AN: Whew. So many things I could say. I think first and foremost is that I've probably gotten in over my head in regards to this section. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I've been thinking it's a combination of creating my entirely own place (this version of the 6th floor coming before Reki's publication/translation) as well as not being used to writing for Kirito and Asuna. Regardless, I'll keep chugging through these. I could very well just skip past it, but this is a self challenge, and I intend to come out on top.
"Asuna, right!" I spun on a foot and brought my sword down, the metal cutting several strands of Asuna's trailing hair before sinking through the stone plating of my assailant. "You two take care of the collection quests, he said," I batted away a fist, sword moving between my ally and her opponent to dissuade an attack. "It'll be fine, he said," my shoulder crashed into Asuna's enemy, the move sending it skidding back several feet. "Fine, he said!" Behind me Asuna's rapier splashed out against my former target, my mind supplanting the image of five «Linear» stabs arranged in a vaguely star shaped pattern around the deep circle of «Oblique».
"Just shut up and keep attacking! God, how can somebody talk so much during a fight?!" In a single motion, the red head ducked underneath another swing and took a quick step back, the system recognizing her delicate stance as the requirement for a three hitting combo that swiped high then low before springing her into the air in a manner very similar to my own «Pierce the Sun».
"It's how I stay calm!" I shouted back, very intently not letting myself mount the beast on its back for a critical stab. If I had more than a second between each attack, I would have long swapped to «Armor Splitter», its passive far more useful with an accurate partner than that of «Tormenting Reaver». "Where the fuck is Kirito!?"
The teen whirled away from her foe, irritation compounding. "Watch your language, dammit!"
I clicked my tongue at her moment of inattention, aborting my strike to steal the aggro of her enemy with a Sprint assisted «Reaver». "We're both under 50% and you're seriously going to get on my case about word choice? Priorities, woman!" A drop kick was pushed aside by what was quickly becoming one of my favored move from the Martial Arts skill, the goldish glowing bear claw quickly revolving back to its starting position to deflect an incredibly telegraphed haymaker from monster number two.
"A life or death situation is no reason to forget your morals!" Health replenished by a potion, Kirito's rumored sole companion returned back into the fray and stole away my original target. It irritated me more than it should have, but by the next time we swapped targets the sheer amount of strike she brought forth had caused nearly double my damage.
"Quite frankly, I don't give a rat's ass about morals!" Oh, screw this. I weaved underneath a heavily unbalanced swing and drove Tormenting Reaver through a gap in the gorilla's front armor, a spinning «Waning Moon» nailing the hilt of my blade and increasing the Stun debuff. In that span of five seconds, I let loose a stream of system aided attacks, warning Asuna to cover me before slipping away with my usual dual Reaver's interspaced by a single «Tormenting Blow».
Not even a few moments passed before her voice carried through the rain. "I'm not meant to tank, hurry up and get back here!"
Ignoring the bone rattling roars of the «Plated Behemoths», Armor Splitter was summoned forth into my waiting hand, its leather sheath gently tapping against my armor. "Don't think, just move, don't think, just move." Without an extra level or three of stat points to abuse, the best I could do was rely on my instincts and reactions to carry me through the fight. Strike after strike, spin after dizzying spin, I maintained the gorilla's attention while Asuna continued whittling their health down.
The few times they did sneak a blow in, the aerial recover mod from Acrobatics kept me going strong, my mind commenting on how weak the blow felt compared to the breath stopping kicks of Arpatius. When the fronts of both enemies were laced with the red exposure points of my arguable off hand, Asuna let out a screaming chain of Linear's, momentarially upgrading her nickname of Shooting Star to Meteor Shower.
"Bloody hell," I mumbled, sheathing my blades before falling on my rear. "Sorry, As. I think I'm out for the next hour or so." I crossed my arms over my knees and leaned my head against them, slowly catalogued my way through the aches and pains in my limbs that I hadn't felt since the last heavy work out I did in the real world. "Fatigue's hitting me hard right now, the most I can do is take care of talking and non-combative fetch quests." What I presumed to be Asuna's equally tired form splashed into the mud nearby, her labored breathing making me wonder whether we were both suffering from fatigue or if her mind had forgotten the rules of this world.
"How about we take five for now?" She suggested, a tired hand working her interface. "I let Kirito know what's going on, so we don't need to hurry too much." The limb plopped back into the mud, our instinctive grasps for oxygen drowned out by the worsening rain.
"You sure you wanna be laying down face up like that?" I asked, forcing my protesting body into several stretches.
"I'm fine." Asuna took a deep breath before rolling onto her front, slowly moving into a sitting position and mimicking my actions. "It's not like we need to breathe here, and the system does a terrible job of making you think something down the wrong pipe. It's all translated as drinking or swallowing food, not 'Oh god, I'm choking'."
"There's a story behind that, I know it." After a few more moments of a forward split I stood up, wiping as much mud off my armor and clothing as possible before resigning myself to the next several hours being chapped, flaky, and slightly sticky. "Some good news at least. Those two brutes dropped those heirlooms we were looking for." I pulled out the two loot bags, opening them to reveal the palm sized green and red orbs within, each one decorated in a sigil I vaguely recognized but decided was original enough to not warrant remarking upon.
"All that work just for this?" Asuna scoffed in annoyance, chugging down another potion now that the timer passed.
"It could be worse," I joked. "It could be a loaf of bread." When she failed to get the reference, I merely grinned. "Me being me and you being you, what do you say to trying to figure out what sort of stupid rewards we'll get for completing all the quests at this village? And no, that's not an insult. That's a comment on how we're both pretty uninformed about games, even if we are surprisingly adept at recognizing patterns."
"How about an umbrella for starters?" She posed.
"And I suppose it'll double as a sword or spear as well?" I grinned at the thought, cognate that the effort required to code such a myriad of manifestations would have arguably been worth the same amount of effort for an extra floor if not more.
"And it can be repainted, and Kirito will subconsciously lay dibs on it while the two of us stare at him in disappointment for fixating on yet another black colored item."
It was my snorting that started the peals of laughter, the two of us leaning against each other while attempting to recover. "Seriously, what is up with that kid and the color black?" I managed between snickers.
"I never asked. I bet it's because he thinks it makes him look cool or something. Boys around his age are still into that sort of thing." Eventually Asuna recovered enough to start walking, taking point in what was probably trust in me to head off enemies before they got to her significantly more frail build.
"That behavior doesn't entirely get out until their mid twenties at latest, worse if they're anti-social and never get out of the house much." I sniffed and checked my map, subtly guiding us back onto the main path.
"You're not getting sick, are you, Asasaki?"
"I don't think you can even get sick in here, aside from Fatigue. No, that sniffle was just me getting over the laughter from what's honestly something that'll happen sometime down the line." When she gave me a questioning look, I gave a simplified speech about how there were vendors on the lower floors selling proper harvest scythes as a two handed weapon and how difficult learning the fighting style for it was as opposed to a normal polearm such as a halberd or pike. "Fans of the fantasy genre just like their concepts, I suppose. Compared to such a useless and outlandish weapon, one designed to look and function as an umbrella is practically a certainty."
When we arrived at Tidal Village it was exactly as we had left it; soaked, muddy ground splishing with every step, clay tiles funneling the strengthening downpour into carved channels that had grown wider as the decades passed. The moment we stepped onto the cobblestone paths Asuna began running towards the only lit hut in the entirety of the settlement, her distinctive red outfit resting under the protection of the roof.
"You know running just makes it worse, right?" I sat down beside her, taking off my boots and shaking what water I could from them before putting on a functional but purely cosmetic pair. "You moving through more droplets as they're falling as opposed to taking your standard pace and letting the rain come to you."
Asuna unequipped all her outer garments, letting the system reset their status before putting them back on. "I know. But I also know I get where its dry faster." After a moment she rushed inside, leaving the door slightly ajar for me.
"Nineteen thirty seven," I whispered, looking away from my clock. If Kirito tried to get us to continue these quests as we worked our way up the mountain, I'd fully abuse my status as the adult and suggest we take at least thirty minutes to stretch out and eat. The two teens had been working since at least an hour or so after sunrise, and as far as I could tell had been operating nearly full steam the entire time. "Is it just them being kids and having limitless energy or are they used to this sort of thing?"
After another minute or two of pondering I headed inside, Daiquiri immediately chipping for my attention from his coiled bed made from a finely made blanket. "I've only been gone half an hour at most, did you really miss me that badly?" I pulled over one of the cushions and sat in front of the feathered dragon, translating its claw on my hand and gentle biting of my fingers as a demand to be fed.
"That spirit has really taken a liking to you, Swordsmen Asasaki."
I refrained from responding to Asuna's teasing look, well aware that the girl would have turned whatever I said back against me. "I'd say I'm good with animals, but it was only from constantly paying attention to them for multiple weeks, not instant like this one."
The teen merely snorted and pulled off another piece off her loaf, a small bowl of nuts and berries laying to her right. "How much longer do you think Kirito's going to take?"
"Your companion?" The elder of the village, a woman by the name of Aren, blinked owlishly at us. "He left just a few minutes before you arrived. He said something about how he was going to go ahead and deliver a message while you two wrapped up in this area."
My internal tirade was stopped by Dai, the dragon suddenly shoving the top of his head against my fingers. "You are such an attention whore, you know that?" I reprimanded softly.
"I don't suppose he left us a note of what needed to be done?" Based on Asuna's expression, this wasn't the first time Kirito had decided to split off. Something about this time seemed to have bothered her more than usual.
Recalling what we had set out for, I pulled out the two gems, wondering why the tingling in my hand felt so familiar. "How'd you guys lose these, anyway?"
"The building they were stored in was raided the other night. The door itself was broken open. Oddly, nothing else was taken." Aeren's lips moved into a thin line, consternation appearing on her face. "But that is in the past. Thank you for your work. Unfortunately, I must trouble you with one more request. From what your friend gathered, the last heirloom has been moved deep into their nest somewhere higher up on the mountain in the southeast portion."
Asuna scoffed quietly, looking to to the side with annoyance before composing herself. "We'll get started on it shortly."
"Feel free to take whatever you need from the storage room. Between this rain and the travelling you will do, it would be prudent to be as stocked as possible." Without further ado, the elder turned around and returned to her room.
"Thirty minutes?" I asked, scratching Daiquiri's head while he continued to snack.
"Thirty minutes," Asuna confirmed. "We should double check our supplies while we're here, maybe reorganize them between us. I know for certain you've taken more damage than me, even if you haven't used as many potions." She folded her arms and eyed me critically. "I hope you don't mind if I ask you to continue taking point. That dual wielding thing was weird, but effective."
"It's tiring though." I straightened and drew my secondary, laying it on the table. "Even having two weapons out like this prevents me from using sword skills, so we'll be relying almost entirely on you for damage unless my strikes get lucky or hit true and I land a critical."
"I'll just have to pick up the slack then." Asuna grinned. "You know, despite your not caring at all about getting attacked, I'm really enjoying fighting alongside you. It's a lot different then how Kirito usually has me working." She stared at her lap for a few seconds, time I spent continuing to bend to Daiquiri's demands.
"It's like," she tilted her head, searching for the right words. "It's like taking a pop quiz as a refresher. I know the skills and material, but it's been a while since I last had to use it and the questions are making me approach the problems from new angles." Asuna stood and stretched her arms above her head, making a face I was certain everyone who did the same motion made when realizing their stretching did nothing for physical sensations. "I'm going to go take a nap for now, maybe stretch out more. Get me when it's time?" Once I acknowledged her request the teen headed off into a seperate room, leaving me with the wounded dragon.
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I raised a fist in warning, molding myself to the contours of the tree. Behind me Asuna's breath stilled, the girl taking my advice of being stealthy to heart. The entirety of the forest had been designated as an instanced zone; from whatever entry we tried to take, we would instantly be cut off from communication with the rest of the world.
Asuna had in no uncertain terms appointed me to the position of leader for the time being, trusting me to lead us through safely. Another duo of the «Armored Behemoths» shambled past us, the fifth such group we had seen since entering. After checking the path, I motioned for us to continue, slinking between the brush and relying on the rapid but intermittent lightning to avoid obstacles. In time we found ourselves at the entrance to a cave, arriving to the conclusion that the monsters were exiting at regular intervals. "But where they return to-"
"Is probably from an entrance higher up." Asuna peeked around the side of the brush as I had taught her, head swiveling to make sure nothing hostile was around. "Aside from a few weird things like crafting and water there's still a lot of realism. All these guys going out to collect resources are probably returning through somewhere else to take a break."
"Smart thinking," I whispered. Wordlessly, I brought out a pair of unlit torches, offering one to her. "If we need light, I'll take care of it, but just in case I want you to have one." After a moment I shook my head, recalling how recent caves seemed entirely random on whether or not they had lighting. "We wait for the next group to pass by." As soon as they did I rose and began sneaking through, changing to a quick but quiet gait in the tunnel.
The cavern was unsurprisingly lit every few dozen feet by softly glowing crystals embedded into the walls. Unlike the previous ones I had encountered, these were a softly glowing red, an irritating but wonderful shade to work in the dark with. "I don't like how deep this tunnel is going." Asuna pulled her rapier out, her steps moving significantly closer to me in what was probably an attempt to calm her nerves.
"It's entirely possible we'll find ourselves either in an ant colony network of passages or the dug out ruins of an ancient civilization." I chuckled at the thought, making a mental bet that the latter was exactly what we were heading. Eventually the path split into two, each one deep enough we couldn't see where they went. "Left side looks like they come towards us. Right path looks like the traffic only goes down." I took a half step towards the left path, waiting for Asuna's input. Without a word she motioned for me to lead on. When I questioned her jitteriness, she explained it as not being able to move around as much as she'd normally be able to.
As soon as we exited the tunnel I tugged Asuna to the side, hiding behind a large pile of rubble surrounding a broken wall. When the behemoths passed I let out a relieved sigh, prodding my frozen companion in the shoulder like I had seen Kirito do so many times. "If it's all well and good with you, I'd like to get going. This place is stupidly large and I'd rather not spend more time down here. My memories of being underground aren't exactly the best."
The teen apologized, explaining her shock as the result of seeing the remnants of an entire underground. "You don't think there's going to be a bigger quest down here, right? Something that we're going to end up getting involved with?"
I gave a soft no, peering around the corner of the stone building before darting across the street. "This region is probably going to be something similar to Gal'veni. For some reason the system is registering us as testers or pioneers and giving us something special." I pulled back slightly, hoping that the natural darkness would work in place of the Sneak skill. "Remember he said he had to prepare for the incoming arrivals, I doubt that would have been said if everybody had to go through the kind of quests we've been doing."
"Kirito's been going on about that sometimes," she whispered, now fully in the groove of my staggered movements. "There's an NPC that's more sentient than others we've been working with the past few floors. Some of the more recent quests have been a lot more detailed than anything else." At my signal she readied her weapon, following my lead into the house.
Finding nothing but pebbles and dust covered furniture greeting us, I grabbed ahold of a brass plated candelabra, using the light from the crystals embedded in the tips to guide us into the second floor. "Define detailed," I pressed, uncertainty filling my mind.
The red head shifted for a bit, using my gesture to avoid the windows to compose herself. "It's hard to explain. With normal NPC's, conversations feel like I'm going through a well made list of branching options, but with her everything feels more life like. She doesn't default to the usual 'I'm sorry, I don't understand' line that most NPC's use. If we say something she doesn't get, she narrows her eyes or expresses confusion and then asks for clarification."
I peeked over the window sill, tsk'ing at a building on the opposite side of the city that was surrounded by that damnable purple growth, utterly at ends with the peaceful ambience of the ruins. "You're not the only one," I commented, replaying her last line. "When's the last time you checked your skill list?" It was a gamble, and I wasn't sure if she'd have it, but it would have been nice to know that somebody else had acquired the Contract skill.
"Not since the day before when I was working my Tailoring skill." Her head canted to the left. "Why did you sigh so heavily just then? I don't know you that well, but every time something's bothering you either hiss, make a strange noise with your tongue or teeth, or end up coughing. Sighing's new."
"Just some hopes that were dashed. You don't need to worry about it for now, it'll come up eventually." Immediately after saying that I regretted my word choice, expecting usual teenage behavior to rear its head in the form of incessant badgering. When it didn't arrive, "What, just going to roll over and accept that?"
"Kirito told me to trust you more," she said once she snuck past a patrolling group. "Even if it's only temporary, if I can't rely on you to make the best decision at any moment, how am I supposed to fight by your side like I fight by his? I don't like it, and I feel like it's more important than you're letting on, but if you think I don't need to worry about it, I won't worry about it. Just like I've stopped worrying about how often your health gets into the red."
"Believe me, it irritates me just as much as everybody else that my health gets that low." After a moment I fervently nudged Asuna behind the ruins of a wall, holding a finger to her lips as a trio of stone plated monkeys hobbled past. "So that's two different species in this monster line." I kept my voice as low as possible, unsure the enemies wouldn't have enhanced senses on top of their modified physical capabilities.
"How many more do you think there are?"
"One more, two at most. A large and small combination isn't usual from what I've been told, but it'd be a safe bet to consider that there'd be a third to cover whatever holes two alone would have." After a few close calls regarding napping enemies, we finally made it to the immaculate building along the very edge of the massive chamber. "We'll wait a few moments. I doubt anything will happen, but-" At that very instant, I closed my mouth, gesturing for Asuna to move farther back into the shadow of a long dead tree.
There was some faint chatter from the elf that had just left the building, but without a system enhancement I could only imagine what was being said. After a tense moment of stillness, the fallen elf continued down the path, looking every bit as ominous as my mind painfully supplied.
"What are the Fallen Elves doing here?" Asuna pressed her lips together, stealing a glance over the cobblestone wall before looking back down at the emptied path.
"10 cor says they're in charge of monsters and aggression in this area," I immediately offered. I shook my head when Asuna failed to respond, something I attributed to sheer incredulity at the suddenness. "So how do you want to do this?" There's probably at least one or two elves in there if not more. It's going to be cramped, close quarters, and who knows what sort of armor and weapons they'll have. Milk Runner over there certainly seemed to be lacking in the armor department, though knowing Elves there's probably something special with his clothing."
"I guess you go in one handed, try and get an opponent under your control, and then I'll attack them? Rinse and repeat as needed?"
"Quick and dirty, then." My lips twitched into a smile. "I like it. Look for the exposures. I'll be using Armor Splitter for this. You have a cloak of some kind? Don't know if it'll help us out in regards to sneaking around, but I feel like dressing up for the occasion."
After a moment the girl pulled out a simple brown cloak, the strikingly higher quality fabric rippling with every step. "Now you're starting to remind me of Kirito with how much emphasis you're putting on appearances." Her left hand swiped out, nodding at whatever her screens were displaying. "Ready when you are."
I raised my hand towards the door, quietly counting back from three. Immediately upon opening the door, I brought forth the full breadth of Sprint, maneuvering onto the wood table and kicking a bowl of steaming liquid onto the male elf in the room. I kept the momentum going with a quick spin, flipping over the female elf. While my tang hit nothing but air, the follow up grapple went uncontested, the edge of my sword biting into the female elf's neck as she desperately tried to escape.
At that moment Asuna made her appearance, her rapier splashing into the elf's torso. The teen yelped and stumbled back, a hand axe rushing through the space where her head used to be. An elbow was suddenly driven into my side, an attack I met in kind by way of knee. Taking a step back, I slammed the pommel of my weapon into my target's head, sending a spinning hook kick into her side before vaulting over the table and stabbing the axe using male from behind.
«Lu'ciel, Fallen Elf Researcher» merely growled and whirled around, a metal reinforced glove whooshing past my face. Without pause I landed a glancing blow along his arm protections, my arm coiling on the downswing and bringing the tip of my sword into his gut. I shut down my desire to spout out a line of some kind, withdrawing my blade and pulling his head into my knee one, twice, three times before he broke free with haphazard swings.
Lu'ciel's hand shot out in a manner frustratingly similar to sahuagin mini-boss Zirgog, grabbing my head almost in its entirety and slamming my onto the table. In the short span the Stun effect persisted, a sharp numbness made itself known in my chest, the metal of whatever weapon he used completely ignoring the resistances of my armor.
A tingle jerked my body sideways, my body instinctively slashing out and cutting the forearm of the female elf. Without thinking, I braced myself on the table and shot my legs forward, twin heels slamming into the face of «Zera'kal, Fallen Elf Hunter». "I'll be taking that," I uttered, fervently dropping the dagger into my inventory. I let out a reactive breath, my vision partially fading when a heavy fist buried itself in my back. Asuna exacted revenge for the strike with a short flurry of Linear's, ducking a crazed axe swing and unleashing one of her tri-strikes from the crouching position.
I followed up with a simple Sprint aided shoulder charge, the force knocking the male elf out of the dining room and into the hall. "Other!" I called, hurling the chair behind me into the recovered dagger user. Once again I initiated first, Asuna following up my basic attacks against Zera'kal with system aided stabs. Before long we were interrupted by dual axe heads burying themselves in our backs, bringing me deeper into the red.
Angrilly, I yanked mine out and whirled the weapon into the hunter's neck, her body fully stopping the momentum of my strike before shattering. Behind us Lu'ciel raged, his footsteps the only warning of a powerful but telegraphed haymaker. In spite of my prediction, the strike was aborted, the elf nimbly turning the right cross into a left uppercut. I briefly appreciated the detail the wood boards the ceiling had, a gloved hand grasping me by the ankle and returning me to the ground.
"Asasaki, pot!" Asuna's muffled voice breached the confusion, obnoxious yellow and orange squares ticking down near my status ribbon. Suffering from an application of Dazed, I managed to roll forward and pull out a potion from my inventory, downing it successfully while my companion brought me time.
With a better clarity of mind I pulled open my inventory, a practiced hand summoning forth «Tormenting Reaver» to make up for my dropped kopis. Regardless of the fact that Lu'ciel was both significantly taller and tankier than us, the fact that it was a one against two fight meant he fell in short order, baleful eyes communicating an eternity of hatred as I delivered the killing blow.
"I don't like the fact that they were named," I stated, collecting the dropped weapons. Asuna chugged down a potion of her own, worriedly glancing where our health bars should be.
"I really don't understand how you can be so calm despite having gone below 20%." The teen sheathed her weapon without any fanfare, the blade gently clicking into place.
"Run into a spider web enough times, you stop freaking out. The same theory applies to near death situations for me. Some of them might shake me, but for the most part all it gets is a tisk and a couple minutes of annoyance." I pulled out a handful of the pieces of glowing crystal I had taken earlier, Asuna doing the same when I started walking through the small but rather homely building. "If I were a pretty gemstone that probably has some kind of magical effect, where would I be?"
Asuna gave me a chiding look. "SAO doesn't have magic, remember?"
"Then explain glowing crystals, aging books that have rituals drawn onto them, and why the crystal growths around this building specifically are purple instead of the soft red pushing orange that we've been seeing down here." I pointed out each item in question, pocketing the journal in each room left on the bedside tables.
"Design choice, aesthetics, and aesthetics once again. Like how Kirito claims that red lighting in game with robots mean danger while blue lighting means safety." Asuna tickled her fingers off as she spoke, rifling through an unlocked chest.
"Hey, Asuna? Lemme ask you something." I placed the crystals on a table in the corner of the room, their combined glow similar to that of a set of candles. "Does it bother you that we just killed two sentient beings and are now looking through their stuff?"
"Only when you put it that way," she responded. "But they're still just AI and they were trying to kill us, so there's nothing wrong with that. "
I gave an ambiguous hum, bringing us to the next room. It took until the last of the four living quarters to find the blue heirloom, but eventually we escaped backed to the surface without any more interruptions.
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I brushed my hair out of my eyes, the proverbial straw of stress causing my normally practiced movements of fixing the strands to turn jagged. "Any word back from Kirito?"
"Nothing. He's still in a public area, but whatever he's doing is keeping him busy. You didn't do anything to bother him, did you?"
"Me?" I stared at her, startled. "Barring that trip across the bridge this morning, I haven't even had five minutes with the kid. Ever. It's always with the two of you." With the rain having settled substantially, Asuna and I were much less rushed to get out of the rain. The two of us performed our same behavior as before, not wanting to track mud or droplets into the house. "Speaking of which, you aren't always hanging around him, right? I mean, you have other friends you do things with?" Daiquiri immediately started chirping for me upon hearing my voice, the teen following me into the room we had been given.
"Of course I have other friends. What, you thought I was like a love sick puppy or something, following after Kirito all the time because he's all I know?" She scoffed, affrontation hiding whatever sort of embarrassment she had if any existed.
"I was just making sure," I soothed, making sure my tone was calming for both the dragon and my companion. "I know I don't spend much time with either of you, but I still think about you two. It's important to maintain some semblance of normality, even if this world is vastly different."
"You should tell that to Kirito. No matter how many times I tell him that, I don't think he really listens. If I step out of the room during meal times, he reverts back to whatever habits he normally has. I swear that boy was a shut in back in the real world." She scoffed and cross her arms, mouth moving far too rapidly for me to tell what she was mumbling.
I shook my head minutely, telling myself to stop looking into her actions so much. "I think most people were. Remember that a lot of people stood in line for a couple days just to get their copy, not counting the thousand or so people who were able to reserve theirs from the beta." I adjusted my arms for Dai, the dragon adjusting to a more comfortable position once I stilled. "If Kirito doesn't say anything, what do you suggest we do?"
"Just pick one of the villages up the mountainside, I guess. Either Kirito's there or he's not, not our fault he isn't responding." Seeing my expression, "And yes, I do care for him. But he's a big boy and he knows this game. I mentioned before that he likes to practice past whenever he calls it for the day. That training means going down to one of the lower floors or some place close to the portal towns and fighting on his own. A group might be safer but for somebody like him who knows monster attack patterns, doing it solo is more efficient."
I set the dragon down on the table, offering up my cloak as a blanket in addition to the embroidered one he was currently using as a nest. "If you're fine with it, I suppose that means I have nothing to worry about." I ignored her denial of having ever stated she was fine with his behavior, pulling out the final gem instead. "You know these things feel magical? Touching them caused a tingle at the points of contact. The same tingle I've noticed when I use Acrobatics or Sprint. Honestly don't know what it means, but just thought I should bring it up."
"If you want to call it magical, be my guest. SAO doesn't have magic though. The weird parts are just a game." Taking the quest item from me, the rapier user stood up and went to rouse the elder, her voice softly floating over from the hall.
"A game might still have magic though," I quietly countered. "A crystal bearing tree might be fantasy, but I know a magic circle when I see one." I swiped open my inventory, staring at the leatherbound, decorated journal pointedly slotted into my system designated quest items tab. The label and description were firmly in Japanese and designated as belonging to each of the three inhabitants of that house, but when I opened it up to read its contents all that greeted me was an unknown language that felt coded.
Grumbling at the over complexity of designers, I pulled over my quest log to make sure that nothing new had showed up. The text was still the same as when I had last checked it. Under the box for the «Valley of Dragons» it detailed to investigate the events surrounding Mount Lucidity as well as returning all three heirlooms to Elder Aeren at Tidal Village. For persisting quests there were tabs for both Asuka Mitsui as well as Lady Hilde from the first floor. Despite constantly reminding myself to stop by the outpost once more, I had never managed to find a moment for it. All my time seemed to have been taken up by leveling and running errands. "Before I return to the others then," I mused.
Elder Aeren and Asuna returned shortly, the former staring in not quite surprise at my idle petting of the dragon. "How truly remarkable." Without bothering to explain, she quickly sat down at her normal spot across from me, Asuna setting down a prepared tea set for us. "Thank you for returning our precious treasures. We've long since forgot their significance, but their history is ancient according to what writings have survived the ages."
"Speaking of history," I glanced over at my my companion, the teen unable to pick up on my unspoken question. "Are there any stories that you know of, oral or otherwise, that speak of a lost underground city?"
"Only oral," she admitted. "We regard it as the origin of the six tribes on this mountain. The details vary depending on who you talk to regarding who was in charge, our architecture, and way of life, but we all agree that it was a city carved from the stone beneath us. In those days the four tribes were not as unified, nor were our Tarragon neighbors as peaceful as they became. Our numbers at the time were quite small. Unlike now where we are hunters, gatherers, and farmers, we were purely scavengers. Any food we found were through sheer luck or the remnants of what meat the wandering Demons left."
The elder shook her head, laughing at something only she was privy to. "If you wandered into those ruins then I am terribly sorry for what you must have gone through. Though nobody has spent the time to learn their numbers, the corrupted animals on this mountain must have surely taken residence there."
Asuna's mouth opened, the girl seeming a bit lost without her usual companion to guide the conversation. "Corrupted animals? You mean like those dark furred apes and monkeys?"
"The former we call Behemoths, and second we have termed Infiltrators. There are rumors of type of cat roaming around but none of our hunters have seen them in the past fifty years so we've only been regarded the tales as rumors." Aeren thanked the youngest of our group for the tea, blowing on it slightly before sipping. "Without something such as a heavy hammer or pick, it would be in your best interests to avoid these monsters. Even with a way to break through their natural defense, you would still have to deal with the enhanced abilities alongside their stronger aggression."
Daiquiri immediately began cooing for attention at this point, my eye rolled aborted to deal with the sudden nips at my hand. "I don't suppose you'd know where we could find such a weapon?" I tried not to pay attention to the gently bouncing, translucent yellow exclamation point floating above the elder's head. Asuna seemed to have become desensitized to the graphic, eyes only flicking a single time at the standard NPC signifier.
"The only village that could possibly have such equipment would be in Cataract VIllage, higher up on the north west part of the mountain. The rocks there are more exposed to the elements and they've made their living the past few centuries supplying metals to the rest of us in exchange for basic necessities." Aeren murmured something to the redhead, the teen offering an agreement in return. "As it turns out, your male companion went the opposite direction, over to Byssus Village. They're more well known for their clothing, something you'll need to acquire if you wish to go much higher than their elevations. Rarely do we receive snow up here, but the summit becomes significantly more chilly."
"So it turns out we have to split up after all." I took a deep breath, Asuna taking the initiative to express gratitude for putting us up for the short time.
"No, it is I who should be thanking you." Aeren stood and bowed, Asuna immediately beginning to stammer and bow in return. "Without your efforts, who knows if we would have ever gotten our heirlooms back."
"We should get going," I started. "There's still things to do, and by the sounds of it the weather is still as favorable as it'll be." I gathered Daiquiri into my arms, managing to hold him with a single arm underneath my cloak.
"Feel free to stop by if you're ever in the area. Our people will be eternally grateful."
Perhaps two dozen minutes later, I tilted my head towards my companion, fully aware that were I in the real world I would be shivering and sneezing from my water logged clothing. "Hey, Asuna, what worthless trinket would you love to spend your cor on more than anything else?" I trudged through the mud of the hill, the green tinted white metal attached to my boots utterly hidden by the brown and black slog.
"Is that really a-" The teen took a breath. "There was a necklace I saw back in the markets of Rovia during the christmas party. It looked like it was carved from shells. I'm sure there's some stats on it, but I wanted it more for the aesthetics. Red and white is good and all, but the blue theme of it contrasts really well with my hair."
"Guess I'll keep an eye out when I head back to my group." I licked the bottom of teeth, mentally chiding myself for not having a non-joking answer. "Truthfully, the most worthless trinket I wouldn't mind right now is an umbrella. I don't care if carrying it around would mean not having a free hand. this rain is starting to get on my nerves."
"Are you not much for rain?" The path Elder Aeren had told us to take went directly through a well travelled forest. Every so often the villages would send people out to care for the path, keeping debris off the roar and making sure the branches were turned away to allow for carts to pass.
"A little bit of rain is fine, or if the region needs it I don't mind a week or so, but there really isn't any need for over ten goddamn hours of rainfall that can't even be nice enough to decide on whether or not it should be a constant downpour or a simple shower." Daiquiri's beak bumped into my chin at that instant, the creature drawing a momentary amount of ire.
"Makes sense. But wasn't one of the things the NPC's back at the Wind Scavenger's Base mentioned was how the weather here was always inconsistent?"
"Bah, stop being so smart and rational and just let an old lady gripe." I muttered an appreciation for whatever being was favoring us. While in the real world I wouldn't have had much issue operating this long without a break, the undeniable fact was that fatigue was a concrete effect; stretching or taking short hour or less breaks could only do so much to reduce the sluggishness that built up over time. Eventually we found ourselves at the next village, the construction reflecting just how much importance they placed on the local resources. "Still no word from Kirito?"
"None." Even without opening to my friend's list, I knew that the boy was still alive. If something had happened to him, Asuna's constant checking of her interface would have notified her of his greyed out icon, and that wasn't even counting the icon in our upper left, informing us of his fluctuating health.
"I'm sure there's a reason for why he's gone silent." I quickly scanned the buildings, looking for the tell tale signs of a lit lantern hanging close to the front door. "Just chew him out later. For now we still need to work out way forward."
"Chew him out? Asasaki, I'm not his caretaker."
"Would you argue against me saying minder?" She hesitated at that, whatever line of thought I had created causing her to freeze in the rain. "Jeeze, you two really are something, you know that? Hurry up and get inside. Aeren wasn't joking when she mentioned the weather getting chillier the farther up we came." Like the rest of the elder's homes, this one was significantly furnished. While it wasn't quite lavish or over bearing, the sheer amount of fur rugs, decorated pottery doubling as historic records, and ornate tools proudly proclaimed the importance of their owner. "Asuna, going to give it to you straight." I cleared my throat loudly, the sound resonating through the house. "I'm honestly pretty tired right now. It's also pushing nine in the evening. With how dark it's getting, the weather, and the long day we've had, I highly suggest we turn in for the night and get an early start with the sun."
"That's not normally how Kirito and I do things," she murmured. "But since he's not answering any of my messages, I guess we'll do it your way." She shot me a conflicted look. From what I gathered it was a mixture of her usual annoyance towards me and a hint of gratitude; for what I could only guess at.
"I'll handle any of the conversations then. Feel free to start unwinding until we get a place to stay." Without an extra cloth to use as bedding, I settled for keeping Daiquiri in my lap, all my other equipment stored away in my inventory now that we were inside a house.
"You know normally visitors tend to announce themselves in a way that's more amicable than clearing their throats- oh. It's you."
I internally rolled my eyes at the less than friendly response, deigning to play along with the obvious irritated elder. "Yup. It's me. Hello, again."
Next chapter should come out Feb 23rd or Mar 2nd.