Sword Art Online - Progressive Volume 01 (manga)

Sword Art Online - Progressive (ソードアート・オンライン プログレッシブ) is a manga adaptation of the Sword Art Online Progressive light novel series, a reboot of the original light novel series by Kawahara Reki. This ongoing manga is illustrated by Kiseki Himura, published as part of the monthly Dengeki G's Magazine, and will cover Progressive Volume 1.

Summary
On November 6, 2024, the new generation Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Game, Sword Art Online is finally released with 10,000 copies of the game sold in the first batch. However, on the first day of its release, the creator of the game, Kayaba Akihiko, announces that the only way to log out of the game is to conquer the 100 floors of the Floating Castle Aincrad by defeating the Floor Bosses at the top of the Labyrinth of each floor and that if the players die in-game, the NerveGear used to play the game would fry their brains, the same case would apply if someone from outside would attempt to remove the NerveGear by force. To prove how serious the game is, he transforms the avatars of each player to look as their real life bodies.

Nearly a month has passed since that faithful day and about 2,000 players have died during the 1st month of the game, while the 1st Floor's Labyrinth is yet to be cleared. On December 2, 2022, a solo player Asuna is ready to meet her demise at the hands of the Ruin Kobold Troopers, when another solo player, Kirito intervenes.

As Meteor
On November 19, 2022, Yuuki Asuna, a hardworking high school student with high expectations from her family, had a nightmare about how she failed her high school entrance mock exam due to being stuck in a game, even after saying that games are a waste of one's life. In reality, it had been 13 days since the launch of the new generation VRMMO game, Sword Art Online, during the official release of which, about 10,000 players were trapped in the game, until they could manage to complete it by defeating the final boss on the 100th Floor of Aincrad.

As Asuna, now awoken from her nightmare, checked the date and noticed that the uniform mock exam was supposed to be held that day. After getting up, Asuna left her inn room and went to the market to buy her daily black bread. While eating, she overheard a rumor about a hidden log-out point within a cave in the West Forest. After finding out where the cave is located, Asuna left the Starting City to search for the hidden log out point in a hurry to make it to her mock exam on time.

After avoiding the monsters, she finally reached the cave. However, while navigating the cave, she ran into a monster and got hit by hit, with her HP bar decreasing immediately to the red zone with barely any HP left. But, just as the creature was about to deal the last blow to her, it was killed by a mysterious swordsman. After the swordsman left, his friend, Argo the Rat, took care of healing the wounded Asuna.

After recovering her lost HP, Asuna asked Argo whether the log out point was just a rumor and Argo confirmed that it indeed does not exist. Asuna then asked Argo to sell her information on how she could become strong. Argo then gave Asuna a first tier reference book for free, as she only charged more experienced players. Asuna immediately started reading the reference book and learnt about the weakest creatures who roam Aincrad, the Frenzy Boars as well as how to activate the beginner Rapier Sword Skill «Linear».

Asuna soon put her new knowledge to the test by using «Linear» at a god-like speed to defeat a Frenzy Boar in one strike, greatly surprising Argo. Changing her mind about giving the reference book to Asuna for free, Argo asked the rapier user for her name. As Asuna was inexperienced with games, she gave Argo her real name, instead of just her username, but Argo then found out that Asuna was using her real name for her username. After practicing her newly learnt Sword Skill, Asuna asked whether she could defeat the monster that almost killed her as well.

A couple of weeks later, on December 2, 2022, Asuna had spent several days within the 1st Floor Labyrinth with barely any rest. Suffering great mental fatigue, she ran into a large group of Ruin Kobold Troopers. Even though she attempted to fight the monsters, she was soon paralyzed, which was the most deadly status to a solo player. As Asuna was prepared to meet her demise, she was again saved by the mysterious swordsman, who claimed that he saved her for her map data. With her last drops of strength, Asuna got up, and the two swordsmen attacked the monsters surrounding them.

Adaptation notes

 * Most of the first chapter, until her meeting with Kirito in the Labyrinth, was not part of the original light novel.
 * In the original light novel, Asuna was not surrounded by the Kobolds and Kirito did not have to help her fight them. Instead Kirito came across Asuna overkilling a Ruin Kobold Trooper and only came out after the kobold was killed.