This is not for everyone, but criticisms are appreciated.
A month passed by and the first and second floor was cleared. Rumors say that a single player had completed them, just one person presumably a beta tester. However, player deaths increase day by day due to the hope this one player provided. The number of players that retired from the game and real life went far and beyond expectations.
Over 5,000 players retired from both the game and real life.
Many mistake bravery for foolishness.
And foolishness for bravery.
Due to the unforeseen death tolls, the amount of players dungeon diving had gone down considerably. While the fear of death was there, it wasn't as strong as the discontent for the beta testers who kept most of the game's knowledge to themselves especially the current top solo player.
Simply called the "Silent", the player's appearance and name was still unknown to this day. A mysterious player whose knowledge of the game is unparalleled and skills second to none. Tackling dungeons and bosses solo is a near impossible task as Sword Art Online is an MMORPG, all of its designs are built around multiplayer raids. Fighting bosses solo is akin to taking on superbosses[1].
"You know, it's fine being solo and all but clearing dungeons all by yourself? There's a limit as to how much info I can hide, Silent."
Silent, Iwasaki Hitori, merely glances at her direction with eyes that emit no light catching her off guard. "Argo."
"You gotta keep that staring of yours to a minimum, scares the hell outta me." She commented, smiling nervously as she made her way towards Hitori. "So, what does a famed top solo player of SAO want with this lowly information broker?"
Hitori who was crouching stood up. "You know what I want."
"I don't think my info is worth much to you." She shrugged, smiling as she did since she herself knew she's the top information broker currently. "We both know who has the most knowledge of the game here, Silent."
"Changes." Hitori went straight to the point as he frowned. "What are the changes?"
Argo dropped her smile, it was clear that Silent was not only knowledgeable in Sword Art Online but also knew how game development works. "So you're well aware of it too?"
"It's natural, beta has a lot to offer but also a lot to fix and balance. It's not just a privilege given to selected lucky players to try." Hitori replied. "Games are just like that, even MMORPGs."
"Yeah, yeah." Argo conceded and sighed, giving up. "Well, there aren't a lot I know. Even dialogues from NPCs barely tell me anything but we do know that some bosses' stats and patterns change in their second or last phase, deeming most of beta knowledge useless."
"Yes." Hitori agreed as he recounts the battle he had with the first floor's boss Illfang the Kobold Lord. "But the way the balance works in SAO ver 1.0 is...not for the better, I'd say."
Argo lets out another sigh. "The second floor's boss managed to surprise many beta testers and due to that, we lost more info about the game." She crossed her arms. "If this keeps up, any chances of conquering the damn game will become a pipe dream."
"..." Hitori did not know what to say, he knew the player death counts were exponential these last few weeks and him being one of the causes doesn't sit well on his mind. "Then that info should be made public."
"Already did." Argo said as she opens up her inventory and materializes a guide book. "This is a book given to every player for their own use, contains tutorials and basics for beginners but also a source of information for pros. I've already uploaded several knowledge I've gained with the exception of your requests. Got helped too by a client."
"Was it Keikenox?" Hitori asked.
Ever since the game first launched, he hadn't seen his supposed rival around. If he did not play the game on day one after it launches, then he's one of the lucky players that escaped the trap set by Akihiko. Hitori sure hopes that was the case, no one deserves to be submitted into a death game like this when all they want is to escape the harsh reality. He knew how they felt, he is one of them too after all.
"I've been looking into the player you mentioned and no, it wasn't him. I didn't find anyone you've described, either they're under a different name or they didn't play the game." Argo places back the guide book into her inventory. "I sure hope it's the latter." She pulled down the menu and entered her personal notes, scrolling over the many info she has. "But I did get some interesting info though it's merely a speculation courtesy to the Lore Builders."
"...?" That managed to catch his attention.
"It seems, Silent, the 1.0 version comes with a new feature called the "Gauntlet"." She continues to scroll. "One of the NPCs in the third floor mentioned it and further inspection suggests that the Gauntlet is a simulation within the game that lets players fight enemies or, for pros like you, defeat bosses again." Hitori raises his eyebrows, it reminded him heavily of a feature from a SoulsBorne game. "The best thing about this is that there are no risks whatsoever, it is a simulation meaning that the enemies are nothing but dummies for practice and pattern recognition. This could prove to be very useful for rookies."
"...it would help a lot." Hitori noted. "But it only goes for mobs the players defeated, right? Is it personalized for each player?"
"Unfortunately, that's all we know since the feature is locked behind the third floor's boss if we guess correctly." Argo swiped off the menu. "But even if it's personalized, we have the guide book for info on the enemies' patterns and movements though it won't be as helpful if we had a shared database." She shook her head. "I don't know who helped Akihiko on the game development, but it's clear that they aren't well versed in developing MMORPGs."
"They made the game into a community effort game yet has systems like these that'll divide the players, seems like they're involved in games filled with gamepass and microtransactions." Hitori silently sighs. "At least the game doesn't have any paywalls to it."
"Well, if it was in any other situation, I'd consider microtransaction shitty and predatory but now it would help us immensely if we get to have high-tier gears at the beginning to lessen the number of deaths."
For once in gaming, microtransactions are looked at in a good light. After the downfall of gacha games and games with paywalls as well as predatory practices, games entered an era where making quality games are the common PRs for successes again. It's funny really, how they went back into such a golden era for gaming yet here they are, entering the darkest of moments. The SAO incident will be remembered as the darkest era of gaming in the future.
"..." At that he could only think of the grinding he needs to do to defeat the third floor's boss. "Is that all the info you have? I need to grind for some levels and get some better gear in preparation for the boss."
"Yeah, you've sucked me dry of any valuable info I have." Argo shrugged before a mischievous grin dawned on her face. "Unless you pay another pretty penny for more."
"The subscription is enough." He began to walk in another direction. "I'll see you on the fourth floor."
"Right, thank you for your patronage!" Argo chuckles as he continues to walk before she remembers something. "Oh, hold on! Although it's still unconfirmed, there have been some suspicious activities surrounding the disappearances of players! Be careful!"
Silent gave an assuring wave before disappearing into the distance. He might be very reckless, but he was undoubtedly a very important ally in her eyes. The top player of beta and currently, the top player of SAO. She was lucky to have him as her first client and even have him buy her subscription for her info gathering skills.
Argo places her hands on her hips, shaking her head. "Well, gotta go to Kirito. He still wants the info on that quest after all even if it was already taken by Silent."
With that, she left the scene.
(1) Cold Times Create Cold Men
Once again, the third floor's boss has been defeated by a single but unknown player. With a new floor to explore and enemies to fight as well as exploited comes a new feature.
The Gauntlet.
A simulation that lets players battle against slain enemies and bosses without the risk of dying. Thankfully, while it is not exactly a public database or community effort, one player can share the database of defeated mobs with other players through joining a party. Once a party is formed, they share their knowledge and any members of the party can battle against the enemies the highest player of the party had defeated. Partying up with pro players became a huge advantage.
But this was not all good.
The solution for this new feature divides players even more. Beta testers and pros alike are not keen on partying up with those that barely step afoot in dungeons. On one hand, it was a given considering players that know how the game works to party up with others that do so as well with the benefit of coordination and lack of risks.
On the other hand, ego still drives strong even in these desperate times. After all, what's an MMO without toxicity and elitists?
Thus the displeasure for beta testers grew in size.
That's not to say the pro players who brave through the game and gain knowledge without prior experiences with the game are safe either, they're put on the same category as the beta testers as well. In the minds of those who are weak, the strong will always remain standing in a bad light.
All the more reasons for Hitori to continue on solo and beat the game as soon as possible.
However, something was on his mind lately. According to Argo, he had received confirmation that some unnatural disappearance of players are reported from the lower floors. Just after he had cleared the fourth floor, there were two players missing. It wasn't like they were missing in the dungeon, no. They went missing around the floor's much safer places where only basic mobs roam around. The chances of players dying to a simple mob is very unlikely and while it is possible, around this time, it should be impossible. Each floor has vendors that offer decent equipment, enough to take on dungeons and high difficulty locations on that floor as the cost for it remains low as to accommodate supposedly new players. Stats aren't the only deciding factor in the game after all.
"They must've..." Hitori trailed off, he couldn't said it out louf due to...how dark it is.
While the fields are safe mostly, there are still things to look out for. In Hitori's mind, it's the edge of the floor, the out of bounds. Players can easily die if they fell out of bounds, it was pretty common in the beta for people to just let their intrusive thoughts win and take a leap of faith for the heck of it. SAO is a very realism-heavy game in that the five-senses being replicated are nearly one-to-one with reality.
Beta testers back then liked the rush of air as they fell down since it feels realistic and gave them somewhat of an adrenaline drive. Hitori considers it a very dangerous addiction, players might just become news' topics if they were to try and compare how it feels between VR and reality.
And physics are quite realistic too. Falling off the edge of the floor isn't the only way someone can die, one can slip on the many cliffs in the game and succumb to gravity. Unlike the traditional MMORPGs Hitori played a lot, the perspective of the game is not isometric or topdown since SAO is a VR game after all. So punishment for such curiosity will often lead to death. And in this case, actual death.
Hitori could only assume the missing players aim for one thing and it is a topic not for the faint of heart.
"..." He stares at the sunset, the sensation on his wrists tell him the reason behind these missing players. "Not all are willing to try, huh?" He shook his thoughts away, inhaling and exhaling before walking away. "I need to be quick with this."
As he walks through the crowded streets, the unease and tense can be felt in the air. While it was crowded, it was also pretty quiet. He could only hear a few people talking and most of them are NPCs repeating their dialogue to promote their wares.
"I told you, Hashi-kun wouldn't just...do that!" A player said to her group of friends.
Hitori narrowed his eyes before going up a wall and rest his back against it.
A boy no older than 17 just sighs. "Riko, we should just stop talking about this. We know you like him and all but...you just have to accept it. He went and did it."
"No, I refuse to believe that!" The girl Riko denied, her eyes watering. "He would never do that..."
A burly man places a hand on her shoulder. "I know how you feel but we need to get it together. He had given up but we haven't, we need to keep going."
"No..." Tears began to fell.
"Take a break for today, Riko. You need time to think it all over and we can't have a teammate in a state like this risking her life." The leader persumably said and she gave Riko a sad smile. "We're going to the dungeon, okay? I'll listen to you later, just us girls."
"Alright..." Riko sniffed.
Hitori narrowed his eyes, there was something wrong. From an outsider's perspective, it was just another party devastated by the loss of their comrade. But Hitori had seen these people tackling dungeons skillfully, they're one of the pro players of the game. So one of them taking out their life doesn't seem logical...at least to Hitori. After all, even if he did clear the floor by himself, there were times where he just lets others explore the floor first by themselves before he clears it. They're certainly not a group that lets a situation like this get to them, they were a hopeful bunch.
Yes...something is wrong about this.
After the party left, the girl Riko stayed there for a bit. Hitori sets himself off the wall and approached her.
"Excuse me, can I have some of your time?" He asks.
Surprised, Riko blinks in confusion before forcing out a smile. "O-Oh, um...yes, what can I help you with?"
"I have some questions if you don't mind...about the player that recently left your party."
When it comes to real life, Hitori doesn't really like to approach people like this. He was socially awkward, and he always fumbles on his words. But they were in a game and when it comes to obtaining information, he has no reserves and would not hesitate to talk to people for it.
"What...?" She frowns, "Do you know something?"
"Not at all, that's why I'm asking a bit of your time." Hitori claims, eyes still narrowing. "I'm currently trying to investigate the disappearance of players."
"I see..." A serious expression dawns on her face. "What do you want to know?"
"First, let's find someplace proper to discuss this." Hitori points his thumb backwards toward an inn that has a bar in it. "I'll treat you to a tankard of ale."
Yes, there was something unnatural about the disappearance of a player known as Hashi. Riko explained that one day, when they took a day off, Hashi went off to complete some minor quests that'll get him some materials for potions. There were no indications of him trying to end his life, his room at the inn still has some stuff that needs to be crafted and he was planning on going out with Riko. His sudden death was shocking, Riko was devastated when the notice popped out in her field of vision.
Before 1.0, the beta has a hall on the first floor where you can see the logs of the server. Which party or player cleared the floor, announcement and yes, the players that were killed in action. From a game design standpoint, not having access to the logs of the server from the menu and having to go down to the first floor was inconvenient enough. The team behind the game really didn't have much experience with MMO, that's for sure. But now in 1.0, removing it entirely just makes Hitori questions if Akihiko wasn't the only perpetrator and the game was actually designed by the team to be an actual death game from the start. Because those logs can tell what players were killed by. He guessed this explains why Akihiko had players force summoned into the Rookie Hall to announce what SAO actually is.
The removal of logs makes everything harder.
After asking questions from Riko, Hitori decides to investigate further. He went around and as usual under the guise of a decent player since his high-tier gears would make him stand out. And he needed not to stand out if he were to continue clearing the floors.
Some players mentioned seeing Hashi somewhere on the second floor, presumably trying to complete the "A Family's Crisis" quest which is a repeatable quest that rewards players with materials mostly used in potions. Arriving at the second floor, he follows the trails of Hashi which is just the same one guided by the quest. Going around the floor, he noticed that the places he was going through didn't have any cliffs nor were they near the edge of the floor.
"..." He looks around. "This is not right."
Hitori began to think, the mobs are not dangerous in this path so...what could've...?
As he came upon a forest, his passive skill "Tao Sense" began to pick up several players in the area. They were...not moving and were staying put in peculiar places. Why were they-
His eyes immediately widened.
'No...they couldn't have...!'
"Yo." Hitori frowns as he turns around, meeting eye to eye with a man that could only be described as menacing. "Doing a quest, aren't we?"
Hitori's eyes caught the arrow above the man's head which was painted in the color of blood, something he was really familiar with and also hated.
Red Players.
"You..." Hitori gnawed his teeth together in anger. "We're in a crisis here and you go around killing players!? Are you insane!?"
"Hah! That's rich coming from you beta bastards." A few players popped up from left to right, about seven of them. "You all left us to rot in the lower floors, what makes you better than we are?"
"We're just trying to clear the floors as soon as possible!" Hitori balled his fists. "Don't compare us to you..."
"Wow, and you think leaving us all behind is going to fasten up that process?" The man, leader most likely, pulled out his weapon of choice being a greatsword. "No matter, after we kill you, we'll put your gears to good use."
Hitori eyes widened.
Another change.
Another feature that'll divide them all much further.
One that'll completely lose any hope of unition.
"No...you..." Hitori gritted his teeth, this feature wasn't in the beta. "You killed players...for their loot?"
"Yeah, where else can we go and get high tier gears? Unlike you beta bastards, we don't know a thing about the game." The leader grins. "Except of course, being a Red Player gives us benefit of getting them early. You'd be surprised at how many beta bastards before you got killed by overwhelming numbers."
Hitori eyed to his left and right, seeing the Red Players does indeed have some high tier equipment. "Look, I don't want to fight you guys. You can stop it right here and I won't tell anyone. Just return those gears back and I'll try and guide you through the game."
The leader widened his eyes, blinking a few times before letting out a hearty laugh. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You...pfft, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The leader laughs more as his lackey follows suit, making Hitori furrow his eyebrows in confusion.
"What's so funny?"
"You...hah, you're more naive than you look." The leader charge up his greatsword as it lets out a blue glow. "We're way too far now to just turn on a new leaf! So no, I'm not going to take on your offer, you'll die here and we'll get your stuff and hunt more players."
"I don't want to do this..." Hitori stares at the bonus feature within his field of vision, the loadout. "Please."
"Too bad."
Hitori immediately changed his loadout and his attire changed into a far more higher-tier gears with upgraded stats, shocking the Red Players. The loadout feature is only obtained through defeating a boss of a floor by yourself, technically obtainable only through solo players. And unfortunately, there's not much solo players and even if they were, they weren't as skilled as Hitori who knew the ins and outs of bosses as well as some glitches and exploits that could be used against them.
So the feature is currently only available to him.
The leader charged Hitori and, with a swing of his blade, Hitori managed to shatter the greatsword. Quickly, with his superior speed stats, he materialize a dagger and nick the leader on his side. It didn't deal a ton of damage but that was not the point. The dagger has 15% chance of paralyzing anything he strikes but through his knowledge of SAO, he was able to upgrade it to its maximum potential. It now has 50% chance to paralyze its victims and the debuff lasted much longer.
"Agh! You...bastard!" The leader fell onto the ground, unmoving due to the debuff.
Before his lackeys could react, Hitori was already right before them and managed to paralyze four of them. Three others managed to snap out from their stupor and rush him. Due to the difference not just in stats and gears but also skills, they shared the same fate as the others. However, one of them actually managed to pull out a potion and threw it towards their leader.
"Crap, an AOE potion!" Hitori cursed as the potion splashes on the leader, curing him of the debuff.
The leader quickly dashes backwards and slid his boots on the ground, glaring at Hitori. "You got me there, who knew you were such a high-leveled player?" But then, his grin grew. "Or could you be the bastard who cleared the floors by himself?"
"Tch, give up. I don't want to kill you." Hitori said as he readies himself in a stance.
"Hah! Like hell I will!" He pulled out a few throwing knives. "Thanks for reducing their HP."
Hitori felt the coldness within his body climbing up. "W-What are yo-"
Before he could react, the leader threw the knives at his lackeys, killing them by just a few hits as their body began pool blood around them. His breath took an abrupt halt, his heartbeat stopped momentarily and as his mind process what just happened, he felt sick. He could feel the bile just churning in his stomach.
"Y-You...you sick bastard!" Hitori couldn't hide his disgust, what the leader just then was way too sickening. "They're your party members!"
"And that's why they'll serve as a good sacrifice." His disgusting smile never left his face. "I couldn't afford to lose to you, we've come too far." He took out a few potions and began to gulp them down. "There, your tactic won't work on me now. Either you die or I die, isn't that just fun?"
"What's fun about this, you psycho!?" The anger within builds up, how can someone be so cold as to reduced to doing heinous crimes at cold times?
"HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA! Well, you're the reason why we're like this!" The leader materializes two short swords, dual wielding them as the cold look on his face began to send shudder down Hitori's spine. "In your endeavor of selfishness, you left us to die below. We did die, and now we're demons."
"I-I...I just want to free everyone...!" Hitori reasoned.
"Free!? All you do is trapping us below! I'd rather die fighting for my life than to wait until you beta bastards clear all the floors..." The leader frowns, his displeasure can be seen. "Now, you'll die."
"..." He couldn't say anything.
Was it his fault?
Was this all...caused by him?
Again...
Not again...
Not again!
"RAGGHHHHH!" The man bellows out an animalistic roar and dashed towards Hitori.
"Don't make me do this!" A faint but crimson glow began to emit from his blade. "Please!"
"HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA! DIE!"
Hitori gritted his teeth. "NOOOOO!"
死
A set of technique used by Red Players. Despite the game's inspiration of western RPG aesthetics, Chinese influence also exists in a form of a skill tree known only as the Great Tao Arts.
The particular Great Tao Art Hitori uses is one mostly used by pro Red Players, the DeathDemon skill tree.Only a few managed to get it as it was a limited quest on the fifth floor and due to the extreme difficulty of the quest and changes made in 1.0, it now limits the skill tree to one player. No one else managed to learn these skills anymore. Hitori became the only player capable of using the Death Demon skills.
One of those skills is 死 which literally means death. A nigh impossible skill to pull through, but for someone like Hitori who had indulged in many MMOs in the confines of his room, it was possible.
The blade plunged into the leader's heart, at the perfect center of his chest. The reason this skill was nigh impossible to use is the requirement it needs. The stats of the player must be at least two times the stats of their opponent, this was a skill used for players who wanted to visit the lower floors and find the mobs there too bothersome to deal with considering most mobs have some sort of mechanic that prevents players from one-shotting them. This skill was made for convenience.
But now, it was used to kill.
"Gahaghh!" The leader spits out blood, feeling his HP lowering by the second. "G-Good...job, you...v-vanquished a demon." He whispered in Hitori's ears.
His lips began to quiver. "N-No, you made me do this..."
"Still think...t-that?" A smile crept up to his face. "Cold times...create cold men..." He hold Hitori's shoulder. "And you're...one of those cold men. You...hypocrite...you disgust...m-me..."
His body dropped down and blood squirts out of his being, staining the ground and Hitori's boots. Shaking, Hitori brought his hand over to his face, seeing the realistic blood on his hands. The 1.0 comes with a far more realistic graphics, specifically the blood and gore implementations. He thought that it only extend towards the mobs, he didn't expected it to also apply to players as well. Their deaths...now feel far more realistic...
The bile climbed up his throat at the realization of what he had done. The pain settles in, he remembers it all. What he is and what he'll be forever.
He was disgusting.
He tried to be a hero.
But he wasn't one.
He was a destroyer.
And now he is a killer.
As the body of the Red Players sunk into the ground as part of the game, the gears they've stolen entered his inventory.
A reminder of what he had done.
"In killing other demons, you only became a greater one yourself."
- Unknown
[1] Superbosses are optional post-game bosses that are incredibly difficult to beat even with high/max out levels and post-game gears. SAO is an MMORPG, it was designed around cooperative effort so fighting a boss alone in the game is akin to fighting superbosses.
Yeah, like I said, this fanfic is a darker retelling of SAO events.
Regarding the game, I find it funny how Akihiko envision SAO as a world of his desires that tries to mimic the real world. But the lack of realism is what puts me off. So, as to not avert his character, the team behind the game also works with him to realize his magnum opus. Changing the game and added in mechanics that are otherwise should've not been exist. You're free to speculate as to why they did so beside Akihiko being clear with his aim.
So yeah, that's all I have for you guys. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.
See you in the next one
Written as of 17/6/2024
Rewritten as of ?