|Nov. 8th 15:00|
|Sword Art Online, Floor 1, Forest of Beginnings|
It had been two days since the SAO Death Game began, Nagi was on the prowl through one of the large forests nearest the mountain range of Floor One. So far, his experiences have been similar with a few variations, not to mention the tougher monsters that put him on edge.
He traversed the forest, collecting any useful items to sell or hand in for side-quests. by now, many groups prowled the locations closer to towns, but this forest was far from the nearest safe zone, marking it as a place for the experienced players only.
"Huh?" He paused as he found a wide dirt road piercing the forest. Above, old, rundown Japanese archways were present, the forest consuming various parts of them as the music shifted to something somber and mysterious. "I don't remember this in the Beta..."
Stepping out onto the pathway, Nagi drew his sword and followed the archways, a few candle lanterns illuminating the roofed forest better than the cracks in the leaves. The music began to mingle with another string-based instrument. At the end of the pathway, the forest widened around a small dilapidated temple or shrine.
The rectangular building sat in front of a flat dirt courtyard with candles lighting up the building warmly. The building had no doors but instead, a pulled back tarp. Sat on the porch was a strange man playing what appeared to be a Shamisen. His black hair was tied into a ponytail under a round, straw hat.
The NPC wore something similar to a gakuran uniform, consisting of a buttoned black shirt with a white framed collar and white undershirt. It also consists of long, saggy hakama pants strapped by a white buckled belt that was tucked into a white Kyahan that extends into white tabi socks.
/Hati, Shamisen Player\
The man lifted his head, refusing to rest his fingers as Nagi approached. "You come to this isolated place? And what for, swordsman?" He noted as Nagi sheathed his blade, making him chuckle hollowly. "You came prepared? You are not a wayward fool either,"
"Hello, sorry, I was passing through and I saw this place and heard your music," Nagi replied. "It's really soothing,"
"Hm, yes it is, I have spent a long time practising, though none venture far into this forest in fear of the beasts that roam the trees," His head swayed to one side. "And yet one stands to hear my music, and compliment its flow, I thank you, young one,"
*Bing*
Just then, a quest marker appeared, and Nagi realized what he stumbled upon. "A hidden quest?" Without much else to go off of, he decided to play along. "So, why are you out here, sir?"
His quest marker turned to a question mark, signifying the acceptance of the quest dialogue. He continued to play as he spoke. "Long ago, when the revelation of this iron castle began to settle into the minds of those above us, I was once a travelling swordsman like yourself," His dry sigh was hidden by the pluck of strings. "A great force may separate the many worlds above, but a corruption broods through the cracks, one I fear has begun to coil around this castle's tender heart."
Nagi frowned, taking a seat on his knees before the shamisen musician, "This corruption, can it be stopped?"
Hati chuckled, "Eager to die? Or improve?" He wondered curiously, gesturing to Nagi with the top of the instrument. "You are a long road away from accomplishing a feat of such importance, your blade is sharp but can it sever a foe in a single stroke? Can it banish the darkness, shake the Gods in their seats?" He played sharply momentarily. "If you wish to know, you must master your blade, hammer the teachings into your bone until you can no longer tell where your arm and your blade end."
|Are You Sure?|
|-Way of a Thousand Blades-|
|[ ] Raise your One-Handed Sword mastery to 1000|
|Yes / No|
Just the small description alone made Nagi pale whiter than a ghost, he knew a hidden quest would be challenging but this was a steep slope. Mastery was broken up into two categories, Weapon Mastery and Skill Mastery; for Weapon Mastery, it required the player to use a specific weapon in battle, every strike was the equivalent of 0.1 points to mastery, the higher your mastery, the better skills unlocked. So it would take ten hits to gain one point.
For Skill Mastery is was different, you needed to use a skill, though the point system was much more generous in that regard, every use of a skill boosted it by two points, unlocking higher tiers of that skill or other skills connected, as well as increasing the stats of said skill depending on its utility.
Nagi held his head down at the ground. "That means I'll need to use my sword a grand total of 10,000 connected sword swings, excluding what I've already done," Sweat trickled down his face, teeth grit as Hati leaned forward.
"Well? Can you live up to such an impossible task, young man?"
Nagi raised his finger toward the notice, swallowing a lump in his throat.
Metal reverberated across the grasslands as Nagi tore through a horde of Boars at lightning speed, shredding their health bars down with a flurry of slashes ending with a 'Vorpal Strike' through two charging toward him. A chorus of shattered glass showering his haori as he ran to the newly spawned Dire Wolves, lunging down the hillside to spin on his knees, "Horizontal Arc!" The light blue streak severed their heads in a fluid motion.
"Hah, hah, hah," Catching his breath, Nagi turned to the road's small cobblestone wall, strolling over to rest his longsword against the wall while flicking through his menu to materialize a waterskin, popping the cork to refresh himself under the midday sunlight. "Ah...!"
He kept his skill menu open to the left, inspecting his sword skills as the icon for One-Handed Sword appeared with a certain number at the side ticking up again. In the space of two days of battling, and completing player requests, the grand total was '75.7 / 1000'. Nagi slumped with an exasperated breath, he barely scratched the surface.
"I can't afford to be reckless now, health pots are still pricy and I've gone through a number of them," His equipment was a stand-in for his proper set-up to save their durability for when it was needed. He rubbed his chin at the stats of his character. "Add in the time it takes to gather Col to pay for new armour and weapons, plus sleep and food, ugh, this is so tedious now..."
"Hey, was that you a second ago!?" Down the road, Nagi craned his head to a person waving him down. The man appeared older than Nagi, probably his early twenties. He wore a red bandana that held up his hair and was tied around his forehead. He had spiky reddish hair, and also had a hooked nose, a slight beard on his cheeks and chin.
/Klein\
"That was me, hi," Nagi waved back, "Are you out farming today?"
"Sorta," He panted as he came to a stop, resting his hands on his knees momentarily. "Man, these higher quests are a lot harder than I thought, I almost dropped into the red a while ago!" He bemoaned before standing tall with a toothy grin, thumb to his chest. "Sorry, the name's Klein, and you're..." His eyes flicked to where Nagi's name would appear.
"Nagi, yeah, kinda weird when we can see each other's names, huh?" He smiled as Klein chuckled.
"Yeah, but formalities and all that!" He sat against the wall with Nagi. "I was out trying to gather resources for my buddies to handle tougher quests but I got wrapped up in this really weird quest," That quirked Nagi's brow.
"'Weird' how?" He asked as Klein brought up his menu, setting it to 'public' to show Nagi whose eyes widened. "'Way of a Thousand Blades', you found it too?"
"You as well?" Klein looked honestly surprised before smiling hopefully as he put his hands together. "I'm beggin' ya, man, how the heck am I supposed to rank up my mastery that high on the first floor!?"
Nagi shook his head, "Sadly, we just have to land 10,000 strikes, nothing else we can do but persevere," He held his head back, remembering what Argo told him back in Horunka.
"They did what!?" Nagi immediately lost his appetite at the table with Argo, lit only by a few candles as she crossed her arms, looking at the window.
"'fraid so, lynched the poor guy right in front of everyone, 'course they can't PK in a safe zone, don't mean they didn't toss 'em to the wolves tryiN'," Argo's grim expression said it all, as she flicked her finger at Nagi's horrified but furious eyes. "Don't be goin' around talkin' about the beta, not while tensions are thicker than blooD,"
"Right, I promise, and you too," She smiled wickedly, patting his head instantly.
"Nyahaha, such a worry wart for lil ol' mE!"
"He doesn't have that distrusting scent, but I shouldn't say anything too revealing," "I heard nothing like this appeared in the beta, so relying on previous sources leaves us with only one option," Nagi trailed off as they watched more mobs spawn.
"Fighting until our arms pop off..." Klein groaned, throwing his arms high. "Oh, Come Oooooon!"
From that moment on, Nagi and Klein banded together in order to complete the harrowing quest in the hopes of being the first.
By the fourteenth day, neither were close to completing the quest, though both had risen their one-handed sword skill, curved-sword for Klein as they found out that too registered in the quest too, into the hundreds, by now, they requested help from the locale Rat who was more than eager to pitch in.
Argo's outfit had gone under a makeover in recent days. She wore full-body cloth and leather armour, her hooded cloak, and also had her whiskers back.
"We've been screwing this up the whole time!?" Klein gawked at Argo like she had two heads at the restaurant table in Tolbana, the closest town to the labyrinth dungeon. "Uwaaaah~!" He ruffled his hair in dismay as Argo clicked her tongue.
"Pretty mucH," He headbutted the table beside Nagi who patted him on the back. "Ya know, there's a reason I'm a brokeR," She gave a flat stare toward her best friend who smiled sheepishly in guilt.
"I wanted to surprise you..."
"Appreciate it, but next time, don'T," She tisked before bringing up her map of the surrounding area. Her finger tapped at the out edge to the east. "If you're tryin' to achieve mastery through mob farmin', try going from the east and work your way south, then west before doubling back in a straight line from the west to east, that'll be better than waitin' for respawnS,"
"I see, so we've been slowed by staying in one place," Nagi summed up.
"Klein, right?" Argo motioned to the older player. "Ya got any of that group of yours under the same quesT?"
"Not really, they know I've been working with Nagi here to complete it so I can help them level faster in the future, I'm the only one aiming for the katana extra skill anyway," Klein explained as Argo jotted that down, whiskers twitching before Nagi's worried stare.
"Mmhm, yes-yes, anything elsE?" She waved for him to continue, smiling enthusiastically as Nagi facepalmed.
"She just can't help herself..." Nagi grimaced, feeling sorry for the trap Klein had fallen into. "I'll forward the payment now,"
"Nyahaha, pleasure as always, HerO~" Argo beamed while Klein continued with his story.
"We plan to create a guild when the option's available and help clear the floors once we're prepared, but I'm making sure my buddies are all up to scratch first!" He stated proudly with a swaggering expression. "Your guide's been a real help too!"
Argo's brow quirked, "Oh yeah? Better take it with a pinch of salt, not everything's the same as BetA," Anyone that checked the player store in towns would be able to pick up a book written by Argo and revised by Nagi about the general knowledge gathered on Floor One during Beta, unfortunately, it didn't always help to prevent deaths. "Butcha got Mr Hero here to keep you greeN!"
By now, Nagi's head hit the table as her iconic laughter filled the restaurant.
Twenty days have passed and the pair had gotten into the 'flow state' of gaming. They sprinted through the fields, meadows, and forests. Per Argo's guidance, they hunted the monsters with the highest HP pools to deal as many strikes as possible, practicing their 'Switching' to maximize mastery gain and teamwork.
They stopped using sword skills unless it was against levels that would've died in one hit to bolster their skills at the same time. Players present in the wilderness they avoided kill-stealing, and at times helped Klein's friends in fighting and leveling in their spare time between grind sessions.
Nagi met the future guild, Fuurinkazan, led by Klein and consisting of his IRL friends; a rotund man called Dale, he was kind person, a guy with a red bandana over his scalp, Dynamm who was quite a brotherly figure; Harry One was a man of few words but supportive. Issin had a snarky attitude but always stuck his neck out for the others as Klein put it. Lastly, Kunimittz, who wore a lime green sash over his torso, and had a sharp eye that could outdo any sight skill.
"Here comes the final horde!" Nagi relayed, dipping back as Klein shot past him. "Switch!"
"Gotcha! Hyrah!" He drew his curved sword forward, the orange skill igniting over his shoulder as he lunged through the fields, striking the napes of two Frenzied Boars, driving his sword in a criss-cross through a red-hide boar as it thrashed, missing Klein as he got behind it, avoiding its kick to deliver four more strikes to put the beast down. "Switch!"
He rolled away from another red one charging forward, leaving it open to Nagi's dive as he spun through the air, leaving two deep gashes through its back, feet skidding across the dirt as he dived back to deliver three sharp thrusts through the monster's stomach. It slammed its head into Nagi's equipped buckler, sliding left into range of his sword, the edge piercing the nape to silence its squeals.
"That's our tenth run," Klein declared, throwing a fist high. "We're nearly there, just five-hundred to go!"
"Nice work today, our timing's improved," Nagi complimented, his own mastery now sitting at '575.7 / 1000'. The two fist-bumped, turning toward the distant town. "Should we head back for lunch then? Save us burning out,"
"Nah, let's keep going!" Klein declined, or until his stomach let out an audible growl, making him grin. "Okay, lunch it is then!" He pivoted toward Tolbana like a marching soldier.
It was a late evening within the deep forest, the lanterns were all replaced with cool, blue lighting as Hati, the Shamisen Player continued to play his songs. "Ah, so you both have come back, have you completed your training perhaps?" Standing before him was Klein and Nagi, both with their best weapons equipped, even their leather was replaced by steel plating.
November 30th. It had nearly been one month since the Death Game began, in that time, almost 2000 players had died. Still, Floor One remained uncleared, the labyrinth of twenty floors remained a wall none could surpass. In that time, neither had relented in their pursuit of the now publicly known, 'Unbeatable Quest', primarily because no one had the commitment to a process that took far too long. But they held on, even as the growth of their mastery slowed in the final 500, they kept climbing.
"Yeah, we did it, we've mastered our swords!" Klein declared sharply. "Now what?"
For the first time in the NPC's history, it stopped playing its instrument, and the world was silent. Hati sat his shamisen down, picking up something from behind the doorframe as he turned to the pair before leaping high over their heads with a gust of wind in his wake. Both spun around to the other end of the clearing.
Hati smiled, clutching a katana in his sheath. "Your final test; do you accept?" The quest updated for them both.
Quest Updated!
Way of a Thousand Blades: Wolf's Test
*Defeat the Old Shinobi
Forests of Floor One | Reward 450 Col | ?
"Is this the final quest step?" Klein whispered, stepping back slightly. Rolling his shoulder, he tisked and drew his weapon in both hands. "I'm ready if you are?"
Nagi followed Klein's lead, drawing his sword back in one hand. "We've put so much into this, let's not fail now!" It was all unknown, if this was too tough could they flee? Even if they could, a Shinobi is no slouch. "We accept!"
His quest marker disappeared, and his green icon turned red, his title changing, "Ah, that spirit is contesting within you both; I will honor your tenacity by taking you both on - let death's presence force you to stomach your fear and empower your bones!" He raised his voice, the music slowly ramping up again from the forest.
/NM Hati, Old Wolf - Lv. 11\
"Two levels higher?" Nagi winced as the hidden boss placed a hand on his weapon, Hati lunged with a visage of a pouncing wolf over his form. "Dodge!" Nagi and Klein rolled away from the horizontal slash, the boss turning to Nagi first, forcing the dark-haired boy to grunt as he deflected two descending chops, spinning to deliver a 'Slant' as the skill cut into the shinobi's chest, behind him, Klein charged 'Fell Crescent'.
Nagi blocked a sharp kick as Hati spun to sidestep the thrust attack, drawing his katana across Klein's stomach as he crashed into Nagi, the two stumbled backward together. "Aw, man, I hate when they do that!" Klein hissed, pushing Nagi away from a vertical chop, the boss focused on Klein.
"Your reactions are slow," Hati commented, striking twice against Klein's curved blade before planting a kick against his stomach, tossing the redhead that grunted into the dirt. "Try again," He warned.
Behind him, Nagi rushed forward with 'Sonic Leap' the burst from the shockwave slammed into Hati's stance, feet sliding back as he spun and slashed vertically, quickly inverting his form to slam the blade down on Nagi's buckler as he countered with a parry, stunning the Old Wolf long enough for an opening, "Horizontal Arc!" The twin slashes tore into the boss's chest as Klein drove a slant through its back.
Hati's eyes flashed red, and he spun sharply with his blade in both hands, sweeping the pair back before performing a high-kick against Nagi's sword, ricocheting to bring a downward slant across Klein's scimitar, striking with two follow-up slashes that broke his posture, leaving him open to a skill activation of silver.
"Crap!" Klein was still frozen when 'Iai' tore through his stomach, shredding his health in half. All the redhead could do was witness the katana bearing down on his forehead, then a glint of blue rippled in front of the blow, striking in a double vertical that forced Hati away. "Heh, thanks for that!"
"I'll draw his aggro, you get in close from his blind spot," Nagi instructed, sword against his right hip as he lunged for the shinobi who followed the flow, blade in its sheath. "Sharp Nail!" His irises refracted the blue glare as he clashed with Hati's 'Rising Tide' from right to left diagonally, his skill kept its motion, striking the Old Wolf's air-tight stance horizontally to the right with a final streak of light blue toward the ground, the contrails shattering.
Hati struck with a series of strong strikes, keeping Nagi on the defense, "That's it, use all your skills, show me your training!" Each scratch of their blades rang through the forest, in the glare of the torches, Klein focused his skill, holding his scimitar back.
"Sweep Impact!" His feet left an impression in the ground as the first overhead swing sliced through the boss's back, requiring Hati to block and parry Nagi to block the continuation with a much stronger spinning slash from the redhead, leaving a small circular indent in the earth, Hati grunting. Their constant stalemate due to the Post-Motion faded, giving Klein a winning grin. "Heh, not bad, right? Guard Break!"
His sword's orange pigment quickly spun his curved blade against Hati's katana, piercing the shinobi's collarbone while a gust of wind took his feet out from under him with two long gashes through both knees, Nagi's vertical fading away. Stun-locked, Klein pulled back with a kick, tossing Hati away into a single roll onto his knees.
The boss's health fell into the red, but a good portion remained, "Hah... you both are strong... hah... what palpitations this brings to my rusted skills," He commended, taking a stand with his sword clasped in both hands in front of him, a sudden, silver shroud of wisps encircling his stance. "Come, if you wish to face the corruption!"
In a silver streak, Nagi tossed his empty health pot away in time to block the powerful strike from above, forcing him down for the Old Wolf to dive over his head, kicking Klein's sword away to slash at his cheek, flinging the guild leader into the mud face first with Nagi suffering a roundhouse to the side, knocking him into performing a handstand to hop to his feet, blocking two more side strikes.
Sparks between them were cast away under blue and silver, their skills brittle and trembling against their edges as Nagi pushed right, leaping back from the shinobi's sweeping attack, Klein cleaving the ground with 'Reaver', forcing the boss into the air slightly. Nagi sprinted forward, sliding on his knees to avoid the slanted sweep from the air, using 'Sonic Leap' below Hati, the vibration throwing the boss against a tree trunk feet first.
"We just need one last good push, Let's Go!" Klein let out a warrior's roar, Nagi following him shoulder to shoulder. Hati lunged from the tree, performing the same areal sweep skill, but was surprised to see the pair dip left and right into a roll, evading the skill to spin sharply onto one knee, swords rose with the edges facing up.
While the boss stood in a guarded stance, the swordsman released their thrust skills, 'Rage Spike' and 'Fell Crescent' burning a sundown hue across their bodies as they tore through the clearing, tips of their blades colliding with Hati's katana, himself quickly pivoting backward to deliver a sudden, vertical stroke that left Klein stunned for an attack, his face contorted in pain, but his toothy frown cracked a weak smile.
Nagi had canceled his skill animation at the last second, flipping into a helix over Hati, landing behind him with his sword bathed in ocean blue, bleeding azure embers with the tip of his sword guided above his left hand, aimed for the shinobi's center. "Vorpal Strike!" His scowl deepened.
The blue bolts turned to a flowing dance as the blade pierced the Old Wolf's chest, spraying red glass as it grabbed Nagi's head with its left, pushing him back as it stumbled to face him with a strangely content smile on his face, as if he was relieved when Nagi's body moved again with a slight buffer, running his blade through the boss a final time, Klein's impaled beside Nagi's.
"You... both... will surpass..." Relieving the shinobi of their weapons, it fell to its knees, face obscured by the straw hat. "...where I... could not..." Hati collapsed onto the ground, shattering into particles between them as the lanterns suddenly flickered back to their orangy-yellow tint.
"Okay, that's creepy," Nagi heaved, stumbling over to sit on the porch with Klein just flopping down onto his back, their health in the yellow and red, despite their advantage, they came far too close to taking their final breath. "You okay?"
"Never better, my butt hurts though," Klein groaned, hands on his stomach. "Why did Kayaba have to tweak the pain threshold again? Now some of this crap hurts!"
"Keeps us alive I guess, still though, I wonder how we complete the quest now?" Nagi's inquiry drove him to peer into the Old Wolf's home, picking himself up, he searched the rather barren abode. A small bed, firepit, and an assortment of furniture but nothing stood out, nothing a 'normal' house would have you believe. "Hey, Klein, come see this,"
"What's up?" He poked his head through to find Nagi before a strange idol in the back of the building, it was lit with white candles, the statue that of a Chinese dragon with two claws holding out two beautiful white lotus flowers. "Woah, I didn't see this here when I found this place,"
"Neither did I..." Reaching out to pluck one from the plant growing from the back of the dragon statue, his quest suddenly updated.
Quest Complete!
Way of a Thousand Blade: Final Test
Main Objective
*Defeat the Old Shinobi
Forests of Floor One | Reward 450 Col | Quest Item: White Lotus Flower
Klein picked the other lotus, a sudden flurry of white petals scattering at the base of the praying statue as the pair walked out into the now night sky. "I guess this is it then, or until we reach the next floor," Nagi spoke, staring up at the sky as Klein put an arm over his shoulders, surprising Nagi who was staring into space. "Klein?"
"Why look so down, buddy? We'll be the first ever players to access katana skills once we clear this floor!" Klein grinned with his eyes closed, tugging Nagi down toward the dirt road. "Let's get the guys together and celebrate! No more constant grinds on a loop, that's something to write about!"
"I'm sure Argo would want to know too..." Nagi tapped his chin, a relaxed smile on his lips. "I'll tell her tomorrow, I still want to learn how to play poker,"
Klein gave him a rough pat on the back. "That's the spirit, Nagi! Tonight is Poker Night!" He flung his fist high, Nagi doing the same as they strolled through the archways, Nagi closing his menu after adding the Key Item and a utility item titled, 'Old Wolf's Shamisen' into his inventory.
To Be Continued...
007.5 - Bonus: Only One Rat
Three guys sat around a table together in the Town of Beginnings drinking and laughing at their spoils of Col. The leader of the bunch that had a vulture-like head structure snarked loudly. "I can't believe that stupid brat fell for that hope there was some super rare item on this floor! What an idiot - y-you should've seen the twinkle in his eyes! Bwahaha!"
"You mean that scrawny kid with the dead-leaf hair color?" The fatter player questioned, snickering as he drank another swig quickly. "Brat's probably dead now, probably screamed and begged someone to help 'em too!" That set off the fake informants again into a stir of laughter.
The third smirked, pointing at the boss, "Pays to have a Beta Tester around, right? No ones gonna listen to the others, so long as we keep it hush-hush no one's - huh?"
A sword sharpened itself behind the shorter third member, behind them, a player bathed in darkness swallowed up the light around the trio as they suddenly felt a cold sweat run down their bodies. "So, you're the ones running Argo's name into the mud, hm?" His voice was unnaturally calm, one eye visible as it turned into a red circle on his face, a crescent smile of the same, solid tone spreading on his shadowy face. "I'd like to have a quick chat about that,"
Even his sword was dripping with blue flames from his skill activation, melting into the table as the purple hexagon appeared to say 'Immortal Object', ironic since the fake info brokers were anything but immortal. "Come on, let's have a laugh."
A few hours later, the three fake info brokers were behind bars, willingly imprisoning themselves of their own accord.
End
Klein will be reoccurring in the future, especially given Nagi's preferred weapon skills. I had to try and formulate a way to visually describe the mastery system so I looked to Hollow Fragment which I hope helps explain things.
That bonus was fun to write, Nagi's a really nice person but not naive. I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; seeya in the next chapter, Players!
008 - Through the Dark
Argo and Nagi set to map out the labyrinth in the hopes of locating what cannot be found...