Location from Sword Art Online by Reki Kawahara
The first battleground — where a month of grinding, fear, and desperate organization led to the first floor boss raid and the birth of the clearing effort.
Floor 1 took a month to clear. A MONTH. The first floor of a hundred-floor game, and it cost nearly two thousand lives — not all in the boss fight, but in the learning process. Players died to basic mobs because they didn't understand game mechanics. They died to traps in the labyrinth. They died to other players. The floor boss — Illfang the Kobold Lord — was the first real test of organized player combat, and the raid that defeated it was led by Diavel (who died) and salvaged by Kirito (who survived and earned the 'Beater' label). Floor 1's clearing established every pattern that would define the next two years: the clearers lead, the mid-tiers support, and thousands of players hide in safe zones and hope.
Rolling grasslands and gentle forests surrounding the Town of Beginnings, with the floor labyrinth — a massive stone dungeon complex — in the northern section. The terrain looks peaceful: green hills, scattered ruins, boar-like monsters grazing in fields. The sky is a simulated blue with white clouds. It looks like the tutorial level of any fantasy RPG, which makes the death stakes feel surreal.
Also known as: Floor 1, First Floor