Soon, a week had passed, and with everyone having the knowledge that their lives are literally at stake when fighting, Leveling up had become much more tedious, as everyone made 100% sure that they would beat their opponent before battling them. With this mindset, it drastically lowered the leveling pace for all Players, all except for Soren, and his family, and over this week, Soren had leveled up quite a lot, as well as his group, and on the day that it was decided to call a meeting for those who wish to participate in the Boss Raid, Soren felt he could solo the Boss by himself.
'Hmm… What is my Level right now?': soren
With this thought, Soren swiped his right hand down, and a White status screen appeared showing Soren's current status.
Name: Soren Class: Magic Swordsman
Level: 19
Exp: 468/11,000
Currency: $100,000
HP: 3,500/3,500 Stamina: 3,000/3,000 MP: 523,000/523,000
Skills: (MP OverLoad) (Killing Intent) (Basic Sword Skills) (Basic Elemental Magic) (Mana Imbue) (Advanced Sword Skills) (Advanced Elemental Magic) (Silent Step) (Leopard Step) (One-Handed Sword Skills) (Silent Cast) (A/N: I forgot to add his HP last Chapter, but here it is now)
'Hmm… The Floor Boss for the 1st Floor is Level 25, and I will reach level 20 after another day of half assed hunting': soren
Soren started going over all the information he knew from both the Anime as well as the Novel, and Manga of the SAO series, and due to Soren changing the whole concept of SAO, many things will have changed, but the Bosses should have stayed relatively the same, as the World hadn't changed, just the Monsters, and the Skills have changed. Soren then decided to go to the Colosseum and see what they found out about the Boss, and depending on what Soren could get from the conversation will be his deciding factor to help them, let them do it by themselves, or do it himself. Soren then went by himself, while leaving his wives and family at the town's Inn that they have been renting, as Soren didn't have any of his powers in the game world, and couldn't just erect a home wherever and whenever he wants, and just like that, Soren made his appearance at the meeting and caught sight of the one fans of the SAO series would call Jesus-kun, as well as his future lover hiding herself under a hood.
'Hmm… Asuna is a Mage? And Kirito, he picked the Hero Class… As expected of the protagonist of the SAO series… Everyone else seems to be either Hero's like Kirito, or Mages, and Warriors, while there are only a few Assassin type classes here': soren
Through Soren's scan, he noticed that nobody else had chosen Magic Swordsman like he did, and as he had yet to meet Kayaba's character, he didn't know if Kayaba was a Magic Swordsman or not. Soren then decided to stay and listen to the plan, and decided to take a seat just a little bit away from Kirito who wore the typical Hero's Armor that every Player who chooses the Hero Class get's the Quest for, and it's up to the Player to choose to do the Quest or not. Kirito, as well as a few others present who took on the Quest were wearing a White robe modeled after Ezio Auditore's Assassin Cloak with a White hood, and the whole outfit had Gold accents that gave off a Holy radiance, that played well with the Hero's Light Magic skills, as one was a Light Halo that granted the one the Halo floats over a Buff of Strength, Speed, and Agility for 1 Minute.
[So will you introduce yourself, or will you just watch me from afar?]: kirito
Soren was stunned that Kirito was able to sense that he was here for him, but decided to ignore Kirito and place his focus back towards the Blonde man in a Blue Hero's robe with Gold accents, and when Kirito saw that Soren was not going to answer him, he just decided to ignore Soren like Soren did him.
[I would like to thank you all for gathering here today, as this will be the meeting that decides the plan for defeating the 1st Floor Boss, and with the fall of this Boss will mark the first steps towards freeing ourselves from this game]: ???
Soren then listened to the guy who talked nothing but false Heroism as he just planned to take the final hit, and steal the best items, and progress himself alone. Soren then watched as some guy with Reddish Brown hair stood up, and went up to the front, and Soren noticed that he was the only Assassin Class present, and his attire looked similar to that of the Dark Brotherhood from Skyrim, and when the guy appeared on the stage, he just started spouting nonsense about how the Beta Testers were assholes, and they should feel bad for all the idiot who have died so far, as well as forfeit their items. Soren then let everything play out however it would, while not really putting much care into the plan being set, as it basically used the Hero's and Warriors as meat shields, while Mages, and other Long Range weapon users fought from the back, while only Mage Healers were protected, as that was their lifeline when fighting.
'So boring… I guess I'll fight it on my own, and if I get game over, so what, I'll just leave this world earlier than I planned': soren
Soren found that everyone would regather in 3 days after gathering up all the necessary supplies, mainly being Mana Pots, and Health Pots, and these potions would go to the Healers who would constantly be healing everyone. Soren then spent the next 2 days level grinding, and once he felt he was ready, Soren entered the dungeon, and searched for the Boss room, and after 3 hours of searching, Soren found 2 large doors that he could tell held the Boss of Floor 1, and with a little bit of strength, the doors were pushed open revealing a long corridor that was lit up with torches.
[So this is what the room looks like… I always knew Kayaba loved making the First floor of the 100 floor tower in the sky]: soren
Soren started down the corridor while reminiscing about how many days Kayaba spent making just the first floor, while every other floor after that was just finished as quickly as possible, and Soren felt that was due to Kayaba not expecting too many people to make it past the 20th floor, before everyone was dead. Soren then reached the throne room, and what he saw amazed even him, as there was a big pig-like kobold holding a mace in one hand, while a mage staff was hanging on his back, Soren then gave a smile, and started the fight.
[Come, show me what makes you the pride of Kayaba]: soren
Soren charged the Kobold Lord with his One-Handed sword, while covering it with the (Mana Imbue) Skill, and Soren watched as his MP decreased by 100 every second, and Soren began his onslaught of attacks. Soren then noticed that the Kobold had started to be covered in digital wounds, and soon, a deafening roar came from the Kobold Lords mouth, and Soren noticed the increase of Enemies in the room, as the Kobold Lord gave a slight smile, and the wounds started disappearing while his HP started to rise to full again.
[Fuck you Kayaba!... You just made him heal back 50,000 HP in an instant! How are normal Players ever supposed to kill him?]: soren
Soren then decided to use more than just Sword skills, and soon raised his sword in the air, while focusing his MP through the sword, while activating his Advanced Lightning Attack that happened to be an AOE Attack. This one attack devastated the Kobold Soldiers that were surrounding the Kobold Lord while giving him Healing, as well as Buffs, and once the Kobold Lord noticed that his back up had been destroyed, he let out an angered roar, and took his mace in hand again, and charged towards Soren, while smashing him into the floor, as he was still stunned from the MP drain for his skill.
[Fucking Hell that hurt!]: soren
Soren felt the pain as he felt it was the only proper way to experience the "Full Dive" in FDVRMMO, and not to mention he felt that those who had the pain nullified were just a bunch of pussies. Even though Soren could feel the pain of getting hit, it was still nothing compared to how it would actually feel, or how Soren felt after exploding himself from Energy overload when he was absorbing God Ki in the Dragon Ball World.
[This feels like a bug bite, and that's what you look like to me… Just a bug waiting to be squashed!]: soren
Soren then activated his (MP OverLoad) skill, and Soren's MP spiked to 795,000, as well as became full again, and Soren started using all the Advanced skills he possibly could, while focusing on keeping the Kobold Lord on him, and away from retreat.
[You dumb fuck… Time to meet your doom!]: soren
Soren then released all of the possible skills he could through a powerful and concentrated slash towards the Kobold Lord, and when the slash made contact, it sliced him in half, while showing a Red wound ring all around his body, but Soren wasn't done there, as he still had MP to use, and continued to throw out the same attacks, and after the 5th one, Soren fell to the ground from being out of both MP, and Stamina, while Soren's HP was bordering 0.
{Ding!... Congratulations to Player Soren for defeating the "Kobold King" Solo… Player will now be rewarded!}
Soren had fallen unconscious due to the lack of Stamina, and the next time he woke up, he was still in the Kobold Lord's throne room, but it was dark, and lifeless, as there was no longer a Core "Kobold King" keeping it alive. Soren then checked his status, as well as the recent notifications that came in when he defeated the Kobold King.
{Ding!... New Skills Added!... New Title Added!... Level Up! Level Up!...}
Name: Soren Class: Magic Swordsman Title: Solo Boss Killer
Level: 27
Exp: 180/200,000
Currency: $150,000
HP: 4,000/4,000 Stamina: 5,000/5,000 MP: 580,000/580,000
Skills: (MP OverLoad) (Killing Intent) (Basic Sword Skills) (Basic Elemental Magic) (Mana Imbue) (Advanced Sword Skills) (Advanced Elemental Magic) (Silent Step) (Leopard Step) (One-Handed Sword Skills) (Silent Cast) (Elemental Slash) (Blood Lust)
Soren looked over his new status, and felt a little proud, but this was still not even a Hundred Trillionth of Soren's powers in the real world, and this was what made video games like these fun for Soren. Soren then looked over the drop items and noticed that it dropped a Cloak that was Black in color, and matched Soren perfectly, as Soren's equipment was Black in color, so Soren put it on, and the went towards the 2 open doors right up the staircase behind the throne, and with that, Soren entered the Second floor, and quickly went to find the town and activate the teleportation stone.
[I guess its time to do some hardcore level grinding]: soren
Soren then began grinding levels, and after a few weeks, everyone else who planned on clearing floors caught up to him, and began to grind levels as well, and after a month passed, Soren hand made it to Floor 10 with a level of 35, as leveling past level 30 became 10 times harder, as well as the average monsters becoming like Mid level Bosses.
[So this is why it took everyone so long to Level up in the Anime, and Kirito was stuck in the 40's for quite some floors before he started leveling up again]: soren
Soren then spent the next couple of days helping his family Level up, while Zeno accidentally died, and left a bit earlier than everyone else, and Soren felt Zeno did it on purpose as fantasy elements like this were a daily occurrence for him, and all this was to him was an average day just in a simulation. Zeno then left the game, and when the helmet tried to fry his brain, the energy leaking off of Zeno destroyed the Helmet, and Zeno decided to explore the modern world, and see how advanced it was compared to the Dragon Ball World he lived in for quite some time.
[Alright guys, Zeno didn't want to play anymore, so he left early, if any of you don't want to stay, you can leave by suicide, and go back to the real world, but if you still think this is fun, you can stay here with me and play the game]: soren
Soren noticed that Zenith wanted to say something, but held himself back, while both Killua, and Gon were excited about playing this game that gave them a challenge after such a long time. Misha, Hancock, and Vados wanted to stay, as this was a new thing to them as well, and they could also spend time with their Husband, and fight alongside each other as equals instead of falling behind.
[We will stay and play!]: soren's group
Soren then took everyone out to the fields, and began grinding the Giant Wolfs that would spawn there, and after a few days, Soren got a message from one of the party leaders that tried to recruit him, but after declining, settled with being friends.
Message-
Hey, the Clearing team found the boss room for Floor 10, will you be showing up for the strategy meeting?, if you are, it will be held at XXX-XXX-XXX coordinates
-John
[I've never showed up to any of the meetings since the one on the First floor, so why would I show up to this one?... I will just join in as a Solo player, or wait until they clear it themselves]: soren
Soren had disregarded the message, and continued his level grinding in the White Wolf Forest that he was currently training in, and after a few days, Soren checked his Game Status to look for Improvement.
Name: Soren Class: Magic Swordsman Title: Solo Boss Killer
Level:35
Exp: 10,080/260,000
Currency: $785,000
HP: 9,800/9,800 Stamina: 10,000/10,000 MP: 600,000/600,000
Skills: (MP OverLoad) (Killing Intent) (Basic Sword Skills) (Basic Elemental Magic) (Mana Imbue) (Advanced Sword Skills) (Advanced Elemental Magic) (Silent Step) (Leopard Step) (One-Handed Sword Skills) (Silent Cast) (Elemental Slash) (Blood Lust) (Starlight Strike)
Soren was looking over the new skill that was added, and found it quite OP, as this was a move he created in the Ancient Saint World, but never really used, as there was no need to bring it out, and in the Game, it could be considered in the top 10 skills due to its description that shocked Soren.