Chapter 29: Psychopathy

22nd March 2023. Aincrad, Floor 10,,Knights Guild Hall,. 09:00 AM , Aincrad Standard Time.

"Kuradeel, what have you found?" Heathcliff calmly asked as Kuradeel opened the doors to guild master's office. Kuradeel waited until he was in conversational distance before replying. Once the gap was closed, Kuradeel took a seat in the chair in front of Heathcliff, and let out a heavy sigh before answering.

"Nothing, sir." Kuradeel begrudgingly answered.

Heathcliff's face remained expressionless.

"What do you mean nothing?"

"As in, my squad and I were unable to find any leads as to who the killer would be. And unless you want to order another failed manhunt, then there's no going anywhere with this." Contempt and frustration underlaid Kuradeel's conclusion.

"You aren't your normal self. Are you alright?"

"With respect sir, this investigation was useless. It shouldn't have been conducted after the first victim got us so many places."

"Do you understand what is at stake here?"

"Perhaps not."

"Allow me to clarify." Heathcliff began. "The first case can be brushed off of as an accident or a one time act. This one is different. While we still have the advantage of the populace not knowing, the system still works. That is, people only have to worry about one thing: escape. Their lives are much simpler without having to worry about a serial murderer on the loose." Heathcliff explained.

"I understand that sir. That's not what I was getting at. I'm implying that it's pointless to waste manpower when we already knew that the capability exists to be untraceable."

"I suppose that's a fair point." Heathcliff conceded. "Kuradeel, I apologize for asking you to do that. But please understand, that you acted upon one single glimmer of hope. The hope that maybe, just maybe, in committing this heinous act, the psychopath made a mistake and we would be left with something."

"Thank you, sir,"

"Anything else, sir?"

"No Kuradeel, thank you for your efforts. Please link up with Godfree's squad and aid in the labyrinth raiding. Mine and Asuna's squad will be joining you shortly."

"As you wish. If I may ask, what is Yuuna doing?"

"Her and her squad are taking a vacation of sorts. She was rather shaken up after her discovery. She'll be back by the time we reach the boss."

"Understood sir."


22nd March 2023. Aincrad, Floor 20, Labyrinth, 11:00 PM , Aincrad Standard Time.

Kirito sheathed his sword after defeating a sequence of enemies. He reckoned he was getting close to the boss room, as the lethality of enemies were starting to increase. Just as he sheathed his sword, a menu window popped up.

Congratulations!

Item Drop: "Elucidator +6+"

"Whoa…" Kirito thought to himself, examining the sword's stats. "Yup, even more of a loot pinata now." Kirito swiftly exited the labyrinth.

Once outside Kirito thought of what he needed to do next. To confirm something, he would need to get the Elucidator appraised. Who did he know that could maybe keep a secret and had an item appraisal skill?

Kirito immediately thought of ways to get to Argo. The lack of her being on any friends list meant that she would for the most part have to find you. Kirito quickly returned to town. Until the nature of the sword could be confirmed, he made the decision to remain in the city safezone.


"Hey buddy!"

Kirito felt a hand clasp his left shoulder from behind. Kirito jolted to his feet and turned around, ready to draw his sword.

"Whoa whoa." Klein put his hands up as Kirito eased up.

"Sorry, Klein."

"What's got you all jumpy? And besides, you know we're in a safe zone, right?" Klein attempted to reason.

"Sorry. Yeah yeah I know. Let's just say it was habit. What are you out doing?" Kirito asked, trying to shift the conversation from the rather awkward exchange.

"I could ask you the same thing." Klein retorted.

"I asked first." Kirito countered.

"Fair enough. I was just kind of taking a walk. Couldn't really sleep." Klein answered.

"Everything alright?"

"Well, besides the fact we're stuck in a death game for as of right now an indefinite amount of time, yeah I suppose things are going alright. How about you?"

"I just got back from clearing, and it is kind of a nice night out so I figured I might enjoy it before heading in."

"Kirito, I thought you mostly cleared at night?"

"Wha- oh yeah I suppose I do. But I guess my schedule has been messed up or something. Yeah." Kirito stumbled through his words. He was not expecting such a "gotcha" from Klein.

"Uh huh...And you're so jumpy..What's goin on? C'mon you can tell me."

"I guess you got me. Take a look." Kirito surrendered and opened his menu, producing his newly acquired piece of loot and showed it to Klein.\

"Kirito...where did you get this?" Klein asked with a look of awe.

"It was a drop form the labyrinth."

"Well yeah, I got that much. But did you have to do anything special?"

"No, it was off a seemingly random monster. Say, what type of enemies have you been encountering in the labyrinth?"

"Mostly Beasts or Hybrids, why do you ask?"

"Hmm." Kirito put his hand to his chin. "Come to think, it dropped off of a 'Demon' type creature."

"Anything special about it?"

"Again not necessarily no. He fought a little bit smarter than what I had encountered so far but that could just be because he was a couple of levels higher though."

"So it really was ordinary then."

"That's the beauty of MMOs I guess." Kirito tried to conclude.

"What do you mean?"

"Loot drops can be somewhat unexpected. Like in other games, you killed a wolf and a pair of pants would drop."

"Was that really a thing?"

"Sorry, I forgot this was your first. Yeah, it was kind of funny but it became somewhat of a common trope."

"Hmmm. Ya know, sometimes I forget we're in a game."

"Can't blame you there."

"Say Kirito, what does that other plus mean?"

"Well that's kind of why I was here. I was hoping that if I was out in an open place, a bench like this in the city square, maybe Argo would stop by for a chat. Because I have no idea, and was hoping she would know."

"Is she not on your friends list?"

"No. Is she on yours?"

"No."

The two sat in silence. And after a few minutes, their wishes were answered.

"Oh no. This isn't good. What happened?" A small woman's voice came from behind where Klein and Kirito sat. They both turned around and their faces lit up with a smile as they said:

"ARGO!"

"Whoa. The last time two people were that excited to see me was...nevermind. But point still stands. Why are you two sitting out here...this is so off your schedules." Argo remarked.

"Schedules?" Klein asked.

"Yeah. You two both operate on a fairly set daily routine. Makes it easy to track you down even if I've been running around."

"You know, I have several questions, but Kirito has one big one for you, so I'm gonna let him go first."

"Always the gentleman, Klein." Argo remarked. "So boy," Argo turned her attention to Kirito. "What is it?"

"Well, take a look for yourself." Once again Kirito produced his newly found sword, and as expected, Argo was taken back.

"Kirito, where did you get this? How much was this?" Argo inquired, motioning to put the sword away.

"The price was my effort to kill a Demon type in the labyrinth. And nothing special about it. It was more or less like any other enemy."

"MMOs I guess, amirite?"

Kirito chuckled. "So the one question I, or we rather have now is what does the additional 'plus' mean at the end of it? We were hoping you would know."

"Well you're in luck. I happen to know just what it means…." Argo said with a teasing tone of voice, indicating one thing.

Kirito let out a sigh. "How much will it cost?"

"I was actually joking that time. I don't want to ruin your high from having that dropped. But tips are always appreciated." Argo winked.

"Thanks."

"Right, so the additional plus means that it's a scaling weapon. The brokers estimate there are very few of them in the loot tables. And their drop chance is minimal. This is definitely the first one I've seen or heard about actually coming to fruition. And it is very strong. You understand what I mean by scaling, right? Kirito you'll probably never need to buy or use another weapon ever again. Let me see more of its stats?"

"For sure." Kirito reproduced the sword and gave it to Argo.

"The stats are maxed out for your level. And as I said it's scaling. Once you tick up, the stats will increase more to match. This will always have the stats of the best one-handed sword possible. Talk about a target though…"

Klein and Kirito's faces both faded from excitement over Argo's explanation.

"She's right Kirito. If people found out about the abilities of this sword, then if you're at all concerned about a target on your back, this just multiplied it." Klein agreed and added.

"Have you shown or told this to anyone else?" Argo asked.

"No. You two are the firsts and only." Kirito assured.

"Good. You should keep it like that. I'm not saying you shouldn't use it, but I wouldn't be blabbering on about the stats to anyone. People will have a low chance of recognising what exactly it is. Scaling weapons aren't exactly common knowledge." Argo suggested.

"That may be true, but people will see me using the same sword from boss to boss. They'll start to get suspicious." Kirito said.

"That's a good point. Well, come up with a good excuse I guess. But it's up to you. I would be careful about the attention that could attract eventually then. If I were you I'd rent an inn room for the night and try it out." Klein suggested.

"I think I might do that. Thanks for your help Argo, and good to see you Klein." Kirito went off towards the urban part of town.