(See the Author's Notes at the bottom for a small edit.)
Wednesday, December 21st, 2022, 4:00 P.M.
I managed to kill an hour just by going around Rovia and picking up any quests I spotted. I knew I hadn't gotten everything, but since Argo was bound to go through the city soon I wasn't too worried about it. Now I just needed to figure out what to do for another two hours.
I didn't really feel like resting, despite the fact that today had been kind of busy already. From my perspective it seemed more sensible to save the resting for when it was actually time to sleep; I didn't exactly feel like staying up all through the night.
I crouched down at the edge of the pathway I was on and peered into the crystalline blue water. Since it was constantly being agitated by passing gondolas, the water didn't provide much of a coherent reflection.
I just needed something to do to get away from my thoughts… I didn't want to work on any of the quests without the other two, and besides that some of them required going elsewhere in the Floor—no thanks. That left me with the other three Floors to work with. I wasn't really in the mood to do any level grinding, but what else would that leave me with?
I searched my memory for any random tidbit about the Floors that hadn't faded away since the beta. Surely there was something I needed to go back to…
When I stepped out of the Teleporter Gate onto the plaza of Starting City, I was met with more activity than I was expecting. There was probably 6- to 7000 people still in the city, after all, and since we had been making steady progress at the front many of them had already moved on from the early doom and gloom. That said, among all the crowds there was a notable bubble of emptiness near the entrance to Black Iron Palace. The place was fairly intimidating to begin with as its cold, metal exterior was a sharp contrast to the city around it. The Monument of Life held within it served to further the ominous impression.
I was tempted to go into the castle and look at the Monument for myself, but I decided against it. It wasn't worth the possible mental anguish for the time being—it would distract me from my current goal, and I could always go look at it later.
Instead I started up the northern path towards the exit of the city. There was a significant number of players shopping at the various NPC stalls or just hanging around and chatting; in addition to that there were a few that were selling their own wares, mostly blacksmiths selling what looked to be pretty decent starting gear. None of it was of any use to me so I just walked past it all.
Even with my cloak on, I was still drawing a lot of attention. Maybe they were able to tell that I was a much higher level than all of them. Or maybe they could tell I was a girl despite my cloak mostly covering me. The player base was overwhelmingly male, a fact made obvious by us being forced into our real appearances. Either way, I was drawing a bit more attention than I was comfortable with.
After I left the city, I made my way to a small forested path bounded on one side by a cliff. In the beta, we had found a rather conspicuous-looking cave that had been blocked off by fallen boulders, and at the time no one had been able to figure out how to get in. The solution was obvious now, though. I had punched a huge boulder right in half just a couple weeks ago.
Soon I came upon the blocked cave. First I gave a solid punch to the boulders without using a Sword Skill—a bit of a crack, but nothing that would break the whole wall down. Since that didn't work too well I switched to using Sword Skills, and after a few hits the boulders collapsed in a pile of dust. I saw light shine through the cracks each time I struck the boulders which seemed kind of odd, but I just chalked it up to the light from the Sword Skills.
The cave was devoid of any human construction, including lighting. I pulled a torch out of my inventory and lit it before heading inside. A few steps into the cave, the light from outside disappeared and I heard the boulders respawn behind me. This cave was likely instanced, then. I probably couldn't send messages either.
The cave itself was nothing much to speak of; it was just… a cave. No estranged plant life, no odd formations, not even any monsters to speak of. As I continued further into the cave, though, a rotten stench began to permeate through the air.
After rounding a corner, I was greeted by… another corner, but this one was different from the last. The faint sound of flickering flames reached me, and light flooded along the wall. Maybe now there would actually be something. I peeked around the corner…
Red. Very red—almost black. That monster was massive, and with a high level to boot. I inched back towards the corner, more carefully this time, to get a better look.
The green, rotting hulk of a humanoid stood a good two, maybe two-and-a-half meters tall. Considering its skin color, and the notably missing patches of skin, this thing was definitely the source of the bad smell. It looked mostly normal, as far as being human-shaped went, save for one specific thing: it had giant swords fused into it as arms.
Its name was «Shambling Khazmeri Immortal».
Not so immortal, is it…
I shook the pointless thought off, and looked to the area behind the creature. The cave came to an abrupt end shortly beyond. On the wall were the two torches providing the light, and just in front of them was a small chest. What simplistic design.
The torches caused the monster to cast a menacing shadow along the cave's wall. Something about it was extremely off-putting. It seemed… darker than it should have. How could a shadow look so odd? The wall looked somehow strange, as well.
At that point, the monster noticed me. That was… not good.
"Caution to the wind, then…" I muttered. Since it was no longer necessary, I tossed my torch away to free up my off hand. I jumped around the corner and got ready to fight this thing. If I was lucky, it would be slow and its attacks would be easy to avoid.
The Immortal turned around and raised its sword-arms to attack—thankfully its face did not grace me with its appearance, as the monster was wearing a rusty helmet. Or maybe that was its face.
The monster slammed its arms down with an immense force, lodging them in the hard rock of the cave floor. I was just out of range of its attack without even dodging. Its eyesight was probably long gone by now.
I jumped forward to get a quick slash in on its arm—the non-sword part of it. Nothing. Or at least no damage that I could see. My dagger barely cut into its flesh at all.
I leapt back out of the way just as it pulled its swords out of the ground. This time it crossed its swords in front of itself. I wasn't sure if it was going to charge or use a Sword Skill, so I backed up a few steps. Thankfully this thing was brutally slow, so I had plenty of time to think around it.
It looked like the latter was the case—its swords started to glow with the light of a Sword Skill, but it was… odd. Instead of the glow appearing along the blade uniformly, it manifested at the tip and slowly grew along the blade. And then down its arms… the glow started to envelop the monster's whole body.
Okay, time to run. I had absolutely no clue what it was about to do, and I didn't want to find out. What kind of Skill covered the whole body?
I just barely made it past the corner when the Immortal screamed down the cave and slammed into the wall. It was unbelievably fast. The impact sent cracks shooting throughout the far wall, and it dealt enough damage to the monster to kill it instantly. The whole cave shook for a few moments after the impact.
"Wha… What the fuck was that?!"
Visibly shaken myself, I waited to make sure that the monstrosity had disappeared before checking out the chest it was guarding. Inside it was… a handful of Cor, and an old, rusty amulet much like the one I had found up on the ridge of the third Floor. Seriously?
Annoyed, I turned around and started to leave the cave, but the cracks along the wall made me stop. One of them was much larger than the others… I kicked the wall around that area, and the rock crumbled away to reveal another tunnel. The inky blackness seemed a bit different somehow from the rest of the cave. It was extremely menacing.
After the display that the Immortal had just made, it seemed pretty obvious to me that going further was an absolutely terrible idea. I picked up my torch off the ground and made my way back to the entrance of the cave.
At this point, I was starting to suspect that something was up with the amulet I just found, and the necklace from up on the third Floor. There wasn't anything that proved they were related, though; they just looked similar. And considering the danger that this one was placed behind, it damn well better have been worth it.
I made my way to the boulders at the entrance and once again punched them down. The sudden pour of sunlight momentarily blinded me, so I shielded my eyes with my hand as I stepped out of the cave. Once the dust effects cleared and I readjusted to the light, I was able to spot a group of players a few meters up the path, gawking at me and the hole I just made in the cliff.
Ugh, jeez. I turned the other way and started to head down the path, pretending not to notice them—
"Hey!"
Damn. I slowly turned back around to face them. "… What?"
"Aren't you one of Kirito's friends? Rei-san, right?"
"Eh?" Okay, that was weird. I took a better look at the person that spoke—kinda scraggly, red hair, a good bit older than me. It took me a moment to remember. This was the guy that Kirito had helped out at the start and his friends. His name was… Klein? Yeah, that was it. Like the bottle. "Um, yeah…"
"Say, I don't want to be too nosy, but what was that cave you just came out of?" Klein gestured towards the now-respawned boulders. "How did you even get in there, anyways?"
"Um…" The existence of Martial Arts was probably public knowledge by now, and the cave was basically worthless, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to tell him. Better than them hounding me over it. "You can… break down the boulders with Martial Arts. The cave's worthless though… and way too dangerous."
"Hmm…" Klein tugged at his messy goatee. "I'd at least like to take a peek inside." He turned to look at his party. "One of you guys should have Martial Arts, right?"
One of his friends spoke up. "Yeah, I've got it." He walked up to the boulders and gave one a solid whack with a Sword Skill.
… Nothing. It did nothing.
"Huh? That's odd…" I mumbled. The guy punched and kicked the rocks a few more times to no avail.
Klein looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "You said Martial Arts, right?"
I nodded and walked up to the boulders again. I gave a quick punch to one with Flash Blow. Again, a flash of light emitted from the cracks that spread throughout the rock. Now that I had seen that light again, I noticed that it wasn't the same color as the Sword Skill…
"Weird… how come you can break it, though? Is it because your stats are probably higher?"
"…" I glanced at the time. It was almost 5:30 P.M. My small adventure had taken a little more time than I expected; the cave had been kind of long, despite how empty it was. It was a bit of a walk from Starting City as well. I had something I wanted to check now, but I probably didn't have enough time right then… Still, it was an excuse. "I… have something I want to look into."
"Ah, hold up—" Klein started, but he was too late; I had already started hurrying off.
It was close to 6 P.M. when I made it back to the inn in Rovia. By now the town square had been filled with various players. I spotted a handful of the frontliners shopping through the few NPC vendors that were located on the plaza, so I did my best to avoid them. The rest of the players present were people visiting from the lower floors, just to take a look around the town—tourists, I guess.
When I entered the inn I saw that Kirito and Asuna had both already made their way down to the café, which was otherwise devoid of players. They were just waiting for me to show up. Asuna had her hood up.
"Oh, hey." I sat down in the chair across from Asuna.
"There you are. What have you been up to?" she asked.
I shrugged. "Killing time. Didn't really accomplish much."
"I see." She slid the menu that was sitting in front of her over in front of Kirito.
"Er… should we eat here?"
"I want to eat at one of the food carts outside."
Asuna seemed to be acting colder than usual. That must have been her way of responding to Kirito's behavior earlier.
"Okay… Do you want to go now, then?"
"That's fine."
Kirito looked at me to get my opinion. I shrugged in response; anything was fine with me.
It was already starting to get dark out; at some point after I had entered the inn, lanterns had been lit throughout the city. The light reflected off the water in such a way that the whole town appeared to glow. The display had drawn the crowds towards the gondolas. Dusk was likely peak operating hours for them.
As such, the lines for the gondolas were rather long. "Ugh, getting around is going to be a pain," I mumbled.
"Mm," Kirito nodded. "Swimming is…"
Asuna and I both glared at him.
"… Out of the question. We'll need to get to the market area, though… but food first."
We made our way over to about half a dozen food carts that were situated on the east end of the plaza. Most of the selection was unsurprisingly fish-based. However, most of it was in an Italian style, with a couple of the carts in particular selling seafood pizza and paninis.
"Fish, huh," Kirito said. He was probably remembering that thing that had chased us earlier today.
"Were you hoping for something more Japanese-styled?" I asked.
"Yeah… I guess I'll get one of the paninis. What about you two?"
"I'll have the same, then," Asuna said.
"I'm going to get some pizza."
The cart selling the pizza had a bit of a line, so by the time I had gotten my food Kirito and Asuna had already sat down on a nearby bench. At some point Argo had also shown up. I walked over to hear Kirito saying something about Argo's Hiding and his food.
"Ohh~, I see how it is, Kii-bou," the hooded info dealer said. "You'll gladly pay for Aa-chan's, but I don't get any, huh."
"Eh—" it took him a moment to process her meaning. "No, no, it's just a… a payment for an item she's going to be making for me later, that's all!"
He was probably referring to her plan to make us swimsuits. I glanced over at Argo while I nibbled on my pizza. "Same as ever, huh?"
Argo held up her hand in greeting as she plopped down on the bench next to Asuna. "Yo, Rei-chan."
Asuna looked between Argo and her panini apprehensively. I guessed that she was wondering if Argo was actually hungry.
"Man, don't give me that look, Aa-chan. Go on, eat up."
"Uh, yeah…"
"So, what's up?" I asked. "I'm guessing Kirito asked you for something."
"Yep. I got it done pretty quick, as Kii-bou requested. Generally faster service would mean a fee, but I could really go for a nice cheesy slice of pizza right now…"
A rat, indeed.
Before she had finished her sentence, Kirito had rushed over to the vendors and soon procured a slice of pizza loaded down with cheese.
He presented the pizza to Argo. "Sorry about the trouble. And Rei, you can sit down if you want."
I shrugged. "Meh, I'm fine."
Resigned, Kirito took his seat back on the bench. After he payed her, Argo produced what Kirito had requested from her—a map of Rovia. More specifically, a map of Rovia with every quest starting point located in the city marked.
"Ah, I see," I mumbled.
"Hm? Why do you need a map of the quests?" Asuna asked.
"That's a good question… I'd be able to find them all just by walking around; it wouldn't be that hard—er, no offense, Argo. I just want to be able to see it all at once like this, plus my memory of stuff is only going to get worse over time…"
After scanning over the map for a second, Kirito pointed at one of the quests in particular. "There, that quest wasn't here before, so that's our ticket to clearing the floor."
After we finished eating and Argo vanished to go do business elsewhere, it was time to go look at this quest we needed to do.
There was a small problem in that the quest was all the way in one corner of the town, and the gondolas were currently very busy. We weren't necessarily in a hurry, but it was still a pain.
After contemplating the gondolas for a moment, Kirito seemed to come up with an idea. "Ah, that'll work!"
"Um…" Asuna mumbled.
Kirito poked her in the back to get her walking and started off towards the north end of the plaza, opposite from the gondola docks. "Here, I'll explain in a minute."
Since there were no docks on this side, it was just a sheer drop from the edge down to the water. It was fairly high up, too, so I backed away from it a couple steps even though there was a low fence. Asuna had backed away as well, obviously not trusting of Kirito's idea.
Kirito grabbed the hems of our cloaks to stop us. "Calm down, this will work fine."
"It's not fine!" we said in unison.
"You'll be perfectly fine, besides, both of you have higher Agility than me."
"Conveniently forgetting that I can't swim!" I glanced over at Asuna. "And also, um—"
Kirito took a few steps back once he saw a couple of gondolas coming down the waterway. The larger gondolas, such as these two, had large flat roofs over sections of them which provided a useful platform of sorts.
"Kirito, if you'd just—"
"I'll give you a countdown."
"Seriously—"
"Three, two—"
"If you would LISTEN!"
"—one…"
"God damnit, fine."
Kirito leapt across the channel using the gondolas as stepping stones. Reluctantly, Asuna and I followed suit. Our antics caused a commotion among the people on the gondolas below.
Asuna and I both landed on the other side just fine. Kirito, being ever the fool, barely managed to grab onto the ledge.
I crouched down to look at him. "Good job, genius."
He remained hanging off of the pathway and looked up at me. "Yeah, yeah, I get it…" He suddenly looked away to one side. "Um, Asuna…"
I stood back up and sighed. "I don't like wearing skirts for a reason, you know."
Asuna understood the issue of viewing angles immediately and turned bright red. She put her hands down over her skirt and hovered her boot above Kirito's fingers. "You better climb up, now."
"O-okay, okay!" Kirito quickly scrambled his way up the stone ledge.
"Well, that aside," I said, "what now? Are we gonna do this the whole way to this quest?"
Kirito shook his head, doing his best to avoid Asuna's glare. "Uh, nah. The rest of the canals aren't that wide, so it could be possible to jump over them. Instead of that, though, we can probably flag down a gondola as it passes by." In addition to the ones that docked at the main plaza, there were enough gondolas to constantly be circling the city, so it only took a few moments to find one.
Of course, once we stepped foot in the gondola Asuna's sour mood instantly vanished—she was in gondola mode again. Kirito gave the boatman some coordinates and we set off for the northwestern corner of the town. It was relatively quiet as this was more of a residential area; a few NPCs could be spotted, but there were no players in sight. There was even a house for sale. I had completely forgotten that player-owned housing was a thing—back in the beta, it was just too expensive for only a month of gameplay.
I would hate living in Rovia, though. Kirito and Asuna agreed with me.
After a few minutes we arrived at our destination. For the most part the building looked no different from the ones surrounding it. The only difference I could spot was that it had large doors on one side that opened into the canals. A glance through one of the windows revealed a huge mess.
Upon entering the building, the first thing we spotted was an old man sitting in a rocking chair. His hair was white with age, but his rugged appearance betrayed that. He looked like a retired sailor. He must have been the questgiver NPC—there was an exclamation mark hovering over his head, after all. But…
"Is there anything I can help you with?" Kirito asked. It was a standard line for starting quests.
"Nope."
Well, that sucks. I looked around the room to see if there was anything that might have helped. Most of it seemed dusty, like it had gone unused for years… It could be interpreted as just a bunch of junk that the old sailor had collected over the years, but to me it felt more like an abandoned storage room for a workshop. Random piles of old raw materials littered tables and the floor.
"…Sir, are you a shipwright?" I asked.
"Use to be," the man said in a gruff voice. "Not anymore. The Water Carriers Guild does all that now."
He didn't continue, so after a moment of confusion Kirito prompted him again. "Um, even so… would you be able to build us a boat?"
"Hmph." There it was—the ! morphed into a ?. "I could, but I don't have anything to make it out of; they control all the materials now, after all. But if you really do want one from me… first go to the forest to the southeast of here and get some bear fat—it seals the wood against the water. But keep an eye out for the bear king, cause he'll rip you in half like a beehive. Better to not mess with him. His fat must be much better than normal bears', though…"
And with that he shooed us out to get on with our new quest, the «Shipwright of Yore».
"Ugh, a collection quest…" I grumbled. "He'll probably have us collect wood after this too…"
"Hmm… when he mentioned the bear king, he said its fat would be better than normal bears, right?" Asuna asked.
Kirito nodded. "Uh, yeah… You'll see it a lot with quests like these. There will generally be a bare minimum you need to do to complete the quest, but you can get materials that are rarer or harder to collect to get a better result…"
I looked over at Asuna. Those were the eyes of someone that didn't want to compromise.
"Uhhh… well, how long is this going to take?" I asked. "I kind of want to go to sleep early today, and if this quest takes all night…"
"Oh right, you didn't sleep earlier… Well, I'd say it's going to take a while. If you think you're going to be too tired you can head back to the inn, I'm sure Asuna and I can handle it fine."
"Yeah, I'll do that. Uh… have fun."
Author's Notes
2021-05-29: Yo! While working on Chapter 20 I noticed a very small (but significant) discrepancy in the chapter here. The name of that monster Rei "fought" needed to be changed. I also fixed a small but less critically relevant typo. I perhaps could have waited until actually posting Chapter 20 to make this change, but I figured it was better to do it immediately since it presented a small break in consistency. And if you happened to spot this in between now and me actually posting the new chapter (whenever that happens), surprise! Not dead. Look forward to it.
Hey everyone!
Today we're back to my average word count. I would have liked to make this chapter longer, but I'd rather ensure that I'm able to release this on the story's birthday (2 already?! Jeez I'm slow at this), and I'm already quite happy with where the chapter is already. Considering my track record, it's a faster release than usual as well.
Not much else for me to say today. Take care!
