Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-2037710-20140110045619/@comment-6697950-20150311074639

When he first came to ALO, he had his SAO stats. But after Asuna was freed, he had his stats reset. His stats were reset at least half a year before going to GGO (before Aincrad was implemented to ALO). By the time he converted to GGO, he had already rebuilt his stats significantly, but not to the level of his SAO avatar. That's why he converted his ALO account to play GGO, instead of making a new account - he gets to carry over his stats (adjusted to fit the game being transferred to of course) into any game he converts to. But the account can only exist in one game at a time.

That insane speed you mentioned has barely anything to do with stats though. Stats have very minimal effect on the player's strength, since ALO is a game that emphasises personal ability. His speed was the result of the fast reaction speed of his brain, which was in part the result of him playing a game for two years straight.

ALO arc is a bad name, since the game is the setting for several future stories as well. Fairy Dance arc refers to the time between Kirito first meeting with Nobuyuki and the day when Aincrad was implemented to ALO.