December 6th, 2022 (Floor 2: Summit Hut)
"What took you guys so long?" Kirito asked with a smirk as we came upon the NPC hut. Just as I was about to scowl, I caught sight of his face and laughed. Kirito, probably feeling my eyes latch directly onto the whiskers on his face, reddened indignantly and punched the rock in front of him a little harder. His rock was only one in a line and I had a nasty feeling that those rocks would give us a hard time. "I told you; that old man's crazy!"
"Sure, Ki-ri-to," I laughed.
"You won't be laughing when he does this to you," he grumbled, refocusing on his rock.
I led the Hunters inside the NPC's hut, walking directly to the man sitting at the kitchen table, a cup of steaming tea in his hands. He ignored us as we approached but I knelt in front of him, gesturing for the others to follow suit.
"Master," I announced. "The Hunters of Artemis come to learn your ways."
"Eh?" the old man hummed, glancing in our direction before looking back at his tea. "Many visitors have come to this place, seeking not wisdom but destruction of themselves and those around them."
"We seek to learn so that we may survive. This world is as dangerous as it is wide," I said back. I'd gone through the mission in the beta and, even though it took me a week to do, I was determined to cut that time in half.
"I see... Very well. If you wish to continue, join me outside." The old man finished his tea and placed the empty cup on the table before walking out of his home. As soon as the door closed behind him, a quest notification appeared in front of us.
Quest Started: Way of the Master. Would you like to accept this quest?
We all selected yes before moving out of the house and rejoining the Master and Kirito outside.
"These stones are your obstacle. You must show me that you are capable of overcoming any obstacles before you with your will and your palm alone before I can teach you in my ways."
I took the rock on Kirito's right. The differences between our rocks were subtle but I could tell that he had made progress on his stone in the past two days he'd been attempting the quest.
Taking a deep breath, I centered myself in front of my rock and held a hand to it. After a moment of silence, I flicked my wrist and slammed my palm into the stone. It stung my hand and my pride to see no real result and I took another breath, preparing myself for the long haul.
I blocked everything out. I ignored the Master when he painted whiskers onto my face. I ignored Maisie's frustration at the stone and Blake's attempts to scrub the whiskers off with just her hands until bearing down on it with more anger than any of us, determined to get the paint off. Heidan took it as calmly as I did, focusing entirely on his stone.
Minutes turned into hours as I stood in front of the stone. With each breath, I struck. Chips of stone had fallen away but my hands stung and my arms were heavy. It was just a manipulation of the quest, though. My hands didn't really sting and my arms would grow heavier feeling based on how far along the quest the game system determined I was. As I knew from the beta, I wouldn't even be almost done until I wanted to give up more than anything.
Everyone else, even Kirito, took a short break when night fell. They ate and joked about the whiskers and generally got along while I continued working on my stone. I had finished this quest in seven days last time, which is far longer than it should have taken. That was seven days I wasn't fighting mobs and getting stronger. Now, when each day I spent hitting this rock was a day I lost in the real world, I wasn't going to give less than my all.
Hours passed and the Hunters passed the one day mark at the stone. Kirito had made some progress, with today being his third day, but I liked to think I was steadily closing that gap. With each rhythmic strike, my stone chipped and flaked to better resemble his much-abused boulder.
Halfway into the day, I made another strike and a stone shattered. I stood, speechless and covered in stone shards, as Kirito cheered. After three days, he had finally broken his stone. The master had come out of the house with a proud smile and a bowl of liquid. He bowed to Kirito before throwing the bowl's contents up into the player's face. Kirito yelped instinctively but smiled wryly as the paint dissolved in the liquid dripping from his hair.
We all took a break to celebrate Kirito's accomplishment and, somewhere in the commotion, Kirito decided to spend the next few days in the area. If the Hunters finished in that time, we'd partner up again and head towards the labyrinth. It was a good idea and, when he left, he left with promises to see us soon. I returned to my rock with a new focus and a new strength.
I took a calming breath, holding my open palm just centimeters away from my stone's surface, and exhaled slowly. Just before inhaling again, I flicked my wrist and struck the stone.
The stone shattered, just as Kirito's had, and I shouted in surprise more than anything else. I was immediately embarrassed I'd been so surprised but none of my guildmates cared. They were too busy either congratulating me or yelling at their stone in anger. I resisted the urge to smirk at Blake, who was angrier than I'd seen her in a long time. I don't know what she hated more- the whiskers on her face or the stone in front of her- but she wasn't even using her palms anymore. She was kicking and punching it, demanding for it to give. At that rate, unfortunately, it wasn't going anywhere.
"Go join Kirito," Heidan told me. "The rest of us won't be doing anything exciting for the next while. One of us might as well go do something productive."
"Are you sure?" I asked. There was no guarantee that any of them would finish the quest, which made me hesitant to leave. It was Maisie who answered me.
"Of course. We'll message you with updates. Go make sure Kirito doesn't get himself killed."
"Alright." With some hesitation, I removed myself from the group. Guilds couldn't be officially formed until the would-be leader completed a quest on the third floor so we were technically still only a party. It felt weird to leave the Hunters, even for such a short time, but there was no sense in me sitting around when I could be levelling.
"Oi, Kirito!" I shouted, spotting the black figure finishing off one of the many field mobs, a sort of bull creature. Being a savannah floor, Floor 2 had a lot of big animals. Many were based off of African animals like elephants or lions while some were based more on the American plains' animals like bison and wolves. It was a decent mix of challenges, especially since each mob had their own attack strategy.
"Riva!" he called back. As I got closer, he scowled good naturedly. "You're done already?"
"Yep!" I grinned, knowing a wide smile would accentuate my lack of whiskers. "The others thought I should start levelling while they're working. Want to team up?"
"Sure thing. Primary or secondary?"
Just like the first floor boss, Kirito and I made a good tag team. Between the versatility of my staff and the brutal work of his sword, the two of us made quick work of whatever mobs we could find on the field. When we hunted as much as we liked in one quadrant, we moved on, gaining experience and cor as we moved throughout the valley under the Summit Hut. Over the course of this training, I hit level 12 and Kirito levelled to 13.
Night soon fell and, like reality, we both grew tired of training. Not wanting to trek back up to the summit to sleep in safety, the two of us took turns keeping watch.
Sleeping in-game was strange. There was no such thing as sleeping in late because you made the conscious decision to wake up a certain time before falling asleep. Your mind keeps your avatar still and useless during the hours you dictate while it processes and absorbs information but, at the end of those hours, it immediately snaps back to wakefulness.
I took the first shift but, halfway through Kirito's, an alert woke me up.
Riva. Heidan just finished, but he decided he'd wait for Blake and I to finish before heading down the mountain. He's got this idea that we need protecting or something- bah. We'll see you soon. Mais.
"What's up?" Kirito asked, pointing towards the message. I swiped the menu closed.
"Heidan finished but he's staying up there with Blake and Maisie," I told him.
"Oh okay... Do you want to go back?" he asked suddenly. I turned to him, surprised at the question.
"Not really. Maisie should be done soon and Blake will probably give up after that."
"You think she'd just ditch it?"
"I've known her for a long time... When she gets that frustrated, she walks away. She hates that stone more than she hates the whiskers. That might change later in the game, and she might come back when she's relaxed some, but she's not finishing the quest this time," I predicted. "Why'd you ask?"
"I don't know."
"Afraid I'd ditch you?" I joked. Kirito shrugged but his face wasn't joking. "I wouldn't do that. You might not be with us all the time, but you're just as much a Hunter as the rest of us. We've got to band together if we want to get back, you know."
I sighed, trying and failing to shake away my thoughts.
"Why don't people talk about the real world here?" I asked. Kirito opened his mouth but I wasn't done. "I get that people think it's impolite, but this is our world now. Until we get out, this is where we live. And, where we used to live before, it was okay for people to talk about the past. We're so afraid of this world that we're secretive about the other world, like that information will hurt us. What if that information is important, though?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that, if I die, my family won't know how. They won't know if I was PKed or taken down by a floor boss. They won't know what my skills were like or what I spent time doing here. They won't know if I had friends or a guild or if I was a solo player. All they'll know is that, one day that doesn't look any different from the others, the NerveGear sparks and my heart suddenly gives out. That's not okay to me! I don't want to die anonymously to them," I whispered. Kirito was silent for a long time.
"I have a sister. She's younger than me, and different. She was never into gaming, but she was always great at Kendo."
"I had an older brother. He's the one that got me into gaming in the first place. I remember when I was really little, he'd let me watch him play some of his old games. Skyrim was his favorite. He and my dad died in a car crash a few years ago. It's just me and my mom."
SAO didn't allow someone to swallow sadness or fight back tears. I had no choice as tears began welling up in my eyes.
"My parents died in a car accident before I can remember... My aunt raised me like I was her own son. My sister, who's really my cousin, still doesn't know. I found out on my own not too long ago..."
We spent the rest of his shift talking about the real world. Soon enough it was dawn and I took a steadying breath. Talking about the real world might be cathartic, but it doesn't help either of us get out. Kirito and I returned to the fields with a new fervor and a new reminder of why we needed to get out of here.
True to my prediction, we were joined by the other Hunters early the next morning. Despite the fact that Blake hadn't completed the quest, it was decided that it was best to move on towards the Labyrinth. I rejoined the party and, to my surprise, so did Kirito. With the five of us back in one group, we moved out, heading north at a breakneck pace.
Updated 22:04, 1.27.2022