Sword Art Online: Aincrad's Flash 10 Thieves!!???

After repeating this process several dozen times, they began to grow accustomed to the boars' attack patterns, and, even more importantly, their own capabilities. It became clear to both of them during this time that unlike most games where abilities, skill moves, and brute damage output reigned supreme, here, precise timing and reaction time were paramount to achieving success in combat, much like in real life. This realization, coupled with the vital experience that they so desperately needed, soon helped them grow more confident as their skills improved and the first day came to an end.
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That first night, however, proved equally as difficult.

Upon returning to the Town of Beginnings tired, hungry, and eager to find a place to sleep, Jae and Toyo soon found that during the course of their time outside learning to fight, most of the ten thousand players crammed within had wasted no time in renting out practically every cheap bed and available room in the taverns and inns scattered throughout the city. By the time the moon was up, the only places left with open rooms for the night were far too expensive for Jae and Toyo to afford.

Their meagre yield of Col dropped from the fallen boars, which they had thought sizeable not an hour before, now seemed to barely amount to anything.

Soon realizing that they had nowhere to sleep, they instead considered what they could afford: food. If they had to spend the night on the streets, Toyo had said, it might help to at least do so with full stomachs. Although at first tempted to agree, Jae soon shook his head after thinking it over.

"Even if we spent everything we had on food and ate to our heart's content," he said, "we would still be famished again come morning and stay that way all day. I think we should just sleep it off and save what we have for breakfast. Then we'll have more energy to keep at it with those boars until we get stronger."

Though reluctant, Toyo eventually acknowledged his point, and as the city went dark and eery silence settled over the maze of streets and buildings, the two of them began a quick search for a quiet, secluded place to bed down for the night. As they moved through the darkness, they soon caught sight of other unfortunate players already occupying various street corners or hunched over in secluded alleyways here and there. Thankfully, there weren't many of them, meaning that not all of the better spots would be taken, but there were enough to make the process of finding an unused area more time-consuming.

A chill set in then, bringing with it rain. The downpour was light at first, but as the minutes dragged by, it grew more and more heavy. Deep puddles formed along the main roads, dirt turned to ankle-deep mud, and by the time Jae and Toyo managed to take shelter beneath a small overhang above the bolted door to a carpenter's shop, they were both soaked to the bone and s.h.i.+vering against the cold.

As they hunkered down, both trying to stretch out as much as they could without exposing themselves to the deluge, rainwater soon began to drip from between the worn wooden boards of the overhang above. Unable to escape, they bitterly resigned themselves to the wet and simply curled up as best they could- which wasn't easy considering the mud and wood shavings they were lying on.

Toyo eventually fell asleep first, his hands acting as pillows beneath his head, his long blonde hair wet, dirty, and scattered across his face. His soaked beginner outfit, consisting of a simple cloth s.h.i.+rt, pants, and vest that were all torn, clung to him. He s.h.i.+vered as he slept.

Jae knew he didn't look any better, and he felt worse.

As he laid there that first night, cold, wet, hungry, and completely miserable, he opened his menu, went to the settings screen, and stared at it for a long time. Praying in hopeless desperation, he finally pressed the blank s.p.a.ce where the logout b.u.t.ton should have been.

Nothing happened.

After what felt like an eternity of wallowing in self-pity, Jae eventually closed his menu and managed to drift off into a s.h.i.+vering sleep.

They spent the second day grinding almost nonstop, only taking breaks long enough to eat and rest their weary arms. They fought with bitter resolve, determined to recoup what had been stolen from them. Now more confident in their swordsmans.h.i.+p and with an added level or two under their belt, they soon started travelling further afield, beyond the Level One outskirts inhabited only by boars.

Throughout the day, neither of them suggested what Jae knew they were both thinkings: that another player had gone into their menus while they slept, and stolen every piece of Col between them. Instead, they both agreed that an NPC must have done it. NPC thieves and rogues existed in every MMO game after all, usually always deliberately for the players, and it was certainly believable that Kayaba would do such a thing to make their lives just a little bit harder.

And yet, the thought that it might have been a player didn't fade in Jae's mind, and before the day was done, both of them agreed that no matter what it took, they would never sleep out in the street again.