Ah, you're right. My bad. I often confuse the two (high speed and instant). I'll fix my answer.

I'm not sure if alchemy is a skill. I don't think pots could be made, but I could be wrong.

Actually, The only potion in the game is the healing over time potion. The quick-regen item is called healing crystal.
There is also another life saving item, a teleport crystal. As Aphrah said crystal-type items are expensive so people only use them when they really need it.

There are many player who live as a merchant and crafter in SAO (your so called skiller I guess)
blacksmith, tailor, leatherworker (perhap the same as tailor in SAO), Cook
There is even a player who live as information trader (no skill related to this job of cuz)

Alchemist haven't been mentioned in story but I'm not surprise if there is one.
I doubt crystals can be crafted though.

One-handed Sword
Blade Throwing
Parry
Battle Healing
Searching
Tracking
Hiding
Night Vision
Extended Weight Limit
Sprint
Fishing
One-handed Rapier
Two-handed Assault Spear
Light Metal Equipment
Light Shield Equipment
Heavy Metal Equipment
Emergency Recovery
Acrobatics
Cooking
Sewing
One-handed Curved Blade
Katana
Listening
Fighting Spirit (Hate Skill)
Two-handed Battle Axe
Leather Equipment
Equipment Appraisal
Tools Appraisal
Purchase Negotiation
Sales Negotiation
One-handed War Hammer
Slash Weapon Forging
Thrust Weapon Forging
Blunt Weapon Forging
Light Metal Armor Forging
Heavy Metal Armor Forging
Metal Equipment Repairing
Metal Refining
One-handed Short Sword
Familiar Recovery
Familiar Communication
Musical Instrument
Two-handed Straight Sword
One-handed Straight Sword
Discern
Medicine Mixing

So medicine-mixing does exist? Interesting..

Medicine mixing, in this case is not really for healing, it's for making poison

Oh, that's right; I forgot medicine could also do that. I thought it was just a pre-made item sold in NPC stores.

SAO only has 2 stats, they are STR and AGI. Each level up grants some points to invest.

Makes more sense. Since INT isnt really needed. Wait what about a vit build? I know GGO has a str/agi/vit as choices

Wasn't it STR and DEX (which should have the same function as AGI)?

Just checked, and you're right. They were STR and DEX.

Probably building STR to equip heavy armor and shield, as equipments in SAO have minimum STR requirement.

We're pretty sure that the anime will cover the first 4 volumes (there're 10 out currently).

We're sure? I thought we're just speculating it'll cover up to vol 4

We're sure, we're speculating, we think, and etc. They all more or less mean the same thing. We have a reason for think that up to and including volume 4 will be animated (a character from Vol 3 onwards has a VA). We're sure, but we can very well be wrong?

There's one character that comes to mind; he was shown in the OP and should be introduced pretty soon.

The battle healing is not a spell or ability that grants a set amount of health when used, it is more like regen while fighting, healing a small amount at regular intervals. Just clarifying it a bit more.

I say it is pretty much certain, unless the staff really went all the way to list a VA for only the first episode (with 2 lines). And frankly, even with all the side stories, SAO doesn't really have enough plot to keep it going for a 2 cour season.

You can also assist the system in your skill by adding your own speed/power to it manually, it's extremly hard but makes sword skill much more powerfull.

What's so wrong about being a beta tester? In the manga, it said beta + cheater = beater. I get cheating is looked down upon. But in the LN, his guild-mate commits suicide because he revealed he's a beta-tester? What is going on? I am so confused. Is it just terrible translation? @~@

'I revealed my real level and that I had been a beta tester. '

There's a lot of hate towards the Beta Testers after the first month, in which 2000 people die. The common SAO player blames Beta Testers for farming the good EXP and loot drops, and not helping other players, and for being assholes who couldn't see that the game was flawed. In fact, one player is ready to lead a jihad against all Beta Testers for their supposed crimes.

Relatively speaking, however, casualties among beta testers are higher than normal players.

At the end of a large battle, Kirito, after getting Last Attack on the boss, tells the jihad player not to lump him with other beta testers, who were just lucky to get into the game, and that he's a Beater (Beta + Cheater), someone who's totally on a different level from your ordinary Beta tester, most of whom were novices at MMOs. (Irony: he was an MMO novice the same. :p)

He deliberately sets himself out to be hated, so that the few friends he has who are Beta Testers won't be hunted down by vengeful jihadis.

After this, Betas are split into Ordinary Beta Testers, normal people who just had some advance knowledge, and Beaters, Beta Tester Cheaters who use their knowledge to exploit the system and screw over everyone else. Betas aren't too bad off, but Beaters are shunned.

Also, if he'd been honest from the start, Black Cats of the Full Moon wouldn't have been in that position. His concealment of that fact led to their demise from biting off more than they could chew.

The first novel tends to gloss over stuff that happened between the first day and the 75th Floor -- there are epic events that could be the basis for a book on their own that get tossed off in a few lines (the crusade against the Laughing Coffins, the 25th and 50th Floor Boss Fights, etc.). Kawahara's been going back and filling in the details with side stories -- Aria explains exactly why the Beaters became hated, and Red Nosed Reindeer shows how Kirito's lying screwed the Black Cats. These should be animated in the next couple episodes.