November 2nd was when the majority of people had lined up for the official release of SAO. Hardcore gamers had lined up days before. Sei was one of them. Although he had school, Sei let his parents know about the game, letting them know what he was going to do, and that he had all the schoolwork done before hand. He had done so much extra work to prepare for this moment.
Failing to get a beta release, he had a friend who had obtained a copy. Having trialed it on his account, Sei was excited. Only getting a few hours of play, he learned how to attack and how to complete one of the best quests for the first floor. However, that was all he got to do. His friend, however, did not opt to get a full release, as he was a senior and needed to prepare for exams.
Waiting in line, he wasn't the first. There were a few people who started to line up before November started. It was the first of November when Sei lined up. How anxious he was to feel that world once more. The adventure, the excitement, the land, the world.
The day he got back home, the day he got the NervGear and the SAO game, Sei calibrated the settings for the night, and had a good nights rest. Waking up at 1200, he had a big meal and got ready for the start of his day in Aincrad, the land in SAO.
Creating his avatar
, and his IGN, Umichi, Sei spoke the words,
"Link Start!" With that, it was time to have some fun.
Getting the default equipment, Umichi found a few extra items, one was a guide book.
Could come in handy he thought, picking one up. Equipping his default skills,
<<One-handed straight sword>> and
<<Blade Throwing>>, he head out for the fields, excited for the adventure to come. Making sure he still remembered the way to fight, Umichi, unsheathed his blade, in front of him a
Dire Wolf. Holding his beginner's sword on his shoulder, a blue hue appeared. The sword skill,
<<Vertical>> activated, cutting down on the
Dire Wolf. With a low post-motion, and the
Dire Wolf being left on low health, Umichi quickly initiated another attack, killing the
Dire Wolf.
A pop up box came up, telling him of his col and his drops collected. Smiling to himself, he thought
Ah, this is amazing. I only got to try a little before. He quickly rushed to the next town, Horunka Village. He wanted to get there before the rush for this quest. A quest, that only a hundred or so of the beta testers had finished it seemed. Using a teleportation crystal, with the little col he had, he started the quest,
<<Secret Medicine of the Forest>>, speaking to an NPC woman, who sought help for her daughter.
Heading to the forest, Umichi prepared himself. The enemies in the forest were
Little Nepents. Much stronger than the
Dire Wolf. But the exp was worth it. He found a
Little Nepent. He observed it. It was just a normal one. Umichi knew what to look for and what to avoid. He also knew that, unless he was the first one, it was unlikely he was going to complete the quest quickly.
For hours and hours on end, he fought the
Little Nepents. He had was avoiding all of the attacks, and cut with both sword skills and non-sword skills. Of course, he was still losing health, he could not always react and avoid, and at times needed to block. Being able to throw a pebble with
<<Single Shot>> helped him out, in disengaging the
Little Nepents attacks. However, he had still not found it. It was not until 1745, that he found it. After going through all of those other
Little Nepents and avoiding the
Little Nepents with Fruit, he found the one
Little Nepents with Flowers.
YES! I must be the first one! Beta players had a hard time finding one excluding the first three who took the quest apparently. I wonder if it will be as hard this time Excited, he forgot he was in a place with other monsters. Getting hit in the back, by another
Little Nepent, he fought it off, before turning to the one with flowers. It was stronger than the other ones. Taking more hits to kill. Taking one blow from it dealt much more damage than the other
Little Nepents.
Umichi had used the last of his potions, before he finally finished off the
Little Nepent with Flowers. 1759. With that last one, he just reached level 4. Looking at the pop up box, he saw it, the
<<Little Nepent's Ovule>>.
YES!!!! I did it! Well, now I guess I should put use my stat points he thought, going through his stats window and putting his points into the two stats available, Strength and Agility.
Finishing his points, he started to head back, before being engulfed in a white light.
"WHAT THE!?" he wondered curiously, as he was sent back to the
Town of Beginnings. He noticed around him what seemed to be 10000 other players. Suddenly, there spoke Kayaba Akihiko. He spoke about the inability to leave the game.
What? Umichi thought, searching through the menu. He didn't notice it before at all. It was missing, the logout button. Kayaba also spoke of death, in reality and in the game, it was all the same, was pretty much what he said.
No way! But how .... The microwave chip... Then ... damn it! Umichi had taken apart and looked at the components of the NervGear and the programming involved in it. He didn't get through all of it, it was much more complex than he had expected. Well it was not like he was a professional to begin with. Soon after, he received the present, a mirror. Looking into it, his body glowed, and what he saw, was his real self. His real height, face and build.
With the ending announcement, Umichi stayed calm, and looked around. People were crying and panicking, there were few who knew what to do.
It's going to be impossible to stay here. Too much competition for the limited monsters, and it won't be easy to co-ordinate this many people. Maybe I'll meet people in the next town. He thought, heading to the NPC shops. He quickly sold many of his drops, holding onto that one rare drop he had just managed to get, the
<<Little Nepent's Ovule>>. He stocked on some potions and a couple of crystals. Rushing out, he ran around a corner, and bumped into a girl, who had stopped. Well, crashed is probably the more correct term.
"Ow ..." He said, looking at the girl. She was quite small, and had beautiful dark blonde hair and blue eyes. Her skin seemed tan.
"Are you alright? I am sorry about that, but I was just trying to head to the next town." Umichi spoke, while getting up. He offered his hand to the girl whom also fell on impact.
" It will probably get chaotic here soon. It's inevitable that it will get chaotic. But it will be difficult to help them all. The more people that stay, the more chaotic it will get. So, would you like to come with me? To the next town, Horunka Village. If we see others along the way, we can ask them to come along." If she took his hand, he would help her up.
" My name is Ke.... Umichi. Your name is?" he asked her.
