Chapter Five: Half of a half

April 1st, 2023. 2am AST. I lay awake, staring at the ceiling. It's been almost four months since the clearing of Floor One… and the passing of Diavel.

Sachi and the others were a welcome distraction for the week that they were around. As expected though, they eventually moved on to join the front lines as people started clearing more floor bosses. They stop by now and again, but their visits only become more rare with time. It isn't like I'm lonely without them. I get to meet new people pretty consistently through the tavern.

Some days I feel bad, hiding away down here on the first floor while more adventurous people risk their lives to get us out of this mess. But… I just cannot bring myself to join them, no matter how badly I want to. Besides, what good will a maxed out cooking stat do against an enemy with 100, 500, 1000 plus HP? No front liner has a maxed out cooking stat, I can assure you.

Yesterday was a monumental achievement, or failure depending on who you ask. Most people have come to agree that it's both. We, well the front-liners, have been making excellent progress since the new year. When it took two months to clear one floor, most people had lost hope. But now, it's been almost non-stop. In four months, they've cleared the first quarter of floors, last night being our first time reaching floor twenty-six! I have avoided visiting the other floors until now, but even I felt compelled to visit 26, just to soak in the progress. That was, until I learned of the cost of the battle.

Over half of the ALS (Aincrad Liberation Squad) were wiped out defeating the 25th floor boss. It was a devastating loss to accompany such a monumental achievement. It just went to reinstill in many of us that despite all of our progress, we still are just as scared and powerless as we always were.

It's this revelation that has kept me from sleeping. I had gotten complacent. Calm. I had forgotten the stakes and let my guard down. We've had such few losses since December, I guess this was just… very shocking.

It's barely 3am when I drag myself out of my bed and select "pocho" from my inventory. I acquired it some time ago as payment from a patron who had spent their last col on some information, which they assured me was legitimate, on a secret log out location here on the 1st floor. That was over a week ago, and I hadn't heard from them since.

Terrified and restless, I had no control over my legs as they brought me out the tavern door and down a series of back alleys to a hole in the wall of the starter city. Reaching the edge of the opening, I finally plant my feet firmly in the ground, staring to the seemingly endless expanse of fields and floating islands ahead of me. The hole a portal to a world of the unknown.

I take a glance behind me, the lights of taverns and homes glistening few and far between the seemingly empty, dark windows of those either asleep or buildings long since abandoned for higher floors. Property on Floor One is cheap, but not as scenic as those on higher floors.

Before I have a chance to realize what I'm doing, I feel the wind whipping through my hair. Poncho billowing in the breeze, creating a fierce wave of motion trailing behind me. I feel the cool night air on my face, the moon and stars guiding me to my destination. Mobs spawn and charge to me, but I dodge and never look back. Before long, the field turns into a forest and finally a cave. A dark abyss of nothing, mirroring the hole in the town's wall.

I stand in silence as a message appears at the mouth of the cave.

DANGER: TELEPORT CRYSTALS INACTIVE AHEAD

This is it, I think. I'm unsure if I'm referring to the cave, or what awaits inside. Both, I suppose. I feel the adrenaline pumping through me. It is then I realize how impossible this all is. The air, my blood, the sky: None of this is real. Of course, I knew that. But sometimes it's easy to forget.

I decide there is no turning back. I will get out of here, one way or another.