"How… how did…?"

There are many sounds that the human mind will associate with danger or ill fortune. The roar of a tiger. The scream of a siren. The boom of thunder rippling across a stormy sky. The crack of a gunshot. To the residents of Aincrad, a month of constant exposure to death and failure had added another terrifying sound to that list that signified failure.

The sound of glass shattering.

Kirito, Asuna, and Nezha had all heard it. The shattering of an adventurer's very livelihood. The only thing that separated survival from death in Kayaba's Death Game. No death was involved here, but that sound here in the context of a blacksmith's shop should have signified the breaking of a weapon.

"Should have" being the operative phrase here.

It was a good plan initially. Swap out the client's enhanced weapon with a duplicate weapon that had all of its upgrade attempts exhausted. Make sure to do the swap when the client isn't looking. Enhance the duplicate and watch it shatter. Pocket the enhanced weapon. Sell it later. Profit.

Nezha stared at the ((Anneal Blade + 6)) now resting in Kirito's hand.

There's no way! I swapped out that weapon with a weakened duplicate just now. I saw it shatter! The only way his blade could still be here is if he…

Nezha looked up at Kirito. He was grinning. In fact, so was his friend Asuna.

That's not good.

"What's wrong?" Kirito asked, still sporting a smug look on his face. "Didn't go according to plan?"

Nezha tried to respond, but only stammered sputters escaped his lips. He'd been caught red-handed. That was the only explanation. Kirito had to have used the quick change mod too. There was no other way he could have taken his weapon back otherwise, and the only reason he would do that is if he was wise to the whole charade.

"Y-you could say that." Nezha gulped. "H-how did you know?"

Kirito sheathed his blade. "You and the rest of the Legend Braves ought to be more careful talking business out in public, especially when info brokers like the Rat are in play."

Damn it! I told them we were going to get caught!

"I, uhh…" Nezha started, trying to find the right words to get out of this, if such words even existed. "I don't suppose we could come to some arrangement?"

"I have a couple of conditions." Kirito stated very plainly. "One. Give the stolen weapons back to their original owners."

"I can't exactly do that. See, I already kind of sold them." Nezha said, wincing as Asuna started glaring daggers into him.

"That's too bad." Kirito said.

Nezha nearly concussed himself on his anvil as he suddenly bent his body into a deep, overexaggerated bow. "I am so sorry! I don't know how to atone for this. I'll… I'll…" He collapsed onto his hands and knees. Tears began to stream down his face.

"I'll have to kill myself." Nezha said. He could only imagine the looks of disgust Kirito and Asuna were giving him right now. Pathetic. He'd seen them both bravely face Illfang and triumph. A meager worm like Nezha prostrating himself and crying was probably an insult to them.

A gentle hand gripped his shoulder.

What…?

Nezha looked up to see Asuna crouched near him, her hand gently placed on his shoulder. What was more baffling to the scamming smith was that her face looked sympathetic, not condescending or angry. He opened his mouth to speak but could not find the words.

"Don't say that." The chestnut-haired fencer said, a friendly smile crossing her features. "Why did you do this to begin with? What was your goal?"

Nezha gulped as he sat on his knees, looking Asuna in the eyes. "I… I can't fight. I was weighing down my party because of my FNC, so I told them I would learn blacksmithing so I could support them."

Asuna, her eyebrow arched in confusion, looked up towards Kirito and opened her mouth to speak.

Kirito beat her to the punch. "FNC is short for FullDive Non-Conformity. It's what happens when the NerveGear and the brain don't completely sync up. Some people can't see in game. Others can't keep their balance. There's even been a few cases where people just can't connect at all."

He then turned and looked down at the blacksmith. "You lost your depth perception, didn't you?"

Nezha's mouth simply hung open. "How?"

"We overheard your conversation in the tavern yesterday and saw you having trouble pushing your chair in." Kirito explained.

"You still want to support your friends, right?" Asuna prodded.

"Well, yeah, of course." Nezha replied.

"Then it's a good thing they're here, because all of you need to hear this." Kirito interjected, nodding towards a group of five who were jogging over towards him. After a few moments, the Legend Braves walked up to Kirito, sparing occasional glances towards Nezha.

Orlando stepped forward. "What's up, Kirito? You said you wanted to meet with us."

Kirito nodded. "Yep, and I need all six of you to hear this."

The Legend Braves looked confused, finally looking towards Nezha and acknowledging his presence. Nezha simply nodded at them. "They know."

Beowulf broke the awkward silence that followed. "What was it you needed us to hear?"

"Well, the first part should be obvious. Nezha needs to stop scamming people to finance your adventuring." Kirito said sternly. "Secondly, you need to let him fight alongside you."

Was he not listening?

Nezha interrupted the swordsman. "But I just told you I have FNC. I can't swing a sword at something if I can't tell how far away it is!"

Kirito smiled and held out his hand, materializing a small metal hoop that looked rather sharp along its outer edge. "You won't need to."

The Legend Braves all stood there, slack-jawed, until Cuchulainn looked up at Kirito. "That's the chakram that dropped from the field boss!"

"Yup." Kirito replied. "It's a thrown weapon that automatically returns to its owner's hand after hitting its target. Deals out pretty decent damage too." He held the chakram out to Nezha, who only stared at it wide-eyed.

The Legend Braves all smiled and looked towards Nezha, who gently took the chakram from Kirito's hand.

Kirito held up a finger. "There is a catch, though. You're going to need both the ((Blade Throwing)) skill and the ((Martial Arts)) skill."

"The first one I have already, but I don't remember seeing the second one on the skill list." Nezha said, pulling up his menu to look through his skill tree.

"That would be because it's not on there. It's an extra skill you learn here on this floor." Kirito explained, pulling up his map and pointing at a valley. "Here, you'll find an old hermit living in a hut. He gives you the quest to unlock the ((Martial Arts)) skill. To complete it, you have to break a boulder using only your bare hands."

You're kidding, right?

Nezha opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off by Asuna.

"You can beat the quest as a group. It makes the quest easier and faster." Asuna said, smiling and looking towards the Legend Braves, whose resolve seemed to have been bolstered at the thought of helping Nezha.

"We'll help you, buddy!" Enkidu exclaimed, giving the smith a thumbs up.

Nezha looked down at his new chakram. Finally, he could help his friends without resorting to shady business ventures. He could stand side by side against the dangers of this world with them like he wanted to from the beginning. He'd been given a second chance.

I won't waste it.

"Klein, switch!"

Harry One, having taken a heavy blow from the ((Trembling Ox)), staggered back and stepped aside, all the while keeping his shield raised. Klein dashed in, katana still held in its sheath, and unleashed a ((Diagonal Slash)) on the monster in an upward slashing motion that brought his blade out from the sheath. Kunimittz followed on his leader's heels, lashing out with his halberd to carve a long red gash along the ox's flank.

Despite being attacked on all sides, however, the ox seemed to have eyes only for poor Harry One.

It was all Harry One could do to keep his shield raised and his feet planted as he was thrust backward by another slam of the ox's horns. "What is with this thing? It's like it doesn't have an aggro table!"

"You got me, man!" Klein shouted, bringing his katana down in a vertical strike on the ox's haunch. "Dynamm, get in there and help him tank while we burn this down!"

"Roger!" Dynamm leapt in to intercept another ramming charge from the ox with his shield, before he too was pushed back to where Harry One was standing.

Every member of Fuurinkazan who was not actively tanking the enormous ox lunged in, hacking and slashing with all of their might until finally, the massive beast fell and shattered. As the result window popped up in everyone's view, the six friends breathed a sigh of relief.

Klein walked up to Harry One and Dynamm, placing a hand each on their shoulders. "You guys alright? Looked like you were barely hanging on."

Dynamm rotated his shield arm, trying to loosen it up. "Yeah, that definitely hurt though."

"How are we on potions, guys?" Klein looked around to survey his party members. That fight had taken a lot out of them, though none of them would admit it. They'd been focusing on killing ((Windwasps)) for the most part when that thing showed up.

"We've got about four more potions between the six of us, Leader." Issin chimed in. "We could probably take on one more of those ox things, but after that we'd probably need to head back to restock."

"Well, maybe if our tanks weren't so squishy…" Kunimittz began with a smirk.

"Hey!" Harry One shouted, holding back a smile of his own. "If you did more damage, we wouldn't have to take as much damage!"

"Guys…" Klein said.

"He's not wrong." Dale walked up, claymore resting on his shoulder. "We need to be faster on the switches so we can kill things faster."

"Just whose side are you on, anyway?" Kunimittz asked with a look of shock on his face.

"Hey! Shut up for a second!" Klein shouted, raising his hand and glancing around the field carefully.

Everyone immediately grew silent and brought their weapons out. They'd spent long enough together as a team to know that when Klein told you to shut up, it was usually for a good reason. The fact that this clearing was closed in by rocky cliff sides and dense tree lines only made his warning all that much more important; they knew they had nothing in the way of visibility outside of their immediate area. Slowly, the six members of Fuurinkazan came together in a hexagonal shape, backs to each other and weapons facing forward. They were ready for anything that might come rear its ugly head.

They weren't quite ready for that, though.

Emerging from the treeline was a massive cow, easily twice the size of the ((Trembling Ox)) they'd defeated just minutes ago. While it lacked the enormous and intimidating horns that the oxen bore, it more than made up for it through its sheer size. The ground practically shuddered as the massive beast called ((Trembling Cow)) entered the clearing. It seemed to be minding its own business, for the most part.

"Uhh, Leader?" Dale asked with a hushed whisper.

"Yeah, I see it!" Klein spat, trying to stifle his own frustration.

"How could you not see that thing? It's huge!" Harry One asked, his voice a little louder than the others. The pointed glares he immediately received were enough to remedy that issue, however. "Sorry."

"Alright, everyone slowly back away. Carefully make your way to the trees to the east." Klein said, glancing to the side. "It hasn't noticed us yet."

When one is trying to be quiet, it is amazing how amplified every sound seems to be. The crunching of grass. Breathing. Even the sound of the wind blowing through the trees seemed to permeate the air as Fuurinkazan backed away and crept towards the safety of the trees.

*Thud!*

All eyes wheeled to the source of the sound, one Dynamm who had misstepped and lost his footing, causing him to fall onto the ground with the not-so-satisfying sound of shield slamming into dry earth and rock.

The next thing they heard was a huff or a snort. Klein couldn't tell which, and he couldn't care less about trying to make the distinction. Right now, his mind was too preoccupied with the fact that this enormous cow had noticed the sound and was now charging at his party.

Shit.

"Get Dynamm on his feet and brace for impact!" Klein shouted, waving at his party members.

Within seconds, Dynamm was yanked back on his feet and standing shoulder to shoulder with Harry One, shields at the ready. It was just enough time to brace before the 13-foot tall cow slammed into the group. Only the tanks kept their footing, unfortunately, as the four DPS were thrust to the side by the sudden collision. Klein shook his head as he tried to regain his bearings.

"Now, while it's focused on Harry and Dynamm!" Klein shouted, scrambling to his feet and readying his katana.

"Roger!"

Kunimittz and Issin rushed in, halberds at the ready, and began carving long gashes along the massive cow's flanks. The cow bellowed in pain and pushed harder against the two tanks in front of it. Klein and Dale lunged at its head, looking to relieve the pressure the tanks were feeling. Katana and claymore met the beast's neck, but the attacks were met with two quick horn jabs, which forced the two swordsmen back for fear of getting injured. The momentary distraction gave the tanks just enough time to regain their footing and brace again, which was crucial as the cow reared back and slammed into the two shields again.

"I don't know how much more we can take of this!" Dynamm cried out.

"My shield's close to breaking, Leader!" Harry One shouted.

Klein cursed to himself. The party had been weakened too much by previous fights and was in no shape to fend off this thing. He looked around and saw that the tanks weren't the only ones that looked worse for wear. Everyone's health bars were squarely sitting in the yellow, and both tanks were creeping closer to red than he would have liked. He tightened his grip on his katana.

"Alright! Dynamm, Harry, switch!" He shouted, charging in.

Both tanks shifted their weight to the sides, letting the cow charge between them. While this maneuver did relieve the pressure they were feeling, it did also eject them both away as it barrelled through them. Just as they were scrambling to their feet, Klein came in with a particularly vicious ((Vertical)) right on the cow's flank, drawing its ire.

Yes! It worked!

Klein smiled at how well that impromptu switch had succeeded. Now the cow's attention was focused on him.

Oh no. It worked.

Klein's mind shifted gears from strategic leader to survivalist in an instant as he rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the cow as it swung its head around to catch its new target. Coming out of the roll, he saw the cow barrelling towards him, full speed. Jumping to his feet, Klein proceeded to keep rolling, dodging, and side-stepping to keep the cow away from his health bar. It looked like this strategy could work.

Well, it would have if Klein had paid more attention to his surroundings.

Looking around, he suddenly realized that he'd boxed himself in against two cliff sides. There was no way he was going to fully dodge the next charge. He looked straight ahead only to see that his worst fear had been realized. The cow was charging straight at him.

If I take a low stance, I might be able to slide right under this thing if I time it right. It's going to be close, though. Probably going to take a lot of damage here. Hell, this might kill me.

Klein lowered his combat stance, sheathing his katana in preparation for what he was about to do. Seconds seemed like hours as the massive cow ran right at him, the ground shuddering with every hooved footstep. Klein gulped and prepared his body for what might be his most daring maneuver yet.

That, or his last.

As the cow came within 15 feet of Klein, he began to shift his weight onto his left hand, which at this point had been solidly planted on the ground. He started to push off the ground with his feet, getting ready to slide forward and, hopefully, pass harmlessly under the cow's massive frame.

Just then, something small slammed into the cow's eye. It let out a pained bellow, and the sudden impact caused it to veer off course and crash into the rocky cliff side.

… Huh?

Klein hesitated and looked to where the cow had collided with a nearby boulder. Something was sticking out of its eye.

Is that an arrow?

"What the..?" Klein wheeled around to the direction the shot had come from and saw an all-too-familiar girl standing atop a rock, bow lowered. He almost didn't recognize her. A simple grin flashed across her face.

Sinon!

"Well don't just stand there! Move!" Another voice called out as three figures ran out from the treeline. Klein immediately recognized his heckler as none other than Kirito, flanked on either side by Leonn and a girl he recognized from the broadcast but hadn't a name for yet.

They'd certainly changed since last he saw them. Sinon was wearing light leather armor, had dyed her hair light blue, and more importantly was now wielding a bow, a weapon Klein had heard only rumors of in SAO. Leonn seemed to be dressed in moderate plate armor and was brandishing his trademark maul as he lumbered forward. Kirito was wearing the same black overcoat Klein saw on the broadcast, but was otherwise also sporting pieces of leather armor under his coat as well as in a few other minor locations. He didn't know the fourth person in their party, but they seemed to be wearing a cloak across their shoulders and was otherwise similarly armored as Kirito, substituting the broody black overcoat for a red tunic and skirt. She seemed to be wielding a new rapier, Klein guessed. He'd watched the broadcast and the weapon design was definitely different.

Shaking himself free of his daze, Klein ran out of the narrow corner he'd placed himself in and turned around to face the boss. He heard a flurry of footsteps as Kirito's group and the rest of Fuurinkazan came to his side.

"You all good to go?" Kirito asked.

Klein looked at his team, who all answered with nods.

"Yep, let's do this." Klein said with determination.

It didn't take long at all for the combined might of ten players to corner and defeat the ((Trembling Cow)), despite its hefty size. Kirito's group ended up taking the lead and seemed to outdamage Klein's crew, which Sinon chalked up to the level disparity between the two groups. As the massive cow shattered, all ten players breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Thanks for the save, buddy." Klein said, placing an arm around Kirito's shoulder.

"No problem, Klein." Kirito answered before carefully releasing himself from Klein's overly friendly grip.

"Ooh! I got some ((Trembling Cow Milk)) from that!" Asuna exclaimed. "I can probably cook something up with this."

Klein's gaze shot over to the new girl and he straightened up. He started walking towards Asuna to introduce himself and declare his status as a single bachelor before he came to a sudden stop. Leonn had stopped him mid-stride with a firm hand to the chest.

"Don't even bother, dude." Leonn said with a chuckle.

Sinon had to stifle a laugh when she saw the surprised and hurt look on Klein's face.

"Introductions are probably in order, though." Leonn looked toward Kirito and Klein, who eventually took the hint and summarily introduced the two parties to one another.

"So you're Klein's IRL friends." Sinon asked, nodding to each of the unfamiliar men in attendance, who returned the greeting in kind. "In any case, good to meet you."

"Good to see you survived." Kirito said.

"Yeah, thanks to you guys!" Klein said with a big smile on his face. "That tutorial you guys gave me on launch day was a hell of a lot better than anything Kayaba could have whipped up. You know, if he'd bothered to anyway."

Kirito awkwardly chuckled at the unexpected praise. "Glad we could help."

"So what are you guys doing out here?" Klein asked. "I figured you'd be in the labyrinth looking for the boss room."

"We were." Kirito began to explain. "Have been for four days now, actually. We're finished for the day and were heading back to town to eat and resupply before we ran into you."

"Well hey! We were just about to wrap up our day too." Klein grinned. "Well, we kind of have to now. We're not doing so hot with our gear and health."

Sinon chuckled. "I can see that."

Dale gave his leader a nudge with his elbow. Klein looked back at Dale.

"Yeah, yeah I know. I was getting to that." Klein turned back towards Kirito's group. "I said I'd invite you all out to dinner when I introduced you to my IRL friends and this seems as good a time as any. Our treat. We owe you anyway for saving our hides."

Kirito looked at his group, who all gave him nods of affirmation. The hesitation they'd shown on launch day was long gone, each having come out of their shells somewhat and having nothing else better to do with the rest of their evening.

He turned back towards Klein. "Yeah, we'd be happy to."

The group of ten made their way back to Urbus carefully, wary of any lingering cattle spawns. They ran across the occasional ((Windwasp)) and ((Trembling Ox)), but with their overwhelming numbers they made short work of any monster unfortunate enough to pick a fight with them.

Once they returned to Urbus, Fuurinkazan treated them to dinner at a local tavern. Naturally, with such a large party of people sharing one meal, multiple conversations had split off from the main one. Harry One and Dynamm were talking with Leonn about the finer points of tanking, including the latter's unusual shieldless style of tanking. Meanwhile, Dale, Kunimittz, and Issin were pestering Sinon with questions about her new bow. Asuna, Kirito, and Klein were talking over group dynamics and the current state of labyrinth exploration. As Klein would soon learn, in the four days since the defeat of the field boss, Lind's group had discovered the boss room. There was going to be a meeting tomorrow in the Urbus amphitheatre to discuss strategy and tactics.

"So will you all be attending the meeting too, Klein?" Asuna asked after taking a sip from her drink.

Klein looked pensive for a moment. "I don't think so. That scuffle with the cow only showed that we're not ready yet. Don't get me wrong, we're eager to join the front lines, but I don't want to put my buddies in any unnecessary danger if it can be avoided, you know?"

After finishing swallowing the food he was chewing, Kirito nodded. "That's smart. A lot of people are getting too anxious to push forward after Illfang's defeat. According to Argo, a number of new players have died lately because they got too impatient."

"Wait, you're friends with the Rat?" Klein asked, pointing at Kirito with the handle of his spoon.

Kirito nodded again. "Yeah, we knew each other back in the beta and we run into each other often nowadays. It pays to be in good standing with an info broker."

"Dude, she's the info broker!" Klein exclaimed. "You'll have to get me in touch with her sometime. She's got all the important information nowadays and we could use every advantage we can get."

Kirito laughed, which drew a curious look from Asuna. "Just don't go hitting on her, ok?"

Klein's face took on a red tint and he sputtered out a response. "Hey man, it's not like I hit on every woman I meet!"

The other conversations at the table suddenly grew very silent as nine pairs of eyes stared at Klein with dubious looks.

Klein looked around and shrunk in on himself. "... I'm working on it, ok?"

The entire table erupted into laughter.

"This is going to be a long meeting, isn't it?" Asuna leaned over and whispered in Kirito's ear.

It was the next day. She and the rest of her party were sitting in the upper stands of the Urbus amphitheatre, which was similar in architectural structure but different in its aesthetics in order to match the theme of Urbus's city buildings. Sitting next to her group were the Legend Braves, including Nezha, as they talked with Leonn and Sinon, who were sitting closest to them. Looking down, she could only stare in silence at the verbal scuffle unfolding before her.

Lind's Dragon Knight Brigade, which had now grown to twelve members, was in a heated argument with Kibaou's Aincrad Liberation Squad, who also had twelve members now. What had started as a perfectly innocent question from one of the solo players had erupted into a full-scale shouting match. Who was going to lead this raid?

Kirito had his head in his hands. He shifted his face to the side so he could look at Asuna.

"Yes. Yes it is."

"I was afraid this was going to happen." A deep voice came out from behind her. Asuna turned to see Agil taking a seat behind them. "They're both too proud to give leadership to someone else."

Leonn leaned back and extended a hand upward towards Agil, who practically slammed his own hand into Leonn's and clasped. Rather than a typical American-style handshake, both players kept their hands locked almost as if arm wrestling.

Must be an American thing, Asuna guessed.

"Good to see you, Agil." Leonn said before releasing the man's hand. He pointed to the bottom of the amphitheatre. "What do you make of this?"

"Someone needs to do something, find a way to resolve this or we'll never get anywhere." Agil said. "But there's no way to resolve this without taking a side."

A thought occurred to Asuna. "What about a coin toss?"

"That could work, maybe." Sinon chimed in. The others seemed to agree.

Asuna stood up and tried to get everyone's attention. "Excuse me!"

A few of the solo players looked at her, but the vast majority of the players in the amphitheatre either hadn't heard her because of the argument that was only escalating at the bottom.

"HEY!" Agil shouted, his deep voice thundering over the voices arguing below. Everyone stopped what they were doing and gave the imposing man their attention. "The lady here has a suggestion."

"Why not choose a leader by holding a coin toss?" Asuna asked, looking at Lind and Kibaou directly. "Heads means Lind, tails means Kibaou."

"Why do I have to be tails?!" Kibaou rebuked.

A heckler shouted out from somewhere in the amphitheatre. "Because you're an ass!"

The crowd erupted in laughter. Meanwhile Kibaou scanned over every face to try to find whoever had been so bold to insult him in a public setting like this.

"Enough!" Lind shouted. "Kibaou, I'll be tails. Is that ok with you?"

Kibaou crossed his arms and grumbled under his breath. "Yeah, that's fine."

Agil stood up and walked down to the center of the stage. As he came in between the two prospective raid leaders, he materialized a single Cor in his hand.

"Alright, so we're settled then." Agil said, maneuvering the coin in his hand to a position where it could be flipped. "Heads is Kibaou, tails is Lind."

Both leaders nodded. Agil flipped the coin high into the air. Time seemed to pass slowly for everyone in the bounds of the theatre as the metal circle flipped and span in the air. Despite not needing to actively breathe, everyone's breath was held as the coin came to its apex before coming back down. Agil caught it in an open palm and quickly slapped it down on the top of his other palm. He kept his hand covering the coin, looking at Lind and Kibaou.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Just show us already!" Kibaou shouted. Lind only nodded in response.

Agil lifted his hand covering the coin, revealing the result to be tails. The DKB cheered at the outcome, whereas the ALS were practically foaming at the mouth. A few sighs of relief were heard among the rest of the crowd at the news that Kibaou would not be leading them.

"Ok then!" Lind shouted, garnering everyone's attention. He spared Kibaou a glance as the leader of the ALS walked off to his seat. "Everyone group up if you aren't already in one! Then we'll assign roles and talk strategy!"

Kirito's party looked at each other with a sense of satisfaction. Agil walked back up the steps and took his seat again behind Asuna and Kirito.

"Hey, so my buddies weren't high enough level to attend the meeting." Agil said, leaning forward to address Kirito and Asuna in a lowered voice. "Don't suppose you guys have room for one more? Just this once, then I'll break off to rejoin my buddies on the next floor."

Kirito looked at Asuna, who only nodded in return. Looking back at Sinon and Leonn, he received the same nod of affirmation. Turning to Agil again, Kirito sent him a party invitation.

"Sure. Welcome aboard, Agil."