[SP-F1] Speed Runner [Completed]

[Cayden 0]

"Five months and four days..."

"Hmm?" Anastacia asked from across the table, the pretty girl's red hair cascading over her shoulders as she cocked her head to one side. "Five months...?"

"Since we arrived first logged in." Cayden clarified, a slight flush to his cheeks as he looked up from the rumor sheet he had been studying. "Sorry, I was just thinking out loud again."

"It is sort of scary to hear it out loud like that isn't it?"

"Yeah." He admitted with a weary sigh, leaning back on the bench with his arms crossed behind his head, looking for all the world like he was about to topple over at any moment. "Five months spent in this death game and the Assault teams are just now getting ready to bring down the eighth floor boss."

Cayden winced slightly as his eyes adjusted to the glare of staring at one of the flickering candles overhead, and not for the first time he marveled at how real this world had become to him. If not for the user interfaces he kept constantly floating at the edge of his vision, he might have thought for a moment that he was in a lodge on one of those camping trips he always hated, not trapped inside a virtual game run by a murderous sociopath.

[Cayden 0]

"Five months to go eight floors. " He continued the thought aloud despite the shiver that ran up his spine as the words fell from his mouth. "Even being optimistic and assuming that it takes the same time for them to clear as the floors continue, despite a dwindling player base and upgraded difficulty, that's what... five years?"

The proclamation hung heavy in the air between them as Cayden's eyes continued to study the virtual flame flickering just above him. He could hear her as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat, the scratchy grey and brown linen's of a beginner's dress as real a sound as the flame was a sight.

"Cayden... maybe you shouldn't..."

"Sorry! Sorry!" He said with a sudden burst of energy as he sat upright, a smile fighting its way across his features. "I shouldn't be such a downer."

"You're damn right you shouldn't... what if one of the kids heard you?" She chastised in response, leaning over the table to smack him with the side of her hand.

There was no sting to the blow, merely a feeling of pressure and the impact of it pushing him aside. Even out in the field such an 'attack' wouldn't have generated any pain. Despite his brief morose thoughts about the virtual reality he had to admit the lack of pain was kind of nice.

[Cayden 0]

"One of the kids huh? You're one to talk." Cayden grinned, raising one eyebrow in challenge.

Their makeshift 'school' housed a total of fourteen of Sword Art Online's youngest players, children ranging from the age of seven to as old as seventeen in Cayden's case. Anastacia was one of the oldest in the group, but at fifteen Cayden still had trouble thinking of her as anything but a child, even if she was pretty in a tomboyish sort of way.

"You know what I mean!" Anastacia retorted, pushing herself up from her seat to allow for more leverage as she struck at him again and again. "I mean if Reiji heart you, or Ethan. They've got enough on their minds without..."

The sudden slam of a door brought an abrupt end to their dispute. The side door.

By hook, crook and simple pleading the fourteen of them had managed to pull together enough Col over the last five months to afford a small cottage in the Town of Beginnings, something to alleviate the very real of Sleep Duels and other dangers that still plagued even non-combatants like themselves. They owned the place free and clear, which meant that no one should be able to enter without permission.

[Cayden 0]

"Check upstairs!" Cayden shouted, already running through his inventory to equip the meager arms and armor he had started the game with so many months ago, equipment he hadn't worn since they'd purchased the cottage.

"On it!" Anastacia replied, the woman already bounding up the stairs before he'd given the command.

While she checked on their charges, Cayden moved for the door, the straight iron blade gleaming dully in the flickering light as he approached it.

Could he fight? Did he even remember how? He'd been halfway to level two when they had been summoned back to the town, and he'd not stepped foot outside it since then. Did he really stand any chance against an orange player?

"«Inspect»" He said sharply as he reached the door, his eyes focused on the knob.

Uncommon Lock

This lock is functioning normally.

"Reiji is missing!" Anastacia cried out as she nearly tumbled down the stairs in her haste, eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"No one broke in. The door is perfectly fine. Do you think...?" Even as he supposed the question Cayden suspected he was thinking in the right direction. A few quick swipes of his finger to open his friend profile confirmed that Reiji was on the move towards the edge of town, and quickly at that.

[Cayden 0]

"Reiji, what the hell do you think you are doing?! Send!" Cayden continued as he threw open the door and stepped out into the evening street. After a quick glance up and down the street his eyes returned to the minimalist white display, impatience growing by the moment as he waited for a blinking announcement of the young man's reply.

"Do you think he's running away?" Anastacia asked, still breathing heavily from her sprint around the house, the thinnest sheen of sweat coating her brow in a way he might have found distracting at any other time.

"I have no idea. " Cayden slapped his finger down hard on Reiji's icon once again, before he shouted another message to his friend, all while the red dot crept its way closer and closer to the edge of town. "No one broke in so he'd have to be... but why?"

"Who cares why Cayden! He is barely twelve and he's trying to leave town. Do you know what his stats are? What his chances of making it through the night?!"

Tears remained unshed no longer for Anastacia, the young girl falling against the doorframe, then nearly topping to her knees if not for the sudden support of his arm around her.

"It's okay. Stay here with the rest of the kids. I'll be back with him before you know it." Cayden gave his most winning smile, exuding confidence that he absolutely did not feel. She smiled at that, a timid blush coloring her cheeks. "For real. You can trust me."

"I hope so. I really hope so."

[Cayden 0]

Reiji was not hard to find. While he had yet to reply to any of Cayden or Anastacia's many messages, he also hadn't gone so far as to remove them as friends. This meant that Cayden could see every move that Reiji made.

Unfortunately it also meant Cayden got to experience a moment of unbridled terror as his young friend exited the boundaries of the Town of Beginnings and became a valid target for any murderous players or mobs.

So far he seemed to be keeping to the road, the boy's slow pace and somewhat erratic movements indicating that he was doing his to skirt around the low level wildlife that surrounded the town. That was good, it meant that if Cayden kept to a full run he'd probably catch him before the boy got into anymore trouble.

At least, that had been the plan.

"No, no, no! I don't have time for you! Move you stupid thing!" Cayden shouted as a boar strutted into the road mere moments after he passed through the town barrier, an alert warning him that he was now in a PVP zone and vulnerable to damage.

[Cayden 0]

Cayden's mind whirled with possibilities as each footstep shortened the distance and the time he had remaining to make his decision. Clearly he had not yet entered the Mob's Aggro radius, but from the way it had stopped in its tracks it was aware of him, and thus unlikely to move. That left two options, go around, or go through.

Going around wasn't any better of an option. The boar had a relatively small Aggro radius, but at this time of night it was doubtful to be the only one of its kind on the field. The vast majority of SAO players preferred to hunt during the safety of daylight, which meant that the boars would be near their population limit. The long grass was almost certainly full of them. That left one option.

Go straight through.

Left or right? He thought quickly, eyes narrowed as the distance closed between them, his sword already in hand. The enemy in front of him was the weakest of the weak, a boar, so the risk of injury was incredibly low, yet time was of the essence. He had to bring it down quickly, not get drawn into a knockout battle.

Left or right? The thought came again with only a few steps to go. He'd use one of the few basic Sword Arts he knew, «Horizontal», but he needed to know which way it would dodge. It had entered his vision from the left, meaning it should continue right if left to its own pathing.

Left or right? Two steps now. What direction would it dodge. Right? No.

Left!

Cayden: 5/5 HP

Boar: 3/3 HP -3 DEFEATED

[Cayden 0]

Cayden's blade glowed with an unearthly light, reaching the peak of its brightness as he surrendered control of his body to the system and allowed it to take him through the motion. It was an uncomfortable sensation, his body reaching speeds he'd never believed possible as he took a half step to the side, matching the boar's attempted escape step for step.

His blade flashed, and his body lunged, the beginners blade raking the side of the virtual beast with a beaming pink gash that spilled squares of data into the air moments before the boar exploded.

Result

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Exp - 5

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Col - 15

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Items - Oathbreaker

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Confirm

The window caught him by surprise, but there was no time to dawdle and admire his victory. There were no doubt dozens of other boars just waiting to wander into his way, and every moment he wasted in battle was another moment that Reiji was at risk.

[Cayden 0]

Nearly there, hold on. Cayden thought grimly. He'd been running for the better part of the last ten minutes, slowly closing the distance between himself and his young friend, yet over the last minute the gap had narrowed dramatically. There were scant few reasons for a level one player to stop on the road in the middle of the night, and almost none of them good.

A sudden squeal from the side made Cayden lose his footing, and sent him rolling through the dirt in a way that might have broken bones if he were in his real body. Cayden was a hell of a lot tougher than Vincent however, and he was up and on guard within a second, facing off against the red eyed boar that charged at him from the tall grass.

This one had no intention of dodging, and in his haste neither did Cayden, his blade upraised in a «Vertical» stance as he sprinted towards the creature, intent on dispatching it with all due haste.

Cayden: 5/5 HP

Boar: 3/3 HP

[Cayden 0]

Too soon! The thought accompanied the act as Cayden's whole body followed through on the system assisted attack. His blade glowed, then sputtered and faltered as he completed the swing, digging a deep furrow through the ground shortly before the on rushing creature.

Fortunately the strength of the blow was enough to give the artificial beast pause, disrupting its charge long enough for Cayden to complete his recovery and pivot to the left, moving out of the path of a vicious lunge that would no doubt have done substantial damage if it had connected.

Cayden: 5/5 HP

Boar: 3/3 HP

[Cayden 0]

Don't underestimate these things. Briefly he wondered just how many players, how many human beings like himself had fallen victim to these things. How many lives had ended abruptly at the hands of such a creature. Would that be his fate? Or Reiji's?

Cayden shook his head vigorously, shifting his stance wider as he began to circle the boar, watching for any openings it might provide. He knew from his study that the boars were unusually aggressive in their combat style compared to more advanced mobs. It made their defense weak, but their offense surprisingly powerful, no doubt part of the design to weed out the low skill players who would be no fun for their GM.

Wait for it to charge. Then attack. Cayden decided, his blade outstretched in one arm, waiting patiently, only to burn with light and energy as the creature lunged at him anew.

Cayden: 5/5 HP

Boar: 3/3 HP -2

[Cayden 0]

"Hell yeah!" Cayden cheered in spite of himself as his blade raked a nasty gouge along the creature's side. It was far from perfect, and like most games this one had no 'diminishing effectiveness' when it came to its mobs. This boar was just as effective half dead as it was the moment it engaged him in combat.

More to the point it was intent on pressing it's attack, driving him deeper and deeper towards the edge of the road, towards the tall grass where more of its fellows might very well be lying in wait.

Cayden: 5/5 HP

Boar: 1/3 HP

[Cayden 0]

A quick pivot to the side eliminated the threat of the beast's advance, and as if watching a switch being flipped and the light going on, Cayden could almost see the boar switching scripts, moving from a tactical strategy of penning him against a dangerous terrain piece to a direct assault.

It was going to charge him, he knew that perhaps before the thing itself did. He hadn't spent all his time idle in SAO. He'd kept his word to his father up until now, but that hadn't stopped him from learning everything he could about the combat system, about the behavior of the monsters. This thing just wasn't a match for him. He wasn't going to add to Kayaba Akihiko's body count.

At least not today.

Cayden: 5/5 HP

Boar: 1/3 HP -2 DEFEATED

[Cayden 0]

Result

Congratulations!

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LV UP! Cayden

1 --> 2

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Exp - 5

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Col - 15

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Items - 0

-------------------------------

Confirm

"Level up?" Cayden repeated, almost incredulously.

Five months of 'playing' Sword Art Online and this was the first time he'd ever seen this screen. The first time he'd seen an improvement in his ability scores, his HP, in anything. Despite the danger, despite the risk to his friend a flush of pride filled him. He was a gamer through and through, and there was almost nothing in the world more satisfying than seeing those two simple words.

His reverie was cut short however by the sound of a scream.

A quick glance to his map showed the blinking red dot of Reiji now in full retreat, not from him but towards him. The boy was running full tilt, far faster than he'd ever moved during Cayden's pursuit, and it wasn't hard to see why when the young man burst into view.

Reiji scrambled from the bush perhaps twenty meters ahead of him, the gangly thirteen year old tripping over himself in an attempt to find purchase on the suddenly far more stable ground of the road. For a moment it seemed as though he was running from nothing, or had escaped his pursuer but the loud beating of cloven feet put the lie to that assumption mere moments before the creature itself emerged.

[Cayden 0]

It was a boar, but that was where the similarities with the others of its kind that Cayden had encountered came to an end.

This beast was nearly double their size, with perhaps more than double the muscle mass. Its whole body rippled as it stalked onto the road, clearly in pursuit of Reiji with murderous intent in gleaming red eyes. Above its head floated an indicator, declaring it to be an «Enraged Boar».

A new monster? Cayden thought. He considered himself largely familiar with every monster that roamed the first floor, having kept up to date with information brokers and anyone who would tell of their experiences in the game, yet he'd never heard of anything going by that name.

It hardly mattered. It was after Reiji, and it wouldn't stop until one, or perhaps both of them were dead.

"Reiji, get behind me." He commanded, flourishing his sword with confidence as he adopted a combat stance, his base wide, center of gravity low with his longsword held up slightly above his head.

Reiji would give him a small advantage. The mob was Aggro'd onto his friend, which meant that it would be likely to run straight past him in search of its original target since they were not in a party. That should give him an opening to land a telling blow, to do something more damaging that the handful of small pink cuts that criss-crossed the creature already.

Cayden: 7/7 HP

Boar: 4/4 HP -4 DEFEATED

[Cayden 0]

Cayden stood stock still long after the recovery pose for his slash had ended. He couldn't hear the creature moving behind him, and he knew for a fact that he had felt his blade sink deep into it as it attempted to pass him by. If he'd failed he would have heard Reiji screaming, if he'd failed he'd have heard they young boy die.

All he heard was the chirping of the virtual cicadas.

With a deep breath he recovered at last and flourished his blade again as if to remove the blood that wasn't there before stowing it in the sheath that hung across the small of his back. As he at last turned to regard Reiji, the crying boy crashed bodily into him, sobbing and squeezing so tightly that Cayden didn't even have the heart to scold him. Not yet at least.

[Cayden 0]

"What were you thinking anyways?" Cayden asked after several minutes. The area around them seemed safe enough for the time being, as though the death of the master boar had driven its more feeble counterparts away.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean why are you out here." He waved his arms to accentuate the point before at last pulling himself to his feet with what dignity he could muster. "You ran out of the house without a word... you stole Anastacia's rapier I see..."

Reiji flushed with embarrassment, still struggling to suppress his tears even as he wiped away those that escaped with the back of one wrist.

"There... there's this guild." He began slowly, his eyes on Cayden like a puppy preparing to be kicked.

"I'm not mad." Cayden stated quickly, only to quickly amend himself. "Not true, I am mad... but I'm glad you are safe. Telling me what happened isn't going to get you into any more trouble."

"I met one of their Guild recruiters in town the other day. They said that they needed help. That the assault teams aren't doing as well as they should. All I had to do was make it to the next town and they could get me in, get me equipped and I could see my mom again... and my sister... that much sooner"

[Cayden 0]

"I see." Cayden winced at the mention of family, though he struggled to hide it beneath a facade of thought. Frankly he didn't want to think too closely on what a guild, no doubt an orange or red guild wanted with a thirteen year old kid. Bait? Target practice? Something worse? The very idea of it sent a shudder through him.

"Why didn't you tell us? We could have tried helping you. Or we could have gotten someone to go with you."

"No you wouldn't!" Reiji yelled, fire in his voice for the first time since his rescue. "I heard you downstairs when I was leaving! Five years you said! Best case it is five years! Five years of living here, waiting to be rescued by other players, hoping that they don't fail."

"My mom is waiting for me, my sister are waiting for me! I'd be an adult by the time the Assault Teams finally clear the game." Reiji shook his head furiously, as if the very idea of it was some foul insect trying to sting at him. "At least this gave me a chance. I could have learned to be stronger, maybe done it all on my own. Become the hero of this game."

"Hero?" Cayden paused for a moment, looking at the fiery young man who stared back at him with his best steely eyed look. Their gazes locked for a moment, before a smile began to crack on Cayden's face. At first just a little thing, then a grin, then a chuckle, then a full throated laugh that was only exacerbated as Reiji flailed away with angry young punches by way of protest.

"Enough, enough I surrender mighty hero." Cayden declared after several long moments of laughter, his arms upraised in surrender. Reiji took the opportunity for one more gut punch, this one actually enough to register on his health bar in an annoying way. "Okay seriously, enough."

[Cayden 0]

"I'm still going." Reiji said stubbornly.

"Home? Yes, you are still going right back to town." Cayden nodded.

"So we can hide and hope that someone else saves us?"

"No Reiji. You are going back to town. You're right, We've been waiting too long as it is and there is no way this can continue... not after tonight." Cayden rested his hand on the younger boy's head, ruffling his hair before stepping away to begin to walk in the direction of town. "Five years is too long. I don't even know if we'd live long enough to wake up at that rate."

[Cayden 0]

"Then what are you planning t-"

"Two... no, one and a half." Cayden declared dramatically without turning to face Reiji. "Give me a year and a half. That would be your fifteenth birthday right? If I haven't cleared the game by then, I want you to get as strong as you can and chase me up the towers to punch me for failing you."

"A year and a half?! Cayden... the best players in the game can't keep up that pace, what makes you think that-"

"Who the hell do you think you're talking to Reiji?" Cayden asked, turning back to the young man with a wicked grin. "I'm Cayden, Japan's number one Speed Runner! A year and a half is more than enough!"

Topic Complete.

Col Gained: 415

Skill Point Gained: 1

Materials Gained: 0

Loot Gained: 2. Uncommon items, both pending approval.