While the other players were busy chatting among themselves, totally clueless about what a jackass Akihiko Kayaba really was for wanting to trap them all in a death game, Kirito was off doing his own thing.
He wandered around grinding levels, cutting down Frenzy Boars with glowing red eyes that roamed the fields on the first floor, straying farther and farther from the safe zone in the city.
Sometimes he'd run into direwolves lurking in the wild, and he'd beat the shit out of them with his flimsy novice sword, leaving fur and blood-like pixels flying everywhere.
Silently, he boosted and hacked a bit of his speed and strength, not enough to go crazy and attract that psychopath asshole Kayaba's attention, but just enough to give himself an edge.
Hell, he figured he might as well take advantage of the genius hacking talent Tony Stark had gifted him, and he kept grinding like a crazy.
Then he stumbled onto something so ridiculous it nearly made him laugh his ass off on the spot.
Up ahead, he saw a red-haired guy running for his life, yelling and flailing as a Frenzy Boar chased him, relentlessly poking him right in the ass with its sharp tusks.
The guy looked like he was about to shit himself from pure panic.
Kirito had to bite his lip to keep from bursting out laughing like an idiot.
Since the guy had at least given him some top-tier entertainment, he figured he'd return the favor and save his sorry ass.
He drew in a slow breath, raised his sword, and with zero hesitation, he chucked the novice blade straight at the frenzy boar's backside.
His breathing was ragged from laughing, but his aim was dead on.
The boar's red eyes locked onto him, flaring with rage as if it knew exactly who was about to fuck up its day.
It lunged forward, trying to slam into him, but Kirito didn't give it the chance.
The sword he'd thrown flickered, glitching back into his grip.
He swung in one smooth motion, slashing the frenzy boar across its neck.
The beast let out a warped, digital squeal as its yellow HP bar instantly turned red, then shattered into fragments before disappearing in a burst of light.
The red-haired man, Klein, if he remembered right, scratched the back of his head, face flushed as he tried to pretend he hadn't just been chased around with a boar up his ass.
But he still looked grateful.
"Th-thank you, swordsman-san," he stammered, voice rough but sincere.
Kirito shrugged like it was nothing. "No problem, man. You should keep grinding. This game's gonna get a lot harder real soon, and players are gonna start hoarding every decent farming spot."
"Klein. My name's Klein. How about we team up, swordsman-san?" Klein asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
Kirito stared at him for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, sure. Let's go. And don't call me 'swordsman-san.' My name's Kirito. I'm not some background mob character."
He didn't mind partying up with the guy. Sword Art Online wasn't some single-player RPG, it was a VRMMORPG, and besides, Klein wasn't like those annoying normies from the real world who'd lose their shit and pester him about his hacks and skills the second they saw what he could do.
So what if Klein was a noob? Honestly, it was better to team up with someone clueless than some tryhard pro who'd spend all day telling you what to do.
With a noob, you could feel like a badass and never have to take orders.
"Alright, let's do this, Kirito," Klein said, flashing a grin.
And just like that, they set off together, cutting down monsters left and right, leveling up like maniacs while the rest of the players were still standing around with their thumbs up their asses.
When they finally got mentally exhausted from hacking and slashing monsters nonstop, they ended up sprawled out under the open sky, watching as the bright blue above slowly turned into a rich evening glow.
Kirito's level had already shot up to level 9, while Klein was sitting comfortably at level 4.
Compared to all the other players who were still stuck somewhere between levels 1 and 3, at least they already had a head start.
Level 3 alone was already rare on the first day, most people were still flailing around at level 1, clueless.
Even Kirito in canon had only been level 3 by this point.
Seeing this, Klein let out a low whistle and groaned. "That's crazy, man. Even most of the beta players weren't grinding as insane as us."
In the end, though, Klein followed him without complaining, matching Kirito's grinding pace like a lunatic, and now that he could see his level sitting higher than pretty much everyone else in SAO, he couldn't help grinning like a madman.
"Still… I'm not complaining. I actually enjoyed the shit out of it. Thanks for dragging me along, Kirito."
"Nah, no problem. You helped me level up way faster too." Kirito shrugged, a faint smirk playing at the corner of his lips.
"Well, honestly… I can't stay out here all night grinding. Sorry, Kirito. I need some damn pizza and a hot bath to keep my sanity intact." Klein gave a sheepish grin, scratching the back of his head.
Kirito nodded at him, showing he didn't mind either way.
With that, Klein tried to shake off any guilt, then pulled open his game menu, looking for the logout button.
His eyes suddenly went wide, disbelief washing over his face.
"Hey… Kirito… do you know how to log out of this game?"
"I guess you have the same problem." Kirito exhaled, rubbing his temples. "I can't logout either. Maybe we just need to wait here a little longer until the GM gets off his lazy ass and does his job."
"Yeah… maybe." Klein let out a sigh too. "So… what the do we do now?"
"Well… we could just keep staring at the sky?" Kirito cracked a grin, trying to lighten the mood.
Klein chuckled. "Or maybe we could talk about real life for a bit? I'm kinda curious about your story, man. You seem like some hardcore pro gamer."
"Nah. My life's boring. Just grinding through college, no girlfriend, no social life, not even any real friends." Kirito shrugged again, brushing it off.
"Damn, man. I'm sorry." Klein said sincerely, realizing he hadn't expected Kirito's life to be that… empty.
"That's nothing you need to apologize for." Kirito said, voice calm and distant. "Some people can't stand being alone. Some prefer it. I just prefer peace. That's all."
They fell silent, gazing up at the shifting colors of the evening sky.
Klein finally spoke. "I guess… that's just how life goes, huh?"
While they were lost in thought, everything around them flashed white, and in the blink of an eye they were teleported straight to the Novice City plaza.
High above, a massive screen flickered on, revealing a cloaked man standing there like a god glaring down at mortals.
The evening sky bled into crimson, the air growing cold and thick with an eerie tension.
The players all started murmuring in confusion and irritation.
"What the fuck? I was about to kiss her, dammit! Fuck you, devs!"
"Yeah, fuck you, devs!" another player shouted.
Then someone smarter piped up, looking worried. "Hey… is anyone else having trouble logging out of the game?"
"Seriously?" A wave of panic spread as players frantically started checking their menus.
The murmur grew into a chaotic commotion echoing through the plaza.
"Yeah, there's no logout option anywhere."
"Maybe the devs are just about to fix it, and that's why they teleported us here?" someone else guessed hopefully.
But it was probably because the players were getting so damn noisy and annoying that the cloaked man finally snapped.
"SILENCE, WRETCHES!".
"The logout button… is not a bug."
"Once again, I announce that the logout button is not a glitch in the system. It does not exist!"
"You want to log out? Beat the game. Climb all 100 floors of Aincrad, defeat the final boss, and only then will you be set free!"
"What?!" The players froze, stunned, unable to react for a moment, their eyes wide with shock and confusion.
"This has to be a joke, right?"
"Yeah… it's gotta be a joke… maybe it's some kind of sick April Fool's prank…"
Most of the crowd murmured in disbelief, their voices trembling.
"Maybe…" The cloaked figure let out a low, twisted chuckle, his laughter dripping with malevolence. "But you can always ignore my warning and try to forcefully log out. Either by dying in-game… or by someone in the real world removing your NerveGear. But remember this: if they do, or if you die in here… you're dead out there too."
The screen abruptly changed from the cloaked man to horrifying real-world news footage showing the aftermath.
Family members who'd tried to yank off their NerveGear were dead, their brains fried inside their skulls.
And the players who'd already died in-game on the first day… were confirmed dead in the real world too.
When they saw this, the entire plaza exploded in screams of anguish and raw terror.
"How could you do this to us?!"
"What did we ever do to deserve this?!"
"This is insane…" Klein muttered, his face pale and tense.
Beside him, Kirito clenched his fists. "Let's go, Klein. That bastard wants us to beat his game? Fine. We'll beat the shit out of him and get out of here."
"Yeah…" Klein let out a shaky laugh, trying to lighten the crushing fear pressing on his chest.
Kirito's choice of words somehow made him grin, even now.
"I guess you're right. Before the rest of these guys monopolize all the farming spots, we better get moving and level up like crazies."
Suddenly, the cloaked man's voice boomed once again from the crimson sky.
"One final gift from me, players. Check your inventory. May luck be with you… and may you find the strength to beat this game."
Then the sky faded from blood red back into the calm hues of evening.
Instinctively, every player opened their inventory and found a single mirror waiting there.
As they lifted it, the avatars they'd created shattered like glass, morphing into the players' real-life appearances.
A girl who'd been clinging to a guy's arm suddenly turned into a teenage boy in real life, and the guy's face twisted in shock.
"What the fuck…? You're a dude?! No, give me back my Milly-tan!"
Chaos erupted everywhere as screams and shouts echoed through the city square, while Kirito and Klein quietly slipped away into the shadows.
They might be trapped inside a death game, but they were both determined to claw their way to the top, crush Akihiko Kayaba, and make that bastard regret ever throwing them into this.