Hi guys! Sorry it took me so long to finally get my next story up. It took a while to even get through the first chapter of the draft. My process always begins on hard-copy paper, so I write it out by hand and... Anyway, the concept of this is SO AWESOME! I hope you like it! Reviews, if you please :3 Also, this story will have longer wait periods for updates because I'm trying to make each chapter at least 1,000+ words. It's also going to have many, many chapters. Hope you enjoy!
I do not own SAO or any of its characters.
Dual-Blades, Holy Sword, Speed Sword, Axe of Truth, Beast-Tamer, Masonry, and Longsword. Those were the seven Unique Skills unlocked in Sword Art Online so far.
Dual-Blades was awarded to the player with the speediest reaction time, and granted dual-wielding to the user. Kirito possessed this skill.
No one really knew what Holy Sword's requirements were, or what it did. The only one who possibly did was its owner, Heathcliff.
Speed Sword was given to the player with the fastest attack speed in the game. It allowed the player to attack at three times the normal speed of all other players. Asuna, Kirito's wife, owned this Skill.
Axe of Truth had been given to the player who was first to master their Strength and Axe Skills. It increased the user's attack damage by fifty percent, and one-hundred-fifty percent when wielding an axe. Agil had worked hard, mastering those two.
Beast-Tamer belonged to the player who managed to tame eight different mobs at once. Its affect gave the player a thirty-five percent chance of passing by hostile mobs without getting attacked. Silica had been the only beast-tamer who was able to tame all eight.
Masonry activated for a blacksmith and a blacksmith only. They had to master their Blacksmith Skill and defeat two-hundred hostile mobs at least four levels above them with a mace. Gaining the Skill gave the user twenty-percent more attack damage, and at the end of every battle, no matter what kind of weapon or armor they were using, all of it would regain one-hundred-twenty percent of the durability it had lost during the battle. Unfortunately, it would not resurrect a weapon or piece of armor that had been destroyed in battle. Lisbeth had been able to meet all the requirements.
Longsword was probably the simplest Unique Skill earnable in SAO. It was awarded to the player who first mastered the Katana Skill. It increased a sword's reach by twenty-five percent while still maintaining the same weight and feel. Klein was the man who mastered Katana.
Kirito's friends had started earning Skills after the seventy-fifth boss battle. After defeating the boss, Heathcliff and the other KOB members (except Asuna) had immediately opened the seventy-sixth floor gate and stepped through. While Agil ran around hoarding as much loot as he could, Asuna stared straight at her status screen. With a soulless expression, she pressed the button that made it visible to Kirito. The window that popped into his view said, "Congratulations! You earned the Unique Skill: Speed Sword!"
Kirito drew in a sharp breath. "Great," he muttered into Asuna's ear. "Just what we need. You're already a celebrity. Do we tell the rest of Aincrad?"
"Yes, of course," she sighed. "Anything we can do to give the people hope and rally more of them for boss raids is incredibly helpful to the process of clearing the game."
Kirito nodded, closing his eyes. He rested his chin on her head and hugged her from behind. "Can we hold off on it for a while, though? That little house on twenty-two is still ours. We're both still a bunch of levels above everyone else, too much for them to keep up with. We can still finish our honeymoon."
Asuna turned to him. She stared at his face, obviously struggling to make a decision. "I-I guess as long as they're still clearing seventy-six…yeah. Let's go home." She pecked him on the cheek.
Agil's was the first message to come. Kirito and Asuna had returned home, and were happily laughing and fishing with Nishida when it popped into his view. He excused himself and walked a good twenty meters away before tapping the small, blinking icon.
Kirito, it read, I really need your help, man. Major, major deal. Could you and Asuna head over to the shop tomorrow? Very urgent. Kirito sighed. This was what he needed. What he should really be doing was getting Asuna home, finding their way clumsily into the bedroom and… He grinned as he realized she would slap him if she knew what she was thinking. He also realized he didn't care.
"Oi! Kirito!" Nishida called. "You finally got something on your line!" Hearing this, Kirito rushed over to where they were sitting, determined to show Asuna that, yes, he could fish.
"What the hell, man?!" Agil was raving like a lunatic. "I asked you to come three freaking days ago! Three! DAYS!"
Kirito laughed nervously. "Sorry…" he walked around the shop awkwardly. "Asuna and I…uh…lost…track of time." This didn't seem to help Agil's mood.
"FOR THREE DAYS?!"
"Hi, Agil!" Asuna waved cheerfuly from the doorway. He momentarily forgot his anger and waved back, just as cheerfully. Kirito seized the moment.
"So, uh, so Agil," he cut in. "What was so important?" Agil shot him a dirty look, then sighed and waved them over. He made his status screen visible and motioned to his Skills.
"Read 'em," he said. Kirito scanned the list. Strength, Agility (which he had almost none of), Axe, Curved Sword, Search, and many more. At the bottom was something Kirito had never heard of: Axe of Truth.
"Oh, jeez," Asuna breathed.
"Is it… Y'know, Unique?" Kirito asked.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is," Agil responded. "And, y'know, I thought since you're the only guy I know who has one, you would be able to help me out with this." Kirito and Asuna looked at each other slowly.
"…Yeah, about that," said Kirito.
"You may not be the only person you know who has a Unique Skill," Asuna said.
"… Holy… Wow." Agil stared at Asuna from across the table. "So both of us, then?"
Asuna blushed a little. "Yeah, I guess."
"Can I see it in action?" Agil begged, eagerness in his eyes. Asuna shrugged and walked over to the lamp on the other side of the room, noisily unsheathing her rapier. She dropped into her battle stance and almost immediately a flash of light blinded the room. The lamp disintegrated into a crowd of glowing polygons. Agil stared and Kirito sat with pride as Asuna straightened up and re-sheathed her rapier.
"I literally did not see you move" Agil gushed. "And with one hit- holy smokes!"
Asuna laughed awkwardly. "That was ten hits." Agil's jaw practically hit the floor.
"Soooooo…" Kirito sat back in his chair, putting his feet on the table. "Now that I no longer feel like an outcast in Aincrad, I'll bite. What does Axe of Truth do for you, Agil?"
He grinned. "It raises my attack damage by fifty percent when I don't use an axe, but when I do, it raises it by one-hundred-fifty percent." Kirito ogled.
"Guys…" Asuna started. "We should totally start a guild!"
"What?" Kirito and Agil asked at the same time.
"Oh, come on, guys!" she continued. "We can't be the only ones with Unique Skills! There have to be others! If we found them and started a guild, we would easily surpass the KOB for the strongest guild, and the rest of Aincrad would be so inspired! We would be a clearing machine! We could finish the game in a matter of months, I bet!"
"…OK," Agil said slowly. "Yeah, you're right! Let's do it!" Kirito looked at both of them in confusion.
"I-bu-g-ugh!" He hung his head. "Fine. If it makes you happy, Asuna." Asuna gave a cry of joy and flung her arms around them both.