The alarm clock installed in Caenor's player menu shook him out of his slumber. Having an alarm go off seemingly deep inside your head would be a surreal experience for most, but by now Caenor had become accustomed to the strangeness of living in a virtual world 24 hours a day. Many things were more convenient than their real-world counterparts, such as the ability to summon a messaging system in midair as opposed to having to pull out your phone and tap the words you wanted to send on a small screen, but one could imagine that such unusual ease of access still took some getting used to.

He had not woken up this early since his high school days. High school seemed like an eternity ago – there was scarcely any time to be worried about education when your life was constantly at risk. As a result, the alarm function went unused, and Caenor was typically free to awaken whenever he pleased, as long as he was on time for his weekly raid allocations.

Today was different, however.

Kirito had insisted on a nine o'clock meetup time in the Granzam teleport plaza. Caenor initially assumed that Kirito's enthusiasm had gotten the better of him, leading to the need for punctuality. It turned out that, though Caenor was not wrong about Kirito's zest for adventure, Kirito himself had a different reason behind the early wake-up.

"I've had a look over the mithril quest chain," Kirito explained as the two of them grabbed a quick bite from one of the surrounding food stalls. "We're going to have to talk to eight different NPCs. A few of them are located on different floors, and those NPCs also have their own recovery missions relevant to the quest chain as a whole. All in all, we'll need to hunt three different types of mobs: dark dwarves, Armored Giant Ants, and finally Kobold Lords. All three can only be found in Labyrinths. Aside from the hunting, it should be smooth sailing. Just talk to the NPC, agree with everything they say, and move on."

"That's going to take a while," Caenor commented.

"Yeah. Hence the need to wake up early, assuming we want to finish the entire chain within the day."

"The entire chain within the day? I thought we'd be spreading it out a little."

"Unfortunately Asuna caught me trying to sneak out early this morning to grab my sword from Lisbeth's, so I had to tell her about what I was helping you with. She insisted that I keep my outdoor activities limited to today, and take her out on a date tomorrow as compensation."

"Sorry for the rush then, I guess."

"It's no problem; I'm more than happy with how things have turned out. You get your gear as soon as possible, and I get to take Asuna on a date. It's a win-win in my book." Kirito winked.

"You really are unbearably optimistic," Caenor muttered. "I can see why the girls fawn over you so much now. You better hold your charm offensive in check, or I'll end up falling for you too."

"I don't swing that way, but I appreciate the sentiment."

The plaza was considerably emptier at this time of day, particularly because it was a Saturday. Though the days of the week mattered little in a world with no work or school, it was still custom for people to leave their weekends open for relaxation or get-togethers, meaning that the rest of the week was reserved for questing and other more serious business. Little wonder that Asuna wanted to leave the next day – Sunday – totally free for herself and her darling.

Their first destination was, as Lisbeth had mentioned the day before, the 40th floor. Jaileum, the 40th floor's only town, was a generic-looking cluster of houses and shops, not too dissimilar in atmosphere or aesthetic from Taft or any of the other towns that Caenor had visited recently, though of course finer details such as the settlement's overall layout differed from place to place. The quest was triggered after a brief conversation with the designated NPC smith, where a request by the NPC to kill dark dwarf miners was readily accepted, and the duo were well and truly on their way.

"First stop, 27th floor," Caenor said as he perused the quest log. "There's a town there as well – Ronbaru – so we can do some last-minute stocking-up. Then we're going to head to the floor's Labyrinth. Shouldn't be too bad, since it's just the 27th floor."

No answer.

"Kirito?"

Caenor turned to look at Kirito, who was staring at his feet in silence. For the first time in the admittedly brief period that the two of them had been together, the usual verve and spark had vanished from Kirito's eyes, replaced by a dull, distant, and somewhat sunken gaze.

"Hey." Caenor placed a hand on Kirito's shoulder and shook him gently. "You good?"

Kirito blinked, and glanced up at Caenor.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just… remembering something."

"We can put this off for today if you're not feeling alright."

"That would be delaying the inevitable." Kirito rolled his shoulders and straightened himself back up. "Let's go."

The geography of the 27th floor in itself would have been sufficient reason to visit the area, so unique and abstract was its landscape. The mountains that lined the region were impressive enough on their own, but under the endless night that smothered the sky, their most distinguishing feature was allowed to come to the fore: massive fluorescent spikes of azure prismatic crystal that jutted out at arbitrary intervals, illuminating the uneven roads that snaked through the valleys at the base of the hills. The crystals were abundant sources of mining materials, which contributed to the floor's overall popularity amongst craftsmen, smiths, and other artisanal professionals.

A place like this would never have a hope of being discovered in the real world. Little wonder that certain players, such as the one now walking by Caenor's side, might be secretly reluctant to leave.

Yet though Caenor knew that they were not here for sightseeing, he at least expected Kirito to display a little more vigor than he currently did. Every crystal they passed by seemed to dampen Kirito's mood even further, as though they were somehow emitting an aura that was fueling his newfound depression. As they approached the entrance of the Labyrinth, which was flanked by pillars of smooth marble, Caenor could not help but repeat his concerns.

"Kirito," he called.

Kirito's eyes widened, as if he had been half-asleep.

"Yes? What?"

"Something is really off about you today. I know it's not my place to ask, but if you're like this the whole way, we'll get eaten up the mobs here, even if they are relatively low-level. Is there something about this place that's bothering you?"

The muscles on Kirito's face twitched.

"If we get far enough into the Labyrinth, I'll show you," he replied.

"That's fine with me. Just be a little more alert, okay?"

Kirito nodded. "Okay."

Upon entering the Labyrinth, they were met by an instantaneous drop in temperature, coupled with a sudden hush falling over the air that seemed to block all noise from reaching their ears save for the hesitant tapping of their own footsteps. Caenor rubbed his arms for warmth, then unsheathed his sword.

"You know where to go?" Caenor asked.

"Yeah. I have the layout of this place memorized."

No sooner had those words left Kirito's lips than an earthen elemental drifted into view. Its gleaming eyes flickered as its attention was drawn to the Labyrinth's two newcomers.

Kirito pulled his swords out of the straps on his back and pointed them at the elemental. "Cover me!" he yelled as he lunged towards the monster.

The elemental raised a rocky arm to block the incoming blow, and with its other arm it swung fiercely at Kirito, who was sent flying back by the force of the elemental's parry. He managed to land on his feet, but the elemental was upon him in a flash, bringing both arms crashing down upon Kirito, who abruptly seemed at a loss for what to do.

"Switch!"

Caenor leapt in front of Kirito and pushed his longsword towards the elemental's clubbed fists, meeting them with as much force as he could muster. The elemental staggered backwards, startled by the force of the repulsion, and Caenor, wasting no time, sliced one of the elemental's flailing arms off in a single stroke. He flipped the sword around and, with both hands, slammed the pommel down above the elemental's neck. The elemental let out one final screech as it disintegrated into a scattered pile of minerals.

Kirito scrambled to his feet, putting his hands on his knees as he panted. Caenor went over to check on his condition.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah." Kirito wiped a few clumps of dust off his brow. "That took me a little by surprise, I think."

"Even so, I didn't think you'd have that much trouble with a basic mob elemental. We haven't even met any elite monsters yet. You could've just dodged its attacks and swung at its chest, and it probably would've died straight away."

"Sorry. I'll really be needing your help with this dungeon. It's just… again, like I said, I'll tell you when we get there."

"Get where?" Caenor asked bemusedly, but he did not press the issue further even when Kirito did not respond.

A group of three more elementals rounded the corner and made a beeline for the intruders. This time, Kirito was much more alert to the danger, rolling under the wild swings of the first elemental and slashing at its legs, thus incapacitating it for the rest of the fight. Caenor parried the blows of the other two elementals, and whilst their focuses were distracted, Kirito darted behind them and applied the finishing touches. The trio of mineral elementals, which would normally take a full raiding party at least a couple of minutes to destroy, were eliminated in the space of barely twenty seconds.

"We're really starting to click, aren't we?" said Kirito as he dispatched the last elemental. "That's what I like to see if I'm fighting with someone else."

"You said it."

None of the subsequent threats that came their way caused them any measure of trouble, though a group of unusually stout and well-armored elementals managed to hold them up for several minutes. Kirito took the encounter as a sign that they were nearing the center of the Labyrinth, where they might start running into dark dwarves, their intended targets.

As they continued to advance through the dungeon, something briefly caught Caenor's eye. A raised square panel on the wall – a wall which was otherwise completely smooth.

"Look at this," he said, moving over to the panel.

"Hm?" Kirito inspected the protrusion. "Looks like a switch of some sort."

"Maybe something will happen if we push it." Without further ado, Caenor did just that.

The panel retreated into its socket, and the entire wall began to glow. A bright red rectangle was traced around the panel, and before they knew it, the rectangle had disappeared, taking a chunk of the wall with it and revealing a room behind the marble. As the contents of the room became visible, Kirito gasped and leaned against the wall.

"That's…"

"What?" Caenor peered into the room. There seemed to be nothing of particular note inside, except for a treasure chest with its lid hanging open. "Oh, someone's been here before."

"Yeah." Kirito put a trembling hand to his temple, his face swiftly draining of color as if he had just seen a ghost. "That someone would be me."