The Master Tactician - SAO Aincrad Arc X OC

Low level grinding

It's been around 2 days since the death game officially started, and there's still no sign of Kirito. I reached the town Klein was talking about, but Kirito wasn't there. I was already exhausted from the trip, so I decided to stay the night at an inn. On the way here, I managed to get to level 2. This game was clearly designed with the knowledge that we were going to be on 24/7. The leveling process wouldn't be so slow if it wasn't.

I opened the door in the inn and booked a room for one night. Entering my room, it's what you could expect from a cheap inn in an MMORPG. The room was completely made out of wood, with a bed at the corner, and a desk with a lamp and a chair. As I laid down on the bed I began planning my next move. I had to find someone, preferably Kirito since he knows a lot about the game. I would head out the next day on the continued path to grind some more and look a bit more into the mechanics and for now just get better at the game. With that in mind I turned off the lamp and went to bed.

I got ready quickly and headed outside. It's been a while since I got ready this quickly. Back in the real world I slept like a rock, waking up at almost 12 o'clock. This game changed me, and it will change me even more.

I've walked for around half an hour battling hogs and wolves on the way. I was around half-way to lvl 3. And this is after almost 72 hours of being in the game. As I was going over a hill, I saw the figure of a person surrounded by a bunch of hogs and a larger hog. Looking closer I saw a large health-bar above the larger hog, and the words 'large hog'.

"Very creative Kayaba" I told myself.

"Wait, this isn't the time to tell jokes to myself. That dude's in trouble. Hold up... THAT'S KIRITO!"

I quickly rushed to help him. Yet again, something I would never do IRL, but here we are. As the large boar prepared to charge Kirito, I stepped in, parrying it's attack with my sword. 

"What are you doing here JP?" he asked surprised that I was here.

"No time to talk right now. Let's take care of this first"

"Got it"

Both of us on guard, back to back surrounded. The first of many times this was going to happen. looking around, there were 5 normal hogs around us and the large one right in front of me. While kirito took care of 4 hogs, I dealt with 1 normal one and the large one. The normal one was simple. As it charged me I quickly stepped to the side and slashed it from the bottom up. This was the optimal way to deal damage to a hog. At least the best one I knew, however the large one attacked me before I knew what was going on. As life flashed before my eyes, a sword blocked the boars charge. Kirito's sword. Looking around, he had already taken care of his boars. He proceeded to help me out with the smaller boar while I took on the large one. It got ready to charge at me. As soon as I saw its stance, I got ready. Just as expected, it charged at me, and I side-stepped. As i was ready to deliver the final blow, It turned around, stabbing me with its horn. I lost almost half my health, but now I knew its attack patterns.

"Are you OK JP? Do you need help?" asked Kirito as he finished killing his boar.

"Don't worry. I've got this. I've already figured out how to beat it" This was true. I did figure out how. It once again got ready to charge, and I readied a different stance than before. As it began charging me, I jumped as high as I could. As I was facing down above the boar, I slashed it's back all the way from its forehead to its tail, and as I landed on the other side, before it could retaliate, I shouted "Sword skill horizontal". My sword began glowing a dark blue, and I slashed in a horizontal direction from left to right, removing the last of its HP.

"Well done JP. You don't need to drink a potion. Lets just rest and our HP should go back to full in a few minutes."

"K, got it". We sat down on the grass, resting. That fight was pretty tiring after all.

"Kirito, what were you doing surrounded? You could've died and none of us would've known"

"Oh. I was just grinding for some levels. That large boar was just a mini-boss that spawns in 5 other boars when it's summoned. After 15 minutes, it respawns. And as you can see, it gives quite a lot of XP" As he said that, he opened his menu showing me his stats.

"YOU'RE ALREADY LEVEL 3?" I said in shock. I thought I grinded a lot on the way here. Over half the time I spent awake I was fighting, but this guy was already level 3. 

"Lucky. I wish I was a beta tester. I'd get access to so much more information before the game even started. Speaking of information there's something I wanted to ask you. Actually, not just one thing. a bunch of them hehe" I said as Kirito readied himself for the barrage of questions he was going to get.

"Go on"

"In SAO, there are skills other than sword skills, so how are those skills leveled up? There isn't really a skill tree as far as I know"

"It's pretty simple. They level up as you use them"

"Ughhhh. Whyyyyyy. I'm going to have to spend so much time on those"

"Before you ask me more questions, I wondered. How did you figure out so quickly their attack patterns?" asked Kirito.

"Honestly it was pretty simple. I've only encountered 3 mobs in total on my way here. Boars, wolves and that large boar, and they all have only 1 attack. The boars only charge at you, and the wolves only attempt to bite you. I just assumed that's how it works on the first floor. While I did get caught off guard by it's head turning attack, I just adapted and figured out a way to beat it."

"Huh, I didn't figure that out. You're pretty good at this JP"

"Could it PERHAPS be that you suck?" I said in an obvious sarcastic tone.

"Oh shut it. I guess I just didn't need to. I just kept one shotting everything after the first few"

"HOW? THAT MAKES NO SENSE. Well, back on topic, I'm not actually that good. The only reason I learned to adapt so well is because I played a bunch of fighting games when I was younger. Mainly platform fighters. You had to adapt or you lost. There is one thing I'm bad at. My reaction time. It sucks."

"That might hurt you in the long run JP."

"That's why my fighting style is a bit different. Before I engage, I observe, and think about the different possibilities After that, rather than reacting  to the motion the enemy's making, I predict, and while it doesn't always work, It's enough so that I don't die."

"Huh, interesting. It's a good thing you're not dumb. If you're reckless in this game it could cost you your life. Back in the real world how were you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly what I'm saying. How would you describe yourself?"

"Hmmm. I was awkward around people I didn't knew. Also a bit of a math and science nerd. But with the people I knew I joked around, cheerful and a bit sarcastic. I wasn't afraid to tease my friends, but I did care about them, despite the many times I purposely annoyed them"

"Then I guess I'm your friend now since you teased me before". Now that he mentions it, he's right. I do feel comfortable and a bit familiar with him. Even though we met a few days ago, it feels as if I've known him for ages.

"Hey Kirito, do you mind if we form a party for now?"

"Why do you ask?"

"You seem like a nice guy. Don't get me wrong. I'm not doing this just because you're a beta tester, but I do need someone to teach me the ropes of this game"

"Don't worry. I knew right after you helped me that you are a good person. If you had ran away and then come back I would've said no, but let's do it. Let's form a party"

"Also, I'm a bit worried about you becoming an antisocial weirdo if I leave you alone for too long"

This was the moment, I genuinely got to know one of my closest friends going forward in Aincrad. Looking back, I couldn't have picked a better person to be my friend.