EDIT: 12/31/14- Made guns consistent with update to Chapter 1
So a basic summary of the last chapter: Sinon entered GWO, met Jace, killed her first Xylote, learned she was trapped in the death game, and then decided to head to the next city with the boy she'd met.
In this chapter we get to meet another one of the canon characters. I won't tell you anything other than "it's a girl," though. Have fun wondering for roughly thirty-five hundred words!
Another thing I would like to do is (if you lot permit) to write each boss battle, but I doubt that this would be looked upon with happiness. If you would all like, however, I would be happy to write all of the boss scenes.
Speaking of bosses, there's a boss fight in this one. To clear up the questions, I'll say this now: there are three tiers of bosses. The first tier is a Minor Boss (King of the Lake), which is a powerful Xylote that gives much more experience than a typical Xylote. Major Bosses (Nicholas the Renegade) are much more powerful than Minor Bosses. Planetary Bosses (The Gleam Eyes) are incredibly powerful and comparable to Floor Bosses.
I forgot to add the date and stuff for the last chapter, but starting now, I'll be using little date stamps before certain sections. These date stamps will basically consist of a date, continent, and city, so that a timeline is set and easily recognizable.
EDIT: There are time straps in the first chapter now.
Speaking of cities, most of them are references to something. I inserted a few other names (Base Camp, Nefaria, etc.) to add a bit of a challenge. Extra points if you can guess what the cities are references to.
Somewhat related to that topic, the guns that the players use are modeled after real guns and named by the model name (except for cases the Snyper and Infiltrator). If you want an image of what the guns look like, just look up the guns on google (Light Rifles are called Battle Rifles IRL, in case you were wondering).
I am also planning on adding OC's. Italicized and written below is the form for characters. Please attach the italicized form below to your review if you would like to have a character represented in this story. Please note that very few–if any–will be main characters; instead I plan to have them as smaller characters that Jace and Sinon/Kirito and Asuna assist in some ways.
Name: (OC's Username, not real name)
Weapon Type: (Type of Primary/Secondary Weapon)
Physical Appearance: (Models preferred over descriptions)
Personality: (Sassy, kind, etc.)
Preferential skills: (Tracking, Hunting, Sprint, etc.)
In regards to Skills, I am making a blog that will have all of my Fanfics. A section of that blog will be Devoted to GWO. In that section, I will post a file that has a list of items, skills, and whatever else I find applicable. It will have the words "Galactic Warfare Online" in the title along with something like "A Beginner's Guide" or "Argo's Manual."
I appreciate the time you have taken to read these notes, and am honored that you are reading my story. Please enjoy the story after the following disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own any of its characters. Sword Art Online belongs to Reki Kawahara, ASCII Media Works, and the SAO Project. Please support the official release.
Character Ages
Kirito- 16
Asuna- 17
Sinon- 16
Jace- 17
Chapter 2
Thursday, December 1st, 2022. Continent: Ianides. Outskirts of Glasswaters.
"Cover would be really nice right now, Sinon!" Jace called, unloading a burst of five bullets from his SMG into the stomach of a Xylote. He then whipped around and shot another burst at a new target who was rushing him with a shotgun. He heard two guns charging up with a whine that increased in pitch and volume on both sides and fell prone, watching as the bullets flew past each other and into the other Xylote's head, killing the two aliens.
Jace and Sinon had been on a quest in a mid-sized town called «Glasswaters», a small town just outside of the first major city (Nefaria) that looked like a futuristic version of a 1970's western flick. Due to what Kayaba had said was an unfixable glitch, there was no wind over the lake that the town had been built around, so the waters were always glassy smooth.
The quest entailed traveling to the Lunar Mine and retrieving a weapon an NPC adventurer had lost after a Xylote somehow invaded the town and attacked the NPC. Eventually the Xylote ran away with the man's gun, and the NPC begged anyone who would listen to retrieve his gun. It was a Light Rifle called an «Pyrolith Sturmgewehr», and the firearm was most certainly a powerful one. In the Beta, the player that completed the quest would have gotten the weapon after killing the Xylote that had taken it.
The quest would have been easy if it was just that simple, but there were floors and floors of mazes with Xylotes at every turn. And what was more, these Xylotes had changed upon the official release from Barbarian Xylotes that used unarmed attacks to «Xylotian Bandits» with Solar-class Shotguns. Fortunately, the bandits were more concerned with using power attacks than quick shots, or Jace would have been long gone.
Jace checked the corner of his vision, noticing that he had just under five percent energy remaining on his energy shield and eight more enemies to kill. If he could manage to make them shoot each other he would be fine, but something about the way they were launching barrage after barrage of bullets at him made the process easier said than done.
Jace saw a bullet whiz inches in front of his eyes and bury itself into a Xylote's forehead, followed immediately by a roar and the shattering sound of a death effect–complete with a shower of sparkling crystals. Sinon had managed to kill a Xylote, but he would likely have to kill six more before she could fire again. They would have to fix that soon.
With his shield so low, he was in danger of being one-shotted by one of these berserkers, but he was literally being mobbed. He could try forming a rape train, but that would require making an exit, and he didn't think he could manage that with his shield so low. If he had only spent a skill point to learn «Frenzy Fighting», an SMG skill that would have been perfect in this situation, he might have been able to escape this mess.
Jace swung his SMG, a «Isodex Spectre», in an arc, spraying bullets left and right, barely able to keep an accurate aim. Most of his bullets connected, but the few that didn't were wastes of his valuable ammo. He cursed as another Xylote shot at him, leaping atop another of the scaled homoreptilliae. One of the bandits tried to shoot him, but Jace moved in time and the bullets buried themselves in the Xylote's face, causing him to burst into rainbow colored prisms of light. He leapt from the head of one Xylote to the head of another repeatedly to kill two more.
Jace landed behind one and slammed the butt of his gun into its head, jumping back and shooting it until it too blew apart in fragments of light. He dodged one bullet, but felt the heat of it from soaring just past his face. He had no time to think about how close to death he had just become though; he was already onto rolling forward and killing two more Xylotian Bandits.
The first of the two would be no sweat, just another Xylotian Bandit. But the last of the aliens was the chief of the clan. He had midnight blue skin which had two purposes: making him difficult to see in the low light levels of the cave and marking him as a Major Boss. This would be difficult for sure, but nothing that he couldn't handle.
Jace dove right to avoid a shot from the Xylotian Bandit and retaliated with a well-aimed bullet to the center of its eyes. With a hissing screech the Xylote burst apart into millions of fragments of every color. Now Jace only had the Boss.
The blue Xylotian had only been watching before; there would be no need to waste his ammo if his minions killed the intruder before he was needed. Now that his clan had been killed off, the Boss would fight. Three HP bars sprang to life above the Xylote's head, along with the title «Jeer-Lan the Swift» as it pulled out a Light Rifle that looked like the Atomic Sturmgewehr the NPC had described earlier.
"Sinon, I could use all the help I could get here," Jace called backwards without looking over his shoulder.
«Jeer-Lan» snarled and whipped the Light Rifle into an aiming position, the gun pointed directly at Jace's head. The barrel erupted with flames and a bullet screamed forward at a speed that Jace had only a split second to dodge. He thanked Kayaba for implementing the bullet prediction line during the Beta Test and cartwheeled away from danger.
As Jace reached cover, he took a deep breath; his shield had begun recharging. Now he had a good chance of surviving this encounter, especially with an SMG. He was glad he decided against recreating his character and becoming a sniper.
He reloaded, looking directly to his left at Sinon to ask for the angle and distance of the Boss.
"I'm fifty meters away, looking straight at it." Sinon replied.
Jace thought back to his trigonometry class. Something about sines and cosines? If this was a right triangle and she was twenty-five meters away from him, he would be just about 56 meters from the Boss was. He guessed where «Jeer-Lan» would be and jumped. Luckily for him, the Boss was directly in the center of his iron sights.
The boy sprinted in a spiral towards the Xylote and unloaded an entire clip of plasmid bullets into «Jeer-Lan's» torso. Along with a few bullets from Sinon (who was struggling with shooting the gun), the Boss's first two HP bars depleted completely. The blue Xylote recovered astonishingly quickly though, sending three bullets at the boy that smashed against his shield and depleted it to nothing.
His energy shield's ability made that a good thing, though.
With a smirk, Jace watched as his shield emitted a red energy field around him that expanded outwards and crashed into the Xylote. Instantaneously, the second HP bar was eliminated and the third dwindled away to just under fifty percent, turning yellow. Red electricity ensnared Jeer-Lan's body and he froze in place. The creature could not even move its eyes as it began convulsing in place. Jace took the opportunity to riddle the Xylote's body with plasma.
Jace continued shooting the Xylote in the back, getting closer and closer to the boss monster as he ran at him in a spiral shape. With every inch closer, the bullets dealt more and more damage. All that he had to do was keep it up, and the beast would die.
The last HP bar had dipped into the red zone before the red electricity stopped its paralyzing effect. The Xylote then rolled right with a tiny sliver of health remaining. Jace aimed once more at the beast and pulled the trigger. When he boy heard a click, signifying that he had run out of ammo, he groaned loudly in exasperation.
«Jeer-Lan» tossed his gun to the side, pulling out a new gun. It was massive, about the size of Jace's torso with a box of ammunition that must have held three hundred bullets. This son of a bitch could easily cut him in half if the Boss so much as decided Jace was too tall.
At the same time, Jace ejected the ammunition cartridge and threw a magazine on the ground, diving towards it as bullets flew his way. Thankfully for the blonde gunman, the system made Light Machine Guns very difficult to spray–moving an LMG while firing was a slow endeavor indeed. He rolled ahead of the bullets and smashed the magazine into his gun. Without losing a beat, Jace dove from the ground and spun while sideways, aiming down the sights and waiting to be near the boss's eye. As he fired a bullet, everything moved slowly. Bullet after bullet connected with the blue Boss's stomach, chest, neck, and finally his eye before Jeer-Lan's HP tapered off into nothing and exploded in a flurry of prismatic rainbows.
Jace connected to the ground in a painful corkscrew dive, rolling end over end and scratching his face against the ground repeatedly. He groaned, but looked up and saw a small looting menu had popped up and followed him while he had rolled. He struggled to get himself up and read the notification.
"Congratulations! You have defeated Bandit Chief Jeer-Lan! You have gained 250 EXP/250 Col! You have also gained the Last Attack Bonus! Accept?"
Jace tapped the button and opened his inventory. He found the Last Attack Bonus through the push-notifications, observing a new item called the «Sky Coat». Jace knew it was new to the Beta; there had been no Boss in the Bea Test's version of this mission. Curiously, Jace clicked on the item, pulling up its description.
"The swiftest of the Oblivia, Zarael, granted this long coat to his champion, Jeer-Lan, to make him faster. It also granted him immortality, so long as he was the fastest one in battle. Equip?"
Jace frowned. Nothing about this sounded right; Kayaba wouldn't have made an item that granted the wearer immortality, would he? It would have to have a drawback to it, and there was only one person he knew that he could trust when it came down to information. There was only one information broker that would both keep this a secret and give him an answer–though it would be for a hefty fee.
Argo.
"What's that?" Sinon asked from directly behind him.
Jace screamed and whipped around to find the small girl behind him. After seeing that it was only Sinon he sighed, closing his menu. "I'm not sure what it is, but I have a weird feeling in my gut about it," he admitted, scratching his head nervously.
Sinon frowned and huffed, "Jace, you suggested this quest solely because I didn't have anything but a pistol to defend myself with at close quarters. Then you told me the enemies would be right here and they were, yet you were shocked! Then you were shocked about that Last Attack Bonus. There's something up and you aren't saying what it is, so be straight with me. What's up with this mission?"
"Sinon, when I did this quest in the Beta things were different," Jace began. "This was a tribe of Barbarians: no weapons, no Major Bosses, and no «Sky Coat»–at least not in this mission. Hell, an item like this would have had rumors surrounding it, NPC dialogues about it."
"So they added something to the release, big whoop," Sinon groaned.
"You see, but you don't observe," Jace said sharply. "Tiny detail in comparison to the big picture."
Sinon thought for a moment. He was making a really big deal out of whatever this was about. If it wasn't about them adding a mini Boss or an entire religion system, then what could it be about? It had to be more general?
Jace rolled his eyes and opened his menu, pulling out a small book. He tossed it to the girl, who caught it eagerly. It was made of leather, bound somewhat crudely as if it had only taken ten minutes. The words Beginner's Guide to Aincrad: Advice from the Beta Testers were embossed on the front cover in gold, Old English Text font.
Suddenly everything came to her all at once. Jace himself, one of the strongest players she knew, was caught off-guard because something was different from the Beta. If Jace was thrown off, another player might have been killed because of a small change. Then he had nearly been killed by a Major Boss, though he had faced stronger enemies by himself.
"The official release has been altered."
Jace snapped his fingers. "We have a winner. If they added a new spin to a simple mission, a new boss, a whole new religion, what else might they have added or changed? If a Planetary Boss gets changed, scores of people could be killed."
"We'll need to talk about this at the meeting tomorrow then," Sinon thought aloud. "The others will need to know that their booklets may not be complete or even correct anymore. They'll need to be aware that there are differences."
Jace nodded. She was talking about the meeting in Nefaria about the Boss fight–which was invitation only. Many new players would have wanted to join the battle and gotten themselves killed, so a small group of merchants made a small group called the «Guild of Vendors» that decided who would go to clear the city–and eventually the Command Center.
Two days ago, Jace, Sinon, and about a thousand others had arrived to the city and found it just like any other Xylotian city–crawling with green homoreptilliae. They had fought for ten grueling hours and lost about a hundred players before they finally killed the last Xylote and claimed the city. It was then that the «Guild of Vendors» selected those deemed strong enough for the Planetary Boss.
One of the hardest parts of Galactic Warfare Online was the fact that the cities had to be cleared of all of their Xylotes. In order to balance that, Akihiko Kayaba had made soldier NPC's that were coded to assist in the clearing of the city, but stay away from the Command Center. Because of their creation, the players would be able to enter and clear the cities, but still have a fair challenge when it came to the Command Center.
Jace had been chosen immediately but refused when he learned Sinon had not been accepted. The Merchants needed Jace's skills, but didn't like the thought of sending a slow shooting sniper in. After a few long arguments, Jace had convinced the merchants to let Sinon fight the Planetary Boss and the girl had made up for it with hours of practice in the past week.
Jace opened up his messages immediately and messaged Argo, asking to meet up with her in a restaurant in the center of «Glasswaters». He told her that information was involved and that she would get a hefty price for keeping it quiet.
Exactly thirty-two seconds later, he received a message from the girl. "New Message received from Argo: I'm en route. If this isn't totally worth it, I'm charging you."
Jace laughed out loud as he closed his menu. Of course Argo would say something like that.
)-0-(
Jace and Sinon arrived at the «Glassy Gullet» about an hour later at 7:00 PM. The restaurant was quaint, with a wooden interior unlike most other settlements in «Aincrad». The whole town truly was an ode to a western movie; every civilian NPC in the building wore some kind of hat and they all were dressed in clothes like looked like the American Midwest of the 1800's. He even saw one NPC with a lasso and a revolver at his waist, but the image was ruined by a very nice energy shield on his back.
Jace walked to the counter with Sinon in tow, thinking about what he would order. He had a hankering for the «Berserker Bull Bunwich», but it was a hefty price of 10 Col. He wanted something more cost efficient, but he saw nothing else as appealing to his stomach.
Sinon tapped the bartender NPC on the shoulder, causing him to spin around and engage in conversation. "What'll ya have?"
"I'd like a «Western Cheesy Western» with fries and coffee please," Sinon said with a small bow. The bartender asked for 10 Col, which Sinon gladly offered to him. She looked back as the bartender asked if she wanted anything else.
"What do you want?" She asked the blonde boy behind her.
Jace blushed slightly as she offered to order him something. "My mother always told me that it was wrong to let a girl pay for my meal. I'll order my own food."
Sinon rolled her eyes and returned to the menu. "One of these days, I'm just going to buy you something and you won't be able to argue," she sighed as she shook her head to the bartender before she left with her tray of food. The man went back to cleaning the bar for a split second before returning his attention to Jace, who ordered a «Berserker Bull Bunwich» with fries, onion rings, lemonade, and a banana split. When he came back, struggling to hold everything in his arms, Sinon just stared at him with condescending eyes.
"How much did you spend on food this time?" Sinon sighed. "15 Col?"
"Around 22, actually," Jace said shoving a spoon of ice cream into his mouth. Although the two had eaten many meals together since they had partied up on day one, the way Jace seemingly grew extra arms to feed himself with when he ate was incredible to Sinon even now.
"You're hopeless," Sinon said, cutting a piece of her sandwich off with her fork and knife. "If Argo sees you like this, she may refuse to do business with you."
"I doubt that kiddo. I've seen him eat before, and I'll see him eat again," a voice came from the open door, light and melodious. Jace didn't have to turn to recognize that it was the famed information broker, The Rat–or as he better knew her, Argo.
The girl was donned in a brown cloak made of a cloth that made her very difficult to see in almost any surrounding. Just visible from inside of her cloak was her leather armor and a metallic claw-like weapon hanging from left hip. Those who had seen her without the hood knew of her auburn hair and the three whisker marks on each cheek just below her brown eyes.
Argo was a Beta Tester just like Jace had been. He, along with another Tester named Kirito were her two best sources of information as well as her two biggest customers. And now, he would pay to give her a small research project–or as it would appear, a big one, considering he had no clue where to even send the girl to begin the quest.
"Helloooo Jace~" the girl sang as she bounced over to the blonde boy. "It's been a long time!"
Jace smiled softly and looked at her, gesturing to Sinon. "Hey, Argo. I'd like to introduce you to Sinon; she wasn't in the Beta, so I've been helping her. I won't give you anything else though." He then turned to Sinon and gestured to the new girl. "Sinon, this is Argo. She collects and sells information, so watch out if you ever ask her a question. She'll charge you."
"Pleasure to meet you," Sinon said cautiously. "How are you?"
"I'll tell you…" Argo said mischievously. "For a price."
"To be blatantly honest, I don't think I care enough about your wellbeing to pay for it," Sinon shot back.
Both Jace and Argo looked shocked for a moment. Argo, who had not met Sinon but a minute ago, was shocked. Jace thought that Sinon had said something without realizing it as a coherent thought, but his doubts were soon cast away; he thought he could hear her accidentally speaking over the system link, "I'm really becoming Sinon these days."
"This one's sassy," Argo told Jace before returning her gaze to the other girl. "Tell me more about yourself."
"I'll tell you," Sinon shot back, mimicking the smirk Argo had made perfectly. "…For a price."
Argo was silent for a moment, but Jace was sure he saw the slightest hint of a smirk from beneath the girl's hood. When the girl spoke again, her only words were "I like you, Sinon."
"Well I'm glad you like each other," Jace said, pulling up his menu, "but for now, there are more important matters at hand than which one of you likes the other more. Argo, I'm willing to pay you 1,000 Col up front to gather some secret Intel for me. Every notable piece of information, every lead gains you an extra 200 Col."
"Well Jace," Argo said sarcastically. "Can't you get down to business a bit sooner? It's not like I'm your friend or anything!"
"This is important," Jace said with the cold fire only he had in his eyes. It blazed brighter with every word he spoke, though his voice stayed at the same volume. "I can't tolerate any fooling around, and you can't add this information to your information webs to sell to anyone–even if they ask about me. No, especially if they ask about me."
Argo frowned and Jace immediately knew what she was thinking. Jace had never been so serious or asked for her to keep information secret; he knew information was how she kept herself alive. Whatever he was asking about must have been a big secret, meaning Jace had stumbled across some serious info that he didn't want anybody else to know about–which was rare in-of-itself.
"1,000 Col is a small price to pay for this, isn't it?" Argo asked suspiciously.
"Accept now and find out or decline and never know." Jace told her seriously. Argo shivered and seemed to think for a moment before nodding. Jace then went on, pulling up the Sky Coat's description. "I'm not sure what it's worth. I've never heard of this item and it wasn't in the list of discovered items in the Beta."
"Maybe it was just that–undiscovered," Argo said presumptuously.
"No way," Jace said shaking his head. "This was from the Sturmgewehr mission in the «Lunar Mine». The whole mission was altered; instead of a small group of «Barbarian Xylotes», I had to kill off an entire Bandit Clan. They had a Major Boss with them named «Jeer-Lan the Swift» that had taken the rifle. And the Last Attack Bonus was strange. Read this."
Jace turned the menu around by flicking his wrist in a motion like revealing a card in a magic trick and ate as Argo read the item's description. Thankfully, she was a quick reader, so none of the restaurant's other diners saw the item. The only downside to this was that he had very little time to eat before she spoke again.
"Cough up 50 Col and I'll tell you something," Argo said seriously, getting into her business mode.
"If you want to tell him so bad, why are you charging him?" Sinon said. "Can't afford to make an exception?"
"No she can't," Jace said as he procured a scrap of paper to write down his debts to Argo. It would be easier to pay her at the end of the session than to pay over time. "I currently owe you 1,050 Col. Now tell me."
"Kayaba hated doing things repeatedly," Argo started. "When he made towns, he didn't build the buildings, he had preset schematics for every building type possible. He would alter the dimensions to fit a town, but he never created things individually. He did the same thing for items, creating item sets instead of individual items. Now I'll let you figure the rest out so as not to increase your cost to 1,250."
The blonde boy took a bite of his sandwich and thought for a moment. The price would go up by 200 Col if he had to guess, which meant this was a significant piece of Intel. If she had mentioned it was part of a set, then that could mean two things. It was either a part of a clothing set or one of many different items with similar effects.
"You said it was part of a set but not a single item set, which means there are more items like this," Jace said surely. "They all go together, but they aren't the same. Like there may be a breastplate that goes to the player with the highest HP or something. Rebounding off that, it would make sense if this was part of a quest, but I haven't gotten a notification that I have a new quest yet which means it isn't inventory based. I have to equip it."
Argo shrugged with a sly smirk on her face, and Jace knew something would be coming. "I don't have any other information, but if you want to strip here in the restaurant, be my guest."
Jace felt an uncomfortably warm heat rising in his cheeks, turning him red. Argo laughed as he shrunk in his seat, hoping that none of the other customers would see him. "Shut up, Argo!" Jace whispered.
"That's a lovely red you're turning, Jace," Sinon said mockingly, causing the boy to shrink even further.
After a solid minute of Sinon and Argo laughing at the blonde boy, Argo became serious. "Now it's time to get down to business. We can't go any further until we know what the coat does when you equip it. If it's a quest item, I'll only make you pay 250. After all, it'll be self-explanatory from there."
"If it isn't though, I'll still need help," Jace said, pulling up the «Sky Coat» once more. It was a white long-coat with many blue marks that looked like they could be in Xylose, the alien language. He pointed to them and looked to Argo. "What do these markings mean?"
Argo cocked her head slightly. "Markings? Let me see again." She made Jace flip the screen around and looked at the markings. Thankfully, Argo had studied the game inside and out and was fluent in translating the written words. "The design on the back says 'Champion of Zarael,' and the insignia appears to be the one on the windows of the Planetary Boss Dungeons, but it has the word Oblivian on the front instead of Cryptid."
Jace thought back to the Beta. He had participated in all of the Planetary Boss fights, but he had never seen the logo with anything but the word Cryptid in the center. It was almost like this Oblivian–Zarael–was something in a class of its own, higher than the Cryptids. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he snapped his fingers and looked at Argo.
"Argo, what if this is part of a Xylotian religion that encompasses all Bosses like Greek mythology?" He asked. "What if the Planetary Bosses are like deities with Major Bosses that are comparable to demigods and Minor Bosses that are comparable to heroes like Odysseus?"
"Then what would a Cryptid be?" Sinon asked.
Argo cleared her throat. "In Greco-Roman mythology, there were three types of gods: The Big Three, the major gods, and the minor gods. The Big Three–Zeus, Poseidon and Hades by their Greek names–were the most powerful and ultimately were in charge–the Oblivia. The major gods were those in league with Hephaestus, Athena, Ares, and so on. They were also very important, and were considered the ones people prayed to virtually every day. The minor gods were those like Nemesis, Hypnos, and Thanatos–gods of revenge, sleep, and death–which could be Cryptids."
"So an Oblivian is one of the head honchos and the Cryptids are the weaker ones." Sinon thought for a moment. "Wait how was Thanatos, the god of death a minor god?"
"Not important," Jace said, looking at the menu again curiously. He could equip it now and know if this was a quest. Maybe it was just an item that lowered his stats. He'd never find out if he didn't put it on though. "If I put it on…?"
"Try it on!" Argo said.
Jace hesitated, but stood up and clicked the button all the same to equip the «Sky Coat». Instantly, a coat materialized around his form, its white cloth floating over his shoulders before falling into the form of a long-coat on his body due to gravity. It flapped silently with the kinetic energy of its fall. Then the white menu he had been waiting for appeared.
"New Quest Found! Accept or Decline?"
Jace took a heavy breath. He was relieved beyond belief that this was a quest item as opposed to a prank like he had originally thought. But if the «Sky Coat» was some kind of legendary long-coat from long ago, Jace didn't know if he could handle the pressure. He would have to be faster than any monster, faster than any player.
At that moment, Jace felt a rush of energy coursing through his body. He felt as though he could move exponentially quicker. After checking his stats, he found that his original «AGI» (Agility) stat had been removed and divided equally into all of his stats. He also had a new «AGI stat» that was maxed out for his level, which was currently 18.
Jace knew that there were other players that were leveled higher than him, but he was maxed in «AGI». Most players used Argo's manual to balance their stats based on their fighting class, and the few that didn't balance their stats were already dead.
He felt a piece of paper in the «Sky Coat's» left pocket, and pulled it out. Scrawled onto the scrap of paper was a few sentences in Xylose. He gave it to Argo, who scratched her chin with her thumb as she absentmindedly translated the message. After a moment she frowned and handed it back to him.
"50 more Col please," Argo asked with an outstretched hand. Jace added 50 more onto the total and looked expectantly at the girl. "This isn't written in Xylose, or at least the regular dialect. It's more ancient. I can't be sure, but it looks like it says 'travel to Amsterdam Isle of Drarilia and meet the Titan. Train under the Titan for four days and three nights and then kill him. This will gain the favor of the Oblivian, Zarael.'"
"So my mission is to kill a Titan?" Jace wondered absentmindedly. "I didn't know this was Shingeki no Kyojin. Do I just have to slash its neck?"
"Shingwhatty-no-who-now?"
Jace was astonished that Argo hadn't heard of the TV show, but tolerated her ignorance in this matter. She couldn't know everything, he supposed. "It's a reference to an old TV show. Now really, what do I do?"
"It sounds like Drarilia is a continent in Aincrad," Sinon said. "Why waste time worrying about Drarilia when we meet to figure out what the deal with the Planetary Boss is tomorrow? Calm down and focus on today and everything will be okay."
"I suppose you're right," Jace said with a contemplative frown. "I guess this will have to wait until another chapter in my life."
"You're weird, Jace," Argo laughed.
"So are we gonna get a room? " Sinon asked as she brought her coffee to her lips. "We're already here, it's not like we need to camp again and take shifts."
"A room?" Argo asked with a raised eyebrow and her signature smirk. "Taking the next step in the relationship already, are you?"
Sinon spewed her coffee all over the table and frantically waved her hands in the air, sloshing coffee everywhere as she accidentally shook the hand still holding the coffee mug through the air. "It isn't like that!" She yelled. Soon she noticed that the other customers of the restaurant were staring at her, and her cheeks grew a vibrant shade of scarlet as she averted her eyes down at the spilled coffee. "It wasn't like that," she muttered.
"Well I've got to run, so enjoy the night. Just don't have too much fun." Another blush from Sinon and a laugh later, Argo collected her pay before speaking again. "And if it is, then give me all the dirty details. I'll pay you for them…"
""That was sooo embarrassing," Sinon groaned, head on the table as the girl left. "Is she always like that, shoving her nose in everyone's business and twisting around their words?"
"Yep, that's Argo in a nutshell." Jace took a bite out of his sandwich and went on. "Are you ready yet? I want to go ahead and head out so that we can get to Nefaria before ten o'clock! Then we'll order our room at the closest inn and go to bed."
"Rooms!" Sinon growled. "I'm not sleeping near you tonight!"
"Suit yourself," Jace said through a full mouth as he finished his food and got up. "But either way it's time to get out of here."
)-0-(
Jace and Sinon made it to Nefaria, one of the biggest cities of Ianides in about an hour and a half without facing too many monsters. There was only a small pride of lion-like «Feline Hellions» in their way, which the duo took out easily before they arrived at the edge of the massive city.
Nefaria was a large city, comparable to Chicago in size, both geographically and population-wise. It had been discovered just over a week ago by a small party of four people. The city was the second largest on the whole continent of «Ianides» and had a very neofuturistic look–just like the cities in the new Star Wars movie. And in the very center was the Command Center, a ten story tower emblazoned with the Xylotian Federation's insignia on every window.
Jace and Sinon got into the city exhausted at about 9:00. Luckily for them, there was an inn about an eighth of a kilometer inside of Nefaria. If the duo had had to walk much further than that, Jace would have just laid down on a sidewalk and slept. But they didn't, and for that Jace was immensely grateful.
Eyes drooping, Jace and Sinon slumped into the inn and mumbled a request for two rooms. The NPC granted them two room keys, which ended up in their inventories, and they lumbered to their rooms half asleep. They turned to each other and yawned a good night before opening their respective doors and walking in.
Jace's room was nothing much, just a small room with a bed and a nightstand. In the corner was a small bathroom and a closet; along the wall rested a chair. He cared about nothing other than the bed. He stripped down to his boxers, fell down face first, and instantly woke up, his mind on high alert.
The boy grumbled, laying down and shutting his eyes as he tried desperately to fall asleep and pull the covers above his head. This went on for half an hour with no luck before Jace couldn't take it anymore, bolting upright in frustration.
"Of all nights, why tonight?" Jace hissed to himself.
Thoughts flooded his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about what had happened that day with «Jeer-Lan» and the «Sky Coat». Then his thoughts would drift immediately to the Planetary Boss Fight meeting. Without skipping a beat, his thoughts would change to Sinon dying. No matter what he thought about, he couldn't think about it long. Even counting sheep was difficult.
Knock knock.
Jace looked at the door silently. Sinon would be fast asleep by now; who was knocking at his door? The boy got up, walking over to the door. He planted his feet behind the door and opened it a crack, peeking out at whoever had knocked.
To Jace's surprise, there Sinon stood, shoulders hunched slightly. She was dressed in a tan nightgown that rested below her kneecaps with a few sheets and a pillow in her hands. She stared at his chest for a moment before her head quickly went sideways and to the ground, an embarrassed look spanning her face. "Hello," she whimpered.
"Hey," Jace said, quickly opening his menu and putting on a pair of pants. He was glad that he had set his menu to silent as he pulled on the first article of pants he had. He cursed internally when he realized they were a bright brick-red color. "What's going on?"
"I um…" Sinon closed her eyes in embarrassment. "I can't sleep."
"Yeah, neither can I," Jace said.
A few seconds passed and Sinon still stood in front of Jace in her nightgown. Jace still stared from behind the door, though his pants had already been put on. A cold breeze still kissed his chest, and he felt himself shiver slightly. Then they both opened their mouths at the same time.
"Can I sleep in your room tonight?" She asked as he asked her "Do you want to come inside?"
They both blushed deeply and looked down both stammering before they both looked at each other again and nodded their agreement. Jace opened the door the rest of the way, feeling it brush against his hip and making a light scuffing noise against his brick red sweatpants. Sinon walked in, almost tripping on his foot. She set her blankets on the ground and curled up in front of the bed, lying in the fetal position and staring at Jace. The boy frowned at her and walked over, picking her up and setting her under the covers of the bed. The girl opened her eyes a bit wider, mouth shut as she was lifted, but said nothing. Jace looked at her for a fleeting second and then Sinon's eyes darted closed.
He opened his menu, putting on a long white tee shirt and his Sky Coat before he equipped a warm blanket and sat in the chair on the wall, curled up into a ball with his blanket wrapped around his legs. He would obviously not sleep in what his mother had taught him should be the girl's bed. He glanced at the girl, whose eyes were still closed, but had a more relaxed look on her face now. He had just thought she had fallen asleep when she spoke again.
"Why were you awake?" Sinon asked quietly.
Jace looked over at her. Her eyes were still closed, but the slightly tense look was back on her face. The boy wondered what it was for. He sighed and said, "I was thinking."
"About tomorrow's meeting?"
Jace nodded. "And the «Sky Coat». And the changes in the game. There's so much of this stuff that's off. Adding a Boss monster and changing certain missions? If they've done that, you can guarantee that they've altered the levels of a lot of Xylotian hunting grounds. That's no big deal for me, but for newbies that use Argo's booklets, it could be fatal."
"I know you're worried about it," Sinon said quietly, "but the players that have been affected by that are already gone. And plus, you saved me…"
Jace froze. She was right; if he hadn't taken her under his wing, Sinon would have died long ago if multiple Xylotes were in one place. Or she may have just locked herself in Base Camp, which could have been even worse. A simple hum of agreement was the only response he could manage to give her.
"Jace?" Sinon said, sitting up and looking at him now. "Thank you. I… Thank you."
Jace nodded and stared at his knees. He heard the girl getting up and walking over to him. Her breath brushed the tips of his hair ever so slightly, as if the lightest of breezes had touched his forehead. He looked up and found Sinon much closer than he had realized, only inches in front of his face. He found that he had taken a breath that he could not let go of and only relaxed when he felt her hugging him. Then he took a sigh of relief and let his arms wrap around her shoulders.
They stayed there for a good minute until the boy heard a light snore coming from Sinon's mouth. She had fallen asleep whilst hugging him. He rolled his eyes and tapped her shoulder twice, causing her to jerk awake. "Sleepy, Sinonon?"
Sinon blushed and pushed Jace backwards, causing him to stumble and fall to the floor on his butt. "Shut up, Jace," She said quietly, turning over and going back to her bed. She turned away from the blonde boy with a "humph" and pulled the covers tightly around her body, determined to ignore Jace for the remaining duration of the night.
Jace grinned and walked back to the chair to return to the land of dreams. As he closed his eyes, the boy could feel the warm darkness of sleep wrap around him. He let himself slowly drift in unconsciousness as he finally fell asleep after the long, confusing day.
)-0-(
Friday, December 2nd, 2022. Continent: Ianides. Nefaria
The next morning, Jace awoke to a pleasant sunrise flittering in through the window of his room. He yawned and stretched his back which ached from sleeping in the chair all the past night. He had had a nice dream though, and it made him happy to start the day, though his memory of what had happened in his sleep was starting to fade from the banks of his memory.
He glanced over at Sinon who was still asleep on the bed, the covers pulled much tighter to her body than he had remembered. It amplified every detail of her form; her hips were quite large and contrasted nicely to her slim waist. Her hair was splayed across the pillow in a haphazard manner, and her skin glowed with the morning light.
Jace got up, letting his blanket fall from his body and onto the floor as he walked over to her bed. He almost laughed aloud when he saw that Sinon's mouth had fallen open in the middle of the night and had resulted in a miniscule, but quite present, puddle of saliva on the surface of the girl's pillow. He did laugh aloud when Sinon rolled onto the puddle nose first in her sleep.
Sinon opened her eyes groggily and looked up at the blonde boy. She moaned a quite hum of question, and then reached up to feel her face. Upon realizing she had drooled all over herself, her eyes shot open and her cheeks erupted in a storm of pink. She sat up quickly, turning and wiping away at her face as Jace giggled uncontrollably.
"You drooled!" Jace breathed through fits of laughter.
"And you drooled the other day under that one tree when we were hunting," Sinon countered. "Your shirt wasn't dry for hours, so unless you want that story to come out on the way to the Boss Fight, you'll shut up."
Jace instantly stopped laughing and stared at the ground in embarrassment.
"That's what I thought, asshole. Now let's go to the damn meeting," Sinon grumbled, walking out the door and leaving it open behind her. Jace then followed the girl out of their room and into the hallway of the inn to watch from the rail of the second floor balcony overlooking the lobby.
When Jace had first arrived in the building, he had been too tired to focus on anything other than the phrase "gimme a room," but now he paid attention to the details. He was in a large building that resembled a log cabin greatly. There were even heads of native animals, such as the bear-like «Grizzly Bjorn» and the deer-like «Slimy Stag». In the center of the farthest wall from the door was a roaring fireplace that heated the entire building –a surprising feat for such a small looking fire.
Jace leaned against the railing, watching all the people in the lobby below. There were many average people, but there was one group sitting at one of the many tables that stood out to him. He saw a man with long royal-blue hair giving a high five to another man with spiky orange hair. They spoke in length before being joined by another boy with brown hair who looked about Sinon's age.
Jace flinched. The boy with brown had not done anything but sit down with them–an action that it seemed the ones with odd hair expected him to do–but Jace felt oddly… uncomfortable. He couldn't put his finger on the feeling he had, let alone why he felt that way, but the blonde boy was positive that something was up with the newcomer.
If he didn't know better, he'd have said the feeling was distrust.
"Follow close behind me and say nothing," Jace told Sinon, tearing his eyes away from the trio. He dashed down the stairs, intentionally sitting down at a table near them, but far enough away that it would seem like he was just sitting down. He pulled out a notepad and a pencil and tried to listen in on their conversation as Sinon sat down beside him.
"Diabel, you know it's necessary!" The spiky haired one whispered aggressively.
"No, it isn't," the one with blue hair hissed.
"No Diabel, Kibaou is right!" the one that made Jace feel so uneasy said.
Diabel glared at the boy who had just spoken. When he spoke his voice was eerily calm, like the waters of an ocean before a hurricane. "You need to learn when to speak out and when to be silent, Spiegel. Now is one of the latter times."
"Look at all of their injustices!" Spiegel growled. "Kibaou has a point. We need to warn the others."
"Of what?" Diabel asked. "So a few of them are jealous. It's not like they killed anyone or anything."
"But that's where you're wrong," Kibaou said, quietly smacking the table. "One of them told me that there was an easy mission about a click and a half south of Base Camp. They told me that it was just a mission to kill a small group of Barbarians, but there was a Major Boss! I had only thirteen HP left after it was all said and done."
Jace turned to look at a girl at the table beside them so that he could see the blue-haired one's reaction. The boy looked shocked beyond belief. "Is that true? I heard that was the mission with that LMG."
"Why would he lie to you, Diabel?" Spiegel asked a bit louder than he meant to. He looked around to see if anyone was watching them and found no one but Jace. Jace gained a slight glare from him before he gathered the attention of the other players. "Hey, you. Blondie."
Jace tossed them a carefree glance as if he had been innocent before turning to his table. This apparently wasn't good enough because the two had walked over to him as he turned. He glanced at them again as they stood on either side of him, and he groaned. "What would you fine gentlemen like?" Jace asked sarcastically.
"Jace, let's leave," Sinon said quietly.
"Leveling up your «Eavesdropping » skill?" Kibaou asked loudly as if trying to make a scene. "Didn't your mommy ever teach you that eavesdropping is rude?"
"Didn't your mommy ever teach you to shut the hell up?" Jace snorted.
The other diners stopped eating and turned to watch the scene unfold. Kibaou flushed a light shade of coral as he realized that the boy had insulted him. He set his hand on the table and leaned in closely. Jace could feel the other boy's hot, stinky breath on his cheeks that almost made him cringe. "Did you just insult me?" He asked.
Jace turned to stare at the two boys. Spiegel looked like a teenage idol. He had silky, slightly long, sepia-colored hair and a manic look in his eye. He wore a saffron hooded cloak with grey accents, and black clothes underneath. He looked slim–Jace would have guessed the boy to be an «AGI» build like himself.
Kibaou, on the other hand was by no means a teenager, probably around 21 in age. He had tawny hair that stuck out greatly in comparison to his earthy grey clothes. He looked like he was mostly a «STR» build that enjoyed picking fights. He had a small soul patch and a strong jaw-line, like some of the jocks at the high-school that Jace had attended before being absorbed into the game. And he appeared to be just as dumb.
"Did you not figure it out until just now, Spike?" Jace asked Kibaou. A few of the customers began to whisper; Kibaou had been one of the most important figures in this town and this new comer–who had arrived the night before–was calling the bully out.
"Jace, stop," Sinon begged quietly.
"Listen to your girlfriend here! Do you know who I am?" Kibaou spat, slamming his fist down on the table. Luckily, Sinon's blush went unnoticed by just about everyone–except for a few of the other diners.
"Yes," Jace said with a cocky smirk. "You're Kibaou, from what my «Eavesdropping» skill told me. From what my intuition tells me though, you're not as big of a deal as you want people to think you are. You're just a dumb college jock who's gotten slobbering drunk a lot."
The behemoth growled and grabbed Jace's collar, pulling him up. The latter made sure to not look surprised–the fact that he had expected something to happen helped immensely. The former then pushed him back, but Jace had steeled himself and just scooted back an inch. Newton's Third Law of Physics was not so kind to Kibaou, who ended up scooting back himself.
A few people chuckled and Kibaou turned red again. "I am a big deal! The Guild of Vendors chose me personally to be in the Boss Fight, and less than four hundred people were picked for that!"
"Well they picked me too, but I refused unless my partner was included too," Jace said. "They added her to the group immediately. I guess they really needed me–I can see why though if their ranks are full of troops like you."
Kibaou pulled back his shirt and revealed a sleek pistol. "Listen kid, I don't want to have to use this!" He yelled angrily. "Shut your mouth or I'll fill it with lead!"
"That'll certainly do a lot to him, Kibaou, considering we're in a safe zone," the voice of Diabel called.
Kibaou turned and looked at Diabel. "He's mocking me!"
"Empty words. You need to be less of a hot-head." Diabel said from his seat before rising and walking over to the boy on Jace's other side. "And you. Spiegel, you're supposed to keep him in check, not be his back-up. I'm disappointed in both of you."
"Sir–"
"No buts," Diabel said in a tone that quieted Spiegel before turning to Jace. "I'd like to apologize on behalf of my men. Their actions were inexcusable. I hope you don't mind me asking, but are you Jace by any chance?"
Jace studied Diabel. The boy looked about nineteen and wore a bright blue coat with yellow accents. His eyes were the same color, as well as his hair, making it seem like he was matched too well. From the gun he had, Jace could guess his level was about fourteen. The strangest thing was that Jace seemed to recognize him, but he just couldn't put his finger on where from.
"Who's asking?" Jace's words were short, but his tone said more.
"My name is Diabel, as you must know," he said with a slight bow. "But what you may not know is that I am officially in charge of the Boss Raid on the first floor, and you're the only one that had a partner that wasn't invited. The rest had all practiced together as a unit of four or more or as solo players. Yours was an unusual case, and we admired your dedication to your partner as much as your skill. That dedication was proof enough that you deserve to fight in the top ranks–especially if you can become that dedicated to killing Xylotes."
Something about the situation Jace was in didn't seem right at all. Diabel, who was being very formal at the moment, had been the voice of reason in the secret discussion from earlier. He also ignored the fact that Jace had been listening in on a fair amount of their conversation. On the other hand, he had allowed his peers to confront him in a very rude manner. But there was something even stranger than that, something stranger that Jace couldn't figure out.
What was it about Spiegel that made Jace feel so anxious?
"Well pleasure to meet you, Diabel, but I have to go for a moment."
Diabel nodded with understanding. "I plan to see you at the amphitheater if you are who I think you are–along with this fine girl." He pointed at Sinon with the last words and then bowed to the blonde boy.
Jace bowed as well and turned on his heel, walking slowly to the door. He wrapped his fingers around the doorknob, almost expecting an exclamation of "halt" or "hold it right there," but none came. So he turned the knob, walked out of the inn with Sinon to begin walking through the town.
There had been so much the boy had missed last night when they had arrived in Nefaria the previous night.
The buildings around him had black, shiny, metal walls with windows that glowed a cerulean hue much like the sky above. All around him were stores that sold clothes, energy-shields, weapons, food, and various other supplies–along with people who ran by carrying their stock,raving about their service and bragging about their equipment. Alien birds with green diamonds over their heads soared over the city, perched atop rooftops, and the like. It was truly a beautiful city, built in a rough circle. It rose in a type of a cone; the smallest buildings were closest to the edge of the settlement and the Command Center was the center–the only area remaining in the town clear of Xylotes. And today was the day that that would change. There would no longer be any Xylotes that could cower in the heights of the tower–they would be dead by nightfall.
Jace and Sinon walked over to where the meeting was supposed to be–the amphitheater near the park–and sat down, waiting for what would go down in the players' history as the most important ever: The Day of the Beater.
Author's Notes
Alright, checklist is short this time. I just have to talk about Sinon falling asleep and the awkwardly easy get away. I'll also add another little thing too though that'll be helpful. I got the idea from Magic Online, by Mrs. Insane One (no spaces). It's a Harry Potter/Sword Art Online crossover and it's fantastic. I highly recommend it. Essentially, it's just a list of equipment, stats, skills, and how far along they are and stuff.
But first let's talk about how Sinon went to Jace's room and fell asleep on his knees. It's indeed possible to fall asleep on someone's knees; I've done it before. But more importantly, Shino fell asleep. Shino walked in and Sinon woke up and grumbled at Jace. In those moments, the same exact thing that happened to Jace was happening to Sinon and Shino resurfaced. In a moment of fear, she went to Jace for help. Then when she woke up after falling asleep on him, she felt that she had opened up too much and then shut him down again. (That's a vicious cycle in real life guys.)
Second that awkward escape. It was very oddly placed and badly written, but it's been thirty days since I posted the last chapter and I had to post something. I'll go back and edit it at some point, but I have to post.
Third, I have a special announcement. Kirito is going to be the main character in the next chapter, which will be very easy because it will be all canon. The one thing I may have trouble with is writing the bath scene because I don't know what happened really, just from a few fanfics (like SLD holla). So that will be one of the few moments that happens differently from the anime–or in this case, the manga/light novels.
Finally I have decided I'm gonna start only putting the Author's Notes at the ends of the chapters. I'm gonna keep the ages and the disclaimer and stuff. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Good night… or morning… or… you know what, f*cking whatever, you know what I mean.
Definitions
SMG: Sub Machine Gun
LMG: Light Machine Gun
Jace's Game Data
Level: 18
HP: 1,100 (200+50xlvl=HP, where lvl=level)
Col: 27,977
Main Equipment
Isodex Specter- Plasmid class SMG ideal for players below level 25. Real counter-part, Spectre M4
Pyrolith Snyper- Entry Level Sniper Rifle ideal for players below level 13. Real counter-part, M21
Isodex Infiltrator- Entry Level Pistol, ideal for players below level 14. Real counter-part, M1911
Swift Jeans- Durable Jeans that give a +2 AGI boost
Blue IGAF Shirt- Blue shirt with the IGAF Insignia on the chest
Sky Coat- White long-coat with blue markings and words written in Xylose. Maxes AGI stat to the wearers current level.
Mk II Crimson Wave- Mid-level Energy Shield available on Ianides. When depleted, emits a red energy field that paralyzes most Xylotes within a ten meter radius for fifteen seconds.
Skill Slots: 7
Skills (Basic 0-249 pts, Advanced 250-499 pts, Proficient 500-749 pts, Expert 750-999 pts, Master 1000 pts)
Sub Machine Gun- Makes the user more efficient in Sub Machine Guns. 365
Sonar- Allows the user to listen in on conversations from farther away. 132
Perception- Allows the user to find people and tracks easier. 253
Stealth- Makes the user more difficult to detect. 306
Extended Weight Limit- Increases the amount of weight one can have in their inventory. 112
Regeneration- Allows the user to regenerate a set amount of HP every ten seconds. 194
Picking- The ability to pick locked doors and chests. 314