Chapter Summary: After login into Sword Art Online, we Kazuto train to get ready for the game. Train so that he could be one of the best players when it comes out.
Chapter Two…
Beta Testing!
Avatar Chamber:
When Kazuto first wore the NerveGear, there was a blind bright white light then flash coloured lights rushing towards him as if he was in a tunnel. This lasted for a few seconds when he saw the game company logo: ANGUS: EXPRESS YOUR VISION. Then he saw the words touch, sight, hearing, taste and smell in their own bubbles saying loading and a moment later, once it loaded, saying okay. This was to set up the sensor system to allow him to experience these things in the game.
Once this was done, Kazuto saw himself in a small ancient ruin area. Before Kazuto could look round, though, the login screen appeared. Wanting him to set up his language, player name and password, blocking his view with a grey mist. After setting the language to Japanese and his player's name as Kirito, and finally doing his password, the mist cleared, allowing him to move around.
He saw that he was on a platform, and he was on what looked like a small floating sky island, and he was in a small ruin tower. Half of the tower walls were destroyed, and there were steps going on, and there was no ceiling. There were two alcoves still standing, one had a table with old books and papers, whilst the other had a cracked mirror in it.
Kirito had to admit, for a character creation part of the game, this looks great. He had to wonder though, with so much detail in this one area, was there going to be more to this area than creating your character? Before Kirito could look around more or think about this, a person entered the tower from the entrance.
This person was a sexy Demi-Human late teen dog-girl with big breasts, wearing a black business bodycon v-neck dress, which revealed some of the woman's breasts. She had brownish fur; her tail was wagging about as she saw him. Then, with a smile of hope, the female said, "Greetings Adventurer to the world of Avalon. You have been summoned to help the people of Avalon."
Kirito was amazed by this detail of the game, where the players would be welcomed by an NPC during the character creation, to explain why they were in this world. Or so Kirito thought was the reason for this NPC to be here, as he didn't see any other reason for them to be here other than to introduce him to this world and tell him the plot of the game.
Now Kazuto tried to talk, but no sound came out. It was like his voice was taken from him for some reason.
"Please don't talk just yet Adventurer, as you're unable to right now." explained the dog-girl, "Please follow me and I'll explain." Here the Demi-Human led Kazuto to the mirror where our hero saw nothing but a ball of blue mist. Above the mist was his player's name. "You see Adventurer, whilst we were able to summon from your world, we were only able to summon your soul but not your body. Before we can go further, you'll need to create a new body so you can help in Avalon."
As she said this, the mist became a misty silhouette of a person, with two options appearing on the mirror. The first option was a small portrait. This one seemed to be the deflect select, where it had many subgenres: things like hair, skin, face and height. With all the subgenres there, it looked like you could look like anyone, be it female or male. There were so many possibilities.
The second option had the shape of a gear. Within this option, they had the chance to use photos of themselves to make the character look like them. When Kirito saw this, he first thought that he would have liked to use that for the beta version of the game, as it would make things so much easier. But with this NerveGear, he had no photos of himself stored on it. So was going to create his own character. That was, until he saw a file on it. Looking at it, he found a few photos of himself from the gaming store. It would seem that the people there used the cameras there to take photos of them, so if they wanted to, they could use this option.
Happy to use this option, used one of the photos and created a character looking like him. But he was standing almost naked, only having a pair of pants on.
Once he created his character, the Demi-Human said, "Once again Adventurer, greetings, welcome to the world of Avalon. My name is Setsuna. I'm your guide in this world. May I have your name, Adventurer?"
"I'm Kirito." the young boy informed this guide, liking this intro very much. It was different from any character creation that he ever faced before. "Can you tell me where I am and why I was summoned to this world?" asked Kirito, having a feeling that there was more to this intro of this game.
"You're in a Sky Sanctum for summoned Adventurers." explained Setsuna, "This place was designed for Adventurers to return here once they return home, a safe place, so that they don't have to worry about returning to a hostile area. This place is also to allow me to keep your records of your quests, places you are being and achievements. This place can also store your items, weapons, and armour."
Kirito smiled at learning about this. He would have a place to store his things, keep track of quests for when he logs in and other things. This place would be where he would return to once he logs back in.
As he was thinking about this, Setsuna began to explain the plot of the game. "As for why we have summoned you here, it's because of Aincrad."
"What is this Aincrad?" asked Kirito.
"It's an ancient magical castle," explained the guide, before she pointed out one of the windows, "look out there."
Looking out of the window, Kirito saw Aincrad for the first. A floating island, around sixteen kilometres, which had a castle made from iron-and-stone built on top of the island. Under the floating island was land that seemed to be untouched by man. As far as Kirito could see, there were nothing but mountains, lakes, rivers, and forests. It was a wonderful world.
"You see, there's an old legend that says that one day, a hundred varied regions from around our world were cut into circles from the land and summoned up to the sky." explained Setsuna, "It was stated that the circles were between over sixteen kilometres for the largest circle, going all the way down to around three kilometres for the smallest circle. These circles stacked from largest to smallest, to form a gigantic floating fortress a hundred floors tall. During the creation of the fortress, stone and iron formed a protective wall preventing anyone from entering the fortress. The only part of the floating fortress that wasn't protected but open land was the hundredth floor."
"So, couldn't you get to the last floor and enter from there and go down this fortress?" asked Kirito, wanting to learn more about the plot of this game.
"Unfortunately, no," the sexy Demi-Human told the young boy, "there's some sort of barrier protecting the fortress, preventing us from entering the place. It protected even the small gaps that we found over the centuries from the outside world. Although we lost many races that day, after a while, we realized that there was nothing we could do and so gave up hope and went on with our lives. However, a few months ago, those who still lived on the surface sensed a great evil coming from the fortress. Not long after that, monsters began to attack the surface. That's when we decided to summon you and the Adventurers. To help us defeat this evil that we believe is at the top of the fortress."
"But how can we help you when you can't even get into the fortress?" Kirito asked, interested to see if this NPC will continue as if he said nothing, like many NPCs would. Going off by a script, only going by what was written in the programming. Or if these NPCs had better scripts this time round, programmed to say more when a player talked to them.
"The reason why you Adventurers can enter the fortress when we cannot, is because of these Sky Sanctums." explained Setsuna, "When we sensed this great evil and they did their first attack, old forgotten ruins started to lift from the land, just like how the lands that created Aincrad once did. However, unlike Aincrad, the lands were small, and they didn't form a structure of any kind. Instead, they spread all around our world. This one is one of the closest to Aincrad."
Kirito had to admit that whilst the story was some basic backstory from other games, however, he liked how it was being set out to him. Using the character creation to learn all this.
"Whilst researching what these sanctums meant, we found an old record about them." explained Setsuna, "It would seem that a great threat appeared a few times in the past at Aincrad, because those on the surface aren't able to get into the fortress, they designed another way to do so. Seeing how we couldn't get in; our ancestors were somehow able to create a spell to summon people from other worlds and send them into the fortress to defeat the evil that awoke in there. So, using the same method, we summoned you and others to defeat this same evil."
Wanting to learn what he could do there, he thought to ask the guide this, "So tell me, what am I able to do there? Am I able to use magic?" Sure, in the interview years ago, Kayaba stated that they couldn't use magic in the game, but that was about two years ago. During that time, Kayaba changed many things, so Kirito wanted to know what else changed.
"Unfortunately, no, for some reason, we learned that the same method as we use magic on the surface, you're unable to use in the fortress." explained the Demi-Human, "From the Adventurers of the past, we learned that the main way that they fight in Aincrad is to fight with swords. However, there were reports that there were some who could use alchemy. These Alchemists are able to create items to use magic in a different way and make things that those who live in Aincrad couldn't normally make. So, if you want to learn some sort of magic, alchemy is your best bet. However, I should warn you, though, it won't be easy for you to learn alchemy."
"How so?" asked Kirito.
"The last we heard about alchemists, they were rare as it was, and that was over a few hundred years ago, so I have no idea if they are still around." explained Sanctums, "But even if some of them are still around, there are two problems you'll face. The first is that to master alchemy, you'll have to master other skills to get the full effect of being an alchemist. Otherwise, you'll just be able to learn and master the simplest of the alchemy skills. If you want the full effect of being an alchemist, you'll need to learn as many skills as possible. However, even if you do that, you have one other problem. The main one, you'll need to find an alchemist to teach you, their abilities."
"Can't I learn all the skills from one alchemist?" asked Kirito.
"Unfortunately, you can't." the Demi-Human told Kirito, "Think of alchemists as cooks from your world, whilst you may be able to cook nearly anything, there are specialists who can cook and do things that normal cooks might not. Things like meat, fish, even cakes. In fact, there are times where you need to learn from specialists to do certain cooking skills. That's the same with alchemy. Whilst some in Aincrad are able to do certain things, they wouldn't be able to teach you how to do them properly. In this case, you would need to learn from a specialist. But you should be warned though, apart from having enough skill in alchemy, you need some other skills too. Some specialists will want you to have some, or a lot, skill in, say, blacksmith or/and carpentry, before they are willing to teach you what they know."
Kirito smiled at this. With all the information that he wanted to know, wanting to learn the rest on his own, he asked, "Am I going to go to Aincrad like this?"
"No, in fact, there's two other things we must do first," explained the guide, "the first is to deal with your stats. Please follow me."
And with that, Setsuna led Kirito to the desk, where there was a book. The first page showed the guide for his stats: The first stat was Strength or STR for short, this was to help with his Melee Physical second stat was Agility or AGI, this was for his Attack and Movement Speed. His next stat was Vitality or VIT, this would help with his Hit Points (HP) and Physical Defence (DEF.) The next stat was Intelligence or INT. This helped with Soul Points (SP - this was a stat that tells Kirito how many times he can do certain attacks.) INT also affects his Magic Defence.
Upon seeing that there was no mention of Magic Attack, it got Kirito thinking. Sure, there was no real magic. They did have alchemy, which was a type of magic from what he could understand. So, he asked his guide, "Why isn't Magic Attack or Mana mentioned with the stat Intelligence? I thought that with being an alchemist, there would be a Magic Attack and Mana stat."
"Whilst it's true that an alchemist has Magic Attacks and Mana, they only get such stats when you gain a skill with them." explained the Demi-Human, "Once you get the skill, you can level it up. In doing so, get more mana and magic attack points as you use it."
As Kirito thought about it, it made sense. Warriors weren't meant to use magic, so it made sense that the only way an alchemist can have it is to have skills that only they could use. After this, he looked at the last stat, Dexterity or DEX. This helped with Ranged Physical one confused Kirito for a moment, seeing that other than alchemists, Warriors weren't meant to have range attacks, so why would they have such a stat? But as he thought about it, he heard that Warriors had throwing knives. So, it would make some sense Ranged Physical Attack stats, but then why weren't there any Accuracy stats?
"How come we don't have the Accuracy stat?" asked Kirito.
"They would gain that as a skill, which you would have to master as you use range attacks, just like you would in your world." Setsuna informed Kirito, "It's the same for dodging, you need to do it to learn and master the ability."
"I understand." Kirito smiled at this, liking to hear how this game tried to make it so that you would have to do certain actions like you would have to in real life. From this and the interview from years ago, this game was trying to be as realistic as possible. Something that Kirito liked the idea of. When he turned his page to see his stats, his hub opened in front of him.
As he looked at the page, he saw it was called Attribute, and it showed the following:
STR: 15
AGI: 5
VIT: 10
INT: 5
DEX: 2
Looking at the Attribute Points, whilst some of them look high, Kirito could really tell if they were good enough. Not until he saw his stats. Although he did have twenty unused skill points for some reason, he would have to ask about this after he saw his stats. So, turning to the next page, his hub changed and showed his stats.
Hit Points: 250
Physical Attack: 75
Defence: 50
Soul Points: 50
Magical Defence: 25
Ranged Attack: 10
As Kirito looked at the stats, he had to admit for a level one character these were some decent stats, better than others. He knew in most games; a lot of the stats would be lower than this. As he looked at the stats, he saw that there were no stats connected to AGI, so this got him wondering why he had such an attribute.
With this in mind, and wondering why he had skill points already, he asked Setsuna, "Can I ask you two questions?"
"Of course, you can, I'm your guide after all." the guide told him.
"Well, what I want to know is why isn't there a stat for my Agility Attribute?" asked Kirito, "The second question is why do I have twenty skill points for?"
"To your first question, your Agility Attribute is your speed ability, for movement and how fast you attack. So there are no stats. You'll notice the difference as you level it up and you move and attack faster." explained the guide. "As for the skill points, they are to help you with your own fighting style. You see, each Adventurer comes to this world with the same Attribute Points and Stats. But from what we know, the summoning ritual gives the Adventurer twenty points so they can add more points to their Attribute Points, to help them with their fighting style. So please use them to help you in Aincrad."
Kirito smiled at this. There were only a few games that did this. Give a player that has Attribute Points and Stats skill points to help them at the start of the game. Normally, they give the player a zero attribute points and give them a certain amount of skill points so that they can arrange their attribute points as they like. Either this, or they give the player a set of Attribute Points and send them off to play the game and give the player skill points as they level up. So it was nice to see that he had some skill points to play around with.
He gave himself a few moments to think about what kind of play style he was going to do. He wasn't sure if his attribute did more than just give him better stats or not, like letting move something heavy if he had enough skill points. Or having high intelligence, would let him read books that he wouldn't normally be able to. Sure, he could ask his guide here, but this was one thing he wanted to learn by himself.
He knew that he wanted to try out being an alchemist, but he wasn't sure what stats he would need. He knew that for magic attacks and mana, he would need to gain different skills and level them up. So, the normal routine of using intelligence to get mana and magic attack was out. But at the same time, if he was right about needing intelligence to read certain books, then as being an alchemist, Kirito believed that he might need to read books to learn certain skills. So he might need some intelligence for that.
As Kirito thought more about it, he knew that he wouldn't need dexterity right away. This game was mainly about sword fighting, not ranged weapons until later on. So, he needed to think about using stats to help with fighting first until he got the Alchemist Class Quest. With that in mind, He decided to put his point into STR, AGI, VIT and INT. Ten points into STR, so he would have stronger attacks, five points into AGI, to move and attack faster, two points in VIT and three into INT. The reason that Kirito only put two points into VIT, he didn't see low-level monsters being too much of a problem, so three hundred and twenty-five hit points should be enough.
So, by the time he was finished, his stats were as follows:
Hit Points: 300
Physical Attack: 125
Defence: 60
Soul Points: 80
Magical Defence: 40
Ranged Attack: 10
With the stats done, Kirito looked turned to the next page to find it was the last page for now. This was the skill page. Like before, turning the page opened a new page. It was called Sword Skills. He only had four skills for now: Horizontal, Slant, Vertical and Uppercut.
After seeing the skills, Setsuna said, "Okay, next we go with the out and armour that you begin with."
With that, the guide led Kirito upstairs, where he found two wardrobes. There were two weapon racks, with different weapons. Looking in the wardrobes, he saw that one wardrobe had basic clothing, and the other had basic armour. "Here, you can keep your weapons, clothes and armour." the Demi-Human informed the young boy, "At the moment, you only have basic stuff, but as you travel through Aincrad, you can gain new items and store them here. So, please put on what you want and pick a weapon. Afterwards, I'll help you to get to Aincrad."
With that, Kirito looked through the cloth wardrobe first to see which outfit to wear. To start off with, Kirito picked a black pair of pants, a white short-sleeve shirt, and a black sleeveless vest. As for armour, Kirito decided to use a leather wrist-guard, pair of fingerless leather gloves, boots, and leather shoulder neck protector.
Once he put on his new armour and outfit now on, Setsuna said, "Please follow me and I'll send you to Aincrad."
With that, Setsuna led Kirito back to the lower floor and to the empty alcove, where the dog Demi-Human touched the wall and a swirling blue portal opened. "Good luck Adventurer. Know that you can leave whenever you want from Aincrad, but when you return, you'll return here so you can prepare." Setsuna told Kirito, before asking, "Is there any more question before you leave?"
Kirito thought about this for a moment, before coming up with one question. "Yes, I have one question. Am I able to fix this Sky Sanctum?" Kirito asked the guide. This was something that was on his mind for a bit now, wondering if he was able to fix it, could he get some benefits from doing so?
"You can," admitted the guide, "in doing so, you get bonuses and are able to create potions before returning to Aincrad. Sure, you can create potions once you return to Aincrad, but here you can sort out things without people bothering you, getting attacked out of nowhere and the like."
"I see, thank you for the information." said Kirito.
"If there's no more question, please go and help those in Aincrad and get rid of the great evil there." said Setsuna.
Without another word, Kirito walked into the portal.
o0OoO0o
Aincrad - First Floor, Town of Beginning:
Upon entering the portal, Kirito found himself being transported to Aincrad, where he found himself in front of a fountain in what looked like a town centre. Looking round, Kirito saw that the other Beta Testers were beginning to transport into the town. Before he could do much though, a female NPC wearing a mediaeval outfit and having a yellow marker above her.
"Welcome Swordsman to Aincrad, may I help you with anything?" the female NPC asked simply, without any feeling. It wasn't surprising to Kirito; all NPCs were the same. "This is the central plaza of the Town of Beginning. You may find weapons and equipment in the shopping district, which is this way." With that, the NPC pointed to a pathway, "You may also find potions and other things you might need there too."
"Thank you, but I was wondering, where might I find a place that makes Alchemy Chests?" Kirito asked the NPC.
"Ah, you want to learn alchemy? In that case, you should go to the carpenter. He's down there." explained the female NPC as she pointed down a path.
Without another word, Kirito left and went to the carpenter. Once he got there, he saw a black man in a carpenter outfit standing behind a counter, with a question mark above his head. Unlike the normal diamond mark above the NPCs, the question mark meant that NPC was important. Either because they were a trader or they were a quest giver, it all depends how you talk to them.
Knowing that this NPC meant to be able to help him to create an Alchemy Chest, Kirito said, "Yes, I would like to get an Alchemy Chest."
With that, the question mark became an exclamation mark, making the carpenter a quest giver.
"Ah I see, but unfortunately, I'm unable to help you right now." explained the NPC, "I have run out of the material to make such a chest. But, if you're willing to help me get the material, I'm willing to create an Alchemy Chest for free. The first thing I would need was to get wood from the lumberjack near the town."
Upon hearing this, a quest window opened.
Alchemy Chest Quest - Part 1
Gathering Wood from the Lumberjack!
Collect 20 planks of wood from the Lumberjack.
Reward(s):
Next Quest…
Accept/Decline
Upon seeing this, Kirito smiled at this, glad to get his first quest in this game.
"I'm happy to help you sir." said Kirito as the Decline from the quest window disappeared and only left the word Accept.
"You'll find the Lumberjack's Hut here." the carpenter informed Kirito as he handed him a map of the surrounding outside of the town. The map had a mark as to where Kirito had to go.
"Thank you, I'll be back soon." With that Kirito took the map and left the shop and walked out of the town.
o0OoO0o
Aincrad - First Floor, Lumberjack's Hut, near Town of Beginning:
It wasn't that long after leaving the carpenter that Kirito found himself at the Lumberjack's Hut. It was a wooden hut with a stack of trees placed next to the house. There was a forest behind the hut. Upon Kirito entering the area, an elderly man wearing a lumberjack's outfit left the hut and came up to him.
"How can I help you?" asked the man, like the carpenter. He had a question mark above his head.
"I'm here to get twenty pieces of wood for the carpenter in the Town of Beginning." explained Kirito
With that, the question mark became an exclamation mark, making the lumberjack a quest giver.
"I'm sorry, whilst I would love to help you, I'm able to right now." explained the NPC, "I've got some trees to cut, a quota to keep. However, if you're willing to help me, I'm willing to cut the logs that I have into the planks that you need."
Upon hearing this, a quest window opened.
Cut Down Some Trees.
Cut down six trees.
Reward(s):
20 planks of wood.
?
?
Accept/Decline
Upon seeing the question mark in the rewards, he had to wonder what the secret rewards were. He found that in many games with this, they often get an extra reward depending how well they did in the quest, that or the game developer wanted to keep a few rewards a secret or both. So this made things all the more interesting for Kirito.
Knowing that he needed to do this for the chest, Kirito said, "Sure, I'm willing to help you." With that, like with accepting the quest Alchemy Chest Quest - Part 1, the Decline from the quest window disappeared and only left the word Accept. Although, whilst not complaining about it, he found that cutting down six trees was too easy, he thought it would be more. Maybe it was because this was a beta game. Because of this, things were a bit easier, as they were testing how things were and making things too hard wouldn't allow the testers to test as much as possible. This was going to be the first MMORPG for V.R, so they would need to find out as many bugs as possible and making it hard wouldn't help the designers.
Whatever the case, the lumberjack gave Kirito an axe and the young boy went into the woods to cut down the trees. Kirito didn't go too far into the forest, as he didn't know what sort of monsters there were in there. With him being level one, it would be dangerous to do so.
Thankfully, seeing how it was a game, it only took a few hits to cut down the trees. Once again, Kirito wished that it was a bit harder, and made a comment on this to the developer on the recording that was set up for this. As he cut the trees down, though, he found that he gained the Woodcutter's Skill, where he got to level two at the end of cutting the trees down.
Upon finishing this off, he left the trees where they were and left the forest. Upon arriving back at the lumberjack's hut and reporting that he was done with the trees, he saw there was a horse and cart with the planks on it. The lumberjack thanked Kirito for the good work and gave him an old axe before bidding the young boy goodbye as he went to get the trees.
As this happened, the quest window opened:
Cut Down Some Trees. (Completed)
Reward(s):
20 planks of wood.
Woodcutter's Skill
Old Woodcutter's Axe
Upon seeing the rewards, Kirito was shocked to see them. Whilst not sad about them, he wasn't expecting them. But having the Woodcutter's Skill, as he levelled up, he should be able to gain extra skills and stats, making it easier for himself. And having the Old Woodcutter's Axe, it would be easier for him to level up the Woodcutter's Skill, as he wouldn't have to buy an axe to cut down trees.
But before he could do anything else, though, a hexagon box appeared in front of him.
Warning:
You're being forcibly logged out!
Within a few seconds of reading this, there was a blind bright white light, then flash coloured lights rushing towards him as if he was in a tunnel.
o0OoO0o
The flashing lights didn't last for long. When they stopped and he could see clearly, he found himself back at the gaming centre with one of the store assistants was standing above him.
"Sorry for forcibly logging you out, but you have been in the game for almost two hours." explained the store assistant.
"Oh, I see." Kazuto said in shock, not realizing that he had been in the game for so long, "thank you, I didn't realize I was in the game for so long."
"No problems, just wanted to make sure you knew, so you can decide if you want to stay for a bit longer or go home." the assistant told the young boy.
"No, I need to head off home, anyway." Kazuto told the assistant, before he took off the NerveGear and put it into the bag that he brought with him for it. Then he left the Gaming Store.
As he was making his way home, though, he passed a gaming arcade, where there was a huge TV screen turned on, showing two people playing a game. The first person was a slim girl with untied, long purple hair, and teal eyes. From what he could see from the screen, she was wearing a black baseball cap and a hoodie. The other was a male teen, with black hair and eyes, where he was wearing a white shirt with a lightning bolt on it.
By the whispers going on by those watching this, the boys were somewhat surprised that a girl was doing so well. Kicking the ass of everyone that challenged her. This caught Kazuto's interest, it had been a while since he played an arcade game or any sort of normal computer games, preferring to play on VR, It was a few years since he played a console game, with his training and playing VR. So, if this girl was so good, he wondered how well he could do against her.
So, entering the arcade, he waited until this girl defeated the boy. The girl asked, "Is there anyone else who wants to try to fight against me?"
"I do, my name is Kazuto." Kazuto called out.
"Name's Misumi," replied Misumi, before going on to explain, "pick any fighting game here and whoever wins two out of three battles wins."
"I would like to play Street Fighter EX if this place got it." Kazuto informed the purple-haired girl, "And if possible, I would like to play a few games and re-familiarize myself with the controls and the abilities of the character I'll be playing with."
Misumi was a young girl who prides herself on being the best, someone who can beat anyone who challenges her. So, if she challenged this boy, who is unfamiliar with the skills and controls and asked for a few games to re-familiarize himself with them, and won, it would look bad on her. If she didn't allow Kazuto to re-familiarize himself with the game, saying that she was too scared to let him do so.
So, with a smile, she said, "I have no problems with that."
"Thank you." Kazuto thanked the girl before playing the game. During the first few games, as he got used to the controls and movements again, he made sure not to show off his skills just yet. Not wanting Misumi to know how good he really was. He didn't think he was better than her, oh no, but he knew he was better than he was letting on.
Once he was re-familiarized with the skills and controls of the game, he and Misumi began to play Street Fighter EX. The mode they used had no time limit. The two played at their best, not giving the other much room to make mistakes. Those who were watching were amazed that the newcomer was making Misumi work for this win, as before she wrapped the floor with those who battled her before. Although she had to work for it, she won, two to one.
"That was a good game," Kazuto told Misumi, "although it just shows I'm still a bit rusty in playing those games."
"That was rusty?" Kazuto's opponent asked in shock. This shocked the audience too, sure they knew that Kazuto was good, but if he considered himself rusty, how good was he in the past? "If that's the case, I don't think I would like to see you in top form. I might have lost." Misumi jokes.
Kazuto just smiled at this and was going to bid Misumi goodbye when he saw a bag next to her. It was opened, and it had a NerveGear in it, with the words Beta Tester on it. This made him realize that like him, she was a beta tester for Sword Art Online. So instead of saying goodbye, he winked at her and said, "I might see you in SAO."
With that, he left a wide-eyed girl, and a confused audience. Misumi was shocked that she just faced another Beta Tester for Sword Art Online. With him as a Beta Tester, if she faced him in a one-on-one battle in VR, she didn't know she would win. But it would be interesting to play out. As for those who were watching them, they had no idea what they were talking about, and before they could ask, both Kazuto and Misumi were gone.
o0OoO0o
10th of November 2029:
It has been almost five months since Kazuto began beta testing Sword Art Online, and today was the day that the game went out live for everyone to play. For the first month and a half, with his schoolwork and kendo training, he couldn't test the game much. But he was able to make it to the Floor Guardians/Bosses and normal bosses.
His way of fighting the bosses was to let the other players do the attacking, and at the last moment, sweep in and kill the boss. The reason for this was for him to get the last attack bonus, where whoever gets in the last attack would get an extra item. This interested Kazuto, so he waited until the last moment to get them.
But, once school was out, Kazuto cut down on his basic training and worked on playing Sword Art Online. He wanted to see how much he could do in the game and doing a lot of training would prevent him from doing so. Thanks to this, during these months, he was able to learn many of the quests, writing down the quests that he believed that would give him the edge in the game when it comes out.
By the 31st of August, when the Beta Testing ended, Kazuto was able to get to floor ten with a handful of other people. He also felt as if he was ready for the game when it came out, that he could get to the tenth floor in less time. But they warned him that when he handed in his NerveGear and game that things would be different when he mentioned this. When the full game came out, the enemies, bosses and certain quests could be different or harder to deal with. In fact, bosses would be harder to deal with, stronger. Which wasn't too surprising for Kazuto. Not only that, but the Hidden Quests that were withheld in the beta testing would be added, and some of them could change things too, making the quests and bosses he knew removed and changed, or altered in some way, or new quests might take its place.
Hearing this, Kazuto hoped that it wasn't too much of a difference in the main game. But then again, thanks to his training over the last two years, as long as the quests don't change too much, he believed he could handle any or most of the monsters and bosses in the game.
As he thought about the last two years or so, he had to admit; he grew some more confidence in himself. Sure, he still had problems with interacting with others, but if need be, he could stand up for himself.
Kazuto admitted to himself that he wished that things between his family and he had gotten better. Sure, they helped him over the years, even his sister/cousin, but it still was awkward between them. Suguha was the main problem. As much as Kazuto would like nothing more but to reconnect with her, he was unable to. Even after she helped him in the last few months with kendo, he still wasn't sure how he connected to her.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Suguha, "Brother, I'm off to practise! See you later, okay?''
Suguha was heading for her kendo practice, as she did every weekend. When the sound of a shutting door echoed through the Kirigaya's residence and reached his room, a smile appeared on the young boy's face. He had the house to himself. And so there he was, a fourteen-year-old teenager preparing to enjoy an entire afternoon of gaming.
On his desk sat his NerveGear that he won a few months ago. He was among a handful of lucky winners to win a band new NerveGear and the game of Sword Art Online, or a few who only got the game. The rest had to buy the headset and the game.
Looking at the time, Kazuto saw that it was almost twelve o'clock. Nearly time for the game to officially begin. So wanting to set his character up beforehand, Kazuto eagerly laid comfortably on his bed. As he had the headgear in his hands, though, for a few moments, there was some nagging feeling telling him not to put the headset on. But his eagerness and delight at playing SAO pushed that feeling away, as he closed his eyes and nearly shouted, ''Link, start!''
Little did Kazuto know it at the time, but this would be his last time in the real world for a few years. That for the next few years, he would be trapped in a virtual reality world, where he would be living a death game, where one mistake he would be dead in real life. Where when he returns to the real world, both he and the world would be forever changed to what is about to happen.
To Be Continued!
Author's Note - PLEASE READ: Here ends another chapter of Sword Art Online - Alchemy Edition. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope that you enjoyed the character creation part of the story, where I give a back story to Aincrad and the world in it. I felt that the game needed a story as to why people had to climb a hundred floors of a magical castle and I came up with this. Hope you like it. This is one of many changes that I'm doing to Sword Art Online. I just hope you like the rest of the changes I have planned.
Before you ask, no, I'm not going to be using the Sky Sanctum again in the story, at least I have no plans right now. I just created it for a different character creation set up, and to give some back story to Kirito about Aincrad. After this, other than mentioning it a few times, we won't be seeing it again.
I haven't mentioned Attack or Movement Speed in the stats, as I wasn't sure how to write it, so I left it out. But as you read, it's an active skill that'll make the person faster over time.
I would like your opinion on an idea I have. How would you feel about a time delay system in SWO? I've seen a few VR stories where time is spread up so that one normal day would be three in game days, Infinite Dendrogram is one such VR Story. Would you like such a thing in this story?
Now, other than wanting to know what else you would like to see in this story, I would like to ask you two things. The first is what sort of weapons should you think Kirito should have by the time of Floor 75. I want him to have the dual wielding skill, but the sword, that's what I need help with. What sort of swords should he have?
Next, I would like help with quests. What sort of quests would you like to see in this story? If possible, I would like you to set up a few quests for me to try to add to the story. You might have to PM me seeing how you have a limit to how many words you can have. I would like you to explain how the quest would start and the sort of things they would have to do during the quest. Would like to hear a few quests if you can.
Lastly, I would wish you all a Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays if you don't celebrate Christmas, and a Happy New Year.