WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS HOW SORRY I AM FOR SKIPPING A WEEK OF THIS STORY, ESPECIALLY AFTER I SAID IT WAS GOING TO BE UPDATED SHORTLY AFTER THE LAST CHAPTER D': I FEEL ASHAMED!
Nah, but seriously, i do really apologise for the delay. Life had other plans last week and i had no time to upload this. However, tis unfortunate but updates will start to get slower from here on out. We are getting dangerously close to where i have written up to so i want to slow the updates so that i can stay at least one chapter ahead of the story at all times. I'm sorry but i guess you'll all have to get used to waiting :( plus, i am thinking about starting a Fairy Tail fanfic (with absolutely NO Nalu involved) but it won't happen for a bit. If you have thoughts regarding the then please tell me in the reviews.
Other than that, all i have to say is Thank You so much to everyone who has Followed/Favourited/Reviewed the story so far, and thank you to all the readers in general. This story would not be as far as it is without your help.
P.S I do not own SAO or it's characters!
The moment Kirito could even open his eyes, he ran towards the bench where he had left Toran and sighed with relief. To Kirito's happiness, Toran was still on the bench. Unfortunately, it seemed that he was still unconscious. Kirito looked in his party menu because he could now see his party members health. He saw that Asuna's was well in the green but not full and Leafa and Sinon's health bars had just gotten to the yellow zone.
"They must be looking for me. Guess I'll tell them I'm okay." Kirito went to send a message but had a thought that this might be good for Sinon and Leafa. Sure, he'll get a good telling off from Asuna but it's good that the other two are levelling up. Leafa was now level five and Sinon was up to level six. He did however have a message from Asuna. He briefly hesitated to open it out of fear but then hastily opened it out of curiosity.
'Kirito, I don't know where you are but we are looking for you now. We've even got some new friends to help us. Please PM me if you can and tell us where you are.'
Kirito chuckled as he read it. After closing his menu, he sighed and relaxed by leaning back on the bench.
"We haven't even found the boss room on the first floor and I already feel like I've been through a boss battle." He said with a relaxing smile. "I've lost my touch a bit haven't I, Yui." He asked before realising something. "Oh crap! I haven't brought Yui back yet!" He said while quickly going through his items list and find the item that was Yui's Heart. He summoned it in his hands and touched the middle of it. Kirito didn't know why but that was how it worked in Alfheim so that's what he did again. Suddenly, the tiny item shone until it took the form of a young girl with long black hair wearing a plain white dress.
"Finally, I was wondering when you were going to resummon me daddy." Yui said with a disappointed smile.
"Sorry Yui, I got caught up in a bit of a mess so I kind of forgot." He said with an awkward laugh as he scratched the back of his head.
"I'll forgive you on one condition." Yui said mischievously.
"I'll do anything you ask of me." Kirito said as he bowed apologetically. Yui suddenly ran up and gave him a big hug.
"If daddy takes me out to eat, I'll forgive him immediately." She said with a happy laugh.
"Consider it done Yui." Kirito said as he reciprocated the hug.
"There's also one other thing I'd like to see you do." Yui said in an even more mischievous tone. "And I could help you with it."
"I wonder what that could be." Kirito said obliviously
Asuna was beat. She'd be lying if she said her skills weren't totally rusty. She thanked whatever it was that had her regain all her stats from the original SAO. Otherwise, she would have already died a while ago. It was also because of the help of, not only Sinon and Leafa, but also Kami, who they had run into on their way out of the Town of Beginnings. He may have also been a beginner but four heads are better than three as the saying goes. They had just finished fighting a large wave of wild boars and low level skeletons and were now headed towards the final room of the dungeon they were in. The other three didn't notice but Asuna could tell that they weren't the first group to come here. They got low loot from every enemy they killed and that means that someone had already taken the first kill high loot drops. Now they got to find out whether the earlier visitors were able to kill the dungeon mini-boss. Upon finding the last room, everyone healed themselves and Asuna opened the door. They arrived in a large circular room with rocks taking up the walls and ceiling while the floor was hardened dirt. There was also a small crater in the middle of the room which confirmed Asuna's suspicions of who the mini-boss was. All of a sudden, rocks fell from the ceiling and clogged up their only exit.
"Guess we ain't going back that way." Kami informed. Then, the crater exploded in a cloud of dirt and a large Earth Troll appeared from the crater. It had three health bars but since this was still floor one, it shouldn't take too much to get one bar down.
"Be on your guard, it's three health bars will go down quickly but just be warned that this troll is still no push over." Asuna ordered. "You can attack it from anywhere but it's weak spot is it's back. Attack at it whenever you can but always be cautious and remember, it's attack patterns will change when it's got one bar left."
"Got it!" Leafa said confidently with Sinon nodding in agreement. Suddenly, Kami ran in to get the first attack.
"Kami! Wait!" She shouted, but he didn't stop and went in for the first strike. His blade hit the arm of the Troll and cut through about an inch of the rock. He ducked under a swipe from the troll and decided that it was the perfect time to roll under the troll. However, Asuna could tell what was coming next. The giant stood up tall and went to sit on Kami.
"Sinon, the eyes!" She said quickly. Sinon then hastily got an arrow out of her sash and bulls-eyed the troll's left eye. It barely did any damage but it made the troll stumble, giving Kami time to escape danger. "Get near the walls Kami!" Asuna shouted. Kami turned to ask her what she said but by that time, it was too late. The troll had jumped into the air and, upon landing, created a dangerous shockwave that hit Kami. His health went down to 50% and he struggled back to his feet. The troll attempted to crush Kami with it's hands but Asuna used her flash-like speed to get him out of the way just in time. She put him down as close to the wall as possible as to keep him from danger.
"Why didn't you listen to me?" She asked as the troll turned it's attention to her.
"I'm sorry Asuna…I'm so useless aren't I. What's the point in saving me, I'll just get in the wa-" His pitiful speech was interrupted by Asuna.
"Sorry, no can do. I've made a vow to never leave a friend behind and I do not plan on breaking that, And you're not useless. A useless person wouldn't have been able to get a single hit on the enemy at all. You did, so you're not useless, you're just…inexperienced." Asuna said calmly. Although she didn't know how to correctly word that last part. Kami extended his hand to her but she didn't notice it and hastily ran back towards the troll who was being entertained by Sinon and Leafa.
Asuna swung around to the back of the troll at breakneck speed and unleashed one of her most powerful sword skills. The sword skill worked like a charm and two of the trolls health bars evaporated instantly. Asuna's feet had barely touched the ground when all of a sudden, the troll used super sonic speed and slammed his hand on the ground where Asuna was. The fact that she was able to almost completely dodge the attck surprised even Asuna herself, though, she wasn't completely unscathed. It's rock hand had slightly grazed her and she was hit by the small shockwave it created. But she barely felt it thanks to her good stats. Her health had also decreased by an almost unnoticeable amount.
Asuna jumped back and Sinon diverted it's attention towards herself and Leafa. Asuna took a second to catch her breath and devise a plan. Sh watched the trolls attacks and constructed said plan around it's movements. Although her combat skills were rather rusty, there was one thing she learned in SAO that she knew she would never forget. Something that, for some reason, she held dear.
Leafa had just run in during the trolls delay between attacks and was about to retreat to a safe distance until she heard Asuna shout something to her. "Leafa! Switch!" upon hearing those words, Leafa managed one more swing of her blade before retreating, only to see Asuna come whizzing by her and land another lightning quick attack. The sudden attack pattern stunned the troll, giving Asuna and Leafa more than enough time for more attacks. "Switch!" Asuna shouted once more. She watched as Leafa charged passed her in no time and landed a solid sword skill that she had just learned which gives the user the ability to land three critical hits in what looks like one blow. This took the trolls final health bar down to about 20% but an unexpected shockwave caught both of them off guard, giving the troll time to recuperate and ready a deadly smash attack. Asuna's speed got her out of there in time but Leafa was no where close to that. The troll aimed his life-threatening attack towards Leafa and attempted to squish her like a bug. But luckily, the troll forgot one important thing.
Sinon had spent her time charging up a bow skill that she learned upon reaching level five and, as the troll had it's back turned to her, she took the opportunity to deliver the finishing blow. She let loose her bow skill on the back of the troll and a large blast came shooting from the arrow, it completely destroyed the trolls rocky back and it exploded in a crystallized fashion. The loot they were rewarded was enough to level up both Leafa and Sinon. Kami also got a small share of the reward as he dealt the first blow.
"Great job on your first mini-boss victory everyone!" Asuna said as they briefly celebrated their win.
"That was only a mini-boss?!" Kami exclaimed "How difficult is the main boss then!?" The three girls laughed as Sinon walked over to the wooden chest that had appeared in the crater where the troll had spawned. When she opened it, a notification box appeared in front of her asking if she wanted the item inside or not. Confused, she asked Asuna what it was.
"Hey Asuna, what's a Shock Gem?" She asked as she pressed the 'Accept' button.
"You found a Shock Gem!?" Asuna shouted in disbelief
"Yeah, what does it do?" Sinon asked again. Asuna managed to reclaim her composure then explained.
"A Shock Gem is one of the extremely rare, other wise known as legendary, magic items. It's one of four other types of Gems, the other ones are the Fire Gem, the Water Gem, and the Shadow Gem. There's only one of each of these gems in the game, meaning that you now have the only Shock Gem in the game. Since it's a legendary item, it's unsellable and you can't trade it either. It's yours for good now." Asuna informed.
"That's Awesome!...But, how do I use it?" Sinon asked as she looked at the shining purple gem in her hands. If she looked closely enough, she could almost see a storm inside the gem.
"Just tap it and press 'use item'" Asuna said eagerly. Sinon lightly put her finger on the purple gem and a notification popped up in front of her asking whether she wanted to use the item or not. Upon pressing the 'Use Item' button, the gem started to crack in her hand. Shortly after, it shattered and a purple mist covered her body. Bits of electricity could be seen in the mist that outlined her body. When the mist dispersed, one last notification appeared in front of Sinon. 'You can now use Level 1 Shock Magic. Raise your magic level to do more damage by gaining experience from killing enemies with magic. Level ups will happen automatically when you have enough experience.' Sinon ecstatically jumped around, wanting to fire her first bolt of electricity.
"Just don't hit us, okay?" Leafa said humourously.
"Are you saying I'm a bad shot?" Sinon said angrily, causing Asuna to chuckle. "I'll show you." Sinon said as she turned around and looked at the wall. It didn't take long for a question mark to appear above her head.
"She doesn't know how to use it, does she." Kami whispered to Asuna. Sinons irritation grew upon hearing him.
"Honestly, I think you're right." Asuna quietly replied to him.
"So are we just gonna wait till something happens or what." Kami whispered again. Sinon had enough and turned around in a fit of rage.
"Shut up for a second, will you!?" As Sinon shouted that, a large bolt of lightning shot out of her forehead and struck the wall behind the three others causing a purple notification to pop up saying 'Immortal Object'. From what it looked like, had the wall not been immortal, it would've been absolutely eviserated and could've possibly created a way out. Asuna, Leafa looked at the petrified Kami and sighed a sigh of relief. The bolt that Sinon had shot had been mere millimetres away from his head.
"I-I-I was just trying to get you there, y-you know what I'm saying." Kami said in an insane like chuckle.
"I see. So I use the power by channelling it from my brain then." Sinon said to herself, ignoring Kami's terrified apology.
"Well, shall we get going?" Asuna asked as she noticed that the caves exit had reopened itself. The three girls plus Kami found there way out of the dungeon and basked in the refreshing feeling of an artificial sunset. The three girls laid down on a field of grass while Kami sat at the trunk of a tree.
"Hey Asuna." Sinon said, wanting to say what was on her mind. "When do you think the first floor will be cleared?" There was a brief pause, but just as Asuna was opening her mouth to reply, a loud announcement resonated throughout the first floor.
"The first floor of Aincrad has just been cleared. Repeat, the first floor of Aincrad has just been cleared. Floor two is now available to all players." Asuna sat up frantically upon hearing it.
"Someone's already beaten it!?" She exclaimed.
"Guess that answers my question." Sinon said with a yawn as she continued to lie on the soft grass. Leafa pondered quietly until saying her question aloud.
"I wonder who did it?" She asked curiously.
"Well, whoever it was, they must be quite a high level. Otherwise they…" She suddenly stopped because she had finally put all the pieces together. The other two girls had also realised at the same time.
"""It was definitely Kirito."""" They all said in sync. Asuna gave a sigh of relief.
"Oh well, at least we know he's okay."
Kirito was on his knees and gasping for air after soloing the first floor boss. Or at least, that's what he would be doing had he not used his GM abilities to curb stomp the poor thing. Him and his helpful daughter gave each other a celebration hug as they walked up the stairs to the door to the next floor. When he opened the second floor door, he found himself on a cliff with a series of winding stairs that lead to the ground.
From where he was, he could see Urbus, the main village of the second floor which lies in a crater with the gates and walls resting on the outer rim of said crater. The main teleport gate rested in the center of the town square which was slightly elevated off the ground. The second floor in itself is a savanna realm covered in plains and boulders. To the north, it's wide open space and to the south, it's a narrow mountainous area. Table top mountains fill the second floors landscape, looming over plains with small caves dotting the mountains that lead to underground rivers. This floor is mostly filled with ox and buffalo-type monsters with a few scattered beetle and wasp enemies. Far to the west, there is a wasteland area. In the original SAO, Kirito decided that that place was very dangerous and decided not to go there. This time, with his GM abilities, he made up his mind to go there this time at some point.
Before Kirito made his way down the winding stairs, he sent a PM to Asuna to tell her that he was on the second floor and heading to Urbus. He also just stood on the edge of the cliff and took in the fresh artificial breeze and sun. He also remembered why the second floor was one of his favourites. The background music on this floor was one of his favourites. He enjoyed the sorrowful tone that that oboe instruments expressed. It made him feel completely relaxed for the first time since he'd been chucked back into SAO.