/*Author's notes (15th feb)
As you can tell, revision is going well, me posting this up early. Actually, as you may be able to tell from the date, this was written 1.5 months before the moment the last chapter was put up (that was April 1st)
Also, thank you readers for viewing! Because, I have reached a grand total of 1000 views! (Over 1000 of course, not exactly 1000. I promise I didn't log out and hit the refresh button to get those views too.)
Also, random spoiler/incentive, VR systems will be partially introduced in chapter 11. (Please don't get your hopes too high though. But not too low either! There, that's perfect (like I know?))
*/
It had been a week since they had all broken into the tower. Whilst their masters fawned over the new landscape, Elizabeth herself was fairly disappointed. The view that had greeted her was more plains. It seemed a lot more rural as the landscape was dotted with trees that topped hills with valleys that had rivers. She couldn't see the point of it all. However, a new floor is a new area filled with possibilities. More towns, more quests, more territories simply told them how far away they were from completing the game. Tainaka had looked up that no one had finished the game, ever, and that in the MMO the top most floor was currently forty. The game had been released almost a year ago.
The Archer sighed, standing in the lobby area as Mio started the game. Surprised, there was no party made and she was whisked away into the MMO world on her own.
"Where is everyone?" asked Elizabeth, knowing there would be no reply. "Oh well…" And she was standing in Weld Wist town. Not surprising, since she logged out from there last time she was in the MMO world. She quickly looked around for Zack subconsciously. However, her friend roster told her he wasn't online. "Okay, into the shops." Mio bought a teleporting crystal, setting the destination to the capital.
Soon, the Archer was crammed in the streets of Lota and she fought through the crowds towards the 'Spiral', the staircase to the first floor dungeon. And then she waited, Mio seeming to appear idle. Elizabeth couldn't hear anything from her master since her microphone off but she assumed something was happening on the other end. People pushed past her, making their way up to gaze at the views or to challenge the dungeon. It seemed to be popular as the Archer was constantly shoved and told to get out of the way by other avatars.
Eventually, something caught her eye. In the distant crowd, the glint of yellow flashed at her and she focused her attention on it. Gold hair, it seemed, and she climbed up the stairs a little, gaining height so she could get a better look. The figure moved towards her; she assumed the person was heading to the dungeon.
"Wow," she exclaimed. "She's pretty…" As the blonde walked closer, the crowd parted before her as though her presence demanded it. Her face was carved by angels, her lips bursting cherry red and looked so inviting. Her hair fell from her head like a golden waterfall, smooth and silky. Towards the end of the cascade of hair, they spiralled into reverse drills. Stunning to say the least, Elizabeth barely breathed.
"Good morning, you must be Elizabeth-san." A lot of people turned and looked, no glared, at the Archer as the angel addressed her. "My name is Heart Kiss."
Mio flicked on her microphone, connecting with someone. Elizabeth paused, straining her ears towards her Master. A confused looked was written on her perplexed face. Who was this woman and why was she addressing her, thought Elizabeth, and what is with everyone staring at me like that?
"Oh, I can hear you Suzuki-sempai," said Mio. "Is that your avatar, Heart Kiss?"
"Koyuki is fine," she replied. Elizabeth relaxed a little. At least her master knew what was going on.
"Oi," shouted an onlooker. "Don't disrespect Miss Heart Kiss like that!" Elizabeth barely looked at the person. "Bow before her!"
Heart Kiss sent a glare at the bystander, sending him silent.
"There seem to be a lot of people that know you, Koyuki," Mio said. On the screen, many people were pointing out Heart Kiss' presence.
"Yeah, I'm kind of famous in this game."
Mio gasped. "How did you get famous?"
"Something to do with the front line and being in a band. We sometimes play on here as well so we get a lot of fans."
"Miss Heart-sempai, what are you doing here?" asked an avatar.
Some more began asking her questions. "Are you going to play something for us?"
"I have a request!"
Elizabeth stepped back, suddenly separated from the angel.
"Not today," she replied. "I'm helping a friend now." A lot of people turned on Elizabeth with jealous and envious eyes.
"So," asked Mio, "can you help us, please?" Elizabeth looked around, realising she had just missed a vital point in the conversation her master had just had.
"Of course," Koyuki replied. "But I don't have enough materials. Do you want to come with us?"
Mio, "Is Runa here?"
Koyuki, "She's currently painting me playing." With a short giggle, she sent Elizabeth a gift item. "Let's go then." It was a teleport crystal. As Heart Kiss waved goodbye to her fans, Elizabeth used the item and it sent her to the floor ten.
"Wow!" This was definitely a new environment. It seemed like they had just stepped into the industrialised world. Factories pumped smoke into the atmosphere as vehicles powered by fuel and magic drove by. The sky was part grey, part brown, something that was new to the Archer. It was as though life had been dipped in a sepia tone. Even Heart Kiss had been changed in colour yet her golden locks still held a stunning sheen.
"Wow I look weird," commented Mio.
"You mean Elizabeth," Koyuki corrected. Mio didn't answer, not understanding the difference. "Right, this is where we're going to manufacture what you want in this town of IndustRev. I have all the woods we need but I don't have any strings or enough iron." Mio received a party message and she accepted.
Soon, they were hurrying along through the town, Elizabeth absorbing the unique place she was in. Every now and then, she could hear people's surprised looks and responses to seeing Heart Kiss there. She looked in the corner of the screen.
"Sugoi, you're level eighty five! That's over four times my level!" No wonder people admired the girl she was following. "How long did that take?"
"I started playing when the game first came out. Don't worry; it gets easier as you go along. You'll be my level before you know it." Didn't that take a year, thought Mio.
"What class are you?" Elizabeth asked. If her sempai was an archer, she was going to feel fairly redundant.
Heart Kiss, "Freelancer and Summoner for now." After a few more questions from the kohai, she explained. "A Freelancer needs to be a Fighter, a Guard, a Mage and a Cleric classes combined. Freelancers aren't very special but generally have very high stats. Summoners require a lot of Mage class. I have enough skill points for both." She smiled pleasantly at the Archer. "What do you want to be when you get stronger?" There was no condescending tone in her voice though Elizabeth felt a little annoyed.
The Archer thought for a few moments. "I guess I'm going to be a Ranger. I think Mio chose to be an Archer so she didn't have to fight close range. I guess this class suits my master quite well."
"Good answer, but what do you want to be?" Elizabeth didn't understand. "You will one day. You are as much a person than your master. Look, we're almost there now." They reached the mines. Tunnels delved deep into the ground, Mio shivered at the thought of going into the dark. "Time to light the way." Heart Kiss began casting some magic, symbols danced around her until she sang the third line of her spell. Then, the letters formed a word in English. "Archer." The glowing word sank into ground and the light erupted into form.
"This is Archer. Archer, meet Elizabeth."
"Um, hi." In front of the girl was a glowing figure that held a bow as tall as him self. When the figure didn't respond, Elizabeth tried to make conversation for some reason. "How are you, I'm an Archer too."
Heart Kiss laughed. "Don't worry, he's a mute I think. They never answer back and they disappear after a while." Suddenly, she and the Summon began casting some more magic. The spells fell onto Elizabeth to her surprise, filling her with energy.
"Right," Koyuki told Mio, "I'm going to disband the party after we enter the dungeon. The monsters should be a little tough but I'll keep you safe."
"Why are you going to do that?" asked a surprised Mio.
"Since Heart Kiss is such a high level, your character won't get any experience since the exp is shared. Now that you're here, we may as well give you a few levels. I'm just buffing your Eliza-chan so we can sweep through this area with ease. Also, my Archer summon should provide you with arrows so don't worry about ammunition."
"Summoning is really impressive," commented Elizabeth, watching her arrow stock get refilled beyond max.
"It's really expensive in skill points though," replied Heart Kiss. "To get the summon class, you need roughly fifteen levels of the mage class. Afterwards, you need a few levels in the Summoner class to even summon anything. Then, you need specific classes to summon what you want. This Archer summon needs a few levels in the Archer class to summon." It seemed like the Freelancer had her skill points spread thinly across the board. "I want to try out everything though. It's fun this way, being able to do a lot of things." She smiled. "And Koyuki agrees with me." Before Elizabeth could ask, the dungeon started and they were sent into the dark caves.
"Disbanding party. You should keep your buffs. I'll go on ahead and keep the enemies on me. You take them out."
And so she led. The Archer summon stuck close to Elizabeth, acting like an escort. When the monsters appeared, bats and worms, burrowing from the ground and swooping from the ceiling, Mio initiated her Burst skill. The only time she flinched was when spiders were attacking. However, they dropped the string that they needed.
"They're level twenty five," she noted, four levels above her. However, thanks to all the buffs and the magical arrows her sempai provided, all the battles ended quickly. Her burst skill was effectively shooting sixty-four arrows in one go so the large swarms of enemies were blown away. Not a single point of damage got to the Archer.
Mio, "That was very quick." They stood outside the boss gate. "I even grew up two levels."
Koyuki, "What are you going to put your skill points in?"
Mio, "I can become a Ranger or a Hunter but I don't know which one is better. Which one should I go for?"
Koyuki, "Why don't you ask Elizabeth?"
Mio, "Huh?" There was no answer on the other end of the line and the bassist stared at her screen, watching her avatar in her idle state. "Um… Elizabeth…" She felt really awkward talking to her computer. "Do you want to be a Hunter or a Ranger?" Mio crossed her fingers, hoping that her sempai wasn't making fun of her. Hopefully, Ritsu wouldn't burst into her room at that moment. However, the Archer opened a menu in front of herself as though looking through the skill list. Then, with a touch of her finger, the skill tree appeared before Mio with the Ranger class highlighted.
"A Ranger?" She read the description. "Rangers build on the skills with the bow in a straight forward manner compared to the Hunter class. They keep their distance and are great supporters, learning many buffs for themselves and for teammates, and eventually learning the Call for Help skill that summons an ally." The said skill was also highlighted. It would take a lot of levels to reach that point, but it seemed Elizabeth wanted that skill. "Okay…"
Heart Kiss smiled at the Archer. "Well done."
"Well she did ask."
"I might recommend putting a point in the Hunter class, just for the extra bonuses."
"Right." With a few flicks of her finger, she highlighted the Hunter class, startling Mio for a second. She read the description.
"The Hunter class expands the range of skills, becoming more versatile including in close range combat making them excellent solo players. Their trap skills are useful for hindering opponents with de-buffs and can buy time for Hunters to get distance on the enemy."
Then, Elizabeth highlighted a specific part of the Hunter class. "Ten per cent less aggro from enemies just from joining the class, which is nice."
After the skill points were allocated, Heart Kiss opened the doors.
"Right, it's the boss now. You can probably handle it but I'll reapply the buffs on you just in case." With a smile, Heart Kiss planted a peck on the Archer's cheek, much to her surprise. Suddenly, all the buffs were reset to their maximum timer. "That was a Holy class skill, part of the Cleric class." Again, she was showing off her broad range of classes but Elizabeth paid no attention as she placed a hand where the angel's lips touched her. It was still warm, or was she just blushing?
"Let's go!" The Freelancer turned and walked through the doors.
"Level twenty eight MoleRunner, only two health bars and each of its claws have a health bar each." Heat Kiss walked to the centre. "You can't see it at the moment but when it pops up, attack quickly. Don't worry about me, I won't take enough damage for it to do any harm." Suddenly, the ground exploded, sending her skyward. A large, star nosed mole appeared from the ground like in a whack-a-mole machine. Before the Archer could even draw her bow, the creature was gone.
"Hurry up, it might go after you so please don't die." With a wink, the angel landed softly. Then, she jumped, the boss reappearing beneath her as its nose scented her out. This time, Mio got an attack in.
"Burst!" she cried, all the arrows hitting the creature before it retreated. It looked similar to a blind pink rat was in her head, fairly disgusting in her opinion. This time, the boss targeted Elizabeth but the Archer Summon managed to pull her out of the way. At such close range, she launched another Burst skill and aimed at the critical spot, its nose. Sixty-four 'Criticals' flashed across the screen, an immensely satisfying feeling welled in Mio's chest as she saw she had dealt over half a health bar of damage. Koyuki replenished her mana with a quick spell and reapplied some buffs.
"Burst!" The Summon was doing a great job of keeping the girl out of harms way, narrowly avoiding damage himself. "Burst!" She got a second attack in before it slunk into the ground. Twice sixty four is one hundred and twenty eight.
"That's a lot of criticals," mentioned Koyuki with a smile across her face. "Well done!"
Two more Bursts later the boss was finished, dealing no damage what so ever to the party. "Congratulations! You beat the Floor Level Ten Boss!"
"Time to go make some items!" shouted Koyuki, bringing them back to IndustRev. With a quick stop by the shop to sell any excess items, they went to a local manufacturer. "Right, this floor is where the company Django manufactures." Mio was intrigued, not knowing about the different designers that were in the game. After some explanation, she understood. Checking her weapon, she noted it had no manufacturer, meaning it was a plain, common item. "Django are the most stylish of weapons out there. Of course, Runa is better at styling." She smiled knowingly as Elizabeth looked confused. "Here is the request bay."
They entered a small factory and walked to the reception desk. Suddenly, Mio was given a large number of gift items, the materials that she needed. "Just talk to the receptionist and she'll lead you through it. I don't think I've missed anything but let me know if I have."
Smiling, Mio conversed with the receptionist, Elizabeth following the options she chose. "Oh, we're getting a bass." However, they had way too many materials for the bass. A range of designs appeared before them, most of them based off real life basses.
"Wow!" Mio's eyes sparkled at the sight of all the left-handed instruments. She quickly imagined herself in her character's position, trying out the range in front of her.
It took her much too long to make her choice and the thought of keeping Koyuki waiting hurried her. She chose the Fender Japan '62 Reissue Jazz Bass in 3-Tone Sunburst (source: K-ON Wiki), her own bass.
"Oh, it can be used as a weapon?" Mio called out in surprise when she saw the weapon card on the item. She equipped it regardless, putting her bow in her inventory.
"Yep. The Entertainer class who are part of the Merchant class uses instruments. And so does the Fighter class technically. I don't know how they work though. I've yet to see an Entertainer to be honest so I don't know how useful they are." Elizabeth imagined being in such a class, juggling knives whilst playing the bass seemed quite peculiar in her head but entertaining none the less.
"Right, now to make the guitars." Mio flicked through the choices, eventually finding Yui's Gibson Les Paul Guitar and Azusa's Mustang in candy-apple red. However, she wondered whether the others would choose something else since all the designs there were the same price. After a call to her friends, they agreed to take a look themselves.
"Thank you so much Koyuki!" cried out Mio. "You've helped us so much."
"Don't worry about it. Runa and I really enjoy hearing you guys' play. When you have your first online concert, invite us!"
"How do you play live on this game?" asked Mio. She imagined her microphone was not high quality enough to play live music.
"You need to get permission from the gaming company and they will hear you play a few songs. If they accept you, you'll then need a GM to be around when you play.
"Oh, Runa and I aren't GM's by the way but we can find someone for you."
Mio nodded, getting a little excited about playing together in a band in the game. Of course, she had forgotten how shy she would be when the time came but her real life bass was in her hands already and she played a few notes.
"Oh, and take this." Another gift from the sempai, Mio opened it quickly.
"What is it?" she asked. It looked like a bow but it was silver rather than wood. However, in front of the grip was a large shield attached to the weapon with a large hole to allow for the arrows.
"It's a shield bow," replied Koyuki. "It's a shield and a bow in one! They aren't as wieldy as normal bows but this is the best thing I have that I don't need anymore so you can have it!" The weapon card showed it was a level fifty item.
"Thank you again, Koyuki-sempai. This will last me a very long time."
"Oh, I need to be going now. Runa's cooked dinner." She sent a friend request, something Mio gladly accepted.
"I hope you enjoy being with Mio," said Heart Kiss as she logged out. "Good luck."
/*Author's Notes
So that's Koyuki and her avatar Heart Kiss. Runa, her flat mate, has an avatar called Heart Bliss. As both of them are on the front line, of course they're at such ridiculous levels. If I had to compare the levelling to Sword Art Online, one should level up twice for each floor in Illusia.
Whereas the safety margin in SAO is ten levels higher than the floor. That implies you only level up once per floor. I don't particularly like that so everything is going to become overpowered in this game. I will counter this with overpowered enemies; that makes things balanced, right?
I have an in depth class system that I have full view of and you guys don't, so whilst Koyuki and I know what they're talking about, I have no idea whether you do. I could stick the list on here but things are liable for changes and they may contain spoilers. Thinking about it, Mio's on level 23 or something, she probably should have class changed by then (it's roughly ten levels a class.) Oh well.
Oh, and when Koyuki said Runa was currently painting her playing, she meant that Runa had a canvass and was painting a picture of Koyuki playing MMO Illusia, not actually splashing paint on her girlfriend (more information on these two are found in the other fan fiction, K-ON! Continued! and on my profile, though there may be spoilers on my profile… They don't have a big part at the moment so I'm kinda skimming over them until they actually play a part.)
The word 'angel' isn't capitalised in this chapter because Heart Kiss isn't in the Angel class yet. I'm just describing her as such.
*/
"Sugoi!" shouted Giitar, taking the guitar into her hands and pulling the strap over her shoulder. She did a pose, giving the 'peace' sign with her fingers. "How do I look?"
"Like a dork," pointed out Tainaka as she took another swig from her glass. She was uninterested in the drums that had been set up for her. "We don't even know how to play these instruments so there's no point."
Azu-nyan agreed with her. This time, she had a Kamikaze. "They're pretty useless… Why did we even get them?"
"Because our masters are in a band," pointed out Elizabeth. "And we're going to have to perform at some point. What was Rosalie's band like? Where they any good?"
"No." Tainaka called the waiter over to replace her drink. "It hurt my ears." She was referring to the drumming. "Yoshida can't play for drink."
"Yahoo!" cried out Giitar, trying some notes. "I'm getting the hang of this!" With no musical guidance at all, they had no idea what they were doing and stared at the Ninja pretending to jam on her new guitar.
"Just because you're name is after a named guitar, doesn't mean you're any good at it."
Prince Triton stood up and walked to the keyboard that was laid out for her. Everyone paused and stared at the usually silent guard. She stretched her fingers out dramatically, and they didn't know what to expect. It would be some kind of sick joke at them if the could play as beautifully as Mozart.
Her fingers hit the keys. No music sounded.
"You need to turn it on," pointed out Elizabeth and the Guard went a little red in embarrassment.
"Ha, even our mighty Guard can blush!" shouted Tainaka, even though the alcohol made her face redder than a tomato. This time, when she hit the keys, some notes were played. After a while of messing around, she tried to make a tune.
"Is that the theme music of this game?" asked Elizabeth. Triton smiled.
"Whaat!" shouted Tainaka, slamming her mug to the table. "She smiled, oh my god she actually just smiled."
Giitar hugged the pianist, almost knocking the keyboard over in the process. "Now you are officially one of us!" The Prince went red again, unsure how to respond.
"We still don't know how to play though," cut in Elizabeth, ending the celebrations short. "And you two aren't even trying!"
"What about you? All you've done is stand around and order people about." The bass hung loosely around the Archer's neck.
"I have played-"
"Show us."
The Archer paused. With a few glances at the oppressive stares from everyone in the room, including the waiter, she sighed and gave in.
"I'm sorry…" The room darkened and a spotlight fell over her. Then, she tried playing the bass.
And everyone covered their ears.
"Ow!"
"Stop!"
"No more!"
Elizabeth sighed again. "Your turn guys," she pointed at the two by the table. "Show us what you've got."
"Oh, Ritsu is turning off her computer."
"Yeah, I need to be off somewhere. See you later!"
"Ugh… Was I really that bad?" Elizabeth looked towards Giitar and Prince Triton. They had gone. "Why do they keep doing this to me…"