I walked out the door and into the second floor. I walked off the path to Urbus and onto a road that lead to an amazing view. I heard the footsteps of the frontliners walking down the road to Urbus clustered together. Clearly they didn't take my advice, because after a while I heard footsteps approaching from behind me.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" I said with a smirk.

"Yeah, it sure is." Agil said standing next to me. "I must say it was pretty selfless of you to take the heat for the beta testers."

"What? Oh yeah, that's totally why I did it. To take the heat for the beta testers." (i)'And totally not because Kibaou was pissing me off'

"Although, not everyone knew why you did it. Some think you're a psycho-murderer."

"Murderer? I haven't murdered anyone...yet."

"Well not everyone knows that, some don't even care." Agil said as we started walking to Urbus.

"So let me guess. It's Kibaou isnt it."

"Actually, it wasn't him it's someone else."

Agil was about to say something, when a player ran in between us followed by two ninja looking guys chasing after them.

"GET BACK HERE!" One of the "ninjas" yelled, grabbing his weapon.

Agil and I decided to chase after the ninjas to figure out what was going on. When we caught up to the two men, they had cornered the player who turned out to be Argo. Agil picked up the men by the back of their armor.

"Now what do we have here?" I said placing my sword against one of their throats.

"Excuse me gents. I must acquire these two men." Said a man.

"What for?" I said.

"... Community service. They were trying to attack this poor young girl, so I'm going to enslave them."

"I'm not a little girl." Argo said.

"Whatever you say pipsqueak."

"...Go right ahead." I said.

"Appreciate it. The names Shiva, by the way."

"My names K-"

"You're the one who fought the boss. Impressive work by the way."

"...Thanks."

"Now then, Agil, was it? Do you mind bring these two back to town with me?"

"Sure. See you around."

As Shiva and Agil walked around, I turned and helped Argo up.

"You alright Argo?"

"Just perfect. Thanks for the help." She said.

"Should I ask why they were after you?"

"They wanted the Martial Arts skill."

"Martial Arts skill? I've never heard of it."

"Rumors of the quest start on the seventh floor. But the quest itself starts here on the second."

"Well I guess I'll have to go looking for it once I get to the seventh floor."

I turned around and started walking away.

"Or I could tell you where it is."

"And why would you do that?" I said stopping.

"Because you saved me and basically sold two guys into slavery. Not many guys would do that for me." She said walking over to me.

'What are you playing at? Argo never acts like this.'

"The quest giver is in a hut in the mountains"

"Thanks for the info, Argo."

An hour later

I arrived at the hut in the mountains. When I started the quest, the NPC painted my face, removed my equipment and told me to break the rock outside. I walked outside and examined the rock with my hands.

"Damn it, this rock has to be about two meters tall and wide. I'm going to be here forever."

I pressed my fist against the rock, pulled back and punched the rock. I grabbed my wrist and looked at my hand, which had cuts on the knuckles.

"Ugh! The hell is this made of? Azbantium?"

I shook my hand and punched the rock again and again. Hours past and I was still nowhere close to breaking the boulder. My hand was red and throbbing; if it were the real world my hand would be bloody and broken. I sat down and fell asleep.

I woke up early the next morning to continue my abuse. It was around ten in the morning when I heard something.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Said a voice.

I turned around and saw Asuna with a shocked look on her face.

"Working." I said, continuing to hit the rock.

Asuna walked up to me and grabbed my hand and examined it. After the cuts went away, she touched the knuckles.

"Where did these scars come from?"

"Don't know, I don't think the game has a scar system. Maybe it's to say that I've attempted or completed this quest."

"And what exactly is the quest?"

"Break the rock without your equipment. If you succeed, you get the Martial Arts skill."

I pulled my hand away and punched the rock again.

"So what brings you to the mountains?"

"I was looking for you. Argo said I could find you up here."

"What did you want to see me for?"

"I wanted to check in on you."

"Why?"

"Do I really need a reason?"

"Yes. It's unusual."

"How so?"

"I provoked someone into attacking me and threatened to kill them if they pissed me off again. So why the hell would anyone want to 'check in on me'?"

"Because I know there's a reason you're an arrogant ass. And I want to know why."

"Ohhh I get it, the princess wants to know more about the common folk. I'm guessing mommy and daddy didn't want their perfect daughter getting corrupted. So they locked you up and kept you away from normal boys so you wouldn't give away the family fortune."

"What? H-how?"

"The rapier kind of gave it away. That and your slight hesitation when you grabbed my hand."

"Since you seem to know all about me. It's your turn tell me about you."

"...Fine. Hmmmm, let's start at the beginning. My mother was in labor and my dad was driving her to the hospital, a driver had a seizure and ran a red light and hit them. When the ambulance came and brought them to the hospital, my father dead on arrival and my mom was rushed to surgery. She died during child birth. The doc said that if she wasn't pregnant, she would have survived. I never got to meet her."

"Jesus, that's awful."

"It only gets worse, the longer I live."

It was silent for a while.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to be alone now."

When Asuna left I went back to punching my rock. After an hour, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. A herd of ox's.

"I wonder."

I picked up a rock and throw it at one of the ox's. Its eyes turned red as it looked at me.

"Come on."

The ox ran towards me horns first and just as it got close, I jumped up and pushed on the back of its head, vaulting over it. With me out of harm's way, the ox ran into the boulder and broke it.

"I can't believe that actually worked." I said looking at the broken boulder. "Just saved myself a day or two of abuse."

I walked back into the hut and got the whiskers removed and got the Martial Arts skill. As I walked out I got a message from someone.

"Kii-bou, meet me at the bar in Urbus."

"What the hell does she want?"

I replied back and headed toward town.