After three years of being in Aincrad, things are going very smoothly, albeit slowly. Estimates among the top ten clearers are that the game will be cleared by the end of the year, but will it be that simple?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from the words that I write and the characters that I create. Credit goes to the original creator of the SAO universe; credits also to the creators and contributors to the Code Lyoko series and related works.

I need to thank Evangelina Amaryllis for beta reading this chapter.

Aincrad Standard Time: March 1st to March 7th 2025

Location: [Floor 47 – Floria]

Ulrich is drifting through various floors trying to relieve the stress he'd gained from fighting consistently on the frontlines, with Floria being his third stop, after doing some general shopping on floor fifty's main city: Algade, which included food ingredients, potions, and crystals.

He stopped by Lindus on floor 48 a day later, and he ended up shopping for weapons and armor from Rika, where he requested a forging with some crystalite ingots he acquired after slaying a crystal dragon with assistance from some of his friends, and when the ingots were used to create a katana, it resulted in a very rare blade with a unique quality of switching between silver, gold, and black colors, and each one of these different colors comes with a different name: Kingetsuga for gold, Gingetsuga for silver, and Kurogetsuga for black, though Ulrich just calls it Getsuga for simplicity's sake. The weapons all have a guard resembling a crescent moon.

He also decides to buy some clothing from a renowned tailor known as Ashley, with whom he provided leather from three slain crystal dragons, which resulted in her creating an outfit stronger than heavy steel platemail, yet surprisingly light like leather and therefore suiting his combat style of fast, yet lethal attacks.

Ulrich was not alone during his time of respite, traveling through the various floors. He was accompanied by his closest friends in his unit: Katsuo, Karen, and Sylvia, as they too were feeling the stress of all the fighting, as the frontlines have been stuck at a stalemate at the 75th floor for nearly three months because of the inability to get lasting information on that floor's boss. The other members of Senryaku are elsewhere throughout Aincrad, choosing not to accompany the core members this time around.

Even with all of the talented fighters giving their all to clear the game, they just cannot defeat the boss of this floor this time because of how the boss of that floor - Skull Reaper - has been decimating any teams sent to fight it. In the recent month, all clearers have been given two weeks' worth of respite to prepare for the final push to eliminate the boss of that floor. This is why Ulrich and the others are drifting through various floors trying to relax, so they can increase morale for their last hope to fight the Skull Reaper.

"Hey Karen, do you have any idea how successful the upcoming fight will be?" Ulrich asks with concern, considering how three full cells have failed to defeat it and were slain.

"I can't really help you there Hikaru, sorry" Karen says sadly, not able to give a positive answer.

"I can understand his fears, a lot of people have died fighting this boss and we still haven't progressed. It's like Floor 56 all over again..." Katsuo says quietly.

"Come on, guys. This is a vacation for us; let's not think about our work. We ought to be relaxing." Sylvia says, obviously trying to lighten the tense atmosphere in the group.

"Sylvia has a point, you guys. We need to use this time to relax, though… Things are going a little too slowly, it took us three years to clear 75 floors, and with the monsters growing more and more powerful with every floor...how long will it take us to clear this game?" Ulrich asks with a bit of unintended arrogance, since he first appeared at floor 24, unlike everyone else who started at floor 1.

"Ever the realist I see..." Katsuo says with a small sigh.

"You can hardly complain Katsuo, you were the same way in the beginning." Karen says with a few laughs, reminiscing on the old days.

"Karen, you really know how to irritate people." Katsuo says quietly and with yet another sigh.

"It's a gift." Karen says while laughing, she's treating this statement as a bit of a joke.

"Karen, we should continue our travels, we do have a schedule to keep." Ulrich says.

"You're right, let's get going." Karen says.

Ulrich and the others finish their conversation and walk towards the city square of Floria to set up a little area, in which they plan on eating a bento made by everyone, though in Ulrich's case, Sylvia took care of his share alongside her own since Ulrich is no good at cooking, even with three years of practicing. Some people just have a gift for cooking, whereas others have a gift for wrecking food.

"Hey Katsuo, why didn't you bring Kana and the others? I'd expect that they'd want to join in, particularly Kana, cause aren't you two married in this game?" Karen asks out of mere curiosity.

"Kazuto is hanging out with Keita, Sachi, Andrew, and Tsuboi, while Kana's enjoying her time off with Asuna, Keiko, Rika, Haruka and Yui. Though I don't know where Mamoru is; he's been a bit distant the last few weeks." Katsuo says rather informally, knowing the real names of a lot of his close friends, particularly among Kazuto's famously short list.

"I see. So Kazuto's hanging out with his friends and the Black Cats, while Kana's hanging with her girl friends." Sylvia says with a small laugh.

"More or less. I'd say Kana's group is hanging out at Asuna's house in Salemburg, and Kazuto's group… I've got no clue; he's crazy mysterious" Katsuo says.

"Hikaru, I'm a little curious as to why you want us traveling through all these floors" Karen asks, trying to figure out his intentions.

"No reason, actually. I wanted to visit the lower floors a little and try to inspect the beauty of it all." Ulrich says, looking away slightly.

"Really? Inspecting beauty? You're the last person I expected to hear that from." Karen says in utter and complete shock at her companion.

"I've been here three years and all I did was fight. This is the first time for me taking time to… Relax… The way that's considered normal." Ulrich says, trying to think of a word to say near the end.

"I see. You live a difficult life, Hikaru. Did you act like this in your old world?" Katsuo asks.

"I… don't remember. I forgot nearly everything about my old world around the time of Floor 45. By now, everything's totally blank." Ulrich says quietly, his mood turning to fall as the topic creeps into their conversation like an unwelcome guest.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Hikaru. When this game is cleared, and if you return to your world, won't there be issues with your friends and family? Since you can't seem to remember anything?" Sylvia asks in concern.

"I wouldn't know. I know that my mind and body both exist in this world, so… I may end up stuck in this world forever." Ulrich says in response.

This conversation is quickly taking a turn for the worse, so Karen decides to try bringing up a more positive note.

"Hikaru, do you think you'd be able to come to our world? We do have the capability to upload minds to technology to a limited extent; you could live with us." Karen says, trying to sound cheerful.

"If it can be done, I'd be okay with it, but I'd be fearful of what would happen to my body here. I'm not an AI like Yui." Ulrich mutters.

"I see. You'd still be trapped in this world in a way. Even if we uploaded your mind to a computer or something, your body would still exist here." Karen says, understanding the true extent of Ulrich's problem now.

"This may sound cruel but, do you think it could possible to upload Ulrich's mind to one of the deceased players? There'd obviously be a problem with the family of the person and challenge for you to adjust, but would that be an option?" Katsuo asks, trying to find a solution for his friend to exist in the reality of this dimension.

"Katsuo, even if we had the technology to do that specifically, there are too many ethical concerns involving that plan, invading and taking over the mind of someone long since dead would terrify too many people." Sylvia says sadly, trying her best not to shoot down Katsuo's optimism to help his friend.

"I wouldn't want to enter your world that way; even if you have to make the body robotic. I want a body of my own to live in, not just… hijacked from someone already living in that world." Ulrich says rather grimly.

"We can certainly make that happen. Our society has gotten rather adept in constructing robotic mechs, we could certainly make one you could connect your mind to, and even model it after your body, if you so desire." Karen says seriously but with a little bit of humor hidden underneath it.

"I'd… appreciate it, and I'm surprised you all would go to such lengths for someone you know only through a game." Ulrich says, not showing his pride in having such dedicated friends.

"Hikaru, in our group of friends, aside from Katsuo, Kana, Keiko, Haruka, and Mamoru, we have never met in real life, but this is who we really are, and we've spent three years here fighting side by side. We are friends, no matter what." Sylvia says, dragging any humour from her tone.

"That is true. We did forge unbreakable bonds of friendship in the face of almost certain death and survive." Katsuo says with a small grin.

"That is true, I suppose" Ulrich repeats with a light chuckle.

They are approached by Kazuto's and Kana's groups at this point

"Well well well, I figured we'd find you here." Asuna says with a few laughs.

"Kazuto, everyone, what are you doing here?" Karen asks in surprise, not having expected to see them at all.

"I heard from Argo that you all were down here, so we decided to come join you all. We also brought a message from Heathcliff." Kazuto says calmly.

"Gee; thanks very much for crashing our party. Anyway, what's the message?" Karen growls angrily and asks in a casual tone.

"We are to resume clearing duties immediately. We've gathered new intelligence on the boss, and Heathcliff is forming a special team to fight that boss. We've all been selected to fight that boss." Asuna announces.

"So we've been selected to fight the Skull Reaper? Is that wise?" Karen asks in concern.

"How many members are going to be in this special team? Aside from us." Ulrich asks.

"We're preparing a team of sixty. Heathcliff himself is preparing to fight alongside us for once." Kazuto says, resenting Heathcliff for not joining them beforehand.

"I see. Anyway, if you wouldn't mind, could you all please buzz off? We planned this to be a private meeting between the four of us." Katsuo says with mild anger.

"Why so hostile, Katsuo? We just want to attend your little party." Kazuto says with small yet clear sneer.

"Just leave already! Like I said, this is a private meeting!" Katsuo shouts in the same tone.

"Okay, okay, we get your point. We'll leave" Kazuto says, not scared of Katsuo. He's doing this solely to humor him.

Kazuto and the others depart to leave Katsuo and the others in peace. After they leave, Karen and Sylvia stare at Katsuo lightly, trying to get an explanation.

"Why are you all staring at me?" Katsuo asks.

"That was kinda harsh, Katsuo." Sylvia says, her tone relatively cold to before the meeting.

"I was telling the truth. Don't label me as the bad guy here!" Katsuo says in minor shock at his friend's doubt.

"Still harsh, Katsuo" Karen says, her tone in itself quite harsh.

"Leave him be. He was thinking of us when he said all that, everyone." Ulrich says, wanting to settle this quickly.

"I'm surprised you're the one to back him up, Ulrich." Karen muses loudly in surprise.

"I'm just as surprised. It is rather hard to believe we were once bitter rivals and now we're like brothers." Katsuo says casually.

"Figures that the brothers of the group would back each other up." Karen says nonchalantly.

"It's a given. In a trio of sisters, the brothers do need to back each other up, at least on occasion." Katsuo says, a slight chuckle making its way into his speech.

"Anyway, since we finished our lunch, we ought to return to floor 75. If Heathcliff requested this, it must be legit." Sylvia says, not liking the fact that their relaxation time ended so quickly.

Ulrich and his group reluctantly leave Floria and depart to Collinia, at the request of Heathcliff, where they may or may not see their lives ending at the hands of a new boss.