I thank whitworth5274 for helping me.

Four months and several floors later, Haruza found herself melting underneath the heat of the sun. After the coolness and familiarity of the Ancient Japan themed 10th Floor, she found the desert-themed 11th Floor to be quite annoying.

Thankfully, information about the danger of the Floor was given out shortly after the gate opened. The heat, while wouldn't actually sear the skins of the avatars, would "deplete" fluids, represented by a symbol on the status bar. If the effect lingered too long, one's health would slowly drain. To combat this, it was necessary to drink some fluids, accessible (as far as Haruza knew) from a river that flowed into the only town she knew of on the floor.

Right now, Haruza walked through town, approaching the teleport gate, searching for NPCs with exclamation marks hovering over their heads. She didn't see one that was immediately free until a man with a huge bag of stuff on his back entered the square. He looked worried, so Haruza quickly approached and made contact. "Hello there."

"You… Are you looking for work?"

"Yes, I am."

"I'm just a humble merchant trying to sell my wares. I was trying to meet someone past the rocky passage and give them the items I got at the oasis, but thanks to the sandstorm, I only got half of what I planned to buy."

"Is that so? What about the other half?"

"I can't wait around for the other half of my stack to come in, or my customers will find someone else to buy from. I thought about going ahead and giving my colleague what I've got now, but if I leave, I might miss my own chance to buy goods. Just thinking about it gives me a headache. But if you would bring the goods to my colleague for me, that would solve everything. Should be an easy job. What do you say?"

"Sure. What am I receiving from the merchant?"

"Just some everyday herbs and seasonings. Nothing that would get you in trouble. Although you might have to deal with monsters that are attracted by their scent. But, hey, you've got weapons, right? I'm sure you'll be just fine. So how about it? I'll make it worth your while."

Haruza nodded and accepted the quest from the prompt. "Deal."

"Just what I like to hear. Okay then, here's the container. Please bring it to my colleague past the Cave Desert. He should be waiting by the entrance to the desert. And make sure not to open the container before you get there. Thanks!" The hawker NPC placed an enormous, tightly sealed box on the ground and walked away. Eager to start the quest, Haruza opened the system window and put it in her inventory.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Maybe she was a bit too eager.

After entering the cave rising out of the sands and battling through the jagged worms and wicked vines within, Haruza came to the other side of the cave, but the exit was impassable. A sandstorm raged beyond the opening where she needed to proceed the quest, leaving her with two options: She could either wait out the storm, or look for an alternative way out and hope it was passable. Either way, it'd be much safer for her to head deeper in the cave.

She found the side path she ignored earlier and walked along it. No monsters appeared, meaning someone else came this way recently and the respawn timer hadn't reset for the mobs, or she was lucky. She preferred to believe the former, as there's no such thing as luck in Sword Art Online. As she continued, she began to hear voices further within. Other players had the same idea about staying in the cave to wait out the storm rather than returning to town. It was cool inside, so the dehydration effect wasn't appearing, and even for the safe zone, it was much cooler than the town.

As she got closer, she heard a familiar barely masculine voice bounce off the cavern walls. It was a voice she hadn't heard in quite a while, actually, but she knew the sound like she heard it yesterday. "Is that Kirito?"

As she came closer, she saw the swordsman in black sitting on the ground, surrounded by five other people. For being a solo player, he found himself a group of players to hang out with. It pinged her heart with some jealousy, as she was with him first, but it is what it is. After all, it'd been months since they've last seen each other, she was grateful to see (rather than hear as she has in the past) he's alive.

He heard her approach and looked towards the sounds of footsteps, a surprised look on his face when he recognized her. "Haruza?"

"Kirito. Nice to see you."

"Long time no see."

"What are you doing out here? And who are these guys?"

"These are the Moonlit Black Cats, Sachi, Tetsuo, Keita, Sasamura, and Decker."

Haruza nodded to each of them, notably the only girl in the group, and asked the question really on her mind. "You joined a guild? Since when did that happen?"

"I ran into these guys in the labyrinth one day, and, well, been with them since."

Sachi shook her head in disagreement. "That's not the whole story. He actually saved us in the labyrinth. If it wasn't for him, we might be dead. Kirito's pretty good for our level."

Haruza blinked and looked to her friend, who turned his head away. "For our level?"

"Yeah," said Tetsuo as he stood on his feet. "Speaking of which, what is your level?"

"Around forty."

"F-forty? So you're one of those Beaters, huh?"

Haruza groaned and twirled her sword into its sheath."So that's how it is? The minute you find out how high my level is, you judge me? That's sick. All that matters to you is titles, not who they really are."

Sachi stood up and bowed apologetically. "I'm sorry for Tetsuo's rudeness, Miss Haruza!"

Haruza shrugged her shoulders and took a seat beside Kirito. "It's fine. Besides, the front lines have many high level players between the Aincrad Liberation Squad and the Dragon Knights Brigade, and lots of high-level solo players. Like Asuna, Taicho, oh, there's this cool duo…" She caught herself before she started rattling off about the advance team (which she had kept up with during the previous nine floors) then looked at her quest log. While the other members of the Moonlit Black Cats engaged in conversation without them, Haruza made her window visible and elbowed Kirito gently. "Hey, Kirito."

"Hmm?"

"Are you doing this quest too? The hawker and his missing goods?"

"No. We're doing the 'Riches of the Desert' quest. We found it in a small town called Taft not too far from the teleport gate. It's far from any good hunting spots, and it doesn't have any major facilities, so ALS didn't stick around there for very long. There were three elderly NPCs having tea and chatting at a corner in the town market who told us there's some amazing treasure in the king's tomb somewhere in the desert. One of them said that past kings had already taken the treasure in order to help their subjects and that there are none left anymore. Another said that it's still there in the king's grave, waiting for someone to come and claim it, and the last one said that the treasure is 'without form'. As you can tell, the stories didn't line up."

"Sounds interesting, but..." Haruza eyed the five other players, lowering her brow. "I mean, this is the front line. I can tell you've lied to them, but putting them in danger for their level…"

"I know, but...they think this treasure could help beat the game. Of course, neither of us know anything about the quest, so at the least, it may be helpful to beat this floor."

"...Just be careful, Kazuto."

"Thanks."

"Kirito, it sounds like the sandstorm has died down." Sachi stepped over and looked towards the path leading back the way Haruza came. "Haruza, if your merchant is out there, it's possible he might've been blown away."

"That's who I'm looking for. Hopefully he's fine." Haruza stood up, nodded to Sachi and her guild, then faced her friend. "Sounds like it's safe. I have to continue the quest. Nice seeing you, Kirito. Stay alive, no matter what."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

2 floors later…

Like the seaside-themed twelfth floor, the thirteenth floor had the first impression of tranquility in the green valleys and grey cliffs, similar to the second floor. However, there were signs of desolation as Haruza explored the area between the dry, weathering soil and the coarse breeze. Pretty odd for a floor right above the sea, but what isn't odd about SAO?

Waving farewell to a pair of mid-leveled boys who she rescued, Haruza sighed and looked up to the sky. "People should learn to stick to their level, no point in doing what you can't do."

"Just sticking to what you can do? Figures." Standing with Haruza is a stern-faced Japanese boy around her age with ashy-grey hair. His armor is off-white and brown in color, and off his back is a single sword. He assisted in the fight after coming from somewhere, but had been quiet during the prior exchange until now.

The first thing he said had to be something underhanded. "What was that?"

"Oh nothing… Just talking to myself."

"So you're saying YOU don't give up?"

"Yeah, that's why I'm here. I'm gonna join the Assault team. I've been leveling up and finally made it to the front lines. I can't back out now that I've made it this far."

"So that's how it is… You're been trying very hard."

"All the effort you make in this world can be reduced to numbers. Not a single action is wasted, so all you have to do is rack them up. My limits aren't for me to decide. After all, I'm aiming for the top."

"To fight the 100th Floor boss?" Haruza asked.

"Not just that. To beat it, too. I don't expect you to understand… Anyway, I'm off."

As the boy walked off, Haruza rolled her eyes and walked off in the opposite direction. Who the hell did he think he was, thinking mid-leveled players are not putting in any effort themselves. And the Assault Team's his goal? She wouldn't dock points for him believing he can make it, but the Assault Team was going through a change with the appearance of a third guild, the Knights of the Blood Oath. They stole the show on the twelfth floor, and their commander, Heathcliff, was the reason a friend of Haruza survived and they beat the eleventh though he didn't show himself (and his guild) until the next floor, where he once again saved that friend and his partner from a group of player-killers.

Meanwhile, ALS and DKB were still the powerhouses of the frontlines, and had steadily remained so. There was an underlying worry between the two guilds on whether the opposing one would swallow the powerful solo front liners.

"Maybe he was thinking out loud. He didn't notice I'm part of the Assault Team."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

While reporting a successful request to a DKB member, Haruza ran into the boy from earlier again. He spotted Haruza and the guild member. "So, you're part of the Assault Team?"

Haruza nodded. "Yep."

"Do you know this guy?"

"He wants to join the Assault Team."

The DKB member silently but obviously inspected the newcomer before speaking again. "Interested in joining DKB? All you have to do is head to headquarters and pass an examination."

"…An examination, huh? I'll think about it. See ya…"

Haruza sighed as the boy departed once more. "And there he goes again…"

"Is going around helping people the only thing you do?"

Haruza turned around, gasping as Taicho walked up to her and the guild member. "Taicho? What are you doing here?"

"Nothing much. Actually, I could use some help to fight this rare monster. There's an old man who used to be a famous weapons craftsman now living in a ruined village on the outskirts of the eleventh floor. He wanted to find someone worthy of wielding a certain sword… His final masterpiece. He told me he'd be willing to give me the sword if I hunted certain monsters, but the most important thing he said was, 'A long time ago, when this land was an infinitely vast continent, there was a swordsman more powerful than any other. The blade was crafted using the parts of five rare monsters and could slash any enemy… Find the materials, and I will remake it.' Which means all I need to do to get a cool new sword is hunt down the five types of rare monsters and gather their materials."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After taking out the last Ruthless Dino, Haruza and Taicho turn their attention to the Nimble Dino, their rare monster target. "Haruza, block its path!"

Haruza nodded, sliding into its path and attacking it. "You're not getting away!" Cornering it between her and the rockface, Haruza smirked victoriously as she seeked to go for the kill, then the Nimble DIno pulled a fast one on her by leaping up and bouncing off her head. "Hnng! W-Wait!"

The little beast sprinted off, nearly heading into a guy that suddenly appeared. Once again, it was the boy from earlier. "What the…?! Wh-What even is that thing…?!"

Taicho yelled out to the boy. "Hey, you! Get its attention!"

"O-Okay!" Following Taicho's orders, the young man drew the monster's attention and evaded its attacks.

"Almost there, Haruza. Let's finish this!" Haruza nodded and the pair simultaneously activated their strongest skills, killing the Nimble Dino together. As it sparkled into blue polygons, Taicho smiled as his eyes turned to the prompt that showed his loot. "Got the material! Thanks Haruza for the help. And you too, dude. Sorry for dragging you into this. Are you hurt or anything?"

"Not even a scratch. That was a rare mob, wasn't it? I'm glad I got a chance to help take it down."

Haruza chuckled as she sheathed her sword and joined the conversation. "Heh. You're nicer than I thought."

"Wh-What do you mean? There's no way I could have let you guys deal with that yourselves. Anyone would have lent a hand."

"You know him, Haruza?"

"He's just some guy I keep bumping into on this floor."

Taicho nodded and stretched his arms. "Let's take a break. I got some snacks from town... Well, it's just bread."

The boy waved his hand and turned away. "No thanks. I've got somewhere to be…

Haruza grabbed his arm tightly. "Oh, come on! Stay a while!"

"Yeah, man, what's the rush? No reason to tire yourself out."

The boy sighed and ripped his arm away from Haruza. "…Fine, okay. I'd look like some sort of stubborn loser if I tried to back out at this point…

Taicho led the group out the area back the path they came. "We should go somewhere safer though, else we'd get attacked by respawning dinosaurs. Let's head back to the area by the northern edge." After a moment, they found a suitable spot and Taicho set down a picnic blanket. The three took a seat, Haruza ignited a lantern to provide light as the sun began to set.

"By the way, are you being followed?" asked Taicho.

"Huh? N-No, of course not…" the boy sweated.

Haruza looked around and saw a figure hiding (to be accurate, horribly hiding) in the brush along the rockface. "Isn't that your friend over there? Hey, you, come on out!"

The figure that comes out of hiding is a girl around Haruza's age, with long light-brown hair with a single braid on the left side. She wore blue armor like Haruza, though hers was a robe, not a tunic. She smiled happily as she joined Haruza and the boys. "Wow, you've got some sharp senses! This is the first time anybody's managed to spot me in the field."

Her friend sighed and looked at her in frustration. "Yuna?! What are you doing here?!"

She giggled in response as she sat by the other boy. "Oh, Naut… I was right behind you, and you didn't notice this whole time."

"Your name's Naut?"

"It's Nautilus! Don't ever call me Naut."

"I'm Yuna. Nice to meet you!"

Haruza introduced her and her friend. "I'm Haruza, and this is Taicho. It's nice to meet you too!"

Taicho held out a bread loaf to Yuna. "There's plenty of bread to go around, Feel free to have some, Yuna."

Yuna took it. "Thanks, but you don't need to go out of your way for me. We're all around the same age, after all, and that fight from earlier was sooo awesome!"

"What does the fight have to do with anything?"

"What do you mean? I was on the edge of my seat because I was afraid something might happen to you! But Taicho managed to save you right in the nick of time before I had the chance to step in, so I stayed put and just cheered you guys on."

"You two are close." Haruza smiled.

"We've been friends for as long as I can remember. We've been together from kindergarten all the way up to middle school. We started playing SAO together too. So when I heard he wanted to go to the front lines, I couldn't help but follow him here."

"I told you not to follow me… It's too dangerous to come all the way up here when you suck at fighting."

Yuna crossed her arms and pouted. "Hey, I made sure to avoid all the aggressive monsters and stick to the safe areas. And weren't you the one who said my dagger skill is so good that it's more than enough for the upper floors?"

"Yeah. But you're taking it out of context. I meant in a proper party with a tank and a healer. I'm taking you back to the Teleport Gate. It's too dangerous for you to go outside the safe zone. Just stay put."

"Even though I've been fine this whole time? And I'm not joining any party if you're going to be fighting solo."

"That's completely different. Unlike you, I'm doing this because it's the most efficient way to level up."

Haruza leaned to Taicho. "Someone's overprotective to the extreme."

"Yeah, even more so than someone else we know. But Naut has a point."

Haruza nodded and turned to the pair. "Hey, Yuna, Naut, why don't you join us, then?"

"Really?! Thanks! This is going to be so much fun!"

"Fun? Are you even listening to me?"

"Of course I am. You should join us! I'm sure it's more fun than fighting on your own."

"Look, it's not about whether it's 'fun' or not, Yuna…"

"What's the matter?" Taicho asked. "You just said she'll be fine in a party with her dagger skills, right? She's properly equipped, and if Yuna has been able to hide from you and the mobs, she has great agility."

Nautilus sighed. "Even if that's true…"

Haruza smiled. "I mean, we can protect her if things get tough, but I bet you trust yourself to protect Yuna better than us, right?"

"Of course I will. I'll always protect her."

"Sounds like we're a party of four," Taicho said.

Yuna cheered. "Alright! Isn't this great, Naut?"

Nautilus grumbled and facepalmed. "I told you not to call me that…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next day, the four players met just outside of the town on the current floor. Taicho had checked his inventory at least ten times since Haruza met up with him, only stopping once Yuna and Nautilus joined them. "Got all the materials I need. We can do any quests you guys may have."

"What about you, Naut?"

"I've been focusing so much on leveling that I haven't been doing any quests lately."

"Let's go back to the hunting grounds to see if we can find any boss quests, then."

As the girls silently agreed and followed Taicho, Naut stood in place. "You're gonna decide that all by yourself?"

Taicho looked at Naut over his shoulder. "Got a better idea?"

"No."

"Then come on."

"Nice one, Taicho! Jeez, Naut, you're so immature."

"H-Hey, it's not like I was trying to argue with her or anything. Ugh, I'm going ahead to check out the situation!"

As Nautilus stepped to the lead of the group and a few feet away, Tachio chuckled and faced Yuna. "It's obvious he's overprotective of you, but the one in charge seems to be you."

Yuna giggled. "That's because I've been looking after him ever since we were little. Naut may be a sore loser and pretty stubborn at times, but he's kind and always tries his best. He can get embarrassed and become quite a handful, but he's actually a pretty nice guy. So don't think too badly of him, okay?"

Haruza nodded. "Don't worry. I believe you. I have a friend pretty much the same way. He's always so stubborn who thinks he can go it alone and carry everything on his shoulders."

"Thanks. Keep an eye on him for me, ok? Anyway, you have no idea how happy I was when you guys let me join your party. I'm not very good at fighting, but I have to get stronger if I'm going to make it out of this game. I don't like it when Naut keeps telling me it's dangerous. 'Standing around wondering what to do is just a waste of time,' right?"

"Yeah, he has a point."

"Naut already made it this far to get into the Assault Team. I want to do what I can to get to the top floor, too. And that starts… with catching up to Naut first!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Volcano. Poisonous gas. Lava. Just a trifecta of goods times further along on the 13th Floor as they chased after Nautilus. By the time they caught up with him, they found him talking to another player, one quite unfamiliar to the front liners. Yuna jogged up to the males and greeted the one talking to Nautilus.

"Hi there! Nice weather we're having, right?"

"Huh? Uh, right… It's all cloudy with smoke and gas, though."

"What's going on," Haruza asked.

"The DKB are aiming to clear the quest in this area the fastest. They're refusing to give anyone details on where and how you can start the quest and aren't even willing to sell the info."

"Really? Why is that?"

"I've heard that you've gathered information for us before. But that's another matter entirely. As guild leader, I must maintain a level of control over our intel for the sake of my guild. That includes who we give it to, and how."

"You're the leader?"

"I don't seem like one to you, huh? Well, I won't be outdone in combat by the likes of Kibaou… But I'm not here to brag."

Taicho chuckled. "It's not that hard to not be like Kibaou."

Yuna crossed her arms and eyes the leader of the Dragon Knights Brigade judgingly. "I see… Mr. Leader, do you think you could hear us out? Just a bit?"

"You can call me Lind."

"Now, Lind, Nautilus and I spent our time in the Town of Beginnings up until recently. And since then, we've trained hard to become mid-level players and made it all this way."

"And?"

"We want to catch up to the Assault Team and do what we can to help clear the game. Right, Naut?"

Nautilus nodded. "…Yeah. I'm aiming for the top floor. I want to reach it even more badly than the Assault Team."

Lind sighed and put his hands on his waist. "What are you trying to say?"

"I think we're all just trying to do what we can to reach our goals, so couldn't you at least give us a hint? Like about the volcano's mystery…"

"The volcano's mystery?"

Taicho nodded. "Yeah, the Volcano's Mystery. It's stumped us and we don't know where to begin in solving it. There's a possibility it could be connected to your quest."

"You might find out something new about a quest once you start looking at it through different perspectives."

"You can at least point us in the right direction," Haruza said. "Afterwards, we won't bother you."

"Perhaps… if you let me know any useful information you come across in that quest you're working on…"

"Deal. Any information pertaining to the floor quest or boss will be given to the DKB exclusively."

Lind pausesy for a few seconds then sighed, relenting to their demands. "If that's the case… Very well, then. I'll only tell you where to start the quest, though. It shouldn't be too hard of a quest at your levels, anyway."

Yuna grinned. "Really?! Oh, thank you so much!"

"Yeah, yeah. Listen. Head west until you reach a dead end. There should be an NPC being attacked by a monster. The quest begins once they're saved. That's all I'm willing to tell you. If you understand all of that, I must take my leave."

As Lind departed, Haruza chuckled lightly, looking pleased with the situation. "I can't believe that worked."

Taicho nodded in agreement. "He doesn't know the quest doesn't exist, but there's no way he could know that with the plethora of quests in the first place."

Nautilus just stared at his comrades, stupefied by their confession. "So you just made it up?! You too, Yuna?"

Yuna shook her head. "I wasn't lying. I was just curious as to why the volcano isn't erupting or anything. I thought a guild leader would be more familiar with how the field works, so I decided to ask."

"We just used a conversational switch to extract the information out of him,"

"It was all thanks to Taicho's nice follow-up. Now we know where to go next! A dead end to the west, right? Come on, let's go!"

Yuna ran ahead first, spurning Nautilus to become protective. "Hey, careful! Don't run, Yuna!"

"Then try and catch me!"

Nautilus sighed as he, Haruza, and Taicho followed along. "Seriously… what's gotten into her?"

"She doesn't look it, but Yuna's pretty strong-willed."

"She may look passive, but Yuna's strong-willed to the core. She's always been that way. But there are things in this world that not even willpower can overcome. That's why I want her to stay in the safe zone."

"You try talking about that willpower stuff you just said to my friend, Kirito, and he'll flip a switch. Why can't you just trust Yuna?"

Nautilus got crossed and turned on Haruza. "I didn't ask for your opinion. This is none of your business, anyway…"

Haruza took an intruding step in front of Nautilus, grabbed his shirt as she glared at him. "Don't you dare say it's none of my business! My friends are my business. Which makes you and Yuna my business. Try to think about that before you say something stupid like that!" Haruza released him and stepped away, moving to catch up to Yuna.

Meanwhile, Nautilus stood in place, processing what just occurred. "Wh-What's her problem? Was what I said so bad?"

Taicho shrugged. "I see her perspective, yet… I agree with you. If I was in your position, stuck in this game with someone I really knew from the real world, I'd be the same way. All things considered… I'm glad that's not the case."

"...At any rate, I'm not changing my mind anytime soon. …Come on, hurry up. We can't let Yuna lead us by the nose when she only just got here!"