The bright chirping of birds chimed through the gravel road walkway of the road Kirito and his 'party' were currently on. With Nezha's secret now known to them, finding an alternative for combat had become a priority. The blacksmith, now willing to be a much greater help to his friends than simply being a weapon scammer, wanted to get this done posthaste. So the swordsman complied with his wish.

"Anytime you wanna let us in on this secret of yours would be lovely, Kirito." Asuna chimed in. She was slightly annoyed that she was being strung along by the boy's silence on the matter. But since he vaguely said it had something to do with the skill he used on the field boss, it had her curious.

"Oh ye of little faith. We're almost there."

'Yeah, like when you said that ten minutes ago.'

Brushing aside the glare he was most likely receiving from the chestnut haired girl, Kirito lead them down farther into the gravel trail until the road opened up. "And we have arrived."

Nezha, Asuna, Argo and Leafa all moved past him to see what the whole trek had lead to. The area was a bit of a contrast to the savannah like appearance of the entire floor. Looking more like an oasis in the dry landscape. The gravel turned into a gray, stoney color with borders of grass lining up where the entrance was. A river was running through the surrounding area with large rocks peppered near the shore basin of the riverbed. On top of one of the rocks was one old man sitting in meditation. His Buddah-like monk outfit making him stand out like a sore thumb in comparison to everything here. A green quest marker floating above his head.

Kirito stepped in front of the others and pointed behind him to the old man. "This is where you come to learn the skill I used on that overgrown cow. That monk has a quest that teaches you martial arts skills to use without a weapon. This is the skill I was talking about to help Nezha wield his new chakram with precision."

"So I just need to clear the quest to get access to the skill?" Nezha asked.

Both Kirito and Leafa nodded their heads. "Yup, but keep in mind it's a long one that you can't just back out of when you feel like it."

That got Asuna's attention. "What do you mean by that?"

"You'll see when Nezha accepts the quest. Go on man."

The former blacksmith moved up to the rock where the old man was sitting and tapped on it. "U-Um, hello?" Nezha backed up in surprise when the monk suddenly jumped high into the air and landed right in front of him, smooth like a cat.

"Ah, hello young man. Might you be here to learn the way of the fist?"

A screen popped up in front of Nezha asking him if he wanted to accept the quest. He immediately hit the yes prompt and bowed to the NPC. "Y-Yes! I want to learn how to use martial arts please!"

"Very well. I see there is a determination boiling deep inside you to learn. Such a desire like that only makes me want to set you on the path even more. Hold still one second."

Nezha tensed slightly as the monk NPC took hold of his face and rubbed at his cheeks. Within a minute the hands left his face as the monk smiled at him. "Now, I want you to crush one of these boulders. However…" With a quick rush past Nezha, he quickly swiped the player's weapons from him. "You will not have use of your weapons for the duration of this trial. Aside from using your weapons, you may break the boulder however you wish. Using your fists, your legs" The monk tapped his bald forehead. "Even your head if you must."

'Yeah, but not like anyone's actually thickheaded enough to headbut their way through these boulders.' Kirito thought.

Nezha turned around back to the party and walked to them but noted that they were either looking very amused or, in Asuna's case, very confused. "What's with those looks?"

"Oh nothing Nyazha." Leafa giggled.

Confused as to the meaning of her words, Nezha materialized a mirror to look at himself and was shocked to see whisker-like markings on his face. Something the monk must have done while touching his face earlier. Ones that looked strikingly similar to the ones that Argo had.

"Yeah, that's what I was alluding to." Kirito began. "The monk marks you with that as a sign that the quest is underway. This quest has no time limit but those whiskers won't leave until you break the rock."

Asune look a sideline glance to Argo. The info broker tensing up the slightest bit when she felt the gaze on her. "So is that why-?"

"Oh yeah. Our little friend here didn't feel like completing it in the beta so those marking stuck to her avatar. No matter how much she changed it afterwards, those whiskers stuck around even to this day."

Kirito's jab at the blonde made her bristle with an unpleasant look on her face. A look that Leafa took a welcomingly cathartic feeling to as their feuds often ended in Argo's favor. It was nice to see the short stack be taken down a peg. "I just didn't want to waste my time with learning a useless skill. I'm an info broker, not some front lining meat head like you lot. Besides, I like how they look now so I'm not just gonna get rid of it."

Argo's sharp tongue was ignored by the siblings who both brought up their quest logs. "As you can see, Kirito and I already completed the quest around a day or so ago before the field boss fight. He was very insistent that we learn it for convenience sake."

"Yeah after it took you around half an hour to get up from the floor laughing."

"Can you blame me when you looked so ridiculous with those whiskers? He looked like some cat boy in a dating sim game."

The others laughed at the thought to which Kirito sighed. He was gonna find a way to get even at his sister for making him the butt of the conversation. "Anyways Nezha. The sooner you get that quest done, the better. You'll be able to use that chakram like nobody's business when you've completed it."

Nezha nodded his head and walked up to one of the rocks. If it was going to take a while, might as well try and complete it as soon as he can.

"Well now that I've shown you where I got the skill, I take it we're even from here on out. Right, Asuna? I'd say after the floor boss is killed, you can learn it whenever you want." Turning around to the rapier user, Kirito was a bit curious to see her looking at him with an almost disappointed look to his face. "What?"

"To be honest, I don't think I'm gonna accept this quest." Asuna looked to where Nezha was striking at his rock and shook her head. "I would rather not fall behind everyone on the front lines to learn something so miniscule."

"Ho, ho, ho! It doesn't surprise me that you don't want to learn, little girl." The monk suddenly called out to her. He jumped off his rock to face the player who stepped back at his approach. "A frail girl like yourself wouldn't be able to handle the training I'd put you through."

Kirito almost wanted to snicker at the low blow the NPC just went for. Some quest based NPCs were made with more complex AI than say the shopkeepers in town or other quest holders. A certain line of dialogue could often trigger an NPC to speak prompted lines in response if they were close enough. Asuna's dismissal of the quest must have made the monk follow through with some preset lines.

'Although going the straight sexism route certainly was surprising.'

"Excuse you!?"

The monk laughed again which only served to infuriate Asuna further. "Oh yes, a woman like you has no place learning such physical arts." Seeing the NPC suddenly leer at her chest and lower body, Asuna covered herself from the look. "Though with a body like yours, I could offer to teach you some more 'sensual' arts if you'd like."

"Die!" Asuna immediately pulled out her rapier and tried to stab the NPC in the face. The monk batted away the strike with his open palm and stepped back. She gave chase, wanting nothing more than to stab him through the face but the monk kept laughing and dodging each attempt.

"Such fury for a lovely face. Surely you have nothing to gain from learning my martial arts."

"Oh yeah!? I'll show you!" In her fit of rage, Asuna ended up with the prompt to accept the quest and furiously pushed the 'yes' option. "I'll learn your martial arts then use them to beat the crap out of you, damned pervert!" She gasped when the NPC rushed past her and held her rapier in his hands.

"Then you won't be needing this until you show me you can break on of those rocks. And for the finishing touch…" Asuna quickly threw a punch when the felt the monk touch her cheeks but he merely jumped out of the way and landed back on his rocky perch. "Good luck young lady. Be sure to prove me wrong."

Asuna almost wanted to kick herself for getting caught up in the taunts of a virtual man but there was no helping it at this point. Her face was marked with those whiskers so she needed to get this done with. A sudden shuffling of gravel behind her made her turn around to see Leafa pinching her brow, Argo looking on with a bemused expression and Kirito on his rear end looking at her like she was crazy.

"Asuna, are you an idiot!?" Yep, that was the confirmation she needed to hear. "You know the boss raid is in three days right? It took us that long just to complete this quest and that's accounting for Leafa's procrastination at times!" He grunted when his sister kicked him in the side but still managed to stand up. "You'll miss the raid just because you got baited in by an NPC."

"Well then I'll just complete it before then. You can count on both Nezha AND I to be there for the boss raid. Just you see." Not sparing anymore words, Asuna went to one of the rocks and began striking at it with her fists. Kirito and the others took note that she picked the rock that was the furthest away from the monk.

"Well looks like there's no helping it, eh Ki-bou?" Argo chimed in casually. "She ain't gonna back down no matter what we say to her."

The black swordsman sighed deeply at this turn of events. He was not looking forward to the accusations that he was gonna hear at the boss raid if Asuna didn't make it on time. Mostly because she was last seen with him and Leafa and plenty of people were willing to go for the low hanging fruit. "Well I guess we should just leave her to it then. What are you gonna do in the meantime Argo?"

The smaller girl shrugged with her usual grin. "I dunno, maybe dig up some dirt on people, get into a quest or two while the big boys on the front lines keep doing their jobs."

"So using others to your own benefit again." Leafa deadpanned.

The Rat snapped her fingers towards the younger sibling, much to her annoyance. "You got it Double Ds. Information networking and gathering is my bread and butter after all." She sidestepped a thrown punch by Leafa and scattered off to the road they came from. "See ya guys later!"

Deciding it was better to put his sister's seething anger to better use, Kirito lifted Leafa over his shoulder and began walking back to the fields of Floor 2. Better to get some grinding in while they could before this boss raid. He hoped that he wouldn't have to put in extra effort if Asuna was absent by that time.


Over the course of the next few days there was little going ons for the familiar group. Nezha and Asuna were working tirelessly into their task to break the rocks. The Kirigaya siblings were off getting stronger by grinding what was to be considered the best grinding area near the boss dungeon. And Argo was doing her usual grinding of information to sell to willing players that dealt with her exorbitant pricing.

With the black haired siblings near the wastes of the boss dungeon, the two of them were currently chopping through a herd of Trembling Ox and the Windwasps that congregated near them. Normally working through such a hoard would be suicide but Leafa had taken a notice of behavior when it came to the monsters. The wasps only attacked if either the ox or another wasp was attacked. The ox on the other hand stayed put until provoked like most bovine tend to do in the real world. With Leafa tossing rocks at the bugs to get their attention away from the herd, the two of them created a system of kiting the weaker ones off first before going for the powerful ones.

An engrossing strategy to say the least as they nearly spent an entire day doing this to great effect. The Col they managed to accrue was a good lump sum to treat themselves to another visit to the local restaurant in the town of Taran, the town located nearest to the dungeon and with a bevy of new goods to purchase. Noticing the sun was setting to dusk, Kirito and Leafa decided to pack it up for the day just as a new wave spawned in.

"How's your material list looking?" Kirito asked while looking through his menu.

Taking a look at her own menu, Leafa scrolled down the long list. "Bunch of wind stingers, rough hides and gnarled horns. Could be decent for upgrade materials at a blacksmith."

"Just not Nezha I hope."

The two shared a brief chuckle for a moment but the mention of his name brought their minds to both him and Asuna. Leafa was the slightest bit concerned over their safety but Kirito assured her that the area they were in was a safe zone free of monsters. And knocking how headstrong Asuna was, there was no way she was gonna run back to town only to walk back and continue.

There was both a blessing and a curse to being trapped in this game. As far as stamina and fatigue was concerned, it was a non issue. A player would never get exhausted in the physical sense as their body's were helped by the system to be stronger than regular people. Which is why one could fight for hours and be fine in those senses. But overtaxing physical effort was commonly known to trigger mental stress and fatigue which caused loss of focus, tiredness and general bodily weakness. Although it was a luxury that one who was not fighting on the fields never truly needed sleep, like food, it was never recommended that one ignore such a human facet for good health. In a game that is kill or be killed, being sharp in both body and mind was essential.

But knowing Asuna, she was too proud to admit defeat. Especially when provoked like she was.

"... Say, Kirito. Should we go and… you know?"

The older brother shook his head as they continued walking back to town. "No, she's fine. She'd probably yell at us to leave her alone if we came to visit her now."

Leafa wanted to disagree but couldn't find the need to open her mouth at the statement. Though they only knew each other for a few weeks, a month at high, she felt like Asuna was just like Kirito described her. Someone who wanted to accomplish her own deeds with her own strength. So she relented and continued walking with her brother in silence. At least until a shuffling of armor was rattling near them.

"Yo! Kirito, Leafa! Long time no see!"

In a fit of surprise, both of them looked up to see Klein walking to them with his friends in tow. All of them dressed in eastern styled armor with a red, black and green theme to it. Not quite samurais but darn near close. The bandana wearing red head ran up to the pair and clasped them on the shoulders. "How are you guys doing? Haven't seen ya since floor 1!"

"Good to see your alive, Klein." Leafa said while giving the same clasp back at him. "I see you and your friends are doing well."

Klein released the two of them to give Leafa a soft noogie from her jab. "And what is that suppose to mean? Of course I'm alive, I'm gonna conquer this game after all."

"Yeah about as well as you conquered that boar on floor 1." Kirito snarked from the side.

"Ouch, you two sure know how to cut deep. Glad that hasn't changed about you two." Releasing the young girl, Klein backed up a bit to look at the both of them. "But you two sure have been busy. Already pretty high leveled for the area we're in."

Kirito took a look at Klein's HP bar above his head and took notice of his own gains. "You haven't been slouching either. Level 13, huh?"

"Yup! Gotta be an inspiration to the boys over here." Although Klein couldn't see it, the siblings inwardly smiled at seeing his friends roll their eyes. "Ain't nothing in this world that's gonna stop Fuurinkazan!"

"Fuurinkazan?"

"That's gonna be the name of my guild once we reach the point where we can make them. It's gonna be all of us together on the front lines!"

With the information from the beta testers being spread around so wildly after floor 1 was cleared. It was made public knowledge that once floor 3 was reached, player made guilds could be formed. The talk of Kibao's and Lind's groups starting to grow in size was one of the reasons that the idea of guilds started to be thrown around. Kibao's Aincrad Liberation Army and Lind's Holy Dragon Alliance were the talk of the town in the front lines. And since it was only a day and a half until this floor would hopefully be cleared, it made sense that people were excited about it.

Of course, being the loners that they were, Kirito and Leafa couldn't care less about forming or joining any guilds.

"Well that's nice. Gotta keep charisma high in the front lines."

"Speaking of which, you guys gonna be coming to the boss raid in two days?" Both of them saw Klein's party members look to each other with uneasy glances. That told them everything they needed to know. "I didn't mean to step on toes."

"Nah, don't worry about Leafa." Klein said with a shake of his head. "Truth is while we're a bit more confident in our skills, field bosses are still giving us a tough time. We're a team so we gotta make sure all of us can keep up in a fight."

"So that's why you guys decided to stay out of the floor 1 boss fight." Kirito guessed.

Klein nodded his head. "Right on the mark, Kirito. Glad you were worried about us though. There's still the invite if you're ever up to it."

Leafa shook her head at the offer. "Thanks but we're fine as is. We… sort of have a regular group recently. So you don't have to worry about us."

Letting out a bit of a laugh, the older guy patted both the teens on the shoulder with a smile. "Glad to see you nerds breaking out your shells to actually talk to people. If these people are willing to put up with your sass and Mr. Know it all over here, then they gotta be good people."

The younger sister nearly let a scowl show on her face at remembering the smug Argo. But she managed to catch herself before it happened. "Yeah… They're good alright."

"Well hate to cut this convo short but we got some training to do." The guys behind Klein all gathered up their weapons and walked next to their boss. "Got any hot tips to share about the monsters?"

As Leafa walked a bit ahead of her brother, she took a good look at seeing him explain their strategy. It was nice to see them chat, having Kirito chat openly without any of the snark he was forced to put on as the role of the beater. With the whole world, players and monsters alike, against them, it was nice to have a few people who were willing to see past the facade. The illusion of the beater and the opportunist who trails behind him. Asuna, Argo, Agil and Klein with his friends. While small it was still something. And to Leafa that's all that mattered.

The two of them waved goodbye to Klein and the others as they made their way back to town. Satisfied from both their training and from seeing a familiar face. Klein's want to be a heading force in the front lines was refreshing from dealing with the headassery of Kibao and Lind. Hopefully soon enough they would see him and his friends fighting on the vanguard for freedom.


The last two days flew by for everyone involved. With all the last minute training, info gathering and item stocking, the raid party was slowly gathering near the labyrinth that held the floor boss. If Kirito's knowledge of the beta was accurate, which tended to be for the most part, the boss was a pair of warrior bulls that wielded two handed war hammers. Nato and Baran the Taurus Generals.

To avoid any complications, Kirito made sure to share this knowledge to anyone who would listen. Kibao brushed him off as 'beater trash' but changed his tune once he went to Lind. Groups started to be formed at attacking fronts and defensive roles were assigned. The two leaders of the differing factions butted heads a few times but Agil playing the mediator managed to keep any in fighting from happening.

Like how it was on floor 1, both Kirito and Leafa were put on mob duty with squad H. Though he was apprehensive at first with letting these people lead the charge, being alongside the familiar face of Agil and the group from floor 1 was a nice comfort.

"So 'beater', got any idea where princess is? Thought you three were a regular group of musketeers?"

In the back of his mind, Kirito's mind went back to Asuna's whisker covered cheeks along with her pissed expression. He would normally laugh but her absence was a problem in of itself. "That was a temporary thing, and honestly she got herself caught up in a quest she can't walk away from. I told her it was a mistake to do it before the boss raid but she wouldn't listen."

The conversation between them kept going as the groups starting gathering to enter. Up until Leafa tapped her brother on the shoulder as a new party arrived. "Kirito, look."

At the area where Lind and Kibao were, The Legend Braves were pleading with them to participate in the raid. Without Nezha, the guys seemed to be acting a bit desperate in making themselves known. Both siblings wondered if they were even in the knew about his training with the quest. But that wonder came to an end when the leader, Orlando came marching up to the three of them.

"Thou art a part of squad H in charge of Nato the Taurus General? If it not be too much trouble, would thou mind if we join forces?" The sheer confidence and booming voice of Orlando shook Kirito back a bit, only making Leafa giggle in response. "Should we take the joyful giggle of this fair maiden be a sign of confirmation?" That got Leafa to back off making Agil chuckle.

"B-But sir? We mustn't join with others! The tales of our deeds will be muddled with the rest!" One of the other members yelled overdramatically.

"Silence fool! Is that tone how a hero carries himself?: He sighed out loud and turned to his members. "We are on naught but floor 2, with 98 floor yet to come. Fear not my comrades, our legendary tale shall be told soon enough! With that said, I ask that we join forces!" He turned around to Agil and offered a confident hand. "Though it may be our first time meeting, might I call you Sir Agil?"

Agil looked at the hand for a second before grasping it with a smirk. "You got it, glad to have you on board."

He turned around to Leafa who jumped in surprise when he grabbed her hand and held it in front of him. She almost raised her fist to punch at the man but Kirito quickly held her hand down. "Fair maiden, may I call you Lady Leafa?"

Her brow twitched slightly at the unwanted contact but stayed her hand. "I-If you want, then sure. Just don't get close like this again."

"Ah, how foolish of me to impose on a woman's personal space. It shan't happen again." Moving his eyesight to Kirito, he walked up and offered a hand. "And you sir black swordsman, might I call you Sir Blackie?"

Leafa nearly broke out into a fit of laughing coughs while Agil was barely hiding a huge smirk of hilarity at the title. Kirito stood dumbfounded for a second before shaking his head. "Now hold on just a second-!"

"It's alright, we call him that all the time." Agil answered for the teen.

'You damn traitor!'

Lind clapped to get everyone's attention. "Alright everyone! It's time to take this boss down and keep moving forward! Nothing's gonna stop up from moving up to the next floor!"

"Hold it!"

Kibao's cry made Lind trip over himself slightly before turning around at the rival 'leader'. "What!?"

"We might be confident in our chances of victory but this could be just like Illfang. He was already different than in the beta so how could we tell if there was something different."

Agil moved up to Kibao and waved the familiar booklet around. "An info broker who was a beta tester updated the info for this floor. And while things have been for the most part the same as they were, bosses tend to be the black sheep of the equation. I'm assuming everyone read up on the boss before hand?" Seeing numerous players all nod their heads gave some comfort to Agil and the others. "Then we should know if something is wrong and for us to retreat. Plus anyway…" Kirito yelped when the burly man grabbed him into the center of the stage. "We got this guy here to know for sure if anything is wrong."

Kibao scoffed at the idea of relying on the beater trash and his sidekick opportunist. "We don't need him to kick this boss's ass. That's why he's and that tramp are on mob duty."

"We're only letting you take the helm because that self confidence boost is the only thing keeping you going." The jab from the black swordsman brought out a low growl from Kibao. There was no way he was gonna let that comment about him and Leafa go unpunished. A verbal lashing should be good enough for someone like him. "But since I'm in a good mood, we'll play nice and let you take on the boss head on."

"Alright, enough of that!" Lind shouted over the din. "Let's get this boss raid going! All squads in position! Forward, march!"

The raid group fell into their formations, walking into the boss room as Lind opened the way. Kirito and Leafa gave one last look back to the way they came in hopes that Asuna would come charging in. But as they entered the room, all focus had to be placed on the duo boss that spawn with their minions.

Baran and Nato, the Taurus Generals.


"Agh, this is unbelievable… My info tracking frenzy is gonna get me caught in trouble one of these days." Were the words of Argo has she walked down the path a lead gave her.

In most RPGs or MMOs in general, it wasn't hard to imagine new areas being opened up once higher areas were cleared. As the last day for the boss raid approached, a mysterious person gave her a lead to a new cave that spawned in floor 1 sometime between the field boss of floor 2 being cleared and the floor boss raid meeting. Argo being the girl that she was, jumped on the chance to gain any new info and followed the path.

But being lead to a pitch black cave was something she hated doing without her favorite bodyguard duo in Ki-bou and Funbags.

Argo reached into her inventory and pulled out a flint steel along with a large dry branch. With a few clacks, the branch tip was set ablaze as a new torch that helped her see her way. From the way the path narrowed down, it was easy to see this was no trap of sorts since most enemy mobs would have a hard time spawning in with the limited room. Being short in general also helped her move around. After minutes of walking down this cavern, the path opened up to a round room that several old paintings on it.

"What the…?" The info broker marveled at the area until one detail in particular caught her eye. A cave painting mural of the floor 1 boss, Illfang, the Kobold Lord.

The painting divided itself into four parts, one that showed it fighting players with its talwar that it had in the beta. The second picture had one player breaking the weapon in the monster's hand and slaying him. Third was one that had the beast, now newly spawned and alone in his boss room move to a hidden armory that only it could reach. And the final picture had the beast holding it's new nodachi in its hands triumphantly.

"This… This explains everything!" Of course it was foolish to assume everything would be the same from the beta. That would make it much too unfair for all the thousands of other players who never played before hand. So a small, yet monumental change was made to ensure that even the beta players wouldn't get away scott-free with their previous knowledge. 'And that change is exactly what cost Diavel his life.'

There had to be more of this sort of info lying around in this cave. If it could give more insight into how future bosses had changed from their beta counterparts, it could prove a massive boon to the frontlines in upcoming encounters.

All for the right price of course, Argo was no saint when there was profitable info to be had.

As she moved around the cave she found what she was looking for. Another crude mural depicting the floor 2 boss duo, Baron and Nato. While the bosses looked the same as they did before, there was one thing that was off in the picture. Or rather, one monster that was off.

Seeing this immediately made Argo bolt out of the cavern like a bat out of hell and start sprinting towards the teleport gate. Once she got their, she made a quick jump to floor 2 and gunned it for the boss raid meeting sight. Hoping that she wasn't too late. "Oh man, oh man, oh man! Come on feet, move faster!"

Her yell of frustration proved to be quite the demotivator once a rouge Trembling Ox caught sight of her ahead and began charging.

"Are you kidding me!? Damn it, I can't kill this thing!" Being a person who focused on info, Argo's combat capabilities were next to none. And in the surrounding area, no one was around to defend her. No one but… "Of course!" As it was her only option she began running to the direction of someone reliable to take out this overgrown heffer. Miss Asuna could take care of anything!