Hi, this is my first fanfiction, I hope it works out. I am sorry if it is extremely cringy but I would like constructive criticism for obvious reasons, anyway, let's get into it.

I wish more people would do xArgo ships, I love the idea, Argo is a really underused character.

I do not own Sword Art Online, or any of its characters, I do own this Oc.

I was in my room looking at my computer, I was waiting for the launch of the game Sword Art Online, I got the game later than most considering the game's official opening is in five minutes.

But I guess it doesn't matter, I have it now. Luckily, I got there when there were only three copies left, well the only reason that there was any left anyway was because the cashier was hiding them for him and his little siblings, but oh well that's not my problem.

It was now 12:57. I already double checked everything, God why does time need to pass so slow, I am considering getting something to drink, nah I don't want to risk being late for the launch, the guy who made the game is really something else though, to think this is even possible.

I would never have guessed anything like this could ever exist, but it shows what I know, well I am fourteen so it's not like I pay attention to that stuff to begin with, oh it's 12:59. I should probably put my nerve gear on.

I got off my chair next to the desk and went to my bed. I picked up the Nervegear, and put it on my head. Then I layed down, I tried to calm myself because my heart rate was high, I mean really this is my first MMORPG so of course I am excited. 'Damn lucky Beta testers.' I thought.

Then finally at 13:00 (Or 1:00Pm) I closed my eyes. "Link start!" I saw a flash of colors pass by me then what seemed to be my senses being registered and confirmed. 'So, it seems all my senses will be implemented, cool.'

I am then brought to an avatar creation screen. I expected as much, there were a lot of options though. "Okay decisions, do I go for an edge lord? Nah in the past I may have but I matured fast, I was already done with my 'phases' by the time I was ten."

"Then all black is out, I also used to like it but nowadays I like gray and white, maybe some black, but that's not the point." I decided to pick my own hair color, a brown color. I chose a style a little longer than my own, so it went down to my chin and nabe of my neck.

I did have bangs, but it somehow avoided my eyes, which I should not be surprised by because my hair did the same thing. Anyway, I then chose dark blue eyes, once again like my own but my eye colors can change from blue to hazel depending on the lighting, but I do not mind that much.

I chose my face shape to be a little more masculan than my own because somehow, I can get confused for a girl, which I have no idea how, I don't even think I look like one, but oh well.

I finished my adjustments (A/N I am not Japanese, so I had to adjust things like height.) I made myself 180cm tall (5'9) from my normal 170 (5'5) I was not that tall but not too short, well anyway enough of that I was happy with my avatar, now onto the weapons, I was now shown a lot of options, but I ruled out things pretty quick.

"The two-handed sword is good for damage, but I am not into heavy damage, plus those things are too slow for me." I then looked next to it and saw the one-handed sword and put that away for later, I checked the others.

"The mace uses too much blunt damage, an axe is better than a two-handed sword for damage but way slower, hatchets are quick but it's too large, for any good damage." I kept looking and soon found something that interested me.

"A dagger? It's small and does not do as much damage as others, but then again it is really light, so it is viable. I finished looking through my options. The only other thing catching my eye was a katana, but I know about their low durability.

So that lowered my options to two potential weapons: a one-handed sword and a dagger. "Okay so this just comes down to if I like damage or speed more." In my life I was always a heavy hitter and never really good at things like dodging, so why not give it a try, I can always change it later if I want to.

I selected the dagger and confirmed everything. The last part was to make a name and password for this account, I put the same password as I do for every website but slightly different. And I was about to put a name but then something came to mind, I liked the idea, so I put that in instead.

[Welcome player 'Koku' to Sword Art Online]

The name sounded fine, but then I thought I heard someone laugh, I looked around, but no one was there. 'Strange' Anyway, more colors passed by, and I was in the game, I looked around and was amazed. I used virtual reality before, but this was something else, my vision was way better than in any other game.

Well maybe that's because I was never good at adjusting settings. My eyesight is actually pretty good, but game graphics you know. But this is on another level, but then I realized I may want to get to questing and stuff, but I have no idea how to play.

Now normally that would not be a problem, but the problem here is this is a VRMMO not your run-of-the-mill video game. So, this would be more difficult, I looked around to see if maybe someone has figured it out so I can ask and skip a step, it's better to ask than to figure it out on my own, well faster.

I saw some guy with red hair running into an alley which was totally not suspicious but then I saw a guy to my left flirting with a girl that was most likely a dude, because some people love to screw around with others like that. But still not the point.

I followed the guy into the alley, then I saw him stop. I hid behind a crate, because for all I know they are weirdos who will drag me into something terrible, like standing still for them while they throw crap at me.

Anyway, I only got the tail end of their conversation. "My name's Klein, good to meet ya." he pointed to himself, he looked cool, or what he thought looked cool, to me it looked like a twenty-four-year-old trying to befriend a fifteen-year-old, I don't know how old they are though so I can't say much.

"Alright, I'm Kirito." he put a hand on his waist. And he smirked. 'He seems confident, if I had to guess he was either an extremely cocky player, or a beta-tester no one looked like that and they're normal'

I frowned, if they were a beta-tester they would know somethings I don't which is good. However, it's a double-edged sword, I don't want to get caught watching them, and if he is a beta-tester like I think he is then chances are he will catch me trying to watch, which could end one of two ways, either he is cool about it and lets it go, or he kills me.

I am not about to risk it though, I am very cautious about things, so I just waited for them to leave, and I went back into the street. I wanted to learn more about this game so I left in a random direction because no one would show me good hunting spots unless they were idiots.

"Ah!" I got hit back from a boar. "Damn how did I get into this mess?" I remembered I went looking in a random direction then I found this guy with a marker above his head, he told me to kill five boars, so I thought why not? I followed where it told me to go and attacked one of them.

The bad part was when it did not die, I stabbed it in the head and that did not even take half its health! It charged at me, and I parried to the left and stabbed into its neck then kicked it away, when it landed it shattered.

I got exp and col for that, I will take a shot in the dark here and guess col is this game's currency. Not a lot of exp I did not level up which I expected as much, I walked over to another then it launched itself at me, I jumped to my left and it just barely missed me, I wondered why the first one did not attack when it saw me.

But then I remembered how much of an idiot I am. I came from behind it, oh well you live and learn. It charged again but I stabbed it in the face then drop kicked it in the neck that took barely more than half its health. I will need to upgrade my attack strength, it charged at me then I prepared.

I was on the ground panting, that took a lot out of me for some reason, or maybe it's because of my habit to not dodge in time. Yeah, that seems more likely. Well in any case I leveled up so now I need to figure out how to make my character, I remember high attack and speed builds were recommended.

So, what did I do? I made my speed higher than my attack, not by much mind you, I only leveled up once because who needs health when you can dodge, I hope I would not regret that decision.

The sun was setting already, oh on a good note, I learned how to use sword skills, the way you use them is kind of a just feel for it to charge kind of way, well it's hard to explain if you have not experienced it like I have anyway the one I learned helped a lot, with it I could not kill a boar with a critical charge, followed by a hit, it did not need to be critical anymore which is good.

It's addictive in a way, the way you move your body while you fight feels amazing, of course this makes me think of pvp and how that is, I am not a huge fan of pking but I did it in other games for fun so who cares.

I was thinking I should get off for today, see if anyone would share any info, because people who do that for free and openly are fools, I can only respect those who actually take that role seriously, but this is a game where the strongest right now is maybe level three.

I chuckled at that, I was level two so hey, I'm not that far behind, well anyway I should get off, don't want to get my family angry, so I decided to turn in for the night, so I opened my menu, went to settings and pressed log- wait…

'Where the hell is the logout button, I swear if this is a prank by the devs, it's kinda funny but some people may need to leave.'

My heartbeat increased. 'No, I am smarter than this, and I have a bad feeling, the last time this happened I was jumped by seven people.'

At that moment my mind raced through the possibilities, but I could not come up with anything that makes sense, well then, I thought of something, when I did my blood ran cold. 'No, I am freaking out over nothing, chances are it's just a bug, first day out of beta so there are bound to be some.'

Just then I heard a bell ringing in the distance, I turned to look at it then suddenly I was transported to the main plaza, I looked around and saw a bunch of other players getting teleported here too, so I hoped they would be addressing the bug, if not then we're screwed.

Just then a red hexagon appeared in the air that said error, and then more appeared saying system announcement if my eyes were correct, it was high so I don't know for sure, but all I know is the people around me are getting freaked out, and to an extent I was too, however, I controlled myself so, I could focus on what was happening.

The hexagons covered the sky and red liquid that kind of looked like blood seeped from it forming a giant red cloak. I heard from my right someone say "What the hell is that thing?"

Then it opened its arms then started speaking.

"Attention players, I welcome you to my world, my name is Akihiko Kayaba, and as of this moment I am in control of this world." I knew that name from somewhere, but I couldn't remember, I think he made something, oh wait the creator of this game, right.

"I'm sure most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus, the logout button." He then opened his menu, with his left hand. Wait what.

"I assure you this is not a defect in the game, I repeat this is not a defect, this is how Sword Art Online was designed to be." That same feeling of my blood freezing over came back.

"You will not be able to log out of Sao, and no one from the outside will be able to remove the nerve gear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the nerve gear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life." So, nerve gear goes so do we, nice totally what I needed.

People started to mutter not believing him. "Despite my warning the friends and families of some have attempted to remove the nerve gear, an unfortunate decision to say the least, as a result the game now has two hundred thirteen less players than when it began, they've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world."

'That many? Do people not learn, this is one thing I hate, people making the same stupid decisions over and over despite warning.' A ton of screens started showing up.

"As you can see a ton of social media outlets have round the clock coverage of everything, including the deaths at this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of a nerve gear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game." 'Clear the game? Wait, that can only mean one thing.'

"It's important to remember the following, there is no longer a way to revive in this game, if your Hp reaches zero your avatar will be deleted, and you will die." Damn it!

"There's only one way to escape now, you must clear the game. Right now, you are on the lowest floor but if you can keep advancing and defeat the boss on floor one hundred and you will clear the game." People started muttering, but I grinned, I knew the chances of me dying are high, and I was okay with that. I was not suicidal or anything but if my time came, I would accept death with open arms.

"Last but not least I have placed a present in the inventory of every player please have a look." 'Great what now?'

I opened my menu and went to my items and saw it and I was a little confused, I took it out, and it was a mirror I looked into it then a bunch of people started glowing, Including me.

Next thing I knew everyone looked different, I knew what happened immediately, I looked into the mirror and saw a mix of blue and hazel eyes looking back at me. 'Knew it.' I was 170cm (5'5) again with my slightly feminine face, and darker brown hair that now made it halfway down my face and only down to my neck, still had bangs but not in my eyes, for some magical reason.

I remember needing to touch all over my body, that makes sense now I guess. "Right now, you're probably wondering why? Why would the creator of Sword Art Online do this? Ultimately my goal was simple: the reason Is so I could control the fate of a world of my design. As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial, the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck."

He disappeared back into the sky and then It was back to normal. Everyone was silent. But then some girl screamed which caused a domino effect then everyone started to freak out. I knew I had to get out of here before shit started to go even further south than they already had. Everyone started screaming and panicking.

The barrier opened, I darted out of there getting as far away as I could, luckily, I was faster than everyone who had the same idea I ran through alleys, knowing I had to leave this town, I knew people would start taking quests like crazy so I had to take a huge risk jump, but it would be worth it. I would be careful taking easier missions, but I had to get strong to not die. I knew I did not fear death, but I also did not crave it.

I was sprinting out of the city, at full speed, I could not see anyone else, and I hoped that was a good thing, I had no friends, and In this situation I could not trust anyone, I want to because other people made things easier, but if this is going the way I think it is then maybe that way of thinking is wrong, I can only trust myself, anyone else would get in the way.

I would go to a further town, people would go to the closer ones, I needed to get there, I do not plan on dying yet, so becoming stronger is the only way I am going to have any chance in this world, I had a map, some gear, but that will not be enough, I will need more, I will need as much power as I can get, I smirked, knowing full well how much of a driving force a life and death scenario can be after all, I have faced one before.

So that was the first chapter, I did hide in some foreshadowing if you noticed, anyway tell me how I did, and follow Koku on his journey to be the strongest and his descent into insanity.