Chapter 6

Saturday Nov 12th, 2022

"What do you mean, just the two of you," Sachi growled. Standing on the outskirts of Horunka the next day, the rest of the boys shuffled awkwardly. Upon hearing Naruto's plan for him and Arthur to go off together today, Sachi was not happy. "What if something goes wrong and you aren't here? Who's going to help then, Klein?"

"Hey!" Klein protested but the two of them ignored him.

"Klein will lead his group, Keita will lead yours. Stay relatively close together and nothing will go wrong," Naruto soothed. Seeing the worried look not letting up, Naruto's heart hurt. The reason he was going alone on a mission with Arthur was due to a request Argo had sent him last night, cataloging monsters in a remote dungeon on the western edge of Aincrad. Naruto didn't want to tell Sachi this because she would say he was prioritizing another girl; however, he had no good reason to leave if he didn't tell her. Stuck standing there, Naruto's jaw moved but no words came out.

"Can you at least tell me where you're going?" Sachi sharply asked.

Relieved at getting a question he could answer, Naruto told her about the dungeon.

"And the reason we can't come is?" Sachi followed up.

"Well, the dungeon is primarily an item dungeon. Very few quests bring you in there. It's good for mining ore and collecting gemstones for crafting, that sort of thing," Naruto hastily explained. "Therefore, by knowing what lurks in there, we can help out players who want to do those sorts of things."

"Makes sense to me," Klein agreed. Shooting him a thankful look, Naruto turned back to Sachi to get her reaction.

"Do you think we're actually going to see crafter type players?" Sachi asked thoughtfully. The rage and worry had faded behind her analytical and intelligent mind that Naruto knew he could never match. "I mean, with the limited spots available for skills, it would be hard to farm the required materials when you'd never be as strong as someone who focuses purely on fighting."

"Good point," Ducker agreed, "However, you're forgetting that blacksmiths will be in high demand."

"Also," Klein added, "from what I've heard, player blacksmiths outclass the NPCs fairly quickly."

"There is still the problem of getting the ore though," Sachi countered, "you'll need the mining skill in order to harvest them, someone will have to spend the time training it and transporting ores."

"I hate to interrupt this riveting conversation, but we need to get going."

"Ah, right," blushing Sachi broke off her next comment on the mechanics of MMOs.

Leaning in close, Naruto whispered in Sachi's ear to prevent the others from hearing, "I'll come back, I swear. I know you will too."

"Promise," Sachi pleaded him quietly.

"I promise." Extracting himself from the hug, Naruto waved goodbye to the group as he led Arthur away from them.

Some distance from the rest of them, Arthur finally commented, "So that certainly came on fast, huh?"

"Well, it has been a long time coming," Naruto replied slowly.

"Yeah," Arthur sighed, "and all the girls are always looking at you. I could use some of that attention you know?"

"Well, I'm taken now, so they're all yours," Naruto idly replied.

"Oh?" Arthur perked up, "So, you'll support my creation of a harem?"

Sighing, Naruto shook his head, "You know, it's because of statements like that, that stop you from getting a girlfriend."

"Ugh," groaning as if struck, Arthur walked along silently depressed. "So how did you hear about this dungeon?"

"Argo," Naruto snapped.

"Oh," Arthur cackled nastily, "and you got mad at me about my harem comment."

"It's not like that," Naruto growled, "she's important to the game and needs info, so I'm helping her out."

"Uh huh," Arthur's eyes gleamed with mirth, "and the reason you didn't tell Sachi is?"

Blushing Naruto hesitated before replying. "Well… She gets jealous so easily. I don't want to risk our relationship on something that's not an issue."

"So, you don't think not being able to tell your girlfriend that you're helping out a female friend is an issue?"

"I know it's a problem!" Naruto raged, "but Sachi is fragile right now. She needs to understand that I won't abandon her."

"What do you mean by fragile?" Arthur asked, turning serious for once.

"She told me…" Breaking off as his throat constricted, Naruto took a couple deep breaths before continuing. "She said she was going to kill herself after I left. You didn't see her man. It was horrible."

"I'm sorry," Arthur said sincerely. "If you need something, I got your back, you know that?"

"I know Arthur, I know," Exchanging a smile, the boys walked further into the woods.

"Well, here we are," Naruto told Arthur pointlessly.

"Finally," Arthur groaned, "if I see one more of those walking plants."

"They are literally the only thing in this forest dude," Naruto smirked.

"Ugh, how lazy does a game have to be to build an entire forest and fill it with one monster?" Arthur whined.

"Actually, I can answer that for you if you want."

"Really?" Arthur asked surprised, "then please do explain."

"In general, the fields are less diverse than dungeons. For this forest, according to the lore, those plants starting replicating and ate everything else in it."

"That's morbid." Arthur replied shocked. "Let's get into the dungeon." Walking down the stairs into a passage of rough stone, a strange sensation came over them. Looking around confused, the boys didn't know what had happened. Shrugging it off, they continued as the passage opened up into a large room with five connecting tunnels. The dark room should have been pitch black. However, the room was illuminated by some unseen source, providing enough light to allow for the boys to comfortably navigate it.

Immediately, it was evident that this was an ore farming dungeon. In the first room alone, there were two veins. "Argo certainly knows her stuff," Arthur whistled appreciatively.

"That she does," Naruto agreed. Search skill proccing, Naruto drew his blade, "weapons up, we've got something."

"What is that?" Arthur mumbled.

"A beetle. I think." Naruto answered. "Regardless, this what we came here for." Naruto was indeed proven right as they closed the distance to the enemy. Above its red cursor was written 'Tin Beetle'.

"I'll let you do the honors," Arthur smirked as he graciously gave Naruto the rights to fight the first enemy.

"Hmph," snorting at Arthur's graciousness, Naruto stepped forward to fight the beetle. Closing the distance, the enemy did not notice him until he was 4 metres away, closer than any other enemy he had fought up to this point. Since the beetle had a red cursor, Naruto was not surprised when the beetle immediately charged into its first attack. Dodging the swipe of its right front leg then blocking its left, the beetle fell into post-skill stasis. Cueing up a 'Vertical', Naruto released it with a shout. With a strange screeching noise, his sword made contact with the beetle.

Expecting massive damage if not an outright kill, Naruto lowered his blade. To his shock, the beetle stopped skidding after a couple feet and came back to its feet with 90% of its health intact.

"What?" Arthur screamed, "How crazy strong are these enemies?"

"But they aren't," Naruto asserted, calm but confused, "its strength isn't all that high."

"Well you certainly aren't farming them with defense stats like that." Arthur replied, becoming bored with the scenario after hearing Naruto's rebuttal.

Sidestepping another of the beetle's moves, Naruto continued to talk, "Hey Arthur, can I get you to use that other skill of yours, 'Reversal', I believe?"

"That one?" Arthur replied confused, "Sure, I guess." Baffled at the question, Arthur obediently readied his spear and moved into position to wait for the command.

Blocking the leg swipe with a 'Slant', Naruto yelled, "Now!" Taking advantage of the opening, Arthur jumped into the space Naruto provided and unleased a 'Reversal' sword skill. 'Reversal', as opposed to 'Thrusting Strike' was less orientated to damage. However, 'Reversal' had the advantage of being an off-type damaging skill. With a weapon where almost every skill did thrusting damage, 'Reversal' was composed of one hit slashing and one hit blunt. By slashing horizontally at waist-level the user then whipped the spear around and came down vertically with the blunt end. Another reason the skill was hardly used was the complex hand movements that the system pulled your body through. Without countless of hours of practice, it was easy to drop your spear after the skill went off.

Pulling the skill off beautifully, Arthur's first hit made the same noise as Naruto's, but the second hit landed with a dull thud. Falling back with a cry the beetle lost another 40% of its health bringing it down to half.

"It worked," Naruto declared with a glint in his eye. The beetle appeared to tremble in fear, Arthur thought, at the look on Naruto's face. "The other thing we need to test is hitting its belly."

"How?" came Arthur's succinct but logical response.

"Cut off a leg?" Naruto suggested.

"Well, I'll leave that to you," Arthur replied, backing up to avoid the beetle's next feeble attempt at attacking.

"Fine," Naruto sighed before jumping into action. Swiftly dodging around the beetle's slow movements, Naruto quickly got into a blind spot and started a 'Horizontal'. Landing on the joint, the leg made a horrible crunching noise before allowing the blade passage through it. With a cry, the beetle fell onto its side as its support failed. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Arthur finished off the beetle with a 'Thrusting Strike' into its belly.

"Huh," Arthur commented, "they really are pretty weak if you hit them correctly."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, "but can you imagine Keita or Issin trying to figure something like this out?"

"Good point," Arthur conceded, "They tend to think with their muscles."

"Exactly," Naruto agreed, "if enemies like this are showing up already then the ability to adapt will continue to become more important."

"That is worrying," Arthur nodded, "another problem is that they are going to see it's possible to go straight through these enemies, even if it takes ten or more sword skills."

Sighing, Naruto rubbed his temples as he imagined the headaches his friends were going to give him in the future. Moving to dismiss the post fight rewards, Naruto's hand paused, "well that's odd."

"What is?"

"A shield," Naruto explained. "That enemy dropped a shield."

"Huh," Arthur replied, "I didn't realize normal mobs could drop equipment in this game. It always seems like it tries to be as realistic as possible."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. Materializing it answered their questions, however.

"It's literally the shell…" Arthur breathed in wonder.

"Indeed, however, it's called a carapace."

"Carapace, schmarapace," Arthur mocked. "what's it called?"

"Its name is the 'Sturdy Tin Beetle Shield'. Probably specific to these mobs."

"Most likely," Arthur agreed, "the epithet sturdy may change on the drop. Is there a color or anything?"

"I'm not sure what you mean. The shield is gray."

"Oh right," Arthur exclaimed face-palming, "I forgot you were an MMO virgin."

"You know I take that as a compliment, right?"

"Well, you'll learn." Arthur replied, ignoring Naruto, "anyways, in MMO's each piece of equipment usually has its text in a different color depending on its rarity."

"Well, it doesn't have a different color, but it has a quality category." Naruto said after a slight pause to read the text, "This says rare on it."

"Huh," Arthur grunted, "If this is a typical MMO the ranking will go common, rare, very rare, and legendary. Perhaps a junk category at the bottom."

Looking through the rest of his gear, Naruto began to frown, "why is this shield the only piece with a quality rating? My sword says quest and the others say store-bought."

"Probably because only drop items have variance in them," Arthur shrugged.

"Seems logical," Naruto agreed, "well, let's keep going." Picking one path at random, the boys walked down it. Less than ten metres down the path, an odd flapping noise could be heard. Stopping, the boys watched awed as a giant moth flapped its way unsteadily out of an adjoining passage. The 'Tin-Winged Moth' was as ugly as its name implied. With a wingspan of just over a meter, the tin lined wings made it struggle through the air like a disabled blimp.

"Umm," Arthur intoned, unable to voice his feelings about this new development.

Nodding at Arthur's statement, Naruto too was unable to further comment on the moth. Drawing his 'Anneal Blade', Naruto walked forward to put the moth out of its misery. Aggroing it, the moth turned to face him. As Naruto closed the distance, the moth's wings glowed an eerie red color. "Uh oh," picking up on the development too late, Naruto realized he was trouble. Skill activating, the moth was launched forward, first a swipe with its right wing that Naruto uneasily parried, the follow-up slash with its left wing struck true.

Hitting hard against the rocks on the wall, Naruto rose uneasily missing close to 30% of his health. Curling up with laughter, Arthur was no help. "Shut up man," Naruto complained, face red with embarrassment.

"Sorry," Arthur laughed, wiping at his tears, "But that moth just wrecked you!"

"I noticed," Naruto growled, stalking forward once again. Once again, as Naruto got within a certain distance the moth attempted to charge up the same skill. Not waiting to take the move head on, Naruto slid and rolled under the moth. Standing up, the moth's skill went off over his head. Sneering at the moth, Naruto unleashed a 'Vertical' on the back of the moth. Crying as the critical sound went off, its health bar dropped precipitously and didn't stop falling. Bursting into blue polygons, Naruto snorted at the rapidly disappearing fragments of the moth.

"Well," Arthur said impressed, "you made up for it with a one-shot."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, "notice how its name was Tin-Winged? So, the wings are its strong point. Avoid them and it goes squish."

Nodding his agreement, Arthur walked beside Naruto as they continued to map out the dungeon.

Finishing typing out his report, Naruto was sweating profusely. Adding a final quick sentence on the mysterious feeling that they had encountered leaving the dungeon as well, Naruto collapsed at the inn table. Sitting beside him, Sachi was fuming. Unaware that the others were already here, Arthur had let out that Argo better be happy at the work they put in. While she said nothing in front of the group, Naruto was slowly freezing over due to the icy aura Sachi gave off. "So, how was your day?" Naruto awkwardly asked.

"Oh?" Sachi replied scathingly, "finally done talking to your 'friend' and have time for me now?"

"Ugh," Naruto grunted. Looking around the room hoping for a savior, Naruto was left wanting as everyone avoided his gaze. Swallowing, Naruto met Sachi's eyes, "well, you know, you got to finish a job before you can slack off. Don't want to forget things, lives may depend on it."

"Right," Sachi growled, defeating Naruto's logical argument through sheer force of will. "And why didn't Argo come hear it in person?"

"She's too busy to bother with us slackers back in Horunka." Naruto answered smartly, happy to get an easy question. As Sachi's face became further incensed, Naruto re-evaluated his words. Noticing the error, Naruto's face went pale as he tried to fix it, "not that we are... uh, slacking, but she is on the frontline, which is quite far, and even with teleporting it's a pain to…" Trailing off, Naruto realized none of his words were helping.

Lips tight with rage, Sachi's eyes flickered around the table, desire to berate Naruto mixed with an unwillingness to bring everyone into what should be a personal problem. "I see," was all Sachi finally said as formalities overcame rage. Still sweating, the mood slowly came back to life as awkward conversations broke out between various people.

The next hour passed in uncomfortable silence for Naruto who said few words to the rest of the group. He knew he should present himself as more of a leader, but that was difficult with Sachi sitting beside him emanating an aura of possessiveness. Despite how much he cared for the girl, Naruto was forced to conclude that Sachi was weakening his ability to help people get out here. Part of the reason, unfortunately, was that Sachi didn't seem to care if they left or not. If she could stay at his side, she would be happy. Leaving her today to help another girl, especially without telling her beforehand, had brought her worst traits out on display.

When Sachi failed to react to yet another of Keita's attempts to make conversation with her, Naruto decided it was time to intervene. "Sachi, can we go talk in our room?" Naruto whispered into her ear.

"Why of course dear," with cold eyes, Sachi smiled, a predator eyeing its next meal. Swallowing his nerves, Naruto excused himself from the table before leading the way up to their private inn room.

Holding the door open for Sachi to walk through, Naruto followed her through and closed it behind her to give them privacy. Turning around, Naruto was shocked upon viewing his girlfriend. Shoulders slumped, Sachi was sniffling and the aura that had surrounded her for the previous hour had faded completely. "Sachi?" Naruto asked with wonder.

Turning to face him, Naruto could now clearly see the tears flowing down her face. "I'm acting like a jealous bitch, aren't I?"

"Well…" trying to deny it, Naruto found himself unable to. Swallowing his pride, Naruto admitted his faults. "I should have told you that the dungeon request was from Argo, I know that. But when I thought about how you would react, well… I guess I got scared."

"You got scared to tell me that you're trying to advance the game and save lives, huh?" Sachi asked tonelessly, "I really am the worst. I should support you, I know I should."

"Then why don't you?" Naruto was forced to ask.

"Because… because I'm terrified that you'll see that you don't need me!" Sachi yelled. "Don't you ever wonder why none of the girls from school asked you out? Do you realize how hard it was to make them think we were dating? I potentially ruined any chance you had at finding love. When you never brought it up, I thought you were grateful to me for keeping the hyenas away, but now… You never noticed, did you?"

"Uh," came Naruto's unintelligible response. He was still processing the first information that had been thrown at him when Sachi began dumping more.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Sachi mumbled, lowering her head in shame.

Reaching his arm out, Naruto stroked Sachi's head, "look, what you did wasn't right, I'll admit that. However, I could never hate you Sachi, I hope you know that. You've done so much for me that I don't know where I'd be without you. No matter what happens, I will always care for you."

"Really?" Sachi asked, hope battling despair in her voice.

"Really, really. You're my best friend, now and forever, don't forget that." Naruto answered with a smile, trying to cheer up his forlorn girlfriend.

"Alright, I trust you." Sachi said, strength re-entering her voice. "If you need to help Argo out, feel free. However," Sachi said with a glint in her eyes, "if you think you can maintain two girlfriends, I can guarantee you will regret it."

Swallowing, Naruto replied hesitantly, "uh, yes ma'am."

"Thank you for being the best boyfriend," viewing Sachi's angelic smile, Naruto was once again reminded that he didn't know anything about women.

Tuesday November 15th, 2022

"Well, here we are," Naruto declared proudly to his tired group of friends. Over the past four days, Naruto and co had fought their way through the floor to arrive at the labyrinth of the first floor. It was now the tenth day of SAO.

"Took you long enough," a nasally voice interrupted, snapping Naruto out of his reminiscing.

"Argo," Naruto said happily, "just the girl I was looking for!"

"Aww," Argo replied with a twisted grin, "you're going to make me blush, but, you shouldn't say such things in front of your girlfriend, you know?"

Having his blunder pointed out, Naruto began stuttering, "A-ah well info, not like anything else… Ow!" Crying out in reflex, Naruto got his foot stepped on by Sachi.

"It's nice to see you again, Argo," Sachi said with a strained smile as she stepped forward to greet the girl.

Wary of the niceties, Argo hesitantly stepped forward and accepting the outstretched hand. "It's nice to see you again as well, Sachi."

Despite the seemingly civil greeting, nervous sweat was gathering on all the men present. Swallowing, Klein stepped forward to extend his greetings to the whiskered girl, "Hello again, I hope your travels have been pleasant."

Looking at Klein sideways, Argo burst into laughter. "Is that your new pickup line? You should revaluate your strategy. Maybe Naruto could give you some pointers," Argo added on with a wink.

Cheeks flushing with anger, Sachi's smile still refused to leave her face. "Yes, he is so very good at… sweettalk..."

This time it was Argo's turn for rage to build in her eyes. Suppressing it, Argo went back to Naruto's opening comment. "So, what info were you looking for?"

Relieved at Argo for not spiraling the conversation out of control, Naruto stepped in the middle of the girls, "I want information on the monsters in the labyrinth, any traps, and the best quests for levelling around here." Over the days, Naruto had gone up one level to five along with the rest of his party. While leveling was slow with so many members, picking quests with good rewards made up for the reduction in experience from monsters.

"Hmm," Argo hummed, "well that's going to cost to you. My blood, sweat, and tears went into collecting that info before y'all wandered lazily into town today, you know?"

"Of course, I'm willing to pay a fair price. You know that Argo," Naruto told her with a smile.

"And what does that mean," Sachi growled frostily.

"It means that Naruto here gets what he pays for," Argo insinuated with a husky voice.

"You bitch," Sachi began but Tetsuo and Keita held her back preventing her from attacking.

"Argo," Naruto frowned, "that wasn't very nice you know."

Shrugging Argo brushed it off, "it's who I am, she can get used to it or leave I suppose."

Sighing, Naruto rubbed his head to prevent a headache he felt building. "Back to the transaction at hand, how much Argo."

"Oh, how about 1000 col and a kiss?" Argo teased.

Screaming, Sachi broke out of the hold the boys had her in and launched herself at Argo. Predicting this outcome, Naruto stepped in front of his furious girlfriend and caught her. Wrapping her close, Naruto whispered into her ear, "please Sachi, she's doing this to get under your skin. Why don't you go for a walk and cool off? We'll be done shortly."

While logical, Naruto had underestimated the effect of telling his girlfriend to leave him alone with another girl. "Absolutely not," Sachi growled, "I refuse to leave you alone with… with her!"

Somehow turning her into the worst swear imaginable, Naruto flinched. Getting them to work together would not be easy. "Just don't attack her, turning orange is not acceptable."

Once reminded of the consequences, Sachi settled down enough that Naruto felt comfortable releasing her to turn back to Argo.

Leaning forward with interested eyes, Argo smiled nastily, and Naruto felt that headache arrive. "So, if I want you to pamper me, I just have to throw a tantrum?"

Face beet red, Sachi's mouth flapped as she tried and failed to come up with a response. Receiving a sharp glance from Naruto, Sachi turned on heel and stalked away from the group.

"I'll uh, go keep an eye her," Keita declared awkwardly following Sachi away from the rest of them.

"I could just wait for you to release the next edition of your guide book," Naruto declared refocusing the conversation, "then I'd get all the information for free."

"Hmm, you could," Argo consented, "but then you would have to sit around town for at least two more days, twiddling your thumbs. Buying now gives you an advantage on the players coming behind you."

"So, you think investing a significant portion of funds into it is more reasonable?" Naruto fired right back.

"Well, I guess that depends on how much you value my services," Argo replied disinterested, examining her fingernails. "dungeons like the labyrinth have a lot of monsters and tight corners. It's hard to confirm information in there. That makes me reliant on paying adventurers for it. Do you know how much that costs me?"

Grinding his teeth, Naruto forced himself to match Argo's tone, "Hmm, so what you're saying is that you plan on charging us for info you haven't even confirmed? Guess we will have to go somewhere else," Naruto sighed.

"If that's what you want," Argo nodded.

"What is happening?" Klein whispered to his friends.

"I have no idea," Harry One commented.

"They're having some sort of match I think," Issin replied dumbly.

"I would've lost already," Dale admitted.

"So?" Argo sneered, "you're still standing there."

"That's because I'm thinking," Naruto commented lightly, "I'm sure all of the people reading your guidebooks would hate to hear how the knowledge in them may not be correct."

Face going pale, Naruto's comment struck the first significant blow. "H-haha," Argo laughed uneasily, "why would they take your word for it when that guidebook is tried and true?"

"Well," Naruto started happily, "that guidebook has been confirmed by beta players, but on the frontier, how are the premier players supposed to take the word of information published on pure speculation?"

"Speculation?" Argo scoffed, "don't kid yourself, Nar-boi, you aren't a frontier player, you're four days behind."

Cheeks blushing in embarrassment, Naruto decided to admit defeat. "Look, I trust your information Argo. I'm trusting my friends lives on it. Name your price and you'll have it."

Meeting Naruto's intense gaze it was Argo's turn to shift in embarrassment, "well, there was some truth in what I said. I remember the beta test very well, so I base the information off that and confirm it with reports from the frontline players. It should be solid."

"Then that's good enough for me," Naruto nodded.

"Alright," Argo replied slowly, "though it's still hard to sell you the information. You're asking for a lot, plus the number of people you're sharing it with…"

"Then I guess the 1000 col is what we're paying?" Naruto sighed. While the money was quite a bit, Naruto deemed it worth it. His personal funds were in the range of about 10,000 col right now. He would have much more if he was solo, but everyone in his group had about the same amount give or take what they spent on equipment and potions.

"There is one deal I can offer you," Argo said, bringing Naruto back to the conversation, "however, you'll probably end up doing more for me this way."

"I'm always willing to help one of the primary forces for clearing this game, Argo," Naruto smiled, "you should know that."

"Thanks, Nar-boi," Argo blushed. "You know how I got you to map out that dungeon on the western edge of the map?"

"Yeah, of course," Naruto nodded, "the tin tunnels, one floor, no boss."

"Exactly," Argo agreed, "well it has a counterpart on the other side of the map. I was planning on getting someone else to map that one, but they flaked on me. Would you be willing?"

"Of course," Naruto complied, "so, what does that leave the price of the info at?"

"Free," Argo said strongly.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked worried.

"Of course, I'm sure," Argo waved off the doubt. "I'm getting much more out of this than you will."

"If you say so," Naruto conceded, "But that's only about half a day of work."

"It's even, alright?" Argo growled.

"And here I thought you were benefitting," Naruto teased.

"Ugh, you're insufferable,": Argo groaned, rolling her eyes at Naruto. "anyway, here are the coordinates for the mine. Alternatively, you can just flip the x-axis coordinates from the tin mine."

"Sounds good," Naruto smiled, "see you later, Argo."

"You too, Nar-boi," Argo replied thickly, pulling her hood down to hide her face before dashing away.

"You certainly got a way with the ladies," Arthur whistled, brave enough to approach only after Argo had left.

"Shut up," Naruto groaned, unable to take any more teasing at this moment.

Noticing his friend in a mood, Arthur only smirked and didn't reply.

"So, you're leaving." Sachi intoned flatly.

"You did say that it was alright," Naruto reminded her, "and we did get the information for free."

Huffing Sachi crossed her arms. She realized she had trapped herself without room to complain here.

"Plus, I didn't even have to kiss her to get it," Naruto teased.

"It would've been your last kiss," Sachi threatened with a growl.

Laughing awkwardly, Naruto decided to play it off as a joke. "Have fun in the labyrinth. Keita and Klein know what quests to start you guys off on. Remind them to not go above the first floor."

"Yeah, yeah," Sachi grumped. "I still don't see why Arthur is the only one who gets to come with you."

"I need Arthur with me to learn more about the monsters we encounter," Naruto replied quickly, "you are too important to the group dynamic to not have you there. I don't trust Keita's judgement without you there to rein him in."

"You don't give him enough credit," Sachi argued without resolve. "It's Sasamaru and Ducker who are the problem."

"Fair," Naruto sighed, "they undermine him, and Tetsuo doesn't have the backbone to insert his views."

"Agreed," Sachi nodded. "Klein seems to have control over his group though."

"Yeah," Naruto laughed, "they are also quite a bit older, and Klein has led them across many battlefields."

"You know, it's nice to have someone older around sometimes," Sachi smiled.

"What!?" Naruto gasped sarcastically, "are you leaving me for Klein?"

"What? No! Of course not." Sachi replied confused. "Oh, it was a joke, very funny."

"Come on, cheer up Sachi, I'll be back before you know it."

"I know," Sachi answered unhappily, "every time you leave, I get scared though."

"You'll get over it," Naruto replied patting her on the head. Turning around to leave, Naruto wondered if it was only Sachi he was trying to convince.

"Wow, this is boring," Arthur remarked as they continued their trudge east from Horunka. Based on the coordinates of this new mine, the two of them had decided it would be faster to teleport to Horunka first. What they had forgotten to consider, was the swamp in the middle of the first floor that they now had to trudge through again.

"You'll survive," Naruto replied, but inside he didn't want to be here either. However, Argo had already fulfilled her end of the deal by sending him a multipage message with all the information he could ever want on the labyrinth.

"You don't need to talk big in front of just me Naruto," Arthur grumped, "save that for your damsels."

"Stuff it," Naruto shot back, but he'd been seen through. Letting lose a large sigh, Naruto confided in his friend, "I'm scared I'm leading everyone to their deaths."

"Umm, that was random," Arthur blinked, "I just wanted you to admit that trudging through this swamp avoiding enemies is boring."

Ignoring Arthur's attempt to blow it off, Naruto continued, "I mean I feel confident in the battles but outside of that, what right do I have to tell them that we can clear this game. Even if we beat this floor today, which we won't, that's ten days a floor. It would take us 1000 days to get out of here, that's close to three years!"

"Uhh…" Arthur replied dumbly, not having a response.

"I mean, can you imagine fighting with your life on the line, every day for that long? That doesn't even include the floor bosses which we have yet to encounter, I might mention!"

"Whoa, don't shout man, I understand your worries, we all have them."

"You're right, sorry," Apologizing at a lower tone, Naruto scanned the area to see if he had aggroed any monsters. Sighing, Naruto noticed two coming towards them. 'Kobold Swamp Troopers' notorious for possessing a disarm skill. "Ready your spear, there's two."

"Divide and conquer," Arthur asked with a smirk.

"Works for me," Naruto answered, a bloodthirsty grin plastered on his face. Ready to blow off some of his pent-up anger, Naruto swiftly closed the distance on the kobold. At level 4, these enemies were no slouch, however, Naruto and Arthur had killed many of them during their first travels through this area. Approaching from the side, Naruto closed distance to the one on the left and sensed Arthur moving to intercept the right one. Working together smoothly, there was no one Naruto would trust more to have his side in a fight, not even Sachi.

Distance reduced to under two metres, the kobold revved up its disarm skill. Smirking, Naruto thought to himself that the problem with the disarm skill, is it requires contacting a weapon. Dodging it, using a shield, or taking the blow on a limb would all prevent the effect from proccing. Taking the first option, Naruto jumped to the left, easily avoiding the slash aimed at his right arm.

With the kobold staggered from missing its skill, Naruto cued up 'Rage Spike', an addition to his repertoire he unlocked shortly after clearing the tin tunnels. Turning its helmeted head, Naruto was unable to see the expression on the kobold's face before his sword contacted it. Screeching pathetically, the kobold was blown into mud missing three quarters of its health.

Due to landing in mud, the kobold took on a tumble status. Sighing that the fight ended in such a pathetic way, Naruto nonchalantly plunged his sword into the downed enemy. Ignoring the blue polygons, Naruto turned to see Arthur empty-handed, calmly dodging a kobold attack. Picking up his weapon, Arthur launched a 'Thrusting Strike' to finish his fight.

"Nice one," Naruto commented, fist-bumping his friend.

"Back at you," Arthur lazily replied with a smile.

Entering the dungeon, Naruto and Arthur were met by that familiar disorientating feeling that Argo had told him came from zone switching. "The 'Copper Caverns', eh?" Arthur commented as the zone name came up.

"So, one is copper, and one is tin, I wonder why?" Naruto asked as he began searching for enemies.

"I can answer that," Arthur surprisingly replied, "In MMOs by smelting tin and copper together you get bronze."

"Oh, getting an answer from you, I suppose miracles do happen."

"Hey," Arthur indignantly replied, sulking behind Naruto.

"Focus up, we have movement," Naruto said sharply.

"With you here, I doubt I need a weapon," Arthur answered bored but drew his weapon regardless.

Focusing with his search skill, Naruto closed in on silhouette moving across the ground. Hiding behind the rocks on the rugged ground, it would have been impossible to spot without the search skill. "What is that?" Naruto mumbled to himself, halting his advance.

"Uh, I see nothing," Arthur replied, bored with the situation, full confidence that Naruto would deal with it as usual.

"Prepare yourself," was all Naruto said, hoping his friend would focus on the new enemy that was approaching. Keeping his blade held high, Naruto tracked the enemy with his search skill. With no visible warning, the mob exploded out of its hiding place and was met with Naruto's blade.

"What the hell?" Arthur yelled shocked. Ignoring his friend Naruto dashed forward and struck at the enemy with a 'Slant'. With a thud, Naruto's blade separated the mob's head letting the boys get a good look at it for the first time.

"A 'Copper Snake'" Arthur declared as it burst into blue polygons. "So, who wants to be the one to get by hit it to see how much damage they do?"

"I can do it," Naruto sighed. While the beetle's in the tin dungeon had been a lot tankier, Naruto already knew that these enemies were the more dangerous ones. If unsuspecting adventures came in here, fatalities were bound to occur.

"Actually, it might be better if I do it," Arthur countered, "your sword seems more effective against these enemies. With my spear I have a greater chance of missing."

"Valid," Naruto admitted, "I'll let you take a hit from the next one. Don't panic and drink a potion after, I'll deal with the mob."

"Deal," Arthur sighed, knowing this was the right play, even if getting hit intentionally was never fun.

"Enemy approaching from the right passage," Naruto spoke after they walked in a little deeper.

"A snake?" Arthur asked, ready to take point.

"No," Naruto shook his head, "It's either big or flying." Just after Naruto finished speaking it came into view. The 'Copper Snake' had an almost rusty hue to it, preventing it from being spotted. This enemy seemed to be designed to be seen. Translucent wings sporting neon orange designs, the butterfly monster practically lit up the room.

"The 'Copper-Bodied Butterfly', huh" Arthur commented.

"You know I can read?" Naruto asked.

"I know, I just like saying the names out loud."

Sighing, Naruto readied his blade to strike down the beautiful creature. Crying out upon seeing Naruto, the butterfly's antennas glowed purple despite the distance between them. Stopping, Naruto felt a foreboding feeling as he hesitated over four metres from the creature. There was no realistic way that the butterfly should have a skill that stretches this far, Naruto thought.

Reaching a crescendo after three seconds, the butterfly pointed its antennas toward Naruto and unleashed the skill. That skill turned out to be poison. A billowing cylinder of poison stretching toward him, Naruto panicked. "What the hell!?" leaping toward the wall Naruto rolled into a ball ignoring the uneven ground. Standing up, Naruto glanced towards his status. Poisoned for 30 seconds and 5% of his health gone. Better than it could have been.

Dashing forward, Naruto looked to finish the butterfly off quickly. He didn't want to find out what would happen if he took that breath straight on. Flapping its wings, the butterfly hovered close to the cave roof. With his target 3 metres in the air, Naruto paused. Aiming 'Rage Spike' upwards would enable him to hit it, but the blow would be glancing at best. Additionally, now that he was close to the enemy, he understood its name. Unlike the clunky tin moth, this butterfly didn't have metal wings, it had a metal body.

Stalking unhappily, Naruto waited for the enemy to lower back to a reasonable height. When the Butterfly finally did come back down, it was with antenna glowing already. Determined not to get caught out by it again, Naruto instantly activated a 'Vertical' and flung it at the monster's head. With a strange absence of sound, Naruto's sword paused upon meeting the space between its antennas. Following a brief pause, the butterfly was blown back, and the purple light faded.

Looking at the mob's health bar with confidence, Naruto received yet another shock, it was still full. It seems like the poison attack interacted with the sword skill to cancel each other out. Gritting his teeth Naruto ran forward to hopefully take advantage of the long cooldown but the butterfly had already retreated to the ceiling.

"Can you hit this thing?" Naruto asked Arthur with a growl.

"I can try," Arthur replied doubtfully, "poking it should be easy, but I don't have sword skills I can aim upwards easily."

Groaning, Naruto drank a health potion while waiting for the butterfly to descend. With both boys' eyes focused upwards, they missed the danger approaching. Once again, the butterfly lowered, and this time Naruto met it with a 'Slant', trying to force it into the path of Arthur's spear.

Not missing the opportunity given to him, Arthur used 'Twin Thrust', the spear skill he unlocked at 50 mastery, to impale the monster. Colliding weakly against the back of the copper body, the butterfly took minimal damage to its health bar.

"Damn," Arthur swore, looking to Naruto to get information on their next move. However, Naruto was lying on the ground, paralyzed by a 'Copper Snake' that they hadn't noticed approaching.

Mouth moving weakly, Naruto was unable to give his friend advice on how to play this. Paralysis was vastly unfair, the beta-testers had complained. According to Klein, a massive movement got Argus to change how paralysis worked in the game. Previously, paralysis could last up to ten minutes of being unable to move. Eventually, the players finally got them to realize that having someone unable to move for that long created massive issues. In the live version, paralysis was reduced to 30 seconds. In any other MMO, this mechanic would still be broken, and instantly nerfed. The only reason it wasn't as bad in SAO is how rare the status effect is. With almost no way for a player to inflict it, it had been thought to be almost a boss special. In fact, paralysis did not exist on the first floor of SAO in the beta.

Panicking at the unforeseen circumstances, Arthur took a step back. Antidotes were expensive, even for grade 1 ailments, as a result, Naruto and Arthur had none. Since he damaged it, the butterfly was currently focused on him, but the snake was dealing with its current prey, Naruto. Slowly wrapping its body around him, Arthur knew that unless he stopped that, Naruto would most likely die before recovering from paralysis. Steadying himself, Arthur decided there was only one skill he possessed that could make a difference here, 'Reversal'.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Arthur forced himself to look away from his prone friend and refocus on the butterfly. Waiting until he saw that familiar purple glow, Arthur started up 'Reversal'.

The butterfly sank down right into the path of Arthur's spear, tip catching its wing, the butterfly took significant damage for the first time. Twisting the skill to the limit, Arthur allowed the system to guide his hands through the complex movements required to change his grip on the spear for the vertical slash. Pushing his body to the limit, Arthur's spear just caught the tip of the snake's head. Rearing back, the snake uncoiled itself as it changed targets.

Catching Naruto's grateful gaze, Arthur nodded briefly before looking back at the monsters circling him. With the butterfly flapping above his head, Arthur couldn't relax. The snake was most likely no issue on its own, but the height difference between the two enemies made them almost impossible to deal with together. They could attack together and not interfere with each other.

Sweating, Arthur took a step back to help reposition. He needed to buy only 15 more seconds before Naruto came back. As shown, Naruto could one-shot the snake if given the chance, it was up to Arthur to give it to him.

As if they were waiting for each other, both enemies began to start their skills at the same time. Making a split-second decision, Arthur met the snake's skill with 'Thrusting strike'. Repelling its lunge and dealing a good chunk of damage left Arthur open to take the poison breath move in its entirety. Cringing as the purple mist washed over him, Arthur straight up lost over 30% of his health. Reading his status nervously, Arthur saw the dreaded poisoned icon appear. 300 seconds. For five minutes, Arthur would have to endure 20% health loss a minute. Without drinking a potion, it was impossible to survive this. Trusting Naruto to cover him before either the snake or the butterfly recovered from its cooldown, Arthur chugged a potion.

Trying to do rapid math in his head, Arthur wondered if his time was up, damage proccing once every five seconds, Arthur would have to endure 60 procs of poison damage, each one dealing 1.67% of his health. To survive, Arthur needed to heal just over 30% in those five minutes. Coming this far, panic started to fade. As bad as the beginning potions were, Arthur would recover 40% in only two minutes, this means he would actually stay at the same health value as damage and regen were perfectly balanced.

Noticing the butterfly coming down for another round, Arthur began to wonder if he had mistimed it. Thankfully, Naruto's blade passed through it like a mirage. Falling with a gurgling noise, the butterfly flapped its one remaining wing uselessly. Flopping around uselessly, Arthur impaled its face with the tip of his spear. Health continuing to drain, the butterfly broke into polygons.

"Thanks man," Naruto said wholeheartedly.

"No," Arthur rebuked, "it was a team effort. That's what friends are for, right?"

"True," Naruto admitted, "I can't imagine what would have happened if I had insisted on running off solo."

"Best not to think on that," Arthur sighed. "So, I shouldn't fight for the next four minutes, what do you want to do?"

"What I want to do is leave this place and collapse the entrance," Naruto admitted. "as to what I am going to do, I still don't know."

"Alright, I'm sitting down," Arthur replied, tired from the stressful fight.

Standing at attention, Naruto kept his search skill primed to avoid another sneak attack. "Why do you think this dungeon is so much harder than the tin one? You would think they should be equal, no?"

"Yeah, you would," Arthur agreed, "however, if that snake doesn't have paralysis in the beta, and the butterfly doesn't have poison, then it's pretty similar."

"True," Naruto nodded, "one could argue this one may even be easier with how squishy the snake is."

"Hey, what did happen to the snake in that fight?" Arthur asked. The last he had seen of it was blasting it back with a sword skill, but it was still very much alive.

"Killed it when I recovered," Naruto explained, "basically landed on top of me. It's why I was almost late for the butterfly."

"I was beginning to think you'd ditched me," Arthur teased.

"Please," Naruto blew off, "I was the one who was in danger of being ditched." Laughing the boys settled into a peaceful silence. "So, you still didn't explain why only one of the caves got buffed between beta and live."

"Why would I know?" Arthur shot back. "I didn't make this game, I can guess though."

"Sure."

"Well," Arthur slowly started, "if I was designing the game, I wouldn't want two areas to be the exact same. That's probably why the enemies have different forms between the two dungeons. Alternatively, with this dungeon being jammed into the mountains, it's harder to get to. That way, you could make the argument that this is a more advanced dungeon than the tin one."

"I'm not so sure about that last point," Naruto argued, "You said yourself that the tin and copper dungeons are linked to each other. You need both for bronze."

"Yeah," Arthur admitted hesitantly, "my last thought is that this dungeon isn't supposed to be harder than the tin one, it's just an expression of different properties of the metals."

"Explain," Naruto said curiously.

"Well, the tin dungeon is all about the hardness of the metal. Not being able to deal damage through the shell, the moth having dangerous wings. Here, however, its all about magical effects. Inducing statuses and so on. You, for example, are an expert fighter. Therefore, you deal better with an enemy trying to attack you straight-up."

"But here they use long range, and sneak attacks," Naruto broke in.

"Exactly," Arthur nodded

"Well," Naruto said with a sadistic smile, "let's show this dungeon how good I am at adapting."

"Let's," Arthur agreed, matching his smile. Setting off to map the rest of the dungeon, the enemies trembled before the boys' wrath.

"Wow, it's late," Naruto commented as he stepped through the Tolbana teleport gate from Medai. The setting sun cast a beautiful orange glow on the rustic town. Despite the scenery, Naruto felt only gloom glancing around the town. He had planned for 6 hours maximum to deal with the cave. It had taken over nine. There was no point to going out now unless Arthur and he were willing to do it alone. The others would be getting burned out and looking to return to town for warm food and their beds. Sighing, Naruto hung his head as he set course for the inn.

"Why the long face, Nar-boi?" Argo interrupted him. Focusing on where the noise came from, Naruto eventually spotted a diminutive figure blending in with the surrounding buildings.

'Oh, hey Argo," Naruto replied lazily.

"Don't tell me the dungeon gave you that much trouble?" Argo asked shocked.

"It certainly wasn't easy," Naruto answered through grit teeth.

"Eh?" Argo tilted her head in confusion, "the monsters there were weaker than their tin counterparts in the beta. A trade-off for the dungeon being more out of the way I always reasoned."

"Yeah, well," Naruto sighed, "not anymore. The snake has a paralysis bite and the butterfly uses poison."

Mouth flapping like a fish out of water, Argo was stunned. "Don't pull my leg like that, Nar-boi, you had me going for a bit there." Chuckling, Argo hoped that Naruto had been fibbing about that. Looking into his tired eyes, Argo swallowed. "Paralysis? That's bad."

Nodding, Naruto agreed. "We each got paralysed once and its an experience I hope to never repeat."

Shaking slightly at the memory, Arthur rapidly nodded his consent. Near the end of the dungeon one of the snakes had approached from behind to get him. Naruto had disposed of it easily, but the feeling of lying helpless for half a minute felt like endless torture.

"The designers of this game don't understand how long a second is in combat," Argo whined. "The players have tried to tell them, but at least it got cut from ten minutes. Now that was painful."

"But your life wasn't on the line then," Naruto argued. "I don't think you want to experience it, unable to move while a snake slowly winds its way around you. Thinking you're about to die in a stupid dungeon."

Face turning apologetic, Argo weakly tried to defend herself, "I'm so sorry Nar-boi. I wouldn't have sent you if I knew how dangerous it was going to be."

Sighing, Naruto stepped forward and patted the downtrodden rat on the head. Ears perking up, Argo glanced at him abashed. "You shouldn't do that," Argo mumbled but made no effort to stop him.

"Come on, Romeo," Arthur rolled his eyes, "You have a Juliet already."

"I always thought Romeo was better off with Rosaline" Argo shot back.

Coughing awkwardly, Naruto stopped patting Argo's head and resumed walking for the inn.

"Do you have the map data," Argo asked, falling in step beside Naruto.

"Yeah," Naruto nodded, "We completed the dungeon. Probably lost money on potions consumed but we will see after selling some drops.

"Ah," hearing once again how much trouble she had put him through, Argo's mood fell once again. Biting her lip, Argo's gaze followed the cracks in the stones as she trailed along half a step behind. Sighing at how stupid she was, sending her only friend on a dangerous mission, Argo became depressed. Feeling sorry for herself, Argo was snapped back to reality as a warm presence engulfed her hand. Looking at it, Argo saw Naruto's hand wrapped around hers. Once again, Naruto brought warmth and color back into her life, Argo thought with a bitter smile. With his incorrigible personality and cocky smile, this boy had rampaged his way into her heart in such a short time.

Unable to meet his eyes, Argo stared at their intertwined hands. This was as close as she would be able to get, she knew that. Naruto would forget about her when he returned to the real world. He already had a girlfriend, who has far more beautiful and feminine than she could ever be. In short, that warmth would never be hers. A filthy rat, that was her Uncle's name for her, so she embraced it. A rodent, sniffing the outsides for scrapes of food, for shelter, for warmth. But she would never belong. She knew this, that lesson had been beaten into her, and yet, she still desired it. So, she stole what she could.

Coughing, Arthur stood there awkwardly, staring at their hands. Once Naruto uncurled his, Argo felt the cold start to return, but it was enough, for now.

Author's Note:

So, I got rid of the preamble as it wasn't really serving a purpose, I didn't think.

I honestly don't know if SAO broke its damage down into different categories, mine does. Obviously the change to paralysis makes some things impossible, but as I always thought it was a stupid mechanic anyways. I tty wrapping my head around being unable to move for ten minutes and just can't do it. You may as well log out and get something to eat in the mean time.

WIth Sachi's excessive possessiveness coming to light, the romance dynamic is slowly shifting :o but more on that next chapter.

Thanks for reading! Also, I appreciapte everyone who has taken the time to review, it means a lot.

PS. All right and privledges of Sword Art Online belong to Reki Kawahara