3 Meeting Asuna

One month has passed since the game began, and in that time, over 2000 people had died and the boss room has not yet been found.

Madara has been doing great. Before the game began he put himself under a few genjutsus such as not feeling the need for food and sleep, so he had extra time and money compared to the other players. that coupled with his EMS, and he was by far the strongest in the game right now.(A/N:need for food and sleep are just psycological in SAO, madara won't lose hp for going too long without eating)

Madara had even gotten his first human kill, a simple thief who decided it was a good idea to mug him. Thanks to one of his genjutsus, he felt nothing by taking a human life.

Madara now is sitting at an amphetheater at the town nearest to the dungeon to the second floor, players have been reunited here today because the floor boss' room have been finaly located.

"Okay, lets get started people!" Said the blue haired man on the stage."thank you for responding to my summons today. My name is Diabel and my [job] is knight."

The players laughted at that.

"There is no [job] system in this game" Someone said.

Diabel then turned serious.

"Today, my party discovered the boss' room in the dungeon" That got people's atention.

'Oh, right. I'm the only one who knew what was happening today.' Madara thought.

"as you all know, we need to defeat this boss to reach the second floor and prove to everyone that it is possible to beat this game! Are you guys with me?!"

People cheered.

"Then without further delay, I'd like to get this boss-raid meeting started. First, I want you all to team up into parties of 6."

Madara looked arround to see everyone teaming up, until his eyes laid on a cloacked figure.

'Time to meet Asuna.'

Asuna was the love interest of the original Kirito, she focused on rapid and consecutive strikes of her rapier to slay her oponents. SAO was her first game, so she was a bit lost at the start.

Standing up from his spot, Madara walked towards Asuna and sat back down next to her.

"I see you are also without a party. Wanna team up?"

Asuna turned towards Madara but did not respond.

"I don't know about you, but I am a solo player, but we can't beat a boss by ourselves, and this team up will be just for this fight. So, what do you say?"

Asuna noded.

Manipulating the menu, Madara send the party invite and Assuna clicked the confirm button, making her HP bar apear bellow his own.

A few minutes later, Diabel continued.

"Okay, are you done forming your parties? Then-"

"Hold up a second!" Someone interrupted.

A man with brownish-orange, cactus like hair got on the stage and started talking.

"My name is Kibaou, and there is something I wanna say before we take on the boss."

'Here comes the stupid...' Madara sighted internaly.

"Some of you here need to apologize to the 2000 who have died so far! On the day this stupid game started, the beta testers ditched us begginers, they took all the good hunting spots and quests for themselves so they were the only ones getting stronger, and since then, they ignored the rest of us."

Kibou then pointed at the crowd.

"There's gotta be some beta testers here! We should make them get on their knees and apologize! And give us all the money and itens they have horded!"

A few moments of scilence followed, until a new voice broke it.

"May I say something?"

A giant of a man then steped on the stage and started talking to Kibou.

"My name is Agil, and I want to get this straight. Kibou, you are saying that because ex-beta testers diden't care for them, many begginers died and that they should take responsability, apologise and provide all their money and itens as compensation?"

"Y-yeah." Kibou confirmed.

Agil then took a small book from his inventory.

"You recieved this guide book too, diden't you? It was provided to everyone for free at the item store, after all."

"Sure, I got it. What about it?"

"It was the ex-beta testers who made and were distributing these."

The guide book Agil was talking about was very usefull, it contained many easy to complete quests, intricates of in-game mechanics, good hunting spots, warnings for dangerous locations and more. Agil had completly debunked Kibou's argument.

Of course, Madara had also contributed his two cents to the guide book, even if he limited himself to the knowlage he experienced himself during the beta, and the knowlage he bought from info brokers at the beta's end. His future knowlage from the anime woulden't be believed in anyway.

Agil then turned to the crowd.

"Listen up. Everyone had equal acess to this information, and yet, 2000 players died. I thought we were here to discuss on how to take on the boss, not on the inocence or not of beta testers. That is all."

Agil and a salty Kibou then went back to their seats.

"All right." Diabel then continued the meeting. "About the guide book Agil-san mentioned, it actualy contains info on the bosses from floor 1 to 3, acording to it, floor one's boss is called [The Kobold lord Illfang], he spawns with a group of [Ruin Kobold Sentinels], the boss is armed with an axe and a shield, he has 4 health bars, and when the last one reaches the red, he switches to a curved sword called talwar and his atack patern changes..."

The meeting continued, with Diabel assigning roles to the parties. Madara and Asuna's party was one of the ones in charge of clearing the [Ruin Kobold Sentinels]

"...Lastly, regarding item distribution." Diabel continued. "Money is automaticaly split equaly to all members, the [exp] automaticaly goes to the party that defeats the monster, as for itens, they randomly go to the members, with exeption of the last atack bonus that goes to the one who defeats the boss, so let's agree that whoever gets an item gets to be the one to keep it, any objections?"

No one voiced any objections.

"Okay, we leave tomorrow at 10AM. Dissmissed." Diabel then finished the meeting.

That night the players who would participate in the raid stayed in the city and prepared.

Madara found Asuna at the park eating a piece of bread.

"Those are not very tasty, are they?" Madara asked. "Mind if i sit next to you?"

Hearing no complain, Madara sat down next to Asuna.

Asuna moved a bit away from madara in a shy manner.

"Here, this will make the bread taste better." Madara then operated his inventory and materialized a small clay jar between the two of then.

Asuna tapped her finger on the jar and a blue light shone on her finger, she then passed her finger on the bread and a yellow cream apeared from it.

She looked at the bread unsure.

"Try it." Madara said.

After another second of hesitation, she takes a bite.

5 seconds later and the bread was no more.

Madara looked at her smugly.

"I see you like it. The cream is a reward from a repeatable quest called "The Heifer Strikes Back" one village behind us, if you ever want more."

"I did not come to this town to eat good food." Asuna said.

"Then why did you?" Madara asks, already knowing the answer.

"So I can still be me. I'd rather die as myself than lock myself in an inn back in the first town and rot away. Even if I am defeated to a monster and die, I will not lose to this world, to this game."

"That is a good answer. But still, I'd ratter a party member not dieing on me, so at the very least, try not to die."