Arc 1 - Hollow
With only 25 floors remaining in the floating castle of Aincrad, Wilhelm, also known as Will, suddenly finds himself in an unknown area normally sealed off to players known as the Hollow Area. In doing so, he meets a girl named Philia...
I dove into a floating castle known as Aincrad, along with thousands of others. The place we were in was the Town of Beginnings, the main settlement on the 1st floor. I entered under the name Wilhelm, and I set some goals for myself: not only should I work to clear the game, but I should also try to make some friends along the way. After getting a few items and acquiring a basic sword, I set off for the fields outside of the Town of Beginnings to slay some monsters to get my level up a bit. It also allowed me to get a feel for this world and how combat works here.
After a few hours, I felt that I had done enough grinding for the day and went to my menu log out. Unfortunately, there was a slight problem with that: there was no logout button.
Me - Eh... Probably just a bug. They'll patch it.
I then prepared to grind some more to pass the time. However, that plan was spoiled by forced teleportation to the Town of Beginnings, and I was placed in a crowd numbering in the thousands.
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Basically, the creator of SAO, Akihiko Kayaba, thought it would be a good idea to trap everybody in this virtual hell so he could have his own domain to play with. There was also the added complication where once you died in-game, you're done. A microwave pulse would fry your brain, killing you instantly.
Me - (Not cool, man! I wanted to be able to play in peace!)
I soon had a mirror appear in front of me, and just like that, my appearance changed to be similar to what I looked like IRL. This was a win for me since I had my sexy long hair again, and I will admit, it also gave rise to some hilarious situations, such as this exchange from a couple of guys near me:
Guy 1 - What the? You're a guy?!
Guy 2 - You're not 17!
All jokes aside, it was clear what I needed to do now: I needed to clear this game so that I could return to the real world. I knew that it would be a long road ahead and that I'd need to work hard to get there, especially considering that there were 100 floors to conquer.
Me - (Watch out, Kayaba, 'cause I'm coming for you!)
As I tore through Aincrad, I would become a force to be reckoned with. While normally going solo, I also took on errands laid on me by guilds and engaged in quests with many people. I had no complaints about that at all; I just wanted to help in any way possible, even if it's for the most mundane of things. I also made many friends throughout my journey, and there are too many to show here, but I'll name a few.
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