"I've used the last two months to build my information network, and learn all I can about our situation." The voice originating from a hooded figure was soft and carried a bit of a nasal tone to it.

"I know that much," responded the boy who's back was turned to the informant. "What did you find?"

"I'm getting to that, Kiri-bou" responded the hooded person who sat atop of a small house, talking down towards the boy dressed in a black cloak. Her tone and voice revealed she was no more than a girl, probably the same age as the boy she spoke down on.

"Most of what I learned is obvious; there seems to be no conventional way to leave this world, unlike the old Sword Art Online. Also unlike the SAO, there's no level system, no party system, no skill system. I've gone to several lengths to confirm this much. Was more, when you bring up the Status Screen, there's no menu, but there is a diagram of your body, and you can look up several stats. It sort of looks more like a simulation than an actual game," she said with a sigh. "But the weirdest thing of all? After questioning everyone I could, it seems everyone logged in at the same time."

"W-what's so weird about that?" the boy asked, finally looking up at the girl who wore a wry smile.

"I mean that everyone logged in within a time frame of about 5 minutes. This makes no logical sense," She said, pushing some of her hair back as if not knowing what to do about that information. "Everyone who appeared in the Town of Beginnings appeared at the same time. Yet a large majority of the people I interrogated gave me different times they logged in at. A pair of siblings even told me how one of them didn't log in until at least an hour after the other, yet they also spawned at about the same time."

"No idea what that could mean?" the boy tilted his face to the side, asking innocently. He had a feminine look to him, but wasn't too easily mistaken for a girl thanks to his current dress-style and tone of voice.

"Nope." the girl shook her head. "Saying we were actually transported to another world would definitely explain everything, but I think that would make me crazy." She sighed before moving on. "The other thing... You were right about the NPCs."

The boy nodded in understanding as he looked around the small village. The sun beyond the walls had already set, and what illuminated the roads was the various torches set upon each house. Not only that, there were people who walked about, some receding into their homes. When they first entered this world, everyone believed that these people were nothing more than NPCs- scripted drones that walk about at the accord of a program. But that was not true. Each individual had a personality, a past, an identity unique to itself. It didn't take too long to realize this, but most still seemed to be amazed by this fact.

"We really shouldn't have the technology to create a human-like AI," the boy said, "Right?"

The girl shrugged, "Well, back in SAO- Ya know, when it was just a game- I heard rumors about some Event and Quest NPCs that seemed to have a mind of their own. But nothing on this level," she stated. "But there's more to it,"

"H-how much more?" the boy finally asked hesitantly as he saw the girl's grim face. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to pay for all this information. She hopped down from the roof of the house, and began to walk.

"Walk with me," she ordered, before she continued. "There was a library in the Town of Beginnings. Small one. But it was there. I decided to look through some books. and most of it seemed... Normal. Almost none of it seemed to be what you might find in a library in a video game. There were a few How to books, and Lore related stuff, but the vast majority were what you might find in any ordinary library. Mostly fiction. Entire novels and novel series were written up. I recognized none of them, not even the authors. There were even a few biographies detailing the lives of people in some far off kingdoms."

"Looks like someone was pretty dedicated to make the setting realistic. How's this important Argo?"

"No Kiri-bou, you don't write up several thousand novels, almost all of them being over 300 pages long, just to fit a setting." The boy she called Kiri-bou seemed to get the idea after having it explained like that, "There are a lot of RPG games where developers write up a lot of content about the lore of the world, but none of them could actually be seriously considered a full-length novel." She paused a second. "So it got me thinking. I started conversing with the residence. The NPCs. Those that were here before us. According to them, Aincrad has existed for only one year. They say that when it appeared in the sky, it abducted several villages, about 5. By this I mean, the entire village was lifted from the earth, with people inside, and planted on the first floor of this castle."

"Ooh, that seems pretty scary,"

"Yeah, you can imagine how they felt. Most actually believe that we're the same as them. And you probably noticed that when we made it to the second floor, no one was here except monsters. The only reason there are people here now, is because a few from the first floor decided to move up here for the open real estate. But even now it's pretty empty. despite the fact that it looks like someone went and built some villages, and left them untouched" She paused a moment. "So anyways, this means that the world below might exist, and isn't just a background asset like in SAO. But it seems someone else had that idea first," she finished off, giving the boy a bit of a grin. "Some group of players decided to form a guild, crafted rope, and made their way down to the ground."

"W-what? But rope was never something you could create in SAO. How?"

"Some of them knew how to craft rope in the real world," she shrugged. "You can do things like that now," she added. "So anyways, after getting down, they realized Aincrad is moving. They've been observing how it moves for a couple weeks, and it looks to be doing large circles. No, that's not right. They've done some calculating, and basically, if you were to draw the course on a map, Aincrad is doing several 'almost circles', but keeps breaking off and starting another circle in a different direction, before it can connects. They hypothesize it's following some weird path-way that's meant to cover the whole planet- oh right, and they think we're on a planet because the surface of the world is curved."

"Is that where your, 'teleported to another world' comment came from?" he asked surprised. "Damn," Kirito said after a short pause. "I thought if we could clear Aincrad maybe we could go home," He said.

"Wouldn't that be convenient. But even that could take us months or years. Still though, I was thinking of getting together a few expeditions to explore the world below. Maybe they'll find some clues on how to get back. Meanwhile you and the others in the Assault Group can try to clear Aincrad, and see what happens when you get to the Ruby Palace at the top."

"Both options seem pretty bleak at this point," the boy responded before looking up at the ceiling several hundred meters above him, with his hands tucked into his pockets. "What do you plan to do now?" He asked, taking out a few coins and counting them. He held out his hand and dropped the coins into the palm of the girl he was speaking with.

"I was thinking of scouting out a weird formation just east of here," she said.

"Easy of this town, or...?"

"East of Aincrad. You can't see it from up here because of the clouds, but apparently they saw something that looks like a city or something from lower on down. I was thinking of checking it out. Maybe I'll find some people who have more information. Or maybe they're just a land formation, and I'm wasting my time. Either way, I'll be back in a week or so, if I can make it back."

"If?"

"Well you know, I'll have to catch up to Aincrad," she said with a shrug. "And what about you, Kiri-bou? What do you intend to do?" she asked, and then gave a broad grin. "I hear you're hanging out a lot with a certain someone, ever since the First labyrinth was cleared."

"H-hey, it's nothing like that," the boy denied with his hands up as he tried to dismiss what she was insinuating. "We're just trying to clear the dungeons together, because it's not safe alone," he explained,

"Uh-huh~" the girl teased

"Well anyways, tomorrow Diavel is holding a meeting with the Assault Group. Something about where to go from here, and such. Seeing as random monsters don't drop items, the only way to get anything of worth is from chests, or to take them from some of the monsters that actually hold something. And we don't know if the weapons we bought at the shops will actually last us forever in this world."

Argo nodded, "That has been something on my mind too. If this is a fantasy world, there should be something stronger than just iron," she said, holding her hand up to show the iron claws strapped to her arm.

"Ehh- did Diavel purchase that kind of information from you?"

"Who knows~~?" she said teasingly with an extended hand, asking for money in exchange for the information.

Kirito sighed, "I'll probably find out tomorrow anyways, so I'll keep my money." The girl merely grinned and turned. She waved as she began to walk away.

"I'll be back as soon as I can. I'm leaving this morning," She told him.

Kirito as well made his to the house he claimed as his home, located in the very town he was in. As he turned, the massive tower stood only a kilometer away. It was the staircase that led to the third floor, and it was filled with monsters and twisting passage ways.

The information he received from Argo just now; how useful was it? There was a group, no, a Guild of people trying to find a way out of Aincrad, that didn't involve clearing the tower? They had to be pretty smart if they noticed that the world below was in fact a planet, and even knew how Aincrad was moving above it. Could their way be the right way to escape to our world


Author Notes:

So that's a thing. I hope you enjoyed that at least. I don't normally write fan-fiction but figured I could try this story out to practice my writing. Anyways, hopefully I can keep to this for a while, instead of losing motivation 5 chapters in.