[][][] Aincrad second floor [][][]

"Okay everyone listen up, I took some time off to teach all of you some of the basics so be thankful." Rick said to everyone in his group.

He listened to the people around him murmuring and breathing heavily, the second floor was putting a greater strain on their bodies than it should have been.

Normally when a player beats a floor boss, either on their own or in a group the n the player or players gain a tiny fraction of power, it's not much but it's enough to help a person's blood flow better.

A person's heartbeat becomes slightly stronger and every part of the player gains some added power to help them live on the upper floors, but the group in front of him hadn't beaten the first-floor boss and as a result, they lacked all of the bonuses that they would have received.

Just living on the second floor was putting a strain on their bodies and they will all die if they continue to train in it.

"Okay it's easier for me to explain this using swords, but this applies to everything, armor- clubs- cloths, and even your bodies."

"There are two kinds of swords, normal and special."

"All of you know about the normal ones and those have all sorts of variations, from the basic training swords to the carefully forged ones that few people can touch because they're so expensive."

"All words are these because all swords have an edge and a point, they may not have the guard or handle, hell their blades may even be shaped differently."

"But all of them can cut something because this is what swords are made for." Rick said to everyone and he only smirked as he saw their confused expressions.

"The special swords are the kinds everyone knows or has heard about."

"You know, the ones that summon fire or have some kind of hidden ability that cant be used by anyone else." Rick stopped talking as he pulled out three different swords from his inventory and threw them on the ground.

"Can anyone tell me which of these am I?" he said to his group who looked at him with shocked expressions.

'No one?"' he mocked them.

"The truth is I'm the third kind, I'm both the special sword and the normal sword."

Rick walked up to one of the swords and lifted it high for everyone to see, he began to concentrate and the blade began to glow, he dropped the sword and picked up a nearby rock.

Again he lifted it so that everyone could see how the rock began to glow, and just like the sword, he let the rock fall to the ground, he then made a fist and lifted his empty hand before it too began to glow.

"Armor- weapons- potions- crystals- summons all of that is important, but what happens when all of those things fail you and you only have those bodies of yours to rely on."

Rick began to look around and when he didn't see anything he decided to wing it and see what happened.

"There are dangerous things in your world, just as there are dangerous things in here, what matters is how you deal with them."

"Before you is just a man like any other, sure I'm wearing armor and I'm better trained than most, but I'm still a man. Any of you could pick up any one of the swords or that rock and kill me."

Rick opened his help screen and pulled out a rare summoning crystal, it had taken him and his friends months to get it, and they had lost everything just to get this one crystal.

Sure they each had a crystal similar to the one he now held in his hand, but those crystals summoned other things because only one person could get the creature during that time.

The event would repeat itself and another guild or team could try and gain the creature, but because his friends were with him during that time, they didn't have the same beast he had.

None of them had the same creatures.

Rick smiled as he held the crystal, as he remembered the times that it saved his and his friend's lives.

He turned to look at his group and lifted the crystal for them to see and he enjoyed seeing their eyes lose hope, as his beast stood behind him.

The beasts on the second floor began to run towards the other side of the floor as they sensed the danger.

'Look at you, you all have armors- potions and swords but against something like him you might as well be naked."

"So how are you going to beat him?" Rick asked his group who only tremble with fear.

"Enough!"

"Rick you went too far!" Rafael yelled as he walked toward Rick.

"They have to learn." Rick said to Rafael as he ordered his creature to return to its crystal.

"I know, but not like this." Rafael said to Rick before he turned his attention towards the group that could only stare blindly at him.

The group of men and women that somehow had four different ears didn't move, for a moment Rafael was tempted to touch the people's ears and see which of the four were real and which were remnants from their past.

No matter the kind of animal that these people seemed to be mixed with, there was always something that remained, most of the time it was a pair of ears that were either on the top o slightly behind their human ears.

Other times, the people had horns and even tails then there were the people that looked like a giant or smaller versions of the animals they had mixed themselves with.

"Come one help me fix them." Rafael said to Rick as he walked toward the closes person and helped the boy lay down.

Rick watched as Rafael did this and he reluctantly began to help him, Aincrad is full of forbidden zones, areas where high-level creatures live, and unfortunately for the people that find them if they ever do, those areas or rooms far exceed the level of power that the floors they're on have.

As they lay the people on the ground, Rick began to hear them silently whimpering, every once in a while he would see a person crying, but not making a sound.

"Yeah, it was like that for us too." Rick said to himself as he remembered the first time he had found himself having to fight one of the creatures.

Had it not been for Kazuma who used a group teleporting Craytal to help them escape, none of them would be alive today.

"So why are you here, shouldn't you be helping everyone in rebuilding our room?" Rick asked Rafael who placed a hand on a young girl's forehead.

"I was, but I got an alert that you were about to kill several of the guild's newest members." Rafael answered him.

Rick couldn't help but smile, Rafael didn't change he cared and watched over everyone under his command, and if those under him did something wrong...The image of Rafael fighting his brother flashed before Rick's mind.

"Let's let them rest." Rick said to Rafael as he sat down looking one way while across from him Rafael sat down looking the other way.