A few things about the story and its setting are worth explaining up front.
If you notice an actual mistake, inconsistency, or bug in the story, feel free to point it out.
The first few chapters do not contain much actual Sword Art Online content.
They mainly establish the protagonist’s motivations and goals.
Longtime SAO fans may find some of it familiar, since a fair amount covers things you probably already know, so those sections can be skimmed if necessary.
The opening chapters include information from the original Sword Art Online novels, establish parts of the timeline, and give a general overview of how the real-world side of this story works.
For now, the story may focus exclusively on Sword Art Online rather than covering the other entries in the franchise.
That could always change someday, but SAO itself is the primary setting.
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Canon Characters and Their Roles Aside from characters who are necessary to the story, the amount of involvement certain canon characters receive may vary.
Some characters may play major roles while others appear only briefly, depending on how the story develops.
More details will be provided when they become relevant.
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Currently Available Character Information about the Protagonist Name: Henshi Shindo Japanese: へんし・しんど Romanization: Henshi Shindo Age: 15 at the start of the SAO Incident, at 1:00 p.m.
on November 6, 2022.
He is 17 by the time the incident ends, making him the same age as Asuna.
Gender: Male Obviously.
Birthday: October 10 — Libra Height: 176 cm Weight: 56 kg Occupation in the real world: Middle school student, paid game grinder, professional shut-in Measurements: Huh?
What’s wrong with you?
(｢･ω･)｢ Hey.
Character traits: Has a serious weakness for girls with long, straight hair; hopelessly dense when it comes to romance; shouts the names of his attacks during battle—but only when the move is cool enough to deserve it; moderate defense with high attack power; and possesses a truly terrifying talent for flirting without realizing he is doing it.
In-Game Information Player ID: Shindo (しんど) Build: Swordsman — Katana user Weapon: Odachi — Splitter: Elucidator Extra Skill Progression «Meditation» — Basic ↓ «Awakening» — Advanced form of «Meditation» ↓ «Stance Blade» — Personal Unique Skill ↓ «Entering Blade» — Advanced Sword Skill; single-hit thrust with a knockdown effect ↓ «Ranra» — Advanced Sword Skill; eight-hit combo ↓ «Thousand Cuts» — Highest-tier Sword Skill; sixteen-hit combo Original Sword Skills ???
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Ending This story is planned to have a genuine harem ending.
The exact members and size of the harem will remain undisclosed for now.
There will still be proper buildup and actual romantic development.
The protagonist will not suddenly start collecting girls for no reason.
One important point, however: Henshi Shindo was not born with an overwhelming desire to love every woman he meets.
The girls are simply too damn cute!
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Sword Art Online Game Mechanics The game mechanics used in this story are intended to follow the original Sword Art Online setting as closely as possible.
HP — Hit Points: The player’s health.
EP — Energy Points: The player’s available energy.
Note: The original Sword Art Online setting does not have an MP stat—Mana Points/Magic Points—and Akihiko Kayaba did not include conventional classes such as mages or healers that would require players to invest in attributes like Intelligence or Mental Power.
However, EP is mentioned in Volume 2, Chapter 3 of the Taiwanese edition of Sword Art Online, during Yui’s introduction.
For the purposes of this story, the author interpret EP as Energy Points, especially since most games abbreviate experience points as EXP rather than EP.
There is another reason for this interpretation.
In the Taiwanese edition of Aria of a Starless Night, Kirito explains to Asuna that using skills places a mental strain on the player’s real body, and excessive use of Sword Skills increases that burden.
Based on those points, this story will not include an INT stat representing Intelligence or Mental Power.
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Character Attributes STR — Strength (points can be allocated): Affects damage, Attack Power, and Delay (D).
VIT — Vitality (points can be allocated): Affects HP and defense.
DEX — Dexterity (points can be allocated): Affects the critical-hit rate and accuracy of attacks and skills.
AGI — Agility (points can be allocated): Affects attack speed, movement speed, and evasion.
LUK — Luck: Affects critical-hit rate, item drop rates, and similar values.
D — Delay: Represents attack wind-up and the activation delay of skills.
It is affected by equipment and various character attributes, with STR and AGI having the greatest influence.
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Equipment Rarity Equipment is divided into the following tiers, from lowest to highest: White → Green → Blue → Purple → Orange → Red …
Equipment Enhancement Equipment can be enhanced in several different attributes: Sharpness Quickness Accuracy Heaviness Durability Each piece of equipment has a maximum number of enhancement attempts.
Every enhancement can improve only one attribute at a time, and enhancement attempts have a chance of failure.
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Level Progression The maximum level is 100.
A newly created Level 1 character begins at the starting point of the progression system.
Level 1 → Level 2: 200 EXP Level 2 → Level 3: 1,000 EXP The original novels and anime are fairly vague about the exact experience requirements for later levels, so the story will avoid dwelling too heavily on specific EXP values beyond the early game.
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Skill Slots The number of available Skill Slots increases as the protagonist levels up.
Starting Skill Slots: 2 Level 6: 3 Level 10: 4 Level 14: 5 Level 18: 6 After Level 20, the player gains one additional Skill Slot every ten levels.
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Aincrad and Original Content Because Kawahara has left large portions of Aincrad unexplored—and because the canon itself has changed or revised certain details over the years—this story will contain a considerable amount of original material.
Aincrad consists of 100 floors.
Ideally, information for each floor would include its main settlement, the settlement’s name and architectural style, surrounding villages and their names, the design and environment of the Labyrinth, ordinary monster types, field bosses, Floor Bosses, natural landmarks, and other regional details.
Unfortunately, canon information is nowhere near complete.
The floors with relatively detailed information are: Floors 1–8, 19, 22, 24, 27, 39, 47–48, 50, 55–57, 61, and 74–75.
The floors with little to no concrete information are: Floors 9–18, 20–21, 23, 25–26, 29, 31–34, 36–38, 41–45, 49, 51–54, 59–60, 62–64, 67–68, and 70–73.
The floors for which only limited information is available are: Floors 30, 40, 46, 58, 65–66, and 69.
As for Floors 76–100, information for those twenty-five floors currently comes primarily from Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment, a game adaptation based on Kawahara’s original work.
Whether this story will use those interpretations will depend on what becomes necessary once the plot reaches that point.
In other words, nearly half of Aincrad has little or no established information at all.
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Skills For the purposes of this story, skills in SAO are divided into two broad categories.
The first consists of System Skills, which can be learned through the game’s established Skill system and progression trees.
The second consists of Outside-System Skills, which include self-developed techniques and abilities acquired through quests, hidden quests, or other special circumstances.
When an Outside-System Skill has a more advanced version, the higher-level skill can incorporate and supersede its lower-level forms.
Once the advanced skill is equipped in a Skill Slot, the skills beneath it in the same progression chain can still be used without occupying additional Skill Slots.
Kirito’s special skill progression can be used as an example: «Meditation» — Basic Skill ↓ «Awakening» — Advanced form of «Meditation» ↓ «Dual Blades» ↓ «Double Circular» — Advanced charging Sword Skill ↓ «Starburst Stream» — Advanced sixteen-hit Sword Skill ↓ «The Eclipse» — Highest-level twenty-seven-hit Sword Skill If «The Eclipse» is assigned to a Skill Slot, the lower-tier abilities in its progression chain, including «Meditation», remain available without taking up separate Skill Slots.
The original Sword Art Online material provides detailed Sword Skills primarily for Kirito and Asuna’s weapon styles, while many other weapons and combat disciplines receive far less attention.
Because of that, this story will create additional Sword Skills whenever the plot requires them, while keeping them as consistent as possible with SAO’s established mechanics.