SAO (Sword Art Online)

Aincrad, First Arc

In the year of 2022, a teenage boy named Kazuto Kirigaya enters the virtual world of SAO (Sword Art Online) using the name Kirito. This game is a VR (Virtual Reality) game that employs the recent FullDive technology to create an ultra realistic world in which the player moves around like he or she would in real life.

Kirito was one of the 1000 beta testers for the game, and the story begins as Kirito logs into the game for the first time when the game goes onto the open market with another 9000 copies.

Kirito met a young man named Klein, who had just began playing the game, and helped him better understand game mechanics and defend himself. Soon afterwards though, Klein attempted to log out, and Kirito and him discovered that log out button was missing.

Then, a system command brought all the players into a large open-roof building, and the administrator and game creator/designer, Kayaba Akihiko, revealed that the missing log out button was a "feature" of SAO, where death in-game was death in real-life.

Kayaba Akihiko, addressing the players as a GM (Game Master).

Kayaba then revealed that the only way out of the game was to defeat the final boss atop the 100th floor. As he finishes the speech, Kirito resolved to go to the next village to begin making progress (EXP, money, etc.) and invites Klein along, but Klein declines due to his obligation to help his friends.

Soon after, the players were preparing to take down the 1st boss. At the conference meeting, a player named Diabel breifed the players on the plan and told them to find groups. Kirito, being a solo player, did not have any acquaintances, and decided to pair up with a hooded girl named Asuna (who also did not have a group).

On the way to the dungeon, Kirito taught Asuna about the "Switch" system, which swapped players out to have a more effective formation and threw off enemy adaptation to individual battle styles. They end being assigned to the E Group (the rear guard), which was responsible for fending off the boss's minions.

When the boss's HP dropped into the final bar (red), Diabel commanded everyone to hold back while he assaulted the boss himself.

Kirito, who noticed this peculiar deviation from the original plan, then took account of the boss's new weapon, and yelled at Diabel to jump back. However, Diabel had already assaulted the enemy, and was soon fatally injured.

Rushing over, Kirito realized that Diavel was a beta tester like him, and had wanted the last attack bonus. Diabel, in final moments, told Kirito to help the others clear the death game. As he broke into polygons, Kirito attacked the boss in rage in a joint effort with Asuna, whose hood was blown off to reveal waist-length chestnut hair with matching eyes. Finally, the first floor boss was defeated, and the players cheered in their victory.

However, one of the players reminded them that they had lost their leader. A player named Kibaou then complained about this matter, accusing Kirito of being a beta tester who withheld boss information from the others.

Kirito, wanting beta testers and normal players to work together in harmony, directed the hatred onto a new group, "beaters", defined as "beta testers who cheat", with him being one of these scapegoats, and only Asuna and another beta tester named Egil understanding his intentions.

(The following up till the 74th floor are side stories found in Volume 8 of the light novels, and are used as filler episodes in the anime)

Kirito soon runs into the Moonlit Black Cats, a guild that he had saved from destruction. The guild decides to recruit Kirito, but he keeps his true level a secret from them.

(UNFINISHED, I apologize for any inconvenience, and in the future this will be expanded ^.^)