(A/n the first chapter is a little slow as there is no dialogue, please try to at least read the first 2 or 3 chapters before making judgement as i will be the first to admit that this chapter is not my best work. thanks!)

(A/n: (6/17/13) Sup everybody I'm planning to rewrite the first few chapters of my story the same general thing will happen by I'm going to try to make it more exciting than the original was)

Kirito froze staring at the figure in front of him. The figure was similar to that of a GM with one difference; his face was nothing but darkness, as if they were staring at his very soul. In a way they were, Kirito knew that hiding behind that blackness was a man so depraved he was willing to take 10,000 people hostage just to play god. This was a man who he had once respected greatly, who had created the giant floating castle of Aincraid, this man, whose name, was Kayaba Akihiko.

Taking a step back in horror Kirito looked around, the rest of the crowd was reeling from what they had just heard. But it all made sense, every last detail. Kayaba had always talked about SAO like it was a real world; in every interview he had ever agreed to it was always Aincraid. It was never the virtual world or even SAO just always…Aincraid.

With a chill running up his spine Kirito realized it was. It was a real world in its own way just as the people saw the world through their senses they were seeing this world, this world that can kill, that can snuff out life. Yes this world was real but … it wasn't alive, this world was dead, stagnant. There was no life, no creation, just death. Instead it leeched off the life of their world; it had stolen 10,000 lives and only once conquered would it give any of them back.

Taking another step back Kirito swiftly turned and ran to the nearest exit, leaving the plaza behind, he swiftly opened his inventory. Kirito expected most people would wait for at least a couple days hoping for rescue before venturing out of town, so as result now was the best time to start training.

Some might say he accepted the death game far too easily and that he gave up on leaving so soon but that wasn't true. All throughout his life Kirito had always been of the opinion that it was better to prepare for the worst no matter how unlikely it was than to be caught off guard. So he would assume it was real and if in a couple of days they were let out he would laugh it off and feel no shame in trying, but, if he was right, if he really was trapped in a death game then he would survive. He would conquer this world, this cruel and unforgiving world.

Running swiftly to the weapons shop he quickly bought a spare sword and some potions before running to the edge of town. Swiftly charging the boars in the area he began to grind, boar after boar fell before the swordsman.

An hour later he paused opening his inventory, looking at his XP bar he saw that he was only 6% away from level 2. He was about to go back to grinding when he remember something. A special dungeon on the first floor, what made it so special was two things. It could only be entered if you were level one and only one person could enter at a time.

In the beta no one had been able to finish the dudgeon but if it was that hard then… it had to be worth it. He starting running dodging boars to avoid leveling up he ran into town, he then upgraded his second sword, the one with full durability, with the drops he had gotten off the boars. He didn't bother to repair his first sword as the fee for repairing it was much greater than what it was worth. Keeping his unenhanced sword out Kirito set off towards the dudgeon.

It took him around 20 minutes to arrive, normally it would have taken 10 but dodging around the boars had proven to be a tiresome, if mundane task. He looked at the entrance to the dudgeon taking a deep (and unnecessary, he reminded himself) breath entered the dudgeon. The second he was across the threshold the stone door slammed closed behind him. Since there were barely any teleport crystals till the fifth floor, he was, in a word, trapped. He checked his first blade's durability which was only 34/100

He would have to bring out his enhanced sword soon, looking up he charged into the dark tunnel ahead. The first part of the dudgeon was a maze filled with traps that thanks to his agile (if basic) character build he managed to successfully avoid. He even managed to find a rare healing crystal in a chest as well as some col and other items. Now came the hard part he thought, the mobs, slipping quickly through the narrow corridor he eventually arrived in a small room with three statues.

From his knowledge in the beta he knew they were actually level one mobs with high defense and good attack but bad agility. Wasting no time he slashed at the first statue with a basic sword skill stab the attack hit the statue square in the head and as the statues came to life and prepared to attack he saw with satisfaction that he had managed to reduce the first statues health to just under half of its total. Dashing back to dodge their initial attack he saw their stone blades get stuck in the ground. Kirito, taking advantage of their inability to attack launched a horizontal sword skill slicing all three in their outstretched arms. His attack left the weakest statue with barely a tenth of its health while the others hovered around at the 60% margin.

In the short recovery of the sword skill the statues recover attacking again with a heavy slash Kirito manage to jump back receiving a slight cut on the knee that reduced his health to 80%. Retaliating quickly he slashed out twice with his blade not bothering to use a sword skill on his weakened opponent.

In a flash of polygons the weakest statue shattered and he turned his attention to the remaining two statues. He then charged forward dodging their attacks by dashing to the side swiftly. He used the stab skill again and was rewarded with another flash of polygons he then chained the slash skill with a simple horizontal attack shaving a large amount of health of the final statue. Trapped in the cool down he only just managed to block the statues attack with his sword the sheer force nearly knocking him over. Without its sword stuck in the ground the statue struck again and Kirito parried easily, or he would have if his sword hadn't shattered into polygons. "Shit" Kirito stated matter-of-factly before dodging the blade of the statue by jumping into its guard. He was now face to face with his enemy and on an idiotic impulse Kirito dealt a barehanded strike to the statues stomach which surprisingly caused it to shatter into polygons.

Level UP! : Challenge completed a second popup came up after the first. Challenge Name: stone fist description: defeat an enemy with twice or more your defense using your fist. Reward: 230, EXP 200 col and a second handed weapon Cats claw.

This was another function of Sword Art Online; there were various challenges requiring characters to do difficult and often time consuming things in exchange for a reward which generally included some XP, col, and occasionally an item.

Kirito quick opened his inventory and examined the new weapon he had received. Equipping his upgraded sword he then selected the claw and, in a flash of polygons, a claw appeared on his left hand revealing 3 iron blades attached to a gauntlet on his hand. Smirking, he quickly distributed his stat points and then smirked. Thanks to the challenge bonus and the Mobs he was only 40 % away from the third level.

He continued through the labyrinth heading deeper and deeper into its depths. He leveled up once more before reaching the end of the dudgeon, the door to the mini boss was right ahead of him. Looking at his health bar he saw it was only just above 50%. Sighing he sat down waiting for it to regenerate on its own instead of wasting one of his precious healing potions.

He looked down at himself or more specifically his equipment. The claw had proven to be useful in combos but he would still have preferred a second sword as its reach and defensive capabilities far exceeded the thin, but sharp, claws. On the bright side they helped reduce the damage to his sword by allowing him to expend their durability instead of that of his sword.

Checking over his equipment's states, he frowned slightly. His sword was at 60/120 durability while the claws were at 345/500. Sadly the weapon he preferred had such a fragile disposition compared to the claw. He sighed and stood up opening the boss room door. It led to a moderately sized but dark room lit only by a few candles and torches giving it an eerie atmosphere.

"Here we go" Kirito stated walking carefully forward into the room. Just as he reached the center there was a blood curdling roar as a cloaked figure charged from the darkness in front of him. It proceeded to swing a large deadly looking scythe directly at him. Dashing backwards Kirito swiftly avoided the attack before jumping forward and slashing at the monsters face with a horizontal. The Boss, with surprising agility, dodged the attack swiftly jumping back several feet. Kirito then took a second to examine the boss, the name read Death's Lieutenant. It was level 7… "Ooh crap" Kirito stated glancing back the door which had closed behind him "this is gonna take a while"

-30 minutes later-

"Damn it" Kirito panted in the last 30 minutes he had gone through one of the hardest fights (since he was level 3) in his MMO career not that that mattered now, he had won, barely, dropping to one knee unsteadily he looked at his remaining health; 21/500 just one more hit and he would have died.

Breathing heavily Kirito stood up before looking at the items that were dropped by the boss 20,000 col, 6000xp (he was now level 7 now), the coat of the specter, and the … devil's blade. Quickly opening his inventory he began examining his new items starting with the coat. Increases defense by 40% and increases the following skills by 20%: one-handed swords / two-handed swords/ hiding/ tracking/ coolness/seduction (A/N if only). Adds special skill assassination penetrates all armor on all enemies if you attack before detected negating all defense.

"Epic" Kirito said "this will be good enough for ,well the entire game, the skill ups are great although I'm not sure about the last two, but I'll take it." He said equipping it, the nightmare black coat fit his style preferences perfectly and was the perfect length.

Moving on to the new sword he frowned it had the same stats as his current blade but there should be something special about it, it is a boss drop after all. Skimming through the summery his eyes focused on one sentence -Feeds off the souls of the damned, this blade grows stronger for every monster or player you kill with it , the stronger the monster the more it grows , its potential is nearly limitless. –Sword stats level one XP: 0%

Kirito froze rereading that sentence over and over. "Hmhmmh ahhahah" Kirito let out a laugh that was borderline psychopathic, the sounds of his laughter rebounded off the walls of the chamber filling the entire labyrinth with dark laughter. "*cough* err, um, I mean sweet" Kirito remedied once he realized he sounded like a cliché villain that would probably die in the end. Equipping the sword he exited the dungeon.

(A/N: was the rewrite better? Worse? If you think the original was better tell me, though I doubt it was, and I'll put it back.)