Silica had never felt more inspired in her short life.
She and her friends had just finished watching - live - people that she knew personally tackle an incredibly dangerous monster for the sake of thousands of people they didn't know. More to the point, they won. Again! There was just something intrinsically different about having that personal connection to some of the clearers. She'd already fought beside Leonn and Sinon and was immediately enamored by them. They were friendly, decent people and she genuinely enjoyed her time with them.
That would have been inspiring enough were it not for what Geeou said immediately following the broadcast. Those words echoed in her head even now as she and her party ventured forth into the Forest of Wavering Mists on the 3rd floor.
"Just think. We're only one floor beneath them. We'll be right there with them before we know it."
Silica smiled, letting that feeling of excitement and anticipation well up deep inside her. They were so close. All they had to do was finish the quests on this floor and if they managed to outpace the clearers on the next floor up - who had the handicap of having to explore and learn with no prior knowledge - then she and her party would be able to join the clearing efforts within the week!
"How close are we, Geeou?" Yuna said as she absent-mindedly tuned her lute while they walked.
"According to Argo's guidebook, we should be getting close. I think." The flaxen-haired swordsman replied, eyes rapidly scanning over the handbook's pages. To keep needless multitasking to a minimum, he was walking next to Yuna so she could guide him past obstacles if need be. Nautilus had volunteered to take point while Silica took the rear.
"It feels like we've been wandering in circles." Nautilus said, sword held out and at the ready in case of ambush.
"I think that might have been the point." Yuna replied. "It's the Forest of Wavering Mists. It practically screams endless wandering."
Geeou pulled up his map and held it side-by-side with the guidebook. "We should be coming up on it now."
Sure enough, the sounds of conflict began to ring out from up ahead. Geeou closed his map interface and stowed his guidebook before drawing his own sword. Silica and Yuna likewise drew their daggers and had them at the ready.
"Did we ever decide which side we're taking?" Nautilus asked, lowering his sword slightly.
No one replied, at least not immediately.
"I think we should take the Dark Elf side!" Silica exclaimed before realizing how loud she'd been. The others looked at her with expressions of surprise and curiosity at the sudden outburst. With a noticeable decrease in volume, she continued. "Leonn and Sinon said they took the Dark Elf side and I don't want to go against them."
"According to the beta testers, there isn't any PvP involved in the questline." Geeou said slowly, as if drawing upon memory. "I get what you mean though. If we ever catch up to them, maybe we could work side-by-side with them."
"When we catch up to them." Nautilus corrected. "Like you said, we're close. We'll get there."
"Are we in agreement, though?" Yuna asked, bringing the conversation back on topic. Do we want to go with the Dark Elves?"
All three nodded in agreement. It was decided. They would ally themselves with the Dark Elves. The quartet neared a clearing up ahead which seemed to be the arena for two dueling elves, a male Forest Elf and a male Dark Elf. The group hunkered down to hide in the bushes before planning out their attack. Nautilus and Silica would take on the main Forest Elf while Geeou and Yuna took on the additional elf that would spawn in. Geeou and Yuna put out a lot of damage compared to Nautilus and Silica, so having those two finish off the add first would allow them to join in on the main fight quickly.
With only a nod to signal their intentions, the four leapt out of the bushes and immediately advanced upon the Forest Elf. The fair-skinned elf was barely able to utter a syllable before being mercilessly slashed at by Silica and Yuna, whose increased agility allowed them to close the distance first. Geeou and Nautilus weren't far behind, quickly descending on the Forest Elf.
The Forest Elf seemed to notice how outnumbered he was at this moment as he called out something in a foreign language - Silica guessed it was something like Elvish - to signal a second Forest Elf to jump into the clearing from the treeline. Almost immediately, Geeou and Yuna dashed in to engage the extra elf while Nautilus squared off with the main elf. Silica edged her way around to the main elf's side, choosing the side with the shield rather than the sword. She figured it would be safer to attack the shield side than the sword side. With its attention split, she could easily slip past its guard to sneak in hits.
"Have you humans no sense of honor?" The main Forest Elf spat. "Immediately attacking with no provocation! How dare you?!"
"Perhaps they could immediately sense your evil." The Dark Elf strode forward, brandishing his greatsword. "For that I commend them on their intuition. Time to end this!"
The Dark Elf swung forward, clashing with the Forest Elf's shield. Nautilus seized the opportunity, dashing to the side and swinging out with his longsword, rending a crimson pixelated gash across the Forest Elf's flank. Silica sped forward, ready to plunge her dagger into the elf's other side. The Forest Elf seemed to take note of this and shifted his weight, allowing the Dark Elf's greatsword to slide past and harmlessly impale the ground. Unfortunately, this put Silica on a direct collision course with their new ally. In her desperation to avoid friendly fire, she quickly twisted her body so that her dagger was facing away from the Dark Elf.
She slammed into their elven ally, back first, causing the two to crumple into an awkward, haphazard heap. Because of the way she was positioned, Silica found herself clumsily bent backwards over the Dark Elf's body. It wouldn't take her long to get up, but that momentary pause was all that was needed for the Forest Elf to swing downward with his sword. Instinctively, Silica raised her dagger to try to block the attack; there was no way her small dagger would block the attack entirely, but perhaps it would lessen the damage.
As it turned out, that assumption was right. The Forest Elf's sword clattered against the dagger, throwing its trajectory off just enough to send it across her shoulder instead of into her torso. Silica watched her health drop significantly. Not enough to send her into the yellow, but it was still a hefty chunk of health she'd just lost from that glancing strike. Clearly displeased with missing the attack, the Forest Elf reared back again to swing down, but this time its sword was met with another.
*CLANG!*
Nautilus had intervened and now had his blade locked against the elf's. Silica took the opportunity to roll to her side and out of the way of the blades that were so precariously hovering over her head.
"Thanks!" She shouted, getting back into her usual fighting stance.
"No... problem!" Nautilus replied with some difficulty, his speech clearly strained from struggling against the elite NPC's attack.
Seeing an opening, Silica ran forward and reared her dagger back. She leapt up, looking to land on the elf's shield - which was conveniently being held horizontally as the elite npc's attention was focused solely on Nautilus - and ram her dagger in. She landed, albeit with some difficulty given the shield's smooth surface, and plunged her dagger into the elf's shoulder with one of her thrusting sword skills.
"Hah!" Silica exclaimed, happy to see that her plan of attack worked. She'd have to try that again. Not too often, though; she didn't want the mob to start anticipating her attack patterns.
Not that it would have to, she would soon realize.
The Forest Elf cried out in pain from the dagger jutting out of his shoulder. With a surprising burst of strength, the elf powered through his sword strike, overwhelming Nautilus and thrusting him back quite some distance. The Forest Elf then shot a look over at Silica, who was still perched on his shield's face.
"Meddlesome gnat!" The elf spat as he began to spin, taking Silica on a dizzying ride in a bid to dislodge the troublesome girl.
"Whoa!" Silica cried, her free hand desperately gripping the rim of the shield so that she wouldn't go flying off. She struck out with her dagger, stabbing into the elf's elbow, which in turn prompted him to stop spinning. Unfortunately, the sudden stop made Silica lose her grip, sending her careening to the side and through the treeline.
"Silica!" Her three companions shouted out in concern.
The young dagger-wielder broke through several branches as she flew through the air, before landing on the ground and rolling down a hill. Opening up her right eye ever slowly as her surroundings blurred past her, she noticed her health dropping little by little with each rolling impact. Her health hit yellow just as she rolled to a stop.
"Ow…" She groaned. She hadn't actually felt any pain, so she'd said it more out of habit than anything else, but the experience was jarring nonetheless. She opened both eyes and found herself in a dense part of the forest and surrounded by a thick fog. Thick roots and tree branches weaved back and forth, obscuring her vision even further. Silica stood up, trying to get a better view of her surroundings but came up with nothing.
She was lost.
"Hello?!" Silica shouted, her hands cupped around her mouth. "Geeou?! Yuna?! Nautilus?!"
Again, silence.
Silica looked around, more carefully this time, scanning over the branches and growth. Her flight had been sudden and full of obstacles, so surely there had to be some sign of which direction she came from. Eventually her eyes settled on a thinning of the underbrush and foliage extending outward in what was more or less a straight line.
There it is!
Just as she was about to start heading that direction, Silica heard a cry echo through the forest.
*SCREEE!*
Despite its harsh sound, it didn't sound hostile. At least, Silica hoped it wouldn't be. If anything, it sounded panicked or in pain. Almost like a wounded animal.
And if there was one thing Silica couldn't stand the sound of, it was a wounded animal.
Sparing a glance backward and up the hill, Silica thought she saw a flash of light, which was some relief at least. It didn't look like the shattering of glass at all, so there was that working in their favor. Still, she needed to get back to her friends. They were probably worried about her. She stepped forward to follow the path up the hill, but was stopped when a small blue creature with wings sprinted out into the little clearing, almost as if it was being chased by something. It didn't seem to be paying much attention as it rammed straight into a large tree, causing it to stagger and pause its retreat.
It was a second or two before a duo of large spiders erupted from the treeline, clearly in pursuit of the strange feathered creature before them. Within moments, they caught up to the small creature and began pelting it with attacks. It cried out in pain, slumping against the tree trunk it had previously collided with.
"Hey!" Silica shouted, feeling a strange sense of protectiveness bubble up from within. "Leave it alone!"
Both spiders pivoted to face her before giving off a sickening screech. The one nearest her launched itself forward, fangs outstretched. Silica dashed forward to meet it with her dagger, ducking low to avoid the fangs while reaching up with her dagger to slice along its stomach. It let out another screech, this time pained, before it hit the ground behind her.
The second spider seemed to be more cautious about its approach, rearing back with its fangs outstretched in a defensive posture. Silica changed her grip on her dagger before lunging forward. At the last second, she rolled to the side with a successful feint, causing the spider's fangs to hit the dirt beneath her instead of hitting her face. Charging up a sword skill, Silica slashed across the spider's exposed flank three times in quick succession, causing it to stagger to the side. Then she heard something screech out from behind her.
*HISS!*
Silica's eyes went wide and she instinctively ducked as the first spider soared over her head again, this time from behind. The leaping spider skidded across the ground after the failed attack and turned to face her again. The second spider seemed to have recovered at this point and turned to face her as well. Silica repositioned her dagger once more as she sized up her two arachnid opponents. Both looked weakened from her previous attacks, but that was no excuse to lower her defenses. Geeou had warned her of the spiders in this forest and their venom. All it would take was one slip-up and she'd have a damage over time effect to worry about, and with her health already in the yellow that was something she very much wished to avoid.
Silica could feel a sword skill starting to activate based on her stance, but she quickly changed it to prevent it from triggering. One thing she'd learned from Klein during their brief training session was that sword skills were powerful, but left you open to attack afterward. With her opponents outnumbering her, she'd have to keep her limit most of her attacks to manual strikes only so she could dodge more easily and keep moving.
Silica let out a yell as she dashed forward, rapidly closing the distance and lashing out with a strike at the closest spider, nailing it between its eyes and causing it to recoil backward. Seizing the momentary pause in its attack, Silica leapt up and onto its back, plunging her dagger into its abdomen. She drew her dagger back for another strike, only to see the other spider leap towards her head. She kicked out to the side, sending the spider underneath her to her right while she dodged to the left.
Silica fell into a roll and looked up to see the second spider rapidly closing the distance. Rolling to the side once more as it struck, Silica bounded up on her feet and lashed out at its legs, drawing a crimson gash across its flank. It then shattered and Silica let out a sigh of relief.
One down. One to go.
Silica whipped her head around to look for the first spider, only to find that it had disappeared. That was odd. She'd never known a mob to run away from a fight, even if things were going badly for it. They could sometimes become more dangerous as their health got lower, but monsters always fought to the death. She looked around wildly to see if it was hiding somewhere nearby. All she saw around her were trees and webs above her, bushes and roots to her sides, and that little blue creature huddled against a nearby trunk.
Wait. Webs!
Out of instinct, Silica dove forward into a rolling dodge and heard something impact the spot where she'd been standing. Wheeling around behind her, she saw the first spider had crashed into the ground in an obvious attempt to attack her from above. It would have succeeded too, had she not made the connection with the webs before it was too late. She lunged forward as the spider was getting back up, driving her dagger into the section of its body where its thorax met its abdomen. It cried out in pain at the critical strike against it before shattering.
Silica fell to her knees, exhausted from the ordeal. It had been a long time since she'd fought on her own, usually having at least Geeou there by her side to provide backup. Not only that, she'd never fought off two opponents at once. A small smile crept across her face as she felt a little pride at the accomplishment. It was no floor boss, certainly, but for her that was something she could take pride in.
A faint whimper broke that train of thought, and Silica found her gaze wandering over to the small creature she'd just rescued. Now that she was no longer in any danger of being eaten by a pair of giant spiders, Silica could see exactly what this winged animal was.
It was the size of a house cat, although perhaps a little smaller and more lithe. It was probably lighter too, Silica guessed, based on the fact that it had wings and was likely capable of flight. Not that it was in any shape to try at the moment. It was covered in small pale blue feathers, save for two long feathers at its rear end which seemed to take the place of a traditional tail. Apart from that, this small creature looked remarkably like a dragon, albeit a small and incredibly adorable one. As Silica approached carefully, it looked up at the girl with fearful and cautious orange eyes.
"Hey… it's okay." Silica said as softly and as gently as possible. "I'm not going to hurt you."
It stared deep into Silica's eyes, as if trying to ascertain if she was telling the truth. After several tense moments, Silica could see its body relax and its head slump to the ground in defeat. Silica carefully retrieved a healing potion from her inventory and uncorked it before she paused.
Will this even work? Do potions work on creatures? Maybe if I mix it with some food…
Silica sheathed her dagger and brought out a handful of dried rations she'd bought in town. She had no idea what this creature ate, but she hoped that dried strips of meat and bread would be enough. Carefully, she dripped her health potion onto the bits of dried food, accidentally spilling some drops in the process. Silica carefully sidled up next to the small dragon and held out a piece of meat that had been haphazardly glazed with healing potion. The feathered dragon looked at Silica with some trepidation before it sniffed the food and recoiled slightly.
"I promise it's just food." Silica said as she broke off a piece and ate it. She grimaced and almost gagged at the bitter taste of the potion mixed with the dried meat ration. "See? It might taste a little funny, but it'll help you get better."
Silica broke off a smaller piece and held it out near the dragonling's mouth. Slowly, the dragon bit off a piece and quickly scarfed it down. It coughed and hacked for a moment as its wounds began to mend. The pixelated red marks across its wings and neck slowly began to close up and Silica could see that the improvised healing food mix seemed to be doing the trick. Over the next few minutes, Silica slowly fed the dragon the rest of the healing ration until the creature seemed to be at full health.
The feathered dragon slowly stood up and flexed its wings before giving its whole body a shake. It folded its wings and looked up at Silica with eyes that were no longer cautious, but friendly and hopeful. It reminded Silica of her own cat at home, in a way.
"There, see?" Silica said with a smile. "All better now!"
The dragon chirped in response, pouncing on Silica and licking her face repeatedly. Its tongue smelled of the healing ration… and soap? That was fine, though. Silica didn't mind the abrupt show of affection.
"That tickles!" Silica cried out with a laugh.
The dragonling hopped off of Silica and sat on its haunches. It stared intensely at the young girl as she sat up. Without warning, a window popped up in front of Silica.
[Feathered Little Dragon wishes to join you. Accept? Y/N]
Silica's eyes widened with excitement. Without hesitation, she pressed the "Y" option to indicate that yes, she would very much like to have this adorable little dragon as her pet. As soon as the window closed, the dragon chirped with joy. With a beat of its wings, it flew up and landed on Silica's shoulder. As the dragon craned its neck to look Silica in the eye, another window popped up in front of her.
[Do you wish to name your Feathered Little Dragon?]
"Ooh, yes!" Silica squealed. She put a finger on her chin in deep thought before she turned to her new dragon. "What should we call you? What do you think?"
The as-of-yet-unnamed dragon gave another chirp in response, which was absolutely no help whatsoever. It nuzzled against Silica's cheek, much like a cat would. Silica giggled as the soft feathery down brushed against her face.
"Heehee! You remind me of my cat. You're so fluffy!" Silica exclaimed, leaning into the display of affection. "Oh, I know! I'll call you Pina!"
Silica typed out the name "Pina" in the keyboard underneath the window displayed and pressed "Submit." She looked up at her HUD, specifically her party window, and noticed that underneath her name was a smaller nameplate that read "Pina."
"Look at that!" Silica said, pointing up towards her Heads-Up Display. Pina looked up in the direction she was pointing before looking back at its owner in confusion. "Oh, I guess you can't see that, can you? You're a part of our party now!"
Silica, with Pina on her shoulder, set off back towards where she assumed her party was, with just a little bit of urgency once she realized that they might still be fighting the Forest Elves. She looked up at her party display on her HUD and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that everyones' health bars were full or near full.
"Silica!" A trio of familiar voices called out.
Silica beamed as she called out in response. "I'm here! I'm okay!"
The dragon tamer broke out of the treeline and saw her three friends breathe a collective sigh of relief. Geeou and Nautlius wiped their brows in relief, whereas Yuna looked a fair bit more worried or disturbed; Silica couldn't tell which it was.
"Where were you? We were worried - " Yuna started before she paused, apparently having just noticed the small dragon sitting on Silica's shoulder. "Umm…"
"Hey Silica?" Nautilus asked as he drew his sword. "You got something on your shoulder there. Don't move."
"Wait, no!" Silica shouted, raising her hands in front of her and abruptly startling Pina with the sudden movement. "This is Pina! I found and saved her from some spiders. She's with me now!"
Nautilus lowered his sword and gave Silica a dubious look. "Wait, what?"
"Yeah! Look at the party window!" Silica exclaimed. "She's a part of our party now!"
Everyone's eyes darted up to look at their own HUD's. Geeou put his hands on his hips. "Huh. She's right."
"Of course I'm right!" Silica shouted with defiance. "Would I lie about this?!"
Yuna chuckled. "No, I guess not. You should heal up, though. The Dark Elf sacrificed himself like the guidebook said, so now we have to walk to the Dark Elf camp to keep going."
"Oh, right." Silica said, pulling up her inventory and manifesting a health potion. Before she could uncork it, however, Pina leapt off her shoulder and turned to face her before expelling a soft, glowing blue mist. "Whoa, what - ?!"
Nautilus drew his sword again, only to be stopped by Geeou. The flaxen-haired boy held his hand up. "No, wait! Look, she's healing her!"
Sure enough, a small blue bar displayed underneath Pina's health bar was draining and Silica's health was slowly increasing. Nautilus sheathed his sword and a grin crossed his face. "Well that's handy."
"Wow, that's awesome!" Silica cheered as Pina finished and landed on her shoulder again. "We have our own healer now!"
"I guess we do." Geeou said with a smirk on his face. "Now come on, let's go turn this quest in. We're losing daylight."
"Let's go!" Silica shouted, still ever exuberant about the newest addition to their party.
The quartet - plus one - sauntered off into the forest, Geeou leading the way with his guidebook and map. Yuna walked alongside Silica and Pina while petting the small dragon gently. Nautilus took up the rear this time, keeping watch against ambushes while also smirking at the tender scene playing out in front of him between Yuna, Silica, and Pina.
Akihiko Kayaba sat back in his chair, resting his elbows on his armrests and tenting his fingers as he watched the multitude of screens in front of him. He was sitting in a dark room accentuated only by green vertical and horizontal lines spanning the length and width of the floor, walls, and ceiling. There were no doors, no windows. An otherwise unremarkable room, but that was fine. This room didn't need to look good; its beauty lied in its utility. After all, no one else would ever see the Game Master's admin room.
Everything was going smoothly, for the most part. He hadn't anticipated the sudden and abrupt loss of 2,000 players during the first month of the game, but the remaining 8,000 showed promise. Sure, he'd guessed that many would die to the harsh conditions from the game's monsters and environments, but the sheer number of casualties up until now was staggering, even to him. At this rate, his players might not even reach the 100th floor, let alone clear it.
Kayaba shook his head as he refocused his attention to the glowing screens before him. He had something in the works to offset the loss of thousands of participants, but there was nothing he could do about it right this second. Cardinal was taking care of that for him, after all, and you can't rush perfection. There was no sense in worrying or stressing about something out of his control, a mantra he had hoped his captive player base would have understood by now.
His eyes wandered across the screens, which were actively monitoring select groups or individuals that Kayaba had taken special interest in. He couldn't explain it, but these people showed glimmers of potential and he had a feeling they would go far in his game. These cases were curious, to say the least, and far out of the ordinary.
A small group of six sitting and having a discussion in a 4th floor inn. This group, minus the one guarding the door, was shaping up to be quite the formidable force, if only for the unusual circumstances surrounding their party composition.
The archer was the only one in game currently with access to a bow and she was remarkably proficient in it. The fencer was somehow faster than the game engine could render, something Cardinal was already working on fixing. She in particular showed promise, and he had considered recruiting her to the guild he was planning on forming, but he suspected her ties to this group were too strong. The maul wielder was a curious case since he was using his weapon in a manner not at all consistent with its design and yet somehow was making it work. The blacksmith was the least impressive of the bunch but still formidable in her own right. The info broker guarding the door, while not actually a member of the group, seemed to have her fingers in everything, a fact Kayaba made special note of.
Then there was the swordsman, whose reaction time was easily the fastest in the game as of yet. There was one other player with a similar reaction speed, but at the moment they were effectively a non-combatant and couldn't be considered in the running for that unique skill Kayaba would be implementing later in the game.
Kayaba shifted his focus across multiple other screens, displaying other players and groups of note. Each was an intriguing, unique case all their own, and he was eager to see how events would play out surrounding these players in particular. The sole survivor of an extinct roleplaying guild. A man who'd logged into SAO several days late, despite the outside world's warnings. The arrogant leader of the Aincrad Liberation Squad. A girl who'd managed to tame a familiar. A schoolteacher on the first floor.
Wait, a familiar?
"Cardinal." Kayaba said, angling his head to the side as if speaking to someone behind him.
A feminine voice resounded throughout the room. "Yes, sir?"
"This girl right here." Kayaba pointed to the screen with the pigtailed girl and her new draconic familiar. "She's tamed one of the creatures on the 3rd floor. I didn't implement a taming system. Is this your doing?"
"Affirmative." The disembodied voice of the Cardinal system answered. "Patch 1.0.7 instituted a hidden creature affinity system for players. Applicable creatures have a 0.07% chance of spawning in any given area and players must successfully befriend the creature to tame it."
"Any particular reason for this new feature?" Kayaba asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Monitoring systems on the players report a demand for more in-depth player-to-npc interaction. Observed behaviors also suggest a need for rare content. New creature affinity system also acting as a beta test for newly discovered AI behaviors, inspired by the Dark Elf NPC called Kizmel."
"I see." The game master answered, shifting his focus back to the screen. Admittedly, giving the Cardinal system the freedom to implement balancing changes and the ability to create and publish new content was a risk, but he was confident in his system. Still, this was an unexpected development, but a welcome one. "I like it. Feel free to add more content as you see fit, provided it does not conflict with your established content creation parameters. However, from here on, inform me of the changes first before rolling out the updates."
"Confirmed. Was there anything else you needed, sir?"
"How far along are we on Project Legacy?" Kayaba asked as he manipulated a window hovering in front of his face.
"Uploads and synchronization at 23% at this moment, sir. Did you want to maintain the current cut-off parameter?"
"Yes. Anything after that is unnecessary." He replied. "On another note, I want you to perform a diagnostic on Kizmel. Don't interfere with her programming, but I want to see it for myself. She could be the key to more immersive and unpredictable AI for later floors."
"Confirmed. What level priority would you like to designate this task?"
"Level 5. It's not urgent. The Unique Skill system takes precedence, followed by Project Legacy. I need the unique skills finished before I enter the fray, as it were." The game master said, indifference plain in his voice.
"Confirmed. Was there anything else you needed, sir?"
"Nothing else. Thank you, Cardinal." Kayaba said, turning back to the screen.
Kayaba grinned, but there was no hint of malice. Sword Art Online was not his idea of a torture device, despite what those on the outside might have thought. No, it was a test. A thought experiment made real. Kayaba had no delusions of surviving past the conclusion of this game. He was laying the foundation for the future of virtual reality and beyond.
That wasn't to say that he wasn't enjoying watching it all play out. Heroes and villains were already establishing themselves in this little microcosm of a world he created, with the line separating the two already blurred. He couldn't wait to jump in himself and interact with his players; a familiar face hiding behind that of a stranger. Above all, even he wasn't entirely sure what new features Cardinal would create and implement before the game concluded. Until then, all Kayaba could do was wait. Wait and watch.
And oh, what a show this was turning out to be.