It had been two weeks since this death game had started. And so far Kirito had yet to encounter a single player which was fine by him. And in that time he had already hit level twelve and was still grinding. He had already far out-leveled many of the enemies on the floor save for a few mini-bosses, rare spawns, and some dungeon enemies. Most of his success was due to the tweaks that Kayaba had put into the game.
There were hundreds of changes but most of them revolved around the combat system. Enemies spawned far more frequently which gave the chance for more items and experience. This was however balanced by the reduced experience gain and item drop rate on many of the weaker enemies. Along with those tweaks the combat bonus for fighting solo had been increased significantly which is where the bulk of Kirito's experience had come from. The rest had come from doing quest which were far more numerous than ever before. This was not due to any tweaking but because of the lack of players there was abundance of quests. The only thing that had changed from the quest system was the item rewards that usually accompanied the experience and col that was almost always guaranteed for completing a quest.
One thing that both intrigued and irritated Kirito was how every enemy in the game now had double the stats. It brought him a greater challenge which he enjoyed but it did increase the risk of injury and death. The only thing he saw as a real problem resulting from this would be the boss fights. It was going to be difficult enough to fight with so few people but doubling the stats would make this almost impossible. That part alone confused Kirito as he wasn't sure whether Kayaba wanted them to fight and survive in this world or just die and give up.
He could only give a sigh as he observed his surroundings which happened to consist of three Dire Wolves one of the stronger mobs on the floor. Normally a single one of these things would give a decent fight that would go either way but with three of them just meant that whatever they were fighting was more than likely to die. Luckily for Kirito he happened to be on the edge of a cliff currently. He gave a small grin as he held three throwing picks in his left hand while his right remained empty. For his idea to work he needed to be able to move swiftly and be able to use as many appendages as freely as possible. Most people would call this idea idiotic but Kirito thought it was brilliant as he had done this before. Well the last time he only had a single one of these wolves on him but how much of a difference could two more who were each eight levels above him make?
Kirito breathed in an out slowly as he observed the muscles in his opponents waiting for a set of legs to tense. He grinned as he saw the left wolf do exactly as he planned and knowing what would come next he tensed his own legs. The Dire Wolf lunged at him and just a second before they collided Kirito jumped into the air causing the Dire Wolf to almost fall off the edge as it barely caught traction with his claws. But Kirito had expected this and as he came back to the ground he twisted so he landed on his right palm which he stretched out while he curled his legs close to his body. This awkward position allowed him to kick the wolf off the cliff but not before Kirito launched one of the throwing picks into the wolf allowing Kirito to receive the experience for when the wolf died of fall damage.
He quickly got out of his one arm side stance as the second wolf lunged. However unlike the first one this one actually managed to clip Kirito slightly causing some of his health to decrease. Irritated by the fact he got wounded Kirito threw his second pick in the wolf's eye causing it to go blind. This gave him the chance to land a hard kick on it causing it to fall off the cliff like the wolf before it. The plan was going exactly as Kirito wanted it to but that was soon changed as the third wolf lunged while he still had his back turned. The wolf sunk both sets of claws into his shoulders and as Kirito hissed in pain as he lost his balance sending the two tumbling off the cliff.
Kirito actually panicked for once as he fell while the Dire Wolf continued to try and kill him. He somehow managed to pull out his dagger as he came up with an idea to get out of this situation alive. The ground was closing in fast but Kirito already had an idiotic idea in mind. He slammed his last throwing pick into the left paw of the wolf and this action caused the beast to let out a whine in pain as one of the claws restricting Kirito's movement let go. This gave him the chance he needed as he twisted to where he was facing the wolf. He slammed his dagger into it's gut and charged up a sword skill as he did this. He let the skill activate as it propelled them into the wall of the cliff which caused his dagger to become embedded in the rock stopping the fall. Although it did cause his arm to jerk painfully due to the sudden stop of momentum.
As the dagger sunk into the cliff wall he felt a massive jerk of strain in his arm as the action halted his momentum almost immediately. He gritted his teeth in annoyance as he felt his arm go numb but he grinned when he took a look down and saw he was safely ten feet above ground. However he could not say the same for the wolf who's polygons were currently dispersing in the air. Kirito gave a satisfied grin as he yanked the dagger out of the cliff and fell to the ground landing on his feet. And with his hunting expedition completed he decided to return to the inn he was staying at.
The Next Day
If there was one thing that Kirito missed about other people it would be their trades. Since there was basically no players in this game that meant there was only NPC merchants, blacksmiths, and other trades that would usually be handled by players. Now a NPC could still get the job done right but they were a pain to barter with and they usually had nothing of value.
So this was how Kirito began to debate on whether or not to become a blacksmith. It would definitely pay off in the long run but it would hinder him severely in the beginning due to him needing to spend time to level up the skill which wouldn't allow him to increase his combat capabilities as much as he would like. The only reason he had yet to become a blacksmith was due to a strange rumor that the NPCs in town were whispering about.
Usually an NPC would have only a certain amount of sentences they could speak but it seemed to Kirito that their artificial intelligence had increased significantly since Kayaba had changed the game. It was almost as if they were human now due to how complex their interactions were now. But recently they had all started talking about a genius blacksmith in town that seemed to never stay in the same place for longer than a day.
Kirito wanted to find this blacksmith and see just how talented they were because he knew that some NPCs levels relied on who they were speaking to, but those were the rare ones. If this was one of them then Kirito could continually come back to this blacksmith even after he was many levels higher than he currently was. The only problem was that he had no idea on where he should look for them and the fact that they moved so frequently.
Kirito let out a small curse as once again he came to a dead end in his fruitless search of the blacksmith. He had already spent three hours searching but had so far come up with negative results. He turned around sharply to start heading towards another directing but during his turn he bumped into someone knocking them down. Now normally Kirito would walk off since he hating interacting with people but due to this being an NPC he did not mind. Besides this may be another chance for him to get information.
"Sorry about that." He said with barely any emotion as he helped the girl he had knocked over up. He looked over at the girl he had knocked down and had to admit that she was beautiful, long brown hair tumbled down to her mid back as soft equally brown eyes gazed back at him. He couldn't help notice however that she was dressed differently than the other NPCs in the town as she wore a set of reddish brown armor that barely showed from where it was due to the fact it was under the girls grey cloak.
"It's fine I was in a hurry anyways." The girl replied as she got back up and began to walk away.
"Wait before you go can I ask you a question?" Kirito called out to her. The girl stopped walked and turned around to face him.
"And what would that be?" She asked her tone laced with a slight bit of confusion.
"I'm looking for a genius blacksmith and I was wondering if you knew anything." Kirito told her. He noticed that her eyes flashed with recognition for the slightest of seconds before they returned to normal.
"As a matter of fact I do know about this blacksmith." Happiness soared through Kirito as his annoying quest was finally making headway. "If you want to meet her she will be in the center of town by the fountain by midnight." Without waiting for a response the mysterious girl walked off leaving Kirito alone. Not that he cared since he had gotten the information he needed. Although he couldn't help but wonder how the girl knew where the blacksmith would show up. But he chose to believe her as he doubted a NPC had a reason to lie to him.
And so Kirito spent the rest of the evening napping on a bench in the center of town. Normally he would have preferred to nap on a couch or something similar but he wanted to be here for when the blacksmith arrived. So when the internal alarm he had set went off he couldn't help but fall off his bench in surprise. He groggily got up clutching his head as he cursed himself for setting the alarm to such an irritating tone. As he regained his senses he noticed that he was not alone as the girl from before was standing in front of him trying to hold in her laughter.
"And what are you laughing about?" He asked irritated. He looked around and saw that no one else was within eyesight meaning that the blacksmith was not here and that the girl had lied to him.
"I didn't actually think you would sleep out here until midnight waiting for a blacksmith." She replied with a laugh.
"And yet there is no blacksmith here." Kirito deadpanned as he eyed the girl before him with irritation.
"Who said that?" She replied with a smug look on her face. Kirito was about to retort before he though of something, what if this girl in front of him was the blacksmith? It would make sense on how she would know where the blacksmith would be and at what time. That also explained why her appearance was slightly different from the other NPCs.
"You're the blacksmith?" Kirito asked her.
"The one and only." The girl said looked pleased with herself. "And like you I'm also one of the poor saps that got stuck in this game." At this point Kirito's mouth opened to say something but he had no words to say as she processed her words. This meant that he had actually interacted with another person and not an NPC. Shivers went down his spine as he realized this as he hated dealing with people. He then decided that if this girl was a blacksmith and the rumors about her were true then he had no choice but test out her skills for himself.
"You're another player?" He asked to try and beat around the bush for a minute. While he wanted to hurry and test her blacksmith skills he was not used to actually talking to another person so he tried to gradually ease himself into the situation and if need be rush through it and run.
"Not sure whether I should be glad I am or not but yes I am a player. And before you ask, I knew you were one because I saw you run out of the plaza immediately on the first day. Don't worry though I won't judge that because I did the same thing actually a few seconds after you left." She said with a smile. Kirito wasn't sure how he should have been feeling at this point as this was just unnatural to him. He decided that he should just get what he came for.
"So you're a blacksmith?" He asked her as he looked her over. She really did not seem like one but he knew better to judge something from its looks alone.
"Yes a level seventy one as well so I can handle anything you need." Kirito's eyes widened at her words as he could not believe what he had just heard.
"I'm sorry what blacksmithing level are you?" He asked just to make sure.
"Seventy." The girl replied happily.
"How have you gotten it up so high already?" He asked her astounded. Part of him wanted to believe her but he just thought it was impossible for that skill to be such a high level this early. Even his knife skill was barely halfway to level one-hundred.
"I took an apprenticeship quest line and that has rapidly leveled up the skill and my character level in general." These words made Kirito wonder if Kayaba had also changed how crafting skills worked and he figured since he had changed every other quest he had also changed those as well.
"So can you upgrade these for me?" He asked sending her a screen that showed what weapons he wanted upgraded. The girl's eyes widened as she scanned the items on the list.
"I can do it but do you have the materials for all these?" She asked. Kirito had expected this to be honest as some of the items needed were quite rare. He sent over another screen with all the items necessary.
"I can do this but I want something in return." She said as she opened up her inventory and began to tap away.
"I got enough col as long as you can hold up your end." He told her.
"Oh I don't want col I want someone to talk to." She replied as she tapped one more time. A screen appeared in front of Kirito as a friend request screen popped up. He looked at the girl in question as he thought about what he should do. He knew that he should accept as this was more than likely the best way he would get his weapons upgraded and repaired but he really did not like dealing with people. After much thought he let out a sigh as he accepted the request.
The girl did a little happy dance as she saw her request accepted before she remembered she was being watched. "Sorry it's just I don't really do well with people especially crowds so I never really had many friends." She said sheepishly. Kirito noted how similar the two of them were on the matter with the exception he just hated dealing with people in general. "The name's Rain by the way." She said offering up a hand.
Kirito looked at it for a second before raising his own albeit hesitantly, "Kirito." He replied. And so that was how Kirito's first social interaction in Sword Art Online went.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! So as you can tell I have made some small minor changes along with a few big one so if you have any concerns or questions feel free to ask. I have yet to decide who one or two members of the six will be yet so if you have any specific person to request please tell me!
