December 8th, 2022 (Floor 2: Urbus)

The Hunters (plus Kirito) had made it to Urbus in good time. Without any snags worse than the average mob, we were soon strolling through the marketplace. While we hadn't really used any supplies during our trip south, I liked going to the marketplace to look at new weapons and keep an eye out for any NPC forges. By running into NPC forges for either miscellaneous quests or even the rare lesson over the past month, I'd raised all of my smithing skills to at least 50, with blunt weapon forging being the weakest skill at level 53.

Today was no different, but we ran into an old friend.

"Isn't this a reunion?!" Heidan exclaimed, throwing an arm around Asuna's neck as she examined a row of rapiers that were for sale by a player-smith. Asuna scowled for a moment before brightening.

"Riva! You're a smith, right?" she asked excitedly. I nodded back, throwing a smug look towards Maisie, who disregarded it completely. "Are you able to upgrade weapons?"

"Easily." Upgrading weapons was something anyone with 20 levels of weapon forging could perform. "What do you want to upgrade? Your rapier?"

"Yes." Asuna unsheathed her rapier before passing it to me. I frowned at its unfamiliarly light weight and examined it closely. The blade was very narrow and the hilt was protected by a dome-shaped guard. Overall, the weapon was of decent quality, obviously a monster drop. I turned it over in my hands twice more, allowing my smithing skills to activate as I examined it closer.

"Okay. Based on the condition of your blade and my amazing level of expertise with bladed weapons, I'd say you have a 98% chance of success with an upgrade.I can do a +1, 2, 3, or 4. I'd recommend the last, with three accuracy and a durability stat upgrade, which would require one hundred wind wasps."

"Would you be willing to help me collect the materials?" Asuna asked with a hopeful pout. I rolled my eyes but Blake slid closer.

"Only if we keep the cor from the kills," she said, business as usual. "That, or you can pay the standard market price for a weapon upgrade."

Weapon upgrades, especially on monster drops, tended to be rare and expensive. Unless you had a good smith and good materials to work with, chances of success tended to be low so many players didn't bother.

"I'll let you keep the coron one condition!" Asuna declared seriously. Suddenly, she smiled. "You come with me tomorrow. There's word of a midfield boss blocking the way to the labyrinth but I bet the six of us could handle it."

"Sounds good to me!"

"Alright!"

"Sounds like that's a yes," I chuckled as Heidan and Maisie high fived. "Let's head out into the field later and get those wasps. For now, I've got some window shopping to do!"

Wasp hunting was fun, especially with so many people. It soon turned into a game of who could kill the most the fastest and we didn't declare the game over until we had far more than one hundred dead wasps. Even with an unimproved weapon, Asuna's accuracy and speed with her rapier was staggering and she earned a clean victory over Kirito despite his speed and new martial arts skill. I wasn't too far behind, but my weapon didn't allow me to cleanly kill many wind wasps as quickly.

With the prepared materials. we headed back into town and took over a local NPC smithy. I activated the forge, selecting Reinforcement and placed the materials inside of the forge. When the flames turned blue with a lick of green, I plunged Asuna's rapier into the flames. It remained there as I twisted it carefully, making sure to heat the blade evenly until it was glowing red-hot. I removed it from the flame and placed it on the bellows, glancing up at Asuna.

"This is the tricky part," I assured her with a grin. I grabbed the hammer and, carefully, began striking the blade.

Once the first hit was made, I had a three minute window to perform nine other precision strikes. Any more or less would cause an instant fail. I took a brief pause before striking out carefully, counting in my head until I reached the number ten. I lifted the hammer away from the rapier and the fiery glow subsided to reveal Asuna's finished rapier. It was much shinier than it once was, as if the hammer had polished its surface, and it gleamed in the light. I tested its balance in my hand, my smithing skills activating to read the weapon's stats.

Wind Fleuret +4 (3A1D)

I ignored the rest of the data presented to me and swiped through the air with the rapier before twisting it around and holding its hilt out to its proper owner with a grin.

"All done! One Wind Fleuret, properly upgraded."

"It's amazing," Asuna said after swinging it around a couple of times. She sheathed the blade. "I'll make sure to come to you next time I need something."

"Eh. I only freelance. There are some really good player-smiths out there, though, if you know where to look. I'll be able to point you in the right direction if there's anything I don't have equipment or supplies for."

The next day, as promised, the six of us left Urbus and headed towards where the field boss was reportedly spotted, blocking the way to a small village established next to the labyrinth.

By the time we arrived, a scouting party had already gone and gotten information about the boss, a creature called the Bullbous Bow. Two players- Lind and Kibaou- were planning on leading their parties of six on the Bow later in the morning but Kirito and I got a little impatient so...

"Remind me why we're doing this by ourselves again?!" Blake growled as she drew another dagger from its sheath. She had plenty of them; given her tendency to throw her knives when she was desperate, we all thought it was best that she actually came equipped for that strategy.

"Because Kibaou didn't want to include us!" I called back as I swiped the side of the Bow. The beast was several times taller than even Heidan but it wasn't that strong. The lowest level in the group was Blake at level 11 and even she was stronger than most of Lind and Kibaou's group.

Our strategy was simple: Asuna and I would keep the bull distracted from the front with Maisie and Blake watching our backs while Kirito and Heidan tackled the bull's undefended flanks. It had a very simple attack pattern, a point and rush tactic that was child's play to avoid. Whittling the beast's HP down took some time but none of us were too worn when I launched a final attack and stabbed the bull through the eye with my staff. The bull shattered into shards around my weapon, bathing me in blue-green light, and I grinned.

Level Up! a menu congratulated me as I made it to level 13, finally catching up to Kirito for even a moment. Another menu appeared behind it, alerting me that I received a last attack bonus from the field boss. Curious, I opened my inventory and examined the new item: Hunting Horn.

"What is that?" Maisie asked with a frown, glancing at Heidan.

"I've never heard of it," he said with a shrug. I materialized the item and a large hollow horn appeared in my hand. The horn itself was a glossy black with careful gold filigree on either end of the horn and a strip of leather was looped around the ends to create a sort of handle. It looked innocuous in my hand and I hummed. After a moment of consideration, I put the horn to my lips and blew.

It made an almost mournful sound but, other than that, I couldn't discern any differences between before and after I blew the horn. Shrugging to my guildmates, I attached the horn to my belt. Even if it wasn't useful, it was a cool trophy from the fight.

"Onwards and upwards?" I suggested, gesturing to the village before us.

"Might as well... Should we tell the others that we killed the boss?" Maisie asked.

"Eh. They'll figure it out when they swing by later."

We started to move forward when the hairs on the back of my neck started to rise. I tensed, reaching for my staff as I got the distinct feeling that I was being hunted.

"Do you guys feel that?" I asked. A few nods answered me and hands shifted towards their weapons as our eyes scanned the long savannah grasses. The grasses were almost up to my waist at some points, making it easy for a monster to hide in. I would be astounded if anything had gotten so close without coming up on anyone's hypersense.

The grasses began to shift and a low growl emanated from off the beaten path. I narrowed my eyes at its source. Wolves were common on these plains, but we hadn't encountered them in a while.

Suddenly the growling stopped and, from the grasses, a lone wolf emerged. It's eyes scanned our group before locking onto me and I frowned. This wasn't normal behavior of a pack monster. Normal wolves would circle their prey before herding them in tighter and tighter circles, eventually tiring the prey and taking them down. This forward approach was unusual at best.

"Oh no you did not," Heidan half groaned. I shot him a surprised glance and I don't think I was the only one who did so. As the wolf approached, he relaxed. "Calm down, guys. Riva's just really stupid lucky."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Kirito asked, eyes wide. I scowled.

"Mind telling me what you two are talking about?"

"It's a summoning horn. SAO allows certain random players random abilities. One ability is called beast taming in other games," Heidan explained. "That horn, if I'm right, grants you a monster ally. So long as you treat it right and keep it fed, it should cooperate with you."

"That's so..." I glanced at the wolf. It wasn't like the dire wolves on the first floor and it wasn't exactly the same as the plains wolves of this floor. Its fur was thick and shaggy, a mix of bramble colors with white paws and markings on its face and tail. Its eyes were strikingly intelligent and, as it looked up at me, they seemed to soften. "It's so cute!"

"I hate this stupid game," Blake growled. "I get whiskers, but Riva gets a dog? How does this make any sense?!"

"You're just jealous," I laughed, releasing my hold on my weapon and reaching for the wolf. "Come here boy... girl? Come here!"

"I get to name it!" Maisie demanded while Kirito and Asuna shared a long-suffering glance before laughing to themselves.

Updated 22:04, 1.27.2022