Hey there, I've come up with a second chapter! Actually like the third time trying to write a continuation and I'm still debating on whether or not I like my first angle better. I enjoy writing Silica as she can be child-like.


"What are you doing?" They'd teleported to a quiet level, the 34th apparently and Silica was staring at Kirito in confusion.

She didn't understand why they'd come here seeing as this level was thoroughly unpleasant, with marshy ground and a constant unending downpour of rain. Within a minute of arriving she was already soaked and couldn't help but feel a little miserable especially seeing as Kirito hadn't explained anything to her at all.

"This level is deserted, no one wants to live here so it's good for me," he replied a little bitterly.

Maybe she hadn't completely thought through the idea of living in the wilderness and she couldn't help but consider going back to the warm inn that she regularly stayed at. That would be abandoning Kirito though and she'd promised herself she wouldn't do something like that, not after he'd saved her life and had been so thankful just for her presence. Pina was shivering in her arms though and she decided that she had to persuade him to stay somewhere else, at least for one night.

"There's this tiny village here that doesn't count as a safe zone, either a glitch or because it's so small," he elaborated, sensing her discomfort. "I kind of lied about living in the wilderness as I actually managed to purchase a house from one of the NPCs. It's a little out of the way in case a player did come down here."

"Wait, you can't enter towns?" Silica asked in surprised horror. "At all?" But that would be so dangerous; it no wonder he was constantly on guard.

Kirito's expression was grim. "Another delightful feature created to punish red players for existing."

"But… BUT THAT'S SO UNFAIR!" Silica screamed, the sheer number of horrible things Kirito had to endure was too much. "You made one mistake, and had no way of knowing the results, why do they have to keep punishing you? Doesn't it ever fade?"

Kirito jumped a little at her outburst, surprised that she'd had such a big reaction for his sake. "Once you've killed too many, it's permanent, that's just the way things are. But I'm used to it, you don't have to do anything," he replied, reminding her of the promise she'd made an hour ago.

Silica grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He shifted uncomfortably at the sudden gesture but quickly relaxed. "You saved my life and that makes up for the people who died accidentally," she said firmly, wondering how he didn't seem to understand such a simple concept without her stating it outright. He didn't seem to be aware that he'd already redeemed himself.

Kirito chuckled at her odd phrasing and lightly pulled his arm out of her grip but seemed slightly brighter. Silica glanced around at the bleak rain. This was a rather miserable floor that no ordinary player would ever choose to live on but with a roof over her head the rain wouldn't be too much of a problem. "Why'd you teleport us so far away from it?" She complained however; he didn't have to act so strange about everything.

Kirito let out a little chuckle. "I can't exactly go into a town to get a teleport crystal that would lead right to my front door. I'm just lucky to be this close as it is."

Oh, that made sense. Silica seriously couldn't imagine not being able to visit towns at all, so it was logical that he'd live in the most depressing location he could find if it had access to NPCs. Still, this couldn't possibly be a happy existence in the game. But being alone was preferable to constant fear and hatred.

They entered a modest looking home after a few more minutes of walking through the mud and rain. Instantly, Silica felt a comfortable warmth as she stepped through the doorway. As she looked around it seemed that everything was supposed to give off a comfortable and relaxed air. There was a thick sofa in the middle of the room, covered in soft-looking red blankets. The floor was covered by a thick carpet and the windows were kept hidden by long drapes. A few tables were scattered throughout the room and on them were candles, as well as the occasional novel.

Kirito collapsed on the sofa, picking up a blanket and wrapping himself in it and he looked strangely fragile and endearing, bundled up like that. It looked like such a good way to get dry though that Silica sat next to him, grabbing another blanket and burying her head into the soft fabric. A familiar weight settled on her lap as her dear Pina sat down too. Silica sighed contently, feeling like the walk had been more than worth it.

"This house must have cost a fortune, I thought most things in this game were coarse not warm and soft," Silica commented, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders so that she could see Kirito next to her.

"There is literally nothing else to spend my money on and the price was fairly low anyway due to the location; I think it was worth it," Kirito answered.

"You can't go shopping at all? Then where do you get food and weapons from?"

"I had to use some skill slots for both smithing to repair and upgrade weapons, and hunting, which allows me to gather meat from monsters I kill and cook it, a little annoying but they're both really useful," Kirito explained with a shrug. It struck Silica just how self-sufficient he had to be.

"It's quite cool though, how you can take care of yourself. You're really good at this game!" Silica replied. It went unspoken how she wished she could be strong like he was.

He shifted a little in discomfort. "Just high level, that's all I have," he murmured.

"You have admirers and can befriend everyone you meet; that's what's important when a game is like your life," he added.

Now Silica shifted in discomfort, inwardly pleased at the compliment. "No, most people just love Pina and think I'm too young to play for real," she protested half-heartedly. She did enjoy having fans and the other people made the game fun to play even if it did keep her from her home and her old life. Being modest was cool too.

He shrugged, like he was agreeing with what she'd just said but otherwise gave no reply. Kirito really seemed to like these long silences and Silica couldn't think of anything important enough to break the silence even if she did have several more questions to ask. Most of them were questions about his life in the game and what it was like being a red player so she didn't know how to ask about it. Asking just how much col he had would probably be considered impolite so that one was also out. Instead she sat in silence though her mind was buzzing.

A few minutes later and Silica was still trying to come up with a good way to talk to him but she didn't know how. Kirito then decided to get up, now that he was warm and dry, even his hair looked dry but then the game had never been that good at simulating anything wet. Silica got up too, picking up Pina in her arms and followed Kirito into a very basic kitchen.

"Can you cook?" She asked as she examined the room. Such an easy question to ask! The only thing that looked particularly valuable in here were several large, shiny knives.

Kirito picked one of these up from the rack they were arranged on, handling it deftly. "Haven't wasted any skill points in cooking but hunting allows me to make meat taste okay," he replied, grabbing a cutting board.

Silica was a little envious of those with the cooking skill, she'd seen a few at work and it looked incredibly cool while the results were usually tasty. There was something subtly different about the way this hunting skill worked, maybe the knife glowed a different colour or something but the food still basically fell apart into even sized cubes when Kirito lightly swung the knife down. He then poured them into a frying pan and it took just seconds for the meat to become fully cooked.

"Real cooks could probably make a meal out of some food, all I can really do is make sure the meat is well-cooked and a little flavoured," Kirito added, looking down at his product a little sourly.

"I'm sure it's fine! You can't hate it if you have it every day, right?" Silica replied, eager to try some for it had been a while since her last meal, and longer since she'd had anything cooked; usually it was bread, maybe sandwiches.

"Well, it hasn't killed me yet," Kirito shrugged, eating some of his own portion, while passing a plate to Silica.

She quickly pressed the conversation forward to her plan that he'd taken an interest in earlier. "Anyway, I think all the other players will think the same as me when they hear your story. If I explain it then you won't be like an outcast anymore," she explained.

"I doubt they'll believe you, I'm a red player and people will think I tricked you if you try and help like that," Kirito said sceptically, taking another bite of meat.

"Come on! Most players can be really friendly and they'll know you're not a red player," Silica replied hoping he wasn't being as dismissive of her idea as he appeared to be.

"I am a red player and getting one person to believe your story won't change that."

She sighed and focused on the food in front of her. It couldn't be called anything special but Silica thought her food was quite tasty, and she wondered what sort of monster it could have come from. Seeing as it seemed rather spicy, maybe a fiery monster that was even now trying to burn her virtual taste buds. Maybe something lazy that spent all day eating spicy peppers?

"What skills have you invested in?" Kirito asked, a rather abrupt change in the conversation, but he was not making idle conversation as that wasn't something he was good at but because he seriously wished to know.

Silica started a little at the sudden and blunt question. "Beast taming, one handed swords, searching, support, acrobatics and music," she listed off, feeling a bit self-conscious.

Kirito actually groaned at the last one. "Music? What possessed you to waste a point on something like that?" He said in disbelief. Then he just shook his head, quickly calming himself down.

"Music is lots of fun and I think Pina loves it when I play. Plus it can sometimes confuse monsters if I try it in battle," Silica interjected defensively.

"I can see why…" he muttered, focusing on his meal once again.

Kirito was obviously not used to company, possibly because he'd likely spoken to very few people in a year. He didn't bother to try and be polite and engage her in a conversation but spoke only when he had something of meaning to say and otherwise mostly ignored her, focusing on his own thoughts. Silica tried not to be offended but she secretly wished that he gave her more attention.

"So when do think you should try and make peace with the clearers?" Silica brought up the reason she'd come here for again.

Kirito's head shot up and he gave her his full attention. "Still think it's possible? I would love to compete in boss battles again if it were possible..." he said thoughtfully. "Not until you've gained at least twenty levels or else they won't respect you," he added but at least didn't completely try and dismiss the idea.

Silica stared at him in alarm. "But that could take months! Should I just live here for all that time?" And twenty levels was still below clearing level; Kirito was thirty levels above her.

Silica had never wanted to be a clearer and had previously enjoyed her life as a minor celebrity, or at least this game's equivalent on the middle levels. Doing all that training sounded like a lot of work for a goal that only had a small chance of succeeding. What were the chances of normal players ever accepting red players? And what difference was a few levels going to make?

"Maybe they'll listen to me at my current strength! I have fans that can vouch for me and everything!" Silica protested even if Kirito looked absolutely serious and unlikely to change his mind.

Kirito sighed slowly. "You need them to take you seriously and in this game level and skill are all that matters – it's the way out," he explained.

Silica glared at him grumpily trying to think of a possible shortcut to all that boring training. This was his fault, if he hadn't been so nice then she wouldn't have had any obligation to help him and she could've had merry times on the 35th floor. Even if everyone there did treat her like a little girl.

"Can't you just defeat one really strong thing so I go up like twenty levels in one night?" Silica moaned, imagining the relentless fighting she'd have to do when fighting really wasn't much fun after the hundredth identical battle. Clearers probably liked boss battles because they were really unique.

He just rolled his eyes. "If you want to endanger your life for a stupid shortcut then I'll be more than happy to take you to the highest floor where just about any monster we defeat will level you up," Kirito replied dryly.

Silica immediately brightened up at the thought. "Great! I'm sure you're strong enough to protect me! I want to help you out!"

Kirito had been incredibly quick in battle and he would probably be capable of killing everything in one hit, before it got anywhere near her. To train she'd have to be near him and in his party while he killed things but it wasn't that hard to stay alive; the casualties would have been way higher otherwise.

"You are incredibly idiotic," he stated bluntly.

"…Don't be mean."

Soon after that Silica decided she'd rather go to sleep then try to converse with Kirito anymore. He took everything a little too seriously in her opinion and she was under the impression that he thought she was really silly and idiotic. That wasn't true at all, everyone told her that she was really cool and intelligent for her age. What did his opinion matter anyway? She would just have to prove him wrong.

It turned out that there was only one bed in Kirito's house so Silica ended up sleeping on the couch in the main room. It didn't matter, not really anyway, as her game body was very good at going to sleep for a few hours. Still, that relentless rain was a little distracting. It was obvious why no player with a choice would ever choose to live on this miserable floor.

To her surprise, when it came to training, Kirito did actually end up taking her way higher than she'd ever been before – to the 61st floor. While she didn't dare point it out, lest he start thinking she was made of glass of something, it was pretty funny. Maybe Kirito thought training was really boring too. She had to wonder why he bothered being so high level in the first place when he couldn't use it for anything other than self-defence.

"Follow me closely and don't make a sound," he instructed her upon arrival and she'd listened to him, noting the wariness that had appeared in his posture.

The 61st floor was really busy with markets flourishing as all the monster drops for the floor were high in demand and there was still plenty of exploration to be done… that was what she had been told anyway. But currently it was still just him and her hiding out of sight in the woods, not a soul nearby. Kirito knew how to avoid people, without any need of a hiding or searching skill.

Silica followed him anxiously wondering if suggesting fighting really strong monsters was a horrible idea after all. What if five monsters attacked at once while they were in some hidden dungeon? She didn't voice her concerns as Kirito had said she was supposed to be quiet but she wanted a larger party than this.

She stroked Pina, whom was sitting on her head looking alert, with anxiety and took comfort in the fact that he was with her. Pina would not let her die and she wouldn't allow Pina to get hurt either. Surely Kirito would be careful.

Eventually they encountered a group of trolls and Silica felt ridiculously useless while Kirito ran about destroying things. That soon turned to shock however when he pulled out a second long sword as if it were no big deal. He had a sword in each hand! She had been told that it wasn't possible but he could do it anyway. Did Kirito follow any of the game rules at all? She had to wonder this, thinking of the not-safe zone village, and the red name which was a result of breaking one of the most serious rules.

Oh well. Kirito swung each sword almost independently, swinging them with a deadly rhythm as he dealt out devastating blows to the trolls which were far too slow to stop him from destroying them. Silica promptly went up a level when they all died without getting too near her. Just witnessing such awesome swordplay was clearly worth lots of experience.

After a week of training in hidden areas on the 61st floor, deftly avoiding any contact with other players and barely avoiding get killed by fearsome beasts, Silica had gained ten levels even if the last few had taken quite a number of kills as she grew stronger. She couldn't deny that it was really rewarding to train with a strong player like Kirito but the lack of contact began to bother her and she didn't think that she could just do the same until she'd gained another ten levels. Kirito wasn't really the chatty type so the whole experience was incredibly lonely and she really couldn't be too annoyed with him about being so blunt and antisocial if he was forced to be alone and had likely very little contact in a year.

Still, even if he could endure it well, Silica wanted to be around others some more. And she wanted Kirito to be around others more so moving the plan forward was a necessity.

So Silica was alone on the fiftieth floor to arrange a meeting with Heathcliff, in the hopes of persuading him to trust a red player.


That's what I have written so far but I have ideas for a third chapter - I'm not sure if this is focused enough but I enjoyed writing it anyway. Please do leave a review with your comments as I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for reading!