Chapter 3

"Oh? A newbie? What's up?" Kei walked over to the girl in front of him. She had shoulder-length black hair with eyes bright green.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Koharu." Koharu offered up with a smile.

"Name's Kei. Did you need something?"

"Uhm, Kei, this is embarrassing to admit, but well... I'm absolutely terrible at this game. And I'm talking really bad."

"Oh, really?" Kei scratched the back of his head. "The Beta has been on for a while, you know?"

Koharu blushed, before looking down, fidgeting in place. "Yeah, I know. This is my very first video game and VRMMO, and I looked up some stuff online before starting, but it all looks so different than what I expected, you know?"

Kei stared at the shy girl in front of him. 'Either this guy is really good at faking being a girl or she's really a girl.'

"I- I can't land a single attack, so I've been leveling up my speed to run away. Everyone else around me is getting stronger, but I just can't keep up with them." 

"So you probably put everything into the AGI attribute didn't you?" Kei nodded, understanding the situation more.

SAO was different from most MMORPGs. People usually were able to invest different stats into different attributes for a certain playstyle, such as [STR], [AGI], [END], [DEX], and [INT]. SAO however only had a [STR] and [AGI] attribute. Playstyles mostly came depending on the type of equipment a user had on them. 

"I did put a little into [STR], and I got better! I was looking forward to playing a bit more, but today's the last day of beta..." Koharu sighed. "Well, so, that's why I came all the way out here, but now I'm just lost..."

Koharu began mumbling under her breath, causing Kei to blink.

"Woah there, take a breath." Kei put a hand on her shoulder. Koharu snapped out of whatever trance she was in, before shaking her head.

"Sorry about that. Guess I was rambling, huh? I've just been so hopeless until now." Koharu grabbed her mace, '[Small Mace], she probably doesn't know about the shop system either.' Kei thought, before staring at the weapon. "I know today's the last day and all, but I don't want to end it like this. Do you think you could teach me how to battle?"

Kei grinned, before grabbing his [Bronze Lance] off of his back and twirling it in his right hand, much to the amazement of Koharu. "You plan on buying the game when it releases, right?"

"Yes! This game seems fun, so I want to try playing when the official version releases."

Placing the [Bronze Lance] over his shoulder, he began walking towards a [Frenzy Boar] which had just freshly spawned, before pointing at it with his Lance.

"Then let's see you battle!"

"Hai!"

Koharu ran towards the [Frenzy Boar], who upon seeing her began charging towards her.

"It's going to try to headbutt you, jump to the side!" Kei called out.

Listening to the advice, Koharu jumped to the right, causing the [Frenzy Boar] to skid to a stop.

"It's vulnerable, now is your chance!" Upon hearing this, Koharu turned towards the [Frenzy Boar] before swinging at its back.

"Hah!"

As the hit connected, the [Frenzy Boar] quickly turned around, before ramming into Koharu, who let out a yelp.

"Don't panic! You can't feel pain in SAO!" Koharu quickly got up, rubbing the side of her stomach. "Don't worry about anything other than beating this [Frenzy Boar]! I'll help if things get dicey, but you can do this! Look at it's HP bar!"

It was at roughly 2/3 of its health, the once dark green now a slight lime green. Clenching her teeth, Koharu ran towards the [Frenzy Boar] once more, which once again charged towards her. Jumping to the left this time, she swung immediately, dropping the HP bar to red, before quickly smacking the [Frenzy Boar] with the handle.

As the [Frenzy Boar] exploded into a burst of pixels, Koharu put her mace back onto the left of her waist.

[Congratulations!]

[Results:]

[Exp: 23]

[Cor: 28]

[Items: 1]

"Wow! I've never been able to fight like that before!" Koharu cheered, before turning to Kei. "That was great. Thank you so much, Kei! Your teaching was super useful!"

"No problem! Not bad for a newbie. The fact you quickly calmed yourself before going straight back in was amazing. You also remembered my advice the 2nd time." Kei began clapping. "Well done."

Blushing, Koharu looked away from Kei, who simply laughed. "H-hey, Kei?"

"Hmm? What's up?" Kei tilted his head slightly.

"If you don't mind, do you think we could be friends?" As Kei opened his mouth, the Labyrinth shook, before multiple roars echoed around them.

"Huh?!" Looking around, Koharu quickly grabbed her mace. "These are completely different monsters from before! Is this...?"

8 [Kobold Henchman] appeared, surrounding both Kei and Koharu, the former of which simply grabbed his spear.

"We're surrounded! What should we do? At this rate we're gonna-!"

"Woah there." Kei placed his left hand on Koharu's head, patting her gently. "Calm down. Watch your mentor for a sec. I'm gonna show you something important."

Walking towards the closest Kolbold, who was now raising its sword, he clenched his spear with both hands. The tip of it began glowing bright green as Cardinal recognized the Pre-Motion.

"Woah..." Koharu stared mesmerized by the glowing color.

"Hut!" Kei let the Sword Skill take over, stabbing through the Kobold and the one behind it.

[Shaft], the first Sword Skill for every [2H Spear] user. A simple thrust in front of the user, combined with the Sword Skill allowed it to penetrate far more than it would have simply thrust forward.

'2 down, 6 to go.' Quickly pulling his spear out of the Kobolds and ignoring the notification that popped up, he threw his arm to the side. As the tip began growing blue, he slashed horizontally in front of him. "Hah!"

[Edgefall], another beginner [Sword Skill]. It was an AOE slash attack that could slash 180 degrees in front of the user.

As 4 of the Kobold got sliced in half, Kei quickly jumped forward, simply stabbing the head of the 2nd to last Kobold. Twisting once it connected, he quickly yanked back out the spear before kicking the final Kobold away from him, its sword being tossed to the side. Lifting his spear over his shoulder with one hand, Kei narrowed his eyes before chucking the spear toward the poor Kobold who was struggling to get off the ground. The spear skewered it, before smashing into the ground.

"The glowing effect you saw is called a [Sword Skill]. As long as you do the right Pre-Motion, the system will take over and activate the skill for you." Kei walked over to his spear, yanking it out of the ground. "You can also get creative with your weapon. Spears are used mainly for stabbing, but who says you can't slash or throw one either?"

"That was so cool Kei! I can learn this too?" Koharu ran over, face beaming.

"Yup, although you're going to have to give me a second." Leveling the spear towards a dark spot in a corner, Kei prepared another [Shaft]. "Whose there?"