Striking Blades - Chapter 1

Satoru (Saito) Narita

Streams of different colors encompassed my view as I seemed to fly into the world of Sword Art Online. Red, green, violet, yellow, blue, they all seemed to go by in a flash. It was like I was entering a portal into a new world. Which, I technically was... but considering it was my first dive ever, I was pretty psyched.

As the rainbow of cylindrical pillars passed by, what lay before and around me was a… Blank... Space..?

Simple nothingness surrounded me.

Now that I think about it, it didn't even feel like I had a body to move around in at all. Like a… a floating head. Hey! Just like that fat-headed super villain dude who hovers around on a rocket chair! Forgot his name though…

MODOK! That was it.

Okay, well. There wasn't anything per say; a few streams of data passed by and went their way, minding their own business.

'Well, what n-'

My thoughts were cut off by a small holographic screen popping up. On it read:

"Welcome to Sword Art Online."

"At this time you will create your avatar. An avatar is the character that will portray your real life self in the world of [Aincrad]. Please make sure that you choose his/her appearance appropriately. Once you choose, it will be a while before you have the option of change or alteration."

"Are you ready to begin?"

(Yes) or (No)

Raising an eyebrow… or at least I think I did—it felt like it; I mentally decided "Yes" and the process began.

The first thing I was asked involved my In-game ID, the name I'd be identified by within the game.

To be honest... I had no idea what to name myself.

So I simply cut off the "ru" from my first name and added an I in between the "Sa" and "to".

Saito.

It was simple, to the point, and easy to remember. I liked it.

A request of confirmation popped up. I selected my choice, and the next step appeared with the disembodied voice using my new Game ID in its echo-like speech. It was kind of cool actually, being all personal and everything. It was like the game truly cared.

Next, was my gender Male or Female?

At this point, a mirror had slowly flashed into existence in front of me, showing a person that looked exactly how I did in real life.

It was probably the calibration thingy they had me do before putting on the NerveGear... You know, the patting of the head, shoulders, knees… Toes. Eyes, and ears and mouth and nose!

Ahem.

Okay... Let me stop. Anyways. When I moved, my avatar did as well. Looking down, I noticed I had limbs now and I could feel around the empty space…

Man, virtual reality rocks…!

But back to the gender option… My avatar was currently a male. Well... of course it was, but I just wanted to lay the info down there.

But that nefarious female option seemed to flare my mind into producing question after guilty, but intriguing question.

'So would I have… You know… Those…? Like…'

I felt around my chest area, gulping.

'Those…? I mean… No one is here, right…? No one can really judge me if I tried it… Right?'

Oh man. Not just those, but… Down there… It would… Wouldn't it feel…

I couldn't believe my thought process right now. If I could step out of my body and knee myself in the yoohoos to remind me of what gender I actually was, I would so do it…

But oh believe me… I was tempted… Very much so. The female button was right there in front of me… Tauntingly pulsing in my direction… What should I do? How should I move on? What do I do!?

….

Click

I chose "Male" and moved on…

'What if…?'

That would be one question I would always keep in the back of my mind… But my answer would never be given…

Ugh… Bleh… Rghh… Blech!

Shaking my body to get rid of the disgust I had for myself, I refocused on continuing with the creation of my character.

Next they asked me for:

Skin tones – My normal tone

Hair Style – Short/Shaggy

Hair Color – Brown

Eye Shape – Normal

Eye Color – Brown

Top Piece – Grey Short Sleeve Shirt

Bottom Piece – Beginners Pants

Footwear – Beginners Boots

I wasn't putting anything outlandish, considering probably everyone else would be scrambling at the seams to look like the hottest thing to ever walk on planet Earth. That was what people usually did in games like these. They did worse things too. Males chose to be girl players in-game just to get more stuff from the actual guy gamers and so on and so forth. It was sick and twisted, but sadly... it worked.

Hats off to the sickos who started that. You guys rock.

I, myself, stayed as close to my real self as possible. I wasn't playing the game for anyone but myself and my enjoyment. Nothing more, nothing less.

Anyways, after a few more tweaks and other things, I was finally done with my character. I didn't look much different than my real life self. My skin was a bit fairer but that was it really. My hair was as colored as close as I could manage to the real world, and I even styled it similarly.

Finally, after examining myself for a few moments, I clicked done, reaching the end of the Character Creation process.

Another request of confirmation was due, and I agreed to the new look. The body mirror disappeared as I was greeted by one more message.

"Congratulations on Creating Your Character, and Welcome!"

"Welcome to the Expansive World of Aincrad!"

And like that, I felt a slight tingling sensation. A radiant white light engulfed my body. It was so bright that I had to shut my eyes to keep from going blind. Which, normally would've been an exaggeration, but in this case, I wasn't kidding.

After the light faded, I was subconsciously whisked away into the World of Swords.

November 6, 2022

Floor 1

Town of Beginnings/Starting City

The whiteness deposited me into the heart of the city. As the flash faded away, I was able to open my eyes, blinking up to see sunlight. Instantly, I brought up my hand to shade my eyes. I squinted to I look at the new world.

"Whoa…" I breathed, taking in the scenery.

Around me were thousands of players, walking, talking, entering and leaving shops... And the buildings! They were so lifelike!

Taking a step, I felt the realness of the pavement against my boot-clad right foot. Almost laughing a bit too loudly, I headed over to the wall of a random building to touch it with my own two hands.

Yup, it definitely felt real.

"Props to Kayaba… And the whole Argus team… Wow…" I mumbled aimlessly, feeling around the wall long enough until I realized I was probably being a bit weird.

Suddenly clearing my throat and backing away, I took a quick glance around to make sure no one had seen that.

Satisfied, I closed my eyes with a content smile on my face. I turned, attempting to head deeper into the city to explore.

That was when I heard her.

"Having fun aren't ya?"

… Uh-oh. No, no I wasn't having fun. Nuh-uh. Nope. Not at all.

I froze where I was; a female voice had called out from behind me.

'Don't look! Don't look Satoru! Don't you look!' I mentally berated myself, adding in emphasis on the 'do not look' part. But try as I may, curiosity took over.

Thus… I looked.

Turning my body with a smile of embarrassment on my face, I tried to play it off.

"Aha! Well, you see, I was just wondering if everything here was actually real and I looked over and was like 'Ooh look a wall lemme tou-…"

My words were lost and my rambling had ceased as my eyes had locked onto the owner of the previous voice. Seemingly trying to keep up with my explanation, the girl standing a few yards away smiled in a confused and somewhat intrigued manner.

She had bright, wavy, carmine red hair flowing down to her mid-back. Her eyes, underneath red eyebrows, were a playful and energetic crimson color. They looked into mine, as if searching vigorously for something. I really hope that something was not the innate craziness I just showed. That would be embarrassing.

She wore a black long-sleeved shirt under a brown vest that seemed to fit to her figure quite well. She had nice... uhm… assets… atop and… over yonder!

… Ehehe… Heh… Eh…

She had on what looked like jeans and brown boots just like mine.

A single, but thick, strap slipped around her waist. On it hung a black sheathe, the hilt of a sword extending from her back. The pommel was rounded, and I made out a dull sparkle, maybe from a jewel.

It was probably because I had the dumbest look on my face at the time, but the girl sputtered out into quiet laughter, covering her mouth with her hand before crossing her arms with an amused smile.

"Go on, I'm listening." She urged on, taking a step back on her right foot as she raised her head, her smile widening minutely.

… Yeah… I had nothing but the tinge of red lining my cheeks.

'She just had to be cute didn't she…?'

"U-Uhm… Ah… Mmm…"

What could I say after embarrassing myself twice in front of this girl!? Come on Saito! Think! Use that big brain of yours!

"Uh, Eheheh… Hi…" I said awkwardly, rubbing the back of my head as I mentally beat myself like a punching bag.

'Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!'

However, when I looked up, the girl seemed to accept it. Her smile became more… genuine.

She nodded, lowering her hands as one rested against her hip.

"Hey." She said just as simply, walking over to close the proximity between us. When she was close enough the girl stuck out her hand, blowing some of the red locks out of her eyes. "I'm Ren." Her grin came back full force as she let her teeth shine. She had really good teeth…

What the hell is wrong with me...?

Taking her hand in my own, I shook it softly, noting her firm yet gentle grip. My smile seemed to become a bit less idiotic as I tried to cool myself off. Again, emphasis on 'a bit.'

"I-I'm Saito. Nice to meet you."

Ren smirked as we released hands. "You too, this is your first dive I'm guessing?" She asked, tilting her head to the right.

I nodded with a sigh. "Yup… Everything's so-"

"Different?"

"Yeah, yet they're the same too. It's weird." I said, looking around with a small smile as I stuffed my hands into my pockets.

Ren giggled, nodding as she looked around as well. "Yeah, I get what you mean. Virtual Reality does that to newcomers. It's scary or weird at first, but soon enough you get used to it, and start to enjoy it."

"You sound like you've done this before." I said, smirking quizzically over to her.

She'd turn giving me a roll of the eyes. "Well I was a beta tester so..."

"Oh… Right!" I laughed and ran my right hand through my hair. "Makes sense," I added, shaking my head at my subconscious ignorance.

Ren only laughed along, nodding her head.

"Yup." She said before taking a step back, crossing her arms once more as she gave me two or three once-overs.

I eyed her weirdly before looking around myself and at my body in general.

"What?" I asked, eyeing back up to her.

Her eyes flashed wide for a few moments. "Oh!" She said, plopping her right fist down in the palm of her left hand.

"That's it."

'Yeah? What's it?' I was confused.

"What is..?"

She shook her head. Placing one of her hands on her hips, she pointed to me with a finger. "You don't have a weapon."

… Oh yeah… OH CRAP, YEAH!

She was right! I'd totally forgotten about that. What with all that's happened in the last five or so minutes.

Chuckling, I nodded. "Yeah you're right, know where I could find one… Ren…?" I asked, trying out the name.

It was simple, to the point, and easy to remember.

A simple smile would cross my features as Ren nodded, waving lazily for me to follow along as she started off down the street.

"Yeah, come on. Have to meet my brother there anyways."

I'd tag along right beside her, noticing we were about the same height, though she was a bit shorter than I was, like about a few centimeters or so.

"Brother?" I asked, looking over to her with a quizzical raise of my eyebrow.

She nodded, raising her hands behind her head as she clasped them together, walking along the pebbled path.

"Yup, my little brother. He's probably still over there choosing what kit he wants."

'Kit? All these terms…'

I mentally sighed, though I'd let her lead. She was a beta tester anyways so she knew this world much better than I did.

Though I was anxious to see what these kits were. Though what came to mind always had something to do with a totally different subject than what I anticipated Ren was talking about.

So I kept the stupid remarks to myself and simply nodded along, following beside the girl as we headed to the "Kit Station", or, as I wanted them to be: the "Kit Kat Station."

… Weird, I swear that should've made me hungry…

Hmm.

Reiha (Ren) Takagi

This new guy was interesting. He was definitely more down to Earth than the other players around here. Most of them either looked like supermodels or nobles, which would be fine if that's how they looked like in real life… Heck. Their appearance alone would've been fine with me! It's just the goddamn attitudes that come with the looks that really piss me off…

Just over-attractive guy after over-attractive guy, high maintenance girls with "absolutely stunning" looks, and a plethora of snobby attitudes…

But then, here comes this boy... probably not much older than me, normal as can be.

Weird too…

I mean who spends that much time feeling around a wall…? (Insert subtle eye roll)

However, what really made him stand out from the rest of these guys was that, in the five minutes that I'd known him, he was himself. He was so out-of-the-element in a game like this, a game where you could change everything about yourself, just so people could feel attracted to you. A game where you could get anything and everything you wanted simply from how you look. It was true. I've seen it happen before… It's stupid… But it's true.

Saito, however, just stuck out like a sore thumb. He seemed to be really curious with the workings of the game, asking me questions along the way as we headed to where people acquired their "Beginner's Kit". Most of them I simply nodded or shook my head to since they were "Yes" or "No" questions, but I mostly kept quiet.

It was sunny in the Town of Beginnings. The air was fresh. Well... as fresh as it'll ever be in Virtual Reality, and at some point, Saito had stopped with the downpour of questions, leaving a surprisingly comfortable silence between us.

This gave me just enough time to glance over at him and actually take in how he looked like.

For one, his hair was a bit messy, though it looked clean too. Like a neat bedhead. It was short, brown in color, tousled down to his ears. His eyes gleamed a shade lighter brown than his hair. They bounced around from building to building as the player smiled silently. His almost lazy smile couldn't help but affect me in some way, and I found myself smiling as well. Until he caught my analyzing gaze and raised an eyebrow.

"Ah… Ren?" He asked in a rhetorical fashion.

I blinked furiously, shaking my head as I coughed into my right hand. I straightened myself while I tried to cool the light tinge of pink from my cheeks.

'Come on Ren. Pull yourself together.'

"Nothing. Nothing." I managed out, looking away for a few moments before my eyes landed on a familiar sight.

"Oh, we're here. That was fast."

The last part was mumbled inaudibly as I tapped Saito's arm, walking ahead while slipping my hands into my pockets.

"Come on, let's get you a weapon Mr. Walls-Deserve-A-Hug-Too." I said, hearing a huff of surprise, then playful annoyance as he followed along. That simply made me smile again.

"Oh whatever…" He sighed.

I could feel him roll his eyes as he tagged along beside me once again.

This was it. The "Kit Station" I guess you could say.

We'd arrived at a large cul-de-sac-like area slightly Midwest of center of the city. It was a circular, wide open parlor-like place with a ring of small and elegant buildings.

Wandering around the streets were NPC (Non-Player Character) maids that roamed around in search of players who had no weaponry.

These girls could tell whether or not you had a weapon... Though not like others could. They could peer into your inventory and check.

If you didn't have any they would quickly rush up to you like a telemarketer and begin to sell the different kits to you. As long as you were in the cul-de-sac they would hound you and hound you until you finally acquired a weapon. It was really annoying. At one point I wanted to sock one of the maids in the face. But I guess this was Akihiko Kayaba's way of saying that you'd be much safer out there with a weapon amongst other things.

Then again, he really didn't have to be so irritating about it…

Anyways, Saito was about to experience what every player had at the beginning of the game.

We'd only taken a good few steps inside the square before an intriguing glint flashed out from the corner of my eye.

I let out a sigh, looking over to Saito with an apologetic and amused smile.

He raised an eyebrow, tilting his head at me, only to hear my words of encouragement as I stepped out of the way.

"Good luck!"

He'd learn too late, suddenly being bombarded by the hyperactive, persistent maids.

"Gah! Ren! What the hell?!"

I couldn't help but dissolve into laughter, seeing his flustered face as he tried to answer all the maids at once.

I waved in his direction as I started away from the square. "I'll go look for my brother! We can meet up again when you're done getting your weapon!"

"W-Wait!" Saito yelled back at me before turning to the needy Maids, "Ah yes yes, please wait a minute..! Ren!"

"Jaa!"

I snickered, sauntering away giddily. I relaxed my features into a sly smirk, starting off to search for my brother.

Satoru (Saito) Narita

Geez! These maids took the words "Never give up" to a whole new level. They were like large intimidating bees that wanted to sting you and sap out all your honey!

I like my honey! Give me back my honey!

Ahem.

"Whoa, whoa! Okay, okay! I'll come with you guys! Just slow down! One at a time! Or… just really one at all…" I said, trying to calm down the energetic swarm of maid NPCs.

Hearing this, they all nodded as they spat out various programmed sentences. They then waved at me before heading over to find their next target…

God bless their soul… Er, programming..? Whatever.

However, one of them stayed. A girl with brown hair tied into neat pigtails. She had twinkling green eyes and a bright smile. Taking my arm, she said:

"Come, let's get you a weapon!"

"R-Right…" I sighed, being dragged along to one of the buildings within the ring lining the square.

There wasn't much of a line in front of the buildings. My guess was because of the four maids at the front of each building helping out multiple people at a time, and the other NPCs that rushed out like maniacs and looked for players themselves, any wait time was severely decreased. The process seemed quick and effective. Again, props to Argus. They really knew how to be nifty with small details like this.

It didn't take long before it was my turn. The maid clinging to my arm for the past 5 minutes finally let go and sent me a big smile before she took off again. I turned to watch her jog off back to do her directive, a small confused smile slipping onto my face.

I couldn't help it. She looked eager as ever to do her job, and though she was a program, it seemed to rub off on me just a little bit.

I took a sharp intake of breath before exhaling and turning around with a determined smile, only to bump into someone in front of me.

As my body collided with the person, I took a step back, shaking my head to clear my vision as I muttered out apologies.

"Sorry, sorry."

As I blinked over, I noticed a white haired boy glaring back at me with red irises.

"Hey, watch it dude…" He said bluntly, before shoving past me with an irritable huff and heading on his way.

Now I would've been a bit ticked off by the guy if I hadn't been so intrigued by his choice of weapon.

In his hand was a long 6 foot metal pole, curving out from the edge was a 5-foot long blade, hanging over his shoulder like a death threat in and of itself.

It took me a few moments, but I'd blinked myself back to reality. Turning, I noticed that I'd basically missed the beginning part of the speech the NPC woman was giving.

I'd come to my senses around the:

"You will embark on grand journeys, fight powerful monsters, and meet new friends! You have warped into Floor One, Town of Beginnings!"

"Whoa, uh, yeah." I agreed duly, trying to get what was going on again.

Oh yeah, my weapon.

The maid smiled almost understandingly at me, opening a menu from her side, before a lengthy holographic screen appeared on the table, showing different cube like shapes.

Those cube-like shapes turned out to be boxes… kits.

'Ahh, now I get it,' I thought, putting on another smile of my own as I listened to the explanation the woman before me gave.

"To start off your adventures, please select one of the following starter kits. Beware, magic is not available in the game."

I began to scroll through the kits. There were tons of these things. Like a plethora upon a plethora of these.

There was the Miner Kit, Grandmaster Kit (kung fu, anyone?), the Chef Kit, the Noble Beast Kit (don't know what the crap that is), the Hunter Kit, the Trapper Kit, the Royal Guard Kit (medieval maybe?), the Freelancer Kit, the—wait a minute. Hold on.

'Freelancer Kit…?'

I thought to myself, right eyebrow raised, and pressed on the kit to see its properties.

Okay, so it came with the One-handed Curved Sword skill, the Sprint skill, and the Acrobatics skill.

Skills, hm..?

The kit had other thingamajigs too, but those were the things that were available to me for now, and I liked my options.

I wasn't really fond of being tied down by things like ideals, and how people should do this and that. I followed a few simple rules and that was it. The rest was in the air for me. I found my own way, and this kit seemed to speak wonders of that same recognition.

I didn't hesitate to choose the kit, pressing "Yes" twice.

Almost instantly, a sheath appeared around my waist, strapped by a thick, light brown double belt. The handle of a basic curved sword lay atop the slim scabbard, the butt of the blade glinting under the sunlight above.

"Heh... Nice." I laughed, reaching for the handle before pulling the blade from its sheath. The metal slithered against the inner surroundings of its holdings before it revealed itself. The blade was clean, about 3 feet or so in length, and it was balanced between light and heavy.

Just right.

It was a simple sword. There was nothing spectacular about it in the least. But for some reason, having it in my hand made me feel just a smudge more powerful… I don't know.

It was like a surge of energy!

I tried a few practice swings while making sure not to get in anyone's way.

Yup. This was definitely cool.

I had also acquired three new skills to my skill slot list.

One-handed Curved Sword, Sprint, and Acrobatics, had appeared.

Along with those I received these:

Drifter's Hooded Jacket x 1 (It added a 5% boost to my movement speed stats)

Leather Vest x 1

Health Potions x 5

Teleport Crystals x 3

The Drifter's Jacket was a pretty cool item. It was a simple waist-length, forest green, hooded zip-up jacket. I equipped it over my gear, feeling it materialize around my arms and shoulders before falling fittingly at my sides.

I couldn't help but grin. This felt too cool!

Rolling my arms a few times to get the feel of the jacket, I heard the sound of approaching footsteps. I also heard the familiar voice of the one who abandoned me.

Ren.

"Wow, lookin' good." She said blatantly.

I turned just in time to see her grin brightly at me.

You see... I was going to pout, but… I don't know. Something… Something about her smile seemed to… Melt away those other feelings. The most I could do was stare blankly at her before blinking back to the present and shaking my head. I just then realized there was someone standing next to her.

"Oh, uhm... I'm guessing this is you-"

"Younger brother, yes." The boy said, grinning at me. He was the spitting image of his sister, just shorter by like a foot or so.

His eyes were the same color red as Ren's. However, instead of red hair, his was black, short, ruffled neatly and seemed to fall to the right of his face a bit. He seemed to be twelve. Thirteen at most. He didn't look older than fourteen.

I nodded with a comfortable smile, and slid my curved sword back into its sheath. Then I shoved my hands into my pockets.

I gave him a nod. "Nice to meet you… Uhm..."

"Uhuh." The boy smirked deviously, nodding over to me. "You first, mister."

Oh, so either Ren was rubbing off on him or it was the other way around. These two acted way too alike. He was like a male version of her! Or she was a female version of him!

Deciding not to delve into trivialities such as the alikeness of these two, I laughed lightly.

"Alright then," I started, nodding yet again, "My name's Saito. Nice to meet you."

He did the same, showing a toothy smile in return as he put his hands on his hips. "I'm Tokage, nice to meet you too!"

"I'm still not calling you that, Tohru…" Ren rolled her eyes, puffing out the words lazily as she looked in another direction.

Tokage, or Tohru... Which seemed to be his real name, elbowed her sister in the side.

"Ow!" She pouted over to him, only for the boy to reprimand her.

"Sis! Geez, he's not supposed to know our real names, ya know!"

He seemed really flustered. His face got all beet red and stuff, which I had to hold in laughter at.

He reminded me of Maiko just a bit.

I only shook my head, putting on a knowing smile as I shrugged. "What name?" I asked, looking around, before leaning forward with a wink.

"I heard Tokage. That's your name, right?"

The question intrigued the boy as he looked back over to me, before smiling and leaning forward as well. His smile diminished to a smirk.

"Yup! Tokage! Nothing else!" He chirped.

"Alright then. Tokage it is! Nice to meet you, man!" I said.

The two of us shared a mischievous grin.

I looked up just in time to see Ren smiling softly at the two of us before catching my eyes. Her cheeks flared up a bright pink color as she rolled her eyes, rubbing them "Oh-So-Casually" as she turned and ruffled her younger brother's hair.

"Come on, let's go teach this idiot how to use his weapons." She huffed while Tokage hurried over beside her.

I took the other side of him, rolling my own eyes at the way she spat out the word, "idiot."

I smirked at how cute it was.

"But sis, I just got my weapons too." Tokage said innocently, blinking up to his sister as she groaned, knocking him upside the head comically.

"You know what I meant! Come on…"

"Owww! What was that for?"

"When you elbowed me in the side!"

"Oh come on, that was like five minutes ago!"

"Then you should get over this pretty quick too!"

The two of them bickered on and on as I had a fit of laughter.

Wiping away a few tears, I sighed contently as the three of us headed throughout the city and towards the outskirts of the city.

15 Minutes Later

Floor 1

East Field

"So…" I said, drawing my blade with my right hand and letting it drop to my side. "You're gonna teach us how to fight?" I asked, tilting my head to Ren.

The girl slid her weapon from its sheath before twirling it around in between her fingers almost effortlessly.

"Oh no, you guys know how to fight. Well... At least he does." She said, nodding over to her younger brother before transitioning to shaking her head left and right.

"No, no. I'll be teaching you guys how to use skills. System skills."

Tapping the edge of her blade lightly against the leather shoulder strap of her chest covering, Ren nodded her head in the direction of a wandering boar in the distance.

It was a dark indigo in color. Its eyes were an unworldly red as it went through the fields aimlessly with nothing on its mind.

It looked peaceful.

"But first, a quick lesson on mobs." Ren said, pointing the tip of her sword at the boar. "You guys see the floating cursor above that boar?"

The question brought my eyes up to where she mentioned. Indeed noticing the pure red diamond-like shape hovering above the monster's head.

Ren headed over slowly as she spoke, casually wading through the knee-high grass.

"You have to get its attention first... Or at least walk within its general range of attack." She said.

She'd then stop, as if she was in range. Then she- let out a high and sharp whistle.

At the sound the boar's stubbly ears would twitch as it raised its head, snapping it in the direction of the noise.

Its eyes then flashed brightly as it let out a monstrous "Oink!" before rushing at Ren with gaining momentum.

"Then…" She spoke once more before doing something.

Tokage and I watched as Ren slid into a certain stance, placing her blade by her right leg. The weapon then burst into a bright blue glow as she pushed off and dashed straight for the oncoming creature.

At the last moment before they clashed, Ren swung her sword upwards with a harsh grunt, aiming right for the boar's jaw.

A blue glare of light erupted from the point of impact as the poor boar went airborne and the green health bar by its head lowering to red.

Ren finished off the boar with another uppercut strike of her sword while it was still in the air.

The thing didn't even have time to hit the ground before it exploded. Shining digital shards rose through the air slowly before dissipating shortly after.

Ren took a breath before turning back to us.

"You kill it like so." She said with a childish smile.

…

The two of us eyed each other before looking back at her.

"Wow."

"Geez, sis…"

Her smile turned into a light laugh as she waved us over saying, "Come on lemme teach you two how to do stuff like that."

Needless to say, we both eagerly headed over as our training began.

20 Minutes Later...

Slam!

Shiing!

Tokage had crushed the snout of a boar with his gauntlets and I cut another one down with my blade.

Our weapons cooled down from their glows of orange and green as we looked in happy surprise at our new capabilities.

So it basically worked like this. To use a certain skill for the weapon you were wielding you first had to get into a certain stance, which would activate the short "Post-Motion Delay" where the skill charges briefly.

Then, the system basically does the rest of the work for you and executes the skill as you liked.

It was really nifty and could help me a lot in the future. Plus it looked really cool. Hue hue.

After another thirty minutes we stopped. I looked at the time.

"Ah crap, it's pretty late." I sighed, sliding my sword back in its sheath as I looked over to Ren and Tokage. I saw them check the time as well.

They seemed to agree with me, nodding their heads as Ren spoke.

"Yeah, it's sorta his bedtime anyway."

An elbow came her way once again.

"I don't have a bedtime!"

"Atatata!" The girl sucked her teeth, rubbing her side and pouting at her brother.

I chuckled lightly as I saw her roll her eyes at the both of us. I smiled still, sighing once again and rubbing the back of my head as I then bowed slightly to the two of them.

"Thanks for helping me up to this point. Without you guys I'd probably be totally lost in this game." I said, raising my head once more with a grateful expression directed towards them two.

Ren, for some reason, seemed surprised at what I'd done…

Was it the bow? The face…? Could be my face… Though what was on my face?

She seemed to turn a light pink as she kicked at the grass, averting her eyes.

"Right... Uhm... Anytime... I guess." She mumbled, fisting her hands into her pockets.

Tokage simply grinned and nodded, giving me two thumbs up. "No problem, dude!" He said, assuring me happily.

I grinned back just as happily. "Alright, see you guys later... And thanks again!" I said, going to open my menu before I was stopped.

"Hey!"

Ren shot out the word, her voice cutting through my train of thought as I looked up again.

I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?" I asked, noticing her menu was also open.

A moment later a holographic screen popped up in my line of vision.

Would You Like To Be Friends With: [Ren]

(Yes) or (No)

…?

I looked up to Ren, seeing her flustered posture and constant aversion of my gaze.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, you know. Just... If you want to meet up with us again, then-"

I smiled, not letting her finished as I clicked the "(Yes)" option.

The menu then closed, adding my first VRMMO friend onto the list.

I met the slow transition of her eyes back on to mine before she let out a half-smirk.

I rolled my eyes and smiled, nodding. "I'll see you later Ren. Tokage." I said, searching for the LogoutButton.

They waved, the little brother a bit more energetically than his sibling.

… Okay…

"Where is it…?" I mumbled, scrolling through the Settings menu... Up and down, up and down.

The button wasn't there… This was weird…

Ren would raise an eyebrow, heading over. "What's up?"

"The logout button," I started, heading back out of Settings to refresh it before clicking the little gear button again and continuing to look.

Nothing…

'What the…?'

I looked up to the two, concern gradually slipping onto my features.

"The logout button… It isn't here…"