Chapter 2

"Whilst in this world a persons physical form will have no effect on their ability to act; despite the realistic scan of their gender and body. As such stats in this game mean everything." ~ Seven Kingdoms Online: Stats

The first thing he needed to do was gain better armor, his blade would scale along with him so what he needed was, at the moment, better defense. As of that moment he was flying at top speed towards some ancient ruins with a quest that would allow him to gain a piece of armor that when leveled would help him up to level 25, easily, considering that there was the capability to upgrade it up to fifty times. Its name was Kofun Armor.

Quickly he began to slow down, losing altitude as he decided to go into the jungle now. He ducked and weaved through the forest branches, graceful enough that not a single snag was made. As he landed the scenery was absolutely awe shocking. Ancient crumbled buildings stood proud with any pride they could have left after years of weathering. Grooves of each individual brick filled with the roots of plants, large trees grew off, and through, the buildings. Tumbled pieces of stone lay littered like strewed toys. Before his eyes, covered behind a curtain of leaves, was a large building. It looked like an ancient temple and he stepped tentatively forward, unsure to what had changed from the Beta.

As he entered, the rock looming above him like a beast ready to devour him, his eyes scanned the darkness, watching carefully as he walked through the broken halls. Kirito scanned through the multiple rooms as he walked, their stained floors of black indicated battle, he could see the few skeletons tumbled into a corner as time and effect took their grip on the dead.

Quickly he fastened his pace, soon it became too dark for him to even see; his one hand was following the way of the wall, his steps careful just in case something came barreling out of the darkness. But then he saw it, the prin-pick of light that shone down from above. As he neared he just realized how large the hall he was walking in.

He was but a small fraction, the celling was so high that he could not see it in the darkness; some sections had fallen down, no doubt the result of time and weather. From these spears of light Kirito walked carefully through the arches above him, the pillars on either side seem to echo with a promise of painful death.

Then he heard it, the shuffling of feet and moaning of the dead. Immediately he dashed forward, not even sparing a look back as he quickly jumped over a fallen piece of debris, his blade swinging in a motion as he slammed it with the flat of his blade sending it flying backwards. He could hear the crashing and cracking of bone even as he continued his mad man dash. Quickly he reached a door, and it was only then that he stopped and turned around to look.

Chasing after him was a horde of skeletons. Their pale bones standing out against the dark, empty soulless eye sockets staring at him even as their jaws clicked, their movements were jerky, almost like a newborn foal. In their hands was an assortment of weapons ranging from spears to stones. They carried on their bodies the armor of their fallen comrade and a screen popped up before Kirito.

[Quest: Nephilim's Undead: Activated]

[Kill all skeletons in the room.]

Quickly he readied his blade even as they shambled closer to him, when suddenly they screamed. Kirito wasn't sure how they could scream neither without their voice boxes nor without any lungs, but they certainly had the fear factor down. From their slow shamble they suddenly broke into a sprint, dashing forward with fury as their clawed fingers reached out to him. As soon as they got into range his blade flashed, trails of black and red following him as he swung his sword like a demon. He unleashed a barrage of his Sword Skills many were the newly created ones he had made, he made sure to continue his pace backwards, killing many but keeping a safe distance to ensure they didn't surround him. Despite being three levels higher than he was each had relatively low stats that enabled him to dispose of them easily, however it was their sheer number that made them a nightmare to face.

Leaning back even as a claw swiped forward, he retaliated immediately through a dancing blade, slashing across the air and decapitating the skeleton where it stood; he watched in satisfaction as it shattered into the blue polygons that he now recognize as death for anyone who reached the end of their Health. He jumped back, using his wings to allow him a larger jump than what should have been possible. As he landed gracefully on his feet he readied his next Sword Skill, one that he had made despite being low leveled. Kirito rested the blade against his left hip, spreading out his legs into a stance that made him look like he was sitting on an invisible chair. The blade was glowing with jet-black streaks and golden light. Once they came in about a meters range he unleashed his skill.

He had named it, Limited Blade Works. It was a 10 hit skill that swung out his blade in front of him and sliced everything it touched. With his stat points from leveling up placed into Agility it allowed him to quickly swing his blade and cut down the swarming skeletons. As his combination came to an end he quickly stabbed his sword into the ground and activated a unique Seido racial ability. Signed In Blood is a skill that allowed Kirito to single out a Nephilim Corpse and duel him alone, everything else was pushed back five meters and kept there as per dueling rules. He made quick work of the singled out mob and quickly used his wings to jump against a pillar before swinging away into a nearby light.

The fight continued for a long time with Kirito leveling up to level 8 from soloing this dungeon. As the last Nephilim Corpse shattered into a thousand blue polygons Kirito stabbed his sword into the ground and sat down, the pressure from taking on easily over a hundred skeletons by himself had absolutely worn him down. On the good side he had already allocated over 3 points to his blade from the Unique Passive that it had. He sighed when a window popped up before him with the quest reward within it, along with a large number of Col and Mats that would help him level up his armor. Kirito swung his sword to his right before sheathing it in one smooth motion into his back. His left hand manipulating the character window as he equipped his hard earned armor.

It looked like folds of leather stitched together from back that overlapped each other to give him optimum defense. It was dark brown in color and had golden studs lining the overlaps to ensure their positioning. It fitted the slender frame of his body perfectly, giving him a nice boost to his Agility and Vitality. Three buckles, made on top of one another, lined the front of his armor ensuring his armor stayed together in one place when he moved. It was smooth and slick, shining under the sun almost like it had been polished by hand. Kirito shook his head with a small smile as he launched himself forward, deeper into the dungeon and so he grinded and grinded for the next few hours.

His eyes were dimly aware of the brightening sky when he finally came out of the dungeon, having picked it clean of experience and Col. His level had jumped from 8 to 12 from his vigorous farming. He even had enough Mats to level up his armor to the max in one go if he was lucky.

"That was tiring." Kirito yawned, stretching his back. His long trek back to town had begun, but he was not even half way there when a PM notification appeared in the very top right corner of his HUD. The blue lines across the edges edging into his view like vines reminded him that this was not reality, rather this was a death game he was caught in. This was evident that despite the last few hours of swinging his sword like a mad man as he attempted to farm, his arms were not even sore rather it was his mind that felt numb like he was about to simply fall down dead.

However no matter how tired he was the scenery around him was still as beautiful as ever. He had opted for walking instead of flying in consideration to how tired he was, but as he walked amongst the roots of these great trees he could not help but be struck with awe at home amazing this world was. Every single intricate detail was thought out by Kayaba Akihiko; every interaction was planned out to perfection. If this world hadn't turned into a death game it would have been one he would have perfectly enjoyed playing hours upon hours. The idea to remove magic had been a bold tactical strategy by Kayaba; it allowed him to draw in a curious audience who had no idea what would happen in this world.

He opened the PM by pulling down his finger and opening the menu's page, quickly he navigated to [Messages] and read the content. He almost grimaced the moment he saw the name.

[Kii-bouu~

Ki-bou why haven't you contacted me? This game has been hectic! I've already sold more than 10 000 Col worth of information and I'm desperately being bugged down. Listen we have to talk, meet me in Choyaku. See you soon~

Argo

PS. You're paying.]

Kirito groaned as he reread the message.

Argo had been one of his few friends during the Beta Testing time, she was well known for being the best information broker there was, severely out doing all competition and ruthlessly getting rid of them; it was rumored that she knew even more than some of the designers themselves. However all knowledge comes with a price, and hers came with a pretty hefty price. Despite this many people flooded to her to know about information regarding bosses, areas, rare drops and even love lives of certain gamers.

They had stumbled across each other when he was grinding for Mats and couldn't find this one. In frustration he had thrown his sword on the ground and imbedded it into the rock underfoot. She had laughed at him before teasing him; she had gotten his name and immediately partied with him to find the Mat. Eventually they found a Mat, after fighting a boss nonetheless; he had saved her from the death penalty that followed after the one minute [Fatal Fall]. They had then travelled back to the outpost when he found out who she was and what she did later on he had questioned her on why she wanted to party with him. She had told him that something about him drew her in before teasing him for saving her and giving him the nickname Kii-bou. Although, he did always wonder about those whiskers on her face; he wondered if she still had them.

Deciding to humor her he continued on his way to the town, he needed to go there anyway. Choyak in all honesty was not even a town; it was more of a farming village that supplied the capital of Seido with its food. There were farming houses made of bamboo shoots and cloth panels. Triangular brown roofs reflected the sunlight dully; they seemed to be placed in random places as though a child had simply thrown them on the ground. Long white pathways contrasted the brown muddy water surrounding them in long rectangular shapes. Individual stems of green could be seen poking out just above the waters surface with NPC's walking around. At the far end of the village there was a single mud baked building that was known as the blacksmiths area, near by that there was an even larger brown building with wooden walls and paper panels; written in Japanese were the words Flying Boar. A stereotypical name for a stereotypical bar.

As he pulled open the paper door the smell of beer and tea waffled to his nose like a solid wave of hot air. He staggered for a second, shaking his head, before walking in, and his eyes easily identifying Argo in the corner with her hooded cloak. She looked up as he approached the short rectangular table, her chocolate brown eyes staring back at his with a twinkle of mischief, curls of golden auburn hair fell around her face like a perfect frame. Her face was small and petite with a cute look as a result of her pale skin. There were three marks on either side of her face, most identifiably as whiskers of Argo, The Rat. He knew that underneath that cloak she was wearing full body armor and had a nimble build with mainly everything into Agility, claws would be attached to her belt along with throwing picks; she was a sneaky rat with very sharp claws.

"Kii-bou!" she yelled flinging her arms around his neck as she hugged him, "You came; are you willing to accept my previous offer." Her sly smile made him shiver as he slowly dethatched her arms from around his neck. She pouted as they sat down, sad that he rejected her again.

"What do you want Argo?" he asked sitting down, crossing his arms over his chest.

"C'mon Kii-bou don't be so cold to me." She whined.

"You're that cold to everyone else." Kirito pointed out, one eyebrow raised.

"But not to you." She said softly, a soft blush going across her face, a sudden awkwardness and solemnness fell upon them.

"Argo …" Kirito sighed, he hated dealing with emotional stuff; he found it absolutely baffling, "How are you holding up?"

"I'm adapting Kii-bou. Looks like you got your armor?" Argo asked with a slight tease.

"Yeah." He agreed, "So why did you call me here?"

"Because I wanted to talk?" she said sheepishly.

"Argo." His voice was flat.

"You're no fun Kii-bou." She sighed.

"I know." The boy clad in black grinned.

"I called you here because I wanted to see if you got this." She opened her menu before materializing a black book, waving it in front of his face.

"Yes." Kirito replied, opening his own menu with a down swipe and summoning his own Grimoire, "I have my Grimoire."

"You know what it does correct?" she questioned, flipping open her own book.

"Yes." His fingers quickly shifting through the pages of the Grimoire and showing her a page with new Sword Skills listed down as his creation.

"Kii-Bou I have someone who is willing to buy your Grimoire and Kofun Armor for 75 000 Col." She jabbed the table to emphasize her point.

"75 000?" he breathed, "The game hasn't even been two days yet. How do you earn that much?"

"I don't know, I don't ask questions." Argo said, "So?"

"No, I'm not giving either up. Tell the buyer no." he said shaking his head.

"Knew you were going to say that Kii-bou." She giggled, "It was already done."

"Then what was the point of you calling me here?" he asked exasperatedly, smacking a palm into his face.

"Come on Kii-bou, don't be like that." Argo whined, draping a hand over his arm.

"Argo …" his words were left hanging, the tone of a threat obvious.

"I need to check if you'll vote for me in the up coming elections." Argo huffed, puffing her cheeks a little.

"Is that it?" Kirito questioned, laughed.

"So you'll vote for me?" Argo asked, giving him a curious stare.

"Yeah I will." He said, "Well maybe at a price."

"Kii-bou …" Argo started.

"Now, now, I am just playing your game Argo." Kirito said grinning.

"You're insufferable Kii-bou." The infamous information dealer groaned.

"Fine, I'll keep this favor if you win." Kirito said, rolling his eyes.

"Thanks Kii-bou." She smiled, a nice big grin, "You'll still treat me the same if I'm leader right?" her voice was soft; almost as if she was afraid.

"Always." The solo player gave her a reassuring smile, ruffling her hair as he stood up, the notification for him to pay appearing and disappearing as his fingers expertly flew across the holographic keyboard, "Come on, let's go." He said, waving her over.

"Wait where are we going?" she asked as he started towards the door, "Kii-bou!" she yelled, quickly getting to her feet and dashing across the ground to keep pace with him.

"We're going grinding." He grinned over his shoulder, black eyes gleaming against her brown. Their height difference could be said to be a little comical, she was only up against his shoulder when she stood up straight, and just as thin as he was.

"Kii-bou I can't." she said shaking her head, loosening the hood a little, "I have to meet with more people, get more votes. I am –"

"Argo?" he interrupted, entirely shutting down her oncoming rant of the list of things she had to do.

"Yes?" She asked, a little annoyed that he had interrupted her.

"Shut up." He said laughing, "You'll be hardly allowed to grind once you're Empress, so just spend this time with me." His easygoing grin tearing down every wall she had put up around herself, and she groaned audibly, "You were the one who said I should stop by more."

"Fine Kii-bou. You win this time." She glared playfully at him whilst he laughed, both of them walking out of the town at high noon as they entered into another part of the forest surrounding them.

By the time they had finally finished evening had came to the world, flickering torches in Choyaku casted strange shadows everywhere. They had rented a room for the evening, one for each of them; Argo had a tired but glad smile plastered across her face. She was constantly glancing over to Kirito and blushing a little as they walked. When they finally reached their rooms Argo lurched to the left and wrapped her arms around him, her head resting against his chest as his arms came up hesitantly. A little internal chuckle shuffling through her body.

"Goodnight Kii-bou, thanks for today." She whispered.

"No problem." Kirito said softly, tired as well, "Let's go sleep."

They both slept well that evening, yet when the morn came only Kirito came out; Argo had been long gone before the first rays of sunlight peaked over the horizon.