SAO, but better: SAO ABRIDGED!

[Welcome to Sword Art Online … slightly abridged…]

"WAIT, WHAT?!"

This message was the first thing Yami saw and the next thing was:

[LIMITED! Buy the starter pack now and gain double XP boost!]

[Hot singles who want to chat with you!]

[How this millionaire gets 1000$ per day and shares his secret that all the rich people don't want you to know]

[NEW! Lucky chests can be bought now! Get cool skins and a Level 100 weapon (chance 0,000000000000000000000000000000008%)]

"Activate Ad-Blocker!"

[Purchase "Ad-Blocker" DLC for 29.99$? Confirm or Cancel]

"Yeah I'm in SAO Abridged… Shit!"

- - -

Yami was teleported to somewhere in the "Town of Beginnings".

It was some alleyway and Yami could see his own reflection in one of the windows of a nearby house. He still had his "albino look". Blood red eyes, snow white hair and the body of a sixteen year old. It seemed like his looks were downgraded a bit but if compared, he would surpass every actor and model in the SAO-universe. His skills were sealed but it seemed that his passive skills still had some effect.

"System."

No response…

"Right, the system isn't the same in this universe… Eve, please tell me that you are at least here."

{I'm here Yami-sama. To open the menu you need to swipe down with your right hand, just like in the anime. However, because there wasn't really much information and God didn't like to do too much research some things might differ.}

"God, you are a lazy writer."

[The constellation "Author-san" is averting his eyes.]

He swiped his hand and a screen, which looked different from his normal system, opened...

[Copy from the SAO Wiki:

Inventory/equipment:[citation needed] The icon for the category is a character icon. This is the default screen when opening the Menu interface. The left screen is an image of the body, with multiple points that allow the gamer to equip items or clothes. The right screen has three sub-menus:

Equipment: Selecting this sub-menu will open another three sub-menu:

Weapons:[citation needed] The icon for this category is a sword like the one used in Equipment.

Equipped:[citation needed] The icon for this category is a piece of armor.

Accessory:[citation needed] The icon for this category is a necklace.

Items: Selecting this sub-menu will open an additional scrolling screen on the left that lists all items. When an item is selected, it materializes in front of the player. The inventory turns red when a player has too many items.

Skills: Selecting this sub-menu will open an additional scrolling screen on the left that lists all skills of the player.

Friends/Guild:[citation needed] The icon for the category is two character icons together. The right screen has three sub-menus:

Party: Selecting this sub-menu will open three additional options. The first is «Create»), the second is «Invite», and the third is «Dissolve».

Friend: Selecting this sub-menu will reveal a list of a player's friends. Selecting a single friend will produce three additional options: «Message Box», «Position Check», and «Profile» The names of fallen friends turn grey, disabling the ability to contact them.

Guild

Communication The icon for this category is two chat box icons together. The icon flashes automatically whenever a player receives a message. Messages cannot be sent to a player who is currently in the dungeon.

Befriend:[citation needed] This option allows the player to send a friend request to another player. The other player is added to the Friend List if the request is accepted.

Trade[citation needed]: This option opens a trade window with another player. Trading can be used just to show another player items, or complete a trade after both parties accept the offers put forth.[citation needed]

Duel[citation needed]: This option allows the player to send a Duel request. The player being challenged has the privilege of selecting one of the available duel modes.

Marriage:This option, located at the very bottom of the Communications category, allows the player to send a marriage request to another player. Married players have uninhibited access to the other's equipment window, and their inventories are merged.

Maps/Quest: The icon for the category is a balloon location icon. The right screen has three sub-menus:

Dungeon Map: Selecting this sub-menu will reveal a map of the dungeon that the player has explored.

Quest: Selecting this sub-menu will open the player's quest log, which displays information on current quests and their progress.

Field Map: Selecting this sub-menu will reveal a map of the floor that the player has explored.

Settings/Main menu: The icon for the category is a gear. The right screen has three sub-menus:

Option

Help: Selecting "Help" will call a GM (Game Master) on the left screen.

Logout: The logout button was disabled as of the first day of the official SAO launch. Consequently, the left-screen is also completely blank.

]

As far as he remembered, the Leveling in SAO wasn't like in normal games where you can distribute stat points freely in many different stats.

[SAO used a level-based system to determine the strength of a player. Once the player gains enough EXP, their avatar glows a golden hue, and their current level is raised by one. Three stat points are awarded at each level-up, which the player can use to raise either their STR attribute or their AGI attribute.]

Leveling would make the HP go up, at Level one they were 250 HP. Utilizing sword skills would "level them up" or rather, make the proficiency of them go up. There wasn't really a lot of information about the game in general. Because of that God probably just made it like a more normal MMO.

The menu showed several icons for sections as well as the character and slots for equipment.

"Eve, because I'm not good with selecting ways to level and because I get waaaaay too immersed into numbers, could you please take over the leveling aspect for me, especially because it looks a bit bugged. Right, you said something about SAO abridged and it was indeed said that a lot of the game was bugged in there… Am I really in SAO abridged and not in the normal SAO?"

{I will. To answer your question; God created this world as a fusion between the normal SAO and SAO abridged because he liked both of them. However, some things in this world as well as some of the characters may become a bit strange and jumpy because of that. For example, there may be characters who have both their original character and their abridged character at the same time… And about that bug… Those mainly occur if they are convenient for God… For example he didn't want to make a whole leveling system and skill system for you so you won't see all those "complicated" things that he was too lazy to make.}

Yami just sighed, what else could he have done?

"Oh yeah, shouldn't I have been ported to the speek Kayaba gave or to the spawn or something?"

{You were actually ported here three days after the start of the game…}

At this moment his expression just changed to one saying; seriously?

"..."

[...]

"Fuck this! I still have more than three weeks on the first floor and if I don't move quickly everything will already be taken by other players!"

With this Yami started to run towards one of the gates of this gigantic city. It was a great distance and he could see a lot of players with different emotions on his way. There were those who were still anxious but some had already come to terms with being in a death-game and formed groups.

(Eve, can I use you as a shortcut for accessing the system over here as well? If yes, could you materialize the starter sword that everyone gets?)

{At your assistance.}

A normal sword appeared in Yami's right hand. He was happy that he at least had some basic training in the sword. He couldn't call himself an expert but he wasn't bad. But this was also through long and hard training with the sword. However, he didn't really have a professional system but just a self made one. Yami wasn't sure whether this was good or bad but he knew that he was very vulnerable against an actual enemy.

At the moment he was using his speed and strength to just overpower the enemy as quickly as possible but he was aware that he would lose the moment he met someone on the same level as him or stronger. Actual battle-experience and skill was what he lacked and what he wanted to train in SAO.

After a while of running Yami could see the gate leading out of the safe city. This threshold was what kept a lot of scared players trapped inside the city. Yami however stepped over it with only a slight bit of hesitation.

He was afraid of dying, yes. But he knew that if he wanted to move forward he needed to overcome his own fears. Even in the "Main world" he could have died every time, but it was different if you yourself had to step into a field full of monsters who only want to kill you.

The greatest thing that drove him was not his courage or anything but his own fear. His fear of something different from the danger waiting in this death-game. He was confident in himself, he was by no means cocky, no, he had the self confidence in himself that was needed to reach greater heights because you tell yourself; You have to be able to at least do that much!

The real thing he was afraid of was if his "show" wasn't to God's liking. If he just curled up or tried to do things slowly God would find it boring. Even if the "old man" looked like a good person, he was a God, not a person. If Yami didn't live up to his standards he would just be replaced by someone else. Or God would just issue a Quest or do something else to make things "more interesting".

The decision between working hard to get stronger and survive while being able to get a Waifu against the prospect of just being discarded and most probably just killed by an all-powerful being, only a complete idiot wouldn't know what to choose.

He slowed down and looked at the plains in front of him. Observing was a very important thing before fighting, if you just rushed into a fight you might suddenly get overwhelmed by enemies that were nearby.

He could see a few of one of the easiest monsters in this game, the equivalent of slimes; a boar. There were also a few players either solo or in groups that were hunting these monsters.

Setting his sight on a single boar which was all alone he slowly started to approach it. Both of them locked eyes. Yami put his sword in front of himself, now he could easily move it around and respond quickly. Because he fought like in real life and not in a game he was much more focused on not receiving damage. Blocking, dodging and parrying were even more important than striking hard. Yami turned his blade a bit to make it easy to stab at the boar who was only two meters away from him now.

"Tell me, do you bleed?"

[The constellation "Badman vs. Super boar" is hoping that the critics will like the "fight".]

Even if he was sounding as if he wasn't taking this serious he was actually very focused right now. He wouldn't make the mistake to look down on something that could kill him even if it was just a mob from a game. He was level one, his enemy was level one, the only difference was that he was a human and thus was more intelligent and also that he was a player and could use skills.

(Eve, who do I use Sword-Skills?)

{I don't think I can answer that. I think it is a kind of feeling or maybe a posture? I can manually activate it from here and see what happens.}

(We can do that later, I'm here to train my actual fighting and not my Sword Skills anyways.)

Now both the boar and Yami seemed to have finally decided to start this fight. The boar ran towards Yami intending to ram him. He side-stepped to the right and avoided the attack, he immediately counter attacked as the boar went past him by stabbing it from the side.

And with this his question earlier was answered; no. The monsters do not bleed even if he cuts their "flesh". He knew that different from the avatars of the other players he was really in this world with his real body. But it seemed that the enemies were still nothing but ones and zeros. He wondered for a moment what would happen if one of them was transported into another world but instantly extinguished every thought that would divert his attention mid-battle.

The boar had lost 1/4 of its health. They weren't strong as they were only the beginner monsters but Yami wasn't strong as well, he had the worst sword there was and only level 1.

This time Yami was the first one to make his move, he used his advantage of having a higher reach through his arm and sword and stabbed the boar. This level 1 monster wasn't made strong enough to dodge attacks so it just took it head on. Yami pulled his sword out of its body and without delay proceeded to give it another slash before it started to charge at him again. This time he stood still and raised his sword. As the boar was within his range Yami made a straightforward and simple downward slash. Why should he use something more if this would do the job just as well.

Before the monster could even reach him its head was slashed and moments after, it started to shatter into something like blue light or crystals or something, which flew in the air and dissipated shortly after.

After finishing it off Yami took a look around for any other monsters that might attack him. There was none around and Yami could look at his EXP bar.

"Wow, this is nothing… No wonder it took people several months to get to a level that was reachable in a short time in other MMOs… I remember that Kirito was level 40 when he joined the Moonlit Black Cats or whatever they were called. The others in the group were only around level 20 and this was probably a better standard to go with, Kiriot is the protagonist after all. The two-handed sword-jesus, hah. It seems that I will need to spend a lot of time leveling…"

Yami was one of the people who would level in the lower regions before going into the higher leveled ones because he didn't like to die even if it was just a game. And now that he would really die for real if his HP dropped to 0 it was definitely the better choice than running into stronger mobs which could easily kill him.

"I will be stuck on the first floor for more than a month, I can use all that time for leveling. But because of the same reason I need to get all the loot there is as fast as possible. The resources are going to all be taken after a few days not to speak about thirty days. And there are also the Beta-testers who already know all the spots of good stuff and are going to take it quickly. I have to move!"

He would rather go slowly and safely but he knew that to grow he needed to face his fear; the fear of death and finally go through some hardship and not be a lazy harem-character who expects everything to be handed to him. He knew that all the "great" things around him aren't for free, he has to hold up his own part of the "deal" he has with God.

(Such deals are something that are normally associated with the devil, funny that I have a devil's pact with God… I just hope that different from the ones in the stories, I won't regret my decision…)

"..."

After shaking his head which had had some cloudy thoughts in it Yami started to move again. His objective was one of the towns on the first Floor, the one where the Kirito would be in and where the discussion about the 1. Floors boss would be held which is shown in the second episode. The problem was that this town was for higher level players, around level 5 or so. The advantage was that if he could get there quickly he would be one of the first there and could get the good stuff before someone else took it.

Once again he started to run. On these plains there was a road that led towards this town. The first floor was massive, the biggest of all, and it would take him a long time to get there. He guessed that if he wanted to keep being cautious as to not get ambushed he would need several days.

"Eve, is there a method for me to get there more easily?"

{You can try being sneaky. Normal players would need classes, but because you are "special", if the monsters don't notice you by seeing you or something similar, you can sneak past them.}

"Being sneaky? Not like I don't like it if it can save my life. And I always liked assassins and such methods, and I like fighting efficiently and ending fights fast, stealth is a very good skill to have actually. Especially if I have an enemy that is just OP just slipping through the sensory of them isn't a bad idea."

Yami knew that there were a lot of beings that he can't fight or even put a dent on at the moment. Although if they were already this strong they must have strong sensory abilities as well. But out of all the strenghts, this ability was definitely the one that was the least well trained if we take someone like Goku, his power is focused on direct strength rather than finding his enemies. Point is, hiding isn't a bad thing to be good at at all, actually, it sometimes is the best ability you can have, just like speed if you need to escape.

"And as we all know from stories, the more dangerous the situation, the stronger you will get after getting through it. That's one of the rules. And since this is a show for God this is probably also applicable here. Sneaking past monsters who want to kill you is something pretty dangerous right? Since my body is in high tension I should also be able to train faster. It's the same as when you are in tension and thus your body shoots out adrenaline to make your body work faster and harder. I believe at least…"

Of course he also planned to fight on the way, but he didn't want to fight with every mob on the way, it was very time consuming and very dangerous.

He started to jog along the way. It seemed that a party already went this way because the monsters were already cleared.

"Eve, what about my stamina? And another important thing; am I feeling pain?"

Yami wanted to test both of them instead of asking but his stamina didn't seem to go down and he also didn't want to stab himself. Particularly if he did feel pain. It's not like he was a pussy, he knew that he would be feeling a lot of pain in the future while battling, but wasn't a masochist. He would leave that to Tio and Darkness.

"But maybe I should also train my pain resistance…"

The fact that he wouldn't even cut himself already showed that he was very aversed from the thought of being in pain. If he was wounded, there was a high chance of him being stunned or even incapitated by the pain. Even if his soul was stronger and all, he was still just a human, pain was something that was instinctively feared and hated.

{As this is your actual physical body in the world, you can feel pain and need to keep track of your stamina. But don't worry, the stamina you have is greater than any other player there thanks to some tinkering of God. Although your races are sealed, because this is training, you have a bit of the superior stamina. You can go for more than a day without great problems and fight for several hours if it isn't a very hard fight where you need to focus. The "stamina" that is being used is actually more like your mental energy, because with your slime body you don't really get tired in body but only your mind will get tired. That is also what is used when you are creating things in Paradise. You don't have physical but still mental fatigue… Sorry if what I said was a bit strange and complicated. Long story short you have greater stamina but you should learn how to effectively conserve it because in the "Main-world" you can also get drained from your mental-stamina… To make up for it I can tell you another good thing, the pain you would receive is only a smaller amount than what you should actually feel… Talking about how you feel pain isn't a very good thing, I'm sorry again.}

While he was actually processing all the information he got, he also suddenly got an idea.

"Eve, can you add a Nya to the ends of your sentence?"

Because of all the input from being sent to another world, he kinda pushed away what happened before he was transported… He killed a stray-devil who was attacking a black cat, a cat with two tails. There was only one conclusion from all of this; Kuroka.

{As you wish Mastnya~.}

Although he was in thought, he still was on edge thanks to his Perfect Brain. Otherwise he might not have noticed the wolf-like mob that was sneaking up on him from his right.

After all the walking he did while thinking and talking with Eve he had now seemingly entered a new area where the grass was higher. If he was just a normal untrained person, he wouldn't have noticed the figure that was slowly advancing towards him from within the grass.

"Oh? You're approaching me?"

Taking a special stance, that wasn't at all one that looked like a sword-stance, he stared at the wolf.

"This may be a good time to try out the sword skill...If he remembered the Wiki correctly, Sword Skills are system-guided motions that are triggered through a certain position and after activating a certain attack will start which would normally not be possible for humans because they would be too slow or something like that. After that there is a short time when the player is "stunned" after activating a Sword-Skill, this timespan is depending on the strength of the used skill. After that there is also the cooldown of the Sword Skill…"

At that moment Yami had a dumb idea because of the joke he just made.

"Eve, can I change the postures I need to take to activate a Sword Skill?"

{It isn't completely impossible, but just ineffective. The whole point of the starting-position is that you can flawlessly go over into the motion of the skill. If you change the needed position, your body will need to first go into the normal stance anyways to start the attack. Meaning, yes you can change it but it is very ineffective and not a good move.}

"Alright, I will only be playing with it for this moment, I believe that this short time is only important for higher leveled opponents. And more importantly, it looks cool and God will likely like it."

Yami changed into a certain position that everyone who had seen JoJo's would instantly recognize:

"ZA WARUDO!!!!"

The next moment the sword in Yami's hand shot forwards, right through the wolf's body.

Yes, it was rather that Yami was dragged after the sword than him holding the sword to do the motion. That's how Sword Skills functioned, at least if the SAO version was bought on Wish.

Having its body run through by a blade, the wolf started to dissipate just like the boar had previously.

He started to move once again, on his way towards the next town and on his way to clearing this death game.

With a sword in hand he walked at a fast pace while keeping an eye on his surroundings.

He knew that he would be able to survive overcome and get stronger in this game because;

"I have the power of GOD and ANIME ON MY SIDE!!!"