A childish grin escaped the normally stoic man for the most fleeting of moments. The show of emotion would go unnoticed by most everyone except those with the keenest of reactions. His excitement was full to the top and this party of his would, or at least he would hope they should, help alleviate all the energy building once more. Mugen had thought the duel from earlier would subside his desire for more, but it was only the tip of the iceberg with this new event on its way.The crimson orbs which he called his eyes looked at each of his party members with a sharp gaze. He paused at each for a moment and he could have sworn that he saw more than what met the eye for the briefest of times. For that short moment he thought he actually saw the numbers of their health above their head and not because of the Party. Was that the Observation technique taking effect? He couldn’t be quite sure because that and all of his other skills were all just barely there. He shook his head and brushed off the experience as just a trick of his mind. Mugen would eventually get a grasp of all his skills and techniques, but one thing at a time. Regardless of the fact the tall armored man tilted his head in the opposite direction of the gate exiting the town encouraging his comrades to follow his lead.
Without another wasted moment the man began to walking at a brisk pace, nothing too crazy but definitely faster than a normal walking pace. Upon Menma’s decision the giant of a Player was fairly confident the others would be following him to the Teleport Gate so he didn’t even bother trying to check back on them to see if they truly were following him. As the group began their journey back to the center of the Town of Beginnings his attentive eyes noticed the motion of crowds heading in the same direction as himself. Mugen cursed under his breath and picked up the pace a little. He had been hoping to be one of the first at the event stage, but he had dawdled longer than he anticipated. Moments later and slightly out of breath Mugen and his comrades arrived at the Teleport Gate. Just as Mugen was about to touch it, a small system menu popped up in front of him. The long haired fellow noted that since they were all still on the first Floor there weren’t exactly many options. He chuckled a little at the thought of how crazy things would get once people started clearing Floors. With a soft press of his finger he selected “Herald of the New Year” confirming his destination. The orb resonated in response and began to give of a white aura from its center. A chill ran through Mugen’s body as he stepped into the orb with his party to teleport them all off to the event’s stage.
Strength: 15 [+0] Defense: 0 [+20] Stamina: 0 [+0] Speed: 5 [+0] Party: None Current Word Count: 1626 Total Word Count: 1626
Athena let out a small yawn as she rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes. It took a moment for her to realize what was going on. What day was it? The dark haired teenager felt like today was an important day for some reason but could not recall why. As she continued to blink and allow her eyes to adjust to light of a new day she still could not figure out why she was so bothered today. Suddenly a soft but rather abrupt noise caused her to jump and let out a small cry of surprise. She wasn’t the bravest of souls and with her mind still trying to wake up from the brink of her slumber that abrupt noise would definitely let out a yelp of surprise. At first the girl thought she could get away with not making a move. She had hoped that whatever was making that horrible noise would end soon so Athena could get back to the sleep she felt like she deserved. The sound continued forcing Athena off her bed as she glanced around her messy room trying to find the source of the noise. After a moment or two she found what was causing all the commotion. The buzz of her cell phone against her desk created a rather strange noise and after finally finding what she was looking for she hurriedly picked up the phone before plopping back on top of her bed.
“H-hello? What do you want?”she asked groggily. She was definitely not in the mood nor the mind to have a full conversation, so she hoped this little talk wouldn’t take too long. “Athena! Did you forget about today?” the voice called out in a rather annoyed tone. Athena recognized the voice all too well, as it was one of her close friends. Well obviously she did forget if she was getting a call like this. The teenager did not want to be rude though so she politely responded, “What about today?”The voice on the other side of the line let out a rather blatant sigh of disappointment that filled Athena’s ears. “Today’s the day Sword Art Online’s beta testing phase goes live! You better get with the program and log in!” The voice was obviously excited and with the excitement Athena could feel the pieces of her memory slowly coming together like a puzzle. “On top of that, I heard they are having a special event going on!” Athena jolted up out of her bed as she realized what she had forgotten all along. That’s right! Today was the day everyone had been waiting for. After all it was the next biggest thing after sliced bread. This virtual reality massively multiplayer online video game wave of the future was something that Athena was looking forward to. Not because she was a huge fan of technology or video games in particular, but because she was excited at the idea of a new and fresh challenge. With a quick word of thanks to her friend Athena hung up the phone call and jumped out of bed. Of course, with her luck as she jumped out she slipped and land squarely on her rump with a thud.
A groan of pain escaped her lips as she rubbed her bottom in response to the pain. She realized that there was no point in crying over it so she held back any other complaints as she hurried to get prepared. Even if it was a virtual reality game Athena wasn’t about to get her day started without a shower. With a hop and skip the busty teenager stripped off her clothing and hurried for a quick clean up. Humming a happy tune Athena quickly finished her shower and got herself dressed. Another moment later she began rummaging through the mess of her room to find what she needed. This… NerveGear system and her copy of Sword Art Online which her friend so kindly helped her acquire. For a moment her crimson eyes could not figure out what she was supposed to do with everything. She paused for a moment before remembering all the practice her friend had given her to make sure Athena could take care of herself without being a bother. Cables were plugged in, her computer turned on, and the disc inserted – all that was left was for Athena to get herself logged in! Or… like her friend corrected her so many times, enter a FullDive! With excitement like a little child Athena moved back on top of her bed and made herself cozy before pulling on the metallic colored helmet over her head. The cool feeling of the inside of the helmet was nice and the way outside noise was reduced made very soothing and relaxing. A deep intake of air followed by a long exhale helped calm the teenager’s nerves before she cried out, “Link Start!”
A flash of light signaled the system accepting the voice command. Several different screens popped up but Athena paid little attention to them as they quickly gave way to the log in screen of the game. Athena was never a big fan of video games, so when it asked for a username she could not think of anything particularly creative. Instead all that filled her mind was her own name, which to her surprise filled in the empty space as the system responded to her thoughts. She wasn’t particularly against using it as her username so with a grin she confirmed and moved on to the next most important step – character creation. For a moment it seemed like nothing was going on, only then did Athena realize that a digital version of herself was perfectly created. A frown curled on her lips as she gazed at the mirror provided with slight disgust. Many praised her for her looks, but in this world of pixels and data Athena wanted to be regarded more for what she could do than for what she appeared to be. With a hesitant press of her finger she tapped on one of the arrows nearby the mirror and let out a small yelp of surprise as her hair color changed from her dark purple to a cyan blue shade in an instant. After the temporary moment of surprise it was quickly overshadowed by the excitement that enveloped her. Within a few moments Athena was busy pressing all the buttons playing with everything from her hair color to even the size and shape of her virtual avatar. After several minutes of tinkering and fiddling with her digital self Athena came to a halt as she felt fairly satisfied with the outcome. A grin escaped her mouth and her new digital self matched as her now sky blue eyes gazed at the reflection. With a click of confirmation Athena moved onto to select her starting skills and equipment. Athena wasn’t too big on any sort of video game terms or concepts, but she could read. So while she wasn’t completely sure what everything did, she picked out her skills and equipment based on her best judgment. The final step was her base stats, the numbers that would dictate her character for the rest of the game. An annoyed sigh passed her lips as she glared at the numbers – she hated math. Without any other thought aside from wanting to get on with the game Athena quickly distributed what she had available to what she felt was the most necessary in a game about swords – speed and strength.
As everything was finalized and confirmed Athena was enveloped in a blinding white light. After a moment or two her helmet’s visuals kicked back in as she found herself in the middle of a large town. Athena let out a gasp of amazement at the sheer realism of everything. The building, the sky, the sounds, the atmosphere – all that and more made this world feel like it was all as true as the reality she escaped from. Athena was reminded that this was a video game as she saw her new self reflecting off a nearby pool of water. Just as she was about to dash off to begin her adventure a blinking notification bothered her. This heads up display she saw simultaneously as her real time visuals was a bit of a headache. Things like health bars, status and other video game jargon were placed more or less in her peripherals, but still made Athena feel cluttered. The notification in fact was something that she struggled to get rid of. The now pink haired woman frantically tried several different things to get rid of the annoying blinking light. Flustered and frustrated Athena remembered her friend mentioning something called a “player menu”. While this video game was a remarkable virtual world where most everything were done with good old fashioned work, there were still video game components built in. What was the command needed to open it again? Ah! With a sudden realization Athena lifted her right hand to her face before swiping downwards. The game recognized the movement and a menu appeared in front of her. After a few clicks of her finger the tiny teen found what she was looking for. The notification was about the event her friend mentioned earlier. It seemed like a great idea and a good a place as any for Athena to begin her journey of conquering the game. With a quick spin on her heels the miniature maiden dashed towards the big glowing orb she imagined was the Teleport Gate thing needed to travel long distances. As she entered the light a menu popped up and she confirmed her destination. Off to the Herald of the New Year Event!
Fawhk Vice Captain
Genius
Offline
Commando Omnipants
Offline
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 7:48 pm
▅▅▅▅ ▅▅▅▅▅▅ ▅▅▅ ▅▅x♦❖♦▅▅▅ ▅▅▅▅ ▅▅▅▅ ▅▅▅▅ PLAYERx « Apollo » x///xLEVELx 1 x///xSTATUSx[ NORMAL ]
xxxApollo, after a long trek back from the Vast Grasslands where he had spent an admirable amount of time training and farming Frenzied Boars for some of their Frenzied Pig Meat, finally returned from his long day of hard work to turn in the items to the quest giver as to finish the mission. Apollo returned to the butcher in town and handed over the five pieces of meat that he had gathered, and in exchanged received some Col and experience for completing the quest. Also, he was allowed a taste of the meal that the butcher was preparing upon completion. Cooking in Sword Art Online seemed so much more easy than real life. Apollo half wished that he had chosen this skill, now. But, it wasn't really something that Riobard was good at in real life, so Apollo felt that might translate over into the gaming world as well. But, seeing it happen right before him like this, he almost wished that he had known so that he could have chosen. Because, even though this was an Rank F ingredient that the chef was working with, it was very delicious. Now Apollo couldn't wait until he got to try some way higher quality food. He was so excited for that. Taking the tasty morsel that he had devoured with him, he left the shop and walked out into town. He still had yet to see his friends, but what better of a place to look for them than the event grounds?
Apollo checked his stats and did all of the allocating needed there, making sure that he was totally set . . . or at least as set as he was going to get . . . before heading off to the Herald Event or whatever it was called. Apollo never was very good with names. But, he was rather excited to head to the event grounds. Not only because he expected his friends to be there. (Friends whom he had not seen or heard from in ages and he was longing to reunite with and see how they had been and changed and how they were enjoying this wonderful game.) But, also because he was expecting there to be snow. Given the time of year it was, after all. Riobard rarely got to enjoy snow in the real world, so it was going to be an all new experience in the game. (Seeing as 'rarely' basically meant never for him. He had held minimal interaction with snow. And I do mean /minimal/.) Apollo made his way through the city and over to the Teleporting Gate. Checking his event notice, he retrieved the name of the city he would traveling to in order to accurately arrive at his destination. But, it seemed that the city area was also connected to a forested area? Hm. Peculiar. But, regardless, Apollo now held the destination he was supposed to travel to, and stepped into the teleportation area. Apollo would speak a simple sentence before being whisked away to the event. "Teleport: Herald's City"
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┏━━━━━━━━━━━━◊━━━━━━━━━━━━┓ WORDS IN POST: 500 x///xTOTAL WORDS: 4,500 x///xCOL: 1,000 ₡ [+2,590] MISSION STATUS [Collect the Papers! 100%] [Newbie Banquet 100%] ┗━━━━━━━━━━━━◊━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
Party : None»
➀« Apollo » ➁ ➂ ➃ ➄ ➅
«Inventory Expanded»
_________WEAPONS
___________• 「Beta Long Sword」▪▫ One-Handed Long Sword ______________○Rank: F ______________○Range: Short ______________○Type: Slash ______________○Attack: 10 ______________○Durability: ∞ ______________○Weight: 5 ______________○Level Requirement: 1
___________• «Sword Art Online» Beginner Manual ______________○Rank: F ______________○Contains all basic knowledge needed for the game including, but not limited to: maps, monster data, item catalog.
___________• Beta Starter Cooking Kit ______________○Rank: F ______________○Allows cooking of F Class ingredients and recipes.
___________• Beta Starter Forging Kit ______________○Rank: F ______________○Allows forging and refining of F Class materials, weapons, and equipment.
___________• Beta Starter Fishing Kit ______________○Rank: F ______________○Allows fishing of F Class targets.
___________• Beta Good Luck Charm ______________○Rank: S ______________○A mysterious square metal charm with the kanji for "luck" etched on the surface. Seems to resonate with a subtle energy.
❝ I am isolated. My heart wilts. My soul cries. But I'm still alive. ❞ _______________________________
Level 1 | HP 250/250 | EXP 0/100 | Word Count 9,059 ; 12,496 _______________________________ x x x x x x x x x x x
Busy, busy, busy. Just when Kage thought he could escape into his own incandescent word of technology, swords, and fighting, his parents thought enough was enough. That day spent in Sword Art Online was his first and last for awhile, because his family thought that he was being too ridiculous. Perhaps it was the fact that the family never knew whether or not he was at home or outside, or even dead or alive. With more than twelve hours Kage spent in line, waiting for the game, his parents worried about his safety and his well-being, since only the really crazy gamer addicts would spend so much time glued to a line for a piece of metal and plastic. They wanted to help kage overcome his “shy-ness”, or so they believed. So, for three full months, they decided to unsubscribe from their monthly internet connection and took away his hard-earned NerveGear. After all, only Kage used the internet in the family. His elder sister never really paid attention to internet, or even technology for the matter of fact. She was the pianist after all, and as a musician, she dwelled in art day and night. During the day when it wasn’t too late, she would play the piano. She played and played, indulging whoever who passed by with a melodious melody that filled the air with joyous memories. At night, she drew, mostly inanimate objects. Pencil shadings were her forte. Sometimes, if her younger brother requested it, she would do portraits, or even cartoon drawings. All in all, she was a one in a million talented artist with a bright future.
Kage’s elder brother, the brainiac of the family, didn’t need internet for his research papers. Even with homework and papers due, he would manage, somehow. It wasn’t odd for Kage to find his brother in a library for six hours straight. And, after all, he had enough resources in his room to feed to his research papers. Plus, he really didn’t need to research, due to the fact that he probably already memorized all the textbooks his teachers passed out at the start of the term. He didn’t even sign up for cram school, just naturally amassed an eclectic study habit that basically had him read, research, and memorize almost every waking second of his day. But to Kage, his brother seemed like it was natural. He saw his brother study, but never tired. He was perfect in every aspect, even in physical education. People said that those with brains did not have the muscles to compete in physical competitions. But no, his brother was also on the soccer team in the summer, and the basketball team in the winter. His brother wasn’t the captain, but he wasn’t a reserve player either. He was good, not exceptional like his grades, but still an athletic boy able to sway the girls’ hearts with one kick of a soccer ball.
His younger brother, the leader of the group, the one with the smart mouth, was the only person aside from Kage who used the internet. But unlike Kage, his younger brother was actually attuned to his surroundings, and therefore had various hobbies, like solving puzzles, reading, and drawing. His younger brother always got what he wanted, and somehow, he managed to convince their parents to buy him portable video games. That little monster, using his abilities for his own good. But honestly, who didn’t? Kage wouldn’t be surprised if somehow, it was his younger brother’s idea to bring Kage out of his room. In the boy’s mind, the conversation probably went something along the lines of, “I miss my big brother. I never get to see him, since he’s always locked away in his room. I really do miss him. I don’t want him to end up forever alone. Please find a way for him to come out.” Of course, Kage wouldn’t know what really happened. But usually, when calamity befell on the boy, it was usually his little brother’s doing. After all, nobody else cared enough about Kage to force him out of his room.
That little hour in Sword Art Online was so short-lived. The efforts Kage went through to get it, that conversation with his elder sister... Everything was for null. At least, it was for now. He wondered what the people he met in the virtual world thought. A newbie, who didn’t know anything about the world, quit Sword Art Online before truly getting to know it. Kage, as Asmea, wanted to explore the world more. He wanted to feel the fake wind, the fake grass, everything. He wanted to be there, and that was where he belonged. He didn’t feel alive, unless he was inside a game, for some odd reason. His parents and his siblings didn’t understand him, Kage believed. The people... the friends... He wondered if any of them remember Asmea now. Perhaps not, since they’ve only been together for such a short while. Perhaps they’re already super high levelled now, because Asmea has missed so much already. Asmea... He was still at Level One. Events, quests... So much to do, yet not even the time to do them. Why now, when Kage had finally found the perfect place to hang out away from his parents, his family, his life? He would rather pick a virtual reality and the real world. Kage was this type of person, to reject everything he had for something that could be deleted, altered with a mere push of a button.
He was sure though, that someone else out there felt the same way about their life as he did. He was sure, that out of the millions of people, one person out there would understand Kage. To live a lonely life alone in his own, cramped space, rather than go out and have fun like the rest of the kids would. Well, perhaps Kage was overreacting. He did, after all, essentially got his life turned around, got what he loved the most taken away from him within a day of acquiring it. Perhaps his parents were right, that he was too obsessed with internet for the life of him. But he didn’t find anything wrong with that mindset. It worked for him, and he didn’t get in the way of anybody’s life. It was his life, after all, and he didn’t mind spending it in a world where monsters and heroes existed. Actually, he would love to, after seeing how august Sword Art Online was.
“Come out of your room, Kage! Dinner is ready. Come on!” His younger brother yelled through the door. The muffled sounds travelled through the air, finally reaching Kage’s ears in a way that sounded annoying. Kage wanted to kick his brother, going through withdrawal stage of being away from the world of pixels for the second day now. What was worse was that he was now forced to sit through dinner, an exponentially awkward time for him. Having dined alone for so long, he couldn’t imagine what it would be like to eat with his family. Awkward silence? That’s what happened yesterday, when he was suddenly dragged to the kitchen by his elder siblings. He struggled, of course, but to no avail due to his small body mass. He simply sat there and nibbled at his vegetables, not even touching the chicken their mother had grilled for a filling and nutritious meal. He wasn’t hungry then, and he wasn’t hungry today either. So to save his energy from having to fight his siblings to avoid eating, he got up and slowly opened his door. The hallway smelled of fresh food, the scent of hunger filling the air. It has been so long, that he forgot what a warm meal felt like.
Kage found himself slowly walking towards where the scent originated from, the kitchen. The place seemed so foreign, even though he had lived in the house for all of his live. Or at least, the majority, since he did spend a chunk of his life at school. But that wasn’t his home. Like a lost child among strangers, he followed the scent until he arrived at the table, a set of plates and bowls for each member of the family. Food, placed neatly on the plate, heated and well-prepared. Perhaps Kage was hungry after all, having smelled the warm food that looked so pleasant, in comparison to the cold food he ate almost every in the past. He sat down in the corner, trying to not make a presence of himself. The family began eating, happily chatting among themselves. They talked over what happened during the day and what they looked forward to in the future. What subjects gave them the most difficulty, who went out with who... Everything was shared during the time they spent eating. It was dinner, and Kage preferred just eating, rather than use it for a time of social gathering. He didn’t want to talk about school or why he wanted Thursday to come sooner. He just wanted to eat and get out of there. At this time, even the smell of food didn’t make him want to stay any longer. This was torture, even if the rest of the family seemed to like it.
“So how was your day, Kage?” his father asked him with a monotone-like voice. No emotion, no expression. Just a blank question asked to all of the kids, except in Kage’s case, the question meant nothing to him.
“The usual,” Kage responded. His father nodded, fully accepting the answer. But the funny thing was, his father wouldn’t even know his usual routines. Where he went, who gave him the most trouble, what grades he got... His father had absolutely no idea. They never paid attention to him, and they never will, Kage believed. Perhaps his pessimism was getting to him, due to his addiction to internet and SAO. But even with internet, Kage believed that he was an unwanted child, a talentless bum who would bring nothing but calamity to the family.
Perhaps his mood projected onto everybody else at the dinner table, because an eerie silence fell upon them. Why, Kage had no idea. He just silently ate, but the silence made it hard to do so. Every chew, every sip, the green-eyed boy heard. It was agonizing, to sit at a table with so many people silent like him. He wanted to chatter to come back, but yet, he liked the silence. Little by little, he lost his appetite. Even if the food was warm, it didn’t taste anything, feeling uncomfortable in his own skin. What else could he do besides, setting his utensils down and stare at his food? “I’m full,” the boy declared. This only made everybody at the table look at him like he developed some eating disorder. He only ate half of his rice and some of the peppers, but nothing else. “What do you want? Become a stick figure?” His father inquired. No, Kage wouldn’t want that; He was already underweight, and he wouldn’t want to be unhealthy. However, the truth was the truth, whether his parents liked it or not. The dark-haired boy preferred the time when he dined alone, when his parents didn’t question why he ate what he ate. Kage certainly didn’t like his motives questioned, especially when it came to things he could do himself, such as keeping his stomach full. With a sigh, his father nodded, signaling to Kage that he could go back to his room. Or as the boy interpreted, “get out of my face”. And so he did, gladly. The child walked back to his room and closed his door, then opened up his window to free his lair from the scent of the food. He wanted it gone, and he couldn’t stand another minute of the welcoming odor. So he simply sat at the window sill, looking out the window at the moon crescent. He looked at the sky, seeing its natural beauty. It was nothing like Sword Art Online.
That night, late into the evening when all was quiet, footsteps were heard walking up to Kage’s room. A soft knock on the wooden door, one, two, three. Kage didn’t respond, just simply laid on his bed, barely paying attention. “Kage? Your father and I talked things over.” It was his soft-spoken mother. “We decided that as long as you come into the top 50 on your exams in two weeks, we’ll give you the NerveGear and internet back.” With that said, she left Kage in his thoughts and went to bed herself. Top fifty? That was nearly impossible for Kage, with such low grades and average intelligence. In his class of nearly four hundred students, it was simply impossible for him to place in the top 12.5 percent. And he only had two weeks to study. However, three months was enough for Asmea to go from one of the first members to step into the virtual world to a flop, weak player. Well, it would be worth trying, at least. Kage, who always came somewhere in the 200’s, would need to work extra hard to beat nearly two hundred people on the exams. Armed with a simple determination, Kage sighed and decided to do his best.
He woke up the next day, feeling as if he just got trampled by a herd of cows. Not very good, for the start of the week, in Kage’s opinion. However, although his habits at home had been drastically changed, his usual routine at school remained constant. First and foremost was to get ready for school, to dress up and groom himself in the shared bathroom. Easy, since he didn’t really care for his looks when he went to school. Besides, everybody looked the same in that old uniform. Dragging himself through the subway to his same old high school, he didn’t have anything else to do besides twiddle his thumbs and listen to strangers’ conversations. Slight creepy, yes, but it wasn’t like Kage had anything to tune these people out. In any case, at school, he simply sat in his usual seat, half-paying attention to the lectures and half-immersed in his own little world. Perhaps this wasn’t the best idea, if Kage was determined to make it into the top fifty during midterm exams. Outside, the sky was blue and smiled down at the kids in gym class outside, but the sky didn’t pay any attention to the black-haired boy.
“Are you coming to the recital?” a voice chirped behind him on his way home. It was none other than his serious elder brother, coming home from school. It was Monday, and that was the only day on which his brother could do so. On other weekdays, he either had soccer practice or student council. Busy, busy boy, his elder brother was. On the topic of the recital, today was his sister’s big day, since she never really soloed before. She was the type to always request a violin or another pianist to accompany her, since, as they all say, “two heads are better than one”. “I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Kage mumbled. After all, it was either go to the recital or suffer alone at home, without anything to do but study. And right now, the boy wanted to procrastinate more than ever. In addition, he was quite sure that whatever excuse he gives to his parents to stay at home, they will refute it with ten more, about supporting his sister for doing something she never did before. He really didn’t want to though, since that meant going into public and sit in a cramped space to listen to his sister play the piano and capture the hearts of many. If he had wanted to listen to his sister, he would’ve done so at home, when she was playing for free without a large audience.
Kage looked at his cell phone: 4:12pm. Already this late? The piano recital was at five, so that meant the boy better hurry, if he didn’t want to be late. Although he really didn’t want to go, being late at a piano recital just meant total disrespect for his sister and everybody in the hall. Rushing home with his elder brother, he quickly dropped his backpack in his room and proceeded to wash his hands and face from the dirt. He would wear his school uniform, since it was his only formal outfit. He normally wore a t-shirt and jeans, on top of sneakers, or something easy of the sort. His mother, younger brother, and sister were already at the concert, and his father was waiting for the two high schoolers to arrive home. Without a single word, Kage slipped into the back seat and buckled himself down with the seatbelt, then looked out the window. He didn’t catch when the car started moving, since his mind wandered here and there as trees flew past and cars zoomed by. It seemed that everything was moving at a fast forward pace, yet Kage felt like he was watching everything in an agonizing slow motion. He sighed, twiddling his thumbs as he contemplated his position as of now. He would need to study extra hard once he got home.
The black-haired, green-eyed high school freshmen watched himself get out of the car, enter the monument, and sit in a highly decorated theater-like grand room. He watched, as if he wasn’t the one controlling his body. He felt disconnected from himself, since he was doing something the real Kage would never do. Yes, he considered himself a fake human, because real people do not do things they normally wouldn’t. But he was generalizing too much, because he talked to people, socialized with fellow players in Sword Art Online. He wasn’t being himself in the game, so why would it apply to the real world? The disconnect between virtual reality and the real life was too big for Kage to see that the two are interrelated, the same person in two different settings.
Suddenly, the lights went out and everyone became quiet. Quiet whispers could be heard from the fairly nice acoustics of the room, as the stage became lit. A single spotlight on the majestic, shining white piano showers the audience with an elegance unseen before. A second spotlight suddenly lit, making Kage squint a little from the bright light. And standing under that bright light was his sister, in this beautiful, sparkly white gown that made her look like an angel. A holy maiden has descended upon the theater. People watched, as she moved with such an elegance up to the piano, sat, the dress softly wrinkled. Kage was amazed at the sight, that the sister he had no connections with could mesmerize him so.
He wasn’t sure if that was his sister, even. The perfect image of “miyabi”, the refinement and grace... It could not be described by mere adjectives. Kage listened to her melody, the notes and trebles filled the air with such a calm serenity. He listened, not only to the music, but to his sister’s soul. He heard her happiness, her sadness, and her tears. Everything she held dear could be expressed with notes from the piano. Such incandescence... The high schooler heard everything, from her love to her hate. Her beauty could not be matched by anyone, anything. He watched her play with this expression of hers that he finally understood; Passion.
This passion in her... This lovely emotion. Kage couldn’t believe that he wasn’t there. Simply hearing her music, it was similar to those played by all of the other musicians. However, it was watching her movement, her fragile little hands callused through years of piano-playing, that he understood how she felt, how music was reflected in her soul, why people loved her so. Even if the pieces of music were the same, the people playing them weren’t, because everybody was different, because everybody’s talent was unique. Her music prompted Kage to think hard on himself. What was his talent? He had none. But perhaps... His was hiding. Like the ad that informed the boy of the gem, Sword Art Online, perhaps something small could suddenly catalyze the budding of his hidden talent. Perhaps... he was some sort of sports genius? it would make sense, since he never played sports at all. Another possibility was cooking? He never cooked, but maybe he could pick up cooking at a master level. Who knew? The possibilities were endless, since he was still young and could still explode his potential further. It wasn’t too late, no... Or at least, Kage hoped. not.
Two hours felt so short, as he suddenly found himself walking out of the theater, getting into the car, and driving home. He was alone in the car with his father though. Why? Kage didn’t understand. He wanted to talk to his elder sister, the wish to congratulate her, to hug her and praise her. But why, he was alone in this small car? His siblings had decided to pack themselves into the car that his mother drove, to celebrate together for a recital well-done, leaving Kage behind all by himself. In a crashing realization, he understood; Even if he tried, he would be always unloved, unwanted. If his siblings didn’t want to spend a mere fifteen minutes in the car with him, why would they want him at all? This moment of bliss he experienced soon collapsed onto itself, as he sunk back into his deep, dark hole where amorphous figures ventured in. He was alone once again, the light could not reach him even if it was burning his skin to a crisp. He was loveless, and would remain this way until the very end. Why, he was fated to be alone?
In reality, however, his siblings wanted to be with him, to celebrate a job well done with him. They wanted to hug him, to include him into the circle. But the thing was, they understood that Kage loved to be alone. They knew how introvert this boy was. They wouldn’t want to cram him with attention, only to receive his rejection. Kage was already forced to be away from the thing he loved and into a social gather, so talking to the boy would only increase the hatred between them. Such a disconnect, between how the four siblings felt for one another. Concern, but afraid of being rejected on one side, and loneliness, feeling as if he is unwanted and would never confront others on the other side. If only the four kids were honest about their feelings, perhaps friendship and love would bloom. Such a family... Such a sad feeling.
That night, Kage didn’t get any studying done. He simply laid on his bed, contemplating his life. He wanted to get out of it, to be immersed in a fake reality, to be away from his family. He wanted to be on Sword Art Online very badly. Perhaps he was feeding his addiction, but he didn’t care. As long as he was happy, right? He was passionate about what he loved, that was all. He wished that a miracle would happen, and he would score into the top fifty. Or that three months would quickly pass by. Either way, he would be reunited with the game, sooner or later.
Tuesday... Wednesday... His pretest scores arrived. Not well. His ranking dropped by a good three dozen, all the way to 286. This didn’t bode well for the boy who wanted to get his butt into the top fifty. Guess he would need to wait a full two months and three weeks, since he didn’t stand a chance against 236 students who were smarter and more driven than him. Using video games as an excuse to study... That was beyond pathetic. The freshman boy sighed, then dragged his body back to class. He tuned his teachers out and looked out the window for the fifth hundredth time, watching the clouds, the birds, the life outside of this cell. “Let a miracle happen,” Kage whispered. And it did, that night at 7:30pm.
A knock echoed through the hall, coming from the nearly untouched wood of Kage’s door. A small, unfamiliar knock. Almost timid-like, as if the person on the other side was unsure of himself. The dark-haired boy didn’t answer and simply waited for a voice, a name to put on the faceless stranger outside the closed door. “Kage? Can I come in?” a voice resonated through the door. It was none other than his elder brother, the intelligent senior. “Go ahead,” Kage said, loud enough for his voice to be heard, but just barely. He didn’t mind the fact that a family member would enter his room, but he didn’t why they would. He thought that they avoided each other, just like everything else. The door creaked open, slowly at first, then opened just enough for his brother to slip through. In his hands were papers and books, a couple pencils and an abused-looking eraser. The papers, although white, Kage could tell that on it were scribbles of equations, notes, and other mnemonic devices to memorize materials. What was his brother doing in here with so much study materials, Kage had no clue.
“I saw your pretest ranking today. It didn’t look too well,” his brother commented. Of course, he was here to mock Kage of his failure, that he would never achieve his goal. The boy remained quiet, looking at a nonexistent stain on the floor to tune his elder sibling out. “Look, I know you don’t like it when we talk to you, but why not let me help you study? I know how important that game is to you, and I don’t like seeing you agonize over it. So... yeah.” Kage could tell that his brother had trouble speaking to him. Why did he offer him help though? What did he have to gain? It was still an unfamiliar concept for Kage to receive help, without needing to do anything in return.
“If you can pull off increasing my scores from 286th to 50th, you’ll be the next Miracle Worker,” the freshmen commented. “What about you? Don’t you need to study as well?”
“Hey, if I can pull off being number one each time, I think you can beat a couple dozen people at some measly exams. And no, I don’t need to. I study every day, so studying a couple hours less wouldn’t make much of a difference,” his brother replied. “You may think that it takes a really intelligent person to be ranked number one, you’re mistaken. I’m not smart; I just work hard.” And somehow, his brother possessed the power of telepathy. Everything Kage thought about, doubted about, his elder brother refuted in those couple sentences. What a person, his sibling was. It was true though, now that Kage wasn’t blind to his brother’s efforts. Every day, he saw, and acknowledged the fact that his brother spent a lot of time hauled up in his books. But he never drew the line between studying and reading every day to his high grades that no one could beat. Every test he touched turned into hundreds. Could his brother do it, turning Kage from an average student to an almost-brainiac? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, Kage would see. “Alright,” he finally agreed. Then, his brother gave him this look of acceptance, this look the black-haired boy had never seen before. This look... It seemed like... His brother was happy?
With that said, they tackled Kage’s weakest subject first: Math. The boy was never strong in mathematics, even though he was a wiz at technology and engineer-related problems. Algebra... He never really got those. People would think that computers and math were directly related, and they were. But that didn’t mean if someone is good at one is automatically great at the other. So Kage studied, the factor and root theorems, and everything in between. Since his elder brother already took the class, he gave Kage tips and ideas on how to better prepare for the exams, rather than just going in completely blind. He gave his younger sibling every possible topics that would definitely show up on the exam for him to master and focus on. Factoring equations was a main focus on the midterm, and Kage would need to learn all of the ways to find the roots and zeros of each equations. But even if Kage struggled with problems, his elder brother didn’t lose patience. Instead, he explained it again, but in a different way. His voice was calm, encouraging sudden insight to a math problem instead of forcing Kage’s way through. Patience... That was all it took for Kage to get at least 80% of the problems right.
Without much effort, four hours had gone by, and Kage was now consistently scoring in the low 90’s. That was only enough to bring him up to around rank 100, if he were to get low 90’s on his exams on all of his other subjects too. It was true, what others say, that improving on the basics is easy, but the last could points are really hard to earn. “Wow, Kage. You got some brain. Four hours and you’ve already improved so much. I feel like you’re the genius of the family,” his brother commented. “Just think of the possibilities when you put in half an hour of studying for each subject. You may even surpass my grades.” This was the first praise Kage had heard in such a long time. And coming from the brainiac of the family, this meant so much to him. Four hours... That was all it took for Kage to improve twenty points, a feat unheard of in an average student. Perhaps Kage wasn’t talentless. Like he previously believed, he just hadn’t started exploring yet.
“Well, I think it’s enough for today. Tomorrow we will move onto a new topic. Just keep practicing from your textbook and math should be fine,” his brother said, collecting his papers and study materials from the desk. “Good night, Kage.”
“Wait.”
A simply word echoed through the room, bouncing off of walls as if the sound waves couldn’t escape from the room itself. His elder brother waited at the door, listening to his sibling. “About today,” Kage began, summoning his courage to ask. “The car ride home.” He was digging himself a hole. The green-eyed boy had just barely started liking his elder brother, and in a flash he was about to destroy it. “Why was I alone?” But he couldn’t help it, the curiosity burning up inside him. His sense, his intuition told him that his brother felt uncomfortable with the question. But the older boy never showed any signs of such behavior. Instead, he simply turned around, smiled at his little brother, and said, “I thought you would find us annoying.” With that said, he left the room, closing the door behind him, leaving the third Muraiki child quiet, stunned, thinking. So he wasn’t hated? So... His siblings cared about him? But... Kage wanted to be with them, not be isolated in his room anymore. Now that he didn’t have internet and the NerveGear, he saw things more clearly. Kage Muraiki was no longer blind.
Like that, Kage studied every night for a full week, each night focusing on a different subject. He had five. exams total, which consisted of astronomy, mathematics, English, Japanese literature, and computer science. Studying for computer science was a piece of cake, and his brother didn’t really help much, since he was more of a biology-type science person. Day by day, Kage improved, all the way until Kage was sure he had a firm grasp of the knowledge. Like a routinely day from before he lost the internet, he woke up, went to school, came home, and studied. Alone or with his brother, he did his best. He found that, as he looked over the materials, he found it easier and easier, until the knowledge seemed common sense. He didn’t despise studying, but he did find it tiring. Even more than arguing with four people with opposing different view points on a single subject. However, with a renewed hope and a determination like none other, he would work through the pain until the very end. The Miracle Worker, his brother, essentially saved him from an endless pit of self-pity and low self-esteem. The Miracle Worker, his brother, the person whom Kage now looked up to.
In the blink of an eye, it was time for the exams. In his usual seat Kage sat, with each day he has two exams, and the final one on Wednesday. Then Thursday and Friday, the students have it off, or unless they wanted to make up an exam they had missed. His first subject was computer science, which, by the way, was his best subject. He easily breezed through the coding and equations for various reasons. He didn’t need any help on this, and didn’t stumble on any of the questions. Though he wasn’t sure if he coded the answers properly, since even the strongest horse sometimes stumble. Well, he’ll just have to believe that he didn’t make any careless mistakes that could’ve been easily fixed. At least he had three hours to do it, and he had at least half an hour to review his answers before submitting them for grading.
With a one-hour break for lunch, his second subject that day was English. If he couldn’t even score high on Japanese literature, his mother language, how could he be expected to know a second language? Well, at least the English was pretty basic, not really at equal level as his Japanese. However, Kage still stumbled through the exam, not even sure what he was reading. But then again, he didn’t need to understand the exam in order to do well; He just had to apply normal testing skills and hope for the best. And with studying and his brother’s careful coaching, he found that the English was practical, almost common place. He wasn’t worried, no, but he would still struggle.
With that done, Kage sighed in relief. His first day of exams, and with only two weeks of studying, he would score way higher than he had always done so in all of his life. All thanks to the Miracle Worker. “How did it go?” A voice chimed behind him. It was, of course, his elder brother. “I think English will be my lowest score,” Kage said. “I think I’ll be fine.” With a nod and a pat on the back, the two brothers went home together. Although it was a couple hours before his next two exams, astronomy and Japanese literature, he would still study hard tonight, because, as they all say, “You retain more information hours before the final showdown.” Kage, although stressed, was still relieved more than ever, because he was almost halfway done with this situation. And in exactly one week, he would find out whether he failed or made it. Either way, his parents would be proud. The night flew by with kage quietly laying in bed, contemplating once again. He was restless, thinking over the world of Sword Art Online. And sometime during the deep thoughts, he fell asleep, because the next time he came to, it was already the morning of the next day, his third and fourth exam. Of course, he wouldn’t miss it for anything.
Sitting in the classroom, he flew through astronomy with a breeze. Astronomy was concrete science, with theorems and ways to identify rocks. Unless something really funky happens to a rock or a planet, it would stay constant. After all, astronomy didn’t offer a chance for Kage to make mistakes; It was either right or wrong, based on the materials asked. Though within the facts and figures, there were still some obscure theories that escaped the boy’s consciousness. Thankfully, they didn’t show up on the exam, since astronomy was such a broad topic with so much to learn and analyze. For three hours, it wasn’t enough to test everything. Kage Muraiki had just dodged a bullet.
Next came Japanese literature, his mother language. He wasn’t worried, since he read the materials and went over possible essay topics with his brother last night. It takes years to develop a good grammar and writing skills to satisfy the teachers, so two weeks wouldn’t really make a difference. The only thing Kage could really do was go over what the teacher loves to see in the essays, and reread some important parts of novels that was to be tested on. What else could he do besides hope for the best? And surely, the Japanese literature consisted of many questions concerning multiple books they had read over the past couple months, and two essays, each to be finished within half an hour. Kage wasn’t prepared, and he thought English would be his worst score. Armed with nothing but a couple writing tactics, he pushed through the exam like he always did. This exam would cost him greatly, it seemed like. He went home, feeling worse than he did from the previous day. It was a solemn night, even his brother could tell the sour mood the teen was in. Kage didn’t review the math topics that night, and instead chose to lock himself in his room and quietly suffer.
Was he prepared for the math exam? Kage sure hoped so, now regretting the fact that he didn’t study right up until the last minute. But what’s done has been done, and to brood over it was of no use. Though upon receiving the papers and problem sets, he found that his brother was right; Factoring was the main focus of the exam. He breezed through the questions, finding that a lot of the problems were from the textbook, or very close to. Even if they weren’t, the rules his brother taught him flashed through his mind, and he was able to apply such foreign concepts to these letters and numbers. He found it fun, for some odd reason. He perceived this as a miracle, since he was enjoying math, and he never did before. Perhaps in the past, it was simply the frustration speaking, since he understood very little. But now... He saw the threads connection science and math, the two disciplines interrelated. The teacher called time and Kage put down his pencil. He was in the middle of rechecking a couple questions towards the end, since he wasn’t entirely sure of the answers. But he wasn’t worried, since he answered at least 98% of the questions with confidence. Maybe he was being overconfident of his abilities, but that was what hope did for most people; We gain confidence when there’s hope.
A sigh of final relief escaped through the boy’s lips, as he walked out of the school and on his way home. Exams were done, and at least four more days until he would see the results of his hard work. He was sure though, that he did fairly well. Top fifty, he wasn’t sure. But top hundred, it was a definite. That night, he celebrated with his family for the first time, sitting with his siblings as the oldest child played piano. Kage ate dinner with the family, the warm supper enlightening the mood surrounding this group of six. This was a day to remember, a day that would remain in everybody’s memories forever and ever.
On Monday of the next week, the results were posted at 7:00am for all the early birds to see. People swamped the boards, eagerly searching for their names. People cheered, having placed in their desired spots. Others cried for failing, or simply didn’t maintain their standings. Kage glanced at the upper years’ boards, and saw “Kaede Muraiki” in the Rank One spot. Of course, Kage expected nothing less from his big brother. The maple tree stood tall among the dozens of little seedlings. Making his way towards the first year scoreboard, he had to fight through the hoard of students swamping the area. They were just as eager as him, no doubt. Almost tripping and landing on his face, Kage fell out of the crowd just in front of the board. Readjusting himself, he took a deep breath before looking through the many names for that “Muraiki”. He wasn’t in the top ten, that was for sure. He wasn’t in the top 25. He wasn’t in the top 40. His heart sank as he continued to read, one name at a time. Yukina Yamamoto, Aika Imasaki, Katsuo Kirishima... His heart stopped when, after the first fifty names, he didn’t see his. Even after working this hard, he couldn’t achieve his score. Then, how hard would he need to work for his dreams? It was impossible. Impossible.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw Kaede looking worriedly at him. The younger brother simply turned away and walked off without acknowledging his presence, without any thought. He simply walked off into the shadows of the building, back into his old, stoic self, void of happiness. “It was futile,” Kage whispered.
He went home without his brother that afternoon. He felt sad, disconnected from the world, even. This was perhaps the first time a ranking impacted this much. But on his way home, he realized that he ran out of money for the bus, so he had to walk all fifteen miles home. At a normal rate of three per hour, he finally made it home at around eight at night. “Dear God, Kage! I was so worried! You could’ve called us and we would’ve come to pick you up,” his mother chimed. Her son didn’t say a word of apology, but instead went straight for his room just like before. His feet and head ached, and he could do nothing about it. “By the way,” Kage heard his mother yell from the living room. “Congratulations! Kaede told me everything. So I placed the head machine thing on your desk. Internet should be back up in two to three days.” What? Was this some kind of a joke? Kage glanced at his desk and there it was, the NerveGear. Why? Kage ran out of his room and into the living room where his older sister and brother, and mother were situated. “But I wasn’t ranked in the top fifty,” Kage said.
As if Kage just said something with the uttermost hilarity, the three burst into laughter. “That’s because you didn’t keep reading the names,” Kaede explained. “You don’t even know your ranking, do you?” Kage shook his head. He was so upset at that time that he didn’t take a second look at the board. “Let me tell you this; After you left and the first years cleared, I went over to see how you placed. The result? 53rd. If you kept reading, you wouldn’t be this upset.” The thing was, Kage now felt worse than before. He was so close to that 50, so close! Three more people, a couple more points and he would’ve been 50th! “Kage, dear. I know the deal was if you placed in the top fifty, we would give those things back to you. But Kaede pointed out how you improved from 286th to 53rd in a mere two weeks, and... Well... I wanted to reward you for that,” his mother explained. So Kaede... helped him? All those years of avoiding his brother... Kage never knew how kind he truly was, which, in truth, put him to shame.
That night, Kage didn’t touch the NerveGear. He sat with his family and relaxed. Kaede, his older brother, sat next to him for hours. The bonds of brothers, incandescent. The bonds of siblings, unbreakable. The bonds of families, stronger than ever. The bonds that tied them together illuminated with love and acceptance. This was a family Kage was born into, love and talent. Belief and improvement. Together forever.
At exactly midnight, Kage put on his NerveGear. He wanted to be back in Sword Art Online, to relive those moments when he was Asmea. But with a slightly new mindset, perhaps SAO would be different. It had been exactly two weeks and one day since he last logged into the game. Would people still remember him? Would he be the newbie who was still at level on, while the other beta players were in two digits already? Kage would find out soon enough. He was afraid, but he was sure that some people would be near his level, who would be willing to help him, like that Level Four person whom he ran into when he first explored the town. Janemba, was his name, Kage remembered. Maybe he was still there, at the fountain, picking on and helping newer players. Perhaps... Well, Kage was about to find out.
“Link start,” Kage whispered, the second time he used these words. Yet, it seemed like he had used this a million and one times.
The familiar colors flashed through his mind as he felt himself being dragged into the world of SAO. The multitude of colors, mostly warm colors, made him flash back to when he first came into the virtual world. Everything seemed so much better when Kage was in a better mood. And for some reason, the flash of colors reminded him of a rainbow forming across the sky. Such a beauty, this was. And these colors, these pixels, slowly formed into the Log In box. What was his password again? He wrecked through his mind to remember. Asmea... Asmea... Then it clicked in his mind. He typed the password, and saw another flash of colors. It was so obvious to him at that time, but why wasn’t it now? Perhaps with a slight change of attitude, you couldn’t remember the past. Let the present affect the past. Yeah... And he thought the past was frozen solid, unchangeable. But truly, memories were malleable.
Kage... No, Asmea closed his eyes. He didn’t feel any physical changes. But when he felt a cool zephyr blow across his cheeks, he knew that he was in the world of Aincrad. He felt the rocks, the concrete beneath his feet. He had last logged off at the Town’s Market, and he logged in here, just like last time. He looked around, and noted that there were even more people than before. Finding an acquaintance was harder now. But he didn’t care, for he was in Sword Art Online again. Kage was here, as Asmea. He had yearned for this day to come sooner. Perhaps doing his best on those exams was well worth it, but another two months and two weeks without this, he may go crazy. He looked down at his hands and felt himself move. The boy still found it weird how, even though he could feel himself move just as if he was back in the real world, but he knew that his body stayed still, as if it was a corpse. Asmea shivered at the thought, and immediately shrugged it off. He could see the strands of blond hair softly blow from the wind, and although he couldn’t see his eyes, he knew that they were a soft baby-blue. Somehow, Asmea regretted not keeping his eyes the same color. But he didn’t mind, no. It was, after all, a nice contrast between the real and the virtual.
Walking through the town, around the iron castle, Asmea admired its beauty, what humans invented and developed magnificently. The things he enjoy, finally in his grasp. The iron castle loomed about in the distance, as he made his way to the fountain that he first met Janemba. This was the start of it all, when he actually started to talk to others. How he deemed social interaction to be not that bad, it was a wonder. But now, he understood, that it was simply hs extraversion screaming at his personality to stop and let it bloom through. Yes, this started it all, when Asmea walked backwards to admire the iron castle in the distance. Such a distance... Small, yet still august. Asmea still found it amusing how people in the distance looked so small, like tiny bugs. But yet, a person still walked on. He turned his attention back to the fountain. The water, sparkling, so realistic. How did the creators of Aincrad code this program? Perhaps, take the feelings of touching water, then relate it back to the areas of the brain that were activated. Then, perhaps, through the NerveGear, activate the same parts of the brain as Asmea touched the water. Such a small action, yet, he was sure that it took many, many days, weeks, maybe even months, to develop.
Town of Beginnings. Filled with people, new and old. However, he was sure that some would pretend to be someone they’re not, just like him. This was, after all, a virtual world. This meant that people could choose to swap genders, and no one could tell. People could act violent, since there are no such things as ultimate deaths in the game. The feeling of pain has been suppressed a lot, so a heated fight that erupted in game would not hurt them as much as they would in the real world. People, after all, never bled in this game. An arm hurt did not correlate to an injured arm in the real world. This was the beauty of programming and games; Nothing happened here would impact the way you were in the real world. Nine winds could blow against you in the game, but only a soft breeze would blow against you in the real world. And Asmea believed, through this game, although nothing physically would happen to anyone, mentally, people can be changed. After all, his bouts of extraversion started here, in Sword Art Online.
❝ I am isolated. My heart wilts. My soul cries. But I'm still alive. ❞ _______________________________
Level 1 | HP 250/250 | EXP 0/100 | Word Count 9,059 ; 12,496 _______________________________ x x x x x x x x x x x
{Continuation from last post! ;^;}
He looked around, watching the many people walk by, NPC or real player. Some looked stronger than others, with more advanced swords. Some were way higher level than him, that was for sure. Well, he was basing all of his conjectures on their equipment. Since, you know, a person had to have killed a lot of monsters, or finished a lot of quests to amass so much money. He was still a Level One-er, with his one thousand Cols. He couldn’t afford anything, since he was such the starting money could not be compared to the actual money required to upgrade his weapons, armor, and all that jazz. Truthfully, he didn’t want to. He just wanted to walk around all day, doing nothing, just enjoying the scenery. But then again, he couldn’t. This was simply due to the fact that, he was sure upper levels would have a more beautiful scenery than the Town of Beginnings, Floor One. There were ninety nine other floors. Perhaps with each increasing difficulty, the beauty and complexity of human ingenuity increased. Yes, Asmea was sure of it.
If he wanted to explore the upper floors, he would definitely need to get stronger. Well, that is, unless Kage wanted to die every time he encountered a monster. If someone could die fighting a Wild Boar or one of those wolves, he could die fighting God knows what’s next in an upper floor. That would definitely be a one-hit KO. Asmea certainly didn’t want that. He wanted to freely walk through the floors on his own, as a solo player. Perhaps even party up with members and go hunting together, to develop friendship and camaraderie. But first, since he was fairly low-levelled, he would need to increase his level. He was sure that any high-levelled players wouldn’t want to drag a newbie-ish player around. So what did that mean? Grind through levels like mad, or just for the first couple levels. However, Kage needed to know the average level of the active players in Sword Art Online. But how? He wasn’t sure. So, he did some simple math. He hasn’t been here for what, one or two days less than three weeks now? So that was nineteen days already. The average boar gives what, 10 EXP per kill? Using that as a basis, it usually takes a solo player around three minutes to kill one. He was sure that a solo player would spend at least half an hour to kill boars and wolves. So that makes around 100 EXP per day. Asmea assumed that a player spent five days out of seven to spend in Aincrad. That made 1,300 EXP in the days he was absent. However, this was for the really determined players, not the actual average. He knew that some people were slowly than others, and that some people didn’t log on for more than three days per week. Using easy math, and some conjectures, he assumed that players would be around level 9-12, depending on how determined people were.
This number scared Asmea, since he would need to catch up soon. He would spend the next hour or so grinding through fields of enemies. Yes, that’s what he would do. But the feat seemed impossible, to level up so much in one or two days. He guessed that he should probably take his time, since the game was in Beta. But he still wanted to be on the front line, clearing through the floors with fellow players. If he were to linger behind, he would never receive the feelings of pride and suspense as he fought through the unmapped regions of the dungeon. Yes, for today, he would do his best. Midterms just ended and there was really nothing more to do. Teachers let their students take a breather, which meant that Kage could focus on the game for now. For today, he wanted to get himself high enough level. He was, after all, quite determined. If he could go from rank 286 to 53, nothing could stop him.
Armed with nothing more than optimism and determination, Kage walked off to the fields, Starter Sword in hand, ready for combat.
{Exit}
Quote:
HOLY MOLY. Did I really type that much? Dear God. This will be the first and last time I will type a 9k post. Hehe. I like posting way shorter, 300 word posts. But I felt bad about my inactivity, so I barfed up a long post to make up for it. >.<
Note: This post talks about nothing but Kage Muraiki and siblings' characterization. And internet/game addiction, and some themes about studying hard, blablablabla. If you want a summary, PM me. Or read through it. Mwuahahaha. X'D
Edit: GOSH DARN IT, GAIA HAS A CHARACTER LIMIT? So that meant I needed to chop my post into two. ;^; //sobs
Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 7:49 pm
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"Come on...come on." In a nondescript house in a small, nondescript Colorado town, a young boy sat at his desk, head in his hand as he flicked back and forth between browser tabs on his computer. One was a video of a group of people playing a game together, some people from ChickenTeeth, or something like that, playing a game where you smash blocks and build things. But his mind wasn't on that. The other tab what what he was keeping his eye on. A green download bar was slowly, slowly filling up. He'd bought T1 wiring just for this occasion and he still couldn't get more than 50 MB/sec in download speed. He'd been sitting here for almost three hours.
As the bar clicked over to 95%, Raymond Sandorn leaned back in his swivel chair and stretched, lacing his fingers over his head and hearing the joints pop. Letting a groan escape his lips as his arms extended, the young man shifted his weight, letting the chair swing around towards his window. It was a nice and sunny day outside, the first week of college break. Ray knew it would also be his last true break, his interlude between Freshman and Sophomore years. The other two would, of course, be filled with internships and other fun things to keep him occupied. But this was his last free summer. And he was going to entertain himself in style.
97%. Ray had never considered himself lucky, but this chance could truly only be a stroke of it. Only a thousand people in the world were in his position. To land a beta key for the most highly anticipated video game...ever, in fact, was the greatest thing that had happened to Ray in a long time.
98%. Sword Art Online. The first fully realized virtual environment. All the senses, working together. It was less of a game, and more of an experience. Ray had been playing games using the NerveGear system for a couple years now, but nothing had ever truly taken advantage of the hardware. But this was going to be different. Kayaba Akihiko was at the helm of this game. The original creator of the NerveGear. If anyone could truly make a game that could harness the raw power of this new technology, it would be him.
A small ding brought his attention back to the screen. 100%. "Finally. It's time to get this thing started." All cords in place, all connections active. WAN stable. It was all checking out okay. Ray glanced over to the futon stationed next to his desk. Usually it was folded up, but today it was down, adorned with a pillow and what looked like a futuristic space helmet.
Practically throwing himself onto the bed in excitement, Ray only stopped to smooth his hair before easing the device onto his head. Starting up. Yes, yes, of course there's new software to detect. No, he didn't want to recalibrate. He'd done that three times just in the past hour alone. With the patting, and everything. Ray glanced a bit at the displays inside the helmet. Battery full and connected to AC. Wired and Wireless connections at full power. The clock changed, from 2:29 to 2:30 PM. All that was left was to say those words. What were they again? Burst Link? No, that wasn't it. He closed his eyes.
"Link Start!"
The blackness of the insides of his eyelids gave way to a bright white light, pierced by cylinders of all colors of the rainbow rushing towards him at unintelligible speed. He was falling through a tunnel of them, or, so it seemed. But as quickly as they had come, they vanished, and all he could see was white. He was almost startled as several circles popped up, checking out his sensory inputs. Touch, OK. Sight, OK. Hearing, Taste, and Smell, all OK. The modules lined up and vanished before he could even take a breath.
Before he knew it, he was at the Language Select. Japanese was the first in the highlighted list. No surprise there, as the game had been developed overseas. Ray raised his...hand, or at least, he thought it was his hand, all he could see was white, and flipped through the drop-down list until he located English (US), and selected it. From there, he was taken to the login screen. He'd set it up so that he was logged in automatically, and asterisks appeared in the text boxes one after the other, very satisfyingly.
And now, he was into the Character Creation screen. It was pretty simple, for belonging to a game that was top-of-the-line. Ray became impressed, though, when he saw the detail with which he could customize the look of his character. "Let's see. What should we go with?" Out of the corner of his vision, he spotted a few options. He could start with a preset face and body, and customize from there, or he could choose to use his own facial and bodily mapping data to create his avatar. Of course, he could still make changes. "We'll go with that for now." He selected that option, and a mirror image of himself appeared. A young adult, a bit on the small side, with a large waist and chin. Dark hair and eyes. It was time for a makeover.
Using the sliders and palettes, Ray molded his own body into what he believed to be a more pleasing shape. He leveled out his cheekbones and strengthened his jawline. His weight went down and his height went up. The barrel chest was reduced, but not removed, and the broad shoulders stayed. "And now, for the final touch" Navigating to the color pane, Ray selected both the hair and eyes, and changed them to a pleasing sea green. "Perfect. And finally..."
A name. It was asking for a username. Just one word, preferably. Ray didn't even need to think for a second before keying in "Kamon". It was a name he went by in most of his MMORPGs, along with a few others, but Kamon was his go-to. Perhaps a few of his MMO-obsessed online friends would make the connection and realize it was him. But if not, that was okay, too.
Finally, he was asked to confirm his appearance. Yes. It was all good. From there, he was taken to the stat distribution and starting equipment screen. A Lance. Yes, that would stand out. In a place called Sword Art Online, having a spear would set him apart. He had practiced a bit with a quarterstaff, so using one of those, but with a pointy end shouldn't be too hard. Ray selected his skills and allocated his points carefully, matching the style of a fighter who prefers to move only to dodge and let his weapon do the talking. The last screen. Ray accepted all of his choices.
WELCOME TO SWORD ART ONLINE BETA
A flash of brilliant blue, and Ray...well, Kamon, now...was once again staring into the blackness of the inside of his eyelids. He opened them slowly, blinking a few times as he gained conscious awareness of...himself he guessed. A stone brick square, surrounded by a pillared wall reminiscent of the Vatican City in Rome. The depth perception was incredible. It was like real vision.
He looked down at his body. Hey, feet! Hadn't seen those in a while. He brought his hands forward. They were covered in fingerless gloves. He flexed his fingers a couple times. This was...it was real. Or at least, it was so close to being real, he couldn't tell the difference. But he didn't care. It was awesome. He was here, in Aincrad, in Sword Art Online.
The spear's weight thudding against his back as he walked, Kamon took a couple of introductory steps around the plaza. Real. Really real. Everything was exactly as it should be. As if he was there. No more point and click combat, no more mouse and keyboard shooting. A layer of interface had been stripped away. It was like he'd been eating bananas without removing the peels for his whole life. This was a true experience.
Kamon gathered himself a bit and examined his surroundings. This must be the newbie town. He had just been plopped straight in. No tutorials, no starter area. It was all a bit strange and kind of frightening. Kamon remembered something he had read. To access the main menu, he just had to swipe his hand like so...and a readout materialized. He scanned through the options carefully, looking at each one. Finally, he settled on looking through his inventory. In the Tools section, he found an interesting piece: the Beginner's Manual. He selected it, and, to his surprise, a book materialized with blue light in front of him. He reached out for it, and it coalesced. It fell into his hands, but he juggled it for a bit before finally snatching it.
Looking around, he spotted a tall obelisk with a clock tower adorning it. He wandered close to it and hauled himself up onto the ledge. "Geez. It's a whole new world, and I'm already being a wallflower," Kamon mentally berated himself. Subconsciously wetting his thumb so as to avoid paper cuts he didn't even know if he could get, he started to leaf through the manual and become acquainted with this new, strange, and wonderful world.
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The pages of the Beginner's Manual generated a small puff of wind as it closed, breezing by Kamon's face. It felt completely real and natural, a testament to the time and effort involved in the creation and realization of Aincrad. Confident that he was no longer ignorant to the world of SAO, Kamon deposited the tome back into his inventory and gently slid off of the stone wall he had been sitting on. Glancing up at the clock above him, he noted that he had spent nearly half an hour reading the manual. Just as the minute hand reached the apex of the clock face, a small indicator flashed in his HUD signaling the change of the hour. "It's all so real, I even forgot I had a heads-up display." Kamon murmured to himself.
Learning was all well and good, but this game needed to be experienced, and Kamon was ready. He had a couple options available, none of which completely grabbed his attention. Venturing outside the town would bring him to areas inhabited by monsters, which would be a necessity to defeat to earn EXP and...Col? That was this world's currency. Talking to almost any number of NPCs around the Town of Beginnings, as this place was called, would surely net him a quest to complete. There was also the premise of shopping for gear, but with only a small amount of money to his name, Kamon was pretty sure he wasn't going to be buying much.
He was about to start searching through the shops when he noticed a small blinking icon in his HUD. An announcement had been sent out to all the players online in SAO. Opening his menu, Kamon navigated to the Private Message section and checked his alerts.
Game Alert
Hello dear Player, we are pleased to announce Sword Art Online's first in-game event!
For your active participation you have been invited to join this special first event. Details and instructions will be listed below. We hope to see your continued support.
- It is simply known as "Herald of the New Year" - The duration of the event is [1/1/13] - [1/8/13]* or 1 week. - It is highly recommended to finish what your character is doing and request for a character update before participating in this or any event. - To participate your character must simply walk towards the nearest Teleport Gate in town and activate it to warp to the proper area. - Only event bonuses apply within the event. Party bonuses are replaced by the event bonus. - Events do have a fail or success. Work together with your party and fellow Players to complete the event!
"Well, looks like I'm a little late to the party." Kamon smiled to himself. He took a closer look at the event details. There would be no party bonuses, only the event bonus. The Beginner's Manual had stated that bonuses were the key to leveling up fast in SAO, and the only way to get them was to be in a party or partake in an event. "Since the party bonus gets overridden anyways, might as well go this event alone."
A quick glance at the map led Kamon straight to the teleport gate. There was only one destination available, which led to the event area. "I wonder if this gate is specifically for events, then." The manual had said something about clearing floors or something to that effect, but right now, that wasn't important. Stepping onto the platform, Kamon spoke a few words that activated the teleportation system. After confirming his destination with a pop-up window, a rotund portal appeared, and Kamon stepped through, swallowed up by the light.
Spawning xxxThe black void that first took over Timothy’s eyes quickly sifted to a bright white as the system began to run through its opening sequence. Across the screen ran the systems parameter checks, each finding the final conclusion that all was running at optimum efficiency. This was soon replaced by a large stream of words, welcoming the user and a voice reading aloud the greeting, “Welcome To ‘Sword Art Online.’” followed by a short warning and final details of the game itself and finally a Log In screen in which he typed in his password and the name “Cygnus X-1.”
xxxThe screen that followed was the actual start up screen of the game itself, filled with all the options of character creation and person setting with in the game. Timothy spent some time here, flipping through all the options one could set with in the game, adjusting the sensations of pain, altering the visual perspective, testing the sync between his brain that the games reactions and running through all the games limiters and locks, altering them to his own desires. Some he never expected to use, but there was no harm in setting things to the way he preferred.
xxxOnce finished playing with the many options of the game, he set to working on his avatar. He was quite particular about the look of his avatar, having been considering and drawing it out in his spare time for the past month. He had heard that the opening options would hold a wide range for variation, but he had not expected it to be the spectacle that it was. It seemed an almost limitless amount of choices that could be made when simply crafting your avatar. During the almost hour it took him to actually construct his final design, there were a great deal of times that he simply played with the mass opening of options available to him before finishing his work.
xxxOnce complete, he loaded his avatar into the SAO system, waiting for the final sync between his brain and the main system of the game. It felt as though he was slowly being taken away from his body he left lying on his bed. His mind melding into the form he had spent so much time constructing till he could look down and see the hands of the avatar he had created as his own. It was an awkward sensation of being in another body, one he couldn’t relish in for long, before fading from the games opening screen.
xxxThe first sensation he felt was the clicking of his shoes against the stone ground that covered a majority of the city in which all players began their game. As his eyes came to focus upon the world, he was blown back by the sheer layers of detail it had. He had been astonished by the level of detail the creators had put into character creation, but he wasn’t expecting the world they made to feel so real. He took in a breath of the air, feeling it fill his lung and hold the scent and sensations equated to the real world. As he opened his lips in awe, he was drawn back again by another level of detail they had put into this game. He could taste the coolness of the air, just as though he had stepped outside on a cool morning. It was a little difficult to distinguish this place from the real world, his mind having to remind himself that it was only a game in fear that not doing so would leave him to loose himself forever in this fantasy world.
xxxHis steps forward were slow and cautious as he stepped away from the opening spawn of the game, his eyes looking all about for some flaw that would convince him that this world was less then real. In short time, he began to calm and catch the mind defects left by the creators. They weren’t faults by any means but minor details that actually differ this world from the real. The more time he spent looking about, the more accustomed to this feeling he became. Calm, he felt himself able to enjoy the game as it was intended, unhindered by the daunting feeling of this world.
xxxHe brought up his in game options screen, running a second check over his equipment and looking over his stats once more. As he made final alterations, he thought it cool at how the aesthetical changed to his avatar took place. Switching to the Beta Light Leggings, his pants seemed to shift from the starting trousers to sturdier leather pants, lined with light metal. He then changed to his Beta Heavy Mail, feeling the weight on his shoulders and the chain links draped over his chest in their protective grasp. Next was his Beta Leather Cloak, wrapping loose around his torso, a hood dangling behind his head. Finally he equipped his weapon of choice, a Heavy Battle Axe that hung on his back with its weight.
xxxHe looked over himself, seeing how his newly equipped avatar looked and felt. The weight that was on him felt far different then the outfit he had began the game in but wasn’t so much that it hampered his ability to move with great effect. H moved his arms about, feeling the free range of motion. There was still a part of him being blown away by the level of detail in this game, even in his sensation of touch and ability to move his body, but he ignored it with a focus on enjoying the game for what it was. Reaching for the handle of his Axe, he pulled it free from his back, feeling the weight of it in his hands. It was heavier then he remembered Shinai being in his youth, but it wasn’t tiring to hold and move about in his hands.
xxxLocking the Axe once more to the strap against his back, he felt ready to head off into this world so bold. He could remember reading in the manual that quests were an optimal start for any adventure to get on his feet, and one so mentioned was not far from the starting spawn point. With a set drive to move forward in this game, he turned on his heel and made for the quests start.
Quest Acceptance xxxIt was on the outer edge of the “Town of Beggings,” the starting and respawn point of the game. He was surprised how much was already underway as he traveled to the outskirts of the town, passing the active market and lively NPC’s who ran the more common stores. Around every corner was a stone paved street full of life, like any city in the real world. Above each head was a small indicator, marking the status of the avatars. Some were other players others NPC’s, an easy enough difference that the manual had informed him before he began his short journey.
xxxHis paced remained that of a hastened trot, filled with his excitement to complete the quest he was soon to be on. He noticed as he made his way along the streets the lack of fatigue he remembered from the real world. He was sure he had kept a steady jog for almost a full mile, taking a more scenic route to the quest, but his running was not weighing on him as much as it did in the real world. It was surprising how different this world actually was from the one he knew, even for all the realism it had. Even the small details made this game exiting to play.
Sorry about the time it took me to get my first post up. Shortly after completing it offline my computer had a glitch and wouldn't let me get on the net. It took some time to fix, but with the issue now rectified, I should be able to post regularly.
