Chapter 7: Another Way to Help, Part 1

November 20, 2024, 77th floor of Aincrad, Silabus

"Damn it! Everyone fall back!" Klein shouted as the boss's form began to warp.

The boss had just lost one of its five health bars. We had been fighting for close to twenty minutes now, wearing down its health while observing its attack patterns to better plan for the actual raid. Well, this was a nasty surprise. The boss's initial form had been a giant. It looked human for the most part aside from the saggy skin, twisted bony features, and brightly glowing eyes.

[The Skin-Walker] melded into a new shape, one that caused several of the players in the room to flinch instinctively. I was one of them. I'm not that good with insects or anything with more than 4 limbs. The boss in front of us now had 8. Skittering about the room much faster than it had been moving previously, [The Skin-Walker] had taken on the form of an Olympic pool sized spider. Dark black hair covered most of its body and its legs ended in sharp curved blades. Its eyes remained a brightly glowing red, but now there were about a dozen of them.

"Silabus, duck!" Klein shouted.

I threw myself to the ground, feeling the wind as something passed over my head. Rolling onto my back, I found myself directly underneath the boss's abdomen. Acting out of instinct and fear, I stabbed upwards with my sword, causing the boss to screech and back up. It looked down at me menacingly.

I felt someone grab me roughly by the collar before I was yanked back a few steps. A bladed leg came down right where I had been laying down a split second earlier.

"Thanks Klein," I said, grateful for his help. That was when I noticed the red gash across his shoulder where he had taken a hit.

"No problem," he said, grinning a bit. "That's what I'm here for. Now let's get out of this room and regroup."

"Eh? What the—?"

The look of surprise on Klein's face startled me as well. Next to his health bar, I noticed a debuff symbol for the status effect [Slow]. How did that—no, it shouldn't be surprising, the status must have come from the boss's attack. Still, that was a terrifying ability; to slow a player so that they wouldn't be able to avoid subsequent hits…

I didn't even realize that my thought processes had stalled until Kirito ran in front of me, shouting, "What the hell are you doing? Take Klein and get out of here!"

He deflected a swipe from the boss that had been heading for us upwards with his sword and spun around to regain his footing. [The Skin-Walker] attacked again with a second leg, aiming for Kirito's blind spot on his left. Before I could even voice a warning, Haseo was there, casually pushing the attack off to the side with his broadsword.

"Aren't you getting a little too comfortable Kirito?"

"I knew you were there," the black swordsman replied, recovering from the brief stun his weapon clash with the boss had caused.

"Haseo, you should probably watch your back instead of talking," Alkaid remarked as she brought her swords above her head and blocked another slash coming from above.

Asuna leapt up over their heads and nailed the spider in the eyes with [Star Splash], an 8-hit thrusting combo. As the boss reared back in pain, I took the opportunity to help Klein over to the door. Still, I couldn't help but look on as the four of them held the boss back by themselves so that the rest of us could retreat safely.

Once we were in the relative safety of the hallway, everyone let go of the high tension that had filled us inside of the boss room. I, for one, was quite happy to be outside. Boss battles in [The World] weren't too stressful but in Aincrad, the atmosphere was completely different. The room was ominous enough on its own, the monsters frightening to behold, and with the threat of a very real death looming overhead, I just couldn't fathom how these people in front of me had dealt with this for two years already. They were truly strong.

"Those four are amazing," I remarked as Haseo, Alkaid, Kirito, and Asuna backed out into the hallway together. "Haseo and Alkaid have already gotten used to how to fight on the front-lines…unlike—"

"Hey! What're you moping for? You did well for a first-timer," Klein exclaimed as he clapped me on the back. It seems like he had recovered from his debuff.

"Yeah, even amongst clearers, Kirito's always been a monster," a large dark-skinned foreigner said, joining in the conversation. This would be Agil, one of the few non-native Japanese players in SAO. "Good thing for me too, because that means I can overcharge and underpay him at my shop since he earns a ton grinding solo on the front."

"I heard that," Kirito said, causing Agil to laugh heartily.

There wasn't any time to think on my individual performance after that, because we spent the next hour or so discussing what we noticed about the boss's attack patterns. If life wasn't at stake, I would have thought the whole affair to be completely ridiculous. A bunch of players standing outside the room to the boss fight talking about fight mechanics and trying to assign roles…Actually, it reminded me of a video I saw online a while back about a pretty famous old MMO where something similar was happening. One player who had been AFK ended up charging in alone, causing everyone to panic and run in after him. The results were not very pretty.

After a long discussion, we ended up going back inside to test our theories out. Like before, the boss changed forms after we depleted one of its health bars. This time it changed into a coyote, only about a dozen times the size of the ones that were in the field of this floor. If anything, this form was even quicker than the spider-form had been. It also did a lot of damage per hit, as one heavy armor user dropped down to about half health after taking a careless direct hit. Not long afterwards, the leaders of our raiding party decided that it would be best to retreat for the day before anyone got him/herself killed and continue tomorrow. It was a good decision, seeing as how many of us were drained from hours of fighting.

-o-

"Nothing beats a drink of sake after a hard day's work!" Klein exclaimed as he took a swig directly from the bottle in his hand.

We had returned to [Fuurinkazan]'s guild base after exiting the dungeon. As I might have guessed from the samurai armor worn by guild members, the base appeared to be a miniaturized Edo-period castle. The interior, contrary to my expectations the first time I had entered, was equipped with an assortment of furniture ranging from high-backed cushioned chairs that looked like they belonged in a European palace to post-modern tables that looked like twisted planks of wood.

"You know that you can't get drunk in this game," one of the officers in the guild remarked.

Klein laughed and replied, "That just means I can drink as much as I want!"

The laid-back atmosphere of this place really reminded me of Canard. But for all the laughter, it was still a clearing guild focused on defeating the boss at the end of the labyrinth. A small group of three players were discussing the day's events in the corner. When they noticed me looking at them, one of them waved me over.

"Hey Silabus-kun! Come on over!" he said in a friendly voice.

As I sat down, he added, "So, what was your impression of the boss fight?"

"Ah—In a word…scary," I admitted. "Are all boss fights that bad?"

He gave a short laugh and replied, "Nah. First time that I've seen a boss that changes form like that. There are some that change their attack patterns when they reach a certain amount of HP, but nothing as extreme as this one." He shuddered, "Damn, but I hate spiders. If every fight was like today's, we'd probably still be stuck on the tenth floor or something."

"Don't go forgetting that was at 75% health," the man on his right noted. He wore a headband tied at the front that made him look like a fish-monger. "I'll bet that guy has four forms or something."

"You mean like 'Each time I transform I get exponentially stronger and I still have two transformations left?'" the player who had called me over asked incredulously. "I thought that kind of stuff only happens in shonen anime that run for several seasons longer than needed."

"Oh you did not just diss my favorite anime, Kamaitachi!" the third player at the table exclaimed.

Oh, right…that was his name. I was trying to remember everyone's names but I still mixed them up half the time. Then the one who had just spoken was…Takeda, I think. I know it had something to do with cavalry.

Kamaitachi grinned and replied, "One word: Filler."

"Getting back on topic," the man sitting across from me, Keiji, said. "It'd be quite troublesome trying to fight against this boss without knowing every form it could possibly turn into. How many days do you think it'll take before we cycle through all the possibilities?"

"Could be a few more days," Kamaitachi noted. "After the casualties we took on the 75th floor, being careful is the only option."

"How do you guys handle it?" I asked. "This type of thing day after day for so long? I've only been here about a week and I'm completely stressed out already."

The three sat in silence for about a minute before all answering at once as if on cue.

"It helps when you're with friends you know in real life," Kamaitachi replied.

"Just take it a day at a time," Keiji said. "And after a while, you get used to the world. Not that it's necessarily a good thing to be used to it."

Takeda answered, "Don't let fighting on the front-lines take up all your time. Do something that you enjoy whenever you can."

Klein, lounging on a couch nearby waved his bottle in the air and added, "Take a break and just enjoy the game as…well, a game. A game with a remarkably good taste generation engine even if you can't even get tipsy when you want to."

Something I enjoyed doing? Well, back in [The World], my favorite way of passing the time, aside from helping new players, was in running the guild shop and seeing new faces. But that wouldn't help us get any closer to finding Atoli. With those thoughts in mind and an ever-growing feeling that I was in way over my head, I excused myself and headed off to my room in the guild base for some rest.


November 20, 2024, 55th floor of Aincrad, Kirito

Dinner, as usual, looked great. As expected of Asuna, my mouth was watering before I even sat down. Stew, rice, and enough side dishes to satisfy any hunger. She looked pleased when I complimented her culinary skills, but then said three words that made me stop with my fork halfway to one particularly delicious looking dish.

"Alkaid helped out."

My anticipation immediately gave way to apprehension. Dinner had just turned into an unforgiving game of Russian Roulette. And since Asuna refused to tell me exactly which dish the newest member of KoB had "helped" with, I was really hesitant about taking a bite out of anything. I had heard about Alkaid's cooking from Liz and let me say this: Anything that could knock out Haseo instantly was far scarier than the boss we were learning the fight mechanics for.

Speaking of which, Haseo entered the room, toweling off his hair. Although there really isn't a need to bathe in the game, it's a nice feature. Not to mention most of the female players I know get a bit weirded out whenever they find out you've skipped bathing in favor of more time in the field killing monsters. They'd wrinkle their noses in disgust at body odors that don't actually exist in the game and tell you how you're a disgrace to humanity…you get the idea.

"Oh wow," Haseo said, looking at the food presented on the dining table. "This looks amazing. Itadakimasu…"

And without waiting to sit down, he picked up a drumstick and bit into it. I couldn't even get out a word of warning to him beforehand. The guy must have some pretty bad luck because the next moment, he seized up and collapsed on the ground.

"Let me guess," he groaned. "Alkaid's leveling her [Cooking] Skill."

The guilty party raised an eyebrow and said defensively, "Hey! It's getting better. I'm at skill level 84 now. Besides, I only see three status debuffs on you right now. That's an improvement, right?"

"I suppose being able to shout for help is an improvement, yes," Haseo remarked in an even tone. "Hey Kirito, forget about figuring out the boss's patterns, just toss some of Alkaid's cooking into its mouth for an easy kill."

The second half of his comment earned him a light kick in the ribs.

Alkaid conceded, "Ok, so maybe adding one of every ingredient into the pot to level the skill faster wasn't the best idea."

"It's a good idea," Asuna said, putting a hand on the other girl's shoulder supportively. "The faster you level your cooking skill, the better your food will taste. I'm sure someone will eventually appreciate the effort you're putting in and will be begging for you to cook for him soon."

Alkaid turned red and stammered, "T-that isn't—"

"Oh, it looks like Silabus sent me a mail," Haseo interrupted from the floor. "But thanks to a certain someone, I can't open it…"

"Oh be quiet about that already, it'll wear off!" Alkaid protested, shooting him a look of exasperation. She lifted his arm and helped him take the message by pressing the "Accept" key with his finger. "Let's see," she continued. "It looks like he'll be taking some time off from the front-lines."

"Good for him," Haseo said. "He's been blaming himself way too much for Atoli going missing. Silabus just isn't Silabus if he isn't enjoying playing."

"Is he a casual player?" I asked. Of all the players who had been trapped in SAO, the ones who had only logged in to "check out" the game ended up being the ones who were most negatively affected by Kayaba Akihiko's announcement on the first day. They had made up the majority of those who had died from causes outside of combat in the first few months.

"More or less," Haseo answered. "He's not one for more 'hard-core' events like the arena or boss-hunting unless someone really needs his help. But when that happens, he's probably the most reliable guy you can find."

"Still, unless he's willing to risk his life, the front-line might not be the thing for him," I noted. "I can count the number of surviving casual players on the top floor on the fingers of one hand. The odds aren't exactly in his favor if he continues."

"He's strong enough to handle it," Haseo replied. "He might not believe it himself, but I have confidence in his abilities."

-o-

The next day was a day off for all of us at KoB to prepare what we needed for the boss fight. Recently, the top clearing guilds agreed to a system where two or three guilds would probe a boss's abilities one day and rotate with another group of guilds the next. When we felt we had enough information, we would gather together and share our impressions and observations in one large raid meeting.

"Ah man, I'm bored," I complained as I stretched my arms up.

I was sitting inside Liz's shop as she finished maintenance on my gear. I didn't really realize it since last year I was preoccupied around this time of year power leveling for the Christmas event, but there really wasn't much to do on a day like today. What I wanted to do was to take a nap outdoors, but it was too chilly on most floors for that to be comfortable. Maybe I'll head down to the 22nd floor and do some fishing…except I think the lake had frozen over last week. Was ice-fishing implemented in this game? I'd have to ask Nishida later.

"Here you go Kirito," Liz said as she handed me back my swords. I tossed her a coin in payment. Even though she said she'd maintain my gear for free, it still cost materials and time to do so and I'd feel bad if I took advantage of her offer too often. It's good enough that she didn't charge me at all for reinforcing my weapons.

"How's business going?" I asked.

She beamed at me. "Couldn't be better!" she exclaimed. "The hammer I received in that quest is amazing. It actually has a perfect chance of reinforcing a weapon if you prepare the maximum number of raw materials…though I have to admit, being pestered for information about [Hephaestus' Forge] got annoying after the second day."

"Well now you know how I felt when [Dual Swords] became public knowledge," I replied. "I had to go into hiding to avoid the crowds of players trying to find out how to unlock that skill."

From the front of the shop, Alkaid remarked, "That forge event sounds interesting. I'd like to see it one day."

"That's not going to be possible," Liz answered. "It seems to be a one-time event, because the last two groups that went to where we found the forge said the doors were barred and refused to open."

The two girls had become fast friends after they had met at the floor opening party. I guess it shouldn't be surprising considering their outgoing personalities. But that meant that when they got started on a conversation, it could take a while for them to finish and I really didn't feel like sitting there as the lone male when that happened.

"I guess I'll head over to Agil's and sell the drops I got over the past few days," I said as I excused myself.

Behind me, the girls launched into a conversation about finding good player housing. I hadn't really considered it, but I suppose living in the guild headquarters does seem odd when there were so many decent homes up for sale in Aincrad's towns. Not to mention there were a lot of benefits to owning a house. Guaranteed privacy for one. My face heated up a bit as I remembered the time Asuna and I spent in our cottage on the 22nd floor. I hurried to the teleportation stone in the town as I tried to put those nights out of mind. Much harder to do than you would think.

Agil's shop was located on the 50th floor, in the city of [Algade]. As usual, the merchandise on display looked rather disorganized to me; Agil claimed that he has a "special layout" for his goods, which I guess was a fancy way of him saying that he just randomly shoves items on the shelves as he buys and sells them. His shop does fairly brisk business so I wasn't surprised to find someone inside already. What I didn't expect to see was him in an animated conversation with that someone else.

"Like I said earlier, you'll want at least as much starting capital as how much your shop costs," he was saying to a familiar looking figure.

His head turned as I stepped into the room. "Hey Kirito! How's it going? Got any goods to sell me?"

"Yeah," I noted, pulling up a trade window. The person Agil had been talking to turned around as well.

"Good morning Kirito-san," he greeted me politely.

"How's it going Silabus? Enjoying your day off?"

"I'm thinking about setting up a shop of my own and was just asking Agil-san for some advice," he replied.

"My advice would be to set up shop far away from mine on the other side of town," Agil joked. "I don't need you stealing away all of my customers."

"Doesn't look like there's many to steal away from you though," I noted.

Agil glared at me. "That was a low blow."

Laughing it off, I concluded my transaction with him (gaining a total of 150k Col) and turned to leave. But before I could, the dark-skinned giant stopped me.

"Hey Kirito, why don't you help him pick out a decent location in [Algade] for his shop? You know the area better than he does and I'll bet you don't have anything planned for your day off except for running through the fields like a blood-crazed maniac slaughtering monsters by the dozen."

"Oi, don't go around trying to make me sound like some sort of hopeless grinder," I replied. "There're enough weird rumors about me already between the dual swords thing, joining KoB, and exposing Kayaba."

But he was right about how I had nothing planned, so I spent the next two hours giving Silabus a brief tour of [Algade]. Even though I've been here many times before, it occurred to me how daunting the area must be for a first-time visitor. It seemed like every alleyway was part of a larger maze and that if you took a wrong turn, you'd be lost for days. In fact, I'd heard one rumor the other day that a group of friends had arranged to meet somewhere in the city. One of them got lost looking for the road to the meeting spot. He ended up walking around for days, sleeping in an alleyway whenever he grew tired. In the end, the group sent a search party after him...but those people promptly got lost as well.

The neighborhood started looking really familiar to me, which was when I remembered; my house from my solo days was on this floor. I hadn't thought about it much since getting married to Asuna, but I had probably left a bunch of stuff in my storage chest on this floor. I should go back and check later.

"So in conclusion, if I want anyone to actually be able to visit my shop without a road map or GPS…pick another floor," Silabus remarked, glancing down one particularly dark alley.

"It's not as bad as that so long as you find a shop that's close to a main roadway in the city," I replied. "But those are pretty expensive; you'd have to shell out at least 4 million Col for one of the better ones."

"Maybe this isn't the best idea after all," he sighed.

"No, I think it's perfect for you," I answered sincerely. "I heard from Haseo. About how you feel guilty for what happened to your friend."

"Ah…he told you about that?"

"Yeah," I said, scratching my jaw. "It's probably not my place to tell you this, but you don't need to push yourself on the frontlines just because you feel that's the only way to help. I mean, out of everyone in this world, only about 500 are actually clearers. We might be pushing forwards, but that's only because of all the people supporting us. Without people willing to run shops, make equipment, and gather raw materials, there's no way we'd be where we are today. I guess what I'm trying to say is, there's more than one way you can help your friends; if the path of the sword isn't for you, there's always something else you can do."

After a long moment of silence, Silabus replied, "You're a kind person, Kirito-san. Yeah, you're right, I should probably do what I've always done before. But that doesn't mean I'm going to give up on helping at the front from time to time. I'll focus on this first and get stronger in the meantime so that I can stand with you guys on the hundredth floor."

As he walked down the street, he shouted to the sky, "And if I'm going to open a shop, I'd better make sure it's the best shop this world has ever seen!"


November 21, 2024, 50th floor of Aincrad, Silabus

I stretched my arms as I looked around at the interior of my new shop. I had chosen a medium sized building that was about a five minute's walk from the city square. It was in a good location, so I was surprised that no one had taken the spot. The interior was spacious and it came with a bare minimum of furniture. Calculating in the cost of my purchase and an estimate of how much display cases and other furnishings would cost, I was dangerously close to broke. In my haste and euphoria at the thought of owning a shop, I had forgotten about Agil's advice to hold over a good chunk of money for stocking up.

There was a lot to do as well. Thinking up of a good store name, advertising, planning the layout of the front, and procuring goods. I'll probably end up using the second floor as my own home; it'd certainly be a lot more convenient than coming in from the [Fuurinkazan] base every morning. But first…if you're going to open a store, you need to have something to sell.

"Ah man, this is going to be a problem," I muttered. "No choice, I guess I'll head out into the field and collect some raw materials so I have some inventory."

After sending a quick mail to Klein, Haseo, and Alkaid ("Have a shop on the 50th floor, drop by sometime,") I equipped my weapon and headed out of the city. The monsters on this floor were so much simpler than those on the 77th floor. In fact, without the pressure of fighting a floor boss or exploring a dungeon no player had ever seen before, the experience quickly became enjoyable. It was a feeling that I hadn't even realized I had lost when I first came to this world; the feeling of playing for fun, of exploring a vibrant and exciting world.

I might have gotten a little bit overconfident after a while since the monsters on this floor were so much weaker than I was used to because I started leafing through a player guide I had gotten for free at a market stall earlier. It was compiled by someone named "Argo" and had a lot of information on skills and where to farm certain materials. Currently, I was collecting leather and skins since those were useful in crafting armor, but I planned on entering the nearby forest in a short while in order to hunt monsters that dropped materials used in reinforcing weapons.

I have to say, I had a new appreciation for the person who wrote that guide by the end of the first half-hour. Without it, I'd probably have just slaughtered random monsters hoping for some lucky drops. For someone new to the world, knowing exactly what dropped where was a godsend.

"If the path of the sword isn't for you, there's always something else you can do…huh?" I murmured to myself. The number of lives saved by this guide was probably not insubstantial. I could understand the meaning behind Kirito's words better now. After all, this Argo person wasn't a front-liner, but still played a role in helping everyone out.

The forest area on this map was extensive. I'd probably have lost my way if Kirito hadn't given me his mapping data for this floor. But in no time at all, I found where I wanted to be and was busy slashing away at foes. Even though they were a much lower level than me, my katana skill leveled up quite a bit just due to the sheer number of kills I was racking up. I ended up losing track of time before my stomach growling told me that it was time to return. I also had several messages waiting for me that I hadn't noticed earlier. The earliest had been sent nearly two hours ago.

Hey Silabus. Glad you found something you want to do in Aincrad. Let me know when you open up and I'll drop by. –Haseo

Silabus, what's this I hear about you opening a shop? I'd better get a discount! Just kidding. You'll do great as a shopkeeper. –Alkaid

Yo Silabus, we have a surprise for you so drop on by to the guild headquarters later today. –Klein

"Hey, you there! What are you doing here?"

A voice called out to me from behind a tree. I hadn't noticed anyone in the area before; did he find me with the [Searching] skill or something? A large player in full plate armor carrying a spear stepped out from the shadows.

"Just hunting some monsters for raw materials," I answered. The player indicator above his head was green; it didn't look like he was one of those rumored "orange" players who robbed players of their hard-earned drops.

"Wait…don't tell me," he said, looking a bit frightened now for some reason. "You've been hunting [Dragon-scale Lizardmen]?"

"Well, yeah," I answered. "I've been here for a few hours already."

"A—few hours?" he replied shakily. "And how many have you killed in that time?"

What was he so nervous about? I checked my inventory. Currently I had about 50 scales. At about a 15% droprate, I must have killed at least 300 of them. I answered his question. He looked really taken aback by what I said and shouted to someone behind him.

"Guys! Stop killing those mobs! You might—" he yelled.

A loud hissing noise filled the forest followed by two tremors that shook the ground. From behind the man, I heard the sounds of screaming.

"Damn it!" he exclaimed before running off to rejoin his party. "Hang on, I'm coming. Just try and keep away from it for now!"

I ran after him, catching up rather quickly due to the difference in how heavily armored we were.

"Um, excuse me. But exactly what was that all about?"

He looked at me as if the situation was my fault. "You don't know?" he asked incredulously. "There's a limit to how many of these monsters you can kill in a certain time-frame. Any more than that and you'll risk triggering the event."

"Event?" I asked. Well, whatever this event was, it couldn't be a good thing from the way this guy was acting.

"Yeah," he answered. "Kill too many of them and you'll anger their god. That's how the story goes, but in practice, it's a repeatable boss fight. And between you and my party, we've killed enough to royally piss it off."

The two of us skidded to a halt as we entered a small clearing. The rest of his party was spread out in the field. A man with a sword and shield and heavy armor, a lightly armored katana wielding woman, another spearman, and a young girl who was only armed with a dagger. Facing them was a large serpent roughly the size of a subway train. Its cold yellow eyes turned towards the two of us who had just arrived and it let out a loud noise halfway between a hiss and a roar.

"I hope you're good with that blade of yours," the man I had met earlier said. "Because we're in for a pretty tough fight from the looks of it."

[The Dragon-scale Serpent Lord] reared back and lunged straight us.


*notes- Part 1 of the Silabus focused arc of the story. This is my rendition of what would happen if you took an ordinary player, one who's in it for fun and doesn't care too much about progressing, and shove him into a world where everything is serious business. Oh, and just to make things even more confusing for him, he's suddenly on the strong end of the player-base in terms of level and stats which makes him feel even more pressure to contribute. Luckily the clearers are considerate people (unlike say, hard-core raiders in certain MMOs I could name) and basically tell him to take a break so that he doesn't go and get himself killed pushing himself to his limit.

I never used Silabus in the G.U. games much except for those parts where you have to have him in your party. I figured if he was real, he'd probably appreciate not being thrown into adventures where you encounter weird glitch floating black bubbles and comatose players. Thankfully, the other characters level up on their own even if you don't party with them (or else I'd be stuck with a lvl 10 or so Silabus on disk 3.) Here, he's strong enough to be a clearer, but has little battle experience in a Full Dive environment which means he'll freeze up in fights against the bigger, more menacing monsters (at least initially.) Add in the fact that his two friends have quickly acclimated with the situation and he's feeling a bit left behind at the moment. He'll get better. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

As usual, leave comments, suggestions, criticism, questions, etc. in a review or a PM if you have any.