Chapter Four
Disbelief was the key emotion on the players' faces that Kirito could see. The panic had turned many players against one another, maybe out of a frenzy of fear and fright, maybe because they hadn't vacated the premises of the Church fast enough. Still, the one thing Kirito realized was that there wasn't actually a crowd. Everyone had dispersed, leaving Firelink Shrine behind. Someone had thankfully lit the Bonfire in the main plaza, and while it crackled and burned, a large bar of a healthy green appeared over it -the time until it turned off, apparently.
Gazing up, Kirito realized that in exchange for a single piece of humanity, the Bonfire was going to burn for an entire week.
That did not bode well.
They had extensively tested and fought in the Beta to reach Anor Londo, and it had taken them all of Summer Vacation. It had also happened with a lot of content 'cut away' to be released at the end of the Beta, so they hadn't even gone through some key areas that were now available for exploration.
A week for a piece of humanity wouldn't have been bad in the Beta -not with the farming of rats or the lucky drop from a chest. But the words of Kayaba did hang in the air. Then again, it didn't have to be that way. Maybe the government or some private Hacker group would barge in and save the day. As it was, it was too early to give in to despair. It wasn't as if you died if you were killed in the game itself -and thank god that wasn't the case. Probably, many of the now Hollow players had simply been stampeded upon by the rushing outside masses of players, who were probably ravaging the countryside of any and all Hollows and random low-level mobs they could find.
As Kirito neared the Crestfallen Warrior -the NPC in the starting area that oversaw the bonfire- he looked at his figure. At least the players had the decency not to kill him in their frothing madness to leave the surroundings.
"Another one," the Warrior said. "Come to share the fate of all of us cursed," he remarked. "But maybe you can help me?"
Kirito lifted an eyebrow. The Quest hadn't yet been done?
"I can try," Kirito replied. "What do you need?"
"My name," the Crestfallen Warrior said. "I can't recall it any longer. It's there, barely out of my grasp. If I had it, maybe I could recover my shining good mood. I feel as if it's been stolen, but who would steal it?"
Kirito looked sideways. There were a few Hollow players -mostly those who had just emerged from the Bonfire and were looking around lifelessly, their expressions probably sour at having died from a mob, and belatedly, Kirito realized they were gesturing at one another in accusation.
The Quest ended once you acquired the man's name and 'brought it back' to him in the form of a Soul Item, 'Fragment of Saulden's Soul' which was found, surprisingly enough -or maybe not surprisingly at all- quite near the starting area.
The hint to it was the 'shining' and the 'stolen'. There was a large raven up on the church's roof, and while Kirito didn't really have any set plans, this was one of the few missions that involved no fighting hordes of Hollows and that held little in the form of competition. Of course, any of the other Beta Players should have probably completed this mission by now, so either Kirito was in luck, or they had all gone ahead to grab some of the best quests around. He was lucky he still had his gear from the Beta.
While not overtly powerful, and not remotely meaningful in the long run, it meant Kirito could take his time. He supposed all the other Beta Testers probably had the same thoughts, which made sense. Returning the 'Name' of the Crestfallen Warrior simply handed you over a few hundred loose souls, 'spare change' so to speak, not even enough for your first attribute power-up unless you began the game like a 'Deprived' character.
Seriously, if there was someone starting the game as a 'Deprived' then whoever he or she was had to have mental problems. It was hard enough playing the game with starting equipment and some goodies depending on the Class chosen, but starting as a Deprived meant using your fists throughout the entire tutorial and having all attributes at one.
Kirito had seen a single character reach the end of the Tutorial as a 'Deprived'. That guy had been among the top tier of Beta-Testers, and he was probably a professional gamer or something. If only he hadn't refused all friendship requests and changed his nickname halfway through, then maybe Kirito would have gladly left him in charge of any and all Raid parties.
As it was, he only knew the guy was called something like 'Sleeping Ran' and even that nickname had been just hearsay.
Well, it wasn't as if it mattered now.
He circled around the ruined church and climbed on the moss-covered stairs, where the elevator to the upper-level church was locked -no one had yet to unlock it, and free the first Blacksmith.
Until that happened, Crafting Items could only be hoarded.
That was kind of a sore point: you had to earn the right of Crafting by being strong enough to battle your way past many dreaded foes and reach for André, the Blacksmith. That meant that you had to suffer many Bosses and enemies without ever powering up your weapon or defensive equipment. It was tough, but it also didn't matter since unless you went for a Player Versus Player character, the difference in equipment was meaningless mostly.
Instead of a one-hit kill you had two hits.
And considering Physics meant that a large hammer would send you flying against a nearby wall, hurting you in the process -not much, the Pain part was thankfully scaled down and there wasn't a 'Wound' or 'Maimed' system- sometimes it was just preferred to die in one swing. At least it was painless.
Being a Hollow wasn't pleasant however, because the game cut off all your sensory inputs tied to touch and taste, making everything taste like ashes and preventing you from having a real 'feeling' of objects. It was disquieting, and while you didn't feel pain or hunger either -that was a great plus- it also was, in the long run, an 'out of body' experience.
Hunger. Yeah. That was going to be fun.
As a 'Chosen Undead', hunger wasn't really there. Only, that was a lie because in the lore, the 'Chosen Undead' ate 'souls' to avoid going mad. This translated directly in a sense of hunger that stuck with you as long as you didn't have any souls in your inventory, and that went away the more souls you had. Once you reached a soft cap of five hundred souls, you no longer felt hunger.
As Kirito looked at the end of the stairway and at the upper level that normally could only be accessed through a 'roll' motion, he decided to risk it. He took more than a few steps back and then rushed for the opposite wall, his feet slipping on the old stone wall as he jumped against it. He jumped again, and extended a hand. His fingers barely caught on to the ledge, and with that said and done, he pulled himself up.
It had been discovered that certain 'physically impossible' feat were actually possible, provided you had the right attribute combination and the right requirement. Plus, depending on the area, the 'requirements' went up or down. This being the starting area, you didn't need more than fifteen strength and dexterity to execute such a move.
In a place like Anor Londo, the very same move would require a whopping fifty-five each.
Kirito looked around the upper area, quiet and solitary safe for a single figure standing over the edge, his body hunched over and probably not having heard the boy's climbing action. He crouched, mostly out of a lack of desire to initiate conversation, and quietly began to walk his way past the guy. The tricky part came next -there was a jump to do on a broken column, and then from there another jump to reach the back of the Church. Once there, it was just a matter of sticking close to the wall and climbing up.
"Skulking, skulking, skulking around," the voice said in a gruff tone. "I sense a rat, skulking around."
Kirito held his breath and crouched a bit more, even though by game's logic it didn't actually matter. Once you were 'enough crouched' you couldn't earn bonuses by 'crouching even further'.
Quickly, Kirito rushed for the broken column and jumped, his feet in the air as the figure turned to look at him and for a single instant, Kirito felt vindicated in not sticking around.
The man had a skull mask. He had a skull mask and a vicious grin.
Kirito rolled at the end of his jump and jumped again, the motion quickly landing him in a 'safe' area. The skull-masked figure just laughed and shook its head, before standing up and lifting a long and thin dagger made of pale blue matter. Kirito's eyes snapped to it for a brief instant, and then back to the figure, who chuckled as he brought out from within his robes a cracked, red orb of sorts.
"The game has changed, oh skulking rat," the voice said with a loud chuckle. "Oh, how much the game has changed."
His name was invisible. It wasn't 'blurred out' or 'hidden'. His name was not there. Even when hidden, asterisks would appear to cover it, but still allow counting the number of letters in it. His health bar was there, and so was a strange, small symbol standing next to it, a crimson orb with a glowing orange eye -the sign of a covenant, no doubt- but that was all.
And then the figure disappeared right in front of Kirito's eyes, stepping backwards in a portal of shimmering crimson flames dribbling with blood.
"Creepy," Kirito mumbled. He knew some people took a kick out of roleplaying their characters, but he hadn't expected something like that. Well, the figure had disappeared, and Kirito's 'Search' wasn't finding him anywhere, so he had probably used a Homeward Bone of sorts. Maybe it had been an item coming from a newly unlocked area?
Anyway, Kirito couldn't waste time on the roleplaying geek. He had an item to recover and a quest to complete. As he climbed upstairs, he came face to face with the giant raven that had its nest on the Church's roof. Differently from the Beta however, the roof of the church now was wider -possibly to allow all fifty thousands of players inside, which meant that yes, it was going to be quite the trek through the rooftop- and yet, desolate.
In the far off distance, the raven stood cawing and flapping its wings.
Kirito carefully made his way to the side of the rooftop, and began to walk alongside its edge. Sure, sure, he could walk right in the middle of the rooftop, but he had played enough of the game to know it was a very, very, very bad idea to do that. If there was an open, wide area, then Kingseeker somehow would put a very big enemy in it, or a horde of mobs, or a Raid Event.
Because Kingseeker was a bastard like that.
Kirito hadn't become one of the 'good' ones at this game because he ignored the obvious. In fact, he kept the quick-slot item on his Homeward Bone just in case he needed a hasty retreat. Better to run away then end up dead, especially if humanity was that precious.
He neared the Raven, who cawed and looked down at him with a twinkle in its eyes.
Firmly tucked in its nest, among the branches, was a small glowing orb that revealed itself as a 'Saulden's Crestfallen Piece of Soul'.
Kirito knelt, and extended a hand to get from near the Raven's claws. The creature wasn't hostile, and as an Immortal Object, it would be kind of a pointless action trying to kill it. The Raven cawed and flapped its wings, moving his large clutches away from the nest. Kirito grasped at the object, which disappeared into his inventory. He sighed, and was about to stand up when he felt the tell-tale sign of the game's Cutscene Engine starting to play.
When the Cutscene happened, the players had to stand still. On the plus side, they became invulnerable for the duration of it, but on the negative side, they could but watch as whatever Boss or unholy demon appeared to execute maximum fear on their souls.
Kirito's eyes widened when the Raven's claws clutched him tightly, and no scream escaped his lips as he ended up carried off in the air, his mind haywire.
He was pretty sure he hadn't knelt inside her nest.
That was required to return to the Asylum, and he hadn't done that. He had most certainly knelt, but while outside of it. This...
This had to be part of the new content.
And he was going at it alone.
This...this did not fill Kirito with hope.
If anything, it made him dread.
He really should have invited the rest of his 'usual party members' to the trip.
He had a long, long time to berate himself and mentally kick his head for being stupid however, since the raven didn't seem to have the intention of dropping him off in the near future.
...
Just where the hell would the thing bring him anyway!?