DISCLAIMER: I do not own SAO
CHAPTER 13: Of Swords and Teleport's
Kirito got all along with the cousin's well.
He was just a year older than them, shy and independent, but his gear. He wore something similar to the starting gear, but it was all from the dungeon. Miharu was surprised he went in there alone, since they had barely made it through the first few floors just out of curiosity. He had approached them, finding the smoke of their fire and wanting to see if it was a possible field boss. He looked just as surprised to see them as they were.
They got around to chatting, mostly about how different their appearance were, until Miharu felt it upon herself to tell Kirito of the beta tester issue.
"Blaming us?" Kirito echoed, a piece of Miharu's apple pie in hand. It was lunch and the girls had decided to share their meal with him, sitting around the fire. The blonde nodded.
"That's what Argo-san tells me, and I trust her information one-hundred percent."
Kirito paused thoughtfully before taking another bite of pie, "It's taking so long for them to get up here. Pointing fingers at each other is only going to make it worse."
Hikari sighed, poking her food with a frown, "We thought about going back and helping them, but since we got the message, we figured it's safer here."
Kirito nodded, his black eyes staring thoughtfully into the fire. A silence engulf the group before Hikari groaned, throwing herself back onto the grass and staring up at the blue sky.
"Someone needs to give them a boost, or at least knock some sense into them. I would do it, but I don't wanna leave Sora-chan alone."
"I see," The dark haired boy frowned before stretching, "That was a nice meal. Thank you, Sora."
Miharu smiled, "No problem, Kirito-san. If you ever need someone to talk to, we're here."
"We're the only ones here."
"Shush you."
Kirito smiled and bid farewell to them, Hikari adding him to her friend's list just before he left. They waved as he disappeared back into town. The cousin's sat in silence for a while, watching the spot he disappeared before Hikari snickered.
"I like him. He's cool."
"Don't you go and bother him," The blonde shoved her face away, ignoring her pout, "He's a solo player for a reason."
"Miharu…"
She paused at her full name, turning to her cousin. The brunette was still sprawling out in the grass, a thoughtful frown on her face.
"Yeah, Hikari?"
"Do you think if we get strong enough that we could face the boss on our own?"
Miharu stared before snorting, "If you could get us to level fifty overnight and have a good dodge strategy in mind, we'd have a very slim chance."
Hikari laughed, sitting up and beaming at her cousin, "Then we should start now, ne?"
Miharu grinned.
The next week was filled with skill training and mindless monster killing. Hikari had yet to touch her unique skill, though you could tell the brunette anxiously wanted to. Miharu wouldn't allow it, at least not yet, until they figured out what it did. In the meantime, they scouted through the floor dungeon, getting the farthest of ten levels before having to retreat for more heal potions.
It was when they finally reached the eleventh that they encountered their first escort quest.
The cousins were practically glued to one another's side, tensely watching for any ambushes or traps as they ascended through the dungeon. The dungeon itself felt like a cavern with unstable ledges and passageways. However, the cousin's managed well enough together to get far.
What they weren't expecting was to find a little girl.
She stood in the middle of an intersection, staring at the ground and shuffling her feet. When the two approached, she perked up, a smile creeping up on her face.
"Oh!" She ran forward, ignoring Hikari completely and launching herself into Miharu's arms. The blonde jumped back, startled. "Help! I've been in here for hours and no one's come to save me! I…I want my mommy!"
Miharu awkwardly patted the NPC's back, turning to her cousin as a window pulled up in front of them, "It's a quest."
"Escort Rein back to Tolbana…" Hikari read, trailing off, "Shouldn't be too difficult. All we have to do is walk back before everything spawns."
"What are the rewards?"
"Doesn't say." Hikari pressed accept, Miharu mirrored her movement before Rein abruptly latched herself onto Miharu's back. The blonde blinked, startled.
"Um…?"
Rein sniffled, "My mommy's in Tolbana. She sent me to get some herbs for her medicine when I got lost."
"Yeah. You're pretty lost." Hikari mumbled as they started their decent.
"Rein-chan," Miharu smiled back at the girl warmly, "We'll get you to your mother. Don't worry."
The little girl sniffled again but said nothing. The lower they went in the dungeon, the more they spotted monsters reappearing. They subtly began to pick up their pace.
"That's not good…" Hikari abruptly stopped, staring ahead. Miharu paused as well, taking in the number of enemies ahead. One caught her eye. All of them seemed to be these strange looking Minotaur's, this one resembled more of a cow then a bull. She noticed it had an extra bar of heal as well. Hikari cursed, noticing it too.
"A field boss. Now of all times?"
"I can't fight." Miharu jerked her head back to the girl on her back, "My hands are kinda occupied at the moment."
Hikari grinned, cracking her knuckled and slowly taking out her curved sword, "Piece of cake."
Miharu sighed and watched as her cousin charged towards the group. Even if she had gotten Hiding up a bit, she hardly used it. She was more into acrobatics and a bit of sprint. Miharu herself has been leveling that up well with running around and collecting materials. She was surprised how much faster she could be then Hikari at times.
By the time Hikari was done, the brunette was grinning and dismissing her loot screen. Miharu had to use one hand to keep the girl on her back steady so she could use the other to cancel hers. However, the loot caught her eye.
"I got a sword off that."
"Huh?" Hikari sheathed her own, cocking her head, "A sword dropped? Is it better than yours?"
"I still have the starting sword, dummy, of course it's better." Clumsily, she equipped it, watching the one on her sheath disappear and be replaced with a thinner and longer sword. She unsheathed it, careful not to drop Rein. Hikari whistled.
"Damn, that's hot."
The sword was black, the hilt was white and had strange black leather wrapped around the handle. The blade itself was pure black, gleaming in the dull light of the cavern.
"Obsidian Edge." Miharu read the name, chuckling dryly, "I have just enough strength to hold it too. It's pretty good with speed, but doesn't do a lot of damage. It's still better than my old one though."
They started to walk again, Miharu sheathing her sword. Hikari casually threw her hands behind her head, humming in thought. "We're level six now. What are our stats again?"
"Strength. Agility. Special."
"Oh right." Hikari opened her menu, furrowing her eyebrows, "Right now, we have 11 Strength and 13 Agility. What's special do?"
"All it shows is the effects your equipment gives. Remember my dagger, how it had a chance to slow my attacker?"
"Yeah?"
"That's special. Basically, my special was cold damage. I could have more, like maybe my boots gave me increased attack speed. It'd show up under special with something like '30% increased attack speed'."
"Oh." Hikari gestured to her cousin's sword, "How much damage does that do?"
"Average. It required 10 strength. I'm glad we leveled a few floors down."
They finally found the exit not long after, Rein suddenly coming to life and giving a round of joyful laughter, "I'm so glad to be out of there! Thank you!"
Miharu giggled, "it's fine. Tolbana isn't far."
"Hey, Sora-chan." Hikari turned to walk backwards, her eyes still glued to her menu, "What smith stuff did you say you'd pick up?"
"Weapon forging. I'm gonna pick up sewing for our armor. Why?"
"Because I remember what you said about the second floor only having one village with quests in it." Hikari mumbled, "So I figured that'd give us the time we need to go get materials, right?"
Miharu blinked, "I guess so. Killing mobs is the only way to level up there."
"Then we can level up our crafting skills when we get there, okay?"
"Our?" Miharu echoed, the town of Tolbana entering their sights, "May I remind you I'm the one with the skills."
Hikari pouted, "Okay, okay. But I'm the one killing. I actually want to test out my unique skill while I'm at it."
"Are you sure that's wise?"
"Nope."
Miharu snorted, the conversation dying down as they entered town. To their surprise, they spotted some players wondering about. Usually the town was devoid of life, but the sign of approaching players gave the two hopes. Miharu let Rein hop down.
"Okay," She took the little girls hand, "Where is your mommy?"
Rein stared widely, looking around before she grinned, "Over there! That's where my mommy works!" She excitedly started to drag the blonde over to the building. Hikari snickered at her relative's misfortune, eyeing the sign on the door that read 'Baker Shop'.
They walked in, the little girl scrambling over to a middle aged woman mixing ingredients together at the counter. The women was startled to have the little girl leap up to her but then proceeded to smother her in hugs. Miharu frowned at the sight, her own thoughts going back to their grandmother. Hikari noticed the look before speaking up.
"We brought her back from the dungeon."
"Oh thank you." The women smiled, "I simply must repay you for bringing my little Rein back."
The woman went through a back door with her child in her arms, leaving the two to awkwardly survey their surroundings.
"I wonder what bakers sell…" Hikari mumbled. Miharu hummed in agreement before the lady returned, this time without Rein. Miharu sadly assumed the little girl had been reset, and she was back in the dungeon, but was surprised to see her scurrying out with her mother.
The woman smiled before extending two bags to them, "I hope these will aid you in your quest."
Hikari mutely rolled her eyes, having heard the same lines a billion times before. Miharu caught it and smirked. Carefully, they took the bags, bowing in farewell before taking their leave. Rein managed to fit in a farewell, waving excitedly and asking for them to return someday.
Hikari sighed contently as they started towards the inn, the day drawing to a close, "Even though she was a computer, you can't help but feel accomplished."
Miharu rolled her eyes with a fond smile, before lifting the bag in her hands up, "I wonder what's inside."
"Never gonna find out staring at it." Hikari untied the roped around the small bag, opening it up. She blinked at the contents, looking inside Miharu's to find the same thing.
"A baker…gave us crystals?"
"I don't think their crystals." Miharu mumbled, picking one up for examination. "I think their teleport crystals."
Hikari eyes went cross, "But-but I didn't think you could do that in this game."
"You can. You just havta say the name of the floor town and you can go there. The only place we can go now is [Starting City]."
"Aw." Hikari huffed, storing the bag in her inventory, "So they're useless until we can progress."
"Pretty much."
Hikari groaned as they entered the inn to retire for the night. Miharu made a mental note after checking her messages to get back to Argo. They hadn't heard from her in a while and she probably thought they were ignoring her. They also had to scout more of the dungeon, create some free time for skills and mob farming, and see if enough people are ready for the boss…
So much to do.