Okay, here's a new chapter... and a little change in plans.
This chapter has become quite long. Yeah, nothing new by now, but I guess this time, it's just because I put a lot of stuff in it that I've really wanted to write, but I couldn't really put it anywhere else, so... Long story short, this chapter and the next one were originally supposed to be one chapter, and they include a bunch of more or less random ideas.
It's mostly there to give additional insight into Akinym's training methods, and the two chapters as a whole are kind of like a prequel to the much more relevant chapter that comes afterwards.
Anyway, I hope that you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online Re:Hollow Fragment or Sword Art Online in general.
It was a sunny morning in the middle of December, 20th December 2024, to be precise. Outside Arc Sophia, there were a wide, open field, mostly grassland around the town and some hills, caves and a forest on the horizon. Well, and – for the very first time – one very excited Lisbeth.
She ran up a small hill, stretched her arms out to the side and basked in the warm sunlight for a moment. It was quite early and still a bit chilly, so the sunlight felt really good. And so did being outside the safe zone for the first time in weeks.
Lisbeth: FREEDOM!
Lisbeth's moment of joy was quickly interrupted by a voice coming from down the hill.
Akinym [slightly annoyed]: Yes, freedom, which you can enjoy back in town if you continue to run off like that to make a ruckus! Oh, wait, you won't be able to since it will be gone!
Lisbeth [slightly upset]: Geez, let me have this moment, okay?! I've waited for it for a while! What are you, a teacher watching out for his class on a field trip?
Akinym [dryly]: Quite accurate, actually.
Lisbeth [mutters, annoyed]: Spoilsport.
She slouched her shoulders and sighed before walking down the hill to return to the others.
Despite his harsh remark to keep his "troublesome student" in line, Akinym could understand her to some extent. They were the last group to begin field training, and he was glad that they could finally begin this part of the training.
Akinym glanced over at Sinon for a moment. The proficiency of her weapon skill had finally reached a decent base level, and thanks to a few simple quests she had done in Arc Sophia, her level had gone up a bit as well.
Fun fact: Sinon had been to the outside area on this floor before any of the others. Akinym had taken her here in order for her to gain a bit fighting experience. He had wanted her to fight a monster at all before she started to learn how to fight in a team.
For that purpose, Akinym had found an area on the 76th floor that had a relatively low monster density and spawn rate. It wasn't suitable for farming or leveling, but that meant that no players would be around. All in all, it was the perfect spot for a newbie to learn the basics of fighting monsters without taking a risk.
To be fair, she had struggled quite a bit in these battles, but that was to be expected. Akinym had to jump in several times to keep her safe, much to Sinon's dismay. Not that she had been ungrateful, she had merely been frustrated that she had needed so much help.
Right now, Sinon was clearly on guard and watched her surroundings carefully. Well, it was a good attitude to have out here, although Akinym thought that she didn't need to be so on edge. What he didn't take into account was that Sinon just tried to hide her worries that she might merely slow the others down.
Speaking of the others, Lisbeth was (as shown before) eager to start. So was Leafa, although she was a lot calmer. As for Silica, she seemed a bit… nervous, although she was also determined to start battle training. So far, she had done a few quests for easy and safe EXP, just as Sinon. Akinym had recommended her a few, although he had been a bit surprised that Silica had taken delight in doing a quest that required her to work at a maid cafe. Weird, but as long as it worked for her, Akinym wouldn't object.
Akinym pointed his spear at a forest west of their current position.
Akinym: Alright, let's get going. The training spot I have in mind is in that forest over there. We should be at the forest in thirty minutes, and we'll probably reach our destination within an hour.
Silica, Leafa and Sinon just nodded and were about to get going when Lisbeth spoke up.
Lisbeth: Wait a minute! Why in the forest? Wouldn't a cave [points at nearby hills] be better? I mean, we could search for ores there while we're at it. [slightly nervously] I mean, you mentioned something about going to mining spots when we train, and… [flatly] I was actually looking forward to it.
Akinym: We'll get to that. Besides, there is a mining spot where we're going.
Lisbeth [surprised]: There is? In the forest?
Akinym: And a quite interesting one at that. I admit that it's a small area and rather hard to reach, but we'll get to that. You might find the best spots where you least expect it. The forest is indeed not the usual… place for mining, but that also means that it's not frequented. Whatever ore you'll find in the cave, others will find it as well easily.
Lisbeth: Well, I guess that's true. You have to go to unusual places to find rare materials after all…
Akinym: You'll also train inside those caves, just not today. A change of terrain should be a good way to show you how your surroundings can influence fights. For instance, a cave is a good place to train fighting in narrow areas, where you can't move quite as freely as in a forest.
With that little dispute out of the way, they finally got going. On their way to the forest, Akinym observed his students a little.
Silica and Leafa walked in front of the group. They had a seemingly lively conversation. Judging from what Akinym could hear, Leafa had told Silica about an area which she had played in a lot in ALO. It was a forest area, so hunting in a forest would probably bring back memories. Now, Silica was curious what forests in ALO were like, for instance how the ability to fly changed the way players viewed forests.
It was good to see that they were bonding. A strong connection, team spirit, a healthy dynamic… All those were important aspects of a working party, especially among the Assault Team. It was just… They were a bit too focused on their conversation.
Speaking of people who were focused, Lisbeth walked to his right and in front of him, and she was deep in thought. She constantly murmured something, apparently thinking aloud. Judging from her lip movements and what Akinym could understand, she thought about what crafting materials she might find in a forest and what she could forge with them.
Fun fact: Akinym actually couldn't lipread, at least not to the extent that would allow him to understand complex sentences just by observing lip movements. His ability to make out even murmurs was a combination of his observation skills, his ability to connect some simple phonemes to certain lip movements and the way SAO processed sounds.
To save computing capacity (and a few other system resources), the exact details of a sound were only transmitted to players if they focused on it. In a sense, it was digital selective listening. If players didn't focus on a sound, they would hear something, but it would be vague. If someone spoke, no player who paid no attention would be able to make out any of the words.
If, however, a player focused strongly on a sound, they'd be able to hear it even better than they would in the real world, for instance because background noises were quieter. There were also espionage skills which could enhance this effect, although Akinym didn't use them.
Using this system and his aforementioned abilities, Akinym could usually make out whispering of his students. For instance, he got the gist of Lisbeth's murmuring because he could see that she repeated a few particular lip movements quite often. Judging from the few words he could somewhat make out, she talked about "ore" and "smithing" and such.
Well, it was understandable. Akinym was willing to support her passion for smithing. He just… wasn't really willing to support it outside the safe zone.
The problem with these three girls was that none of them seemed to pay enough attention to their surroundings. They really seemed as if they were on a field trip… A monster could suddenly spawn near them or attack them.
To be fair, most monsters "announced" themselves with some sort of noise, usually a roar. Furthermore, they were currently in an open area, so it wasn't as if a monster could suddenly come out of hiding and catch them off-guard.
Nevertheless, their attitude wasn't really advisable. They would make their way through more treacherous terrain someday, and it was better to learn the correct attitude right away. In their defense, though, they probably just felt relatively safe right now and wouldn't make that mistake in a more dangerous environment.
Akinym's biggest worry was an assault by "silent attackers", monsters that attacked while making almost no noise. There weren't that many monsters like that, and to his knowledge, they didn't exist in the open area on the 76th floor. It was just worrying him that such monsters could – theoretically – attack them right now and most of the girls wouldn't notice them before it was too late.
Well, most of them. At the very least, Sinon, who walked a bit apart from the group to the left side, was on alert and watched her surroundings cautiously. It was almost as if she wanted to make up for the lack of attention coming from the others.
Akinym walked up to her.
Akinym: So, you are on lookout duty?
Sinon [turns towards Akinym, slightly surprised]: Huh? [calmly] Um, yeah, I guess. I don't see the problem. Didn't you tell me to be careful in the field?
Akinym: It's not a problem, and it's good that you are. [looks at Silica, Lisbeth and Leafa, slightly worriedly] They are a bit of a problem, though. They don't pay attention. We might run into a monster, and they might not even notice it. [slightly sternly] If that happens, don't alert them!
Sinon [slightly upset]: W-why?! I can't let them run into danger like that!
Akinym [sternly]: Keep calm, you'll startle them!
As if on cue, Silica and Leafa stopped in their tracks for a moment and turned around. Lisbeth also glanced over at Akinym and Sinon.
Akinym [calmly]: It's nothing! We're just discussing something. Keep going!
The three girls looked doubtful for a moment, but they shrugged it off in the end and continued walking towards the forest.
Meanwhile, Sinon looked at Akinym with a slightly sullen expression. She kept quiet, but she couldn't believe he had really done that.
Akinym: Anyway, the monsters here are not that strong, they won't be able to do much damage right away, so the others are not in grave danger. I wouldn't ask you to do that if it was different. If anything, I'm asking this here exactly for that reason.
Sinon [curiously]: For "that reason"? What do you mean?
Akinym: They need to learn not to let their guard down in the field, or they might act careless in dangerous zones. Caution should be something players exercise in SAO instinctively. Thus, they should learn this lesson through negative experience rather than words. It will be far more effective if they actually see what problems careless behaviour can cause.
Okay, Sinon was willing to agree with that. Although she still didn't like the idea, she would go along with it.
Akinym: Besides, I'll take care that nothing seriously bad happens. If any of them gets into actual danger, I'll be ready to jump right in.
Sinon [calmly]: Eh? Wanna act like the shining hero in front of all the lovely princesses?
Akinym [annoyed]: Hell no! You won't see me acting like that! [slightly sternly] I have a responsibility as an instructor to keep the trainees safe, that's all!
Sinon: A responsibility to keep them safe, huh?
Sinon let her gaze wander for a moment. She took a look at each of her "comrades", thinking about the battles she had seen them fighting in, and she thought about her own… "battles". She was hardly willing to call them that.
Akinym [slightly curiously]: Having doubts about how you'll do today?
Sinon [surprised]: Huh? How could you tell?
Sinon immediately wanted to cover her mouth so it couldn't reveal even more. She honestly wished she hadn't confirmed her worries so easily.
Akinym [calmly]: That wasn't that hard. At this point, I'm almost expecting it from you. Besides, your worried expression gave you away quite clearly.
That was another thing Sinon disliked about the virtual world. She had learnt to keep her facial expressions under control most of the time in the real world, although she still messed up sometimes. Here in the virtual world, however, the system immediately adjusted facial expressions according to the true emotions. Damn that mind-reading NerveGear…
That was another thing Sinon secretly admired Akinym for: He almost never showed emotions and usually remained perfectly calm, at least judging from her point of view.
That was a bit of a stretch, though. Akinym had learnt how to "trick" the system with self-discipline, so he could consciously influence his facial expression in a way similar to acting techniques. However, there were limits to this.
It only worked if he was prepared for the emotion and could brace himself. Therefore, he mostly showed annoyance since this was usually the emotion he felt when someone caught him by surprise, simply because it was usually an unpleasant surprise. Also, he sometimes simply didn't bother trying to hide his emotions. Moreover, there were actions such as laughter or crying that Akinym wouldn't be able to suppress, at least not very effectively.
Akinym: Anyway, you shouldn't be too worried. You'll be okay as long as you follow my advice. Besides, this is merely the beginning of your battle training. You don't have to do everything perfectly already. Keep the small short-term goals you've made in mind.
Oh, right, their short-term goals. Sinon liked to call them "theirs" rather than "hers", mainly because Akinym still helped her to come up with them.
Don't get me wrong, though. She appreciated that effort. It was just that she absolutely didn't want to lose track of her real goal in SAO.
Sinon [dryly]: Well, and I guess if something happens, Instructor Akinym will come to the rescue?
Akinym frowned on Sinon's comment. It was just weird in his opinion. Regardless, he decided to reply by cutting straight to the chase.
Akinym: If necessary, yes.
Now it was Sinon's turn to frown. She had a hard time believing that Akinym had really said that so bluntly…
Akinym's plan to "scare" Silica, Lisbeth and Leafa so they wouldn't let their guard down again like they had… It failed. It just failed.
Nothing serious happened until they reached the edge of the forest. Once they arrived there, however, a strange, faint whirring sound could be heard from above. When Akinym, who was the first one to notice it, looked up, he couldn't help but smile.
Akinym [thinks]: Perfect! Out of all monsters we could've run into, this one is really the best for this purpose.
It was a wasp-like monster, about the size of an average male teenager. It had just appeared from the treetops, spotted their group and slowly came their way.
Sinon was the second one to notice the noise, although she couldn't make out the source at first. She looked around to all sides, but there was nothing in sight. She caught a glimpse of Akinym, though, and seeing that he looked at something in the treetops (as she assumed), Sinon looked into the same direction. She honestly hadn't expected to be attacked from that direction.
Silica, Leafa and Lisbeth were still too immersed in their respective activities to notice the imminent assault. The noise was too quiet, but it would become much louder once the monster was within attack range in order to alert them.
Only that this wasn't necessary because Pina took care of the matter. The familiar had an automatic enemy detection and would alert its tamer to approaching monsters. It only worked in cases when Silica would be system-wise able to detect the monster herself, though.
When Pina let out a concerned cry, Silica turned to her, and once she noticed that Pina was looking at the sky, she checked what her familiar was looking at. Leafa did the same, and she let out a surprised yelp and jumped away from the monster which was almost within reach now.
Leafa: Woah, were did that thing come from?!
She regained her composure quickly and drew her katana. When the monster pulled its sting back and stretched out its legs, Leafa thought that it would try to lunge its legs at her, so she tried to get a jump on it and slashed the three legs on its left side.
She had misjudged the situation, though. The monster's current attack pattern didn't correspond to an attack with its legs. It had prepared an attack with its sting instead. It had hauled off, and now its sting snapped forward and hit Leafa in the left shoulder.
Fortunately, Lisbeth had also snapped out of her trance and repelled the monster with a quick blow. The strike with her maze was strong enough to push it back, and it couldn't attack Leafa again.
Lisbeth: Switch, Silica!
Silica: Um, got it!
Silica used her Acrobatics skill to leap up and get a clean hit on the monsters head. She had fought insect-like monsters before, and their head often was their weak spot, which was also the case this time. With the help of the Acrobatics skill, she could jump high enough to reach it even though she was rather small and the monster hovered in the air. On top of that, the system assistant guaranteed that she landed on her feet steadily.
So far, all attacks had been very simple, yet they had been enough to take out about twenty per cent of the monster's HP. While Akinym wasn't happy that his little "lesson" hadn't worked out, he acknowledged how quickly the girls got to business and how determined they were.
Sinon wanted to enter the fray, but Akinym stopped her by holding out his spear in front of her, blocking her path.
Akinym [slightly sternly]: No, wait, Sinon-san! And Leafa-san: Pull back for now! Silica-san, Lisbeth-san, you two fight that monster! For now, focus on defense and figure out its attack patterns!
They were a bit surprised since they thought that they should fight it together, but they quickly confirmed that they had understood and followed Akinym's instructions.
Sinon [slightly upset]: Why did you stop me?! I thought I was here to fight!
Leafa [slightly confused]: I don't get it either… Sorry that I messed up a little, but why should only they fight?
Akinym [slightly exasperatedly]: Keep calm for a moment and I'll explain it! [calmly] You still need to get accustomed to battles in SAO, especially to team tactics. You should see how to fight as part of a team before you do it yourselves.
Okay, Leafa and Sinon could understand that, so they turned their attention to the ongoing battle.
Akinym: For starters, never forget to make yourself familiar to the attack patterns of your opponents before you go on the offensive! [glances at Leafa's shoulder] I suppose you've seen what can happen if you don't, Leafa-san.
Leafa [slightly embarrassed]: Um, yeah. C-could you please not… [slightly upset] Anyway, what should we do if the enemy just changes these patterns? [slightly worriedly] I mean, if we adapt to it, couldn't it just… act differently?
Akinym: Frankly, no. If this was about fighting a human, you'd be right, but the monster AI isn't so adaptable. Monsters use a few usually simple attacks, which always involve the same movements, and they use these attacks rather inflexibly.
Leafa thought about it for a moment. Yeah, the monsters were still AI, not human. They followed algorithms instead of variable thoughts.
She tended to forget that since she was used to fight against other people, be it in kendo competitions or in ALO. Sure, there were monsters in ALO, but the game was quite clearly based on PvP rather than PvE. To her knowledge, there were special squads which were specialised in PvE to get materials and whatnot.
Not that she had ever been part of one. She had only fought monsters occasionally for training, and she had never really thought about the fact that monsters wouldn't fight as intelligently as other people. Well, she guessed that she would change her point of view here in SAO.
In the meantime, Silica and Lisbeth had got used to the few simple attacks that this monster used. Apart from thrusting its sting, it lashed out at them with its legs, but those were fairly simple attacks.
Lisbeth: Um, I guess we're good now! So… Are we good to go, or…?
Akinym: Alright, you can attack now. Make sure to switch as often as possible! And keep an eye on its HP bar! Stop when it reaches the yellow zone and go back to observing!
Silica and Lisbeth [determinedly]: Okay!
After that, they start attacking the monster, beginning with an attack from Lisbeth. Leafa wanted to observe them, but there was also a question on her mind.
Leafa [curiously]: Um, why did you ask them to stop halfway through? Don't they know the attack patterns by now?
Sinon [slightly contemplatively]: This… is about the adaptions the monsters make, isn't it? The thing you've told me about the other day…
Akinym: It's good that you remember that. Yes, it is. And Leafa-san, to elaborate on your earlier question, monsters do adapt their attack patterns to some extent, but they follow certain rules. Monsters might use new attacks or completely different fighting styles at some point during the battle, usually after losing a certain percentage of HP. [nods towards the wasp monster] These monsters, for instance, have another attack they start using at fifty per cent HP.
So far, so good, but that rose one question.
Leafa [slightly shocked]: Wait a minute! You know that already?
Sinon [exasperatedly]: I can't believe you send them into battle without briefing them. I mean, they wouldn't have had to observe the enemy if you'd just told them about it! Besides, didn't you tell us to gather information on quests beforehand and that we can get information about the abilities of monsters as well? It kind of seems to defeat the purpose if you don't act on the stuff you tell us, you know?
Akinym [slightly contemplatively]: Hm, you're not wrong, but this is mostly for you to see how to fight a battle when you're unprepared. It's better if you don't let it come to this, but you should still know what to do when you're caught by surprise or something like that. [calmly] Besides, it can't harm if [points at Silica and Lisbeth] these two keep the right battle strategy in mind.
Point taken. Leafa and Sinon turned their attention to the battle again. Silica and Lisbeth were making good progress.
Leafa was particularly eager to see what this "Switching" looked like and if there was anything very special to it. She had figured that PvE-oriented players in ALO took turns at attacking... which they did, although they didn't call it Switching.
She was a bit disappointed to see that there didn't seem to be anything special about it. Sinon also thought that it seemed a bit more straightforward than she had thought.
In the end, they asked Akinym about it, and he explained what the point in Switching was. There were a few things to mention such as different ways how Switching could be used.
For instance, Switching could be used to avoid vulnerability after using a Sword Skill. The player who switched in would defend the player who just used a Sword Skill.
There was a variety of tactics that involved Switching in some way, varying in complexity. For example, one player could create an opening, let's say by breaking through a parry, and another player could use that opening to attack.
That, however, lead directly to the crucial point. All of these tactics would only work if the timing was right. The players had to coordinate their actions precisely, get in position, use the signal word "switch" and act immediately. It sounded easy, but in practice, it often wasn't.
Silica and Lisbeth did a halfway decent job, but any experienced player could tell that their timing left much room for improvement. They whittled the monster down to fifty per cent HP eventually.
At that point, they had arranged for Silica to be the monster's target. When it used its new attack, Silica immediately used her Acrobatics skill for a dodging manoeuvre that was as fast as possible.
They could see that the monster spitted some dark green gas, a small poisonous cloud. Dodging it was perfectly doable as long as they knew what they were up against, so they continued with confidence.
After a minute of two, they finished the battle successfully. They walked over to the others. Lisbeth was stretching contently.
Lisbeth: I've got to admit, that felt great! It's good to have a little bit action after a while. I mean, having a nice and calm time is good every now and then, but all the time...!
Silica: Well, I'm glad that we could work together so well, Liz-san!
Sinon: Well, good job out there, you two. [mutters, slightly at a loss] I guess...
Leafa [excitedly]: Yeah, you two were amazing!
Silica and Lisbeth thanked them for the compliments, although they were a bit taken aback by Leafa's enthusiasm and Sinon's somewhat reserved demeanour.
Akinym: Well, I wouldn't call it "amazing", but you did a good job. You need to work on your timing, but I suppose I don't have to tell you that.
Well, he was right, and their awkward expressions confirmed it quite clearly. They had noticed themselves that they had reacted to each others actions a bit… sluggishly.
Akinym: Anyway, it's good that you got to see this monster right away. You'll see a lot more where that one came from.
The girls stared at Akinym with different levels of quizzical expressions. What did he mean by "where that one came from"?
...which is a question that will be answered next time.
A lot of the things that are mentioned in this chapter are just theories I've come up with, and I don't know to which extent they are confirmed (or might even contradict canon material). For instance, the part about the "digital selective listening" is something that came to my mind when I read about the way SAO's system renders the environment, but that source material didn't state anything about how sound is processed.
The "warning noises" are also something I've more or less made up. The same applies to Pina's enemy detection.
The assumptions about ALO that are in this chapter are based on the fact that ALO (at least the version in the Fairydance Arc, which should be the same version as the one in the games) is portrayed to be PvP-centric. This will obviously play a bit of a role when the story/series reaches the "ALO part".
That's all for today, stay tuned for the next chapter!