Sword Art Online- From a Solo Player to a Survivor

Chapter 2: The Town of Beginnings

(A/N): From here on out, Marc will now be referenced as Martin for the meantime.

(Martin's POV)

I walked down a market in the Town, seeing new players spawn into the game and some being amazed at being in a whole new world while others were looking at merchandises the market has to offer. I don't believe in the factor of, 'being in a group makes things much easier,' in fact, I believe that it just makes people get in my way.

"I should probably get some EXP while people are still spawning." I said to myself as I began to run and turn into an alleyway.

"Hey!" I heard a female voice call out to me from behind. I stopped on my tracks and turned around, seeing a girl the same age as me and around the same height run towards me and stop in front of me. She has strands of red hair, but most of her hair was brown and went down to her shoulders while some of it covered her right eye a bit. She has kind of a hazelnut-colored eyes. It was also easy to tell that she just started because she has the starter armor equipped along with the starter sword. "Y-You seem to know your way around..I-I just started so..can you...show me the basics of this game?" She requested. She was obviously shy as she tried to avoid as much eye contact as possible.

Honestly, I despise helping other players. However, I can tell that this girl isn't gonna get very far, so what difference would it make if I helped her? Probably not much. After a moment of thinking, I nodded. "I'll show you the basics...but I'm not gonna be forming a party or anything with you...got that?" I said in a serious, but somewhat peaceful tone.

The girl nodded, a shy smile spread across her face. "T-Thank you..m-my name is Anisa.." the girl introduced herself, bowing a bit as a greeting. "Martin...call me Martin." I said, turning around and heading towards one of the exits of the town to the fields as Anisa began to follow.

(Anisa's POV)

I continued to follow behind Martin as we walked through the town towards one of the exits. We didn't have a single conversation on the way yet. I don't really understand Martin though. He's acting like I'm gonna be some sort of burden yet, he's willing to help me. Is he one of those solo people? But...why is he helping me? It just doesn't make sense. "Err...Martin?" I called out to him, hoping to start a conversation so it wouldn't be awkward. "What?" He replied sternly without looking back. "Are you..perhaps a beta tester..?" I shyly and hesitantly asked. Then, he stopped walking all of a sudden. "Yes..I am..that's how I already know so much about this game." He replied as he began to walk again. I couldn't really find anything else to talk about with him without it being so awkward so I just remained silent for the rest of the walk.

(Outside Town of Beginnings, West Fields)

(Martin's POV)

"Ack!" Anisa yelled out as she was hit back by a boar, groaning in pain afterwards as I observed her. I sighed, "C'mon...you don't even feel real pain." I said in a slightly annoyed tone. Based off of her fighting style, I can definitely tell that she won't make it far in the game unless she was carried by professionals or something. If I had her in a party with me, she would just slow me down due to her lack of skills.

"O-Oh...right." Anisa said, getting up quickly with a red face of embarrassment. I sighed as I picked up a stone from the grass. "All it's about is your initial motion input. Do the motion input correctly, activate a sword skill, and then the system will make sure the technique connects." I explained, tossing the stone at the boar like a dart, causing the boar to come charge at me as I took out my sword and blocked its charge attack. "In other words, add a slight pause. When you feel that your sword skill is beginning to activate, let it go." I explained further as I saw Anisa nod. Then, I kicked the boar as it began to charge towards her.