You were back at Lisbeth's Smith Shop, feeling as if a massive weight had been taken off your shoulders. As she promised, she handed you a list of various materials she needed you to gather to fill her order. They were scattered among various floors above and below 48. Most were easy this far into the game, like mithril, some tedious yet relatively harmless, like Brave Steel, but one was a pretty rare find. Immortal Sandstone, found on Floor 58. Typically, it could be found in special collection points guarded by strong enemies. If you could get that out of the way first, the rest should be a breeze to find.

Lisbeth gave your equipment a quick check-up, then sent you on your way. She wouldn't be accompanying you for this journey. You traveled to Lindarth's teleport gate right away, thinking it would be easier to prepare on that floor's town. Once you selected Floor 58 as your destination, you found yourself enveloped in a blue light as you felt your weight shift, similar to an elevator.

Soon, you were located in the town of Sahal. Virtually no players in town were wearing heavy armor due to the heat. Even your lightweight mithril was starting to get toasty. It looked like most desert towns you'd see in RPGs: adobe buildings, water pots lining the streets, covered stalls selling exotic goods, and guards with curved swords. The market was truly the grandest part of the city. With spices, décor, unique weapons and armor, and even the occasional land charter being sold, it was a trade hub for both high- and low-level players alike.

You were definitely going to find at least one or two people willing to go out gathering materials here. After visiting all the local shops and stocking up on supplies, you looked for anyone who was planning to venture into the sandy wastes. To your surprise, it actually took a while. Most people were either not interested in gathering or had already prepared large parties. Eventually, you found someone to join your party.

It was a young girl in a red coat, accompanied by a small, feathery dragon. She may have been notable for her looks alone, but her pet was what gained her serious fame. This was unmistakably Silica, the Dragon Master. Her status popping up in the corner of your eye confirmed that. Why she had agreed of all people was beyond you, but you were grateful for any help right now. Once you had made your introductions, the two of you didn't waste any time heading out.

Outside the towering walls of Sahal, the landscape was almost impossible to navigate. The sun beat down harshly on travelers, and the terrain didn't lend itself well to moving on-foot. People figured that one out pretty quickly when the floor was first being explored. To make it easier, though, the NPCs of Sahal offered one of the few creatures in this world not hell-bent on killing people. Players could buy or rent camel mounts, which allowed them unhindered movement in the desert. They couldn't be used in dungeons, however.

Silica had rented a camel before leaving town, offering to take the reins. She'd be better suited for it with her skills. You were seated behind her with a map in your hands, while her dragon rested on her head. There were three different points where you could gather Immortal Sandstone, but you only needed one to meet Lisbeth's demands. You pointed Silica toward the closest one to town.

The journey was relatively uneventful, but seeing the rolling dunes and rising canyons was pretty nostalgic. Naturally, you had performed scouting duties here, but the floor's entire layout escaped your memory. That would happen if you didn't return to a floor for a long time. You found yourself getting lost in the atmosphere, or possibly just the heat. Either way, Silica had to snap you back to reality when she asked for more directions.

Before you could space out again, you figured now was a good time to talk about anything.

"Hey, Silica? May I ask why you wanted to join me?"

"I heard this floor is really rich in metals, so I wanted to help out a friend of mine keep her stock up."

"Does she run a business?" She couldn't mean…

"Yeah, a blacksmith shop. Lisbeth's Smith Shop."

"Oh, I see."

As far as you knew, you were the only one Lisbeth asked for help. Maybe she sent a message to Silica once you left.

"So, you know her too?"

"Of course I do! She's like an older sister to me." Silica had a lot of energy in her voice.

The two of them sounded pretty close. It was probably a good thing that you two met, then.

"Then, I take it, she asked you to help her out with something?"

"No, nothing like that. She does a lot for me, so I figured I should repay her."

Turns out this meeting was a lucky coincidence, then.

"Huh. I figured she would be asking more people for help right about now."

"What do you mean? Is she in trouble?" She glanced back at you, sounding worried.

"No, nothing like that. She just asked me to gather some materials so she can fill a big order."

Silica seemed surprised when you said that. "Wow. It must be huge if she asked you to gather things for her."

"Let me guess, she normally does it herself?"

"Yeah! How did you know?"

"I ran into her while she was doing that. Long story short, I helped her out and now we're friends… I think."

"I don't see why not. She's usually into that kind of thing."

"Into it?"

"She never told you, did she?"

"About?"

"That time a guy came into her shop, broke her best sword, and then helped her get some valuable dragon… stuff."

You asked Silica to elaborate further on this story, so she told you as much as she could remember. Kirito, once again, was brought up. Even worse, this girl seemed to glow bright red when she talked about him. How many girls did this guy have after him?

Silica then asked you to explain your story with Lisbeth, so you recounted your experience in the swamp. A fair bit into the tale, she seemed to be more interested in picking out similarities between your stories.

Once you were finished, Silica seemed to be lost in her own thoughts for a bit. She almost finished putting together a mental puzzle, but was interrupted by the camel's sudden stop. The two of you had reached your destination.

Before you lie vast amounts of rubble encircling a massive hole in the ground. Sand was leaking over the sides to fill a bottomless void. Broken stone pillars were leaning over the edge, threatening to join whatever was down there. These were the remains of an ancient temple, according to the local NPCs, but anything of value would be in the sinkhole. Jumping down there would be suicidal, as SAO had fall damage. You could imagine a few different ways down there, such as using your blades to scale the cliff, or…

"Rope!" Silica joyfully exclaimed while pulling out a large coil of rope.

Or that. With all the rubble laying around, it would be effortless to anchor the rope. You wondered if there was enough to get all the way down, though. Before anything, you kicked a rock down the hole to listen for any kind of thud upon impacting the ground. You heard the faint echo of stone at the bottom after 4 seconds. No matter what, it was going to be a long way down.

Silica took one end of the rope and tied it to a sturdy piece of rubble that was a short distance away from the edge. Once she gave you a signal, you tossed the rest of it into the pit. The two of you tugged on it to test its stability, and once you had confirmed that it could hold both of you, the descent began.

First, Silica began to inch down the rope. You followed above her. Sliding down wouldn't be a pleasant feeling for either of you, with rope burn and all. Since you were above Silica, you had to match her moderate pace or risk bumping her off the rope. It felt like hours before anything happened in there.

Aside from falling sands and rhythmic footsteps, the journey downward was nearly silent. You could hear Silica's dragon, who you learned was named Pina, whimpering occasionally. Whenever she did, Silica would quickly calm her down. That was a much-needed break in the monotony.

Eventually, you reached the end of the rope. Yet somehow, you hadn't reached the bottom of the pit. There was a distinct lack of natural lighting, and you had to keep both hands on the rope to safely lower yourself. Maybe the bottom was right in front of you, and you just couldn't see it. You asked Silica if she could see anything from where she was. Turns out she was unable to as well.

Pina, however, had something you could only dream of. Wings. Silica immediately told her partner to fly down to look for the bottom. With a confident cry, Pina launched off of Silica's head and down into the sandy sinkhole. When she hit rock bottom, she let out a loud call towards both of you. She was actually close by!

Silica turned up to you and asked for a second opinion.

"Do you think we can make the fall?"

You had to think about that for a second, but you declined.

"I don't want to risk it."

That actually gave you another idea.

"But I think I know a way that will work."

"Really? Tell me, tell me!"

Silica truly had the energy of a young girl. It was starting to get contagious.

"I'll climb the rest of the way down solo, and once I reach the bottom, I'll set up a light and try to catch you while you fall. Right now, hold me up a little."

"Alright. I'll trust you. Pina! Come back up!"

She ordered Pina to give you a little support while you took out one of your katars. Once it was in your hand, you jammed it into the sand wall in front of you. After wedging it in, you repeated the process with your other katar. If this failed to keep you suspended, at least it probably wouldn't kill you from this height.

Luckily, your blades were stuck in far enough to remain stable. Slowly, you began crawling towards the ground beneath you. One by one, you jerked your katars out of the wall and plunged it in lower down. Eventually, your feet hit something. Solid ground was finally within touch. You pulled out both katars and landed safely.

You then took out a torch from your inventory, lit it, and carefully propped it against the wall. Silica immediately noticed the light and called out to you before you could look around.

"Hey, are you ready to catch me?"

"Yeah. On 3?"

She agreed to that. You looked upward to where Silica would be falling from, noticing how the light from the surface was no bigger than a star in the night sky. The two of you had climbed down a surprisingly long distance.

In sync, you counted to three with Silica. On three, you heard her beginning to scream.

"Catch me!" She held this out for a while.

You saw her appear in the light, and adjusted yourself in the short moment you had before she hit the ground. With your arms spread out, you felt Silica's chest crash into your face, so you latched onto her. The impact knocked you off balance, but you didn't fall over. Once you were steady, you gently lowered Silica onto the ground. Pina arrived a moment later and made sure the two of you were okay before resting on Silica's head once more.

"Seems like that worked." You dusted yourself off.

"Hey, when I landed on you, you didn't… feel anything of mine, did you?" Silica seemed anxious about something.

You shook your head. "No, I didn't."

"Oh… okay." For some reason, she seemed disappointed about that.

You retrieved the torch and waved it ahead, noticing a crumbling stone archway with sand flowing in front of it. Silica was already eager to explore the dungeon. Her attitude was beginning to rub off on you, since you could feel your own excitement building. If this is the effect Silica had on people, it wasn't hard to understand why she was so well-liked among players.

After getting your heads doused in sand while walking through the archway, you and Silica arrived in a large courtyard, impossible to see fully with just one torch. More pieces of rubble were scattered around, including pillars, statues, and braziers.

In the distance, the imposing silhouette of a massive temple lie before you. Something was meandering across the darkness in between. Several somethings shambled in random patterns. The surface had its own variety of fauna, but each floor's underground held an entirely different ecosystem, one much more dangerous than that on the surface. Those noises could've been anything.

You nudged Silica with your elbow.

"Be ready for anything. I hear some nasty stuff down there."

After nodding to you, Silica became much more serious-looking and drew her dagger. The two of you snuck around in unison, with Pina acting as a lookout from higher up. As you moved further towards the entrance, you lifted any toppled braziers and lit them with your torch. They served as secondary light sources as well as markers for when you inevitably needed to return. All the while, the footsteps got louder and louder, signaling the gap between you and them closing.

The footsteps ceased as you ducked behind a fallen pillar. When they stopped, so did yours. You could feel yourself tensing your muscles. For a moment, everything was dead silent.

Then it walked around the corner.

A charred, rotting cadaver popped out from behind the rubble. It was wearing filthy beige rags and had sharp, untrimmed nails. This monster was a Tomb Walker. It stared at you for a moment with its blood red eyes before releasing a piercing shriek.

From all around you, you heard several other monsters rushing towards your direction. Escape wasn't an option anymore. You stood back-to-back with Silica, drawing your katars and bracing yourself for the oncoming assault.

The Tomb Walker lunged at you with its talons aimed at your head. With a quick swipe of your left hand, you parried the attack and countered with a cross. As it stumbled backwards, you dashed forward to finish off the enemy. You released several rapid swipes, but they were blocked by the walker. Just then, you heard Silica warning you of a threat behind.

Another walker was charging toward you, and two more were attacking Silica. You ducked its series of rakes, then turned your head to view the first walker. It was also sprinting in your direction, looking to impale you with its claws. The other walker stood in a low stance off to your right side. It could attack at any time, so you had to keep an eye on it. You had to focus on every enemy in a battle, since they could catch you off guard at any moment.

You stepped to the side, dodging the deadly claw stab. Once it had passed you, you swept your leg to trip the walker and followed up with a stomp to the head. Its roar was muffled beneath your foot. Immediately however, the other walker began to quickly assault you. It let out a flurry of blows aimed all over your body, which you kept parrying.

It was impossible to keep focus on both walkers while guarding against this full attack, yet you tried anyway. Soon, your defense faltered and the walker got a few clean strikes in on you. You were hit in your liver, legs, and chest, causing you to stumble onto one knee. The two walkers creeped up in front of you, planning to take advantage of your vulnerable state. As you looked up toward your attackers, you saw a dagger fly into one of their eyes.

Silica dashed past you, Pina flying behind. She did a quick hop to reach the hilt of her dagger, then kicked away the walker as she pulled out the dagger embedded in it. It flew back onto the ground and rolled onto its stomach. Still on the ground behind her, you felt yourself become enveloped in a green mist. You could feel your wounds becoming numb as you noticed Pina healing you. Silica hadn't given her a verbal command, yet she knew to support you while you were downed. Their bond was pretty impressive.

You managed to get off your knees and stand back up, feeling refreshed. Silica sidestepped a swipe from a walker, allowing you to rush in and finish it off with a powerful hook. The other walker was still recovering from Silica's attack, so you darted over to it and sent it flying with your foot once more. Once it collided with the ground, it disappeared in a burst of light.

Silica tugged at your arm while you breathed heavily. "Are you okay? I saw you take a nasty hit back there."

"Yeah." You managed to speak in between pants. "I'm fine."

You really weren't, though. An unnatural fatigue swept over your body, but your status effects didn't show anything was wrong. Silica seemed to notice this as well.

"Hmm… I think we should go back."

You shook your head. "No way. I'm not leaving without the material."

"But what if you get killed?" Silica's voice was much more distressed now.

"I… I swear I'll be okay. Lisbeth needs this."

Silica looked incredibly shocked. She spoke in a quiet, but understanding voice. "You'd really risk your life for her?"

"I would. But don't say that like I'll get myself killed."

She glanced downward, then at Pina on her shoulder. The room was silent as you waited for her to say anything. Instead, she was simply lost in thoughts for a while. You didn't mind. Eventually, Silica gained a strong resolve in her eyes.

"If that's really what you think, then I'll make sure we finish what we came here to do. And I promise I'll get you out alive. Because…"

Silica then put on a giant smile.

"You two are perfect for each other!"