"I'm glad to meet you too, Seiya, my little bro. Looks like our personalities might actually click pretty well.
And man, you really nailed that face design. Mind sharing your data with me? I'd like to tweak my own character model later.
I mean, my avatar's face still has a teensy bit of gap compared to my real-life good looks."
The overly friendly Klein slung an arm around Seiya's shoulder. Catching the glances from several female avatars nearby, he suddenly felt that the face he designed still fell short compared to his real-life vibe.
"Oh no, not at all. I think your face looks just like someone I'd get along with right away, Klein-nii.
It's our first meeting, and I don't really have anything to give… How about you wait here a moment while I go buy you two oranges?"
Seeing Seiya and Klein—who had only known each other for a few minutes—already throwing their arms around each other and trading cheesy lines like "big bro" and "little bro," Kirito couldn't help but feel speechless.
He had played plenty of games over the years, but thanks to his crippled social skills, he was always a lone wolf.
Seiya, on the other hand, was his total opposite. Growing up together, Kirito knew full well that if Seiya ever applied for a sales job, he'd instantly be hired as a genius salesman.
Even though more and more players were flooding into the Starting Town, making the place more lively and crowded, Kirito still managed to guide Seiya and Klein to a quieter training spot.
The first floor of Aincrad mainly featured the Starting Town and the settlement of Tolbana.
At the northernmost point stood a massive tower—300 meters wide and 100 meters tall—the entrance to the labyrinth.
Outside the town, the plains were filled with monsters like Frenzied Boars, Hornets, and Giant Hornets.
Since both Seiya and Klein were pure beginners, and hornets were small, fast, and harder to kill, Kirito chose boars as their first training target.
The Frenzied Boar was about the size of a calf. Its HP and stats were higher than hornets, but its attacks were predictable—it only charged straight ahead. With its big body, Kirito figured it was perfect for teaching newbies.
Even though this was technically a game, because of the full-dive system, the experience felt just like reality.
The wind brushing across your face, the earthy smell in the air, the piercing squeals of charging boars—it all felt indistinguishable from the real world.
That was exactly the appeal of a full-dive VRMMO!
After demonstrating a flashy Sword Skill and one-shotting a boar, Kirito looked confidently at the two of them and began explaining.
Klein, fired up from the demo, gripped his longsword and rushed in to try for himself.
But as it turned out, it was way harder than it looked.
When the boar charged, the realistic scene rattled Klein so much that he froze instead of reacting, getting sent flying several meters by the boar's headbutt.
Good thing he had set his pain absorption to minimum. Otherwise, that boar's strike right between the legs would've left some serious trauma.
Watching Klein get launched, Kirito bent down, picked up a rock, and with a flash of light, threw it with incredible speed—landing it squarely on the boar's rear.
"In SAO, there's no magic system. Skills have a lot of autonomy.
As long as you make the starting stance for a Sword Skill, even something like that rock I just threw can trigger it.
So besides the in-game sword moves, real-life kendo masters could thrive here too."
Kirito's last line was clearly aimed at Seiya.
Feeling his hands itch, Seiya picked up a rusty one-handed sword and stepped forward to face a boar himself.
"The starting stance for Sword Skills, huh? Then…"
As the boar charged at him, Seiya didn't panic like Klein had.
After over ten years immersed in swordsmanship, if he couldn't even handle a beast like this without flinching, he might as well quit and start over.
The boar closed in: ten meters… five… three… two.
Seiya still hadn't moved, making Klein nervous on the sidelines.
Having just been rammed himself, Klein knew exactly how much it hurt. He could only pray Seiya had set his pain absorption low enough. Otherwise, another direct hit to the "weak spot" might knock the poor guy out cold.
"Bunrin Sword Style, First Form—Storm Fang!"
But instead of getting hit, Seiya finally moved.
His body shifted like flowing wind, slipping past the boar's side. In the same instant, his blade lit up with a faint blue glow as he slashed cleanly across the boar's neck.
A flash of light burst in the air. The charging boar collapsed and dissolved into fragments before it even hit the ground.
Kirito was surprised, but not shocked—he'd seen Seiya pull off unbelievable things too many times before.
Klein, on the other hand, was stunned.
If he remembered right, Seiya was supposed to be just as new as him—a noob. Not some "beater" like Kirito.
So why did it feel like Seiya was even stronger than Kirito?
Both had one-shot the boar, but Seiya's movements and sword technique looked way more dazzling and refined.
And that left Klein speechless.
End of Chapter