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Summary

Sword Art Online Progressive, or "Progressive" for short, is a light novel and manga series written by Kawahara Reki that is a reboot of the original SAO series. The manga continues into Sword Art Online - Progressive Barcarolle of Froth.

Chronology

Volume 001

Aria of a Starless Night (Continued)

The joy from clearing Floor 1 is muddled in realization that Diavel died. The anger grows at the unhelpful beta testers and something like a witch hunt is about to begin. Kirito decides to redirect all the rage on himself, and claims he is even worse — a heartless beta tester and cheater... which Kibaō portmanteaus to a Beater.

Kirito activates the rare item and enters Floor 2; Asuna and Agil understand his goal in redirecting the people's anger away from all beta testers, and Asuna rejoins Kirito soon to tell him what Agil and Kibaō had to say. He then meets Argo who offers him compensation, a free offer for any information he likes, for her own hand in his ordeal. Kirito laughs and asks why she has painted whiskers. Then he reaches the Floor 2 city, Urbus.

Intermission - The Reason for the Whiskers

A flashback. Kirito is hiding from the other players entering Floor 2 when he sees Argo being chased. He follows the chasers and learns they are from Fumaningun, a guild that simulated being ninjas during the beta test. He tails them all the way out of the safe zone and finds them trying to force Argo to give them information. Kirito interferes, and the chasers mistake him for a rival guild member, but then a monster attacks them, and they flee. Argo wants to repay Kirito, and he asks for the reason for her whiskers. She tells him there is an extra skill hidden on Floor 2, and takes him to a hut in the mountains, where a NPC has been waiting for a disciple. Kirito takes the quest, and the NPC tells him to break an imposing rock with his bare hands, and paints whiskers on his face saying they will only disappear once Kirito succeeds. Kirito understands Argo had not been able to clear this quest during the Beta stage. He asks Argo how he looks now, hoping it at least looks cool, and she says he looks like Doraemon and laughs. Kirito then spends three days trying to break the rock, until he succeeds and is given an extra skill of Martial Arts.

Rondo of a Fragile Blade

Kirito has beaten Floor 1 and is known as Beater now, so he lays low. He finds a marketplace where someone is complaining about a failed sword upgrade. Then he finds Asuna who needs her rapier upgraded, too, and agrees to join her on the material grinding run.

On December 8, Asuna needs to kill a hundred Windwasps. She and Kirito bet a dinner on who kills 50 first. Asuna shows her uncanny ability to connect critical hits, forcing Kirito to use his once-secret Martial Arts skill to catch up, but he loses to Asuna by one monster.

Asuna chooses an eatery in Urbus, and has Kirito order the most expensive dish in the game there, a creamy sponge cake that they go eat together. Kirito is worried if everyone in the town smiles because they found the bad Beater, but Asuna explains it is simply because he finally opened the passage for them, and spurred hopes that the death game will end one day.
After an awkward discussion, the cake arrives and grants the two a short-lasting luck bonus. Kirito offers to maybe increase the chances of her rapier upgrade to +5 going well in the smithy since she is the rapier's owner.

Asuna gives Nezha the blacksmith her Wind Fleuret +4 and the materials the two had collected earlier. Asuna catches Kirito's finger to try and borrow his luck as well, but the blacksmith botches it in a way that nobody knew existed. Asuna is really shaken, as her rapier earlier suggested by Kirito felt like a relative to her. Asuna goes to an inn on Floor 2 for the night.

Continued on page 3.

References

• SAO Progressive Volume 1 - Fan Wiki
• SAO Progressive Volume 1 - Yen Press
• SAO Progressive Volume 2 - Fan Wiki