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SAO: Progressive 3/4 - Sword Art Online

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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 in Sword Art Online - Progressive Scum Barcarolle. None

Chronology

Volume 001

Rondo of a Fragile Blade (Continued)

Kirito has completed the first floor and is now known as Beater, so he's keeping a low profile. He finds a market where someone is complaining about a failed sword upgrade. Then he finds Asuna, who also needs a rapier upgrade, and agrees to join her in the material-grinding race.

On December 8th, Asuna is tasked with killing 100 Wind Wasps. She and Kirito bet on who can kill 50 first. Asuna demonstrates her incredible ability to chain critical hits, forcing Kirito to use his once-secret martial arts skill to catch up, but he loses to Asuna by a monster.

Asuna chooses a restaurant in Urbus and asks Kirito to order the most expensive dish in the game, a creamy sponge cake, which they will eat together. Kirito worries if everyone in town is smiling because they found the evil Beater, but Asuna explains that it's simply because he finally opened the door for them and raised hope that the killing game will one day end.
After an awkward discussion, the cake arrives and grants both of them a short-term luck boost. Kirito suggests perhaps increasing the chance of her rapier becoming +5 and going well in the smithy since she is the rapier's owner.

Asuna gives Nezha the blacksmith her Wind Foil +4 and the materials the two had collected earlier. Asuna grabs Kirito's finger to try to borrow his luck as well, but the blacksmith ruins it in a way no one knew existed. Asuna is truly shaken, as her rapier, suggested earlier by Kirito, seemed like a relative. She goes to an inn for the night.

Kirito suspects foul play and follows Nezha in the hopes of learning something. Nezha goes to a bar where he chats with a group of fighters who are discussing suspicious matters with him, then checks the door, forcing Kirito to hide as he begins to put the puzzle pieces together. He rushes to Asuna's inn and into her room, racing against time, and has her use "Materialize All Objects." He finds the Wind Foil +4 in the pile.

Kirito explains the weapon-stealing scam, the property tied to the player's empty right hand for 3,600 seconds, and the furnace illusion. They believe Nezha's hand was forced and decide to return to it later.

The duo heads out into the field and encounters the members of the Floor 1 raid in several groups. One of the groups gets into trouble, and Kirito and Asuna help them and then enter the dungeon to retrieve some treasure.

During another meeting with Argo, Kirito requests an investigation into the history of the Legend Braves' player names, and Asuna learns that a weapon only breaks during an upgrade if there are no more attempts remaining.

They find Nezha running another scam, and he seems to stand out from the guild in terms of name, but Argo's report reveals to Kirito his real name, Nataku, and gives a clue about the scam.

By December 11, Kirito has progressed enough to master his own Quick Change mod and traps Nezha, unmasking his foul play. Asuna cuts off Nezha's escape, and he makes it clear that his FullDrive nonconformity prevents him from using swords, that a hooded stranger in a poncho taught him to cheat and treat SAO like a mere game, and that he didn't really mean to forge or scam him. Kirito believes he knows how to bring Nezha back to the front lines.

Kirito sends Nezha on a martial arts quest. On December 14, a raid group is assembled, and Kirito learns that few people remember him as a beta cheater; in fact, Agil's team has nicknamed him the Man in Black or Blackie (Kuro). Kibaō suddenly asks Kirito's opinion on the boss strategy, and his guild and Lind's decide to follow Kirito's advice.