It was December 30th 2022 and it had just gone past 12:05 in the afternoon.
I didn't have much of anything planned for today other than gathering relics to hopefully fill out my accessory slots a little and make a little extra money for myself. I was quite naked in that department save for my Agility earring and «Sigil of Lyusula» ring, so getting something for those slots was definitely a priority. While it was true that I still had the «Elf War» quests to do on this Floor, I honestly didn't see the point in rushing through them unprepared. I'm a non-beta tester solo-player: skimping on my gear or being lax in my preparations could get me killed just as quickly as suffering a crippling debuff in the middle of battle could.
Given the weather, however, I didn't have much enthusiasm for relic hunting or money-making.
Just like yesterday, it was raining. This was no light drizzle however; this was, perhaps, the single largest downpour I had seen since this death game began! I was absolutely soaked. Thankfully, the 5th Floor offered plenty of places where one could duck their head into to avoid the worst of the weather, and given how quickly one dried in Aincrad, this was a nice feature. At least in my eyes. There would always be one's complaining that it wasn't realistic. According to Argo, who was quickly becoming the name most often attached to my in-game correspondence, approximately 70% of the 5th Floor was covered in crumbling ruins and dusty pathways that presented something of a navigational nightmare. The other 30% comprised standard terrain but even then the landscape still proved to be dusty and somewhat difficult to traverse.
I had only been on the 5th Floor since the 29th - the day after it was unlocked - and I have to admit something: I missed the pleasant sights and scents of Rovia.
"Great idea, Raixas," I said quietly. "Come up to the 5th Floor, do some relic hunting. It'll be a good way to spend your time."
I could leap head first into «Caldera Lake» and not get any wetter than I am right now.
I was about to shrug my shoulders and pull the collar of my «Robes of the Outlaw» up around my neck when my display blinked, notifying me of an incoming message. As expected it was from Sheila:
«Good morning, Fujimaru! Are you busy today?»
Sheila had taken to calling me by my real name whenever we were messaging one another in private, so I figured it was only natural to return the sentiment myself. She still called me Raixas when we met face-to-face however. From these messages I had also learned Elise's real name: Momoko.
«Naw, not busy, Akiye. I was planning to do some relic hunting in the Karluin catacombs, but I can push that back. What's up?»
«Well, Kishi and co. are running off to a dungeon in the Dead Woods, and Momoko and me were hoping to explore the mines at the bottom of Mananarena.»
I didn't know about a dungeon in the «Dead Woods». I'd have to ask about that later. Getting back to the matter at hand, though, I sensed the unasked question.
«I'm free to play at escort. Good mining nodes there. Where are you?»
«Mananarena. We were just about to close up shop.»
«Keep it open for another hour. I'm in Karluin, so I'll take the tunnel. See you two soon!»
I got two replies: one from each twin. Each message contained half a smiling face and when opened and viewed together, I got the entire big yellow emoji face smiling up at me! I had to laugh at that.
Before I went anywhere however I had something to do and that was to restock my potions. The NPC I spoke to was a blonde-haired young woman standing behind a market-stall. She wore plain drab wool clothing and stout leather boots and waved to me cheerfully as I approached.
"Himi," I greeted, "I'll have four of your specials, please."
"Certainly, Raixas!"
Access to Himi's stall was gated behind a small quest chain that required you to resolve her troubles with a local thug. It wasn't anything dangerous or involved; the NPC giving her trouble could be talked down or disposed of. I went with the talking down option. According to the in-game lore Himi was a herbalist and apothecary seeking new plants and fungi to create new medicines. Apparently, she succeeded. Her healing potions were sweeter than the terrible-tasting potions bought from the 1st Floor, for example, and lasted longer whilst sporting a slightly reduced cooldown. Ideal for Tanks.
Argo had found the information very useful. You see, Himi hadn't been in the beta.
"Bye, Himi!"
"Bye, Raixas!"
I couldn't begin to tell you when I started treating simple NPC's like actual people. Maybe Imra had influenced my thinking?
But I had places to be, rain or no rain.
The trek to Mananarena usually took upwards of 12-hours through ruined buildings and rubble-strewn pathways. This wasn't because of the distance involved; no, it had more to do with the topography of the Floor. Progress was slowed because the obvious path was blocked off, usually by a collapsed building or fallen pillar. This required you to scramble up the side of an adjacent building and progress along the rooftops, at least until the path ahead was rendered inaccessible by a collapsed ceiling and you had to once more take to the ground to progress. It presented a vertical nightmare for large parties. Add the spawning monsters and you could easily become bogged down for a long time. Now consider the fact that I was a solo-player. I could quite easily be cornered by a hidden monster or fall into the «Tumble» status through a misjudged height drop, and then I'd be making the rounds through some no-doubt ugly monster's innards.
In the event that happened, I at least hoped I gave said monster a terrible dose of the runs.
Thankfully, there was a solution that didn't involve the ruins. Or me being eaten.
Karluin was the main town of the 5th Floor. It was very much in the majority when the 5th Floor was concerned because the town itself was built into a large swath of ruins that covered the vast majority of the southern end of the Floor, so it neatly fell into that 70% ruin figure Argo had cited. The villager NPC's made their homes in various tents or within the ruins themselves. Others still had massive cloth canvas' draped over large open areas to serve almost like a bazaar where merchants sold their wares and craftsmen plied their trades. Even today, in this torrential downpour, the merchants weren't discouraged at all. Beneath the town itself was a large catacomb that extended beyond the towns borders. The first floor of this dungeon was within the safe-zone and thus the anti-criminal code reigned, but anything below that first floor was subject to the usual dungeon rules. The bottommost floor is what interested me though: it featured a tunnel. This was the tunnel I had referred to in my message to Sheila. Whilst it featured its own share of monsters these could be bypassed quite easily and the wonderful thing about it was thus: it was normal terrain! You could breeze through in under an hour with favourable conditions.
This is exactly what I did too.
I emerged on the far side of the ruins bordering Karluin and soon thereafter was stepping foot into Mananarena. All-in-all my travel time had amounted to little over an hour.
I met the twins in Mananarena's marketplace. They hadn't quite got around to closing up their respective shops yet but judging by the crowd that was departing the marketplace, they would be wrapping up just about now.
Mananarena wasn't as large as Karluin. It was built into a massive depression in the ground which, according to game lore, had been the site of an ancient mine. It wasn't specified outright but I suspected that the Dwarves had likely excavated this entire region at one point or another. I wasn't suggesting I was some kind of Dwarf authority but I had seen numerous games where Dwarves had been buried in large sarcophagi and I have seen my share of these spread around the catacombs. Again, though, I was merely speculating. Like Karluin the buildings in Mananarena were in various states of ruin and the main lodgings consisted of pitched tents. Again, the marketplace was a bazaar, with a large canvas serving as the ceiling.
I hadn't walked beneath that canvas two seconds before a familiar voice addressed me.
"You're… Raixas, right?"
I turned my head to regard a tall man with short-cut and neatly styled brown hair. He wore a heavy suit of «Iron Mail» over a dark-blue shirt. He was armed with a longsword and shield whose names I did not know. The man himself, however, I did know: his name was Shivata, and he was a member of the DKB. In fact, he had been the leader of that DKB levelling party I had tagged along with, once upon a time.
I greeted him with a wave.
"Shivata, right? It's good to see you."
Sword Art Online tended to exaggerate one's emotional reactions. My greeting would have appeared very happy from Shivata's perspective, for example. I saw none of this from Shivata. The man was incredibly good at controlling his emotions, I recalled, even when he was under pressure.
"I thought you'd be on the front-line," I noted.
"Just got back."
He motioned towards the twins with a flick of his head. They were storing their wares into the internal storage of their respective «Vendor Carpets».
"I'm sorry to cut this short, but I have a meeting to attend." Shivata said, not unkindly. "I assume you're here to meet up with the twins?"
"I am. We're going gathering in the mines."
He gave me a cursory inspection up-and-down. It was hard to tell - I thought he was satisfied - but he eventually nodded his head. I didn't know this at the time but Kishi had asked Shivata to watch out for the girls if he ever saw them in and around town without him. This explained the inspection: Shivata had been sizing me up.
"Be careful."
"Will do, thanks!"
If I hadn't already made up my mind regarding my preferred guild, I would have likely joined the DKB. Shivata was a reasonable man and I had briefly talked with the two-handed sword user Hafner and come to the same conclusion regarding him. Lind, meanwhile, was spoken of highly by the twins. They still gave the DKB reduced rates on their equipment repairs, for example. That said, though, Sheila had stopped charging me altogether. The ALS, meanwhile, had kind of rubbed me the wrong way. The only interactions I could recall having with them had to do with my recruitment, which I had declined. Politely, of course. Not that saying that to an ALS member would change anything. Whether they thought I snubbed them is beyond me but suddenly I was a pariah in their eyes and to be quite honest I didn't have the time nor patience for that kind of drama.
Besides, I had resolved to speak to Kishi about joining «Brightscale». Hopefully. Eventually.
"Afternoon, Raixas!" Elise intoned.
"Hey, you're early!" Sheila followed up.
"Yup, and I've got gifts. Consider them a late Christmas present."
I had made a point of returning to the 3rd Floor after my picnic with Sheila. You see, I could only properly look after one of them with the current equipment I had, which worried me. My goal was simple: farm «Forest Elf scouts» in the hopes of grabbing myself a second «Cloak of Hiding», though the drop-rate appeared to be miniscule. Despite the odds I had managed to acquire two more by the end of the day, almost dying in the process - though I wouldn't tell them that - meaning I could keep one for myself. These handy cloaks were moss-green in colouration and decorated with delicate falling leaves. Statistically, they did nothing for one's protection; rather, they helped blend the wearer into the background in a manner similar to the «Hiding» Skill, though their durability decreased with each use. Considering Elise had the «Sewing» Skill she'd be able to restore the lost durability quite easily.
I materialized the two cloaks and handed one each to the twins.
"Sheila, you're already familiar with this."
"Oh! The hiding cloak!"
"Thanks, Raixas!" Elise excitedly said.
This made for quite a humorous physical load-out. You see, the twins wore what I could best describe as leopard-print trousers and jackets, long-sleeved beige shirts, and stout black leather boots. Trudging through ruins wasn't a nice experience in sandals. The delicate leaves of their moss-green cloaks which were very clearly Elven in design didn't exactly mesh with their animal-skin clothing.
I laughed at that.
"This coming from the pirate?" Sheila jabbed.
"I blame your sister. She did make it, after all."
"Hey, leave me out of your squabbles!" Elise snapped, puffing out her cheeks.
"Shall we go?" Sheila asked.
"You want to ditch those in the inn first?"
I was, of course, talking about their «Vendor Carpets». Unlike most items or equipment these could not be carried within your inventory and actually had to be physically carried around. They were quite bulky too.
"Please!" Elise cut-in.
"Here, I'll take those."
My build was scrawny as you already knew. In fact, the twins were slightly taller and heavier than I was, but I was intelligent enough not to voice that particular observation. My Strength stat, however, was likely far higher on account of my fighting focus. This allowed me to carry one mat beneath each arm.
Once dropped off safely in their room - I managed not to flip out on seeing their room - we walked the short distance to the mine.
The mine was right at the bottom of Mananarena and was considered a dungeon. It wasn't instanced however, instead being public. So you can imagine my surprise when we got down there and found that the entire place was untouched! Resources, especially treasure chests, were finite in Sword Art Online: once a public location was looted the treasure did not respawn. It presented a worrying dilemma. If other players did eventually catch up and join the front-line would the DKB and ALS be happy sharing? Or would this lead to another potential problem with players bickering over resources?
Potential front-line politics aside there was another theme I was beginning to see: if a dungeon or location wasn't in some way connected to the clearing of the labyrinth or the defeat of the Floor Boss then the front-runners tended to leave them alone. These "sub-dungeons" were thus being cleared by those catching up, like me or the members of «Brightscale».
Hope Kishi didn't hold me clearing this place out against me.
"Wow, it's dark in here!" Elise exclaimed.
"Okay, I can handle that."
I'm a solo-player. I've got quite a few tricks up my sleeve; I need to, if I'm going to survive. From my inventory, I materialized a thin band of metal inset with a small red gemstone alongside a long piece of dry wood, and I rubbed the ring's stone against my palm. Magic may not be available to players in the form of spells but trinkets like this couldn't be called anything other than magic, at least in my opinion. Once I set the stone to the tip of the wood the light faded from the gem as the wood caught fire. This was the effect of my «Flintlight Ring». I stowed it once more in my inventory and held my torch aloft. It didn't serve a battlefield function, so I didn't usually wear it.
For some reason I had the irresistible urge to grin.
"That was cool!" Elise whispered.
"Shh!" Sheila signalled.
"Thank you, thank you! I'm here all week."
The mine was everything I expected it to be. There were a series of tracks leading deeper into the dungeon, the walls were composed of roughly hewn stone, and the air smelled like dry cement. At least I wasn't smelling anything gaseous, otherwise I'd be out of here quicker than a scalded cat! As was to be expected, there were also monsters. One in particular was vaguely Final Fantasy-like. It looked like a weird combination of a spider and a stone; it skittered about on eight legs like an arachnid and was seemingly eating stone. In a disgusting reveal I discovered its… shall we say leavings… were actual ores.
Yeah, it's excrement could be used to forge weapons and armour. Hell of a picture, ain't it? Why I suddenly saw Shiro wearing poo-coloured armour with monsters running scared of him on account of his smell was beyond me, but it wasn't a mental image I wanted to share with anyone.
Thankfully, the rock composing its body wasn't too hard to cut through, and my «Scimitar» +6 (4S2D) was up to the task of dispatching them. As I cleared the immediate area of monster activity and pocketed their questionable ore drops - not a word! - the twins searched the ground on hands and knees and I occasionally seen them pumping their fists in celebration. Once we were safe I switched out my curved-sword for a pickaxe and went about gathering ores in a more conventional manner.
We had a pretty decent haul between Karl coins, raw ores, monster drops, and trinkets for little over three hours of work. Our haul consisted of:
378 copper Karl coins worth 10 cor each.
32 golden Karl coins worth 500 cor each.
9 large golden Karl coins worth 1000 cor each.
With coins alone we had raked in 28,780 cor. I don't know about the twins but I've certainly had worse days. The twins argued vehemently that I take half as an escort fee and I accepted when I realized that they weren't going to take no for an answer. So I ended up with 14,390 cor.
There was an assortment of gems as well but I ceded these to the twins with minimal discussion. They could use them in their crafts whilst I could not, and they ceded this point when I raised it. In return, I got the pick of the various accessories our labours had won. Saying as how Elise possessed the «Appraisal» Skill we didn't have to bother tracking down an NPC to do it for us.
There were two accessories that really caught my eye.
"I'll take these two, if that's okay?"
"That's fair!" Sheila replied.
Elise offered no argument.
The first was, I had to admit, a creepy-looking amulet called «Bone Token» seemingly carved from a finger bone suspended from a simple leather cord, which was designed to be worn about the neck. It boosted Strength by +2 whilst increasing the hate the wearer would generate with basic actions. As I was often a solo-player this kind of attribute had absolutely no effect on me, as I was always the subject of a monster's attacks regardless of hate modifiers. Given I had taken to partying with the twins however it would help me keep monsters away from them. The second accessory was an earring called «Closed Whispers» which consisted of a small blue stud. I already had my «Jade Key» Agility earring on my right ear, so I equipped this to my left. It provided a simple boost to my hearing range which could possibly give me greater warning regarding threats.
With our loot distributed and the girls having to get back to their guild-mates, we decided this was the best time to dissolve our party.
That was when Sheila tugged on my sleeve however.
"You're still coming by for New Year's, aren't you?"
"Yeah, if the invite still holds."
"It does!" Elise cut in. "I've been stockpiling cooking materials all week."
"Yeah, so you better show up!"
I grinned a very un-Fujimaru-like grin that was apparently fitting for Raixas.
"It's a date!"
We parted in the marketplace and I once again took the tunnel back to Karluin. But I wasn't going to stay in this dusty pit tonight. No way! I was going to go back to Rovia and dive into the canal. My heart was thumping in my chest as I ran and it was only when I was halfway through the tunnel that I realized what I had said to Sheila. The confidence of Raixas seeped away and the nervous, bumbling, socially awkward Fujimaru returned in full force.
"Kishi's going to kill me!"