Chapter Summary: It's the second day of the Death Game and here, we see Kirito talk to another former Beta Tester, Argo. After talking to Argo, Kirito talks to Aiko where he learns about a new system, The Blood Moon.
Chapter Ten…
Second Day - Part 1!
11th of November 2027, Horunka Village, Aiko's home, Morning:
Kirito woke up a few hours after his first sexual experience. When he first woke, he thought it was nothing but a pleasant dream, that it didn't really happen. But when he got out of his bed and found himself totally naked, he realized it wasn't a dream, but it really happened. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe that Kayaba and the other designers for this game would allow such a thing to happen in the game. This was meant to be a family friendly game, so why would they allow sex in the game?
Not that he minded, sure it was a shock that an NPC could do such a thing, but like any normal teen of his age, he soon got over it. How could a healthy teen who is going through puberty not enjoy it? How could a male teen not like seeing a naked woman in front of them? How could a teen not like having a blow job? And finally, not enjoying having sex? Yes, they would be in shock at first, but as long as nothing gets in the way, why would they stop when the woman was willing to pleasure them? In Kirito's mind, only a fool, someone who feared women or someone with a mental problem, would walk away from it.
Whatever the case, as Kirito was thinking about this, memories of the start of the Death Game, nearly being killed, came flashing back to him. Here he cursed himself. Whilst he enjoyed it, he got set back from levelling up and becoming stronger. Although a few beta testers got here the night before, the rest of them and some of the other players should arrive in this village at any moment now.
This was one of the three villages that you can first visit straight away after leaving the Town of Beginnings. Once they levelled up the day before or/and got over the shock over learning about the Death Game part of Sword Art Online, it wouldn't surprise Kirito that players would come here as soon as possible. There were some decent quests that they could do here. One such quest was to get the Anneal Blade from Aiko.
This was the reason why he wanted to do some quests and levelling before Aiko had sex with him. So he could do the quests and defeat monsters before anyone else came alone. Whilst most of the quests meant to be repeatable, the monsters were limited and had a cooldown time for a lot of them before they respawn. So, because he wanted to be strong, he had to defeat the monsters before anyone else could. He couldn't do that when many people were around, as there would be fewer monsters to fight. It would be a race to get the monsters before anyone else. Otherwise he would have to either find other monsters or wait for them to respawn, which could take a long time.
Some would say why not join a party to help him? Well, he had no no intention of getting friendly with anyone in the near future or joining a party. The reason for this was simple: EXP. In a party, he would need to share the EXP with others. However, right now, wanting to get strong as fast as possible, Kirito couldn't allow himself to be at a party until he was fully ready to do so.
With this in mind, Kirito put his clothes back on and was about to leave Aiko's home to see how many quests he could do and how many monsters he could defeat.
But as he got his clothes on, Kirito heard a quick rap on the door facing the hallway. Shortly after, a hushed voice ventured, "Hello-o"
"…?!"
Kirito immediately jerked his head as he opened the menu window. Materialising the Anneal Blade he had gotten the night before, he grabbed the scabbard with his left hand, ready to fight. He would not get caught off guard again like he did last night. Although, he felt as if he recognized the voice from somewhere, but right now, he wasn't sure from where.
"Heeey, I'm not gonna do anything bad. I just wanted to chat!"
'Really?' Kirito thought to himself. 'That's exactly what someone who wanted to do something bad would say!'
Kirito had to fight back the urge to yell back at the intruder.
Looking at his hub, he saw it was gone 7am in the morning. This made Kirito wonder if the person on the other side of the door was a player or not, as it was way too early to be calling on a stranger. The only thing that made Kirito think it was a player and not a NPC was that there was no Quest Window that appeared to let him know it was a quest or something.
As if the stranger were reading his mind, they then added, "If you were still sleepin', then my bad. But I have my reasons, y'know. Can you just hear me out? I don't think it'll be a terrible deal for you or anythin'!" as they gave the door another sharp knock.
Kirito wasn't sure if sure if this person could enter this room or not. Normally, lodgings, which are inside the Anti-Criminal Code Effect Area, would have indestructible doors, so nobody but the person renting the room should be able to open it. If he just ignores them, he believes that they'll eventually leave.
The problem was that he wasn't in a room that he rented, so he wasn't sure if this person could enter the room or not. But if the person was polite enough not to force themselves into the room, or they couldn't enter, it could be awkward if they met in the village. Or even outside the Safe Zone.
With that in mind, Kirito decided to see what this person wanted. Who knows, they could be useful in the future. He might not have any plans of joining a party right now, but in the future, he might have to so that he could deal with a powerful monster or a boss. So, it would be in his best interest to make connections now so he could find people for later on. Not only that, but they could have information he might need later on.
So, just in case this was some sort of trap and they hurt Aiko and her daughter, Kirito placed his hand on the Anneal Blade's hilt, ready to unsheathe it if need be. Ready for whoever was behind the door, he approached the door from an angle where, even if they suddenly bust down the door, he won't get hit. After yesterday's events, there's no such thing as being too cautious.
After getting a feel of their presence, in as tough of a voice as he could muster, Kirito grunted, "Who's there?"
"Oh good! I thought I was gonna get ignored forever, you know. My name is Argo!" came the answer immediately.
"Argo?" Kirito called out. Remember the name from his time beta testing the game? She was an Info Broker and wanted to make a guide for people to use for the game. At first she wanted to do it for free, but over time she realized how much money she could get for creating the first guide for the first V.R MMORPG, so she was going to sell the guide. In fact, Kirito learned that over the time they spent together, whilst she gives free information most of the time in MMORPG games.
However, brand new information that no one else knows about she would sell, just like any other MMORPGs. But once she had enough money and a few people who knew this information, she would give it away for free. As there would be no point in selling information that many people already know, as they could give it to people for free.
But he had to wonder if this was the same Argo as the Argo that he knew of. So he called out, "You mean Argo, The Rat?"
The reason for the nickname was because since early of the beta testing, Argo gained some whiskers since floor two. Add to the fact that her logo for the guidebook was of some sort of rodent, she gained the nickname The Rat.
"If I ever find the person who came up with that nickname, I'll hurt the bastard." sneered Argo, revealing to Kirito that she was the person he thought she was.
"Argo, what do you want?" asked Kirito as he opened the door, coming face to face with Argo.
"Kirito?" Argo asked in shock as she pulled her hood down that she was wearing, surprised to see the teen. Sure, she suspected he would be in the game, but she didn't realize that he was the one she wanted to talk to. "Damn, I knew you would be in the game, but I wasn't expectin' you to be the one I wanted to see."
"Well, I wasn't expecting to see you either Argo." admitted Kirito, "So, what are you after to come here so early in the morning?"
"I want you to sell me somethin'." Argo informed him.
"Uhhh…" Kirito said suspiciously. Don't get him wrong, he trusted her enough to lower his guard, but what did he have that she wanted to buy from him? As he looked down his body, he saw that he only had his starter armour and equipment. He didn't have any accessories yet. His storage is almost completely empty. The only thing anybody would want was the Anneal Blade that he got the night before. But how did she know that he had it?
As he thought about it for the next few moments, there was no other thing she could want from him. He had no useful information that she couldn't easily find herself. So, the only thing she could want to buy from him was his sword. However, having literally risked his life to get it, Kirito had absolutely no intention of selling it. For the moment, I'll pretend to negotiate and find out where they got that information from, then send them away.
Seeing how he could see cleaning and getting breakfast ready, Kirito invited Argo into the room, where after a brief silence, he sat on the bed, whilst Argo sat on a chair that was in the room.
"So I have to ask… what are you willing to pay?" asked Kirito, intending to get a step ahead. However, Argo, blinking blankly, shrugged her shoulders slightly.
"Before you ask that, I haven't even told you what I wanted to buy." Argo pointed out.
"Huhhh?" Kirito blurted, raising the Anneal Blade in his hand. "Y-you don't want this?"
"Nah. I can't even equip a one-handed sword." Argo informed Kirito.
"Ahh, is that so…" Kirito said in shock. He didn't think of that.
Wondering what sort of weapon she was using, Kirito's eyes wandered to Argo's waist, but there were no weapons equipped there. Even if they were inside a Safe Zone, it surprised him that Argo would meet a stranger completely unarmed. To Kirito, this was either incredibly bold or absolutely reckless. Either that or she only looked unarmed, but she was actually hiding a small dagger behind her back or…
"Hey! Starin' at a lady's legs is pretty rude!" Argo said with a smirk.
"Ahh! Lady? Where?" Kirito blurted out, flabbergasted at the sudden complaint.
"Me, you dolt!" Argo said as she tried to lightly hit Kirito for that comment, but Kirito moved out of the way so not to get hit.
"My apologies. But I wasn't looking at your legs, it was your waist." Kirito told her, clearing his throat.
"There ain't much of a difference!" remarked Argo.
"Well, I guess it's not your waist." Kirito told her. "I was checking what weapons you had."
"Well, you better apologise!" she said, throwing his words right back at him as she smirked. "That bein' said, what weapon skills you equip are also crucial information you know. I'm not gonna be revealin' those that easily."
"…" yeap, he forgot that she wouldn't reveal important information like this without a good reason or a price.
'Now that's just way too paranoid.' Kirito thought to himself as he fought the urge to blurt it out. Knowing the various weapon skills in SAO can be the deciding factor in one-on-one battles. In other words, you can figure out if you have an advantage, and even if you don't, there's still a way to work out a strategy.
From that point of view, he had just shown his hand to Argo. However, one-handed straight swords, for better or worse, are pretty average weapons, so even if she came up with a strategy, nothing would come of it.
Seeing that Argo had no desire for the sword, he placed the Anneal Blade on his lap. He asked once again. "Well, if it's not this sword you want, then what is it you want me to sell?"
"Well, sayin' it's your sword that I want isn't exactly wrong but…" she ventured, and flashed her right hand, "what I wanna buy is the information about the quest to get that AB."
"AB…?" Kirito snickered at the crude abbreviation. Quickly returning his composure, he then asked, "Either way, why do you want to know about this sword? You're a former Beta Tester, just like me. You don't even need to buy that information from me. You already know it, don't you? Isn't that the reason why you're here in the first place? Would anyone who isn't a former Beta Tester even get all the way to Horunka so soon?"
"Well, it's not that. I had no idea. In the Beta Test, I didn't do the quest as I don't use one handed swords." Argo informed the other teen, "As for me coming here early, even with this game becoming a Death Game, where everythin' ends after you die once. If you have around eight thousand people in the game, there's bound to be some meatheads who'd blindly charge ahead to get the items before anyone else. For me, whilst I'm not a meathead, I'm curious about the quests that I only heard about in the Beta Test. To learn about them and write about them in the guide I'm doing."
She had a point. Most games have a First Come First Serve mentality. In the uncharted Blue Ocean, no Blue Field he meant, once the treasure chests, rare items, and rare monsters are pillaged, it'll often be gone for good or have a limited amount of them to do. This meant that the players who come after will face a huge disadvantage for the rest of the game.
The reason why Kirito flew out of the Town of Beginnings was, in fact, to accomplish just that. That being said, in his case, Kirito had the knowledge he gained from the beta as insurance. Those who just jump into it completely blind are nothing but reckless. Sure, some would think this was a bad thing, but to Kirito, he needed to get strong so that he could live. If anyone else had the information that he had, they too would go there as soon as possible too. It was a matter of wanting to live. Anyone would do what they could to do so.
"You went around town once when you came here, right? How many players were here?" asked Kirito. He remembered seeing a handful the night before, but they more than likely have moved on by now. But he would have thought that with other countries playing the game, there would be some that would have arrived here by now.
"Hmmm." Algo pondered before going on, "That information'll cost ya 10 Cor… would be what I would normally say, but, well, who cares. It's Zero."
"Zero?" asked Kirito, blinking his eyes at the surprising information. "Didn't you just say that there could be some meatheads blindly charging ahead?"
"What do you think the chances are that someone could run blind and stumble all the way to Horunka?" fired back Algo.
Taken aback for a second, Kirito offered a counter argument, "Even so, if you leave the Town of Beginnings from the Northwest gate and follow the road, you'll eventually arrive at the Horunka Forest. Yeah, it's easy to get lost in the forest, but compared to Floor 3's Forest of Wavering Mists, it's nothing. If you're meticulous about where you've already searched, you'll eventually get here."
"That Northwestern-ahhh that's annoying, I'll just call it the West Gate-" said the Info Broker, "but it's impossible to get out of there without knowin' the 1st Floor's geography. The North gate is three times more reasonable than the West Gate. Most of the non-Beta Tester sprinters would leave from the North Gate and choose to cut across the grassland."
"But beyond the grassland on that route is a Kobold Town and the Field Boss…" Kirito pointed out weakly, which Argo acknowledged with a nod.
In the Town of the Beginnings, which is located on the First Floor's southern end, there are three main gates: the Northwest Gate, the North Gate, and the Northeast Gate. However, Beta testers commonly called them the West, North, and East gates. Whichever gate you choose will lead you to the next town/village.
However, the Eastern route, which passes through the mountains to the Town of Medai, sees a lot of high-level monsters. And while the Northern route, which goes through the grass field, is smooth sailing at first, getting to the Town of Tolbana in the Northern part of the First Floor requires one to go through the wetlands that Swamp Kobolds nest in, and after that, to beat the giant boar-type field boss nesting in a narrow one-lane canyon.
While there is some danger of getting lost in the forest, the Western route that goes to the Town of Horunka presents the lowest difficulty, which makes it the most optimal choice. However, the only way you'd make that choice is if somebody who already knew it told you, or you undertook errand quests in the Town of Beginnings where you would learn it from NPCs.
"… what about the other testers? The ones who know the map should be getting here any minute now." said Kirito, "I would have thought they would be here to get AB as you call the sword, as soon as possible, seeing how it's one of the most powerful swords around the next few floors,"
"Mmm…" Argo mulled this over. Sure, she didn't mind buying information, but she didn't enjoy giving it away for free.
It's not like it was some sort of secret intelligence or anything, Kirito thought in his head as he stood up from the bed and made his way to the desk by the wall. Kirito poured out two glasses of water from the pitcher that Aiko must have left behind, and turning back, placed them on Argo's table.
"Here you go. Sorry, all I have is water." the teen told the informant.
"Water huh…" said Argo cheekily, as she drank the water in one go and put the glass back.
"Meaning to ask, what's up with those whiskers?" asked Kirito. Argo gingerly raised her right eyebrow.
"It's nothin' really. Even in the Beta, weren't there also a ton of other players who used paint?" asked Argo.
"Yeah that's true but… cosmetic items are expensive aren't they?" asked Kirito, trying to understand why she would spend so much money so soon. "Would it be better if you used that money for potions, equipment, and the like? Things that'll help you live in this game?"
"Well, I got the markings before I knew that this would be a Death Game," admitted Argo, "and even if I didn't, I think I still would have brought the markings, seeing how this is my trademark now."
As Kirito thought about it, he nodded in understanding. Seeing how she brought it beforehand, there was no way for her to know what was about to happen. And in the way, having a trademark as an Info Broker would be useful to her, knowing who to gain info in this sort of thing could be very useful. It would be a matter of life and death in getting the right info at the right time.
"Oh, now I think about it. How did you know I was here, and I had the sword?" asked Kirito, "I didn't think that the game would give alerts about such things, unless that's another thing that they changed."
"No, there were no alerts." the future informant informed the young teen, "As for how I found you? I came to learn more about the AB quest, but I found that some sneaky bastard who already cleared it already on the first day. Although I had no optimism that the NPC would inform me of anythin', I thought I would ask them about it. Imagination my surprise that not only did they answer my question, but they told me that you were sleepin' in their spare room."
"So, how did you know that there was a player who cleared the Secret Medicine of the Forest quest?" asked Kirito, "As you said, there was no reservation window for the quest. So, how did you know someone cleared it?"
Kirito found this strange. As far as he knew, the quest should be repeatable no matter what. He recalled Aiko's story of how a thousand people got the Anneal Blade for their aid in a previous war. Thinking about this, Kirito's fears of the quest Secret Medicine of the Forest becoming a one time quest is becoming more real.
"Ah…" said Argo, mulling over something as she looked up at the ceiling, and then replied, "Ah well, this I'll tell you for free, I guess. Unlike the Beta, it seems as if this quest no longer arrived to the players. As when I tried to activate the quest, the NPC told me that she doesn't need help as someone has already got the flower she needs. I first thought there was a cooldown that needed to happen, but no time appeared, so unless something changes it, I fear that players won't be able to do this quest and get the AB."
"Fuck, this is what I feared." swore Kirito. This was something he was hoping wouldn't happen, as it now meant that the other players would have to find another way to get the Anneal Blade, and who knows how or when another quest for this sword would appear.
"What do you mean?" asked Argo, interested in hearing new information. This is what she wanted.
"Before I answer that, I need to know. Have you noticed any difference in the NPCs, these Tians?" asked Kirito.
"Hmm, now that you mention it, I thought some NPCs were acting somewhat more realistic, but I thought little about it." admitted Argo, "Most of yesterday before the announcement of the Death Game was me checking the prices of the items on sell, making sure they are the same as the Beta. So if there were any changes from the Beta, I can write it up for the guide."
"Well, in that case, let me tell you this, these Tians are unlike any of the NPCs that you've ever seen in games." acknowledged Kirito, "Their A.I is unlike anything out there. They act as if they are real people. Look at the Alchemy Chest quest, once I finished the first part of the quest and I handed it in as another player was about to start the same quest, the Tian cancelled the quest and told the player that they now had the wood they needed and so went on and give and the other player the second part of the quest. That he wouldn't need wood again for a while."
Argo couldn't believe what she had heard. She had heard rumours of the technology for A.I becoming advanced, but to this point? She didn't think she would ever see a Quest Giver cancel a quest because someone else had completed it already. This alone would create problems, as many players wouldn't be able to get the rewards that would help them in this world.
"Damn, this is going to create problems." Argo told the younger teen, "people aren't goin' to be happy to hear that you have the only AB."
"Who said this is the only AB out there?" asked Kirito, making Argo confused, "Don't get me wrong, it could be the case, but I don't think so the Tian, Aiko, she told me a story when I asked about how she got the blade."
"Why would you ask about that?" asked Argo.
"I was curious about the blade. I wondered if the developers created a story for it." admitted Kirito, "Anyway, the story that Aiko told me about was her grandfather going to war on the third to help the elves there. Unfortunately, only a thousand survived, however, as thanks for their help, the elves give Aiko's grandfather and the others Anneal Blades. So, I believe that for the others to gain AB, they'll have to search for the Tians who are from that war or the family members or friends of those who had the blades to get them."
"Hmm, so all we have to do is to find these Tians to get the blade?" Argo said thoughtfully, "Whilst a pain, it gives the other players some hope. But it'll be a pain to find them, though."
"True, but that's not my only problem though." the blacked haired teen informed the informant, "My fear is that items like weapons and armour will be treated the same way as AB. That we won't be able to do the same quest as before to get them, that we need to find different Quest Givers to get these rewards."
Hearing this, Argo looked grim at the thought. If that was the case, things would have become so much worse for the players, as it would become so much harder. It would be chaos. People would hate the betas because they knew most of the important quests and got them first. What they didn't realize nor care about was that the other betas would be in the same boat.
But at the same time, it would be a gold mine for her. If she could find these quests, as long as they aren't useful to her, she could sell the information to players. She could become rich because of this.
But then a terrifying thought occurred to her, so she asked, "Do, do you think this applies to the other quests too?" If that was the case, that would be the worst possible scenario. It was bad enough with the quests with weapons and armour, but if it was the same for the basic items and such, then the game would become hell fast.
"Honestly? I don't know." Kirito admitted solemnly. He too began to worry as he thought about this. If this happened, who knows what would happen to them? Then, as he thought about it, an awful thought occurred to him. Quickly, he opened his Inventory Window. Just as he feared, other than a few items that he got before they announced the Death Game, he had gotten nothing. No items or cors, just EXP.
Seeing this, he asked Argo, "Can, can you check your Inventory Window?"
Seeing how afraid that her follow beta tester was, she did just that, but as she opened her own Inventory Window, she asked, "What am I lookin' for?"
"Since they announced the Death Game, did you fight any more monsters?" asked Kirito.
"I did, why -?" Argo began to ask, but when she looked at her Inventory Window, she saw the problem. She didn't get the loot or money from the kills, only the EXP. "No, no, this isn't possible. This'll create a lot more problems. Players will be in an uproar soon when they learn about this."
The two of them just stared at each other for the next few moments, not knowing what to say about this. Sure, the problems that this had were bad enough. This was the biggest of them all. As when killing the monsters, the rewards of killing them, be it items or money, would go into their inventory. But if that no longer applies, who knows what will happen? The worst-case scenario would be players fighting and killing each other to get money and the rewards that they already have.
Neither of the former beta testers talked for a bit. The mood right then wasn't a good one with the news that they just found out. As many people could get hurt or killed because of this.
After a few minutes of this dreadful silence of doom and gloom, Kirito tried to lighten the mood.
"So, I've been wondering, what's with the whiskers?" asked Kirito, "With the nickname The Rat, are you trying to roleplay as some sort of rodent?"
"I swear, I'll kill whoever came up with that nickname for me." the informant told Kirito, "Does a person need a reason to have markings if they want them?"
"I know, I know, I was just trying to lighten the mood a bit." Kirito backed off a bit, seeing how defensive the broker was about this subject. "I just wanted to know how you got them."
"I understand," Argo said with a smile, before she said with a smirk, "but, if you really want to know that, then gimme 100,000 Cor!"
"O-one hundred..!" Kirito stuttered, dropping his jaw, before he burst out in a laugh, with Argo joining him a few moments later. Kirito knew her well enough that whilst Argo would sell information for a high price, she wouldn't put that high of a price on information. As there would be no one willing to buy it. No, he knew she was kidding but, it was how she told him that made him laugh, how serious she was.
"Thanks for that. I needed a laugh." Argo told the other beta tester, "So you know, I think that all of that is a trap, or some sort of scum."
"What do you mean?" asked Kirito, wondering what she thought was going on.
"Yesterday, the thing the frickin' huge robe guy said when we were teleported to the plaza in the Town of Beginnings: 'This is the reason for this whole thing.'" Argo said with a straight face.
As soon as she said that, the voice too replayed in Kirito's head: the red robed GM, Akihiko Kayaba's chilling words. He repeated the exact words:
"…'The reason I did all this, to create a world of my own design. Was to fulfil a dream that I had, to observe how people would react in a world of sword arts and monsters. This is the only reason I have created the NerveGear and SAO. And now, with my dream coming to fruition, I leave you all to enjoy this new world and I hope that you can one day clear this world'."
"Well don't you have a good memory" said Argo as her mouth turned up into a smile, which soon disappeared. "I might be simplifyin' things here, but if we interpret his words literally, then his goal is to observe around 80,000 players go into a frenzy in this death game. It is true that even the world's richest tycoons have never seen anythin' like this. It has to be the greatest entertainment in history. It could even be that he's watchin' this very conversation. We are in the forefront of the game's conquest."
As soon as Kirito heard that, his eyes unconsciously went up to the ceiling. They only found decaying wooden planks, but he felt like beyond them something someone was gazing down upon them. This sort of worried him. Did Kayaba watch him as he fucked Aiko? Did the bastard have it recorded? Some many things went through his mind about it, that it made the former beta tester ill.
"Don't say things like that…" Kirito said as he turned his eyes back. Argo shrugged her shoulders. Not wanting to think that this might be the case.
"That's what observin' is, isn't it?" she asked him, "S'long as you're aimin' to be one of the leaders in beatin' the game, you should keep Kayaba's existence, or rather his intention, in the back of your mind somewhere"
As Kirito thought about it, whilst he had no plans to be a leader of any groups, he was planning to trying to defeat the game. So, Argo did have a point.
Whilst they might fight the monsters who lived in Aincrad, their real enemy was the SAO system controlling them, as well as Kayaba, the one person who can control that system. In other words, Kayaba was this world's God, and they were nothing but insects that he created and put in his little box garden.
"So, if Kayaba's goal is to observe this world, then what does that have to do with the traps you just talked about?"
"Just think about it. If you were in his shoes, what would you think if the people who figured things out beforehand ran the map you worked so hard to make?" asked Argo, "They won't get lost on the routes or trigger any traps. In other words, how would he feel about this?"
"He would get bored?" answered Kirito. As soon as he did, the Informant clicked the ring on her hand.
"Right? That bastard would have wanted all of us players to start from the same point." the other teen pointed out, "But there's no way he couldn't go without a beta test, to make sure the game worked the way he wanted. Because of that, he had to think of a way to level things out. This meant that Kayaba would have to do somethin' about us Beta Testers. One way in doin' so would be to kill us at the beginnin' of the Death Game."
"Wait, wait a second." said Kirito, as he reflexively raised a hand to touch his temple, as if he wanted to touch the Nerve Gear. But seeing that he was in the game and the gear was in the real world, it was, of course, nowhere to be found there.
Kirito quickly put his hand down. He found Argo stone-faced at his reaction. Rather, as if she was trying to keep herself from doing the same thing, her hands stayed clasped on top of the table.
Kirito didn't know whether it was the wisps of hair brushing against her nose, or the painted whiskers, but he couldn't tell her age. He had been wondering about this since he first met her during the beta test opening, but he considered it rude to ask her this. While it seems like they could be the same age, Kirito also felt like she could be older by a few years.
The only thing he knew was, just like him, her actual body was somewhere in the real world, laying down and wearing a Nerve Gear. And that, when either of their HP gauges reaches zero, the Nerve Gear will deliver a fatal microwave pulse that will not just wipe away their avatars, but also snuff the life from their flesh bodies.
As soon as he heard Kayaba's declaration yesterday, Kirito immediately understood that it was no bluff. The Kayaba that Kirito knew, and even idolised, would never do that. Not without a good reason. However, if you turn that on its head, that means he would definitely keep his word to 'free all the players if you beat the boss waiting on the 100th floor.' And that means the way to both keep his word and eliminate the Beta testers would be to…
"Maybe he doesn't want to kill us. There were going to be changes anyway, when the full game came out. It was stated that things would be added after the Beta Test, so killing us wouldn't be needed. As with the new hidden quests and other things that they were planning to add, we wouldn't know what to expect in the game." Kirito told her as he remembered what was told to them.
"That! That's true." Argo acknowledged Kirito's point. She had forgotten about this fact, about the plans to change things. Not only that, but the plans for the hidden quests to alter the floors depending on the quests. So, there was no point in killing them, as if one hidden quest that alters a floor was completed, the whole floor would be different and they wouldn't have any idea what to expect. "With these changes, whilst the monsters might appear where we remember them, so that the former Beta Testers would not be on alert, their attack pattern could become different. Or the monster type could become slightly different, or the drop rate is altered. And that's just before those hidden quests that can alter the game.?"
"You're telling me." Kirito remarked as he remembered the battle last night.
Thinking back, the Little Nepenthes from the Secret Medicine of the Forest quest haven't really changed their appearances or attack patterns from the Beta Test. However, this time, the flower sprouting variant that drops the medicine's ingredient, the Little Nepenthe's Ovule, has a very similar looking, fruit bearing variant that draws other Nepenthes if you kill it. Coper, who panicked after Kirito killed the flower sprouting variant, intentionally killed a fruit bearing Nepenthe in an attempt to PK him.
During the Beta, the flower-sprouting and fruit-bearing variants never spawned together, so Kirito guessed that was what Argo was talking about when she talked about slight changes. Even if he had hunted the Nepenthes himself, there's a big possibility seeing both the flower-sprouting variants that he must kill and the fruit-bearing variants that he should never kill spawn at the same time would have led to a fatal error.
"In other words, Beta Testers' knowledge would actually get in the way of beating the game…" Kirito said under his breath, as Argo chimed in.
"Nah, you should use your knowledge from the Beta as much as you can." Argo told the other Beta Tester, "In fact, thanks to that, you and I could get here in Horunka just fourteen hours after the start of the death game."
"Fourteen hours?" It surprised Kirito at how little time had passed, but come to think of it, Kayaba's announcement came the night before at 5:30pm, and today is 7am the next day. Even then, Kirito felt like he passed through the Town of Beginnings' West Gate ages ago.
"Argo, when did you leave the Town of Beginnings?"
"I guess it was this mornin' at 5am." Argo informed the male teen, "It didn't even take me an hour to get through the Horunka Forest"
"I see. Well, if you didn't know the way, then you could easily spend three hours in there." said Kirito as he thought about his first time in the forest during his beta time. He remembered getting lost a few times before he got to this village. And depending on what else Kayaba did to the forest, it could easily take them longer before getting out of the forest if they didn't know the route.
"Right?" Argo raised the corners of her mouth slyly and continued. "I think that just 'bout by this evenin', as long as fear hasn't taken control, all the other Beta Testers would start travelin' to Horunka. In two to three days, the non-Beta Testers should get the hang of combat and set out lookin' for new huntin' grounds. Errr, Beta Tester and non-Beta Tester are a little bit confusin'. There has to be a more fittin' name for them…"
"Ehh. How about Veteran and Newbie?" Kirito suggested after wringing it out of his vocabulary, but Argo just rolled her eyes.
"Hey hey, after participatin' in the Beta for just two months, callin' yourself a veteran is a bit presumptuous don't ya think?" Argo asked with a smirk.
"T-then why did you even ask…" said Kirito.
"Heehee." laughed Argo, "Well, somethin'll naturally pop up, eventually. In any case, before the new accounts, which outnumber the Beta testers almost ten to one, get movin', I figured I'd gather a bare minimum of information. But that was until I got this new information, so it would be basic at first, but add more information when I learn more. What would you call it… I guess a guidebook kinda thing, and I want to distribute it."
"Wouldn't that take a ton of money?" asked Kirito with concern, as Argo shrugged.
"Well, yeah." admitted the informant, "That's why the first two issues will be paid, and then use the proceeds from them to make more when we learn more. In the first place, I don't even have the money to make that first edition." giggled the future Information Broker.
"Listen, I know you're willing to pay for information I can offer, but you should keep it to create these guides." Kirito told her.
"You're sure about that?" asked Argo. "I have enough to pay you right now. I don't want people to think I don't pay for the information I get from people.
"I understand, but we need these guides more than ever before, thanks to the changes that have been made to the game." Kirito said with concern,
He knew how important these guides would be to people.
The reason that he made his way to Horunka by himself was to increase his chances of survival. If your aim is to not die, then staying inside a town where monsters wouldn't come might be one of the correct answers. However, there's no guarantee that that situation will continue forever, not with how things have changed in the game so far. It could be very possible that Kayaba made it so that one day the system's barriers fall and the monsters flood into the town. And so, if you were still at a low level at that point, then you'd most definitely die.
Now, like this him, it would seem that Argo wasn't just trying to save herself, she's also trying to save even one more person from the Town of Beginnings. Even though you could understand that was the best answer for clearing the conditions that Kayaba put on us, would there be anyone who could put that thought into motion on the second day? Kirito wasn't sure. Right now, his only concern really was surviving this game himself.
But at the very least he could do is help where he can. If it meant giving up some money, so be it.
But as he thought about money, he realized how they got off topic about the items and cors.
"Listen Argo, I think you should do a poster as soon as possible." Kirito told her as he thought about what Kayaba told them yesterday.
"Oh? What sort of poster?" asked Argo, wondering what Kirito was thinking.
"Do you remember what Kayaba said about this world being our new reality and that we shouldn't think of this as the game?" asked Kirito, to which Argo only nodded, "What if he meant that literally?"
"What do you mean?" asked Argo.
"Well, when people kill animals in real life, do they gain loot or money from them?" asked Kirito, "No, we would have to dismantle the animal and sell the parts, and for money like cor, we would loot it from the bodies that died or were unconscious.
"But why?" questioned Argo.
"Who knows?" Kirito said with a shrug, "All I know I could be wrong. But dismantling animals and looting bodies only makes sense to gather the money we need. So, other than EXP and Skills, the system might not connect loot and money as rewards and so need to handle them manually. Like how Aiko handed me AB personally, and I had to put it into my inventory manually."
Argo had to admit she wasn't sure if Kirito was right or not, but his thoughts did kind of make sense. If they didn't get their rewards like normal, having the rewards appear in their inventory automatically like normal games, there had to be another way for them to get it. And if Kirito got his AB handed to him manually, that just might be how things were in this new world.
"Hmm, that is something I'll have to check out to see if it's true or not." Argo told Kirito thoughtfully, interested to see if this was true or not.
"Anyway, the next time, if I knock like this then just let me in." said the guide maker, to which made Kirito to blink and shoot back.
"Don't tell me you're coming back…?" asked Kirito. He thought that after today, she would
"You betcha!" Argo said with a smirk, "You're an important source after all. Don't go killin' yourself now."
"Oh please, like that's going to happen so early." Kirito said with a smirk of his own, "Before we go, do you still want to know about AB?"
"Sure, whilst the original quest is gone, knowing the stats for the sword will be useful. For when I learn about the other quests for it."
And with that, Kirito opened the Stat's Window for the sword, so that Argo could copy down the Anneal Blade's stats.
Argo, having received her information, gave Kirito a quick and simple "I owe ya one" before she stood up and headed to the door.
Just as she got to the door, she paused, before saying, "Take care of yourself out there. We do not know what sort of changes that has been made to this damn game."
"You take care of yourself too." Kirito snickered as Argo's whiskers arched up in a smirk.
"Hey now, loosen up a bit there. Let's just keep it casual"
After opening the door this time, the information broker slipped out and disappeared.
Kirito smiled as he stared at the door for a few moments, before he shook his head lightly and thought about what he had to do that day. He had a lot of things ahead of him. First, he had to sell the few things that he got the day before and, if possible, replace his armour, replenish his potions, and try to upgrade his Anneal Blade to at least a level or two. Then he would have to check to see if his theory about the loot was true or not. Other than that, he would have to level up and get stronger.
So, with that in mind, he left his room to leave.
o0OoO0o
As Kirito left his room, he saw Aiko and her daughter, Rukia, eating breakfast. Upon seeing Aiko, Kirito got red faced as he remembered the night before. But seeing that Rukia was awake, he said nothing. Instead he said, "Morning Aiko, Rukia, how are you two this morning? Hope you're much better than yesterday, Rukia."
"Morning Adventurer." said Aiko.
"I'm good, Adventurer," said the young girl, "I'm feeling much better. I would like to thank you for helping my mum to get me better."
"No problem, Rukia, I did as anyone else would." Kirito told the eleven-year-old, as he rubbed her head. Although he knew that without a reward, normal people wouldn't do so. Honestly, he didn't think he would have done so either, as right now, all he cared about was getting stronger so as not to get killed. Helping others without something to make him stronger wasn't on his list of property to do.
"So Adventurer, what plans do you have?" asked the mother.
"For now, with the evil block me going back to my world, I need to get stronger and learn more about this tower of yours." Kirito informed her of his plans.
"I thought Adventurers knew about our world." said Aiko.
"True, but whoever this Great Evil is, they already changed the fact that we can't leave here and we die for good too if we die here." Kirito told her, hoping this would have her tell her some information about this new world. Sure, she lived on the first floor, but despite that, he hoped she could give him something. Hoping to get more information, he said, "Not only that, but a lot of our information about this world has been lost, so I'm limited as to what to expect."
"That would be hard for you," admitted Aiko, "unfortunately, there's not much I can tell you, other than visiting the second floor before Rukia was born, for a bit, I lived most of my life on the first floor. If you can tell me what you know of this world, I might be able to help a bit."
"Well, I know that in this world we can get stronger by defeating monsters by levelling up, and as we level up and by finding people to help us, we can learn skills." Kirito began to tell the basics of what he knew of the game as he knew it at the moment. "Not only that, but we are summoned to this world as a Great Evil has appeared where they put powerful monsters at the top of each tower on a floor called bosses, so that Adventurers would have a hard time getting to them at the top of the tower castle."
"Unfortunately, other than knowing that elves live on the third and fourth floor, that's the only thing that I know of." said Aiko, sounding disappointed that she couldn't help the Adventurer. Just then a thought occurred to her, so she asked, "Do you know of the Blood Moon?"
"The Blood Moon?" asked Kirito, never heard of it in the beta, "What's that?"
"Well, it's the moon. Normally it would be white like normal, but once a month for a few hours before midnight, it would become blood red. Henceforth, we call it the blood moon." explained Aiko.
This was all news to Kirito, as this never happened during the beta test. But it got him thinking about what was so important that Aiko would warn him about it. He didn't have to wait for long before he got his answer. "You know that in some areas, once you defeat enough monsters, they would stop respawning. That you would have to wait for whatever power that creates them, to start to respawn them?"
"You mean like in the fields and other open areas?" asked Kirito, "That once we defeat enough, they would be gone for a few hours or days."
"Yes, those ones." said the mother, "But what you might not know is that before the Great Evil appeared, in some areas it would take longer for them to appear, weeks sometimes. Because of this, we wouldn't have to worry about monsters attacking us, so that we can prepare for them."
Kirito was somewhat shocked to hear this new lore for the game. He wasn't expecting to learn more about the past of those on Aincrad, other than some basic information containing to quests. But as Kirito thought like that, fear crept into him. If Aiko was explaining this to him, it meant one of two things: a quest or a new system that was added to the game. Seeing how this was connected to the moon and the monsters, Kirito feared it was a new system. And as he listened to what Aiko was telling him so far, it could mean only one thing.
"Does the Blood Moon bring the monster's back?" asked Kirito. Whilst the idea alone wasn't a bad thing, as it could make things easier, he didn't think it was that simple. So far, nothing about this game has been simple.
"It does." admitted Aiko, "You see, on every Blood Moon, on the stroke of midnight, the monsters would reappear. So, if normally the monsters in an area that were defeated a few days before, and would take a few weeks before they would return, with a Blood Moon, they would reappear tonight instead of a few weeks."
So far, from Kirito's point of view, this wasn't a bad thing. Whilst not perfect, it wasn't bad either. With this Blood Moon, this would help the players to get stronger. Now wanting to say anything just yet, he listened to the NPC explain more about the Blood Moon. "Not only that, but during the first few hours of the Blood Moon, the monsters out there would be stronger, faster and more aggressive, making it harder for people to fight them. Although, after the monsters reappear, they do return back to normal in about two hours and the moon would return back to normal."
After listening to this information so far, Kirito thought that the Blood Moon was something useful. Yes, dangerous, being caught unaware for the first time, and the monsters being more powerful during the Blood Moon, but useful.
"But the problem is that, with the appearance of this Great Evil at the top of Aincrad." explained Aiko, "With this appearance of this Great Evil, the Blood Moon has become more frequent. Instead of once a month, it has become once a week."
With this news, Kirito wasn't sure what to think about this. Sure, with so many players out there, the monsters would be killed faster and so having the monsters respawn faster would be good, but at the same time, the risk was there too. With this, if players were in an area that has a high amount of monsters, which took some time to clear fully, if they were fighting and lost track of time, they could get caught up in the Blood Moon. So they could end up being surprised by monsters respawning out of nowhere. Which could lead to deaths.
In fact, thinking about the deaths, Kirito knew that there would be many deaths that night because of the moon, but there was nothing he could do about it. He might not be a people person, but that doesn't mean he wants people to die. He would like to warn people, but most of them were still in the Town of Beginnings, which was a few hours away. Even if he left now to warm them, a lot of players would have left the town to level up or do quests. So, the best he could do was inform Argo and have her add it to the warning poster. For him, all he could do was hope no one was out tonight, doing night missions and levelling up. He knew that until he levelled up a bit more, that he'll be staying in when the Blood Moon was happening.
Despite that, even with all the danger that comes with this Blood Moon, Kirito couldn't believe that there was no upside to it. As with most of the games that he played in the past, when they had something dangerous, there was something to balance it out. Something to make the risk worth it. So Kirito asked, "During the Blood Moon, does anyone get something out of it?"
All honesty, Kirito wasn't sure he would get an answer, as he wasn't happy with his wording. In an RPG like that, where you could ask NPCs questions, wording was everything. If you don't word it right, you don't get an answer. Although there might be better ways to ask the question, he couldn't think of another way to do so right then. All he could do was hope this new A.I that these NPCs seemed to have been as good as he thought it was to allow Aiko to answer him.
"You mean do people get a boost in stats or EXP?" asked Aiko, shocking Kirito by this answer. In the beta, none of the NPCs knew these terms or if they did, they didn't understand the meaning of them for the gamer. So all he could do was nod in response. "Whilst the stats don't go up, when Hunters portals the area to make sure the aggressive don't attack the villages and towns, they found that they gained twice the amount of EXP."
That alone would have many players going to hunt monsters during the Blood Moon. With strength being the key thing for survival in the Death Game, the bonus EXP would be critical for players. Once he became strong enough, Kirito would hunt the monsters during the Blood Moon. Although the extra EXP was decent enough of its reason to be out during the Blood Moon, he hoped that there would be more so. He asked, "So, you only get extra EXP?"
"Well, if you have production skills like cooking, blacksmithing and skills like that and they and their skill level for them are professional and over, there is the possibility of whatever they make gaining an extra skill than they normally would." explained Aiko.
This caught Kirito's interest, as during the Beta Test, he never heard of the level of Professional for the production skills. There were only Beginner, Apprentice, Adept, Expert and Master. It would be interesting to learn what these new levels were called. So he asked, "Can you explain to me these levels? As from my world, we only know them as Beginner, Apprentice, Adept, Expert and Master."
"Ah, I see." Aiko said. Not in a confused way, as Kirito thought she would react, but in understanding. Like there was something she knew, something that he didn't. "You wouldn't be wrong. We used those terms a long time ago, but over time, the terms changed."
Here, Aiki explained what the new skill levels for production skills were: Beginner, Trained, Skilled, Professional, Expert and finally Master. Basically, Beginner was the level where anyone could cook, but more often than not, you would burn the basics of meals if not careful. Trained, whilst you are taught the basics of cooking, no one was willing to leave you alone with a project. The next level was Skilled, this is where you mastered the basics and can be trusted to get things done.
For these three skills, for cooking, when eating the meals, you would be healed by a small amount, depending on your level. But you wouldn't have a status skill added to them. When, say making weapons or armour, make something, those things would have low attack or defence only.
Either way, the next level was Professional. This was where you would be able to take your craft on the road and enjoy reasonably consistent success. At this level, if you got lucky, you might gain at least one status effect of some kind. The next level was Expert. With this level, you were the person that other professionals in your field go to when they can't get the job done. At this level, you would be guaranteed to have one status effect of some kind, and if you were lucky, a few more.
The last level for the production skills was Master. Once you get to this level, you would be at the top of your field, and would be able to use the ingredients from Unique Monsters and Items that rarely appear. Not only that, but you would be guaranteed to have three status effects of some kind, and if you were lucky, a few more.
Not only would they be able to get status effects, people who eat the food would gain more health back than the lower ranks.
Upon hearing the different rarity for materials, Kirito asked to hear more about them, So Aiko explained that there were six rarities: Common: Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary and Unique. For Beginners, they could only use Common materials, whilst those who were Trained and Skilled were able to use Common to Rare materials. The difference between the three of them was the skill levels. The higher your level was in the skill, the better the item would be. As for Epic and Legendary materials, only those who were Professional and Expert would be able to use them. And like with Common to Rare materials, the only difference between the two of them were the skill levels, higher your level was in the skill, the better the item would be.
"Anyway, during the Blood Moon, the chances of getting more than one status effect goes up." explained Aiko, "Not only that, but there is a chance that those who are at levels Common to Skilled, to have a status effect apply to their items. The truth is, there's another name to the Blood Moon, and that's called the Alchemist Moon. As their abilities outshine everyone else's, as they become stronger and better during the Blood Moon."
Learning about this, it would seem that many more things changed than what Kirito knew so far. Not as bad as what he learned so far, but still changes from what he knew of. Information that needs to get out there to help players. At least this information isn't life or death like the Blood Moon. In fact, if he wasn't going to become an Alchemist in the first place, he would be now considering becoming one. The main skills as an Alchemist are their potions and items that they make, as they use them either as weapons or help to support people. So yeah, this Blood Moon is dangerous and helpful in so many ways. People need to know this to decide what to do when the time comes.
So, with that in mind, Kirito knew he had to find Argo to get this information out there. But learning that these Tians had levels and skill levels like them, he had to ask, "Do you mind if I ask you, Aiko, what level you are and what your cooking skill level is?"
Aiko smiled at this. "I'm only level three. Unlike you Adventurers, people of Aincrad don't get EXP for doing what you call quests. We can only level up by defeating monsters. And seeing how I'm not a Hunter, I only got to level three by defending the village when it was attacked by monsters."
This made sense to Kirito. As most villagers or townspeople wouldn't have to fight monsters, so would be at least level one, only gaining levels if they fought monsters. So, he wondered what her cooking skill level was. He didn't know why he asked it, other than he saw her cooking earlier and she talked about it.
He didn't have to wait for long to get an answer.
"As for my cooking level, I'm at Skilled level." Aiko informed the young teen.
"Really?" Kirito asked in shock, thinking that her skill would have been at least Professional, as she didn't have to be a hunter or other jobs. "I thought you could be at least Professional."
"Well, to become professional, you need to buy lots of Skilled ingredients, which cost a lot." explained the mother, "So, seeing how I don't need to be higher than Skilled, I didn't bother with becoming Professional."
That made sense to Kirito, why spend money when you're happy with the level you are at and don't need to be higher? Why do it? Either way, now that he had this information, and needing to leave to level up and get stronger, Kirito said, "Thank you, Aiko, for allowing me to stay the night and for information."
"No problems, Adventurer," Aiko waved Kirito's thanks off, "it was the least I could do for your help in helping my little one. You are welcome back here at any time. There'll be a bed ready for you." Here Aiko had a smile that told Kirito that the bed would be hers.
"Th, thank you." said a red-faced teenager, as he thought about what she wanted, "I, I'll think about it."
And with that, Kirito left the house to do some levelling up and doing quests.
To Be Continued!
Author's Note: Here ends another chapter of Sword Art Online - Alchemy Edition. I hope you enjoyed the story. For those who read Second Day from the LN, you'll notice many changes to the chapter already. I hope you like them.
Yeap, you did read it right guys, I've used the idea of the Blood Moon from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in this story. I thought it would help with the monsters to respawn faster, as in the main story from what I can remember monsters take a long time, if ever, to respawn. So with that in mind, I used the idea of the Blood Moon to get around that fact. So, I hope you liked that idea that I've added. In fact, I'll be using a few monsters from Breath of the Wild for my game.
Because of me using the Blood Moon idea and plans to use the monsters, here's the disclaimer to prevent any copyright problems: I do not in any shape or form own The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, it is owned and copyrighted by Nintendo.
Either way, if you have any other ideas I could use from games/manga/anime for this story, please let me know and I'll see if I can fit it into this story.