/*Author's notes (10th feb)

I may as well explain some more game mechanics here.

There are two parts of the game: RPG and MMO. RPG is the world of Illusia but on a private server hosted by the computer with some slight differences in game mechanics (mostly in territories and progression.) The MMO is obviously an MMO; it is similar to Sword Art Online (SAO). The highest any player can go in The Tower is the highest cleared floor- like the front line in SAO; otherwise anyone can go anywhere. Of course, you won't want to go to a place where monsters are thirty levels higher than you.

Each player starts at level one in the RPG part of the game. When they reach level ten, they can join the MMO part of the game. This is to reduce the number of 'noobs' and inexperienced players in the difficult online world of Illusia since territories become a much more important role in the game and there is a lot of PVP (player vs player). It's also so you can't begin levelling up in the MMO world then sweep through the RPG easily. Of course, this isn't a real game but maybe one day :D

Level ten day.

*/

Elizabeth woke up from her bed as she realised Mio was booting up her computer. With a soft yawn, she rolled out from under her duvet and began to get dressed, strapping on some leather armour over her sweatshirt and placing a quiver onto her back. She was low on arrows it seemed; her Burst skill was getting expensive. Maybe Mio wanted an overpowered move like Ritsu wanted? Shaking her head, she splashed water onto her face from the sink in her room. She didn't bother with a shower. She was going to end up sweaty from the day ahead of her. Sighing, she exited her room and entered the bar.

"Usual waiter," she ordered as she sat by the only table in the room.

"Morning Elizabeth," greeted Tainaka. The taller girl jumped back, hand on her bow. "Come on now, I'm not a virus." Laughing hard, the mage leaned back on her chair dangerously so. "So you go for the full breakfast?" The waiter placed fried eggs, bacon, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms, hash browns with a glass of milk on the side for the woman.

"It's a good thing we don't gain weight, isn't it then." She began eating, not because she needed food but for the mere idea that they could pretend to be alive. "Tastes good too. Do you want anything? Ask my waiter."

"Really? He's your waiter?" Tainaka pondered on why there was a waiter here but she pushed the thought away.

"Waiter, give me a pint." Elizabeth chocked on her food.

"Really? For breakfast?"

"It's a good thing we don't really get drunk." Grinning, she caught the glass that was thrown to her and she began chugging the golden liquid down. Her cheeks became rosy red. "That hit the spot!" She took down her headband, letting the bangs of hair cover her eyes as she wobbled on the back two legs of her chair.

"So carefree," commented Elizabeth and continued on with her food. Every now and then, she would glance upwards at the girl sitting across from her. She meant nothing of it; it was interesting to see the girl with her hair down.

"Salty dog please," said a new voice. Only Elizabeth was surprised again, even though this was her bar.

"Azu-nyan, when did you get here?"

Again with the swirling of drink in her mouth, she politely swallowed before speaking.

"You left the door open." Actually, it was Tainaka that left the door open but she was napping. The waiter moved around the bar table and placed a meal in front of the fourth person, Prince Triton. Elizabeth didn't bother asking and wondered where the last person was. She kept an eye on the door, waiting patiently.

"Boo!" from behind. The shock sent Elizabeth to the floor. "I can stealth, remember?" Grinning, Giitar looked at the others that seemed equally lifeless (Elizabeth for a different reason.) Noticing the napping Tainaka, the thief crept closer, placing her head above the brown haired girl's. Tainaka noticed, balancing her chair delicately. Giitar moved her head closer, their faces a few inches apart.

Tainaka leaned back.

Giitar leaned closer.

Tainaka leaned back.

*SLAM* and she hit the floor. Giitar looked sad as the room was filled with Tainaka's yelp in pain.

"What the hell that for?" she yelled at the smaller girl.

"Tainaka would rather kiss the floor than me," she replied with an exaggerated frown on her face. "Well, time for me to go!" She bounded out the door. "Thanks waiter for the milk!"

Elizabeth sighed and looked around to find that everyone had already left, being called by their respective computers. "What a crazy bunch of weirdo's… And I'm supposed to lead them…"

"Level ten!" they cried out as they turned in their latest quest. They each received a congratulatory message and a few items. Mugi was especially glad to get rid of her beginner's armour to replace it with a full set of iron plate.

"And a new shield," she called as her character showed it off, flashing the polished metal in the sun. Prince Triton swung a new blade too, an iron blade.

Azusa, "Wow, you look really good in that Mugi-sempai!" In particular, her helmet had been changed to a much more open iron helmet rather than the beginner's helmet that squashed her face together. Whilst the blonde looked adorable with her cheeks permanently puffed up in her old helmet, they could take the girl more seriously now that they could clearly see her face.

"What did you get, Azusa?" Her character held up a lance, a seven-foot spear type weapon. It had a handle that took half the length of the lance whilst the dangerous end had no edge but tapered to a single thrusting point. Sadly, it was a dull iron colour but the uniqueness of the weapon had Mugi clap her hands together. "That looks really cool!"

Tainaka laughed at the little girl. "It's like twice your size!" Despite that, however, Azu-nyan seemed determined to try wielding it. Compared the two handed sword, the long handle of the lance allowed her to spin the weapon around with ease. The cat eared girl spun in full circle, swinging the lance in a large arc and managed to control it well. There was no power lost as she tested the range with a series of short jabs and one final lunge. Then, at the click of a button, she hopped up and raised the lance high above her head. For a single second, she stayed in the air. Then, the lance slammed down into the ground, sundering the earth into two.

"I like it," said Azusa. Comparing the differences between the lance and the two hander it seemed like the two hander was more versatile in terms of skills but traded that for the lance's range. There was a Lancer class that required the Guard class as a prerequisite that the fighter didn't have. The Sunder skill was a two handed skill, so as long as Azusa kept both hands free her main skill could be used. She had also replaced her armour, neglecting her previous light armour for heavy armour that made her look almost as bulky as their guard. It came with an item that she didn't recognise.

"What does this do?" she asked, double clicking on an arm shield in her inventory. A small round piece of metal was attached to Azu-nyan's arm, acting like a very small shield. Her hands were still free though. She tested the Sunder skill again, happy that it still worked. "It looks kind of useless though."

Boringly, Mio's character barely changed. She had new equipment, sure, but the visual difference between leather armour and hard leather and from beginner's bow to wooden bow barely made a difference. However, she was given a full stock quiver. Satisfied regardless, Mio began sorting through applying skill points.

"Ha, ha!" shouted Ritsu, distracting everyone. "Watch this!" Suddenly, she cast her fireball ability on the nearest person to her, Mio.

"Ah!' screamed Mio, but instead of the usual insane damage, she was healed very slightly. "Oh… You managed to get that ability strong enough?" Ritsu showed off her trademark grin to the screen, realising afterwards no one could see her.

"Yep, Dove's Kiss!" Her wand helped with that as well, the reduced ally damage stacking with the skill. In total, she healed five per cent of the damage she would normally deal (the Dove's Kiss skill reducing in effect when it began healing teammates). Now that she couldn't harm her allies any more, she could get back to concentrating on pure damage output. Too bad there weren't any classes that required skill points in the Mage and Cleric classes directly, she might have aimed for it.

"Look at me!" shouted Yui. Each person focused on the girl. She ran forwards, jumped up and began wall running.

Ritsu, "What."

As Mio questioned the usefulness of it in her head, Ritsu questioned how she got that skill. "I'm a Ninja!" she shouted. "Nin-nin-nin-nin…"

Tainaka, "What…"

Giita jumped off the wall, landing in a pose only an overconfident super hero would make. Smiling, she pulled out two kunai, twirling them around her fingers on each hand respectively. "I can duel wield too now!" From the gift box, she had received thirty kunai that could be used like a weapon of for throwing. Tainaka laughed, pointing out how she could always duel wield since they can equip anything they want. "But Tainaka, why don't you equip heavy armour if all you do is laze around and hide at the back?"

Tainaka, "Well heavy armour spoils magic you know. I might be able to get away with some light armour but this new robe," she spun around to show her new Red Mage's Robe, "increases fire damage by a further twenty per cent!" The mage wasn't sure how she and Ritsu were going to level up from now on but she assumed either more Dove's Kiss or back to the pure power of Fire.

Mio began their next briefing. "So what can we do now that we are level ten?"

Ritsu smiled, brining up her map menu. "You see that big tower in the middle? We can go there now."

"Yay!" cried out Yui. She had longed to begin climbing The Tower ever since she set her eye on it. It was tall and majestic in the distance, visible from wherever you were.

"At the bottom is the capital city of Lota but after that is a special dungeon!" The others 'oohed' and Ritsu began explaining the dungeon. Basically, a dungeon resets if the party leaves the area, reducing progress to zero. At the end was always a boss that when defeated unlocked something and gave out a prize. In their case, they were heading to the first floor dungeon that would unlock the first floor of the tower. Smiling, Ritsu proudly announced something. "I've never beaten the boss before! Let alone reach him!" Thinking back, this was the point where Ritsu decided to gather her friends together so that they could beat the boss together. Mio questioned the girls pride in her voice.

"Hey Ritsu," asked Mio, "Does that mean you could switch back to your other character?"

Tainaka flinched and the rest of the crew looked at her. Azusa noticed the subtle looks but said nothing, interested in what Ritsu was going to say.

"Nah, the one that has been with you guys is Tainaka, the fire mage. We wouldn't have gotten this far without you guys! Besides, that Heat Tree's Branch would go to waste." Tainaka relaxed, letting out a sigh of relief, as did the rest.

"Did anyone see that?" asked Azusa, pointing at the screen.

Mio, "See what?" The characters were in their respective idle states now. Except Giitar of course, she was still wall running for fun.

"Never mind…"

What Ritsu didn't mention was the long trek to the capital. It was pretty most of the way, but the sight of never ending fields and slimes soon sickened them as they slashed, hacked and burned monsters in their path. The Tower never got any bigger and they ended up growing a level.

"How much further…" cried out Giita. Her pacing ability was on meaning that it should be less tiring for her. "Let's have a tea break." Elizabeth sighed. It seemed that their masters had put them on auto move so that the avatars would march to the capital whilst they gossiped away about their real lives.

"Ten more minutes," she replied. "I wish someone pointed out the stables we could have hired from." Annoyed, she fired an arrow at a stray, level one slime killing it instantly.

"I'm surprised that Azu-nyan hasn't screamed how bored she is yet," laughed Tainaka out loud and they all glanced back at the small girl in her ridiculously sized heavy armour. The shoulder plates of the armour stuck out to either side of her ponytailed head making her seem even more dwarf sized. They could see she was really out of breath; talking was probably too much for her at the moment. They laughed at her expense, watching her face go red.

"At least she has a running buddy," referring to the prince who simply stared back without a word.

Mio sighed as she waited for something to happen. Since they preferred the safety of the area they started it, they were at the furthest point from their destination. Marching there would take a long time so the girls had the avatars auto pilot them to the capital. Soon, Mio was flicking through the Internet, looking up the game.

"Mio?" asked Yui. She turned around and the guitarist suddenly pounced on her.

"Ah! Why are you in my room?" Yui smiled happily.

"Because I want to be with you~" She flunked herself onto the bed with her laptop. As the rest had computers that were a pain to move around, only Yui could commute between the bedrooms. "Isn't Giitar really cool?"

"What can ninja's do?" asked Mio, finding an emulator on classes.

Yui, "I don't know," innocent look on her face.

"Well they can wall run, have better stealth than thieves, can throw anything."

"Does that mean I could throw you, Mio?" She imagined playing catch with the bassist, throwing her to Ritsu who would then throw her back.

"Yes." The dark haired girl looked a little worried about the excited puppy of their group with such power. Before she got any ideas, she looked at other skills Yui could eventually do. "You can cast ninja magic."

"Wow!" The girl bounded next to Mio, resting her head on the girl's shoulder. Mio patted her on the head and scrolled through the pages.

"But they're really weak." Finding some comments, they read that, compared to the mages abilities, they were rubbish since the power difference was huge and that ninjas weren't good at magic anyway. Someone else pointed out the ninja skills required no cast time at all. Mio relayed this to Yui. She didn't understand.

"So… Should I get the abilities?"

Mio sighed. "It's your choice." Mio came up with an idea to make Yui take it more seriously. "This is your Giitar we're talking about."

Yui gasped. "That means that you have to help me! For Giitar's sake and therefore the band's sake!"

It's just a game, thought Mio. "Oh, I think we're almost there now." Yui dived back onto the bed, pulling the laptop close towards her.

"Sugoi~"

The group stood there, mouths slightly agape as they stared at the capital before them. Lota was built at the top of a mountain that only the most experienced climbers could scale; a simple but magnificent marble staircase cut through the rocky edges of the mount and led to the pearl gates where two guardian statues stood, each standing as tall as the walls they were erected against. The group stood on 'the ring'; a circular hill that surrounded the capital, but it was nothing in comparison to the impenetrable fortress that loomed above them. Lota's contents were shielded from their eyes; the white, stone walls were patrolled with knights and paladins that marched to and fro at the top. The only thing they could see was The Tower and the castle. At the centre, the castle, that only a selfish princess could dream of, shone in the gentle sunlight. Its full glory was failed only by its job, to hold The Tower above it. A spiral staircase led upwards from the palace, spinning skyward into the tower above them. It was so thin in the distance it appeared like a single thread of spider web compared the majestic size of the capital and The Tower. In this impossible fantasy world, their objective hung above them, connected only by that silver strand called the 'Spiral'. All they could see was that the staircase was their only option in.

"To think," said Tainaka, breaking the silence of the ridiculous task in front of them, "that we have the option to try and take over this territory." No one answered.

"We would need an army of ten thousand to storm that place," commented Elizabeth. "They say that in the MMO they give you a week."

"A week isn't enough time," replied Azu-nyan. "It looks like it would take a day to climb those stairs let alone climb it whilst under attack." Again, they all paused, taking it all in. It was surprising that the capital wasn't cast in the shadow of The Tower. The Tower was based off the giant floating castle of Aincrad from Sword Art Online, bearing one hundred floors of different landscapes and beauty, each holding a floor boss. In the distance The Tower had appeared large; now it simply blocked out the sky. The only reason why Lota wasn't cast in shadow was because the tower was so high up above it and the sun was setting, the low angle of the light cast shadows like spilled, black paint against the canvass of the island. The thought of climbing all those stairs caused Azu-nyan to shudder since she was still getting her breath back.

"So, what are we waiting for!" shouted Giitar, racing down the hill into the valley below. "Last one there has to buy me cake!" The others followed, laughing and forgetting their impossible mission to complete The Tower.

They had each prepared in the capital, noticing how expensive everything was. "I could get twice as many potions as this in Fishover!" shouted Ritsu. Compared to all the other villages and towns they had explored, the capital was definitely a different experience. It was full of NPCs, bustling about with their daily lives. The market was particularly lively as they each yelled their wares claiming to be the cheapest there. Once their weapons and armour were upgraded, they started on the spiral staircase. It turned out that the staircase didn't start inside the castle, the castle not open to the public, but began by the front gates of the castle. Giitar considered using her new ninja skills to sneak in but they were ordered to climb.

As they marched up the glass stairs, each were admiring the view they were given. They could see the square, the market, the inns and homes of the people. Soon, they could see over the walls that enclosed the population.

And it was beautiful.

It was like they could see the edge of the world, the sea glimmering in the distance as the sun was setting over the landscape. The villages and towns cast shadows that stretched far across the plains, fields that normally held monsters appeared so tiny that the creatures they had feared but fought looked like simple farm animals. They looked round to the other side of the island where they hadn't explored yet. It was a different environment altogether as they saw canyons and dungeons between the sparse settlements. Mountains as large as the Alps pierced the sky and the valleys in between delved deep into the ground. Another side showed deep forests and marshes that had the murkiest of colours. The largest homely area they could see was the port that was on the edge of the island they were on, the furthest point from where they stood. Discounting upwards of course.

Smiling, Giitar looked down below since they were reaching quite high up. "Why don't we just jump into the castle?" she asked, holding tightly onto the railing.

"Sure, and die whilst you're at it," replied Elizabeth. "A drop at this height will mangle your bones to dust and your flesh into a splat larger than the castle gardens."

At the back, Prince Triton almost puked and stopped looking down. No one noticed.

"Aw," replied the small girl. "If only we could fly." She ran up the stairs, impatient for the dungeon they were about to head into. "I can't wait!"

"Azu-nyan, how are you feeling?" asked Tainaka, looking back at the stubborn child. "Why don't you take off your armour?"

The girl laughed. "If only it were that easy…" She had already considered it but she decided not to act weird in front of Azusa. She had already noticed some of their antics, particularly Giitar's.

Ritsu was checking through her skills, planning on where to go next with it. "If I become a proper Fire mage, I might go into the other elements to become an elementalist," she thought out loud, hoping for someone else's opinion. "Or a non-elementalist, however that works.

Mugi heard. "If you keep up with the cleric abilities, you could go into the Holy class." As Ritsu pondered the idea, Mugi considered her plans. Right now, she had gone purely on the defensive side but regretted not being able to contribute very much to the party in terms of damage. She kept this to herself though as she had researched her role in the group before hand. Stop allies from taking damage.

"I could go into the cleric class," thought Mugi, regardless.

"How come?" asked Ritsu. "You're doing really well being a guard."

"If I do, I could become a Paladin." She read out some of the abilities it unlocked. Most of them were healing but the aura and buff abilities seemed really nice since they affected the whole party.

"Why not? I like the look of that one." She referred to the 'Shared Souls Aura'. "Though I don't want you sacrificing yourself for me." It was an aura that made the paladin take a portion of the damage others' received. "It would save you a lot of running around."

"There are so many great skills, Mugi-sempai," mentioned Azusa. "You should choose one that suits you though."

Mugi smiled at her Kohai. "Thank you Azusa, you should choose what you like as well," she replied, knowing that her kohai would blush.

"I'm going to be a great ninja!" shouted Yui, determined. "Have you seen what ninja's can do? They can throw anything they want!" She could have demonstrated throwing a potion at someone and heal them but that would have been a waste. "And I get some cool magic later on!" Comments online said the skills were best for the elements and surprise rather than the mage's potential raw power. Ritsu was a good example of power.

"My burst skill is getting quite good," Mio said. "But it's getting expensive. It takes twenty something per cent mana to activate it and every shot after that uses up mana as well." On the up side, she could shoot five arrows at once that would split into five more, each slightly homing.

The screen went dark as they entered the shadow of The Tower. Eventually, the stairs stopped at the front of the dungeon doors. Smiling, Mio tried to put in a leadership speech. With a sharp intake of breath to gather their attention, she began.

"Right, this is our first dungeon. We've been through a lot of battles together but we've made it this far together." She paused, not liking the flow of her speech. Carrying on, "Together," she bit her tongue, "this will be our next challenge. We can do this!" There was an awkward silence. Azu-nyan yawned, as did the rest of the avatars.

"She tried," commented Elizabeth. "But she failed."

"Let's have fun!" shouted Yui, not really understanding what Mio meant. "I bet there's a lot of cool stuff in there so let's go!"

Elizabeth nodded and waved her hand in front of the door, sending a message to Mio.

"Do you want to enter Floor one Dungeon?" She moved her mouse and clicked okay.

/*Author's Notes

Sorry for the lack of any fighting or anything exciting in particular. Next chapter will be the opposite, full of killing monsters and finishing with the floor boss. However, I hope I got across the beautiful views and places they would have seen. There will be a much better description later on that should display better emotions.

Stating 'level ten' at the start is a bit misleading since they didn't even do anything this chapter except walk around and prepare a bit. Hopefully this build up will be worth it though. I hope there is enough awesome in the next chapter to satisfy the lack of death in this chapter.

Killing and K-ON? What madness is this :P

*/

The waiter sighed, lonely in the bar…