Wolf Among Sheep (SAO X MALE READER)

Have Mercy!

One Month later

(y/n) jerked awake as the morning alarm he had set started blaring in his ears. (y/n) groaned as he swiped open the menu and hit snooze. (y/n) rubbed the tiredness out of his eyes as he got out of bed. 

(y/n) looked out the room groggily, trying to remember where he was. Then the events of the previous day hit him. (y/n) stared at the plain wall of his room before looking down at his legs. (y/n) slowly pulled himself up and out of bed, standing his own 2 feet.

(y/n) smiled as he stretched his legs, enjoying the feeling of being on his feet again.

(y/n): "I'm never getting over this feeling..."

(y/n) swiped open the menu again and brought up his gear tab. He dragged and dropped all of his armor and weapons onto the character and closed the menu. (y/n) was enveloped in a soft blue light as he felt the weight of all of his equipment appear on him.

(y/n) looked down at the sinister looking clawed gauntlets that rested over his hands with wry smirk. (y/n) had also bought a started set of plate armor that was made of black iron. Now he really did look like a dark knight.

(y/n): "People will be suspicious if they see me with max level gear equipped... I really don't want that kind of attention..."

(y/n) shrugged and unequipped his legendary gauntlets and cloak, replacing them with black starter gear items. With morning prep complete, (y/n) headed out onto the streets.

It was now December 2, 2022. The time was 9:00 AM and the streets of the town of beginnings were already bustling. A lot has changed in a month. More than 2,000 players have perished in Sword Art Online. After all this time, no one has managed to clear the first floor.

The player base has since split into 4 distinct "factions" so to speak. The first and largest group of people were the ones who decided to simply wait things out. They all believed that someone, somewhere would finish the game eventually. These people did nothing but sit on their asses and it disgusted (y/n). He was only here as an exaggerated suicide attempt but he couldn't help how he felt.

The second was a group of about 3,000 players. They decided that cooperation was the best way to succeed. They formed a sort of massive guild that was run like a business. Everything the guild collected was distributed evenly across their players. After awhile, people started calling them an army since they all started wearing the same uniforms.

The third were the "bandits" or "criminal", players who attacked and took advantage of solo players and smaller groups. You could tell right away if someone was a criminal by the orange color of their player cursor. 

They were basically the most selfish people to exist. (y/n) had to commend their will to survive, they had the strength to take from others. They were willing to do anything to survive. But that didn't excuse their actions the least bit. At least they weren't killing people... yet.

The fourth and smallest group were the "Miscellaneous" types. People who didn't want to join the army and wouldn't stoop to the level of bandits. They were made up of solo players like (y/n), and small guilds and friend groups.

Almost all of the most powerful players were among this group. Almost all the former beta-testers were among them as well.

The fourth group was the one (y/n) admired the most. Despite their fear, they pushed onwards and worked to clear the game. Their drive to survive was far beyond that of anyone else. Like them, (y/n) ventured out into the wilds and fought monsters, leveling, and grew stronger.