Safe Zone
The Starting City, also known as "Town of Beginnings", is the main settlement on the 1st floor. It is the beginning point of all players and also the largest town in Aincrad. It is also where a majority of the non-players in «Sword Art Online» reside.
The 1st Floor of Aincrad is geographically the largest floor. It is almost completely circular with a diameter of 10 kilometers (80 square kilometers). The 1st Floor is roughly the same size as Saitama Prefacture Kawagoe City (population 330,000).
The main settlement on the 1st Floor is the Starting City, but there are also numerous other towns and villages on this floor.
Unlike the higher floors of Aincrad, the 1st Floor does not have a particular theme or dominant geography. As the starting location of all new players, the great expanse of the 1st Floor is quite diverse.
The Starting City is located on the southern end of the floor and rests over the edge of the floating castle. The metropolis has a diameter of approximately 1km and is the focal point of the floor, featuring the teleport gate in the central plaza. The city wall forms a semi-circle to the north.
Grasslands surround the Starting City, and they are populated primarily by boar and wolf-type monsters. Worms, beetles, and wasp-type insect monsters also inhabit the grasslands surrounding the Starting City.
To the northwest of the Starting City, there is a deep forest region. The northeast is a lake region. Players must pass through either of the two regions before reaching a significantly more dangerous mountainous region containing ruins, valleys, and more difficult monsters.
The 1st Floor Labyrinth is located on the far northern edge of the floor. It begins at part of a large 300 meter wide by 100 meter tall tower that is a portion of the dungeon that leads to the 2nd Floor. This Labyrinth has twenty floors before the boss room on the 20th floor of the Labyrinth.
