CHAPTER 2 - BLADES, FISTS AND MAGIC
We travelled at leisure pace after reaching the exit of the dungeon. Yuki was chatting with Asuna, something about use of skills and battle tactics, and Shirou was doing some weird motions with one sword in hand. Now that I think of it…
"Is that the -Reverse Slash- ?" I asked. Seriously, how can someone who fought a boss single-handedly for half a minute have trouble with such a simple skill?
"Yes. I thought you were just a one handed sword user. You know curved blade skills too?" he focused on me.
"I used it briefly on the beta period, up to the third skill." He smiled awkwardly. "It's a downward slash type skill. You have to move like you're hitting from a 45 degree angle."
"Huh. That makes the slashing power greater, I guess, but why hitting the arm or shoulder when you could make it a high horizontal slash and hit the neck, lower the slash to cut the stomach or kidneys, or a diagonal upwards to aim it at the lungs or heart?" He spoke something outrageous with a completely straight face.
"I guess you have real experience with blades?" I asked, probably a bit pale from his reaction.
"Onii-chan knows a bit of everything! If there's an anime about it, we know about it!" Yuki interrupted. "Ne, nee, Kirito, what about making a party with us?" She asked with an expectant voice.
I'm thankful we don't sweat in virtual bodies. Else I would have dehydrated by now. Being close to people always makes me nervous, I guess, but is somewhat worse with girls. Especially when they're that close.
"Kirito?" She insisted.
"Hey, look! The city!" I changed gears a bit too forcefully. "Let's go faster and activate the teleport gate!" And I ran from the situation like a coward.
We stood in front of the teleport and Diabel put his hands through the archway's gap, a shining blue light marking the activation of the gate. People poured from it almost instantly, cheering for our victory, curiously looking around or walking to nearby stores to check the products or simply enjoying the new surroundings.
Then a brownish shadow got out so fast that it trampled over Kirito, Asuna and my sister. My reflexes from Izumo and other situations were enough to save me from joining them in that embarrassing position on the floor. Though they recovered quickly, two, I swear to the root, Ninjas poured just as fast and dashed off to the same direction and made they fall again.
"I'll go see what that is about." I waved them off. There isn't a way he could do anything to my sister inside a game, and if he somehow found one, I'll rip his junk and hands just off on principle.
I dash in pursuit, noticing that the three of them were going to outside the city. No matter how you look at it, it was 'two villains pursuing an innocent child', maybe a girl.
Considering my luck, probably a girl.
I brought my left hand to open the menu screen and equipped the scarf/cape I won from one of the monsters on the boss floor. It was a bit of an eyesore all in crimson red and looking a bit ragged, but at least covered my face. The last thing I need is another girl like that on the first floor insisting on calling me onii-chan and getting into boundary battles against Yuki.
I still feel bad about my sister trouncing the girl with her STR focused build, but at least it dissuaded her from coming with us into dungeons.
We ran beyond the limits of the city, right into the fields, until I saw them stop. I quickly but silently approached, until I was under hearing range, then I took cover behind a large rock.
"… let you go until you give us what we want!" The two ninjas pressed the, I'm sure by now, girl.
She had light-brown curly hair, and unlike the other rare girls I saw in the city, she choose to wear plain brown leather equipment more suitable for a boy. "I told you I won't sell it-dayo!" Oh, and she had some make up painted whiskers on her face.
Sell it? What are they talking about?
"But we are willing to pay! Just tell us how much you want!"
More muffled footsteps closed from behind, but a quick glance confirmed to be Kirito and Yuki. Asuna must have chosen to stay behind because she was nowhere in sight.
"No, I won't do it, no matter how much you offer!" Ok, I may be getting the wrong idea here, but this doesn't sound proper. Or good.
Kirito jumped up a cliff to get a better look, and I once more focused on the guys.
"It's not a problem about price-yo! Didn't I tell you I don't want to be blamed after I sold the information-da!" The girl said in a slightly intimidating voice. Oh. Information. I was really getting the wrong idea for a moment.
"Why would we blame you!? No matter what price you ask, we'd still be saying gratitudes-gozaru! So just sell us the information about the quest hidden on this floor the acquisition quest for the -Extra Skill- already!"
Now that got my attention. -Extra Skills- were things we normally have to get by side quests or by pilling up impossible achievements in the game. I briefly had unlocked -Chain Weapons- after I took a Kusarigama from an froglike opponent on the eight floor, and defeated him with it, and I heard there was a -Meditation- skill, and a -Katana- Skill
I wonder if it's -Dual Wielding-…
Kirito jumped between them, probably annoyed at being left out of the battle, and they briefly discussed something about ninja clans and government agents (I swear, I'm not crazy… yet).
But the more importantly, they reached for their swords, and that was something I could not overlook.
"I would give up I were you." I spoke in my most threatening voice.
"Yeah. We're allies of justice and protectors of the innocent!" Yuki also helped surround them from another angle, and I noticed with a scarf of her own (hers was a dark purple), covering the bottom of her face.
"I knew it! You are from another clan! We will be avenged!" They spoke like we had already defeated them, and dashed away, swearing revenge to an 'Iga' clan.
"You know, I don't get those guys…" I spoke first.
"They're crazy, and that's all that is." My sister spoke, and Kirito shook his head.
"Look at what I have just discovered…" The girl from before giggled to herself. "Kirito the Solo in a group. Now I have seen everything…"
"I guess you two know each other?" I asked. "Oh, sorry my name is-"
"Shirou, the hero of Aincrad. No one talks about anything else these days." She completed.
Hero of Aincrad? Seriously? I haven't saved more than a dozen people yet!
"And his loyal sidekick, Yuki!" She bowed to my sister. "I'm Argo the Rat. The best information dealer of all Aincrad."
"I am no sideki-" I cover my sister mouth for a second and look at the one-head-shorter girl.
"Information dealer? That's nice. How do I contact you?" Information is always serious business. It could save lives, and it could change the world if used wisely.
Kirito interrupted us. "I think we should finish this in another place. I don't want to face this level's cows unprepared, just because I was standing in their detection range…"
I had to admit he made a good point. "Ok. Let's get back to the city…"
We found Asuna by chance in a local tavern that doubled as an Inn, and after we ordered some bread Shirou relaxed in his chair and turned to Argo: "Well, you were saying before?"
"I told you, just like I told them: I won't sell the information-dayo!" Argo's voice dropped a few tones threateningly.
"Huh? No, I don't care about an -Extra Skill- unless it allows me to use two blades at once." Shirou waved his hands dismissively. Seriously, 'I don't care?!' Which player of respect would say something like that!? "What I meant is: You're an information dealer, right? How much do you charge? How do I contact you?" He was so business-like that it was uncharacteristic of him. "Also, why were those guys after you?" He picked the bread from the NPC waitress and thanked her (really) them picked a bottle from his inventory and applied more of that jam to it.
"Some guys can't take a 'no'-aru." She dug on her bread with vigor, and Yuki nodded solemn. Asuna kept staring at us with some nondescript emotion playing on her face. That girl stills a mystery for me. I ignored the rest of the conversation and focused on the rapier user who just turned to look through the window to the outside fields.
"…ito?" Huh?
"Kirito." Argo called my name.
"Yes?"
"Do you trust him?" She pointed at Shirou.
"Somewhat." I scratched my head at the awkward question. "We fought the first boss together, and talked a bit. He seems a sincere type of guy."
Argo's mouth twisted upwards and her nose twitched. "I see-dayo. Well, if you guys swear you'll not blame me for the outcome, I'll tell you how to get the -Martial Arts- -Extra Skill-!"
"Hell yeah! Then we'll kick everyone's asses up to Mars!" Yuki shouted.
I started to shake my head at such silliness, when an unexpected sound came from Asuna.
*giggle* *giggle*
My mouth moved open and shut repeatedly, but no sound came out. The fierce, serious Rapier user, overkill adept, nearly suicidal Asuna, giggling?
"It's decided then. Wait? Do we go today or tomorrow?" Shirou spoke to the Rat.
"We can reach the place if we leave now…" the information dealer's face seemed haunted for a moment "But I think you guys will want to be fully rested for this…"
"Ok. We meet again, let's say, 9:00 o'clock central square tomorrow?" He offered.
"Eh…" I was unsure of how to react. I always refused to be a part of a group before, but I wanted to get to know Asuna better, and even I recognized that in a group of such dedicated persons, leveling would be easier.
"Sure." Said girl agreed.
"Now that's decided, let's go shopping!" Then the black haired girl stretched and brought her menu window to life, then grabbed Asuna and Argo's hands dragging them up.
"Have fun." Shirou waved. "I'll send a message as soon as I find a good Inn."
Yuki froze, then turned to her older brother slightly annoyed: "Oh no, you're not! We're hitting a smith and buying you the best armor we can find, baka onii-chan!"
He turned to me with a pleading expression so uncharacteristic of him that I nearly dropped my cup. Still, from the times I had to hit the shopping district with my sister and mother, I can understand his suffering. "If you girls need me, I'll be leveling up on the northern fields." It doesn't mean I'll risk getting dragged in that mess to help him. I'm not that stupid.
I heard that giggling coming from Asuna again. Maybe joining wouldn't be so bad afterall…
No.
Thankfully they dragged the crying (The system kind of overstated our emotions so he was crying a great deal) Shirou away helping me make my decision. I need to unlock the next -Skill Slot- tonight if I want to learn -Martial Arts- without sacrificing my -Tracking- and -One-handed Sword- skills…
"First of all, I work better without armor, second, didn't you said back a while that I need to gain a few levels?" Shirou tried to argue with his younger sister as he has been doing for the last ten minutes or so.
I wonder why the guy that stopped a boss' Skill single handedly was being dragged so easily by his sister back and for-
"Leave me alone!" A voice interrupted my train of thoughts, along with a flash of purple.
"Not a chance! Give us the information we want and we will let you go!" Other character, seemingly a member of the -Fuumaningun- group (not a guild yet) of ninja-like bullies, shouted. Still, as long as the cowering boy didn't leave the city, he would be safe from any harm, if a bit annoyed or scared from the -Damage Prevention System- flashes. No sense in getting inv-
"Stop that!" Shirou's voice cut above every sound. I resisted both the urge to facepalm, and the other to squeal at the change in his posture. Gone was the pushover, crying boy. His back was straight; his feet were set apart like some characters I saw in a few martial-arts movies I like and his very being exuded confidence.
"You again! We of the Fuumaningun will get our revenge for the former-" A black blur exploded in a purple flash throwing him back with impressive force. Following the attack with his eyes the ninja was smashed again for taking his eyes of the opponent and looking at the dark sword resting on the floor. This time it was a -Reverse Slash-, and he quickly changed the weapon to the other hand and followed with a -Reaver-
The ninja tried to react, expecting the delay of the next skill activating, but the redhead surprised me by kicking his grounded sword into his hands again and launching a blinding fast sequence of strikes.
"Stoop! Stooop! I give up!" The ninja threw his hands up and the onslaught stopped.
"Soo, isn't very fun when it's you on the receiving end, is it?" The hero towered over the Fuuma. The boy shook his head as fast as he could, and slipping back, broke in a desperate run.
"I'll remember that! The Fuuma clan will have revenge, you Iga bastard!" The ninja shouted from the distance.
"Thank you! Thank you, Shirou-sama!" The kid (He must be twelve at most) from early kneeled in front of me, and requested in a humble voice: "Please teach me your ways! I want to be strong like you and have beautiful girls flocking around me!"
Huh? I replayed the last sentence in my mind twice, to make sure I heard correctly. Sure, Yukari was by no means unattractive, and I already had to threaten one or two players with a certain disregard for personal space, but flocking? "Then again, Asuna is a beauty, and Argo is very cute when she isn't trying to scare people with the mantle-wearing scary person act…"
Argo gasped and Asuna 'eeped' in surprise. 'I said that out loud, didn't I?' I refrained to ask the obvious and instead, I muttered my long time 'It's all the Root/Zelrech's fault.' mantra under my breath. And as they moved to question me, I followed the most sensible course of action as of one under such a situation: I ran away from the city.
Maybe the boss room would prove to be a nice hideout… I'm sure the boss will be sympathetic enough to my situation and try to kill me on the spot.
…Next day, on the square…
"Why you didn't come back Oniiiii-chan?" Yukari whined. "I was worried!"
"I took your advice to heart and decided to reach level 13. I took a while though." I shrugged.
"I took the girls to grind too!" Yuki flashed me a V sign. "And I reached 13 yesterday too!"
"Good morning guys!" Kirito greeted us as he approached.
"Ne, ne Kirito-kun, what's your level?" Yuki approached him shamelessly. For all the mess of memories I have in my head from multiple realities, I still tried to follow local rules of etiquette. My sister on the other way didn't bother with such things when it wasn't convenient.
"17, I reached it yesterday while on the field." He stammered while backing down. Yuki walked one step forward and I noticed a weird gleam in her eyes as she manipulated her menu.
"Nice. When we reach the boss room you'll form a part with us again right?" She took another step forward. Kirito managed an utterly unsure stuttered "su-re." reply, and she continued "And what about forming a guild with us later on?" pressing him forward.
"Ah… Eh…" He seemed unable to form a response.
"You know, Yuki-han, is quite bold of you to jump a boy in the middle of the central square." I heard Argo's laugher right by my side.
It was harassment no matter how you looked at it: By the point they were now, Kirito was seated and leaning back to put some distance between him and Yuki, who was standing with her legs apart over his body and leaning forward. I had to remember myself that it was all Yuki's fault for not to try and hurt Kirito already.
"You two aren't very serious about the skill, aren't you?" Asuna asked from a different direction.
"Okay, I'll form the damn Guild!" Kirito pushed Yuki back and ran to me. "Control your sister damn it."
I shrug "If you wasn't so easy to embarrass, she wouldn't resort to it." A system message popped in front of him with the party invitation and he pressed -yes-.
It took us one hour to reach our destination, nearly twice the usual time but that was because Shirou stopped to help a party against a group of seven -Wild Bull- type monsters that they probably collected while running away. Potential tragedy averted, reckless players scolded for their behavior (and Shirou being accused by Yuki and Kirito of Hypocrisy) we arrive at the isolate hut and I open the doors.
The bald old (but extremely bulky and intimidating man) walks forward and asks: "Thou wishes to be a disciple?"
Both the cheerful Yuki and the serious Kirito answered yes at the same time, and Asuna also shrugged and followed not far behind. Since I positioned away from the NPC's field of vision, his gaze fixed in the only player who haven't answered yet: Shirou, who was either sulking from the prior admonishment or looking for something in the distance.
"Erm, Yes?" Feeling the guys's gaze, Shirou turned asking politely. The NPC nodded and continued, completely misunderstanding the meaning behind the tone.
"Even though there be a long and steep road of training?"
"What? No! I don't-"
I couldn't help but laugh at his sulking face full of paint in the form of a Tanuki, for the Heroic redhead, a kitten for the long haired girl and Kiriemon for Kirito. Yuki painting was original to say the least… Monocle and a thin mustache and goatee made her twitching expression too much entertaining.
"Soo, that's… why you has-" Kirito burst out on awkward laugh, and I couldn't help but feel a bit vindictive.
"Oh, but the best part is yet to come-na…" I said, and as if on cue, the elder threw (yes, threw!) three more large rocks in front of the startled group.
"Until this rock is split, leaving this mountain is forbidden. And thou hast to demonstrate it in front of me." The elder NPC nodded pleased with himself and continued, "That -Mark- cannot be removed until thou hath split this rock and finished the training. I believe in thee, my disciples."
I couldn't help but roll in the floor laughing at their twitching faces.
"I see why you were afraid of dying now…" Asuna's voice lowering to a quite dangerous tone was my first clue,"I have half a mind to break my word and punch you for not warning us." And Yuki just caught me when I was leaving.
"Nononono~o." She 'tsked' and waved a finger to me. Try as I might, I couldn't get rid of her higher STR. "If we are on this mess, so are you." She pushed me in front of the old master and held both sides of the door.
I sighed. Half a day of training, and we haven't managed to even make a dent on the rocks. According to Kirito, and don't ask me how he knows these things, the rocks were one step short of indestructible, and no amount of normal damage was enough to break them.
Of course, I remembered while eating, I'm not exactly normal.
I stood in front of the rock, and muttered my 'trace on'aria, and activated my analysis, not on the rock, not in the environment, but on the NervGear, and then on my own nerves.
Then I reinforced myself to a safe amount and punched the rock with all my might.
"It figures reinforced strength wouldn't make much difference."
I reinforced myself again, but this time, I applied a layer of alteration on both the circuits that captured my data, and my own body.
'Object analysis, Conceptual Reinforcement - level 1, Alteration - Impose concept: Enhanced Transference Spectrum. Limit Analysis, Self-Reinforcement stage 2, Alteration - Impose concept: Enhance hardness and concussive strength' I might be a third rate magus limited to only a few spells, but after nearly a century working on them, well, they're like a swiss-army-knife in my hands.
Pain shot through my body for the first time since I entered the floating castle, and I punched again, copying one of those Jeet Kune Do punches Rin made a point to try on me when I exploded the workshop on England.
Pain shot through my hand as if I really punched a rock (and yes, I've done that before), but the effect was a notable improvement: A fist-sized indentation appeared on the rock, with spider-web cracks from the point of impact. A hazy red colored light leaked from my fists though, this world representation of blood, and my HP bar suffered a slight dent.
Takami was dedicating all MBI resources she could get her hands on to take care of her son and daughter. She have brought them to MBI tower IC unit, used her influence to direct personal doctors to each and have them into a rotating schedule so there's always one present at any given moment.
She also made a point to simply move her personal office to that floor. As such, she nearly jumped when Shirou's monitors showed an increase in temperature and brain activity, and when his fist twitched and two of his fingers broke, she called all the specialists she could and ordered her own personal equipment to be brought.
"Onii-chan, that's is soo awesome! How did you do it?" Yuki's voice was the loudest but more discrete questions also came from Kirito and Asuna.
I simply stayed there looking at my hand, feeling slightly curious as of why it was still aching.
Well, is not like it was real pain, probably some phantom pain from the enhanced feedback.
Matsu was tasked with the analysis of all the SAO incident data once it was proved that direct interference was too risky, and she fully expected to be called at any given moment Takami was curious about her son's situation.
But this was news to her. "He broke his hand while punching a rock! How is that possible?" The scientist asked annoyed.
"Nee Takami, that sounds completely natural when you omit he punched the rock in the virtual- " A punch interrupted whatever the MBI CEO's didn't managed to say before.
"It sounds about right. The Nervgear signals also peaked beyond factory specifications from twelve seconds before to three seconds after the moment of the punch. I don't know what that means though. Maybe it was an anomaly." The hacker was still typing at moderate speeds while delivering her explanation.
"Anomaly or not, I want all the information you can get about it." The concerned mother glared.
"Have I ever told you how difficult it is to work with so little data?" Matsu complained seriously. "One wrong step and I fry someone's brain! This guy was so paranoid that it's ridiculous! He didn't specified conditions for the Nervgear to fry brains. He specified very few that kept the helmet from doing it!" She panted as she neared the end of her tirade, "also he used a custom system with nothing I can exploit. Even the OS is imbedded on the hardware. I can't overwrite remotely, I can't substitute the circuit, and I can't do more than get choppy videos from leaked connection data." She slumped on her chair. 'And there is no one else I want to save more than him.' She added on her mind.
After three days, two and a half hours, Kirito managed to break the rock. Yukari was a few hours later, followed by Asuna. Shirou was the last one, but in his own mind, he accomplished more than simply learning an -Extra Skill-: He rediscovered his own magic in this universe.
"I curse the old apostle. This is all his fault." He muttered to the wind.
…Days Later…
"Onii-chan? Where is Kirito-kun?" Yuki asked after we beat the second boss.
"I believe I saw him going to the third floor…" Asuna sighed.
I kept quiet. Saying that he did the most sensible thing and ran away from my sister is not a good idea, even if I managed to avoid being the one to take most damage as to not anger her this time. The downside is that both she and Asuna (her new best friend, as she put it) will be walking with just me, and my reputation will get worse.
I swear these people are way worse at gossip than that female high school I attended back in another universe: One afternoon walking through -Urbus- shopping district with my sister and two friends, or more accurately carrying stuff as a human pack mule-… Wait! Why didn't we just put it away on our inventories?! …And I'm gathering a harem.
"Onii-chan was way more awesome! You saw that time he jumped away and rolled under the boss body to get in the monster's belly? That's what I'm talking about!" I ignore my sister antics to take a look at the forward group that was hurt by the area attack the developers gave to the boss this time.
The differences were getting bigger… by the 5th floor and beyond, we might be facing different bosses altogether.