DISCLAIMER : Sword Art Online does not belong to me, but to its respective writers, developers, publishers, etc. You know how it goes. I do, however, have the right to any and all OC's than can and will appear throughout the story. That being said, let's get it done!
Eyes of the Falcon : Chapter 2
1st Floor : Hunting Fields [2.00 PM]
Congratulations! You are now level 10!
I glanced up at the glowing message box and slumped my shoulders. Not that I was sad; no... but slaying a million pigs and bulls could really take a toll on a guy. I frowned a little on the disparaged status of my manliness. But what choice did I have? Being reduced to killing swine and cattle was the only safe option I had. If I wanted to survive in this literal death game, I had to be extremely careful with every decision I made.
For instance, I refused to give any monsters the chance to get remotely close enough to land a blow. A few weeks ago, I traded the sword that we all begin with to a big buff bald black dude in exchange for several pouches of throwing picks and a dagger. He told me the sword would help him in leveling up his smithing skill by deconstructing it into crafting materials. He did mention though, that projectile weapons in general were less popular due to scaling issues.
I was never one for swords anyway. Although most of the combat was done through performing [Sword Skills], I could never get the hang of it. This style of fighting suited me a lot better.
After leveling up the [Blade Throwing] skill a few times, I started to require less use of the system assist, which would normally help in terms of accuracy. Most monsters would take about 3 hits to kill, but just 1 if I managed to land a critical hit. If any got close however, that skill would become much more difficult to use. If it came to that, I had my dagger for emergency situations, but hopefully it wouldn't come to that. That being said, I opened up my inventory menu, as it was probably a good idea to check how many throwing picks I had left.
Hmm... just under a hundred left. I should probably go back and resupply.
Shuffling through my inventory, I pulled out a teleport crystal. Raising it up in my hand, I prepared the command to return to town.
"Teleport : Town of Begi- GRKK!"
*WHOOSH*
I felt something snatch the crystal out of my grasp. Stunned, I looked up at my hand. The crystal was gone! Panicking, I looked around frantically for the culprit.
A noisy chatter to my left caught my attention. Whirling in its direction, I saw a squirrel sitting on a branch of a nearby tree.
Aww, how cute! It's so fluffy and cuddly!
Then I saw it holding my teleport crystal.
That fucking rat! I'm gonna rip out its fur and feed it to him!
"Oi! Give that back!" I yelled, shaking my fist at the squirrel.
It tilted its head, looking at me, and ran into a hole in the tree trunk, my crystal in tow.
I proceeded to climb up the tree and looked into the hole. The squirrel peered back at me with its cute little...I mean beady jerkass eyes, and disappeared further into the tree.
"Steal my shit, will you?" I snarled, practically punching my arm into the hole, feeling around for my crystal, or the squirrel's neck. Either one would bring me great pleasure at this point.
What I got instead was a stinging pain on my finger as the squirrel presumably bit me. I yelped in surprise, withdrawing my hand and seeing a minuscule cut on my finger. That wouldn't have irked me as much, until I saw my HP go down a slight sliver.
Huffing in rage, I whipped out my dagger, and thrust it back into the squirrel's hiding spot, swinging it around wildly until I heard a satisfying squeak and the sound of the bastard shattering into a million pieces.
"HAH!" I cheered, seeing a small menu appear in front of me, telling me I had just earned +2 experience from that kill. Sheathing my dagger, I reached into the hole again, looking for my crystal. I felt something solid and pulled it out.
Well, it's safe to say that it wasn't my crystal. Instead of being blue and cuboidal, this was a weirdly shaped...tree. However, it appeared to be made of solid gold. And boy, was it heavy. Smiling, I pocketed it, thinking of how much Col I could make from selling this item. Reaching in again, I finally found my crystal and raised it into the air again.
"Teleport : Town of Beginnings!"
1st Floor : Town of Beginnings [4.45 PM]
I sat at a fountain, counting my earnings from selling all the monster drops from my daily hunting. Boar tusks and hide sold for a decent price, and the Squirrel Pelt I got sold for a surprisingly high price as it was apparently from a rare monster.
However, I didn't sell the golden tree yet. Something about it made me think twice about just selling it for some quick cash. There had to be a reason for it being hidden in there. And most importantly, this was a game. Every item has a purpose.
For now, I was content with the money I made today. Exp, not as much. I wasn't leveling up as fast as I had wanted. When I heard about the 1st floor boss being defeated in that bar a month ago, I made up my mind to level up as soon as possible and help to clear this game with the other front liners.
However, in a little over a month I've only just got to level 10. I rolled my eyes in slight annoyance. Most of the players on the front lines were around level 20 already, with some even higher. In particular, the "beaters". They're apparently beta testers that deliberately use their knowledge of the game to level themselves up quicker, taking all the good quests and hunting spots from us regular players. One of those beaters, a one-handed swordsman with a long black coat even let a fellow player die against the 1st floor boss just so he could get the "last hit bonus". Or at least, that's what the rumors say.
Leaning back, I opened my inventory again and highlighted the golden tree I obtained earlier. Examining it, a small pop-up appeared, stating that it was called [Stolen Treasure].
Huh... a quest item, maybe?
I closed my menu with a downward swipe of my hand. Glancing at my finger, I thought back to earlier when that stupid squirrel bit me. Despite it having received divine judgement, it still bothered me that something as weak as a squirrel could make my HP go visibly lower, even if just by a bit.
Weren't my words something along the line of, "Stats are the numbers that will keep us alive."?
With my resolve renewed, I vowed to get stronger, and fast, and that meant... it was time to pay a visit to The Rat.
1st Floor : Town of Beginnings [5.15 PM]
"Eh? You want to get to level what now?" Argo the Rat exclaimed.
"25, in a week. You'd think a rat would have better hearing." I chimed. Her face pouted as she glared at me.
"You're as annoying as Kiri-bou", she muttered. I would have asked her who that was, but I'm sure she would have charged me several thousand Col just for that.
Argo the Rat. Just a regular player, but she doubles as an information broker. Nobody knows more than she does, and nobody knows why or how. Some say she would even sell her own grandmother for information. You could technically ask her about anything in the game, and she would know about it. She'd tell you whatever you want to know too. For a price.
"I'm sure we'd get along famously. Anyway, is it possible or not?" I asked, folding my arms. There HAD to be a better way than murdering barn animals for the rest of my life.
"Of course it is." She replied bluntly. "300,000 Col."
I think my face must have paled several shades whiter. I thought I was well-equipped in the money department, but my life savings right now amount to the grand total of 80,000 Col. And I was laughing at how rich I was 30 minutes ago. Ha-ha.
"I... I think I have to go now." I stammered.
"Suit yourself." She sniffed, shrugging her shoulders.
As I turned to leave, I remembered the [Stolen Treasure] from earlier. I turned back around.
"Argo," I called out to her, summoning the item onto my palm. "Can you at least tell me what thi-"
"UUOOOOOHHH!" Her eyes suddenly became round and shiny, exaggerated even more by the game's emoticon system. "Th-th-that's-!"
Following her eyes, I looked at the item in my hand, then back at her confusedly.
"That's the missing key item from the quest 'Me Lost Booty!' on the 10th floor! It's a quest that only appears once in the entire game! Not a single player could find it and complete the quest during the game's beta!" She started reaching out for my booty. Heheh.
I pulled it away from her, wiggling my eyebrows.
"Tell you what, let's make a deal. This item... for...-" I said. She snapped to attention, her face showing all business but her eyes still gazing hungrily at my booty. Heheh.
"500,000 Col." She interruptedly offered. I stared blankly back at her.
"And full information on the 'Me Lost Booty!' quest." She added. I continued staring, wondering how far I could push my luck.
"Urgh... and information on what you asked earlier." She finished defeatedly. I cracked a grin, and raised my hand to shake hers.
"Looks like we have a deal." I said happily as she shook my hand vigorously.
Argo began telling me about a quest chain that begins on the 3rd floor and lasts all the way to the 9th floor. It consisted of 2 elf colonies at war. In normal cases, a player would have to choose a side to fight for. But there was supposedly a third unlisted option to the quest where you can unite the 2 colonies for a much larger exp reward. Although the item chest at the end had subpar items, this quest chain was done mainly for the exp gain. It was sufficiently enough to get me to level 25 in a few days' time.
"And the 'Me Lost Booty!' quest NPC is in the 10th floor town behind the inn next to the well." She concluded, and immediately opened a trade window with me.
Honoring my side of the deal, I selected the [Stolen Treasure] and clicked on trade.
-Item is bound on pickup.-
"Hm?" I muttered confusedly as I read the message. I tried again.
-Item is bound on pickup.-
"Huh, it says 'item is... bound... on...*gulp*" I looked at Argo sheepishly. Her face was hidden under her hood, but I could sense the general vibe.
She's pissed.
I braced myself, counting down to the imminent nuclear explosion.
"... It's my mistake." She uttered through gritted teeth. "I should have checked beforehand."
"I'm sorry," I apologized, genuinely feeling bad. "I didn't know..."
"Oh, that's alright," She looked up, giving the most forced smile I've ever seen in my life. "It's just over 1,000,000 Col in information down the drain."
Closing the trade window, I guiltily looked at her. "Well... thanks for-"
She walked right up to me and pointed a finger inches from my face.
"You owe me. Big time." She glowered. I raised my hands in surrender.
"Alright, alright. I'll make it up to you somehow, I promise. Just one more thing." She narrowed her eyes at me, and raised an eyebrow expectantly.
"Where's the portal to the 2nd floor?" I asked.
"2,000,000 Col."
"Ehhhhh~?!"