Chapter 7: Trust and Truth
Jade stares at me as if I am some sort of strange species of lizard as she tilts her head to the side, staring at me in sheer curiosity. My back is still up against the wall which I slid into when we came crashing messily out of that hellish corridor, and the fact that Jade has not yet pushed herself away from me is making it harder for me to breathe. I feel uncomfortable because of how close her face is to mine, but at the same time exhilarated.
Jade's beautiful emerald eyes dig into my soul from a few inches away, sending shivers up my spine and making my right hand curl up into a fist to stop myself from shaking. Her elegantly armoured back is arced; she is hovering a few inches away from me with her hands placed carefully on the ground to either side of me, and as a final touch her beautiful dirty blonde hair is draped seductively over her shoulder. Slowly, surely, she opens her perfect lips to speak and the world slows to a crawl in the seconds before she releases her thoughts to me.
Despite myself, a fantasy appears in my mind
"Klaes, thank you so much for saving me!", are those the words she says now? Am I finally thanked for the countless times I have helped her? Is this what they call "warmth"?
"What the FUCK was that?" the familiar cold, irritated tone exits those perfect lips as they spew vulgarity.
The little fledging I call my "dreams and fantasies" is kicked out its comfortable nest in my mind and falls to its bloody end in the fiery pit known as reality.The friendlier side of my conscience sighs deeply in frustration, but at the same time I'm relieved that I'm still alive, as this is obviously reality.
Well, Virtual reality, if you get technical.
"Did you just catch that sword?" Jade barrages me with another question, apparently unaware of my distress. Because of her demanding tone and perhaps her proximity, I answer honestly before I can stop myself.
"Erm, yeah." I bite my tounge, but the words have already hopped ship and been said, and I cannot withdraw them now.
Jade snatches my left arm off the ground, lifts it up, and begins to inspect it much in the same way a morgue warden would examine a particularly disgusting corpse, namely: I don't like doing this, but I don't have a choice.
"You still have your hand."
"Wow, really? I hadn't noticed." I drench every word in sarcasm as I reply.
Her face scrunches up in a frown. "Don't try dodging this. You're hiding something. What is it, a unique skill? Extra, perhaps, or a mix of already known skills? Tell me now!" Jade practically spits in my face as she shoots phrases out.
"It's..."
Shit, I can't just not tell her.
"It's not a skill at all..." a honest answer.
"What? Don't play around with me, Klaes, you lobbed that fatass' hand off just a few days ago. I know about the mutilation effect."
"I'm serious...it's got nothing to do with skills."
"Then how?"
The answer to that question, is in fact quite simple. It really comes down to understanding two things about Sword Art Online. Firstly, severed limbs will reconstruct when the player reaches full health again. Secondly, one must understand how the armor types in this game work, particularly the Pierce and Sever effects in contrast to armor types. Heavy armor in particular takes a lot to break through, and despite the fact that the user takes damage it is very difficult to get past the armor.
With this knowledge and a certain level of curiosity, combined with childhood memories of kendo and wishing that "I could just catch the damn sword" lead to some experimenting on my part. It took some practice and a decent amount of close calls, but I eventually found out that I could effectively catch with a heavy metal gauntlet; as long as I could take the damage I'd be fine. This method proved somewhat useless against monsters, who would just act as if you had trapped their blade in between another weapon, but against players this was surprisingly effective. I stopped a lot of my recent encounters from becoming deadly simply by snatching blades away. Of course, I didn't want to share this secret with too many, however...
"You're kidding..." is all she says when I finish explaining.
"Nope, I'm dead serious."
"You're insane." Her comment offends me a little.
Do not question my ingenuity!
"I'm a genius." I say, gleaming with confidence and pride.
Jade tilts her head back and laughs out loud, crushing my self esteem instantly.
"Oh please, only a psychopath would think up of an idea like that."
"How is my fight style in any way psychotic?" I ask, indignant.
"Ohhh geeee, I don't know, let me see," Jade mocks my voice now, making herself sound rougher. "I suppose not that many people go 'Hey, look at that deadly blade swinging towards me. You know what'd be a great idea? I'll catch it! Yeah, that's a great idea!'"
"My 'great idea' saved your life, mind you."
"Details, details!" Jade waves her hand casually, as if swatting away my words. She then drags down a window and spawns a few lunches that clatter as they drop onto the floor. Eager and tired from the corridor battle, I reach my hand out towards one of the two bags. Inches away, I stop myself.
Wait...
I look up at Jade, who is staring at me in slight bemusement. I then draw my eyes over her head, to where her green cursor is. I suddenly feel the orange cursor burning above me, and I hesitate, drawing my hand back slightly.
"The lunch is for you, you idiot." Jade's grins at me as she takes a bite out of her sandwich, indicating with her free hand to the bag in front of me.
I barely have time to say "~thank-you-very-much!" before I dig into the bag, tearing the brown paper open to feast on the riches inside. The system-generated flavours that flood my mind are slightly strange and unfamiliar, as all food in SAO is, but it is still tasty. I devour my sandwich without saying another word, swallowing the last piece in a matter of milliseconds.
When I look back up, Jade is halfway through her sandwich and staring at me in disbelief. Despite myself, I feel my cheeks redden slightly due to my horrible manners.
"Eh...so-"
Before I can start apologizing Jade's sweet laughter fills the safe room, the melody of her voice a shred of light in the 41st floor dungeon.
Well, I'm glad she's not offended.
Jade wipes her mouth as soon as she calms herself down and then smiles at me. Once again, I take note of her absurd beauty. Her face a display of feminine features and her hair a dark gold, the two emerald eyes in front of me could easily be those of an angel. I dismiss this thought before she can notice it.
"You know, Klaes..."
"Yeah?" I ask
"There's more to you than a pathetic criminal player!" Jade smiles brightly as she says this.
"Thanks, I guess..."
"You also hide stuff from your party members and have terrible manners to boot!"
This girl...
I smack my head and sigh deeply, staring down at the floor. Jade takes the last bite of her sandwich and then stands up again.
"Right! Let's go!" She beams in joy as she prepares herself for the rest of the climb.
Where does she get so much energy?
"Yeah, yeah...give me a second" I make a quick check of my map, and then close my window down. To my surprise, a delicate hand covered in a light blue fingerless glove is in front of my eyes. The owner of said hand has a slight grin plastered on her face.
What is she up to?
"C'mon, you're supposed to be the one getting me through this floor, remember?" her palm is still outstretched, ready for me to take it. For one last time, I look above her at the green cursor suspended over her head.
Screw it.
"Sure, I'll lead the way." I grab her hand, and she pulls me up. I straighten up less than a foot away from her and look down at Jade, as she is slightly shorter than me. "The boss room is still a few sub-floors up, so try not to get lost." I try to pat her on the head and get a half broken finger in return, but we soon start the climb up to the 42nd floor.
Jade dispatches the last of the mobs as we walk towards the boss room. It's been two hours since we've entered the dungeon, but due to all the mapping data we have we've made quick progress. In the distance, I can see the huge doors to the boss room, and I push onward with Jade by my side.
As we step into the gigantic boss room, I get a serious sense of nostalgia. The space, the lights on the sides, this room is a room of the past. In the centre of a room a player-likely from the clearing group-has set up a sign with the text "No deaths!" written on it. I can't help but smile when I remember how much clearing changed after the 25th floor.
"Wow..." Jade's voice is soft from next to me.
"What, never seen a boss room before?"
"Uh... no. I've always used the gates.." Jade replies.
This comes as a shock to me.
Someone with her skill has never front-lined, why?
"Wait, you've never been in a clearing fight?"
"No. Have you?"
I can't help but brag. "Yeah, a bunch. I was front-lining since floor one, and went on until the 30s range of floors before I stopped."
"Really?" Jade asks, her voice full of excitement and curiosity
I'm glad to see her like this, for once, so I carry on. "Yeah, the front-liners are really great people. The guy to girl ratio is a bit skewed, though..."
"Why did you stop?" a stupid question from Jade.
I grimace, and point up at where I know my orange cursor is.
"Oh... right." Jade sounds guilty now.
We keep walking towards the stairs to the next floor, our footsteps like raindrops on a roof. Pitter patter, pitter patter, pitter... I hear Jade stop walking, and I turn around, worried.
"What's wrong?" I ask. She does not budge a inch, and her head is tilted down.
"Klaes, how did you get that orange cursor?"
Oh crap.
I think fast, and answer. "Tell you what, if we discover that the reward of the quest really is what I'm looking for, then I promise I'll tell you."
"...and if it isn't what you're looking for?"
"Then you'll never know." A cold, direct answer, but it's the best I can do.
Jade keeps her head bowing down, and I feel myself tense up for a potentially lethal explosion of anger and frustration. However, when she brings her face back into the light she's smiling once more. She tilts her head sideways in that familiar way. "Okay, but I get the feeling the quest will be what you need." She winks as she says the last phrase: "Otherwise, I might just beat it out of you."
I snort at her last comment. "Go ahead and try, punk"
We walk up the stairs and on towards the next floor. We step onto the ground of the 42nd on November 5th, at 3:02PM, and then begin walking to the nearest town. Suddenly, I remember something extremely important.
"Crap."
"What?" Jade asks.
"I almost forgot, I have to meet an informant on this floor."
"An informant that deals with Oranges? Is it about the quest we picked up?"
"Yeah... she'll talk to anyone for cash." well, for a lot of cash, actually. I grimace at the amount of times I've been ripped off.
"Who is the informant? I might know them."
"Oh, you definitely know her. She's the #1 informant."
"Ah, I see." Jade finally seems to understand. "You have enough money?"
"Yeah, maybe." At least, I hope I do. Information isn't cheap.
Especially with Argo The Rat.
Wait a second...
I grin.
"Jade?"
"Yeah?"
"Back in that corridor, how many kills did you get?"
"Oh? I got about..." she cuts herself off mid sentence.
I smile evilly at her, knowing full well who got the most kills. Jade sighs, bows her head, and begins walking again. I follow, still smiling.
She's paying for food tonight.
