Sword art online: Aincrad's Flash

It was late afternoon by the time they arrived at the gates of the Town of Beginnings. The sky above had turned a rusty red, and the low hanging sun appeared dim and orange. Street lamps along the paved roads were as of yet unlit, which meant that they still had at least an hour or two before dark.

"We need to hurry if we want to get one of the corners of the common room tonight," Toyo said as they passed underneath the stone archway of the gatehouse and into the city.

Jae nodded. "We should split up."

Opening up his menu, he quickly cleared his inventory and handed the contents to Toyo. "Take the fur pelts from the wolves we took down this morning to the traders in the merchant's quarter. Sell all of yours too, and the goat hide if you can. I'll head over to the apothecary shop and try to haggle for two more health crystals. After that, we'll see if we have enough money to repair our gear."

"Alright," Toyo said as he turned to take the left-hand route, " I'll meet you back at the blacksmith's, then."

Jae nodded, then continued on his way along the main road, a wide paved street that led deep into the heart of the Town of Beginnings. Tall, medieval-style houses on either side quickly blocked his view of Toyo on the left, and after a moment, the huge city had swallowed him.

Neither of them had yet memorized the maze of streets and alleys that made up the arteries of the city, and there were some sections of the place that they hadn't even set foot in yet, but over the past day or two, they had made a point of at least growing accustomed to the area around Alara's Holy Sanctuary in order to get around quicker.

The merchant's quarter was only a few blocks away, and the apothecary's shop, which Jae had discovered the day before after making a wrong turn, was even closer. The only relatively far location they needed to get to was the blacksmith's shop, which was tucked away in one of the sidestreets near the Central Plaza. Though a good fifteen minute walk from the Sanctuary, it was one of the closest smithies around, and, far more importantly, it was generally a bit cheaper than the other two they had visited.

Yet even then, they could barely afford to repair their gear.

Turning a corner, Jae was forced to quickly step aside and wait as the doors of a large library burst open just ahead, issuing forth a large contingent of running schoolchildren eager to make their way home.

The young boys and girls, who all looked to be around ten or twelve, giggled and laughed and talked loudly with each other as they passed, eagerly discussing things that only children would find important.

As he watched them, Jae had to remind himself that they were NPC's and not actually real people. Real children, he recalled, would not be this happy. That first day, during the madness and chaos at the Central Plaza of the city, he had seen far too many crying hysterically and shouting for their mothers in the midst of the roiling crowd.

A pang of guilt hit him at the thought.

I wonder where those poor kids are now. If they're still alive.

Though he tried to push the bleak thoughts out of his mind, Jae couldn't help but think about what would happen if those young players worked up the courage to go outside the safety of the Town of Beginnings. If any among them were beta-testers, they would probably be fine, but the rest…

After a few somber minutes, he arrived outside the apothecary's shop and was able to focus his attention on the matter at hand. It was a small, circular building, made mostly of wood and thatch, and coated in a thin layer of paint that had long ago greyed and cracked. Truth be told, the place appeared more a beggar's hut than a business establishment, and Jae would have taken it at that during his first visit had it not been for the crooked sign which hung lazily above the door:

Mintigen's Apothecary Shoppe

Stepping off the street, Jae reached out to open the door. Before he could get his hand around the loose wooden knob, it swung open from the inside. A tall, dark-haired man with a sour expression on his face all but walked into him- a player, Jae could see, thanks to the tiny green cursor which hovered above his head. At once, Jae's eyes caught on the man's clearly upgraded leather armor and impressive looking sword.

The man turned slightly when he saw Jae, revealing a long, half coiled black snake tattoo etched along the left side of his face, with the forked tongue starting at his forehead and the tail ending just above his square jaw. It was an unusual sight, to say the least.

"Sorry," he said sincerely as he pulled away. "Didn't know you were there."

Jae shook his head and stepped aside. "No worries, you go ahead."

The young man nodded thankfully, and as he started past warned, "the shopkeeper in there is offering free slices of homemade pie to customers today. No idea why. Trust me on this: don't eat any. I nearly died there."

Jae smiled and nodded. "Thanks for the heads up."

"We players have to stick together."

Once the man was passed, Jae caught the door before it closed and started inside. Just before entering, he paused.

The player was a stranger, of course, but he seemed like a pretty nice guy. He also seemed to be doing fairly well for himself, judging by the state of his gear and the uncommon sword at his belt. Someone like that could turn out to be quite helpful.

Maybe we could benefit from a third party member.

Jae turned to call out, but stopped when he saw that the street behind him was empty.

The man was already gone.

…

Glancing up, Toyo took a brief moment to make sure he was still going the right way, then brought his gaze back down to the open character screen in the air before him. He studied it carefully, considering every stat as he drew closer to the merchant's quarter.

Character Status*

*1 Attribute Point Available!

Attribute Points may be distributed into any Stat marked with a (+) icon.

Lord Grim

Level: 5

Health: 426

Damage: 11-14

Strength: 11+

Dexterity: 13+

Constitution: 13+

Endurance: 10+

Luck: 10+

Skills: 0

Sword Skills: 1

Active Skills: 1

Passive Skills: 0

Passive Abilities: 0

His eyes lingered on the Strength icon, but he hesitated and stopped before selecting it.

He breathed angrily through gritted teeth.

Come on, dammit, just hit the button already.

Steeling himself, he again moved his finger over the Strength icon. Before he could select it, an image fuelled by terror flashed to life in his vision...an image of his battered and broken body exploding into pixelated shards.

He drew his finger back sharply as if he had just been bitten by a snake.

Dammit.

Toyo stopped walking and glanced up, away from his menu and the fears that it provoked.

The rust-stained sky was slowly turning a deeper copper color, and the low hanging sun hid shyly behind canvas clouds as it gradually lost its battle with the heavens.

Taking a breath, he returned his attention to the menu still in front of him, it's digital blue screen taunting him with its boldness.

It wasn't that he didn't want to put his last stat point into Strength- he did, and very much so. With each new monster encounter he and Jae put themselves through, it was slowly becoming clear that their lack of damage development would eventually come back to hurt them. Being able to tank hits and soak up damage was all well and good, but if they couldn't efficiently eliminate whatever was causing that damage, an extended health bar wasn't going to save them.

Such a fact was hardly a revelation; any gamer worth his salt knew that in RPGs, a balanced character was usually the safest route when playing a game for the first time. Only veterans or full party groups could afford to specialize, and he and Jae were neither of those things.

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Yet, whenever he thought about the fact that his health bar was now the only thing keeping him alive, Toyo couldn't help but fear to put his attribute points into something else. It had been hard enough just putting one of the points into Strength earlier. He needed to start dealing more damage, he knew that, but those twenty health points per attribute could very well prove to be the difference between life and death. The more he thought about it, the easier the choice became.

He couldn't do it. He was far too afraid.

One point in Strength should be enough for now, anyway. It's still the first Floor, after all.

Without another thought, he moved his finger and selected Constitution.

Toyo breathed a sigh of relief; he was now twenty health points safer.

A flash of sudden movement from beyond the corner of his eye stopped him before he could close his menu, and a second later, a ball of shrieking white feathers and a beak tore past from under his legs. He tripped and fell and only just managed to stop himself from banging his head against the paved street. His open and now upside down menu screen hampered his view, and just as he closed it, he caught sight of a woman running at full speed towards him from down a sidestreet, a wary expression on her face.

"Please!" She shouted frantically as she ran. "Stop that chicken!"