Maybe it was his charisma? or was it that I truly believe that his way might lead to the fastest route out of here? Azure thought to himself as he sat in the tavern at the wooden table. Looking around he saw numerous people in a panic, but those at the table with him seemed relatively calm. He couldn't really blame them though, they had just essentially been told they are stuck in a game and that if they die in here, it is game over from them in real life as well.

He let out a bored sigh then looked back at the man who had offered him a place in his guild and promised a way out, pushing strands of his blue hair behind his ear, "So, what is this plan of yours to help get us out of here quickly, and why did you hand pick us for this guild of yours, surely there is many others who would be more eager." Azure was curious to know what this man was thinking, seriously, starting a guild with a few beta testers, and non beta testers, kicking it off when everyone is level one right after such a mess, what was this man up to?

---

The one who invited them to the guild, a man with hair long enough that it could touch the ground began to speak, "Well I do believe that introductions work best coming first, and then we shall get to business," he stood up, revealing a fairly sturdy looking build, even with such simple blue armor on, "I am Crepus, I have hand picked all of you for this guild based on statistics that I had gathered prior to the incident. I am a renown hacker in the real world, so I know a few things that even beta testers wouldn't know of." He gave a heartwarming smile, "And I trust we all want out of here, so I will place my trust in you all, if you will trust me, we will make it out of here alive. If my calculations are correct, we can make it out without losing a single member of our group." He pointed his finger at the others not at their table, some crying, some acting hysterical, "See how you all act different then the others, this shows me that you all have a burning will inside to live, a flame that shall not be easily extinguished. I need that flame so that we, 'The Phoenix' can rise all the way to the top. We will need to beat the boss' claiming the special last hit rewards, hitting up all the best grind spots first. Others may hate you, but in the end, it will be us to save the remainder of the players. It is better to have a few elites who can do anything, than a bunch of average joes, who stumble and fall along the way." The way he spoke was full of conviction, he truly believed in everything that he was saying, even other in the tavern started to notice, but instead of giving him looks of scorn, it seemed more like they had hope in their eyes. Someone willing to get them out of here and face the dangers. "So now then, let us introduce ourselves, we will be shedding digital particles together after all." he sat back down, his chin on his hand, smiling as he looked at the others at the table.

"Just my luck!" Karma yelled out at the top of her lungs. She was sitting at the table with the others as she said it, momentarily creating silence in the tavern. After a few seconds of quiet, things started to pick up again. Karma knew that everybody had the same thing in mind. Stuck in a game, where your life constantly hangs in the balance. She had already had her breakdown, the tears had already been shed, now was her time to vent her frustration and anger.

Karma had her head in her hands, her teeth clenched. "So, what is this plan of yours to help get us out of here quickly, and why did you hand pick us for this guild of yours, surely there is many others who would be more eager." said one of the others at the table.

She looked up at him, he seemed to be her age. That at the very least was comforting, but still not enough to alleviate the stress of the situation. Karma ran a hand through her short blonde hair and then rested her chin on it. She looked at the others at the table, the group was very diverse, and very ramshackle. Her eyes then went to the man who introduced himself as Crepus, interesting name, Karma thought. When he pitched the idea of starting a guild, Karma took a moment to think on it. Was it such a good idea just after such a crisis? Then again... What if she died on her own, who'd know? Karma raised her hand, "Um..." she cleared her throat, "I guess I'll go first... I'm Ma-... Karma. First MMO and VR for me... Wasn't expecting -this- to happen." Karma sighed and then looked at Crepus, "I'll tag along. It might be for the best that we share our resources if we're going to get through this."

Hyperion looked over at Karma, then back down to the table. "If you really are telling us the truth about you having a grand plan, then count me in." Hyperion looked up at the group sitting at the table. " My names Hyperion, i was a Beta Tester back when we could actually log out." As he looked around he continued to say " During my time as a Tester I found a bunch of good places for items and some good training grounds to grind."

Hyperion said with a smirk. "But only if you can promise me that we will all work together, and that I could have a little side business while doing work with the guild." He laughed for a little while then stared back down at the group in silence.

Exile had been drinking during most of the conversation, hoping that it would somehow trigger a virtual drunken state. He didn't feel like dealing with what was happening right now, even though he specifically had been summoned. He hadn't even been in game for two hours when the GM decided to pull rank, and in a big way. Of course the first VR game to ever come out turns out to be controlled by a psychopath who has a really creative way of dooming hundreds of people to death. Knowing that, it would probably be the last, but right now that was the least of Exile's worries.

Upon hearing that this guy was a hacker, a question came to mind, but he quickly came to an answer to that. "I'm going to assume you don't know how to hack this game, at least not to the point that you can let people out. Well, in that case, I guess we don't have many options." He let out a sigh of frustration. "You can call me Exile," he said, finishing off the drink in front of him. "And I really want to kill that GM."

While the others spoke, Aura stayed still and silent. Leaning back in her chair, one leg crossed over the other, the whites of her knuckles were visible on the fists she held in her lap, her expression betrayed no sign of anger, fear, or anything of that nature. She appeared calm on the outside, but on the inside.... she was anything but. I am not going to die here. Not in this game... There are too many things I... I havent done. she told herself with a narrowing of her eyes. Apparently the six others around this table were going to help her achieve her goal of getting out of SAO alive, but the thing was... Aura actually had to participate in this, Help everyone out and work as a team...

A sigh was the first audible noise she made since the GM Akihiko Kayaba announced that they were trapped here. No crying.... crying was for children, no yelling that this was bullshit or all a lie, Aura believed that panicking was the one thing that she should not do in this situation. But inside... she was very... very afraid. When no one spoke for a moment or two, Aura decided it was time for her to introduce herself as well. Sitting up and unclenching her fists, she looked at her hands and saw the red marks from her nails digging into her flesh. That drew another sigh out of her before she ran a hand through her hair and began to speak, keeping her eyes focused on the ends of her violet locks as she did as an attempt to hold on to her calm facade.

"My name... Its Aura." she closed her eyes and took a small breath before looking at the others around the table. "I'm in. But i seriously dont want to have to babysit any of you. According to this guy..." she jabbed her thumb in the direction of Crepus, "You all have something to bring to the table so i assume that means you all are competent enough to take care of yourselves. I hope that this works out like we want it to... but no hard feelings to anyone here, if there is ever a time i feel this guild thing is hurting more than its helping... then im going to leave. Other than that, I suppose i can play nice and 'work as a team' or whatever." she glanced around the table again and her eyes landed on the other girl for a long moment. Her head tilted slightly before she leaned back in her chair and dropped her eyes to her lap.

Once more, Aura became still and silent. In truth, her fear had subsided just by being near the few individuals at the table. Though she would never admit it out loud, they made her feel safe. Hopefully she wouldn't have to leave... But now there was something other than fear that was nagging at her mind. That girl....

Karma... Where have i seen her before....?

To say the least, Aero was very surprised to be approached by Crepus in all of this chaos. The man had lead him to a tavern, promising a way out of the hellhole he was now stuck in. Aero has previously been shedding a few tears, who could blame him? The life he had, just ripped away on a few moments, a realization such as that would traumatize even the mightiest of men. He already missed his family and friends, just because he knew that he couldn't be with them. This took the saying "you never know what you truly have, until it's gone," to a whole new level.

Then, as always, he got to thinking. He was a very capable player, outmatching that of non-beta testers. Who's to say he couldn't survive? Sure, he wasn't the most "warrior" of a player, but he did have a brain, and a strong will to live. Maybe, just maybe, forming this guild could help him survive until the end. So, as he sat uncomfortably around the oak table, next to strangers, he found hope.

Aero gave Crepus credit, he was a very inspirational, motivational speaker. He made Aero, for once in his life, take a leap of faith. He didn't think about statistics or probability, he just.... Believed. Crepus ended his long winded speech by telling the group to introduce themselves, which made Aero cringe. Oh yeah, he actually had to interact with people. What a drag. Truth be told, it was nice to be around other humans. He listened to their introductions until Aura spoke up. She was a feisty one, she reminded him of one if his old "no bullshit" teachers.

Once the blue-haired girl quieted down Aero decided it was his turn, mostly because there was no one left to speak but him... "Um well, I'm Aero... I was a beta tester, and I just want to go back home really." He gave them a sheepish smiles, sort of embarrassed, he had nothing left to say. "So.... Yeah, I hope we can all make it out of here alive." Well, that was a depressing thing to say, why did his mouth betray him like that? He was trying to say some inspirational, but it didn't work out that way. Oh well, he tried....

This ragtag group of misfits was hand picked? seriously? Azure listened silently as everyone introduced themselves, he really had trouble seeing what redeeming qualities most of the group had, but it was still early on, worst case scenario, they could be used as monster and trap fodder. "Well then, in this world I go by the name of Azure, I have zero intentions of dying, and although I was not a beta a beta tester, my brother worked on SAO, and much to my displeasure and his joy, would randomly throw spoilers at me, so I know a few secrets here and there." He then turned his gaze towards all his new companions who had stated that they were beta testers, Would there really be a noticeable difference between beta and non beta players in a guild?

---

"Well done, now that we all know each others names, we should probably hit the grind." Standing up, Crepus fist pumped the air, "I am going to play as a tank, so you guys will need to focus on the damage." He started to get up and leave, "Well then, shall we be off before more people head over to the grind spot? It is still early so we should be able to claim most of the monsters there." He opened his window and sent everyone the party invite, so that they would share the experience.

Karma kept her chin rested on her hands as she looked at everybody while they introduced themselves. Seemed like an okay bunch, but she wasn't placing her trust on any of them just yet. She stood up and stretched, not that she needed to, more of a habit to stretch from sitting down than anything. "Well... Here we are, I suppose. A clan." she seemed kind of awkward as she said that, this was really her first taste of an MMO society, albeit a bad example, clans were a new thing to her. "I guess it'd make sense if we added each other to our friends lists?" With that, she waved her hand and brought up her menu, selecting each of them and asking if they wanted to be friends.

After that was all said and done, she looked over the names of them all, trying to remember them all. She was sure that she had. Then Crepus mention something about something. She scratched the back of her head, "Uhm... Grinding?" she didn't understand the term, "Ah whatever, I'll just follow the lead. I suppose I'll be uh..." Karma thought on what sort of role she'd take on, having not really thought about it, "Tactician? Strategist? I dunno..." Karma sighed, obviously not too good at this sort of thing, "Somebody suggest something for me?"

She had a bit of a blush on her face, embarrassed that she had proved her inexperience in MMO lingo. But Karma was determined, although it didn't seem that way. She had already concluded that these people in front of her were the only true comrades she'd ever have in this; bound together from day one. If she was going to be the brains of the operation, she'd need to learn everything there was to learn about MMOs, about SAO, apply that knowledge, and most importantly, show the results. "Ya, so lets uh... Go... Grinding..." she facepalmed, still not knowing what it meant.

Hyperion sat in his chair waiting for the guild to do something he noticed Karma face palming. 'Well this is going to be a very interesting ride.' Hyperion thought to himself. As Hyperion started to stand he remembered all the secret chests are where all the easy grinding spots are that are hidden from everyone that didn't truly search for it.
As Hyperion stood there, he realized that the normal grinding spots would already be filled, almost to the max. " What area is this grinding zone Crepus?" Hyperion asked knowing were some good hidden ones are.

(Double Post Oops)

When the screen popped up from Crepus that showed a party invite, Aura quickly pressed the blue button and one by one, the names of the others in her so called 'guild' popped up under hers. Just after she finished with that, she recieved a friend request from Karma, to which she also accepted. Standing with a sigh, Aura stepped from around the table and crossed her arms in wait for everyone else. She stayed silent for a moment before looking at the other girl. "Grinding simply is a term used in video games to describe the process of engaging in repetitive tasks. It is what many do if they want to level up quicker, score some money, or pick up items perhaps. It can get tedious at times but other than that its... fun." she said. She looked at everyone once more and then sighed before turning and walking out. "Not everyone leave all at once. Things will certainly get done when we're standing around." Though she obviously didn't know where Crepus planned to take them, standing in that cramped tavern was starting to get on her nerves.

Aero gladly accepted everyone's friend requests. For once in his life he had friends. In real life, all he had was games, books, and the internet. Funny, he gets friends in a situation in which he could die at any moment. He noticed Aura was becoming agitated and followed her out. He didn't know if she was sad or something, so he said, "um. Are you okay? You seem like of.... Frustrated," he choked out. He put his hands behind his head and refrained from keeping eye contact. Aero wished he had tried to be more social in real life, being in a Guild was going to be harder than he thought. He couldn't even speak to his teammates...

"Well aren't we all just the bunch of go getting happy people." Azure spoke in a higher tone, with thick sarcasm layered all over it, he even over dramatized it by waving his arms while speaking. After chuckling at his own comment he continued to follow Crepus out. He a vague idea of the town's layout, and where the roads led if one chose to follow them long enough. it seemed like it split in four major directions, North, East, South and West. Standard stuff really.

---

Following the cobblestone road to the south, they were led, eventually making it to a cross roads, one path staying more clean,, with a few stones missing, but otherwise a recognizable path. For those who had been beta testers, they would recognize that it led to another town, which, right beside it had the renown area for the strongest first floor monsters. The 'ideal' spot to grind if one want to get it done by fighting the strongest enemies, Boar Riding Goblins. Because when two of the most basic monsters get together, and simple stand on top of each other, it makes them strong. Video Game logic at it's finest.

But this was not the path that Crepus took. He ventured the other, more dirt path, and even then, he strayed off from it to follow a creek, till it reached the mouth of a cavern. "Here we are," he spoke, whipping his brow of sweat instinctively. "So who is ready to fight some Bears?" He smiled and finally looked back to see those who had followed him.

---

Azure gave a dumbfounded look in response. No words could escape his lips at the moment.

Karma bit her lip as she watched the reactions everybody had after revealing her inexperience. Thankfully, Aura was kind enough to elaborate, which helped her out a great deal. She smiled in return, gratitude in her eyes. "Thanks. I appreciate the detail."

When Azure spoke up about everybody being a bunch of happy people, she couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "Aww, how cute. He's the cool guy." Karma stuck her tongue out at him, teasing him a bit, "Loosen up, Blue. Oh, and accept my friend request, already." she lightly tried to jab him with her elbow.

Karma got the notifications of everybody accepting her friend requests, she felt a little warmer. Maybe this whole thing was a good idea. How lucky was she to get picked for this guild? "So. Where to?" she looked to Crepus as she started to follow him out the door. She had no clue where they were going, but as long as she wasn't alone during this, she didn't mind. It was when they got to the crossroads did she realize she had her sword drawn the entire time, maybe she was nervous and didn't want to be caught with it sheathed. She took in a deep breath and sheathed it, knowing that things wouldn't be that way... Hopefully...

Then Crepus mentioned fighting bears, and she quickly drew her sword again. "Bears?! I hardly even know how to perform a combo! I played maybe like... Ten minutes of this before the GM teleported us all! I killed..." she counted with her fingers, "Three boars!"

When they all stopped at the cave Hyperion put his hand on his sword, just to make sure of what ever jumps out at him gets whats coming to them. "So this is were your wanting us to grind?" Hyperion asked looking towards Crepus. "Well not truly what i had in mind since no all of us are seem to have experience in the game." he continued to say as he looked around. "But you are the guild leader so i guess you know what you are doing." Hyperion mumbled as he looked towards the virtual sky.

Exile stayed quiet for a while, formulating his own opinions. It sounded a lot like Crepus's plan was essentially everyone else's; pick an area for mobs then grind the hell out of them. Not that it was a bad plan, and to be honest there probably weren't any better ideas, but it seemed a bit too generic for Crepus to be making a big deal out of it. Then there was the matter of the group having been "hand-picked." Exile figured Crepus knew what he was doing, but SAO went online less than a day ago. How would he know who was good at what in that period of time, let alone who would be best for something like this?

As everyones' friend requests got sent out, Exile accepted them, almost without thinking about it. Crepus stood up and began to lead the others out of the tavern. Exile followed as Crepus took them through the streets of the Town of Beginnings and into the outside world. A friend of his who was in the beta test had told him a bit about the area, so he was able to recognize some of the landmarks, though his knowledge didn't extend farther than that. He knew the road they hadn't taken led to another town, but he knew nothing about this much grittier road leading into the forest. He gripped the sword on his back in case some animals decided to attack them, but that didn't seem to happen at any point. The walk was relatively peaceful, and quiet. No one seemed to care much about small talk, which sort of surprised Exile, though maybe it was because the shock of knowing you were trapped in this world was still setting in for most players.

When they arrived at the mouth of a cavern, Exile couldn't help but be somewhat surprised. "Not sure if you noticed, but caves tend to be a bit too dangerous for beginners like us, even with seven players," he said to Crepus, taking a moment to sit down and take a look at everyones' stats. At that moment, a thought occurred to him about what the GM had said. "You know, those news stories the GM showed us could have been faked," he said to no one in particular. "Think about it. Technology has come a long way. We're all wearing helmets that take our minds to this virtual world, one that's almost indistinguishable from reality. Who's to say that he didn't create those stories to scare us?" he asked.

"Well then, this is the part that sets this area apart from the other high level areas to grind. There was an error in the coding for this area." Crepus turned to Karma who voiced concern about not being positive about fighting bears, "The error makes it so that the bears can't fight together, only one can fight at a time, and they are easy to taunt as well. So as before mentioned, I will be tanking, or focusing on the defense and taunting the bear, you guys have to slay them, one at a time. Easy enough right?" He gave a smile before walking into the cave, and out of everyone else's' immediate view.

---

Azure was still uncertain if this was the best move, or if he was simply walking into a death trap waiting to happen. The words Exile spoke brang with them some comfort, but he knew better than to rely on the possibility of 'what if the gm is pulling our legs'. "If the GM is lying, then certainly there is nothing to worry about, but seeing as we can't log out, and he made our characters look like us, I wouldn't put it past him to fry our minds." He went through his menu and finally accepted the last one of the friend request, he was going to just ignore it, out of spite, but chose to take the higher road...that and it was better to have people around in the worst case scenarios. "Well, shall we follow after him? I'd say ladies first, but I don't think this is the appropriate timing for that." Without further adieu, Azure also stepped into the black entrance of the cave.

---

The cave was moist, the sound of water dripping echoing throughout, only drowned out randomly by snorts growls and other noises made by the bears lying within. Every step on the ground one had to use caution so as to not slip or slide, and the further they stepped in, a putrid odour would fill the air. An obnoxious mix of wet animal, fecal matter, and rotting flesh. Crepus and Azure stood awaiting the others in the opening inside, pointing to the first target which had not noticed the group yet, not to far off was a second bear, so this would easily work as a test run to see if the info which Crepus had was correct and true.

As Crepus and Azure headed into the cave there was one thing running through Hyperion mind 'This is crazy even tho the bears haven't been fixed we could still get ambushed easily.' "Might as well get going." Hyperion said with a sigh. As he headed into the cave, hand on his sword he sa the bears. 'crap this is not going to be fun.' he thought to him self as he headed towards Azure and Crepus.

Karma had been told that there was an error in the bears' code that only enabled them to fight one by one. She exaggerated wiping sweat off her forehead, "Phew... That's a relief. I mean, now we're only fighting just a BEAR!" she groaned and then sucked it up. Watching the others for a moment, she then raised her hands as Azure, Crepus and Hyperion entered the cave, "Well! It was a good life while it lasted!"

Karma followed in after Hyperion and gripped her sword TIGHT, white knuckles and all. "Nobody packed a torch did they?" she asked as things got darker and darker. Then a bat flew past her, making her yelp and swing her sword wildly. She hated bats, really hated them. "Can we just like... Get to level five and get out of here?! I'd rather be grinding those goblin spider riders I heard about somewhere! Dark confined spaces and bats are my worst enemies."