Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online
My name is Tanaka Niten, and I am seventeen years old. I tell myself this every day, just to keep remembering. It's been over two years since I logged into a game called Sword Art Online and couldn't log back out. Two years I've been fighting digital monsters and leveling up, just to stay alive and maybe get out of this death trap. Two years since Kayaba told everyone we can't leave until we beat the last floor and that we can really die in this world.
"Where the hell are you?" I grumble. Khai and I decided to keep going with Rogers on his mission. He's managed to collect eight pieces of adamantine, and we're currently looking for the last one on the 90th floor. Right now though, I've kinda lost track of Khai. He's using his Stealth ability to hide from the monsters we're trying to get around. Strangely enough, my Search ability can't find him, even though it should be more than high enough.
"Over here." Khai appears a few feet away. "Quit wasting time and use your search ability."
"It's not working! You don't show up!" I hiss.
"What?" Khai looks at me strangely. "Your Search stats should be high enough."
"Got it!" Rogers straightens up from where he was kneeling. "Alright, I've gotten the last bit, so let's get out of here."
"Hey, Rogers, how high's your Search stats?" I call over to him.
"Pretty good, but not as much as yours." He admits. "Why?"
"His Search ability isn't working on me." Khai rolls his eyes. "C'mon, we've got the last adamantine bit, what now?"
"We go to Vulcan's Forge, which is on the other side of Floor 90." Rogers reads his mission log. "There's an NPC I'm supposed to give the adamantine to, and that'll complete the mission."
"Sounds good." I nod, all thoughts about Khai's mysteriously good Stealth abilities gone. "Let's go finish this."
The three of us teleport to the central city, Corthenia. Floor 90, Olympia, is unique in that teleport crystals can only take you to Corthenia, which is at the lowest point of the floor. Everywhere else, you have to hike up steep hills to get there.
"There's a shortcut we can take to get to Vulcan's Forge." Khai says. "We'll have to cross the Acheron, but it'll cut the distance by half."
"Let's not risk it." Rogers shakes his head. "If we get splashed by water from the Acheron, we'll be paralyzed, easy prey for any monsters or PKs."
Khai opens his mouth to argue, but I interrupt. "I agree with Khai. We can be careful, and it's unlikely all three of us will end up paralyzed. Besides, the sooner we finish this mission, the sooner we can get back on the front lines."
Rogers reluctantly agrees, and we set off in the direction Khai pointed out. Before long, we've arrived on the banks of the Acheron River. The water is sluggish and dull grey, but occasionally a large bubble will pop, spraying liquid poison. Like Rogers mentioned, if the water of the Acheron River touches your flesh, you're paralyzed for up to an hour.
"We cross using that tree over there." Khai points out a large dead tree spanning the river. It doesn't look very stable, but it, like every other piece of the environment, is an Immortal Object, meaning it can't be damaged or moved.
Despite Rogers's concern however, we make it across the river without getting splashed once. It's what's on the other side that is more concerning. A monster that looks to be about Level 95 or so is waiting for us. It looks like a very large dog, which would be frightening enough by itself, but it's also got smoke spiraling out of its nostrils.
"A hellhound." Khai curses. "This'll be tough to beat."
"There's three of us, and one of it." Rogers grips his shield and draws his sword. The hellhound growls loudly.
Quickly, I nock an arrow to my bow and draw back. Picturing where the arrow will fly, I release the string, sending the arrow straight into the hellhound's eye. Sadly, this doesn't drain as much health as I'd hoped, and only makes the monster angry. Rogers and Khai leap down from the tree and onto the shore. The hellhound swipes angrily at them, but Rogers manages to catch the attack on his shield. Khai turns on his Stealth ability, and disappears. I can't see what he's doing, but judging by the hellhound's health dropping, it's working.
Suddenly, I have an idea. Taking out an ordinary arrow, I stick the tip into the Acheron River. I have no clue if this'll work or not, but it's worth a shot. "Switch!" I yell to Rogers and Khai. They both jump back, Khai fading into view. I draw back the bowstring and release quickly, careful not to let the arrowhead touch my hand.
My aim is true, and the arrow connects solidly with the hellhound's body before it bursts into polygons. It's unusual for my arrows to break immediately, but maybe dipping it in Acheron water might've lowered this one's durability.
The hellhound screeches once, then slumps to the ground, unmoving. Next to its health bar, a yellow icon clearly indicates that it's been paralyzed. "It worked!" I cheer.
"What're we gonna do with it?" Rogers asks.
"Leave it." Khai starts walking towards a path. "Let's finish the quest."
"Hold on." I take out fifteen arrows made of ironwood and carefully dip each one into the Acheron. Paralysis arrows might come in handy later.
After another half hour of hiking, we finally arrive at Etna Mountain. Like Firecliff Mountain, it's a volcano, but Rogers leads us to a cave at the base. Just inside is a massive forge, with a rather ugly looking NPC named Vulcan, who happens to be twice the size of a player. Rogers approaches the NPC and hands over the adamantine. Vulcan takes the metal and drops it onto a giant anvil. He gets a hammer and starts pounding away.
Now, I've watched blacksmiths forge weapons before, and the process usually takes up to ten taps of the hammer. Vulcan's already exceeded thirty, and he doesn't show any signs of stopping.
"I hope this wasn't all for nothing." I mutter to Khai. Rogers is standing by the anvil patiently, and I call him over. "Do you know what he's making?"
"No idea. The mission log didn't specify what I'd get, just that I'd find it useful."
By now, I've lost count of how many times Vulcan's hit the metal. It's glowing pretty brightly though, and I can tell that it's flattened out. More tapping. The metal is practically blinding. More tapping. I can barely see Vulcan through the glowing light. There's a pause, and then a final tap, almost as if in afterthought. The light fades and Vulcan drops a round shield on the ground in front of Rogers. It's red, with a white star in the center.
Rogers picks up the shield and checks its stats. "The Patriot's Shield. That's weird, it's got both attack and defense stats, and they're really high." Weapons in SAO usually have attack stats, which is how much damage it deals with each hit. Defensive equipment like shields or armor have defense stats, which is how much damage is absorbed per hit.
"If it has both attack and damage, then it might work as a weapon." Khai muses. "Check its status."
"Class 5 defense equip, Class 4 melee mid-range attack equip." Rogers continues appraising the strange shield. "Durability infinite?!"
"WHAT?!" Khai and I rush over to look at the holographic display. Sure enough, in the Durability count is the symbol for infinity.
"Does that mean this shield is... unbreakable?" I've never heard of anything like this. Everything in the game has a limited durability. From food to weapons to armor, nothing in the game lasts forever.
"What does it mean by mid-range?" Khai wonders out loud.
"I wonder." Rogers looks at the Patriot's Shield for a moment, then throws it like a frisbee at the wall of the forge. The shield makes a humming noise as it slices through the air, and bounces off the wall with a metallic ringing noise, prompting the usual Immortal Object. Oddly, it whizzes right back to Rogers's hand. "Huh. The durability hasn't changed."
"Can I try?" I ask. Rogers hands me the shield, and I'm surprised by its lack of weight. It's far lighter than I expected it to be. I copy Rogers's movement, throwing the shield at the wall. But when I do it, there's no humming noise, and the shield clatters to the ground when it hits the wall. The same thing happens when Khai tries.
"Maybe it was a fluke?" Rogers tries again, and once again the shield hums through the air, rebounding off the wall and into his waiting hand.
"Check your skill list." I tell him. Khai looks at me strangely as Rogers does so.
"You don't think-" He whispers before he is interrupted.
"Hey, check it out!" Rogers shows us the holographic menu in front of him. At the very bottom of the list is a skill I've never seen before, one I know will not appear for anyone but Rogers: Unbreaking Shield.
A/N: A little background info about Rogers. He used to be leader of a guild called the Abenjazu, which was dissolved after he had a disagreement with his sub-leader, Stark. This probably won't be very important, but just an interesting tidbit.