The Master Tactician - SAO Aincrad Arc X OC

First Impressions

A flash of light blinded me, and I entered the game. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in the middle of a large plaza. I tried to move, and sure enough, I was able to walk. As I looked around, I saw several players log in, and the ones that were already logged in before me were talking to each other. Filled with excitement, I ran around some shopping districts and eventually found myself out of town. As I was testing the combat system, I found it to be pretty unforgiving. At first I couldn't even beat a wild boar, but after some practise, I got the hang of it, and started killing monsters left and right.

During my little EXP grinding session I came across 2 players. A tall and skinny guy with black eyes, loose long red hair, a small goatee and a red bandana around his head. The other was a guy with medium length loose black hair with a bit of longer hair on his left side and black eyes. The red haired guy was trying to kill a boar, failing in a spectacular way over and over, while the other one was just watching him in amusement like me. I decided to try and approach them to see what they were doing, even though it looked pretty obvious.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked the black haired guy.

"I was just teaching this guy how to fight here. It's pretty entertaining watching him fail" he said with a light chuckle. The other guy noticed this and argued

"Hey, don't blame me, it's my first time playing. Who's this guy anyway"

"Oh, I haven't introduced myself. The name's JP, nice to meet you. But it was entertaining watching you get beaten up by the weakest monster in the game"

"Wait, that boar's the weakest!? This game's gonna be tough" said Klein with a worried look

"Hey, don't worry, we got this. My name's Kirito, and this guy's Klein" said Kirito "Anyway, you look pretty confident. Wanna try to kill that boar?" 

"Sure. I'll show you a thing or three" I said as I got ready. I immediately tried sneaking up on it and landed a vertical slash on its side. I already had some experience fighting the boar, so I knew it would turn around and charge. Just as I predicted, it charged at me. I quickly dodged and stabbed it from the other side, killing the boar.

"Dude, that was amazing! Were you in the beta test like Kirito? asked Klein amazed a such a simple feat.

"No, I wasn't. You know what, I think I'll hang around with you guys for a bit more. Since you're in the beta test, we can talk about potential game strategies while Klein struggles to beat an SAO goomba" 

We talked for a bit as Kirito taught Klein the basics.

"Hey, JP, if you weren't in the beta, why are you so skilled in the game?" asked Kirito

"I just figured things out as I went"

"But the combat system's pretty complicated. You must be pretty smart if that's the case"

"NOOOOooooo I'm not smart. I only had the best grades in my class and won an international academic competition" I said sarcastically. "Okay, but in all seriousness, I'm pretty good at figuring out patterns quickly and adapting based on that. The only thing is that I don't have good reaction time, so I have to rely on my guesses often."

"You know that's going to be a very big disadvantage in the future right?"

"Yeah, I've got to find ways to deal with that"

We talked for hours about the game, and past experiences. I got so interested in our little conversation that I lost track of time. By the time I noticed what time it was, I noticed that we spent 3 hours talking. Klein had only beaten 15 monsters by that time

"Hey, it's 5:25 P.M. We've been here for a long time" I told them.

"5:25!?" asked Klein with a shocked expression "I've got a pizza coming in 5 minutes. Sorry I've got to leave you here"

"No worries man. See you later" I said as we started walking off.

"Wait a second. Where's the logout button?"