Getting the hang of it.

Once outside the walls we were met with sprawling fields dotted with trees and various hills. Kirito immediately led us to a spot that my map called West Field. I must say that my movements in this virtual world were not the best at the start, even though all the feelings and sense are in the game something just felt different. Maybe it was a psychological barrier, or perhaps it was something that happens to everyone that's new to VR games.

It made little difference in the end as I by the time we made it to the field, I was already moving fluidly. Maybe not to the standard I had been used too, but I was at least better than the average person. I mean hell it seemed like I was moving even better than Klein.

"Here we are." Kirito said as we came to a stop and he immediately drew his sword, I followed suit with my dagger holding it in a reverse grip. Klein looked side to side in confusion before taking a nervous look.

"U-uh look guys. I'm sorry for bothering you, you don't gotta do this." I knew Kirito didn't lead him out here for that, nor did he just randomly come up with that, but I couldn't help but play the role Klein had us in currently. I caught Kirito's gaze with a smirk and with his lips forming his own we both turned toward Klein and began to surround him. Me stalking around his right while Kirito approached from the front.

"Awww, man! How do I get myself into these situations?!" Klein cried exasperatedly and I could only shake my head. You get yourself into thirds kind of situations often. He dejectedly pulled out his shirt curved sword and held it out in front.

"Well, I ain't goin down without a fight!" He yelled and Kirito charged forward his sword aiming straight toward Klein but at the last second he changed his trajectory so it went right by Klein and hit the boar that had spawned just behind him. This whole time I had been corralling it to be just behind him and then Kirito went unerringly just last Klein to strike the boar bringing it to half health. I activated the dagger skill and with a similar motion to Kirito I dashed forward and slashed a line across the back of the boar earning a critical hit and eliminating the final but if health it had.

Exploding into a burst of crystals and polygonal shards me and Kirito turned to see Klein still frozen in place, but he had turned his head to see what was happening.

"Eh? Ehhhhhhh! You guys tricked me?!" He yelled as fake virtual tears pooled down his cheeks and me and Kirito hunched over laughing. His shock turned to an angry that showed he wasn't truly angry just mad at getting fooled so easily.

"Dammit, you guys really got me good haha. I really thought you guys were going to PK me there." He said while saying and wiping away sweat from his brow with the back of his forearm. I recover first and sheath my dagger and Kirito follows suit, and we both look at Klein.

"Nah, we just couldn't pass up the opportunity. I just can't believe you didn't hear the boar." Kirito responds.

"I was too busy trying not to crap my pants. I thought I was getting into a real PK situation. Glad that wasn't the case." We all nod with that and soon another boar spawns.

"Shinji seems to learn pretty quickly, so Klein why don't you take this and we'll help you if you need it." Klein nods and readies his sword as the boar takes notice of us. After a minute or so with us giving Klein pointers, he finally managed to slay the boar. He lost half his health in the process, but a win is a win.

"All right!" He yells into the sky.

"Congrats." Kirito pulls him out of his little world and they share a high five, I come up just behind and give one myself.

"Good job Klein, only lost half your HP." I grinned with a cheeky smirk and he half heartedly glared at me.

"Oh hah hah. Not everyone can be prodigies like you 2 . Well I understand Kirito since he was a beta tester, but he said you were new to the game. How are you so good already?" Klein gradually kept getting closer and closer until I had to shove him back a little.

"Calm down man, I don't know. It just felt natural as soon as the dagger was in my hand." I shrugged and Klein frowned at my response that didn't answer anything.

"Agggghh!" He ruffled his hair in frustration before huffing and straightening himself.

"Fine, I'll just have to catch up then. Whoever kills the least boars in 30 minutes has to pay for the other 2s food and drinks in the closest tavern in the game." Klein says matter if factly with a challenging smile. I feel one of my own creep on to my face and Kirito shares it.

"Sounds good to me." Kirito chirps.

"Looks like it's a battle for second place Klein. Good luck." I say before getting ready to run off into another direction.

"Wait." Kirito speaks up with one hand held up.

"Use the timer function in the settings. Set it for 35 minutes. That gives us 5 minutes to find a spot and then we have 30 minutes to kill as many boars as possible. Don't have to worry about cheating either because the game keeps track of the time stamps for when you kill things." Me and Klein nod and let Kirito guide us to the timer function, setting it to the predetermined 35 minutes.

"Alright as soon as this rock hits the ground we'll start our timers and take off." Once again me and Klein nod to Kirito's words and take running stances. The rock leaves Kirito's hand in a tight arch landing in between the 3 of us. As soon as I heard the sound of the rock hit the ground, I tapped the start button and took off. However what surprised me was that Kirito was just moments faster than me, but I just shook my head.

If Kirito barely has a faster reaction time than I do and I'm not even fully acclimated to the game yet, then I think I'm in a good spot. Each running off in 3 different directions, I eventually made it to a nice spacious clearing with no other people, but plenty of boars. I don't know respawn timers like Kirito, but I still feel I should kill as many as I can before the timer starts as well so I can level up.

That way even my normal attacks will be able to do decent damage and I won't have to rely on skills all the time. After all critical hits on weak points can be just as deadly from what Kirito told me. As an assassin I'm nothing if not efficient with aiming my strikes. It just changes from humans to monster. I had gotten to my spot with still 3 minutes left before our official timer starts so I narrowed my eyes and shifted to my ever familiar stance.

My blade in reverse grip up held in my right hand at chest level, out of instinct my left hand reached to my left thigh for my pistol but grasped air.

"Tsk." Annoyance at myself for the slip up, I just clench my left hand and raise it up beside my other hand in a martial arts pose, specifically Krav Maga.

(AN: I won't lie I know nothing about Krav Maga besides the fact it's one of the most lethal martial arts.)

The only thought running through my mind was that I wish I had a second dagger. Of course I wouldn't be able to dual wield in the way Kirito could, using sword skills with them both. But that's not a problem I was already planning to use sword skills as little as possible anyways. Looks like I have my next purchase planned out, my stats will obviously trend more to agility and speed.

Sizing up the first boar, I take off at a sprint towards it and get in several rapid cuts before it could even turn and counter attack. Exploding crystals signifying it's death and a screen telling me my xp gain. I minimize it and set it to stay minimized while I fight. It took 5 non skill slashes in crit locations to kill it, the first strike counting as a sneak attack giving another boost in damage.

I could only sigh to myself in slight annoyance and reluctant acceptance. Looks like there will be no one strike kills, I'll just have to get over it. All this contemplation and the kill of the boar has taken up 30 seconds of my 3 minutes, I'll need to pick up the pace. Next boar comes into sight and I test a set of 5 slashes and check the damage numbers that pop up with each slash, keeping a mental note on them.

Next boar receives a series, and the next and the next, when I finally level up I think back to which ones did the most individual damage, and settled on the 3rd one which coincidentally was the fastest as well. It was a swift stab to the back of the neck and as the boar flailed I ripped the blade out and in a fluid spinning arc I slashed at the bottom of the neck. Then flipping my blade out of the reverse grip I send 2 rapid stabs to the heart and lungs, before one final stab to the temple of the beast.

I have 1 minute left until the official timer starts, time to get to work. I overestimated the speed at which the boars would respawn, I realized I'd have to move around the area in a circle to be as efficient as possible. At the speed I was going, I could make a full circle of the field I was in and only have to wait a few seconds for the next set of boars to spawn. This gave me time to pop the starter potions you get and any potions the boars dropped. One thing that I was pleasantly surprised about was that another dagger dropped for me.

[Serf's Servitude]

It was a little stronger than the starter dagger, so I changed it to my main hand and swapped the starter to my left. Right hand held the dagger in a reverse while the left held it in a typical grip. With the level up and the inclusion of a second dagger the killing of the boars took less and less time. 10 minutes into the challenge I leveled up again to level 3, and it now only took 3 hits when I followed my boar killing pattern.

As the timer neared it's end my level up to 4 was also nearing, and it spurred me to push hard. I had been drifting slightly out of my zone into others just in the edge of other peoples grinding spots, but I was just far enough away and quick enough that they didn't notice me. I was able to kill one last boar before the timer went off, sadly I was still probably about 10 boars from leveling up to 4.

We all met up at almost the exact same time at the original spot and I could see a cocky grin on Klein's face as if he though he actually had a chance at winning.

"Alright I'll go ahead and go first." Kirito said and he pulled up his action log that keeps track of all his kills and xp gain. Our match had started at 3:30pm, but I did notice that like me he had killed quite a few before the scheduled time.

"Looks like I killed 125." He said, not giving away whether he was glad at getting that many or upset with not getting more. Klein's face dropped considerably and he sighed hopelessly. He had begun counting his up about halfway through Kirito's list.

"I only killed 53.." he said dejectedly with his shoulders slumped and me and Kirito both gave him sympathetic shoulder pats. Now it was my turn.