Trial of the Pale Oak

"Why do we need to do this?"

Dan loved his sister, but Akemi could be quite annoying at times. He supposed it was his fault for being the one to tell her about this quest. It was a simple fetch-quest, they just needed to acquire a few [Silverwood logs], but it was finding them that was the problem. They only dropped from chopping down rare [Silverwood Oak] trees. In the beta, there were a few spots in the forests around Medai where the trees could always be found, but it seemed that was changed for the retail version of the game. After three straight days of searching, they hadn't even found a [Silverwood Oak Sapling].

The [Anneal Blade]'s quest was changed, as well. During the beta, any number of players could undertake the quest at once. Now, however, once a player completed the quest it entered a twelve hour cooldown. During that period, no one could initiate or finish the quest. He wasn't sure if that was applied to the [Silver Fang]'s quest, but there was one thing Dan was certain of…

Kayaba changed the spawn locations for the [Silverwood Oak].

These changes just proved the necessity of up-to-date information. Dan hated to admit it, but he would need to find Argo sooner rather than later. He performed the gesture to pull up his menu and navigated over to the Messaging feature. As long as Argo kept the name she'd used in the beta, he'd be able to message her.

Yo, it's Douraku. You alive? -((Battousai))

If Dan was honest with himself, he wasn't expecting a message back. He had no doubt the Rat was present in Aincrad, but that didn't mean she would believe he was who he said he is. Frankly, she had no obligation to either. This world was Dog-Eat-Dog. Survival of the fittest.

His eyes grew wide when he actually got a message back from the Rat.

Dou-bou, it's good ta hear from ya.

Dan inwardly groaned at the Rat's nickname for him. He tried many times during the beta to dissuade the moniker but Argo couldn't be convinced. The girl insisted on calling everyone close enough to her to be considered 'friends' by a nickname. She'd shorten names and append '-bou' for guys, '-chan' for girls, and '-shi' for those of ambiguous gender. Shaking his head, Dan turned back to the rest of the message.

Ya RP-ing again? -((Argo))

While her nickname for him referred to his name during the beta, she was referring to Dan's current username. Battousai was a title belonging to the protagonist of the manga/anime Rurouni Kenshin. He was an incredibly skilled samurai with a bloody past. During the beta, Dan had modeled his personality, appearance, and fighting style after Musashi Miyamoto; also known as Niten Douraku.

I was gonna. Plans changed. Think you can meet me in Medai today? -((Battousai))

"Hurry up, slowpoke!"

Dan looked up to see Akemi was several yards ahead of him at this point, calling over her shoulder. Dan rolled his eyes as Argo's message came in. Luckily, she was already in the area. Maybe she'd know more about the quest they were on. Or at least have a better idea of where to look than he did. He swiped his menu closed and raised a hand to cup the side of his mouth.

"On my way, sis." Dan called back, speeding up until he was no more than a yard behind her.

Dan was careful not to crowd his sister. They were both still only Level 5, but it wasn't like they were in the Labyrinth. Akemi was a practiced swordswoman and the experience she'd gained fighting mobs over the last few days ensured she was more than able to fend for herself. Still, he wouldn't leave her alone if he could help it. He was responsible for his sister being trapped in this death game and he was responsible for getting her home safe. Anyway, Dan was lucky their father hadn't just unplugged him the moment the announcement was made. Even though his father detested him, he must've been aware that- as a veteran gamer- Dan was Akemi's best chance at survival.

. . . Loading Perspective: Akemi . . .

I let out a yawn, stretching my arms high into the early morning air as Dan and I walked slowly along the trail back to Medai.

"Why did we bring the NPC along, again?" I was referring to the woodcrafter NPC that walked slightly behind us. She was a burly woman that wore a simple burgundy dress and had a large straw pack slung across her back.

"We're going to need her to cut down the trees since neither of us uses an ax." Dan shrugged as he scanned the surrounding grassy fields. We'd left the clearing behind and were nearing the Silverwood, a rather large forest that surrounded Medai.

According to what Dan told me, the trees we were looking for had pale gray bark and even paler wood. Even the leaves were supposed to be such a pale green that they might as well be white. The whole thing sounded fantastical to me, though I suppose if it was possible for such foliage to exist it would be here. Despite the deadly nature inherent to this world, it could truly be beautiful at times.

"But the NPC is slowing us down…" I crossed my arms and looked away. In truth I wasn't really all that mad; however, the part of my brain that craved instant gratification wanted the sword Dan promised me. Not to mention the extra EXP. And here we were, winding down our third day of fruitless searching.

Dan just chuckled a bit as he ruffled my hair and I turned to look at him. It seemed like he was about to say something when a piercing scream cut him off. We spun around to see the woodcrafter being harried by a couple Dire Wolves.

"C'mon!" Dan growled, unsheathing his sword and sprinting towards our charge.

I sighed and placed my hands on my katana as I kicked off the ground to follow. Given my much higher AGI parameter, I easily overtook Dan even though I wasn't giving my full effort. I wanted that sword but, to me, an NPC wasn't worth dying for. After all, she would respawn if she died, right?

As I passed by the cowering NPC, I drew my blade with a swift motion that sliced clean through the leg of one of the Dire Wolves and caused the severed appendage to burst into polygons behind me. Skidding to a stop, I twisted as I resheathed my sword and looked at the wobbling mob. It seemed its AI wasn't equipped to deal with amputation and made the poor thing try to put its weight on an appendage that was no longer there. The result was a Dire Wolf that tripped over itself every time it tried to walk.

I looked over to Dan before walking up to my quarry. His own foe was riddled with cuts both shallow and deep. Its health bar was nearly in the yellow, while Dan's had barely lost 5%. Looking over at the Dire Wolf I was facing showed a health bar that was just above the threshold for turning red.

'Yikes', I thought as I positioned myself to deliver the [Vertical] Weapon Art, 'if losing a limb deals that much, then I should really work on my evasion.'

I'd adopted a speed-focused fighting style in order to add hit-and-run tactics to Dan's full-on assault fighting style. It wasn't just effective at dealing damage but it seemed to put nearly as much stress on enemy AI that Switching did.

I came back to reality as my blade glowed the brilliant lilac that signaled my Weapon Arts. Dan had said that, during the beta, Weapon Arts each had their own color.

'Maybe they made the change to make it harder for players to predict moves in a fight.'

It was solid conjecture, but even so all Weapon Arts had their own Initial Motion. With enough dedication, someone could predict Weapon Arts by learning their IMs. Still, I was glad that my eyes were being accosted by only my favorite color.

A flash of vermillion caught the corner of my vision; Dan's favorite color. Both of our wolves burst simultaneously into innumerable polygons.

"Excuse me, swordsmen?"

Dan and I turned in sync to see a wolf far larger than any we'd faced yet. As it got closer, the name below its bright red cursor revealed it as an Alpha Dire Wolf.

'Well, that explains the size…'

As I was still sheathing my sword for another iai strike, Dan burst forward as his blade glowed vermillion once again. He swiftly raked his sword across the muzzle of the massive wolf in a left-right horizontal motion, then followed up with a right-left horizontal slash and sent the wolf reeling. It was the 2-hit Weapon Art [Horizontal Arc], one of the more powerful attacks available to the 1-Handed Straight Sword this early.

"Dan!"

Normally, I knew better than to mention someone's real name in this world but the word shot unbidden from my throat. The Mini-Boss chomped down hard on Dan's shoulder before lifting him and tossing him into our NPC charge. The two tumbled violently to the ground and I felt my breath hitch as Dan's health bar dropped well into the yellow.

"AKEMI, FOCUS!"

My eyes snapped from Dan's precariously low health bar to the stern yet kind and encouraging look on his face. Two things happened at that moment. First; The Alpha Dire Wolf pounced. The monster AI must have determined I was the bigger threat, being the only one standing. Second; Time seemed to slow as my mind calmed. I took a second glance at the wolf's health and saw that Dan's Weapon Art had dropped it by a little over 7%.

I reached down deep and pulled out every fiber of speed the game would allow me. My AGI stat was 10, giving me a fairly high base speed. However, what really tipped the scales was my Sprint skill. It had been occupying my second Skill Slot ever since the beginning of this death game. At any point I could have swapped it out for a more defensive Skill; one of the many armor skills or even the Battle Healing skill. But I hadn't and now it was sitting at Mastery Grade 62. Part of the reason for that was the fact that Dan had suggested it before the world went to shit. The other part? Being this fast was just as good as any armor.

As if on autopilot, I spun in place and kicked off the ground as hard as I could. The world was a blur but it might as well have been standing still in comparison to my blade. The wolf's speed, my own speed, its weight, and the force I'd imbued into this one slash all combined to allow my simple Iron Katana to shear right through the Alpha Dire Wolf's thick neck.

With a speed near equal to the slash I'd just performed, I resheathed my sword. At that moment, the sound of shattering glass rang out in the silent afternoon.

I closed my eyes and tried to recenter myself as I heard Dan help the grateful NPC stand. As much as I loathed it, I was thankful that SAO had been made semi-realistic. If this were any other game, I doubt that I could 1-hit-kill an enemy mob like that.

"Sis, that was amazing!" I turned around in time for Dan to scoop me up in a bear hug.

"Uh… Y-yeah, I guess." A nervous chuckle escaped my lips as I endured Dan's celebration. He let me down and I brushed the nonexistent dust off my clothes before turning to the results screen that had popped up. "Nothing good."

"Same here. Well, let's get back."

I cocked an eyebrow in confusion as Dan and I walked past the house where our rented room was and slipped into a nearby alleyway. I knew Dan to be a little eccentric from time to time, but there was usually a method to his madness. He came to stop a few feet into the alley and I moved to walk around him when a high-pitched nasally voice stopped me cold.

"Heya, Dou-bou!"

I peeked past my brother to see a shadowed figure wearing a straw-colored cloak in our path. The figure's head turned slightly in my direction and a brief shock of terror surged through me as I reached forward to cling to Dan's back. Without turning, Dan reached over and gently patted my head.

"Argo the Rat!" His voice was calm and happy. It seemed he and the figure knew each other and were at least amiable. I felt a bit reassured and took a few more steps out from behind the safety of my brother. He reached up with his right hand and plopped it onto my head. "This is my sis, Saike."

"Nice ta meetcha!" Argo said, shrugging off the hood.

In the evening light, Argo was revealed to be a rather androgynous girl. She had shoulder-length, messy blonde hair, topaz eyes, and three whiskers painted on each of her cheeks. Beneath her cloak were baggy pants, simple boots, and minimal armor. Overall, she had the look of a Rogue from the games Dan had played in the past.

And she was cute.

"L-Likewise…" Hoping to hide the heat I felt in my face, I gave a small yet formal bow that the Rat simply waved off.

"Please, we ain't in school." She stepped up to Dan and started poking him in the chest. "Ya never told me ya had a kid sister!"

Dan laughed a lightly batted Argo's hand away. "And why would I do that? Everyone from the beta knows what a lousy role model you are!"

Argo gasped in mock affront. "I know ya ain't sayin' Big Sis Argo can't be trusted!"

'"Big Sis"?' I tilted my head as I watched them bicker back and forth. From the sound of things, Argo was someone Dan had met in the beta. It felt a little surreal, watching Dan interact with a girl so easily. During our life in the real world, he'd been a bit of a shut-in.

"Shut up!" Despite his words, Dan was smiling as he shook his head.

"Whatever you say, Dou-bou." Argo stretched lithely and yawned. The gesture seemed feline and contrasted a bit with her rat-like persona. "What did ya need me for?"

"Things have changed since the beta, Argo" Dan's expression grew more serious.

"It is the retail version of the game, Dou-bou." Argo paused, looking over Dan's face before sighing and performing the gestures to bring up and navigate her menu. "Ya ain't the only one to notice somethin's up."

"The [Anneal Blade] quest?"

"Well, there's that." Argo made her menu visible and spun it around to show us her map.

"What am I looking at, Argo?"

"This, Dou-bou, is the latest map info." She zoomed in on a spot to the northeast of Horunka that was still unmapped.

"Wait, has no one made it to Tolbana?!" Argo shook her head solemnly. "It's almost been a week! We didn't take nearly this long in the beta!"

"SAO wasn't a death game during the beta." The Rat simply shrugged, making her menu invisible once again and swiping it closed. Beside her, Dan was grumbling and swearing under his breath while kicking at the sides of the buildings. "Look, normally I'd charge ya for info but, seein' as ya got yer kid sister in here with ya, I can do ya one solid."

Dan sighed and turned to his friend with a rueful grin on his face. "Thanks. Anyway, we're getting Saike the [Silver Fang]."

"[Silver Fang]?" Argo grimaced as if the name had a bad taste and turned to look at the sword on my hip. "I understand she uses a katana but yer honestly better off powerin' up the one she's got."

Confused, I looked from my [Iron Katana] to Dan, then finally to Argo. "Isn't it better than my current weapon?"

"Only in damage and speed," Argo explained, "It has the worst durability out of anything on the 2nd or 1st Floors."

I looked at Dan, who could only sheepishly nod in agreement, with a flat stare. Still, if I thought for a minute, any sword with higher damage than my [Iron Katana] would be worth it. I'd need to ask Dan how enhancing weapons worked, but I was pretty certain there would be a way to improve [Silver Fang's] durability. 'At least there should be.'

"I think I still want it." I said, locking eyes with Argo. A second or 2 passed where I felt as if she was appraising me before she suddenly nodded.

"Fine, then. Lemme know how it works out for ya!"

"Great, so do you have any leads on where the [Silverwood Oaks] have been moved to?" Dan jingled a sack of, what I assumed to be, Cor as he talked. I had to bite my bottom lip to avoid giggling at the cute way Argo's eyes hungrily followed the sack.

'Wait… "Cute"?'

"Hurrrgh!" A few tense seconds was all it took for Argo to break. "I don't know, okay?! Yer the only ones I know who're doin' this quest!"

Dan sighed and tossed the sack into Argo's eagerly-awaiting hands. The look on the Rat's face was a mix of regret and joy at having been paid.

"Thanks anyway, Argo."

The girl in question shuffled nervously in place before gesturing at the open air in front of her. It was obvious to me that she was fiddling with her menu, but for what I couldn't guess. After a second or two more of this, the bag of Cor in her left hand dematerialized and was replaced by a rolled-up scroll bound with a red ribbon.

"Map data." The Rat declared. With her left hand, she held out the first scroll to me while she used the right to call up a second scroll to hand to Dan. "It's the least I can do to thank ya for payin' me for next to nothin'."

Dan laughed nervously as we reached for the items. "It may still be early in the game, but 100 Cor isn't much to me. Especially if it helps make things safer for my sister. Thanks, Argo. And don't worry about those spawn locations. We'll find them."

Once Dan and I had sent friend requests to Argo, and she accepted, the Rat scampered off to her next destination. I was tempted to ask Dan how he'd met her but that seemed like a story for a different day.

The next morning, I awoke to our inn room's door slamming open. I sat up with a groggy slouch as my tired eyes rapidly scanned the room for threats. Instead, all I could see was Dan standing just inside the doorway. He was hunched over with his hands on his knees, panting as if he'd ran a great distance. Supremely annoyed, I stood up on the mattress with my hands on my hips and glared down at my older brother.

"A-Akemi! I- OH SHIT I'M SORRY!" He had finally noticed my ire and dropped to the ground in an instant, slamming his forehead to the floor in a perfect dogeza.

It took every ounce of my willpower to keep myself from laughing hysterically.

Carefully, I straightened my posture and crossed my arms to try and give off an air of reluctant forgiveness. I huffed once before closing my eyes and turning away. "As long as you understand your error."

I made a show of being irate as we moved to the small table across from the bed. Unlike in the real world, I didn't need to worry about soiled clothing so I'd grown a habit of only unequipping my sword and what little armor I'd started the game with. It meant sacrificing a bit of comfort during sleep but I was ready to leave much quicker in the mornings than Dan. He liked to sleep shirtless. We each took a seat as Dan pulled a couple of bread rolls from his inventory and handed one to me.

"So?" I asked around a mouthful of my meager breakfast. "What was so important that you needed to run in here screaming?"

Dan flushed a bit and wiped some crumbs from his face. In SAO, any pieces of food that fell from the larger whole would dissipate into blue-white polygons within a few seconds but some habits- like wiping crumbs from your mouth and lap- were still alive and well.

Dan cleared his throat and pulled up his menu, setting it to be visible to party members in order to show me his inventory. It was sorted by 'Newest First' and at the top was the item we needed; [Silverwood Log].

"You found one?!" I reached forward to grab Dan's shoulders and shook him hard in my excitement. "Where?!"

"Don't be mad", he sat back in his chair and left the screen for me to look at as he bit down on his bread roll once more, "but I got up super early this morning to take the NPC to search some more. We only found one tree and I learned that one tree drops one log, so I rushed back here as fast as I could."

"Uuuuugh." My head slammed down onto the table. Fortunately, the town was a safe zone so my HP wouldn't drop under any circumstances.

Hours later, I found myself deep in the Silverwood once again. The quest apparently allowed for multiple treks into the forest per day, so Dan and I were able to bring the woodcutting NPC along. Unlike the previous days, it seemed the gods of Aincrad- or maybe even Kayaba himself- decided we'd suffered enough. Dan had told me that, in the beta, where there was one [Silverwood Oak] there were bound to be more. Even though the spawn locations were random, it seemed that rule was still in effect in the retail version of the game. Back in town, we placed the four logs we collected outside the NPC's house, making sure they weren't placed in such a way as to block her pathing.

The NPC busied herself with chopping at the logs while Dan and I went to get lunch.

"Well, that was a lot more tedious than I remember." Dan sat across from me at the table in our inn room, eating one of the semi-fresh bread rolls we'd gotten.

"I'm just glad it's over." I slumped over onto the table with my eyes closed. As Dan was eating, he poked and swiped at the air in front of him. In the real world, this behavior might have made him look insane. Context was everything and in Aincrad, those motions signaled he was looking through his menu. Maybe Argo had sent him a message about something? However, before my mind could delve further into that rabbit hole, the Quest Log in the upper-left portion of my field of view had updated. I sat up in excitement as I read the text 'Visit Brianne the Woodcutter'. Practically racing out of my seat, I grabbed Dan by the wrist and dragged him from our inn all the way to the woodcutter's house.

"Woah, slow down, Saike!" Dan said between hearty chuckles as he struggled to keep pace. I flushed in slight embarrassment as I remembered that my speed was much higher than my brother's.

Even with me limiting my pace, Medai was small enough that the walk to the NPC's house took us no longer than five minutes. The woman in question was sitting on the porch of her small cottage in a brand-new [Silverwood Rocking Chair]. To her side was what looked to be two thick branches about a third the length of one of the [Silverwood Logs]. Once we talked to the NPC, the branches disappeared and were listed on our rewards window for completing the quest. Surprisingly, I felt relief after that and let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding.

"The quest was about the same as the beta," Dan said as his expression unknowingly mirrored my own feelings, "but part of me always wonders if there are any more quests like the one for my [Anneal Blade]."

I nodded. "It's different when it's VR."

"Almost like the NPCs are alive." Dan agreed, placing a hand on my shoulder to try and comfort me. "Anyway, we should probably start heading towards Tolbana."

"But what about my katana!" Saying that made me feel like a petulant little kid, but I had been promised [Silver Fang]. Dan took it in stride, however, and made his menu visible so he could show me the item description for our [Silverwood Branches]. "'Traditionally used by swordsmiths to craft shirasaya'?"

Dan cringed slightly but still nodded along as I read. It didn't make any sense. This wood would be crafted into shirasaya for katana? For [Silver Fang]? Shirasaya were meant to be ornamental; they were storage fittings for when a katana wasn't seeing use. Seeing the confusion written plainly on my face, Dan sighed and closed his menu.

"I know it's weird but there's a reason." He patted my chin in that gentle, brotherly way as he spoke. "Katana get very powerful once you progress enough to unlock their Weapon Arts. The shirasaya are a way to sort of balance that. Until around Floor 10, the only actual katana available is the Iron Katana. With luck, you can get an NPC blacksmith to craft a decent one- or maybe find one as a rare drop or quest reward- but players won't be able to forge them for a while longer."