Part Two: Stirring The Hornet's Nest In Unital Ring
Hours earlier, Unital Ring, Koharu
Today's Saturdary, October 3rd. It's five minutes after ten in the morning, and there's a certain stir in the air as Koharu logs into Unital Ring and walks out to the porch. But whatever that stirring is, Koharu doesn't feel interested enough in finding out.
For the next nine hours at the minimum, Ruis na Rig is under her watch. Lievre's speech last night, or scolding if that's a better term for it, got Koharu to accept the responsibility for leadership. With Kirito, Jaymes, Asuna, Kureha, and Alice gone, the role fell into her lap. Not many of the others are online right now anyway; Silica and Lisbeth are the only two highlighted figures on her friends list and their avatars weren't present in the cabin.
The defeat of Mutasina had progressed Ruis na Rig considerably in the last two nights. Without worrying about enemies from ALO players (minus Lievre's warning), Ruis na Rig has become a waypoint for adventurous players north of the Stiss Ruins that is ALO's start point. The south side of town is the commercial district, and both ALO and Insectsite players have taken advantage by setting up shops there. What surprised them all was that the players faced competition not only from each other, but from the Bashin and Patter.
The Patter didn't sell much, just food and ration, but considering that SP is a critical resource to manage, the rat people have become a vital stop in the district. The Bashin, however, have greater profits to gain with their armored pelts and accessories. Furthermore, the NPCs have one advantage the players don't; Kirito inflicted a five percent earning fee from the player shops, but not the NPCs. It sounds like a problem, especially if the Bashin's entrepeneurship becomes too successful. Of the other four leaders of Ruis na Rig, Asuna and Alice didn't seem to be against it, and Jaymes and Kureha weren't present when the ordinance was enacted.
And as if her presence was announced to the other parts of town by the wind, a message comes from Lisbeth. Not feeling a real sense of urgency, Koharu ignores it for now and leans her weight against the wooden railing of the porch. Well, that's part of the reason. The majority of it stems from Lievre's speech.
"I don't know what the fool sees in you. I think you're nothing more than a memory of the past that doesn't know her place. Much like another person here. With that said, the only respectable person to stand by that fool's side is Kureha. She's competent enough, no, more than competent than he'll ever be, so really it's the other way around."
In so many words, she called Koharu and Lisbeth relics of the past, and all of the girls present - the exempt being Asuna, Alice, and Kureha - incompetent without Kirito and Jaymes around. A charge that might have offended many of the girls, especially the former SAO survivors, but Koharu couldn't even counter that statement in her head. What hurt more is that Lievre announced before her tirade that Jaymes gave her permission to speak her mind. She understood why, but why let that Lievre of all people motivate them?
Though the Arfa-Sys did have a point in that they shouldn't blindly trust the ALO players that come in and out of Ruis na Rig. The near one hundred players they saved from Mutasina may be grateful, but that wasn't every ALO player in Unital Ring. Thousands may remain at the Stiss Ruins. And knowing that Mutasina and her posse escaped the battle to parts unknown, who is to say they haven't snuck in and out of town themselves? Or still linger in the Zelletelio Forest? Or have greater numbers of the Virtual Study Society that infiltrated the other ALO groups? So much is unknown that it bugs Koharu that Lievre said it first.
She needs something to do. Her gaming mind has always been geared towards progression that being stuck in Ruis na Rig for as long as they have is unsettling. But she doesn't have a clue on how to progress towards the center of the world map where the heavenly light shall reveal all. But the former Assault Team member does know that the clues to that are out there in the world. Fifty-five floors on Aincrad taught her that lesson well.
Proving to Lievre that the Kindred Assassin of SAO is still alive and well just might be the goal Koharu has, and finding a clue on how to move deeper into the game is the first step. Now how to go about it?
"Koharu!" Lifting her head, Koharu looks to Lisbeth and Silica, the two girls running up to the log cabin in a hurry. They climb the stairs to a halt and catch their breath. They...don't seem to be troubled by anything, since they came from the western side of town where the Bashin are housed. But then Silica grabs Koharu's wrist and says with a smile, "You're coming with us?"
"Huh?"
"We're going exploring to the north. You're coming with us." Pina, atop Silica's head, chirps as if it is repeating its master's words. Koharu, puzzled, looks to the blacksmith, who shrugs and smiles back with pity.
"In short, we're going exploring for a new source of iron so I can kickstart my smithy. Considering our past, you wouldn't mind helping, would you?"
Koharu realizes this is not a yes or no scenario. Lisbeth brought up the past, and in the past Koharu would have stuck out her neck to help out anyone without question. Of course, she'll do the same now, but she has a feeling this is how Jaymes felt back then, being forced to go along with Koharu's whims.
But this might be beneficial beyond Lisbeth getting her business started. Iron is a hot commodity for early crafting in RPGs. In SAO, iron ore wasn't ample for a while - aside for a gathering bug that her friend Liten discovered and exploited - and in a game themed upon survival, iron is just as valuable. Armor, weapons, and building materials have consumed their iron supply as quickly as they've filled it.
The thornspike bear cave is the closest spot to mine the ore, now that the bears have stopped spawning, but the amount is insufficient to meet demand. The best supply yet was the waterfall cave found a few days ago but it is too far from safety. Then there's New Aincrad itself, whose exterior should have been made of iron and other metals. As great a spot to collect iron it would be, New Aincrad is home to dangerous monsters, and the level-16 Koharu has no chance against them.
North is also in the direction of the center of the world. If there are any clues to how to get there, it must be in that direction.
"I see. Yes, I will join. I was thinking of heading north myself."
After Koharu was roped into Silica and Lisbeth's personal quest, they managed to nab Lux and Sinon as the pair simultaneously logged into Unital Ring. Lux was more than thrilled to assist, while Sinon resisted momentarily until she came to the same understanding that Koharu had. She's just lucky Lisbeth didn't have to "persuade" her as much.
WIth enough people to go exploring, the quintet topped off their consumable items, added Misha the thornspike bear to their group, then exited out of Ruis na Rig from the Two O'Clock Gate to the northeast. Before they left town, Koharu spoke to Rei, Lievre, and Strea to inform them of everything. Aside from the five in the Underworld, Philia, Rain, Leafa, Zeliska, Klein, and Agil are offline; the three named AIs, Premiere, and Tia will remain in Ruis na Rig and watch over the town. Yui spends her processing resources on monitoring the network while Kirito, Jaymes, and the girls with them investigate the Underworld. Aside from the AIs and NPCs, not a single logged-on member of Team Kirito and Crimson Squad remains left behind.
While the Insectsite and former Mutasina-allied players are in the town... They'll have to hope nothing happens to Ruis na Rig while they're gone.
Not far from the gate does the path they built for lumbar transport become untouched forest. Koharu's been in the Great Zelletelio Forest for several days now, and have seen her fair share of woods since Aincrad. There was the elven woods on the third floor of AIncrad, the easily-to-get-lost woods of the thirty-fifth floor, and the territory of the Sylph, but the Great Zelletelio Forest feels more...realistic, in some manner. Only the Underworld may compete and win, but Koharu's couple of dives in the simulated world was short and mostly removed from her memory.
The good thing is that, despite the natural growth of the forest floor, her feet weren't impeded, so they could traverse the forest as if it was well-maintained. With the sunlight filtered through the canopy, it felt like they were on a nature hike.
"Times like these remind me that games can be relaxing," Lux says while stretching her arms. Koharu and Lisbeth lead the group, Silica and Lux in the middle, Sinon and Misha in the back. "We should find a beach while we're out and about."
"You're here to help us explore, right, Lux?" Sinon asks.
"And you need to be look for iron ore sources," snaps Lisbeth.
Lux chuckles and holds her thumbs up. "Got it. But it's not like something isn't going to pop out the blue...er, the green of the forests. Like ghosts."
Sinon clicks her tongue. "You seem awfully convinced that we won't see any ghosts in the middle of the day."
"Wasn't that your fault for giving Jaymes the silver coin the other day when her, Kirito, Alice, and Philia met up with Argo?"
"...I'm not responsible for the antics they get into. How would I know that they'd encounter an astral-type attracted to silver? Besides, us GGO players need gunpowder. The only source we know is the bursting beetles that gather on the cacti on the other side of that wall in the savanna."
"How much you got left?"
"About sixty uses left. Rei, Lievre, and Zeliska have about the same since Jaymes, Strea, and Kureha aren't going for ranged combat for now."
"Quiet." Koharu, not participating in the conversation with the other girls, raises her right fist up. She didn't mean to sound too commanding, but her ears picked up a strange vibratiing sound up ahead. Misha, from the back of the pack, utters a barely audible alert, warning its human compatriots. Whatever the noise is, it doesn't sound like a natural beast; rather it sounds like a golem or some mechanical creature from Aincrad.
Even if Koharu retained the passive skill of enhanced eyesight that the Imp race of fairies, it only grants night vision. There was an enhanced sight passive skill in SAO, but she doubts it would allow her better acuity in the dense woodland. Whatever is creating the vibration is well-hidden in the curtains of vines.
But her hearing is spot on. She trusts that sense completely, following it to a thin part of the sheet of vines, and parts it. She gestures for the others to follow her as she continues on. The vibration is louder here at a arcing tunnel created by shubbery. The width is enough for Misha to enter, but there's not enough space for Misha to turn around nimbly.
Koharu points to Sinon first, then to herself and the tunnel. Understanding the message, Sinon nods, then Koharu motions for the other girls to remain here with Misha. With everyone settled, Koharu and Sinon enter the tunnel for recon.
The dense shrubs contain thick branches that twist around each other and possess thorns that will hurt and damage on contact. The brush went onwards on both sides of the tunnel to the east and west beyond Koharu's vision, but the tunnel itself is only thirty feet in length. Once she and Sinon got to the other end, they could hear the pulsating vibration behind another curtain of vines. The girls grab the vines and carefully pull it back with a fingertip.
The first thing Koharu sees causes her to yelp instinctively in a hushed tone. If Jaymes was with her, he'd get a kick out of it as much as he gets a kick out of Asuna's fear of astral-types. Sinon does glance at her, but she says nothing. Her look, however, is understanding of Koharu's sudden breach of silence.
The other side of the curtain is a domed space about fifty yards in diameter. A large, aged tree stands in the center of the space, and all around the ground are massive flowers that look like rafflesias with toxic-warning colors. Covering the deformed trunk and branches of the tree is a brown cluster of elliptical shapes. These shapes bear a stripped pattern and scale shapes. Each shape is about fifteen feet in size, six or so fused together.
It was a giant wasp's nest, and yes, there are giant dark green wasps hovering around. Each one is twenty inches in length. Their wings are as brown as their home, and at the end of their adbomens is a long, curved stinger. The wasps are the reason Koharu emoted earlier.
Koharu used to be deathly afraid of bugs. It is a reasonable fear, and even more reasonable when bugs no bigger than her hand supersized in her experiences in Sword Art Online. Over time (and repetitive farming) she grew out of her fear, but they still made her very uncomfortable.
As they watch the wasps go to and fro the nest and the flowers, Koharu gathers herself and takes a step back. The source of the vibration has been found, and quite frankly, Koharu doesn't want to disturb the nest. Let sleeping dogs lie. "Sinon, let's get out of here," she whispers, and Sinon nods. There might come a time they'll need to investigate this nest, but not without a plan in mind.
"Hey, you two."
Sinon and Koharu raise their weapons purely on reflex, quickly scanning the dome for the voice that beckoned to them. It takes a moment, but a human shape appears along the wall to the right where a natural excavation covered by rock and more shurbs is. The man's cursor doesn't automatically appear on sight, but as Koharu's sight registers more of his features, she recognizes the man from the other day as the one who the Insectsite players captured the evening prior to Mutasina's attack. Jaymes, Leafa, and Kirito knew him too. His name is... "Friscoll?"
The man nods and waves the girls over, but Sinon mimicks him. "You come with us." He didn't seem happy but submits to Sinon's demand. As he comes over, Koharu can see he wears a strange attire, something akin to a ghille suit that soliders would wear to blend with a forest environment. Sinon seems more interested, being that her game of choice is militant in nature.
As he joins them, Friscoll notices Sinon's interest and grins. "What? Oh, this? Pretty nice, huh? The rats—er, the Patter back at Ruis na Ríg sell them. They said it takes four days to make a single suit."
"Oooh..."
"Wasps, huh?"
"They are familiar enemies, though."
"Doesn't mean I want to see them."
Back at the tunnel's entrance, Koharu fills Lisbeth, Silica, and Lux in on their findings. They share her grimace at the news of wasps within the domed structure, and even Pina snarls at the very mentuon of the creatures. Koharu wonders if Pina has memories of her days in SAO like Yui and Strea - if so, the little dragon has a reasonable dislike for wasps.
Bees, wasps, and the like are common in VRMMOs. While they're usually on the lower end of the totem pole of danger, they are still formidable enemies. Their ability to fly makes them pesky to fight, they usually manifest in a group, and their stingers possess poison capabilities. Silica, Lisbeth, and Koharu are well aware of the latter characteristic, for on the thirty-ffith floor of Aincrad, Pina was poisoned by a wasp and nearly succumbed to it.
Koharu crosses her arms and glance at the tunnel. "With that said, I suggest we find a way around them. Best not confront them in that nest if we don't have to. If we do...we'll need a plan."
"I'd knew you'd say that, Ko-Ko," Friscoll says jovially, ignoring Koharu deadpan expression as he continues. "You guys know how the UR world is structured by now, right?"
"Yes...it's a circular map with a radius of over four hundred miles, with all the VRMMO players arranged along the outside and the goal in the very center," Sinon answers.
"You're mostly right but a little out of date." He grabs a branch off the ground and draws a clrcle in the dirt, then draws smaller circles within. "If you combine what all the Seed game players are saying, you'll find out it's not just a simple flat circle, but a tiered structure with the goal at the middle."
"Tiered...like a wedding cake, you mean?" Silica asks.
"That's right. Like concentric circles. If the radius is over four hundred miles, then for every sixty miles or so heading inland from the shoreline at the very outer edge, it gets another step taller. And after the next length, it gets taller again. There's a cliff just north of the Stiss Ruins, and the difference is, like, six or seven times the height of the ruins. It was easily over six hundred feet. Of course, at scale on the map, it'll look like the width of a piece of paper, but in person, you'd have to be suicidal to attempt free-climbing it."
"Then how do you get up there," Lisbeth inquires, forcing another grin on the salamander's face.
"I'd prefer to charge you for anything else...but given that I owe you a debt for freeing me from Muta-Muta's bastard magic, I'll tell you for free." Is Muta-Muta...a nickname for Mutasina? That's...a good way to get himself killed by her. "Listen, this is ultra-rare intel, so don't go blabbing this to any old person you meet. There are actually places designed for you to get up to the next step. Usually, it's a dungeon that goes inside the cliff face, but some of them are stairs carved into the rock or rickety old ladders that could fall apart at any moment."
"That's not too new," Koharu notes. "It's commonplace for there to be some way to advance to higher levels." The other girls share her opinion with their facial expression.
"But they also say there's always some super-dangerous barrier arranged along each route to get up the next cliff step. Like puzzles that cause you to die if you fall off or field bosses powerful enough to wipe out a whole thirty-man raid party."
"And...that wasp nest is our field boss in this case?" Sinon infers.
"Yep, no doubt about it. I've traveled east and west from the tunnel mouth for a while, and these thorny bushes just continue forever. No blades or fire can harm the stuff. I'm thinkin' that waspy area is supposed to be the first checkpoint for everyone who started at the ruins."
"Ah, I see."
"Hmm..." If this was Aincrad, this would be vital information on progressing floors with field bosses blocking the way. The wasp nest would be that checkpoint for the ALO players. But a single glance at Sinon pops another thought in Koharu's brain. Sinon and her group originated in the GGO designated landscape, yet here she is where the ALO players are. There's the Insectsite and SA:O accounts present back in Ruis na Rig. The fact the players of different games can interact with each other means that they can scale any point of the wall to the next circle. It might not be the way considered "proper" but it is another solution.
"But if what you said is true, then if we keep going either east or west for long enough, we should find the barrier and cliff for the players from a different game. If they've already broken through that barrier, couldn't we just trace their route up to the next step?"
"Uh...well, sure." Friscoll answers Sinon and crosses his arms. "From what I hear, some folks have already broken through the first barrier."
"What? Who?"
Friscoll jumps at Lux's sudden demands. "Calm down, all right? This is the limit of what I can tell ya. I've only heard it secondhand, haven't confirmed it myself, but from what I hear, as of this morning, two groups have broken through the first barrier. The first one is called Apocalyptic Date, a game where all the players are anthro."
"Oh! I've heard of AD!" Ears twitching in excitement is Silica, the resident lover of beasts. "All the avatars are so cute and fluffy! Though I've heard there are reptiles and amphibians, too...I was thinking of converting over to try it out sometime."
"Now, listen up, little miss. They might look cute, but they're fierce fighters. The reason they've been making quick progress is because their fur and claws are so tough, they've only needed to do the minimum of equipment production."
Silica puffs her cheeks out and pouts in response to Friscoll's pointed statement. "As long as you look cute, the rest doesn't matter! Anyway, what's the other game?"
Friscoll lowers his voice dramatically. "Oh, this one's famous, so you'd probably recognize it. It's Asuka Empire."
Koharu, in the short amount of time since her awakening back in July, has only played ALO and SA:O, but she heard plenty about Asuka Empire from her little brother. It rivals ALO, GGO, and SA:O in popularity, due to its traditional Japanese themes and character classes like ninja, samural, and monks. Her brother had been trying to convert her over to the game, and it sounds interesting. However, he hasn't logged on since Unital Ring began...or she hasn't noticed it.
"Asuka Empire...wouldn't they need materials like us to create weapons? How are they so far ahead?"
"If you want the simple answer, it's because they didn't get bogged down in BS. Thanks to Muta-Muta, us ALO players had a huge infighting problem, and that was true of most of the game groupings. On our left, GGO was getting into gunfights over ammo, and on our right, Insectsite was fighting between Sixes and Eighmores, right? Basically, no game population can really focus on conquering the game until the fight over hegemony is settled. For whatever reason, the Asuka Empire folks settled on a cooperative stance right at the start and set up a huge production center near their starting point."
If Mutasina had not betrayed the ALO players during the meeting in the Stiss Ruins, maybe ALO would be at the same point as Asuka and AD. The damage is done already despite her defeat, and any sort of cooperation between the the groups of ALO players might be hard to achieve.
"Hey, don't get down, Sino-Sino," Friscoll says while smacking Sinon on the shoulder. "Yeah, Asuka and AD have a big lead, but we've got a huge advantage on our side, too."
"...What advantage is that?"
"Ruis na Ríg, of course! Not a single other game has such a large and advanced base built as far ahead as we do: nearly twenty miles from the starting point. If we can break through that waspy-wasp area today, our supply train logistical advantage should help us make up a ton of ground on those other two groups."
"...Well, you may be right about that." Sinon nods slowly, then glances at Koharu. "I don't mean to put the decision on you, Koharu, but you have the most experience with this sort of thing. Whatever you say, we'll follow along."
"Friscoll has a point. If we make it to the other side, Ruis na Rig gives us an advantage no other game has as a forward base. I don't know what it is like in GGO, Sinon, but you three and I know the value of having a place that we can restock between quests or just a general place of safety. And...the desire to keep moving forward and higher, no matter what, still burns in our heart." Lisbeth, Silica, and Lux nod their heads in agreement.
Kirito, Asuna, Jaymes, Kureha, and Alice will not return until tonight, and no telling when the others will arrive. Lievre had challenged Koharu to lead in their place, and the girls as a whole to survive without them. Sinon might not want to leave the decision on Koharu, but it was made the moment Friscoll said Asuka Empire and Apocalyptic Date had already advanced.
She turns back to Sinon, waving back her dark purple hair and grins. "You don't need me to say it, do you?"
Sinon grins back and announces, "All right. Let's break through that wasp dome. Also..." She turns to Friscoll, who acts like he's part of the team, and glares at him. "If you call me Sino-Sino one more time, I'm going to find out if that ghillie suit is as flammable as it looks."