"Over here mister eye candy!"
Those words belonged to the very first information broker the group had met. Little did she know, the group was from the beta test and was able to tell her more than she already knew. There were little things she did know about quests however which had been helping them recently.
The information broker was a girl slightly shorter than Kazuto with short blond hair and she always wore a hood to cover her face. Of course it went well with the feeling that an information broker could be dicey to trust, but she was well known for never lying. Kirito wondered if it was really a part of role playing, or if she might be hiding something she wore under the NerveGear. There was that possibility, and some people had shown up with animal ears stuck to the head of their avatar. It looked stranger on people with short enough hair that their human ears were visible. That was just embarrassing.
Argo had messaged the group a short while before that she had some information in exchange for the information they had as beta testers. They were slowly using up the data they had of the floor and the higher floors, but now she had a more...interesting kind of quest for them.
"So, you know how the basic foods you can buy like bread normally taste gross like cardboard? There's this quest that's been open since this morning and is still going apparently where you can get butter. Imagine, warm up the bread a little at an npc bakery and put some butter on it...? I'd like a bite if you can confirm this after with me. So? How about it?"
The information about getting to add ingredients already really excited the cooking spirit inside Kirito and Leafa. Especially Kirito. Leafa wouldn't actually become better at cooking outside of the game from the simple mechanics in the game. Of course it would take a lot of time and patience to get through the steps and grinding to master the cooking craft in the game, but it wasn't nearly as rewarding as actually learning to cook in real life. Maybe she could use the opportunity to have Kirito teach her how to cook. That idea seemed to leak to Sinon as she became more interested than sating a sense of taste alone.
"That sounds like it's worthy of...monster type of the first floor's dungeon. When we confirm your butter quest, we'll tell you about the dungeon a bit."
After a few days into the grind, the trio were already stacked as the highest level players at twenty-five each. They were geared in the strongest quest gear from the first floor, and if they had other groups just as strong, they would already be leading them into the dungeon to confirm the difficulty hike. They found the dungeon on the first night while grinding after sorting everything out between them.
"Kirito's just going to be super cook like usual. It wouldn't hurt to learn something from him while we all level up cooking together. Maybe we'll eventually start a guild of us and call ourselves something cooking related? It would be funny to hear something like The Flying Cooks are dominating the floor clearing!, wouldn't it?"
Sinon seemed to find the suggestion funny, Kirito just giggled and shook his head.
"Darn it Kirito! Stop being more girly than us! Most groups are upset that none of us will join other guilds, and claim that all three of us are girls. Get an npc to give yourself a haircut tomorrow morning!"
Leafa was very irritable since they started adventuring together, but all three of them were truly enjoying it. Perhaps the change of pace from every day life to inside the game was so huge he finally noticed how expressive she really was.
"It's bad enough Kirito goes to a girls only school with us outside of game when you're actually a boy..."
She was really letting him have it, and when he could only sigh and answer her when she gave him a chance, he started.
"I really can't help other people's opinions. And with my hair, it feels like it's my real hair right now. You know the significance it is to me in real life right? Mom had me grow it all the time and take good care of it. If...if I were to get it cut, even in game, it feels like I'd be cursing her beyond the grave."
Being able to say that alone took a lot of strength for him, and Leafa regretted pushing him to say it when she saw the well rendered mimic of the expression he normally made.
"And about me going to the girls school. Please don't talk about that here. At least in real life, that for me is also something I can't help. Aunt and Uncle signed me up for the ladder school system with you two, and now I'm stuck in it until graduation. They accepted me in even though I am a boy, and now I have to keep up my personality so I don't force their hand to kick me out. It might all be because of things I'm so used to being like that I'm allowed in, but I'd really rather we were in a co-ed school."
He realized they were still in the presence of Argo, and were only turned away momentarily before she told them the details of how to start the quest for butter. He shyly turned around and sheepishly smiled at her.
"Is that a good enough payment for this quest, Argo-san?"
He hadn't used honorifics when talking to her up until that point, but when she smiled a familiar cat-like smile, the question was answered and she opened her menu to reveal the quest information she had.
"I won't tell anyone about this info about Kirito unless they ask in interest of dating. I'm sure there are some who are interested in that kind of thing, even with the crowd in here."
This time it was Leafa and Sinon who protested the idea of someone dating Kirito. Both had the intention to do so anyway.
"Anyway...So the quest starts by first buying a half dozen milk from the dairy stand, and then talking to the caller for the baker shop outside. Then she asks... Thank you Argo. We'll let you know how the quest goes when it's finished and save you a bite. We already know you don't count it as gold until we confirm it."
Argo waved at them as they walked off toward the dairy stand. The dark evening sky over the first floor of Aincrad was dismal to say the least. When the group started the quest by bringing a half dozen milk each to the bakery caller outside the shop, the true goal of bringing back drop items from the bull cows of the level twenty area, they knew that only higher level players would have been able to get the quest to work at that point, and it was already valid with Argo.
After a short grind until each of them had the required half dozen drop items, they returned to the bakery caller and she gifted them the reward of a block of butter. Apparently each butter could be used three times before it would run out. So they were good for three bread each...
Kirito Leafa and Sinon sat at the unoccupied end of a small garden near the bakery, pulled bread from their inventory and began the test. Kirito actually followed the suggestion of heating it instead of falling to the weakness of his stomach, and heated it briefly in the bakery before cutting a small opening into the centre of the loaf and applying as small an amount of the butter as possible before putting it away and taking a bite. Sinon and Leafa had already finished their buttered bread and were drooling over the rich scent of Kirito's warmed and buttered bun. With eyes over his shoulders, Kirito turned to notice that the other person on the other side of the garden who was bored and probably resting between quests had the same long light brown hair he recognized from when they left the Town of Beginnings on the first day. She had a cute face as she seemed to lean closer in to take a bite of his bread. When a notification for applying harassment to the player who seemed to now be climbing over him, he responded no to the prompt and stood up. She stared up at the bread he held in his hand and gulped as if the most delicious delicacy was hanging there from his hands.
"Uuuh...fine. But only one bite for each of you. I'll share the next one with Argo."
He left the trio of girls to eat the bread on the garden and sigh in satisfaction to heat up another bread to give it the warmed status before returning it to his inventory and returning to them.
"I said no more!"
They were staring at him expectantly when he returned. He looked at the call girl npc for the bakery, and even though he still had the half dozen milk, the quest was over.
"So? Who's the new member who replaced me while I was heating up the loaf for Argo and myself?"
The girl with long light brown hair and light brown eyes blinked when she realized he was talking about her. She pointed at herself just to be sure, and when he nodded his head in confirmation, she blinked and removed her hood.
"It's fine for a guild of girls to know if I'm also a girl...My name is Asuna. It's nice to meet you. I overheard something about maybe becoming a cooking guild sometime earlier on? Apparently the strength level of the butter quest is pretty high, so I wasn't able to do it and get my own. You...must be the guild leader right? Would you at least let me join you for a party and help me get a butter of my own?"
She seemed to be just as much of a cook as Kirito was outside of the game, totally drawn in by the taste and smell which were so well portrayed by the game's systems instead of just satisfying the sense of hunger the game provides over periods of time.
"We aren't really a guild yet, and I'm not really the leader although Leafa and Sinon do follow my lead most of the time. We're just the high level group of the area."
"Oh right! You three were the first ones to leave the Town of Beginnings right after that frightening announcement right? You must be experienced at this sort of thing...I'd really appreciate if you would help me out and teach me some things."
Kirito had one part of him telling him not to go along with it, especially since she still didn't realize he was a boy, but the part of him which wanted to protect a person from going to their death, and her passion for cooking which might drive her to trying the quest alone made the decision for him.
"Okay, we'll help you out with the quest. By the way, I'm Kirito. Also, I'm a boy, not a girl."
Asuna was completely surprised to hear about Kirito's gender, but the excitement of getting her own butter was much more attractive than the distraction of her having assumed his gender wrong.
"Thanks! Now...how do I do the party thing...?"
She stared and looked through the menu. Since it would be pointless anyway, Kirito invited her to the existing party he had with Leafa and Sinon. After she pressed the confirm button, he smiled and began telling her how to invite someone to a party so that she would know for next time.
"Oh right, and if a party is already formed and you try to invite someone who is already in a party, it won't work. That's why I invited you instead of waiting for you to get the error after looking through the menus until you figured it out. Here, I'll also send out a party friend request so you can accept us to your friends list. That way you'll know where we are and that we're safe, and we know the same for you."
"That's...a very convenient thing. It's like that horrible man was trying to make it fair for us to try and clear the game."
Kirito frowned and was about to answer, but instead Leafa and Sinon were ready to go out and get Asuna her drops from the monster. In between monsters, Kirito tried a few crafting tricks since he had already been tinkering with it a little, and found out he was able to break down the horns of the bull cow they were fighting, and mix it with a milk to create a block of butter. It didn't take long when he went off the leads of what were involved in the quest, but surely not all ingredients would be so simple like that. After he figured that out, the next monster dropped the last item for Asuna to turn in.
"Might as well mention it since I just figured it out...there's a way to craft the butter ingredient."
Asuna stared in excitement.
"First, you break down the bull cow horn to a powder, then you mix it with milk. The result is the same butter item we receive from the quest. The level requirement and the drop item search is still the same, but now at least we know it isn't limited to the blocks we get from the quest alone."
"More info to plan on convincing Argo-san with for keeping your secret hidden?"
Leafa was being cheeky as always. It almost reminded Kirito of Shiro.
"Well, if it'll help, but no. I'm more interested in being able to find out more ingredients that can be made from the breaking down and mixing of ingredient class items we obviously wouldn't put into food."
Leafa and Sinon looked at each other and gave a confused expression.
"Ingredient items we wouldn't use in food? Like what?"
Kirito sighed and pulled a goblin horn from his inventory.
"Like a goblin horn, like this. Would you really like to eat something with an obvious poison effect and risk dying outside a safe area because of it? I also got success turning a goblin horn to powder and mixing it with valley herbs from that other quest and got hi-potions. There are small and subtle hints to mixing and getting things, but if someone goes into the inventory and just decided since they're feeling the hunger sensation tick, they'll randomly eat a toxic bee stinger, they could die from it. Ingredients though are not food items can be consumed raw. It's like a punishment for careless people and idiots."
For some reason, Klein popped in his head and he checked the status screen for his friends only to feel like Klein would feel disheartened Kirito would doubt him that much.
"Kirito is very smart... I didn't know you were doing that in you inn room."
Asuna was very interested in everything they were talking about. She was getting a lot of juicy information from beta testers after all. Not counting that she didn't know that, she was more interested in the use of combining and mixing mechanics for useful items and freeing up the inventory space clogged by monster drops.
"Oh, that's right Asuna. You're already level twenty one, so it would be good to find a group of your level and work together with them to level up and such."
She seemed a little hurt when he suggested it.
"Why don't you let me stay with your group? I was able to handle myself well against those powerful enemies before, and we did well even when you took your break to check the mixing mechanic."
Asuna was certain of the decision to stick with them. Of that, he was sure when the determination filled her eyes. It were as if the pixels didn't separate them at all.
"Well...sure. As long as Leafa and Sinon are okay with it."
When they nodded their heads, they finally headed back into the town and finished up Asuna's copy of the quest before meeting up with Argo.
"Another girl added to the group? And she has long hair. Don't tell me she's like Kirito?"
"No...she's a cooking enthusiast like me though. This is Asuna. We can confirm the legitimacy of the butter quest and I also have related information. When you break down the drop item meant for the quest and mix it with the milk, it becomes the same item from the quest. Basically the same thing, but it's a little more effort by buying the milk every time you mix one with the powdered horn."
She nodded her head and recorded the information in a limitless book she had bought from the Town of Beginnings.
"And now I suppose you want me to keep that other information I heard before a secret? Not even for other players who ask about you in aim to date?"
"Especially! ...Especially not those people. Our goal in the game should be to clear it and get back to our lives, not flirt around and waste time which could be helping us get out of the game."
The rest of the group seemed to take it hard since that evening they had been having so much fun together. Of course since they were still experiencing a game, they should be enjoying as much as possible as they went along, but every second in the game was a second the missed of their real lives.
"This is a game, and I get that some people don't have the same sense of urgency...but any more than relaxing between quests and working toward the end goal just feels like they aren't even trying and leaving it to the people who are more urgent to get out. I mean, Sinon Leafa and myself are already the top level of 25 after two days being trapped here, and we're looking for other groups ready to take on the dungeon. We're fifteen levels beyond what Sinon and I were alone to clear the first floor in beta. When we weren't being careful. Now we have to act as if letting our hit points reach zero is the end forever. We need to treat our lives more precious..."
Talking about it reminded him just how precious life had become for him. In real life, he lost his parents. His whole life changed three years ago, and now it was changed again. This time, he was going to prove he was stronger from what happened last time. It seemed that his better mood had picked Sinon up as well. She was feeling better, and even though the pixels were between them, he could feel that the lifeless sense her eyes gave before, disconnected from the life she was living was gone. She was living again.
Leafa was happy to hear the difference in his voice. The strength that she admired and loved about him. Asuna seemed to be more encouraged by his little speech.
"I'm so glad you all are letting me join you. It was so nerve wracking being careful not to have creeps after me. With others I'll be less nervous. Especially since Kirito seems to be a good guy and not even remotely a pervert...unless you like boys?"
Kirito violently shook his head until the dizzy status appeared, which only provided fuel for laughter.
"Oh right, you promised proof Kirito! Now, I'm expecting my bite of bread with butter."
He could sense as the other's gazes fell on the butter and bread as he readied a piece for Argo, and he finally took a bite.
"Oh fine then. Might as well use up my inventory of bread and butter for now since I know I can make them now from drops. If it'll keep everyone from staring at my food items."
Even Asuna couldn't hold herself back. Certainly it wasn't too unexpected the first time, but now she was used to the taste of the warm bread with butter. As a fellow cook, he was the smallest bit disappointed. That faded though when everyone was satisfied in the end. Argo was completely pleased with how the information on the quest turned out and a little mischievous about the group's other kind of information. Now it was three girls and a boy together though they looked to all be girls.
She did have other information which she considered free to them to share however.
"Oh, this older looking guy in red and white came by earlier and he had a one hand sword class like Kirito and Leafa except he also had a large shield. He's leading a small guild. They're not the issue although he's worth keeping an eye on. The issue is that a party is already forming to charge through the dungeon and the highest level of that group is eighteen. You might want to warn them off or join them if you think they'll be good enough to clear the floor with. Oh, and apparently one of the people in that group claimed themselves a beta tester. I don't believe claim of a beta tester unless they're above twenty at this point. But keep an eye out for that when you check that group. They're meeting at the ruined stadium near the outskirts of this town tomorrow morning."
The group seemed to be in agreement that they would ensure the safety of the group since they knew in advance what was coming.
"Thank you for today Argo. You're helping a lot."
"And your information on mixing and ingredients is helping me save a lot of newbies. You wouldn't believe how many people were able to save themselves with the antidote trick you told me after they were afflicted by a hornet mob sting. At least a dozen times today."
Kirito was becoming well known as the ingredients master as she apparently further explained. The group were tired though, and they needed to set an alarm so the game would wake them up early for the meeting of the other groups in the morning.
