A/N: So the writing continues. Slow but... going.

We ran, but didn't get tired. The evening sky, we still had time to cross the entire bottom floor of Aincrad if we had to. First we crossed the main gates and then ran along a trail. Sinon was running along freely beside me. And I say, her hair was beautiful as it blew and we frolicked happily through the fields to what could've very easily been an early retirement from life. The three of us trusted each other with our lives. That was could. In fact, during our time growing up all I really wanted was for Kirito to be able to rely on his older sister and not be alone without any close family or blood ties over the course of all of this. It was clear he'd come to trust me… and even Sinon, conspiring with her behind my back. The audacity. I smiled.

In any event, we came upon a dire wolf and I slew it with a singular sword skill, a simple beginner Sword Skill just like the Vertical and Horizontal skills, it was called Lunge. I did this despite the fact that if memory served correctly, Kirito was still level one at this point in time. No thanks to the additional monster hunting that we both did when we had nigh-instantly figured out how Sword Skills worked and slaughtered an entire field of Frenzied Boars that were evidently tired of their meaningless existences.

"Your levels?" He asked without stopping, I guess that question was directly mostly at us, he did tilt his head slightly as I fell back into formation behind him. And there wasn't exactly anyone else to ask around this area, so either he was crazy or asking us.

"Six." I answered bluntly, disproportianate to the amount of thought I put into the two words he utilized as a sentence.

"Hm. That's surprising, Sinon is brand new to gaming isn't she?"

I scoffed, "My tutelage is nothing to scoff at. Besides that, she's a born natural at gaming."

Sinon winced a bit when I accentuated the last-word. Sorry Sinon, but I'd rather not Kirito casually ask if you're a natural born killer, given your history and the fact that you told me but not him about your past. And sorry for not telling you little brother, it's not something that I can just come out and share of my own accord.

"Haha. Sinon is pretty smart."

I vwas curious as to what phenomenon let us call each other by our in game names so naturally despite knowing each other in real life. Perhaps it was just years of practice and drilling anonymity exercises into Sinon's head when I introduced her to the art of MMORPG games.

"Well since you're watching over Sinon, that'll let me do what I want more freely, mechanic-wise."

"Hoh? So you're not even a little bit worried about your sister?" I asked the question thoughtlessly.

"Why would I be? It's not like a little game like this would stop the Iron-blooded Dragon Riyu of Clan Iron Blood, even if the stakes are as high as they are. So make sure you learn all you can from here Sinon."

I cringed at the title that was given to me by Kirito and then lead to the creation of a guild named Clan Iron Blood in an MMORPG me and Kirito played for a few years up until now. It was a game I played alongside Kirito. At first he was annoyed at the concept of having his girly 'older sister' playing a game with him, but when I proved how reliable I was and my capacity to endlessly grind day after day with him even with the minimal amount of time I had, earning money to pay for a NerveGear and decent PC Rig… he found me an indispensable asset and a great older sister. I felt pride in these facts, but in reality on the inside I was just some old dude who'd died a bunch of times, and that sad reality made me painfully aware of how much I didn't deserve this body or Sinon's love. Damn, even if I do feel young, I know I'm an old soul already… but wait - they could be too right? Maybe. I don't know anymore.

As if to let me know that my thoughts don't matter, the village we were aiming for came into view. Is this Horunka? Probably. There was a quest here called: Secret Medicine of the Forest that Kirito definitely wanted to complete to acquire the Anneal Blade.

"First. Invite me to a party and we'll do the sidequest together. With both of you here we can work on completing it multiple times together. We'll all get shared experience for the monsters we kill as well as credit, so it's easier if we do it this way. The drop is relatively rare and I think it only drops one in a hundred times or so, so we'll probably have to kill around 300 monsters, maybe more, because it has to already exist."

I did as he said, opening my player menu, inviting Kirito to a party and then we entered the village. He lead us to a house like he'd been there before, and of course he had because he'd done this in the beta too… probably. I wasn't too sure about all the things he'd done in the beta and my only reference point for all the stuff that I knew was the first volume of the light novel and the anime.

Regardless, we all entered the house and only one of us had to listen to the story of how her child was sick and needed an ingredient called the Little Nepenthes's Ovule. The only way to get it was from the corpse of a Little Nepenthes with a red flower on top of its head. The normal spawns had nothing of note or any type of growths atop their head.

Once we all accepted the quest, we left the village once again and headed deep into the forest. "What's your level Kirito?" I asked.

"One." He said.

"And the level of these monsters is…?" I brushed a lock of long hair behind my ear.

"Three." He said.

"I see." I said.

We walked on silently. There were no more words to say, but Sinon was obviously contemplating something, her head was down as we walked. She didn't look sad, but she did seem somewhat out of it. "Isn't it dangerous for you to take this quest?" She finally asked, worried for his safety. She definitely didn't know Kirito like I did.

"No. With you two here, even if my life were in danger I know I can rely on you both to rescue me, should the situation require it." He was frank about it, like that much was obvious.

"Hmm." Sinon didn't disagree or agree, just hmm'd and went back into deep thought.

"We're here. Combat ready." I said.

Sinon snapped out of here thoughts and immediately drew her sword. I didn't need to teach her to draw her sword then. Good.

I drew mine, and Kirito had already drawn his before I even said anything. That reminds me, since he started playing MMORPGs before I did and he was my little brother, would that make him my otouto-senpai? JESUS CHRIST WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!

Kyaaa!

Was that my voice?

It flopped forward, leaking disgusting liquid all over the place, it had giant lips at the top of its conical body, the big end on the top and the small end near the bottom. Vines for legs and tendrils arm-like appendages that were green and covered with what looked like mucus or something of that effect. The abomination took its body and shimmied forward. This. This was a Little Nepenthes and there was nothing little about the almost two meter tall monster.

"Soriya!" Kirito let out a battle-shout as he charged a Swordskill, Vertical and slashed downward through the thing's body. It still had 25% HP left, and he jumped backward, shooting me a glance.

Our eyes met and I knew his intent, I'd already charged a Skill and leapt forward with a Lunge. "Hasagi!" My battlecry was quieter, but it was from a character from a game I'd played a lot back in a previous life. My silver blade pierced the flesh of the plant-creature and red particles flew out of the wound. Then it burst into a shower of pixelated particles.

"I… didn't even get to do anything." Sinon murmured under her breath.

I smirked. "Early bird gets the… monstrous plant-bug-monster thing."

"Dozo." She bowed her hands and held her palms out, towards where the body of the Nepenthes dispersed into a particle shower: 'all yours' basically.

Kirito chuckled, and he was engulfed by a shower of gold particles. "Level 2. Hell yeah."

"Well. Just 299 more or so more to go. Should we get started?" I asked, almost impatiently. Closing the loot notification I got for EXP and Col.

"As long as you don't scream again." Kirito teased, wearing a wide smirk.

Bastard.

I grimaced.

Sinon just looked at me apologetically with a weak smile.