Writing Exercises

What If: SAO

"Sword Art Online..." A young man thought to himself.

[HEAVENLY STRIKE!]

SHING!

Instead of blood spraying violently, pixels flew through the air in a perfect arc, before his opponent's body shattered like glass, dying in one hit.

The man swung his blade, flicking off imaginary blood, before sheathing the katana.

"What a beautifully unbalanced, buggy mess..."

Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

//Launch Day//

"Much like the world of warcraft, none of you are here by choice anymore!"

"Is this going where I think it's going?" Our protagonist sighed.

Y/N "HE WILL NEVER COME CLOSE TO DYING" L/N

Y/N listened to the game's creator ramble on about his master plan of trapping everyone and the only way to escape was to beat the game. Y/N knew better though. He had the voice of a desperate man grasping at straws.

"Good thing that one exploit wasn't patched. I'm gonna abuse the shit out of everything."

"If you die in the game, you die in real life!"

"WHAAAT!?" A voice called out from the crowd of around 10,000 players

"Uh, sometimes, things are born, they live, and then they stop. FOREVER!"

"WHAAAT!?"

The giant robed guy facepalmed. "10,000 players and none of them had a brain?"

"Oi, just use a movie clip as an example!" Y/N shouted.

"OOH! YES! Excellent idea! Any of you seen Scanners?"

Utter silence.

"S-Scanners? Know wha-hold on."

"O-okay! That was Scanners, so basically that!"

"AUDIBLE GASP!"

"OMG! IF WE DIE IN THE GAME WE DIE FOR REAL!"

"Gonna keep that tabbed. Thanks for the suggestion random player! Oh! I disabled the profanity filter, so have fun!"

The robed man slowly turned into red mist, and the red sky abruptly changed back to its normal blue.

Y/N was halfway out of the town before he heard the other players finally react.

"WE'RE FUCKED!"

////

Y/N was one of SAO's beta tester's. During the beta test, he discovered many useful exploits, and the game's anti-cheat was a buggy mess. Obviously, he never reported these exploits, opting to keep them to himself.

After an hour, he powerleved his smithing to max level and created himself a busted earlygame weapon, "The Washpole". It had a special buff that increased the damage of the user's first strike.

How useful is that exactly? Well, considering the fact that all Katana's already have a significant damage boost on the first strike, and the [HEAVENLY STRIKE] Sword Skill had some incorrect values, he could oneshot most things with his current gear up to floor 22, and that's without any equipment bonuses.

Kayaba sucks at game development.

SHING!

Y/N's Washpole easily cut through the first area boss, an abnormally large pig named Boarnabus.

"Oh hell yeah! Kayaba really made the skill flashier and didn't fix anything!"

Obtained: Mythril Pebble of Pig Smiting

"Oh, hey. Rare drop. Can't wait to dupe this and crash the economy."

"What!? We were beaten here!?"

Y/N turned to the newcomers, a couple wearing their starting gear.

"Wait, I remember you from the beta test! You were that dude that Just fucked around on the lower floors and roleplayed."

Yes. Y/N did dabble in some RP.

"Hmm? Do you have business with me?" Y/N spoke in character.

"Yeah!" The girl spoke up. "Hand over that rare drop!"

"Y-Yufie!? You don't want to mess with him."

"Why not? You said he just RP'd. What harm can he do."

While the two bickered, Y/N's eyes narrowed. Approaching them with his left hand on his sheath, the man panicked.

"C-crap! S-so sorry, please forgive her!"

"Duck."

The man immediately obeyed, pulling his girlfriend to the ground.

[HEAVENLY STRIKE]

The couple watched in awe as the pixels flew through the air. It was a beautiful, yet deadly sight.

"ACK! H-how?" The PKer shattered, turning Y/N's cursor red.

"Be more careful you two. Never know when a thief is around." Y/N spoke in character. While sheathing his blade.

"Y-you killed him...H-he's really dead..."

"And you would be too. You shouldn't dwell on the scum of society." Y/N absentmindedly distributed his skill points into Dex and Vig.

"He's so scary..." Yufie whispered to her boyfriend.

"I'll let you two have this grinding spot. And take these health crystals." Y/N opened the trade menu and gave them some healing items. "Not like I need the levels."

The couple just watched as Y/N turned around and walked off.

"He's so cool!" The guy broke the silence once Y/N was gone.

////

Had this idea for a while an this book was the perfect opportunity to do it. I doubt I'll make a full story, but might do bits and pieces.

You spent three weeks in Okinawa and this happened.