Being a computer scientist-in-training, Darrin is an avant gamer. He spends most of his time either fiddling with his computer, finding any part to it he could upgrade, or playing games. Recently, he got his hands on an amusphere as well as a game his friend over-seas told him about. His friend said that it wouldn’t be easy, but it was definitely worth a try.
Confusing Darrin with this comment, Darrin decides to look up the game online before he plays. What he finds is astonishing.
There are multiple posts about the game, none with great detail on the game itself, but all sharing one thing in common: a video. Watching the video, Darrin can understand why people are as vague as they are about the game, as the video shows a man who is a part of a gang of world criminals. That gang is Laughing Coffin, a notorious guild from the game that started it all: Sword Art Online. Thinking about that, Darrin looks over the case of the game in his hand, pauses for a second, then slaps his forehead hard enough force to leave a mark, as the game, Safehold Assault Online, is still SAO for short. The only thing he is thinking is how stuck the Laughing Coffin guild is in the virtual world.
Either way, after properly bandaging his forehead, Darrin grabs his new amusphere and game, sets it up and fires it up. A few calibrations are ran to ensure the amusphere is working properly, then the game begins loading. About three seconds pass, and Darrin is greeted by the system, “Welcome, to S.A.O. Please fill in your information for security purposes.” Really, Darrin though as the system said SAO like it was nothing, but also because of the “security purposes.” A list for generic info you would give to a banker for a new car loan or something appears before Darrin. Reluctantly, Darrin puts in his information truthfully and begins the real work, as the system continues, “Please put in your initial stats.”
Looking at it, Darrin feels that the stat list is pretty small. And to have 100 points to allocate right of the bat? “Man, these guys must really be confident……. or cocky. One of the two,” Darrin said out loud as he continued to put in stats evenly, since he wasn’t sure how they worked, and he couldn’t find a guide to explain the game, so he is at a loss. Once completing his stats, the system continues as he is ported, “Have fun, Player.” Then the voice changes for a quick second to a manly, evil voice, “And good luck.”

The world today is in a state of more or less panic. After the announcement made by Laughing Coffin, things began to change... drastically. World Leaders began putting old rivalries behind them and stated pooling their resources together in order to find LC, people kept claming to be apart of LC all around the world, and the economy blew up due to everyone's fear that they would be a target for LC, making them believe they neede to stock up on 'apocalypse' supplies.
While that was happening in the real world, the virtual world began to see some changes. Online games began shutting down out of fear that LC was inside it, others began changing to worship the LC guild, while very few were unaffected by LC.
And all this happened within days of the video being posted. It really goes to show how much one group of people can change the world.
On another note, things began to change within this new SAO was changing. Some players stopped signing in after a while, other who died just disappeared all-together, and many players who were still alive began to change and show more of who the really were inside. It turned pretty bloody.... technically. No blood since it was just a game, but many people began dying left and right. While many turned into honest murderers, almost double that amount turned into protectors, body guards, bounty hunters, etc. You name it, and they became it.

Mikael brushed his brown hair backwards into a rough backslick and smiled that NerveGear was going to put him to the test for real as soon as he goes online into this new SAO game.
Better up for his studies the LC seemed to host this game server too. Allowing himself to laugh briefly before installing himself onto place for the game Safehold Assault Online.

The game booted up briefly until the title screen started up and he got to the character creation.
Name, Eld Brinna the swedish influenced choice ment Fire Burning, more or less but hey, not many would catch that and it had a good ring to it. Going for a tank build he focused his stats on VIT, STR and HIT, skipping dodge as Defensive focuses made the most sense when aiming for the servers top tier players and making his own acknowledged rank.

He did feel quite nervous going into the game with the equipment he had running him, but it was also very liberating and Mikael could always find comfort that his general mmo skills was pretty bad ass. It still sucked though that he would have to discover alot of the class tuning out by himself.

"Have fun..." a voice said and another voice added "and good luck" "Alright!" Mikael said to himself as he sent himself finished and ready to spawn. It was then that a bright light hit his face and he found himself infront of a new world...

The first floor. A wide open area where new players who are fresh and unaware of how the game works. Karen loved this area since there were trees to sleep upon and a sunny sky, that and she found easy new victims to harass. She was lucky, as today a plethora of new players joined, not anybody looking particularly easy to pounce on. Nobody that looked particularly interesting ether.

*YAWN* What a slow day, I haven't had a single person to mess with and it's almost meal time... Hello, who is that over there? Squinting her little demon eyes her tiny tail perked up with interest. A new player who was just standing there, eyes wide open, jaw touching the ground. He looked pretty naive, which means it was pranking time... She decided to stalk him in silence before approaching him. He'll keep me entertained for sure, he looks like a real dope.

Kei stretched both of his hands up and over his head as he walked in the virtual world. He had decided to come to the first floor to take a quick relaxation break seeing as anything on the first floor was not a threat to him in no way. He let out a big yawn as he walked around quietly in the starting town. Every time he came down to the first floor town he always somehow finds a new place to visit just from wandering around. He slowly walked past the spawn in location for starting players and watched as two new players came into the game for the first time it seemed since neither of them had a weapon in hand or rather on their person. Another telling detail was that both of them looked around with eyes wide open, basically making it completely obvious that they were fresh to the game. Just off to the side He watched as a girl with snow white hair started towards one of the new players. Seeing as he was near by he decided to sit on a bench and watch the scene unfold.

「Wonder what she is planning to do...」He sat against the wooden bench that sat right across from the spawn in location. He let out his thoughts verbally but seeing as there was no one around to hear he did not care much. As he waited he did a quick check of his stats and equipment, seeing as he actually had just finished a grinding session on one of the upper floors, he wanted to see if he had gained a new level or gear that could be useful.

Once he did his brief check, he found nothing in his spoils from his grinding session so he immedaitely closed the window and went back to looking at the new spawns.

Literally like the original SAO, the game starts you off in the, and you guessed it, Town of Beginnings. The tall fountain in the center of the plaza, the lone Cathedral in the background. Everything is pretty much the same..... except for the atmoshpere.
The first most obvious thing of note is all the other players. Normally in games like these you would think players had their weapons equiped and ready. Not a single player in sight has a weapon equipped. Also, the feeling of other players looking at you is enough to send chills down a normal person's spine, as almost every player looks away the instant you notice them. There aren't very many stores near the spawn location, so many players use it as a center of commerce, info trading, etc.
There's also a dungeon below the Cathedral, however, even seasoned players aren't able to clear out the enemies that live in the dungeon. Very few players know of it's exsistance, fewer than that actually know how to find it, and even less than that can actually tell you what resides in the dungeon. Hint of advice, don't.

(Co-Post Gin + Link)

A first look at it, was quite pale, blue and... Oh my god! a face.
Stunned from spawning face to face with a person threw Mikael off. It never stopped to amaze him, how surrealisticly real things looked inside these kind of games.

Readjusting his vision after being startled, Mikael saw the other player staring at him like he was a new person to the virtual world. "Are you ok?" the player asked, almost like he really didn't care.

What the hell do I say to that? Mikael thought, yet unable to speak up at the moment. If he held his mouth, this encounter would probably end just there and they would walk seperate ways. But in all honesty trying to not run around solo would be the wiser choice if he could convince this random beginner to it, atleast while trying to get comfortable with the game. "Okay then, I'm just gonna go now." the other player stated and started to turn around.

"W-wait!", Mikael took a deep breath, distressed by the looks of it and most likely because he found his own behavior rude. "Umh, would you mind helping me get around?" of course, sounding stupid was the best way to go about making conversations... Of sorts. Why a genius and not a bad looking guy like Mikael would even open up like that is a mystery in itself.

With a short look of confusion, the player responds, "Look, I'm just starting this game too. By the looks of it, starters aren't welcome here, so I want to start moving and find some place decent. You can follow if you want, but I'm going." The player began to walk away before any other player could approach.

"Hey, wait up!" Mikael shouted and ran after the player.

A few minutes pass, and the player walks into a store that looks pretty friendly. When they step inside, the player sighs in releif, "God. It's like their trying to kill us out there." The player's mood seemed to change almost imedeately from sour to friendly. "By the way, the names's Link. Or D, which ever's easier to remember."

Mikael nodded, "I am Eld Brinna, but just call me Eld for short." Mikael looked around him, the store did have an easier atmoshpere and while it was hard escaping the tension outside this felt like it was as good as it was going to get. "So, weapon time?" Eld asked, he was not that new but it was quite odd and different to spawn unarmed but armored. Perhaps that was a sign on what to expect around here.

"Weapon time? What do you mean by that? There should be...." Scrolling through his menu, Link noticed there was nothing. Not a darn thing in his inventory, and this seemed to make Link a little uneasy. "Huh. That's a little odd. Games like this usually start you with a weapon and some healing items, but there's nothing." He continued looking through his menus.

"Mh, I noticed that too... Do you think there Is a tutorial or beginners quest to gain it from or maybe it means that we should buy it ourselves?" Mikael asked looking at Link.

"Well, this is a generic goods store, so there should be a weapon or two lying around. Plus, it looks like we have more than enough to get it." Link sounded as though he was trying to convince himself of something. As he looked at his menu, he began scratching his head.

"Is something the matter?" Mikael asked, his accent breaking through for the first time, Link seemed puzzled to Mikael.
Meanwhile he pushed up his helm visor revealing his green eyes to this world for the first time.

"I think there just might be a problem." Link walked over to the NPC clerk and began talking to him. Mikael couldn't hear what they were talking about from the door, but when Link turned to face him, he knew that something was horribly wrong.

Mikael smiled in hopes to lighten the situation, "So?" he asked Link with the same puzzled expression.

"There's no healing," Link sounded defeated. Mikael saw that Link was in total confusion combined with a little irritation. After Link gathered himself, he opened his menu and waved Mikael over. Stepping to Link's side, he saw Link's skill menu. Link was pointing a specific skill that read Increase HP regen by one every ten seconds.

Painfully Mikael bit his lower lip, No healing except the natural regen huh... Tsk a short moment of intense staring Mikael lowered his head, "Good thing that I aimed for tank then... However, without heals even a tank won't hold out to long, so Link do you think there are other skills and equipments that could help out with that?"

Now rubbing his forehead, Link replied, "Considering who made this game, I highly doubt that." Link paused for a second before continuing, "Either way, you should be able to get some weapons here."

Mikael nodded and started to browse among the various weapons in the shop, "Here we are, a sword and a shield, brilliant." Mikael claimed, very basic just as the name suggested but the gear is not worse than it's user. "This fits just fine and the weight doesn't feel all too awkward."
Mikael spinned his sword around and felt around how the mobility when wielding his shield and suprisingly well. So paying for the sword and shield he took a glance at Link, "So, what about you, finding anything which fancies you?"

Link looked back and forth between his hands and his skill menu, then spoke, "I'm gonna do it. I'm going to challenge this world with my own hands." For a second, Link seemed to forget about the skills and healing and continued, "Besides, I've never really felt comfortable holding a weapon."

Mikael scratched his chin a bit and focused his eyes on Link, "Do you mean... Have you held a weapon with your own hands before... Or is that just virtually speaking?" it was definetly pushy of Mikael to ask, but something with his own comfort had to know.

"Oh, no. Nothing serious like that," Link explained. "IRL, I actually studied karate for a while, so I was planning on testing out the system to see if the skills impliment unhanded combat. Just my gamer spirit talking." As Link talked about himself and his love for video games, Link seemed to be more relaxed.

Mikael breathed out, "Puh, man you had me holding my breath there, well wether you had or not surely would've had its rational reason. So martial art ey? Badass stuff my friend." Mikael smiled and allowed himself to relax.

Looking out the window, Link began, "Yeah, learning self-defence just for fun is good and all," then he points out the window, "but it's time like these when those skills become handy, forgive the pun." Mikael looked out the window and saw a suspicious looking girl with white hair.

Drat. She had been spotted. Well, to be fair, she practically had her face plastered up against the window like a small child. Damn it, they've seen me.. Now what do I do?... Its been like forever since I last messed with somebody. . .thought the girl as she quickly ducked out of sight. If she plays along, maybe they'll feel sorry for her and she can get some freebies... It had been awhile since she scammed somebody out of their items... There were many things she considered doing...

Marching inside the shop she accused the two boys of doing a dastardly deed. How dare you frighten such a cute and innocent girl like myself! Why, if I had half a mind I would slap you for your perverted nature! Although she spoke with an angry induced tone, the effect was not that amazing because of how short in comparison she was to the boys. A little more than half their size. Estimated of course. Rounded up to the nearest centimeter. As repayment for your devastatingly rude attitudes to a veteran player such as myself! I'll be initiating a... Quickly turning around and squatting, she used her small demon hands to count with her fingers. After counting a considerable amount, she faced the two boys and demanded her price. "Um, 500,000 Cor fine! And if you can't pay it now, then I'll just have to tag along and deduct funds from your party! I assume you two are a party, right?

It was a good thing that Pururut wasn't afraid to start a scene in a public area.

The scene near the starting spawn went away quick as it moved onto a nearby store. As the two fresh spawns moved into the store, the little white haired girl followed with a considerable distance, but just enough to be coined a stalker. Then again Kei was doing pretty much the same thing as he had nothing else to do and what the little white haired girl seemed to be doing interested him. Finally she had caught up and pressed herself up against the window of the store, basically trying to announce 'I am stalking these two right here.' Kei could not help but stop and snicker to himself a bit as the scene itself was quiet hilarious. Once he had calmed himself down he casually strolled passed the girl and followed the two men into the shop, pretending to be a customer of the shop.

Obviously it wasn't long before the two males had noticed the girl outside the window. Rather one of them stared straight at her. In a moments notice the white haired girl disappeared from the window for a brief second before reappearing and entering the shop with a bit of a mischievous air to her. Kei continued to watch from one side of the shop, it was silent up until the girl had opened her mouth.「How dare you frighten such a cute and innocent...As repayment for your devastatingly rude attitudes...500,000 Gold fine! And if you can't pay it now, then I'll just have to tag along and deduct funds from your party!」He listened closely to her bring up some lies about how the two males had scared her and such, and because of such she was now demanding a large sum of Cor from the two of them. Kei again faced his face away from public view and laughed to himself a bit before opening his mouth.「Alright hold on just a minute here little one, I think you are trying to swindle these two new spawns out of money. I mean I just watched the two of them spawn in with starter gear and no weapons. How can you expect either of these to have 500,000 Cor when they just got in?」Even though he knew he could be reported by her, he still placed his hand on the head of the white haired girl.「It's not very nice to bully others you know, especially fresh spawns, even more so when the money they earn in the beginning is crucial to their survival.」

As the two begin to bicker back and forth, Link can't hold back his laughter anymore, and after he gains his breath, he explains, "Whoa now, 'little' lady. First let me thank you for assuming I'm a guy, since you called us perverts. Most people actually mistake the way I look for a girl, and I get hit on by men all over the place, so thanks again. Second, let me clarify why I was just laughing. You're not taller than a child, and I'm not pervert for children. So that in itself is a joke. Then there's the fact that I knew you were following us since we spawned in, so if we're guilty of being perverts, then your guilty of being a creeper, which through gaming etiquette, is the bigger crime." Link went on and on about how this little girl had messed up, but the last fact was a big one. "And lastly, if you really want to tail somebody, you might want to make sure others can't see you." He said this while pointing out the window.... again. The little girl approached the window and saw many people turn away in almost an instant as she approached. "Also, and this is just an observation, 'if I had half a brain'?" Link begins laughing again.

Looking out the window, Karen recognizes two of the people outside, mainly because they didn't turn away with everyone else. They were the last two "victims" she came across. With her experience of the game so far, she noticed that they had better armor than the last time meaning they leveled a good bit since then.
Also looking out the window out of curiosity, Kei notices the two boys as well. Even though he doesn't recognize the boys, he does recognize the armor the boys were outfitted in. He knew that even with the three lower levels in front of him, it would be incredibly dangerous to take them on if they were at the level he thought they were, considering the armor was a rare level 10 boss spawn.
Either way, the two boys were facing directly towards the store....... waiting with arms crossed.

She turned her head, looking out the glass window to unfortunately see two annoyances from a previous time. Oh eww... Not them again. So totally the last thing I need right now. Pururut figured she might as well ask for help. Better off trying instead of not, right? Look you two, I'll be frank, those two, are out for my blood. To be honest, they're debt collectors ya'see! I sorta kinda owe 'em money and I don't have any on me, which is why I pounced on you lot for some. Making the cutest face possible, she tried to convince the two to aid her in her scheme. Take pity on me, help me out of this jam and I'll owe you guys a big one! I promise! Violence, negotiation, kidnapping, whatever. Just help me out here? Preeeetty please!

Mikael had been hearing everthing till the point of being directed towards the high level guys outside the shop whom appearantly was after the girl whom had just tried to, hustle? poorly tried to claim that Mikael and Link owed her money, clarifying that was another soul inside but in all honesty, one would have to be stupid to fall for that.
"Excuse me a bit..." Mikael said in the midst of everyones conversation, the low volume on his voice might aswell has gone slipping everyone by.

It was as if he was drawn to step outside, "Ooooi!" Mikael shouted waving his hand at the sour players ahead of him keeping up his pace. "Is there someone inside you guys want to talk to?"
Mikael asked, keeping his voice rather positive and it wasn't like he felt pity on the girl, nor anyone else inside, he was more pissed at how a two guys was going to go after a single girl.
If she had pissed them off, that itself was never a reason to sort it out two on one, it just proves that they deserved it.
... At this point it sank into him, misheard by all means, Did Link just suggest that he is transexual? Mikael thought while locking eyes with the two idiots ahead.

Kei was honestly surprised by how the girl was not phased by what he had done to her, but he didn't care much and as such decided on not making a big deal about it. The one thing the girl did react to was two male figures just across the way standing near a stall. The two of them seemed to have particular interest in the girl before Kei but, he couldn't be sure, just the way they would eye her every now and again gave him hints as to her being targeted by the two. It wasn't long before his suspicions were confirmed by the girl in question.

She had gone from being high and mighty to begging the two newcomers to help her. The worse part of it all was that she somehow got involved with a loan shark and so the two males just outside the store were debt collectors.「How do you get so poor you need to depend on a loan shark.」He didn't want to say that out loud because he knew it would cause some problems between he and her, but he ended up blurting it out without thinking. Right around the time she mentioned that the two outside were after her, one of the newcomer males excused himself and immediately made his way out the store and to the stall where the two debt collectors were at. It seemed as though something in that male newcomer clicked and as such he went on ahead to take care of the situation.「If he gets into a fight with either of those two his days will be cut short very quickly...」

He became a spectator and decided to watch the scene through the window of the store seeing as he really did not want to get involved with whatever this girl was in.

An interesting turn of events had begun to unravel itself before her. After babbling some crap about debt collectors and her shameful supposed debt, it seems like one of the two newbies believed her. The other one still being stubborn and the other interloper just seemed to keep to them self, although they made a pretty observant comment. If that guy fought them alone, he probably won't be alive much longer.

Hmm... We should probably stop him.

...

Silence throughout the shop. What was this strange feeling Pururut felt inside? Could it be guilt? No, impossible, she had messed with millions before these two, why now? ... She sighed. I suppose I'll have to throw myself to the wolves. As evil as I am, I don't suppose I can let another player die because of my own misdeeds. Truth be told, I have no idea who those two are, perverts I assume. Clenching her fists quickly, her hands and wrists became shrouded in a blue fire, which phased into two rather large gauntlet like claws. Turning back to the two she said If you would like to aid me in this, I would be eternally grateful, I'll do anything you ask, I'll also keep the lying to a minimum from now on. Before getting ready for a fight. Thinking to herself, she wondered if she could simply scare them away, without having to get into some unnecessary conflict...

It wasn't that Mikael, or as displayed Eld was unsertain as to what to do at this point of the conversation but he remained smilint radiantly raising an eyebrow and crossed his arms in a respectable manner.
"As long as we are clear..." Eld said locking his green eyes on the less heated guy among the two suspicious people, "If you don't touch the girl or act out cowardly I will look past whatever happened here."
Eld bit his lower lip wondering if that was enough briefly before allowing his seriousness to go. "Well see you." He said with a smile and turned around giving Pururut a thumbs up while focusing his hearing incase they changed their mind.

Hey ! Don't leave me out here with them! What if they're intent on just nabbing me!? Did you really not notice how idiot A was acting a second ago? Her gauntlets fazed back into nothing, showing her fair bare hands on curled into fists at her sides. With a huff she continued to bicker at the one known as Eld. You've gotta some kinda crazy just to believe anything people tell you. Turning back to the two imbeciles, one still dog pilled on the other, she questioned the smarter looking one.

So, what do you want from me? I don't even remember who the heck you two are, but if you've got some kinda beef with me, you should deal with it like a real man, without boofy armor do you have any actual fighting experience? I mean just because you become a high level through grinding off others and buy expensive gear, it doesn't mean you'll be any good at the game. That's just a pro-tip for you hahaa! This game actually takes skill mind you. *yawn* Pururut had began to become tired from the craziness that had happened. On her edge of the world, it had become late. She considered getting off soon and going to bed.

Kei sighed quietly and closed his eyes going into thought. During this time he tuned out the girl's voice as she started to go into a rant about how grinding gains you no skill. 'Why do these two want anything to do with my grinding runs, I mean they both looked pretty geared as is...regardless of their style they should be able to accomplish it on their own and get the gear they want...' He opened his eyes and took one more good look at the two males before him. After a quick scan of their two avatars Kei finally made his decision.「Sorry you two, I am not really the type that would take on lackies to a grinding run, after all the two of you said it yourself, you are geared so I am sure you two alone can grind out what you guys really want. Also from what I can see of you two, you guys don't match up to my level so it would be a liability for both of you two and myself.」

As the players began to converse with the two boys, it began. They all knew soon enough what these two boys were doing here, and what their true objective was. How they knew? Simple. Link came rushing out the store, pushes Keisuke to the ground left of the door, then he yells, "GET BACK HERE, YOU PRICK!" and begins running in the direction of a cloaked man.

Keisuke, regaining his situation, notices a dagger on the wall. One that could paralyze him for longer than he would have liked.

Noticing he won't catch up to the cloaked man, Link stopped right in front of the two boys on the ground, now cowering in fear. "So," Link began, "explain how low level players like you get armor meant for people like the man I just pushed to the ground." The boys faces change from fear to out-right terror. "I'm sure your buddy on the ground already knows he can't take the girl. That's the only explanation as to why he would stop after having the chance to check her gear when you pinned him to the ground. On top of that, you two don't look anywhere as battle-ridden as the two behind me. So, in conclusion, if you want to get out of here alive........... I suggest you start talking."

Whoa! A turn of events had begun. Rather than Karen being the intended target, the entire time they seemed to be after Keisuke, and they seemed to have another person involved in the hunt. The boys, looked at each other, then back at Link, who was gining them a 'don't even try it' look. So reluctantly, Level-Head Boy began, "He was a Laughing Coffin member. He told us that if we helped him take out a big player like The Monster Fang, he would see to it that we got invited into the guild. I mean, It's been three years since this game has been out, and nobody has made it past floor 20. It's not like fighting them will get people anywhere." Link stares very intently at the boys, and Anger Boy pops in, "Hey, that's all we know! He only asked us to help him take Keisuke down and gave us this armor! Please! We're only barely level 2!"

Mikael, even not seeing their faces as he was turned the other way, could tell that this was the truth coming from both boys.

Keisuke, knowing that level 2's couldn't even acquire such armor, had no reason not to believe them.

The only one kind of left in the dust was Karen. The boys weren't after her, and the cloaked man clearly threw the dagger at Keisuke. She had nothing to do with this situation, besides knowing the two boys from a previous run.

Mikael remained silent, it felt like another day in the suburbans though very much in-game.
The rising chaotic state in the Swedish society, (despite stabile) felt very familiar in SAO too. It was almost a fact, the suburbs were moving out, the harsh and tugging ways of life was spreading. Clenching his fist Mikael felt determined to put an end to the injustice which he faced everyday, SAO was merely the beginning of it.

Walking onwards to find a place to sit and think for a moment before feeling confident to continueing to do what he came here for, to play the game.