(Y/N) POV
After the first-floor boss was killed, the other floors were much faster to be cleared. Right now we have reached floor 16, I shouldn't say us though.
After all, I haven't been in a single raid since Max was killed.
Many of the other players look up to the people who clear the floors, we call them the assault team. The assault team was formed to bring hope to the players on the lower floors.
If only they knew what a boss fight was like.
Watching your friends get killed by emotionless beasts...I wouldn't don't wish that fate on anyone.
Instead of joining up with the assault team, I've been levelling up. Day after day, the only thing you catch me doing is grinding, eating and sleeping.
I've shut myself off from everyone else. I mainly level at the floor under the front lines. Today was like any other day, I just reached level 33
When I was about to leave when someone called out for me.
Naturally, I went to investigate, behind a tree a saw someone sitting on the ground.
"Hello? Do you need any help?" I ask them as they remain quiet
When I got closer my already broken heart broke even more. Sitting there was Max.
"Max" I call out
"is that really you?"
Max didn't move, I went to hug him but instead, I face-planted into a tree. When I stood back up he was gone.
It must be an illusion...I'm going crazy.
I started walking out of the dense woods I was in. When I arrived in town, I saw Agil walking toward me.
Ever since the floor 1 boss battle, me and Agil have been talking a little
I wouldn't call us friends by any means, but the big man comes by to check up on me every now and then.
Agil looks really intimidating...I guess anyone who's 6 feet is intimidating...the giant axe on his back doesn't help either.
"Hey man, you know you need to talk to people," He tells me as we walk around town
I just look at the ground and continue walking
"I talk to you," I mumble
"I don't count, If you keep on like this, you'll never get over the death of your friend," he says following me.
"What do you know about it, it's not like you know what I'm going through," I say sharply
"I may not, but there's a chat group that does" he responds
"If you're interested the chat is called MindSword and the password to it is 8327s429dkiolm." He finishes as I look at him bewildered
"Can I get that on paper?" I say as he cracks a smile
"I'll check it out later," I tell him to get him off my back. He wrote the password on a piece of paper
I walk into the Inn I'm staying at and stroll to my room.
I flop on my bed after a hard day of levelling up. I try to sleep but Agils words keep echoing in my head. Honestly, I've tried everything I could to rid myself of this feeling, it's unbearable.
I figure since I'm not going to get to sleep anytime soon, why not try out this group. I open my menu and scroll to chats, I input MindSwords in the search bar. I click the only result that comes up. I find that only 7 people are in the chat, how did Agil come across this information? I hit join and put in the password
Fuji: Look, another has joined
Jam: Hello!
If I had a phone I'm sure I would track Agil down and shove it up his ass. Who the hell does he think I am. However, this is what I was expecting.
(U/N): yo
Jam: ever since your here, I figure that you lost someone close to you?
(U/N): yea
Jam: will don't be afraid to talk about it, all of us have lost someone too.
(U/N): hmm
Punisher: we fit together like peanut butter and jam!
(U/N): funny(not)
Qweep: funny guy aren't ya
(U/N): my comedic level is off the charts
Liz: we all noticed
(Quick Auther Note, Liz Isn't Lisbeth. Liz is an Orginal Character)
I talked to them for quite some time until I was tired beyond belief.
Agil was right I guess, it feels good to talk to people again, even if it's in words and not face to face.
I guess they have a policy to not meet up, I'm not sure why but it's there.
There are 8 people in the chat: Jam, Fuji, Qweep, Liz, Punisher, Harry, looky and of course myself.
Jam seems to be the head of the group, she by far talk the most and she has the most self-confidence.
Meanwhile, Fuji is very awkward toward me and says some strange stuff.
Qweep, well the name says it all he is a dweep.
Liz seems to be like the underaged mother of the group, she keeps everyone in line and makes sure everyone is alright. In fact, she is probably the most kind player I've met in the game so far.
Punisher is well.....should I say...... a hard ass? not on others but himself.
Harry is an assault team member and is quite easygoing.
Finally, we get to Looky, she mainly just watches people which is a little creepy.
This little group has similar experiences to what I have had, it's hard to believe how people deal with stuff differently.
This little ragtag group is probably the best thing that has happened to me since Max died, and I couldn't be happier.
After a few weeks, we really bonded to each other with our similar experiences.
Jam came in with her boyfriend, but he died on floor 5 when they came across some high-level player killers. Since then she has devoted herself to removing high-level player killers from lower floors.
This gave her a reason to keep playing, and she was happy doing it, it gave light to her dark world. That's the reason why she started this group, to help those who are badly mentally hurt
Fuji is a NEET(Not in Education, Employment, or Training) which explains her slight awkwardness. When she came in, she meets with a bunch of players who she had known for years on another game. When they found out about SAO being a death trap they all committed suicide leaving Fuji behind alone.
Qweep, Punisher, and Harry all have story's that match mine
Looky heard that her crush was playing SAO, so naturally, she wanted to play with him. But things went south, a month after the death game started he died. Looky had a mental breakdown that lasted for weeks until she found out about this chat
And Liz, well she came in with her whole family, and I'm sure you know what happened. She has no one to come home to.
I loved talking with everyone, they all are so sad but we have so much fun with all the others. I slowly found myself rushing to get my quota of 10'000 XP a day done so I could talk to them.
Everything was going great, that was until around the time floor 27 was cleared