Chapter 2: Everlasting Warriors

Liam sent you an invitation to the Guild:

Everlasting Warriors

Do You Accept?

Kuro and Ren both accept the invitation to the guild. "Welcome to the guild guys! We hope you enjoy your stay!" Liam said. "Why is he talking like he's the Inn NPC?" Kuro says. Liam looks relieved as he walks in front of Kuro and Ren to tell them something.

Liam: "Ok guys, first things first, What's your most used weapon?"

Kuro: "Huh? Why do you want to know?"

Liam: "So I can give out roles to the both of you."

Kuro: Uuh….ok. I use a sword more than any other weapon. Well, the sword is the only weapon I use actually."

Liam: "mhm….Well hopefully we can change that. Using just one weapon can be pretty risky when it comes to fighting any mob."

Kuro: "How so?"

Liam: "We'll talk about it later. Ren, how about you?"

Ren: "Lets see….Well I haven't used any weapons since the first day. So I am open to using anything."

Liam: "So you're basically new to this whole thing?"

Kuro: "And you wanted to go to Floor 19 with me?!"

Ren, embarrassed, drops his head and sighs. It seems that they aren't going after all. Liam shows Kuro and Ren to the guild room, where they are greeted by 2 other people.

Liam: "Kuro, Ren, Welcome to the Everlasting Warriors! Sadly, everyone is not here at the moment, but that doesn't mean I can't start introducing you guys to the people that are already here. This here is-"

?: "Let us introduce ourselves Liam."

Liam: "A-Ah ok."

?: "Hey guys, My name is Sumier. Nice to meet you."

Kuro looks at what Sumier is wearing. A classy dress with the lightest armor in the game it seems.

Kuro: "Why are you wearing a dress?"

Sumier: "Why are you wearing knight armor with a Santa hat?"

Kuro: "B-Because I thought it matched."

Sumier: "It's not even Christmas anymore…."

Ren: "Nice to meet you Sumier. And don't mind Kuro, he can get like that sometimes."

Kuro: "Dude….We literally just met like half an hour ago."

?: "Hey guys, Nice to meet ya. Names Jirachi."

Kuro looks at Jirachi and is astonished. Jirachi is wearing regular gear, but that's not why Kuro is shocked. Jirachi is also wearing a carved pumpkin on his head.

Kuro: "Why did my Santa Hat trigger you, but this guy has a whole PUMPKIN on his head?"

Jirachi: "And? Your point is?"

Kuro: "Nevermind….Nice to meet you!"

After Kuro and Ren get acquainted with the two members, Liam asks them to take a seat at the table to discuss future matters. Liam discusses plans for training Ren, Level grinding and surprisingly, the 40th Floor boss fight. Kuro stands up out of his chair and says:

Kuro: "The 40th Floor Boss?! Wait, explain to me again what we are doing."

Liam: "Well like I said….We are the second team going in to deal with the boss. Now the Primary Team is basically going to be the first ones in and the last ones out. We are only going in to stop the boss from regenerating its hp. Due to if the whole team were to leave, The boss would just restore itself to full HP.

Kuro: "Are we going in by ourselves?"

Liam: "Yeah, but don't worry it shouldn't be a long time by ourselves. As long as you're strong enough to handle your own, then it should be smooth sailing. Oh that actually reminds me, Kuro, And everyone else, follow me."

Kuro and company follow Liam all the way to the 10th floor, where Liam turns to Kuro and tells him:

Liam: "Kuro we fight here."

Kuro: "Fight?!"

Liam: "Yep. We are going to duel each other until you can beat me. Meanwhile, Sumier and Jirachi, I want you guys to grind levels with Ren and help him out with his weapon of choice on floor 30. Think you can handle that?"

Sumier: "C'mon Liam, don't underestimate us."

Jirachi: "Yeah….We're stronger than you think."

Liam: "Okay have fun Ren. And try not to die out there."

Ren: "What? I mean ok."

Ren and the others leave through the teleport gate as Kuro and Liam are set to fight each other.

Liam: "You know Kuro….When you first met me today. I probably didn't react like any regular guild leader would. And that's because I try my best to not change how I act with other people. Well that and I'm not the guild leader, I'm the sub-leader."

Kuro: "The sub-leader?!"

Liam: "Yeah you'll probably see her later today but that doesn't matter right now….What matters most is this duel."

Liam wants to have a friendly duel:

First to 10% HP Loses

Accept:

Kuro accepts the duel and enters a stance. Without warning, Liam rushes to Kuro's left side. As soon as Kuro swings his sword, Liam switches over to Kuro's right side and does a 5-hit combo with his sword, sending Kuro flying back a few feet before hitting the ground. Liam tries to follow up with another 5-hit combination, but Kuro parries the attack and swings his sword directly towards Liam's hand to disarm him. Liam sees this attack from a mile away and decides to clash with Kuro. "Of course…." Kuro said to himself, "This guy is a STR build…." as Liam throws Kuro's sword off of his and says "Activating skill: Invigorate." Suddenly, Liam starts to give off a red aura around his body. Kuro is startled by it, making him say "A-Activating skill: Tough Skin!" Kuro then dashes in without a second thought and swings at Liam one more time. All Liam does is smile as he gets ready to clash again.

Kuro and Liam clash one more time, with the clash being so strong that Kuro's sword flies out of his hands. Liam points his sword at Kuro, to which Kuro says "Well….This is somewhat familiar." Liam then says "Activating skill: Everlasting Resolve…." Liam then dashes past Kuro and sheaths his sword. Kuro turns to Liam saying "Why did yo-" Kuro is then slashed 5 times, every slash hitting harder than the last one. Kuro falls to the ground as he sees:

Winner: Liam (100% HP)

Loser: Kuro (5% HP)

Rematch:

"I didn't hit him at all?!" Kuro thought as he got up. Liam walks over to Kuro saying "Sorry about that, just had to show you I was no pushover."

Kuro: "Man, the pain tolerance setting is no joke….I honestly felt like I should've died there."

Liam: "Well I have been working on that skill since I started playing. So it would be a waste of a skill if it did no damage at all."

Kuro: "I've….got a long way to go."

Liam: "Well yeah. Your defense isn't present at all when you fight, but I do see potential in your parry game. Your offense is something I haven't seen all of yet, but that's mainly because you haven't laid a hit on me. And If you don't mind me asking, what type of build are you?"

Kuro: "Well my STR and DEX are almost level 30….but my best stat is….Luck."

Liam: "Luck?! Why luck?"

Kuro: "Before today, my goal was to get the materials for this one weapon to drop, I thought I had everything, but apparently I had gotten the wrong materials in the first place. And since the drop rate on that item is rare, I thought it would be best to get my luck skill up as much as I could in order to get the item faster."

Liam: "You leveled up luck just for a better drop rate? Well I can kind of see why someone would do that. But to be honest it shouldn't be that high. From what I know of, Luck only increases the critical chance on weapon attacks, so whenever you can, look into all of your other stats."

Kuro looks around and thinks to himself for a minute then he realizes something. "Why the hell are we dueling here? Last time I checked, we could have these fights in the safe zones." Liam laughs at Kuro and then says "It's because there's no danger in the safe zones. When we fight a boss, sometimes they have smaller mobs that we have to deal with. After killing the smaller mobs, there is no safe zone to regenerate your health because not only do you still have to deal with the other mobs, but the big guy himself. If there was a way to remove the safe veil we have when fighting each other, then trust me, I would do just that. It would be nice to have you worry about me and the other mobs around us all well. Helps to train awareness."

Kuro thinks to himself "This guy….Is insane….But….I think I kind of get what he's saying. To improve yourself, you would have to put yourself in dangerous situations time and time again. I can only imagine what this guy did to get this strong."

Liam looks at the clock on his message bar. It's 2:00 pm. "Shouldn't we be fighting again?" Kuro immediately presses Rematch and gets back into his previous stance. Kuro says to Liam "Time to improve, don't you think?" Liam smiles as he dashes at Kuro and clashes again. Liam then says one more thing:

Liam: "By the way….My STR stat is 7 levels away from being maxed out. So….It's gonna be a long day for you."

*Kuro's Pov*

That might've been the worst day I've ever had. Liam showed me what it meant to be a hero. Not just strength, but dedication to your own craft, improving yourself by any means necessary. Strength….I was always told that strength wasn't everything….Man, Liam really wanted to prove them wrong. He was pretty much nothing but strength. If he'd got that dual wielding skill that Kirito had, He would've been unstoppable. Well I guess none of that matters now….