Chapter 2: The First Month
Kirito and I made it to the next town, Horunka Village, in what had to be record time. When we entered the main part of the town, I checked my clock to see that scarcely forty-five minutes had passed since we had left the Starting City. Once we had stopped moving, Kirito turned to me. "I have a quest to complete while I'm here, since the blade reward will last me three floors due to its strength. The way I see it, you can either join me or go explore and level for a bit. Which would you prefer?"
I thought for a moment. If I simply explored, there was a chance that I would miss out on some experience and cash I could get from the quest. In addition, I could just as easily sell the reward from the quest for a boost in funds. However, if I traveled with my friend as opposed to on my own, I ran the risk of losing the chance for unique pickups and controlled leveling. After a minute of weighing my choices, I responded. "I'll go with you. It'll get me a stable amount of XP, and I can just see the reward for a boost in my Col." Col was the currency in the game, used to buy just about anything.
"Alright, suit yourself. The quest is called Secret Medicine of the Forest, and we can find it in a private home somewhere around here. I don't quite remember where, hold on while I check the local map…" Kirito trailed off and I took the opportunity to examine my surroundings more thoroughly. There were ten buildings scattered throughout the small clearing that was Horunka. Each had wood paneling and a straw-like roof, and I thought the village as a whole looked rather like a quaint little tribal venue.
"Ah, there it is," Kirito said, closing his menu and making his way to one of the buildings, which looked no different than the rest of them. When we entered through the empty arch that acted as a doorway, we found an NPC woman stirring a pot of some inane liquid. She turned and looked at us, signaling to me that I should just listen to Kirito and follow his lead.
"Good evening, journeying swordsman. You must be tired, I do wish to offer you some food, but I do not have any at the moment. All I can give, is a single cup of water or so." The woman spoke, and I assumed that this statement was the opener to the quest.
Kirito responded without missing a beat. "That will be fine." The woman filled an old clay cup with water and placed it on the table in front of him. I knew then that this was an individual quest that couldn't be given to more than one player at a time. Shrugging, I waited to see Kirito's reactions.
After some time had passed, the sounds of a baby or otherwise small child wafted into the kitchen, and a few seconds more of waiting yielded a golden question mark animation over the woman's head. "Is something troubling you?" Kirito asked. He seemed to enjoy getting into the role of the time period and dialect of the woman.
"Actually, journeying swordsman, my daughter was recently stricken with an unknown illness. Even when given medicine from the local market, hence the simmering pot I'm preparing, she has no reaction. I'm afraid that the only way she can ever be healed is through the ingestion of a rare medicine excreted by predatory plants in the forest to the west. Unfortunately, I am unable to perform this task myself, as the plants are very dangerous and the ones who specifically produce this excrement are rarely seen. If you would be able to help, journeying swordsman, I would be so glad as to give you this long sword, which has been passed down my family for generations."
The woman was really selling the story; her face filled with tears in all the right places, and I was astounded at the level of detail that went into the AI for the NPCs. Kirito got up from his seat at the table once she had finished, and he calmly accepted the quest through the menu. After he had, we left the house and he turned to me. "While you go through that mess, I have to run an errand at the blacksmith. I'll pick up a better dagger for you while I'm there. Oh, and be sure to listen to that entire speech. Otherwise you won't be able to accept the quest."
I nodded along with his suggestions, sighing when I heard I'd have to listen to the entire thing again. "I'll meet you at the edge of the forest she spoke of, okay? It shouldn't take either of us too long to finish our errands. Here's the Col for the dagger; I don't know how much it is, so I'll just overestimate a little." Kirito nodded once after I transferred the funds and sped off, presumably towards the blacksmith.
I was right; it didn't take long for me to receive the quest, and I soon found myself standing at the edge of the forest next to Kirito, my eyes trained on the shadows inside it. After he transferred both the dagger and extra Col back to me, I equipped my new weapon to get a feel for it. It was a bit heavy, but its stats suggested a medium critical hit chance and high durability. I gave it an experimental swing to find the range of the Sword Skills from it was longer than the blade itself.
"Are you ready?" My companion asked. He was fidgeting slightly; it appeared as though he was nervous about fighting with another player. Silently, I gestured for him to enter the forest. I would follow and fight where needed.
We crept through the forest in relative ease; before long, an ominous blackness had befallen us. There wasn't much light, and I held up the rear while Kirito constantly scanned our surroundings for enemies. We were looking for a varied species of Little Nepent that would drop the item needed for the quest, and we would likely have to fight off a couple dozen of the little bastards before finding what we wanted.
A few minutes of wandering passed before Kirito acted, holding up a fist and signaling a stop in us. Cautiously I peeked forward to see the reddish cursor of an enemy directly in front of us, maybe 15 meters from our position. Kirito looked back to me and made a few telling gestures; I hopped into a tree and kept over-watch while he engaged the unknown.
Testing myself, I jumped to the next tree over, taking care to stay quiet. After almost falling off the branch when I landed, I fell flat against the trunk of the tree and caught my bearings again, holding my dagger in a reverse grip and peeking around and towards the ground. I had closed a fair amount of distance with my move, and had brought the mob into my sights.
It was a vicious-looking little creature. The Nepent towered higher than its name implied, and I guessed it to be around a meter and a half tall. Its lower body was essentially a writhing mass of vines and leaves I assumed rightly was for movement. Close to where the head of the beast should be was a dripping mouth, snapping open and shut accordingly.
Since the mob had no eyes, I simply dropped down from my position next to my companion. "It's facing away from us. Shall I, or will you?" Kirito gestured me forward; I nodded and approached at maximum speed before flipping over the Nepent. As it turned to face me and bringing down my dagger onto its back.
My weapon's critical hit chance kicked in and I felled the Nepent with only one more slice. After I had collected the experience, Kirito approached and gave me some more information about the enemies. The species we were looking for had a flower blooming on it, and for every other one we killed the chance we would encounter one of these increased. In addition, there were 'trap' Nepenthes, who had fruits growing on them. If, during battle, a fruit was struck from the enemy, it released a pungent fume that attracted all the Nepenthes in the area.
I wrinkled my nose and Kirito chuckled as we moved deeper into the forest. Before long, several more Nepent cursors had popped up, and my friend and I both marked a target to attack before separating. As I sped through the upper half of the forest, I thought about the circumstances that had led me to this point in my life before grinning wickedly. Before this, I realized, I had been the depressed lowlife who was struggling to survive and care for his own health, despite having so many friends and even a full-time job. Now, however, I could finally be free of my real life existence and pursue happiness in the world of swords. Granted, the threat of death was much more… prevalent… but that just made everything more fun!
Several clean kills later, I rendezvoused with Kirito in a small clearing. Neither of us had found a flowered Nepent, but we considered that a small price to pay since we had both leveled up over the course of our battles. Silently, we kept watch for each other as we allocated our skill points into the desired categories. I added the same as my companion since it was so early: 1 point to Strength and 2 to Agility.
Ultimately, my friend would likely go for a half-and-half allocation campaign. I would likely try and split it 80-20 Agility for the maximum speed I could reach while still experiencing a significant damage increase from the Strength stat. It was much too early to tell the difference between our two builds, though.
Just as we were about to move on, a stiff clapping rang through the clearing. Surprised, we jumped and turned towards the sound, weapons ready. A humanoid figure stepped into the open space with us, a smile on its face and its hands held together. I waited for Kirito to put himself at ease before following.
The man was about as tall as the two of us, and seemed to be closer in age to Kirito than myself. Right away, I felt tense around him, as though his smile was somewhat fake. I decided to keep my guard, and nudged Kirito, but he was already distracted by the new arrival. Once he registered the weapons that had been pointing at him until a moment prior, he lowered his head sheepishly.
"S-Sorry about that. I should have called out from the start." The man said, seeming genuine.
Kirito responded before me. "No, us too. Sorry about overreacting."
The boy widened his smile and approached us again. Careful not to let my mistrust show, I leaned up against a tree on the edge of the clearing and tapped my fingers restlessly against the trunk, keeping my hand close to the dagger sheathed on my hip.
"C-Congrats on levelling up. That seemed pretty quick to me."
Kirito's eyes widened slightly; I guessed he was wondering about party members and their tendency to congratulate each other on another level gained. I didn't bother with the pleasantry; I'd rather not waste my breath when the leveling wasn't too significant yet.
"It's not that fast… and if you are going to say that, you're fast too. I thought it would be two or three hours more before anyone reached this forest." My friend replied, stuttering slightly.
"Ahaha, I thought I would be the first to arrive too. The path to get here is rather confusing, after all." Ah. The boy was a beta tester as well. It was easy to see once I thought about it; there was a slight gleam of experience in his eyes that hinted at previous knowledge of the game's workings.
"You're doing it too, right? The Secret Medicine of the Forest quest?" the boy asked, confirming my suspicions on his origin and subsequently raising my level of distrust. It was never a good idea to trust a complete stranger that had more information about upcoming events than you. Granted, I had done the same with Kirito; however, I had met and befriended him before the start of the true Death Game.
Kirito nodded once and the boy grinned again. "Good, the Anneal Blade is quite the indispensable weapon to us one-handed sword users. By the way, who's your friend over by the tree? He looks kind of cagey."
I growled slightly. "My name's Sarok, kid. What's yours? I don't believe you've mentioned that yet." I was being unnecessarily terse with the boy, but I just couldn't shake the feeling of mistrust.
"O-Oh, that's right, I haven't have I? My name's Coper. Since we're all doing the same thing, why don't we group up for a while? Even with just two people, the spawn rate for the flowered Nepenthes will grow even faster with a third player."
When Coper finished his sentence, Kirito stiffened, likely thinking about his decision to leave Klein behind in the Starting City. Sighing wearily, I moved over to my friend and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, no need to get like that. He's not asking to party up, only to form a larger cooperative hunt-and-kill group. You good with that?" Kirito took a deep breath and nodded, squeezing my hand with his own.
"A-Alright, then. Trio, then. My name's Kirito."
"…Kirito… eh, where have I heard that…" Coper trailed off, trying to remember where he had heard my friend's name before. I caught a glimpse of nervousness on Kirito's face; he quickly intervened before Coper could remember too much.
"That was probably someone else. Come on, let's go." We headed out of the clearing back into the darkness of the woods. With a quick thumbs up, I scaled up into my position atop the trees, following my partners from above and keeping watch for mobs beyond their line of sight as we trekked through the relative murkiness of the forest.
Killing the Nepenthes became so routine that I found my thoughts wandering as I plunged down again and again from my perch to kill an enemy from where my friend and his companion couldn't see or defend from. Soon over two hundred of the little bastards had fallen, and our group had collectively gained nine levels; to the point where each of us was standing strong at level 5.
Leveling worked a lot slower than we had originally thought. Experience came in smaller quantities that made it difficult to power-level through it all. However, the fruits of our battles were clearly visible when it came down to it; a difference was could finally be seen between Kirito and my builds. I had allocated a total of seven points to Agility and two to Strength whereas Kirito had added five and four to keep things roughly even. As a result, I was slightly faster than my friend, though my hits had a bit less oomph. Thankfully, the critical hit chance on my dagger pulled through, keeping me even with the looming wall of skill and strength Kirito possessed.
After a bit more fighting, we came to a clearing with a lone Nepent inside of it; though there were a few cursors just in range in the forest behind it. With a grin, the members of our little group turned to each other: the mob had a distinctly red flower atop its head, and we were wholly prepared to complete the first stage of the quest.
Cautiously, Kirito and Coper crept into the clearing. Keeping watch from a tree near th edge, I noticed when my friend stopped and pointed to the other side, where there was a fruit-laden trap Nepent patrolling the opposite edge of the clearing. I frowned when the two separated, Coper heading to distract the trap and Kirito heading straight for the flowered Nepent. I knew something fishy was going on.
It didn't take too long for Kirito to take out the flowered one, getting an extremely rare two drops from the monster. He called out to Coper and I noticed with some extreme alarm that the expression on the new boy's face held some pity for Kirito. "Sorry, Kirito," he said, before executing a Vertical Sword Skill directly onto the fruit of the Nepent.
I cursed; I knew I shouldn't have trusted Coper, but went along with Kirito since the boy was the first beta tester we had met. As a loud, explosive sound shook the forest around us with the bursting of the fruit, I was dislodged from my position and fell to the ground in a heap. Rushing to Kirito's side, I grabbed his shoulder and yelled in his ear.
"We need to go, now! From what you've told me, that sound means something very, very bad is coming!" Kirito shook himself and nodded. We turned to run but had to stop suddenly at the vast number of red cursors filling our vision. There were easily thirty of the bastard creatures surrounding us; too many to possibly fight at once. Idly, I noticed Coper's figure shimmer and disappear in the telltale activation of a player's Hiding skill.
"Fuck!" I cursed again, this time at an inappropriate volume. "Fuck, fuck, fuck. This kid's trying to kill us. Dammit Kirito, why'd we have to go with him? Oh yeah, right, it was my idea. Fuck me and my stupid fucking plans."
Still cursing up a storm, I pulled my dagger from its sheath and picked up a rock from the ground, snapping a system-assisted throw to the last position at which I had seen Coper. Lucky for my assumption, he was still there, and the impact of the rock forcefully deactivated his hidden status just as the first wave of Nepenthes came into the clearing.
I nodded in Kirito's direction and darted off to the side of the wave in front of us since the Nepenthes behind us were bound to agro onto Coper instead. Since he was trying to MPK us, I saw no reason to protect him. Dashing off into the fray of predatory plants, I flipped my dagger into a reverse grip once more and flew with a battle cry directly into one of the foul creatures, knocking it over.
Quickly, I struck the killing blow and moved on, dodging through the sharp thrusts and poisonous blasts of the other mobs with ease. I sliced through another two enemies with a simple Spin move, moving faster with my arms pulled close before lashing out in two controlled jabs through the creature's stalks, cleaving them in two despite the length of my weapon barely reaching their diameter.
Dodging again, I grit my teeth when I felt a vine stab through my left shoulder; I turned and grabbed it, pulling myself towards its owner with a yell and stabbing it several times after switching the grip on my weapon. Once it was dead, I turned to face the others and was shocked to see the spread of destruction Kirito had wrought. While I struggled to fight off even five of the little bastards, he had killed double that, and was still going strong. I set my mouth into a thin line and cracked my neck. It was time to catch up.
Ten, twenty, twenty-five kills registered as I tore through the ranks of the waves of Nepenthes. Coper had long since fallen to the plants' force, and Kirito and I had but a few more enemies to eliminate before we were alone again. My HP was hovering about the mid-yellow range close to red, and a glance at Kirito told me he was in the same position, but we weren't about to give up so close to the end.
With a screamed cry, the two of us charged the last remaining mobs and killed them, leaving us bleeding digital squares in an empty field, the only remains of Coper his abandoned items on the ground. I walked over and spat on the spot where he died. "Serves you right, kid. You made the ultimate mistake and paid the price for your stupidity. Good luck in the afterlife." I felt no remorse at the kid's death.
Kirito walked over and picked up the kid's sword, admiring it slightly before thrusting it into the roots of the largest tree and murmuring something. I presumed he was only paying his respects to a fallen comrade and waited against another tree for him to finish. When he strode up to me, I met his gaze with a small frown. "Ready to go?" I asked. He nodded, and the pair of us dashed into the darkness again, back to Horunka Village.
When we arrived at the small settlement, it was already semi-populated with players. It certainly didn't take long for them to reach the place. Kirito and I ignored them for the most part, heading to the private house to drop off our items and pick up the rewards. Once we had completed the quest, I noticed Klein and a group of his friends leaning against the wall to the blacksmith. I muttered to Kirito that I was going to sell the sword and he nodded, setting off in search of the best spot to rest for the night.
It didn't take me too long to sell the sword, fetching me a fair amount of Col. I met Klein outside, not bothering to use his screen name since I recognized the appearance of all his friends. "Hey, Ryō." I greeted, making him jump in place. "How's it going with Fuurinkazan?" My roommate grinned sheepishly at me before grasping my hand in a firm handshake.
"It's goin' well, Charles. Or should I call you Sarok?" I laughed at my friend's antics. "You here with Kirito? Where is the big oaf?" I told him that we were heading out and Kirito would likely be unable to see him. It was a bald-faced lie, but I got the feeling the Kirito wouldn't exactly be happy to see Klein right now.
"Ah, a shame, a shame. Hey, care to meet the rest of us?" I laughed. I already knew all of them since they were regulars in our place alongside Yuki. "Ah, yeah, I suppose you already know them. No matter, no matter. Hey! That's right, I meant to tell you. Stay in touch, alright, Sarok?" Klein got deathly serious and I eased my expression. Nodding, I held my hand up in a three-fingered salute of goodbye before sprinting in the direction of my partner.
The rest of the month worked a hell of a lot like the first half. Kirito and I would get to a new city prior to most of the other players, clear the quests, buy and sell equipment, and move on. Soon enough, all of the major towns had been discovered on the first floor, and clearing teams were being informally organized to comb the Labyrinth of the floor for the first boss.
Unfortunately, no such thing was found, and over 2,000 players had died since the start of our search. Now our population had shrunk to the size of an American liberal arts college, and I scoffed at the situation. It was disgusting, what Kayaba had done to us.