"Whatever. This better have some decent drops and exp, or you won't see me happy," Apollo threatened.

"Hey big guy, chill out a bit, time for you to de-hulk a little," I said with a chuckle. "Anyway, you have evaluated my stats and everything. I'm a single player with no team and easily a power player. Where do you want to place me?"

Naturally, I lied about my level and stats, I just gave my stats when I was Apollo's level. Wouldnt want to ruin the image Kirito painted for himself, as stupid as it was.

"We can replace our newest member just this once to add you in," Lind said. "We had to fill in some old shoes after...Diavel was lost."

"Great!" I turned to my friends. "You hear that guys? Look who's joining the main assault team. I let you guys have whatever I don't need from the boss."

"Cocky son of a bitch."

I then noticed a familiar girl. "Yo Asuna!" She waved and jogged over. So I introduced them. "Guys, as I'm sure you know, this is Asuna. She's a new player as well and she worked with Kirito, so that's how we know each other. Asuna, these are, I guess you can call them 'my gang', I help them out from time to time."

"That's nice. Are you going to join in on this raid?"

"Yeah, I gotta make up for not showing my face last time" Suddenly, I sensed something to the left. "Kirito, stop hiding."

Asuna walked over and pulled out the most infamous person(besides the creator himself) out of a bush.

"How did you guys find me? I was using my hiding skill!" Kirito exclaimed.

"Not a high enough level," I replied blandly. As Asuna and Kirito started to bicker, I noticed the weary glances Kirito was getting. I bit my tongue. Not literally, no point in doing that. What did they think because Kirito had said he went higher than everyone else, he was going to steal all the good items for himself?

First off that would be a waste of time, and there are still good times that would be available. Second, he hasn't done anything to make him seem like he was a bad guy. Third, if he stole every good item he would run out of space in his inventory fairly quickly. Lastly, why were the players with more knowledge being shunned? The more things we know, the higher chance for us to live. Are people that desperate to find someone to blame and lash out on?

So all of us walked out together, chatting about this and that when someone brought the topic of guilds up.

"Lind and Kibaou want to form their own guilds once we hit the third floor, Dragon Knight Brigade and Aincrad Liberation Squad for their names respectively," Asuna said.

"What's a guild?" Yua asked and Exost seemed to have the same question. I forced myself to avoid smacking myself in the forehead. They're new to this. Don't need to insult them.

"Guilds are basically better parties, larger numbers and other benefits come in when you join or form one," I explained.

"Why are they waiting for the third floor?"

"Because in the beta, the NPC that gives the quest to allow you to make one was on the third floor." Kirito explained before I could.

They all fell back into idle chatting, minus me and Apollo, when the semi peaceful feeling was interrupted by someone damn near yelling something in the main plaza of the second floor.

"Brilliant work! That's five successful upgrade attempts!"

I glanced over to view the source of the sudden outburst to see a group of players with some pretty powerful gear. "Who's that? I don't recognize them."

"I started seeing them on frontlines recently. I don't think their levels are too high but their gear is surprisingly good," Asuna explained.

"What a crap strategy." I scoffed.

Yua looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Making up for a gap in power with weapons is a horrible idea," I said. "Do you understand Pokemon?"

"Uh, a little?"

"It's like giving a Pokemon an item that boosts its stats, just enough to try and make up for it not being on par with the Pokemon you're fighting. The second you take it off or lose it, you are no longer on an even playing field," I explained

"But wouldn't you get more levels by taking on higher-level things? Wouldn't you close that gap?"

"Not if the level curve is steep enough," I said. "In SAO, things like armor break, and if it breaks, you're done for, especially if the only reason you were keeping up was armor."

"I see..." She seemed dampened for a moment before asking another question. "So do they have a guild name too?"

After a slight hesitation, Asuna nodded. "Yeah... it's Legend Braves. Their members are Beowulf, Cuchulainn, and...Orlando."

Most people would try their best to be polite. I mean, no one thought this would be a death game before you had picked your avatar and player name, so there were bound to be a few people that named themselves after famous heroes.

Keyword, most. I for one couldn't help but laugh my ass off. I'm just surprised they don't have someone named Heracles.

Once I had gotten my laughter under control and everyone else got their giggles out of their system, Asuna pointed out the one called Orlando, who was holding a gleaming sword and currently looking down at a player sitting behind a mat. "It is no wonder you are the first player blacksmith in SAO. You've got great skill, unlike those NPC smiths that fail so often. What is your name, good fellow?"

"N-Nezha," The player said behind the mat. I felt my ears perk up at that name. Why does it sound familiar?

"It is a great opportunity to get rich customers," Asuna commented.

I glance at my friends. As far as I know, none of them have gotten any extra upgrades, leaving each of them with 4. I had previously risked going to an NPC to get them each a boost in durability making all of their weapons 1D, all having the max attempts of 5.

SAO works like that, once you have the materials, and a blacksmith to do the job, you can try and up a stat on your weapon. Each weapon based on its type has a set number of times you can upgrade them. You have around a 70 percent chance to succeed, but you can up that chance by adding more materials or higher quality materials. And your smith would play a factor in it as well. If your smith doesn't have a high enough leveled skill in Blacksmithing, you might be better off with an NPC smith, but they fail pretty often as well.

If you fail an attempt, your weapon loses one of its upgrades. For example, you have a dagger with six possible upgrades. and got it to 3D2S with five of those upgrades. S means sharpness for reference, and you try to upgrade it one last time and it fails. Now you got a Blah Dagger 4. I don't know which one is lost, I assume its random, but after you use up your attempts, your weapon isn't going to become any better. If you don't know of a better weapon, you will most likely have to grind for another one.

Just so we are clear.

D is for durability, your sword will be...well, more durable.

Q is for quickness, makes ya blade fasta.

S is for sharpness, is also self-explanatory. and the most common boost to get.

H is for heaviness, which makes your weapon...more... yeah, also increases the damage for downward attacks.

A is for accuracy kids, something that will end up getting you killed if you neglect it.

All upgrades are very simple as you could read.

My blade is currently sitting at 2, 1D1S. I had just upgraded it yesterday, but it wouldn't hurt to upgrade my backup weapon. I have my second weapon slot taken by a dagger. Yeah, a dagger. Just a basic iron dagger, nothing crazy...yet.

It only had one upgrade so I might hold off on that though, it would be a waste.

I had all the stuff so my 'crew' could need at least one upgrade but I'm not sure if they should.

"I'll be right back," I said as I walked over to the smith. "Yo, what's up?" I said with a friendly smile on my face.

"Hello, how can I help you today?" he said, returning my smile, seemingly losing his shyness from before, so he likely doesn't appreciate being the center of attention.

"Hmm, I'd like to repair my blade here," I said, opening my inventory and materializing the blade off my back and into my extended right hand.

"I see, would that be all?" he said as he took the sheathed blade.

"Know what, I'd like to upgrade this dagger of mine, I'd like to add one to sharpness."

His face soured a little before he noticed what dagger I pulled out, a bit of relief crossing his face.

Odd.

"I see."

I pulled out the few basic materials needed, and he got to work. Soon enough I had a slightly sharper Dagger and a fully restored Kris blade. As he passed me my sword back he spoke. "I thought you would've had a long sword, I didn't know Kris swords were in the game."

Motioning to my sheath, which looked like your everyday black long sword sheath albeit slightly wider. I do that purely for convenience. It would be slightly more difficult to pull my sword out of the sheath that matched the shape of the blade, its curves would get stuck. At least that was my logic, I wouldn't know(and don't plan on trying it anytime soon), never tried it but if the game makes sense in that regard it would line up.

Before I could respond, I heard Kibaou yell, "We're about to start! Everybody get ready!"

.

I held the flat of my blade parallel to my face. "Take this bessy!" I yelled as my sword glowed purple.

[Blood Spiller]

A Kris blade skill, a fairly good one at that, forces me to dash forward and slice horizontally, normally around the neck area. Took a while to get it, but it was worth it.

I shot forward, and my hit landed true, the beast bellowed as I cut directly into its neck leaving an open wound of red.

I jumped back quickly, dodging as it rams its head into the ground where I was before.

My hit took off a slightly larger chunk compared to the rest of my peers.

I took a deep breath, The Windwasp clearing was going very smoothly, unlike us with the actual boss.

Lind and Kibaou were damn near closer to killing each other than the boss.

Most of the hits coming from them were doing around barely 1 to 3 percent, my hits were doing around 8. Not a good gap, but this thing is a boss, so higher stats should be expected. It is...beefy as hell. I'm going to stop with the puns for now.

25% total health left so far, I quickly dodged another charge.

I glanced over to Kirito and Asuna and noticed Kirito using the Martial Arts skill. Nice he got it, I should get it soon.

I glanced over and noticed a wasp flying over us.

Uh oh.

I watched where it was going, and it ignored all of us. It started to fly towards the Bow.

I quickly charged a skill after placing my blade next to my thigh pointing towards the ground. As my blade glowed gold, within my vision a green circle(one alternating in size, this is the targeting system in SAO) I quickly locked it onto the small wasp.

[Blood Whirl]

I spun around in a small tornado charging right at the little wasp, but it landed on the back end of the boss. Also fairly handy but damage increases based on how many targets you have, if you don't have more than one, its damage is limited but you do create a cool effect that can throw you at a mob. Of course, the targeting has a cap of ten until you unlock more through a quest or something.

Oh fuck.

My sword skill, which was targeted at the wasp, killed it, but it was right after the boss had been stung, leaving me on the back end of the thing.

I was quickly thrown off, and thrown to the far side of the boss area. I glanced at my HP. Took off around 45%.

I quickly pulled out a Healing Potion and drank the bitter liquid. I really can't wait for the healing crystals. These things are crap, they take too much time to actually heal you and not to mention taste horrid.

I looked back over and saw that three of the Legend Braves had taken the bull's charge and held their ground against the beast's charge. Pretty damn impressive, even if you recall they have some beefed-up shields, if you ask me.

The two wasp parties quickly joined the fray to back each other up.

The boss's health started dropping rapidly so I quickly dashed over.

Kirito, Asuna, and Apollo's party quickly dealt some good damage, but Kirito had gotten the last Attack Bonus on floor one, He's not getting this one, not without a fight.

So while Kirito was doing his cool little mid-air sword skill trick(I'm not going to lie, it was pretty cool, but tricky as hell) I activated my own sword skill.

[Horizantal]

With that simple skill, Kirito landed his hit but my hit landed right after. The system recognized us both as the winner of the prize.

"Ah come on! That was a dirty steal!" Kirito exclaimed, not noticing we had both gotten the LA due to landing hits at basically the same time(The damage calculators factored in our hits at the same time).

"Really?" I asked with my eyebrows raised. "You got the last LA, and not only that, what you just pulled barely doesn't count as underhanded."

Meanwhile, the two main idiots were arguing, they felt like if I hadn't acted, Kirito would have 'stolen' the reward.

[Congratulations: Double Damage, due to two players landing a killing blow on the {Bulbous Bow} both have been awarded a {Last attack Bonus}].

As I was scanning through my other rewards when I noticed the bonus. [For killing the bonus {WindWasp} you have received the special {Last Attack Bonus}reward].

It was...a dagger. A dagger that was much better than the iron one I had...[Wind Wrath]..

I groaned. I wouldn't have upgraded my iron one if I had known I could get one from an extra wasp!

I quickly read what it entailed. [For killing the {WindWasp} that enraged the {Bulbous Bow} instead of the normal reward, you have earned {WindWrath}. Made from the stinger of the {WindWasp} you now have a 50% chance to inflect the status {Mindless Rage} onto hostile mobs when they are sliced. Does not work when sword skills are used.]

I quickly unequipped my old one and equipped my new one. No use crying over spilled milk, I got a soft drink as an apology. God, I hope that metaphor makes sense before I use it out loud.

I quickly typed a message to Argo, asking what the status is.

Argo: Well, in a nutshell, it causes the mob to drop all attack patterns and its normal abilities settling for attacking with their body or weapons, however, their STR stat is buffed as well.

...like a berserker status that doesn't require the health to fall below a certain point? So it's helpful against mobs that aren't close-quarter oriented. At least I can stop the effect by using some kind of sword skill.

We all headed over to Taran, the next town, ignoring the bickering leaders(One cactus and one wannabe knight).

.

That night, I ran into Yua.

"Hey."

"Hey, what are you doing out here?"

I glanced out into the distance again. "I just wanted to think for a bit."

Currently, I was sitting on the porch of some random building, staring off at the stars.

"A col for your thoughts?" she asked jokingly as she sat down next to me.

"Nah, more like 100 for the amount I got."

She gave me a light punch to the arm. "No, seriously, what is on your mind"

"Several things, none of them too important."

"Anything noteworthy, maybe that could help out a small party of four?"

I closed my eyes, imagining a picture of Apollo with whiskers on his face. Oh yeah, that would be funny.

"Well, there is something."

"What?" Yua seemed genuinely surprised.

"There is a quest on this floor that grants you an extra skill. [Martial Arts]," I explained as I pulled up my map and pointed to where it was. "You have to complete a quest given by an NPC around here. It's not in Argo's guidebook because it's not suggested to do now."

"What do you have to do?" She asked, clearly interested. Make sense. Extra Skills, due to having to complete some kind of condition to get, were normally very useful. Like the medication skill on floor 7, I think it heals you faster during battle, and also increases your crit rate. But not many people used it cuz it made you look kinda dumb with the pose required to activate it.

"You have to break a boulder," I said, voice devoid of all humor.

"...what?"

"Without any kind of weapons," I continued. "It is recommended to just clear more floors and then come back down later."

"Is it that hard to break a rock?!" she exclaimed.

Chuckling a little, I elaborated. "Nah, it's just time-consuming, that thing has the durability right under an immortal object. You might have seen Kirito using it, it took him three days to break the damn thing. No monsters spawn near the quest area so no worry about that."

"Three?!"

"Like I said, hard rock. Not many beta testers know about it, I didn't even know about it during the beta until I met an NPC on the 7th floor that told me about it and when I tried to do it I ran out of time. A fairly remote area so not many clearers would know about it."

"But- if we do this, and three days was the quickest, then that would mean no money or grinding for three days!"

"Yeah, but the skill is pretty damn useful, I saw it get used a few times in the beta, and the people that got it normally did well."

"Well, first thing tomorrow, we're going to break those stupid ass rocks and destroy Kirito's time!" A new gruff voice entered my ears from behind me. I turned quickly and found none other than Apollo.

"I'll be tagging along then," I said, feeling a smirk raise on my face. "I need to keep a lid on your ego after all."

"Enough of your little anime moments and get to bed, we're going to be busy tomorrow," Apollo growled before turning around and walking into the building we were in front of.

Yua, who had become too red to speak, finally noticed how close she had gotten to me. Which was pretty close, she had scooted a little closer every time she opened her mouth. I could practically see steam coming out of her ears, ah the over-exaggerated emotional expressions in SAO are top-notch.

I quickly hopped to my feet and offered my hand. "You heard the man, let's go to bed."

.

Third Person P.O.V

.

Akihiko Kayaba sat still in the same room as before, although this time the room was noticeably darker. "Cardinal?" he called.

"Yes sir?"

"Do you still have the data from the first-floor boss?"

"Yes sir, I also hold the data from the field Boss of the second floor."

"Is it in video form?"

"Yes, it currently is sir."

"Post them online, both of them, give them a peek of a bit before and after as well."

"Yes sir. Consider it finished."

Suddenly a dim glow lit up the man's face, illuminating a grin on his face. "Let's throw the dogs some bones. The entire world should be able to see at least some part of my masterpiece."

.

Meanwhile, in a small classroom, the teacher was in the middle of teaching when a student bust the door down frantically and out of breath.

"Miss! There- Are- Videos- of- in- SAO!" the student nearly yelled despite their lack of breath.

"Wait, what?!" the teacher exclaimed, shoving the lesson aside. Skylah and Suguha exchanged a glance.

"There is a video that was released on several media sites! One is the first-floor boss fight and one is a field boss fight that is from the second floor!" the student explained.

"There is no way anyone could have gotten their hands on that!" someone from the back of the classroom called out. "It's clearly bogus!"

"At the very end of the videos, there is a confirmation that they're directly from the creator himself!" the student frantically explained.

The teacher quickly ditched her lesson and started frantically searching the web. When she found them, she quickly looked astonished. "They are right here...Could this be real?"

"Several experts are already dissecting the video, trying to break down as many facts as they can from the video about what's going on in there. The audio was included as well!" The student further explained. "Rumors are saying he might start live streaming or at the very least post them afterward, they think it will be all of the boss fights or things of importance."

"We are dropping the lesson for today, several school officials have lost or have people inside the game, they'd understand. We need to see how many of our loved ones are risking their lives for the sake of everyone. You are welcome to join us." The teacher motioned to the student that informed her.

"I got to tell the other classes but thanks anyway!" The student said as they ran out once again.

The board changed to a video platform. "Well, class. We are going to be taking a look into the inner works of the human mind. We will be trying to find out how people would react when they are put into a game and trapped to fight for their lives." the teacher said with a smile, likely proud of herself for coming up with a lesson out of this.

"But ma'am we're supposed to be learning math," one student said softly, which the teacher caught with her sharp ears.

"Well, the game data is made of ones and zeros so we are technically learning about numbers!" she said as the video started to play.

"It feels like God is answering my prayers or mocking me," Skylah muttered under her breath. "It's too soon to figure out which."

This is odd. Why would he post these before its done, or not just post them from the start? What made him change his mind? What could he want us to see, it can't just be the game? What are you after now, you bastard? Skylah thought to herself as she watched the first raid group walk up to the boss room and a player dressed in a black robe stopped some of them in the back.

A familiar voice filtered into Skylah's ears from the video making her blood freeze as he passed out some small bottles. "If things were fair, we wouldn't be trapped in this death game," he said before walking away with a simple. "Don't die on me now, you're some of my favorite people."

Skylah jolted up in her seat, seemingly not caring about what everyone was going to think about her outburst. "Big bro! Why are you leaving them?!"