SAO Fan Fiction (WIP)

Town of beginnings

   So I have given you plenty of information to everything relavent prior to the "SAO incident". I don't think I should have to explain much else for you to understand the context of what's next.

   I'll make it easier on you to follow along by telling the wonderful tale as it happened for me. Someone talks then I talk then I commentate on how I thought at the time. Saves me from sounding like a corny Christmas movie narrator.

   Hey. If you don't like my decision on how I recall vacation on "Aincrap" then go away. I'd rather not experience it all again.

   Alright then. It coincidentally all begins in the Towns of beginnings.

   "Link start!" Colors flying by me as I loaded into the menus of the NerveGear and SAO. Everything is first person perspective in case you never used a VR helmet before. Choosing to go with my BETA data since I spent almost a solid hour and a half just making him perfectly like me, but a bit better.

   All I could do was smile when my eyes adjusted to the VR world. I spawned in a large, open plaza. The sky a beautiful blue.

   "Damn! Just wow... This place is beautiful. I wonder what I should do first." Players were spawning in left and right. Some ran from the plaza most likely to get a head start on grinding. "Why are they in such a rush? They should really slow down to enjoy these earlier levels. They'll probably never come back to here again."

   I walked from the town circle into a street lined with shops. After a little walking I found a little bar. The bar was clean, new looking. When I entered I could actually smell fresh ales.

   "It smells like beer. Actually smells like it. I think I'll ask the bartender if he has a quest. Excuse me. I'm looking for work." The bartender was amazingly real looking, but acted weird. His motions were smooth and limbs not flailing like a dying fish. however, he looked scripted and it took away from the realism.

   "Whatcha lookin to do? I need someone to clean the place. It's a damn mess in here!" Who the hell was this guy yelling at? The bar was almost sparkling clean and the floors probably clean enough to eat off.

   The bartender leans against the bar with his elbow while wiping the same glass he has had since I entered. A few moments of awkward silence pass with us staring at one another.

   "Ugh.. I will take the job. What do you want me to clean?" I wonder what he will say. I wonder why he was talking so loudly.

   "Here!" Shit. Why did he suddenly throw a broom with no warning? "Sweep this place up good and I'll give you 15 cole." 15 cole to clean something clean? This seems kinda broken. But i never turned down an easy quest just cause it was kinda broken.

   My UI updated with a quest accept menu. I touched the floating menu infront of me and the quest started. "Brewing up trouble." I wondered what the quest name had to do with sweeping.

   "So... I'll just be over here... uhm cleaning." The loud bartender just grumbles then resumes his eternal battle of polishing the one mug. I guess I'll just sweep up these little dust bunnies under the bar. Quest objective completed? What the hell? This is so broken.

   I noticed the quest did not complete, but rather told me to speak to the bartender again. I shrugged thinking it was a clean way of getting the money to me; rather then the coel just appearing in my invitory.

   "Hey... I finished cleaning up." I feel so silly claiming what I just did qualifies as cleaning.

   "Well will you look at that! I haven't seen this bar clean like this in ages." He can't be serious. Is this quest a tutorial on how quest are supposed to work?

   I smile sheepishly at the strange bartender. I reach out to give him the broom back and he snatches it away and laughs. Standing there confused the bartender laughs harder.

   "You know what? You are a good kid. I was going to have a good laugh at you for cleaning nothing, but I like your honest attempt." Wow. This NPC just made a fool of me. I guess it really is an RPG. "Would you like to actually make some coel doing real work?" I really hope it's not an endless loop of sweeping dust bunnies.

   The bartender stands from leaning on the bar to get something from beneath the bar. When he stands up again he resumes his position leaning on the bar. With a grin he places a scroll on the bar with his free hand that was wiping the now vanished glass.

   "What is that?" I'm genuinely confused. "Is this another trick?"

   The bartender shakes his head. His grin not mistivious, but rather hopefully happy.

   "Nope. This here is a map to where some herbs are. I need you to go and get them for me. For every bundle of herb you bring back I will give you 5 coel." Oh this is the actual quest. At least it was an interesting lead into a fetch quest.

   "Alright. I'll do it." I like this game! For a minute there I thought it was going to be generic, and boring.

   With A smile on my face, and determination filling my spirit I take the map. The bartender resumes his leaning position wiping a glass. A notification reiterating what the bartender already said. Go the grove and retrieve herbs for the Bartender. Recommend level: 20.