A/N: Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.

The Second Floor and What Lie there

December 9th, 2022 10:12 am

For the next week they spent their days simply finding important stores in the city, there was even another tea shop, although their tea was far more bitter than the shop in Torubana. The party had managed to acquire a fairly large room in one of the smaller inns on the outskirts of the city. After they were comfortable with the layout of the city, the group moved on to the entire second floor. From information gleaned from other players, some inexpensive maps and a little private exploration they managed to finally piece together a decent image of the floor.

To the west of Urbus lay a vast savannah filled with buffalo looking monsters, beasts that the three players killed by the dozens on a daily basis. Beyond the savannah lay a wasteland, several front line players had warned them extensively to stay away from that part of the floor and Cronan and Vlinn were not ones to ignore enforced advice, Sky took a little more convincing.

On all other sides of the crater city were multiple mountain ranges, all seemingly with flat tops. The dreary floor was a vast change compared to the varied first floor but there was not much the players could do, they had to keep moving up, floor by floor. After the initial week in the city the group decided it was time to explore the floor themselves.

The gate to the city was situated on the rim of the crater that Urbus sat in, which thankfully was close to the inn that they resided in. The ten minute walk was filled with laughter and happy go lucky chatter. For once it felt good to explore an area, after their adventure in the first floor dungeon Vlinn had assumed that at least one of the three would have been scarred from exploring. However the companions did not seem bothered at all by the prospect of hidden dangers, the warrior chuckled as Cronan teased Sky for some reason or another.

As the party left the city Cronan steered the conversation to a more business like subject.

"Any thoughts on where we want to go?" He asked, eyeing his friends. Vlinn shrugged and Sky tapped her chin thoughtfully, glancing at out surroundings.

"There!" She said finally, pointing at one of the nearby mountains. This also happened to be the tallest mountain on the floor.

"You're joking…" Vlinn stared at the small girl who smiled innocently back.

"Looks like fun." Cronan commented dryly, not looking the least bit amused.

"I'm glad you think so!" The swords woman chirped, before grabbing her companion's arms and dragging them toward the base of the large mountain. It was hard to deter her once she had set her mind to something so Cronan and Vlinn simply let themselves be dragged along. Once they had reached the base of their intended destination the group took a short break to take stock of their inventory.

The party had an ample supply of food and healing potions, and as long as they were careful, Sky thought they would be fine. Although Vlinn voiced his desire for teleportation crystals, a sentiment they all shared, they had shopped for them in town before leaving and had found that the small crystals were quite expensive. If they wanted to keep sleeping inside where it was safe, then the party would need to forgo the luxury of an extra safety net. It seemed like a foolish trade off but after sleeping on the ground for over a month in a cave the players had begun to appreciate the finer things in life, such as beds.

"Why do we have to go up this particular one?" Vlinn groaned as they began the trek up the mountain.

"Because it's the tallest one!" Sky bounced beside him, her Acrobatics skill was higher than either of her comrades, so they struggled to keep up with her. "There is bound to be something up there!" With that she leapt up to an outcropping and used it as a step to bounce again to a higher ledge.

"I'm going to kill her." Vlinn grumbled as he climbed; hand over hand, up the cliff side. Cronan grunted beside the shorter warrior, his higher strength rating made climbing fairly easy for him, even with his full chainmail armor. "One of these days, I'm going to snap and kill her." Vlinn gritted his teeth and pushed his body upwards.

Halfway through the day they managed to reach a large outcropping a little over three quarters up the mountain. The outcropping was large enough for the three to sit comfortably with enough space between each other to stretch out, so they decided to break for lunch.

The inn that the players currently stayed at had a kitchen available to players so the day before they made the decision to explore the mountain ranges Sky had taken a few hours to cook up all of the buffalo meat that the group had acquired from their daily outings to the savannahs and plains.

Cronan bit into the meat and savored the juices that flowed over his tongue. She was definitely getting better at this and the tall warrior found himself wondering how high her cooking skill was as he nibbled on his lunch.

After all of the buffalo type monsters the party had killed they had only gained one level from their previous status, leaving them at level ten. As Vlinn chewed his own lunch he opened up his skill menu and scrolled through, currently he only had seven skill slots; Musical instrument, which was just below one hundred. Leather equipment, one-handed assault spear, light shield, Sprint, acrobatics and parry. None of my skills were at a very impressive level (minus his Sprint skill) but it would be enough for now.

After lunch the group continued their journey to the top of the mountain, as they reached greater heights further toward the top, much of the mountain leveled out. So instead of climbing the side they ended up just trekking up steep hills until eventually they reached the altitude at which the top of the mountain leveled off completely.

The top of the mountain had a very pleasant environment, it was mostly inhabited by trees and if Cronan strained his ears he could hear the slight trickle of a stream somewhere in the vicinity.

"Alright," Vlinn said turning toward Sky. "Where to now?" She tapped her lip ponderously and glanced at Cronan.

"Let's follow the sound of water." He suggested with a shrug, without any better ideas they began searching for the stream. Eventually Sky found it and after alerting her party they followed it for several tens of feet before finding the cavern that it was running from. Without waiting to discuss anything Sky rushed into the cave, wading through the water that almost seemed ready to swallow her.

Seeing no other choice her comrades followed after her, delving into the damp cave. Eventually the steam deepened and the players were forced to swim upstream, thankfully the current wasn't very strong.

As the group drifted down the water several large bats swooped down to attack us and Vlinn had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming, Sky took care of the flying foes with relative ease before they had the chance to target the suddenly pale player.

Eventually the cave opened up into a fairly large clearing and the stream ended (or began) in a large bubbling spring. Near the spring was a large tree and surrounding the clearing was several cliff sides. In the middle of the clearing sat a small, slightly unkempt hut. Before either male player could stop her, Sky once again rushed forward.

"Damn it woman!" Cronan shouted, chasing after her, Vlinn could only chuckle and follow. They found short player staring at the inner surroundings of the hut. It was hardly furnished at all and seemed to only have the bare necessities; the only furniture visible was a small mat which was currently inhabited by a very muscled man.

The man had a clean shaven head which was offset by his large, wild beard. He wore a white cotton gi and he sat in a meditating position, above his head sat the large golden exclamation that designated a quest.

"I told you there would be something here!" Sky said, smiling smugly.

"Yeah…but a quest?" Vlinn crossed his arms over his chest and frowned thoughtfully. "I wonder what it is?"

"Only one way to find out." Cronan said simply, approaching the man. As Cronan neared, the man's eyes snapped open causing the lean warrior to freeze.

"Dost thou wish to be a disciple?" The NPC asked Cronan. The armored man glanced at his friends but they could offer nothing but moral support. If the quest allowed party action the rest could assist. But there was no indication that it did, so if it was a single player quest he was on his own.

"Um." Cronan stuttered. "Sure?"

"Even though the road will be long and arduous?" That caused Cronan to pause for a moment. Beside Vlinn, Sky snorted causing both males to look at her.

"If it's too hard don't take it." She insisted, waving her hand patronizingly. Cronan glared at the girl.

"I'll do it!" He snapped at the large NPC. The big man nodded his head, stood up and led them outside of the hut and toward the cliff sides. Before the party sat a gigantic rock and the man stood beside it, resting his hand against it.

"Your training is this only," He said. "Break this rock with your bare hands and all of my knowledge in the Martial Arts is yours."

"Martial arts? That must be a combat skill!" Vlinn said excitedly. "And it sounds useful, you should do it." Cronan was examining the rock worriedly.

"I don't know…"

"Told you to give up." Sky's tone was slightly condescending and Cronan glared at her again but before he could say anything the large martial artist stepped forward and produced a small jar.

"Once your journey had begun you may not leave this mountain until you split the rock. Thus I must mark you." He opened the jar and dragged his first three fingers through the substance in the jar. Quick as lightning he brushed his fingers against either side of Cronan's face. The tall warrior blinked in surprise at the new set of "whiskers" on his face.

"What the hell?" Cronan scrubbed at his face but the ink refused to lift.

"That mark will not be removed until you finish your training, I believe in you my disciple." With that Cronan's master turned and walked back into his hut.

"Well," Vlinn said after a time. "Might as well try punching that thing." Cronan stared at the warrior and then the rock and with the least amount of effort that had ever been witnessed, lifted his fist and let it fall against the stone.

"Nope." He announced, "It's too hard, guess I'll just walk around with this paint on my face until I die." Sky rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"You're such a quitter." She sneered. "Might as well just leave then, you're right. I doubt you could even finish this quest if you were twenty levels higher."

"Hey now…" Vlinn began, surprised at her outburst, Cronan was livid.

"I could finish this if I wanted to!" He snapped, Sky snorted in response.

"You'll just give up because it's too hard." The female swordsman shrugged. Cronan's fist clenched as he moved toward the rock and without another word he smashed his fist into it. Nothing happened, no cracks, not even particles of dust fell. But he didn't react; he simply raised his fist again and pounded it into the stone.

He continued on like this for about ten minutes with still nothing happening and then paused for a moment.

"You're going to want to get comfy." He said quietly and then returned to his "training." Hours passed and still Cronan pounded away at the rock, the taunting had seemingly drawn out the less seen ambitious side of the warrior.

After the first few hours Vlinn fell asleep beneath the single tree in the clearing, before he nodded off the swordsman saw Sky executing her search skill everywhere. The laid-back player scoffed and gently rested his head back against the tree, listening to the sound of trickling water and fists hitting stone.

The player was ripped from his slumber by a loud cracking sound that seemed to shake the mountain itself. Eyes snapped open to find darkness; the player blinked several times and eventually was able to make out two bodies standing next to the remains of the huge rock. Chunks of the stone lay scattered about the clearing and Cronan stood, looking exhausted.

"Wow." Vlinn said simply, neither player had expected him to be able to break that rock so soon or to have the patience to do it.

I certainly wouldn't have, Vlinn mused, chalking it up to his comrades abnormally high strength stat. "Good job!" He grinned, gently patting the taller player on the back

"I knew you could do it!" Sky said, causing Cronan to stare at her incredulously. "What? I figured you needed some inspiration." She smiled innocently and slowly pulled him to the hut where his master waited.

"I see you managed to complete your training." He said as the trio entered. "And in such a short time, I am honored to teach you my ways." The huge man bowed to Cronan, and the small warrior bowed back. His quest screen would pop up, announcing the experience he got and the new skill that he had acquired. He wasted no time in equipping his hard fought prize.