Note: I changed my mind about covering 'Argo's Whiskers.'
Sword Apocalypse Online
Chapter Four
The two ninjas charged after Argo, only to come up short when confronted by Asuna, Aiko, Liz and Yuuki. "You don't have to..." Argo started.
"She's our comrade," Asuna said coolly as she put her hand on her sword, "you want her, you go through us."
"Damn right," Liz agreed.
"We, the Fuma Ninja Clan, want the rumored Martial Arts skill to complete our ninja roleplay!" the first man said.
"Martial Arts?" Yuuki murmured.
"Ninja clan?" her sister Aiko added wryly.
"Look," Argo said, "the reason I never released the information was that the Quest can't be completed. That's how I ended up stuck with rat whiskers!"
The other ninja blinked. "So if you fail the Quest, you get the whiskers painted on?" he asked.
"Or worse. I never saw anyone else get painted," Argo explained. "And you get the whiskers painted on, THEN have to try to finish it."
The two ninja kind of looked at each other. "We will consider this and contact you later," they agreed, then bounded off.
"Well, THAT was a thing," Aiko muttered.
"So you discovered the quest, tried it and couldn't clear it?" Asuna asked a little while later.
"Yeah. That's how I got my whiskers for the whole SAO beta test," Argo admitted.
"That had to suck," Liz agreed.
"And to get the skill you had to smash the boulder," Asuna looked thoughtful. "Did you have to smash it yourself?"
"Huh?" Argo blinked.
"I mean, there's all those bull monsters on this level," Asuna continued reasonably, "couldn't you just bait one into smashing the rock for you?"
Argo looked at her blankly a moment. "I hadn't thought of that," Argo admitted.
(They all ended up completing the Quest and getting Martial Arts.)
"Should we tell the Fuma ninja?" Yuuki asked later.
"Ehhh. They were kind of a pain in the beta test," Argo revealed, "they'd bounce around, agitate the monsters, but when things got really serious they'd bolt."
"Toss it into the next Argo guide," Aiko suggested mildly.
Asuna frowned at her, as they all knew Argo was still undecided about continuing the guides. "All right,"she said briskly, "Argo said there are materials we can hunt to upgrade my rapier and Yuuki's sword, right?"
"Windwasps stingers, yeah." Liz agreed. "It's going to be a pain..."
"Well, let's go," Argo nodded.
It took over an hour for the four to harvest two hundred stingers for Asuna and Yuuki. The wasps were actually pretty weak, but it was very unnerving to have a giant bug flying at you. But the women managed, then provided the stuff to Liz.
"Success!" Liz declared as she passed the boosted weapons over. "We've filled both weapons upgrade slots, now," she added.
Asuna nodded. All weapons had a limited number off upgrade slots, though how many depended on the weapon and how well it was made. Using harvested materials (rare metals etc etc) a blacksmith like Liz could upgrade them, though there was always a chance of failure.
"Are there any special places we could get better weapons here?" Aiko asked Argo as they headed to another hunting area.
"Other than lucky weapons drops from monsters, no," Argo admitted. "Third floor has more quests for our group's weapons."
"Well, we'll manage with what we've got," Yuuki nodded.
"Ok. Now we need to farm supplies to upgrade Aiko's claymore and Liz' mace." Asuna said briskly. "Let's try to get it done by nightfall."
Bells were ringing, announcing the coming night as the group reached the level's main town, Urbus. All of them were panting and tired, straggling in through the main gate.
"I never want to be in a stampeded again," Argo groaned.
"Well, you did try to warn us," Aiko sighed.
They had been hunting a type of cow with steel hooves, which you could collect for heavy weapon upgrades. You also didn't need to collect as many hooves, as they were more massive. So they set out to an area they were known to appear and went hunting.
At first it went well. They bagged enough cows to upgrade both weapons. They decided on getting a few more just to be safe... and stumbled on a full herd, over 30 cows grazing.
The cows looked at them.
They looked at the cows.
Something triggered the cows aggression. They glared at them ominously.
"Run away!"
They managed to escape the stampede, but just barely. And so, they were back...
"Do you think they could have trampled us to death?" Yuuki asked, shaking her head.
"Probably," Argo sighed.
"That would be a really stupid way to die," Yuuki groaned.
"Let's check in at an inn," Asuna said, "it's been a long day."
"Bet you she wants a bath," Liz murmured to Argo.
"I don't take sucker bets," Argo answered.
"Huh?" Yuuki blinked.
"GODS I want a bath," Asuna added, then blinked as Liz and Argo giggled.
The NPC running the inn told them there was only two rooms left. They paid, and Liz, Argo and Asuna took one, Yuuki and Aiko took the other.
"Does the inn have bathing facilities?" Asuna had to ask.
"No, we do not," the NPC admitted. "There is a public bath though."
Asuna beamed, "THANK you!"
The group checked in, then headed out to get some food then hit the baths.
"So.. you like baths?" Aiko teased.
"I'm Japanese. We ALL like baths," Asuna replied mildly.
"Point...," Aiko agreed.
There were a LOT of steak houses in Urbus. Not surprising as it was the 'cow' themed floor, but it would have been nice to have some variety. They went into one, ordered, then ate at one large table.
"So is this technically the same cows that tried to stomp us?" Yuuki asked, pointing at her steak.
"Technically, yes," Argo agreed.
Yuuki visciously stabbed her meat, then cut a bit. "That's what you get for nearly trampling us!" she growled, then ate.
Asuna grinned, then cut into her own steak. "Hmm," she sighed.
Liz ate with surprising enthusiasm, while Argo and Aiko ate more gradually. They discussed the near miss with the cows as well as planning out the next few days.
"I've decided to do the Argo Guides still," Argo admitted, "but I want to re-check things against the beta," She added, "Would you mind coming along...?"
"Sure!" Liz agreed, Asuna nodding agreement.
"First shot at some of the quests? Certainly!" Aiko added.
"Big sis," Yuuki scolded mildly.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Ahhh," Asuna sighed as she soaked in the hot water.
Liz splashed water at her, "Don't fall sleep."
Argo was sitting nearby, and Yuuki and her sister was across from her. Asuna was a bit jealous of how well Aiko was developed, though she supposed it made sense. She was a bit older, after all.
"This IS nice," Aiko agreed, laying back a bit. Her breasts floated a bit in the water, and Asuna firmly stomped on her jealousy.
"Oooh, look at those!" Liz laughed, then gave the other girl's breasts a squeeze.
"Aaah!" Aiko gasped.
"Hey!" Yuuki growled, pushing Liz away.
'And I just wanted to bathe in peace...,' Asuna sighed.
To be continued...
Notes: I always wondered why Argo didn't just tel the Ninjas the quest couldn't be completed. I mean, that would have solved it... Also, luring a bull to smash the rock is how manga Asuna solves the problem in the Progressive series.
