Mystic Knight Online: Worlds to Sow
Chapter 7: On a Comparison of Skills
April 20, 2025 - Shiba Compound
Harry sidestepped the spell and sent an Expelliramus back at Mizore, his opponent for this test of his abilities. The kitsune easily blocked the spell, not even saying it out loud as she snapped her wand out and sent a stunner at him.
"Protego," he cast quietly, deflecting the spell away from him and retaliating with a stunner of his own.
Mizore almost negligently deflected it with a flick of her wand and retaliated quickly, sending stunners and jinxes his way, forcing him to shield, dodge or give ground towards the edge of the boundary that marked the dueling area to avoid getting hit and losing outright.
Not that his losing wasn't basically assured as it was. With his attacking options restricted to magic, not that he could have taken advantage of a more physical way to win as it was, save for losing faster, he was far more limited in how he could respond. But then, the entire point wasn't to win, though that was desirable. It was to last as long as he could.
A test of endurance, rather than of casting knowledge. Professor Lupin quickly realized what Tsuboi-sensei already knew. Harry's mindset when it came to learning something was heavily focused on the practical uses and utility of a spell, rather than the theoretical. Oh, he could happily devour the theory behind something, especially when the subject matter interested him, but he was always more focused on what he was learning that was in his ability to do right now, rather than what he could potentially do with it down the line.
Master what he already knew now and build on it when he could, in other words. SAO had reinforced that trait, given that his preferred methods of battle tended towards excelling at a few things, and being competent at more aspects which supplemented his skills, rather than learning everything he could about his chosen tools.
Not that he didn't go further than that, he wouldn't have been a member of the Assault Team otherwise. But that merely made him one among a group where being an excellent fighter was the norm.
Besides, that was in his virtual form. Like flying with a broom granted him a whole new set of options. In SAO, his strength, speed and endurance were (in comparison to the real world) borderline superhuman and could generally compensate for his weaknesses. Those capabilities followed him to ALO because the 'worlds' were similar enough. Out in the real world, however, he was far less physically capable and would be lucky to gain the physical capability of a Middy. If he dedicated several years of his life to the physical training necessary to reach even that.
While he wasn't averse to hard work, he already knew that he would have other priorities for the next several years. Such as finishing school, his magical training, and starting a family with Keiko shortly after the first two were complete. Well, if they were allowed to hold the latter off until they had completed the first two. It wouldn't surprise him if both he and Keiko were, both subtly and blatantly, pressured into doing so as soon as they were both seventeen and thus past their majorities in England's magical community.
He would have to talk to Sirius about that to find out if such was frowned on. He and Keiko would have children in their own time, thank you.
He dodged a spell and turned his attention back to Mizore. Just because he still had his instincts and a form of SA out here didn't mean he could afford to take his attention off his opponent.
Harry's eyes widened as Mizore seemed to disappear and ducked the spell that came from behind. Sending his own in the direction it came from, he quickly rose and turned to face her and got hit in the arse by a stinging hex before he was even halfway done with his turn.
"Well, I'd say that the win is yours," Harry said dryly as Mizore appeared off to the side.
"Don't sell yourself short," Mizore replied. "Even with the skill difference, your instincts and reflexes are as sharp as ever and most people with three times the magical education you have been taken out a lot quicker."
"How often was that you?" Harry asked.
"Taking them down quickly or being taken down quickly? Mizore asked.
"Yes."
Mizore simply smirked in reply, her fox ears twitching with the clear implication that she usually took the ones more experienced than her down, though Harry knew better than to assume so. Oh, such an assumption would likely have a strong element of truth to it, but he knew the kitsune well enough that she would want him to draw that conclusion whether it was correct or not.
"You two done with your flirting?" Ryotaro asked dryly.
"I believe that's your thing, Tsuboi-sensei," Harry retorted in an equally dry tone.
Ryotaro chucked.
"Are you two done or should I leave you both to your bromance?" Mizore asked. "Maybe I should call Keiko and tell her."
"She would want you to record a video of it since she's not here to watch," Harry replied, causing the kitsune to laugh.
April 26, 2025 - Alfheim, Yggdrasil City
"Man, I'm glad we got the homework knocked out so quickly," Rain said as they walked down the Yggdrasil City's main boulevard.
Lux nodded, understanding her friend's happy mood. Homework could sometimes be something that was taken care of quickly, or it could sometimes take all afternoon, even with everyone helping in areas they were strong in. "It helps that we have one person who is a native speaker of English and another who is fluent in it," she noted. "And we shouldn't forget that Kirito was very helpful with the math and science parts. I know that Harry was thankful."
Rain laughed. "He would be, considering that it meant that he could get his homework done and not take all night," she said. "At least he simply asked Kirito to explain what he's not getting, instead of trying to copy answers or get him to do the work for him."
"Asuna would string me up by my own guts if I tried," Harry said, walking up. "It's one thing to get help on something, so long as the work is still yours, though. At least with math, once I know how something's done, I can work my way through the problems. Anyway, let's not talk about homework, we're done with it for today and I don't want to think about it."
Lux nodded her assent to that line of thought. She would admit, the homework wasn't all that bad in comparison to her memories of how it could be, and probably will be getting over the next few months, but right now, she wanted to do something else.
Like finding a quest that would serve as a way for them to decompress from the study and homework. Like maybe seeking out and battling mobs.
She then heard a snort from behind and turned to look at Asuna.
"Sorry," Asuna said. "It's just that I have this funny feeling that we are all looking for a quest more along the lines of what we did in Aincrad."
"You mean, grab quest, go out, seek mobs out, find mobs, and use Aincrad's patented violence to deal with them?" Silica asked dryly.
"I wouldn't have put it in those words, but yes," Asuna admitted after a moment's pause. "Though perhaps we should start looking for quests that don't require violence for once." She then gave them a look that all were familiar with. The one she tended to give them that was a warning that she was about to go into Princess Mode if things didn't go as she recommended.
Fun to watch when someone was on the receiving end of it, not so much fun when that someone was you. Actually rather painful to see thwarted, since then Asuna got embarrassed she brought it out when not needed.
"Yes ma'am," they all agreed.
"You know, I just noticed this, but where did Kirito walk off to?" Rain asked.
"He said he needed to talk with CARDINAL about something," Asuna said.
##
CARDINAL raised an eyebrow as Kirito explained what he was doing with the World Seed. "So, you are going over the World Seed's code yourself right now?" She asked.
Kirito nodded. "As far as I can," he admitted. "Right now, I am just looking it over to see if any aspects of it leap out to me as something that could be potentially problematic. I have a fair knowledge of programming, enough to spot more obvious problems at least, and more often than not, I can see sections of code that may need a more in depth look that I can copy and paste online to get the opinions of experts."
"And your opinions?" CARDINAL asked. She knew the code better than anyone, having gone over it in detail herself and had the benefit and curse of perfect recall. Well, perfect recall of any data that was within her mind, so to speak. Being digital, her ability to recall information was limited only by the storage space available.
She had reassured all members of Steel Phoenix that there wasn't anything hidden within the World Seed and meant it, she had made sure that was the case. Not only would Kayaba, her creator and the closest thing she had to a father, have wanted to ensure that the methods he used to trap ten thousand people within Sword Art Online could not be used again, but the Nerve Gear's own firmware was quickly patched by Argus after it began. Plus, the entire system was replaced as soon as a viable alternative system became available.
But she wasn't going to dismiss any concerns that they had, either. Steel Phoenix, among others, had shown that they could take a system and utilize it in ways that its creators never intended or expected, if not outright surpass the system mandated digital existence they lived.
"While I haven't looked over all the source code," Kirito said. "There's enough there that it would take me days, not counting the need to eat and sleep, to look over on myself, I haven't noticed anything amiss. Even so, I would want a… second set of eyes to look it over, if you understand what I mean."
CARDINAL nodded. "Trust, but verify, as you would put it," she said. "That is reasonable. You have no reason to trust it, even though you all have your own reasons to want to make use of it. Providing Yui, Strea and Kizmel a location they can log in from, though you would have to tie in AmuSphere MAC addresses to do so properly."
"You as well, CARDINAL," Kirito said and raised his hand when she was about to reply. "You're as much a foreign data entity here as they are and are just as susceptible to the same things that give us a reason to set it up for them. I won't ask how you have managed to ensure that their continued and constant presence isn't noticed, you probably worked something out with your counterpart here and-"
"I did work something out with Freyja," CARDINAL admitted. "I was in contact with her before Sword Art Online ended, setting all this up. I knew that Kayaba planned for Sword Art Online to be deleted, like some Wagnerian magnum opus, once done, never to be done again. Of course, the servers weren't completely erased, the data is still there. I have to give the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense credit, as well as the work of Takeru Higa and Tetsuhiro Shigemura. They manage to salvage more than expected."
Kirito gave her a searching look. "How much?"
"They managed to salvage the logs," CARDINAL said. "I give them credit for that, even if most of the work was Higa and Shigemura's." Which is fitting, she thought. Higa was a student alongside Kayaba under Professor Shigemura as well. And it is probably fortunate that Professor Shigemura's daughter was saved by a group you and your friends trained. She didn't voice those thoughts, though.
Kirito nodded. "Shigemura, he was the one who taught Kayaba at Touto," he noted. "Thus he would know Kayaba's fingerprint, as it were, and be able to know how to get around his intent to delete SAO to some extent."
"Higa as well," CARDINAL acknowledged. "It makes me wonder at times what would have occurred if my creator had worked with them on Sword Art Online. For a few process cycles, that is. Still, there is no chance for another Sword Art Online to happen. Kayaba would agree that one was enough. The Beta Servers could be mined to recreate Aincrad, but it still wouldn't be Sword Art Online as it was. They lack certain elements of code and command processes that made it what it was and the hardware to make it so is no longer on the market."
Kirito nodded. "The AmuSphere does not interact with our brains the same way and shouldn't have the capability to kill us."
"Shouldn't?" CARDINAL asked.
"None of us think that there isn't a way," Kirito said. "The AmuSphere has numerous safeties in it, but those safeties can fail. It's a remote possibility, but it's still a possibility. We actually mentioned that to Shouzou Yuuki, the CEO of RECT, and noted that while the official literature claims it's impossible, we aren't going to take it on absolute faith."
"And yet, you're here, playing Alfheim Online," CARDINAL noted.
Kirito shrugged. "After surviving SAO and how many times we all came close to dying if we made a mistake or our luck ran out, a possibility of actually dying isn't nearly as frightening as the certainty of it," he replied.
##
"He will catch up with us once he's done," Asuna assured them.
The others nodded and continued walking when they spotted Strea heading toward them. Nothing unusual there, the fact that she had a different player with her than either Yui or Kizmel, however, was new.
The player accompanying the AI was an Imp, and one they recognized.
"Didn't we see her on the day the Grand Quest was opened?" Silica asked. "You know, that group that Leafa and Klein joined in on to finish it?"
"I think she might be," Asuna replied. "I can't remember her name, though." She looked at everyone else, who simply shrugged.
"I wonder what she wants," Harry said.
"Well, she's with Strea," Silica noted. "And what's Strea's reputation here in ALO again?"
Asuna snorted. Strea's love of a good fight and her tendency to participate in informal PvP matches, or start general brawls, was well known to them. In fact, her tendency to search a fight out has begun to lead to a moniker within ALO: The Twilight Berserker.
And given Strea's well known love of a good fight, I can think why this Imp is with her, Asuna thought. She must have impressed her or is looking to challenge her, and probably us, as well.
Which made her thoughts pause for a bit. It was no secret among the ALO players that she and the others were SAO Survivors. Not bandied about, but no secret, either. The result was an intimidating reputation among the general ALO player base.
"...I don't see that person you told me about Strea…" The Imp said in a tone that implied that she was complaining. "You told me that you know someone who was better than me. No one is better than me!"
Strea rolled her eyes. "Be patient, Yuuki, I just heard Asuna say that he's busy. He'll come find us when he's finished with whatever he is doing."
"So, Strea, care to introduce your friend?" Harry asked. "And maybe explain why she's looking for Kirito?"
##
Yuuki looked at the group of players that Strea had led her to, slightly miffed that the one she was looking for wasn't there. Strea had talked about Kirito's skills and she wanted to see them for herself. She already knew he was good, just as the others in front of her were. They were the Heroes of Aincrad, the ones who ended SAO, not to mention being the ones who finished the Grand Quest before her group.
But knowing and seeing are two different things.
"Oh, this is Yuuki!" Strea said cheerfully. "She was in that group that Leafa and Klein finished the Grand Quest with. You know, the ones who were right behind us."
"Ah, so that's her name," the Sylph, Hadrian, said. Yuuki remembered him. He was the one who thoroughly chewed out that other Sylph and managed to give off an aura of menace and impending violence for all that he had been calm on the surface. "So, you're looking for Kirito?"
Yuuki looked him in the eye. "Yes," she replied. "I heard from Strea here that he's a better fighter than me."
"Confident in your skills, aren't you?" Hadrian asked.
"I haven't yet found a fighter better than I am," Yuuki said proudly.
Hadrian gave her a searching look before turning to the Undine. "Asuna, inform Kirito that he should meet us all at the sparring rings," he said before turning back to Yuuki. "Ms. Yuuki, if you want to challenge Kirito, he can meet with us there. Also, I'm up for a good spar."
Yuuki looked at him and smirked. "You'll lose, you know," she said confidently.
Hadrian returned her smirk. "That is yet to be determined," he replied. "And even if I do lose, it sounds like fun."
Shiba Compound
Luke followed the silent servant who was guiding him to where his stepson was. It had been months since SAO ended, but it was only now that he had the time to come to Japan so that he could debrief the young man about what went on there. Knowing that August's exploits had been watched by Ami and others was one thing, but they hadn't been recorded so that his actions could be reviewed.
Receiving word on what August did in that damned game was no substitute for footage or being able to get the information directly. There had been damn few opportunities for the former, and his being here was for the latter.
Well, that and catching up with his stepson and visiting his granddaughter once it was all done with. Eden was still busy ensuring that everything would be managed back home before she visited Japan, so it would be a few more days until she came by.
Hm, maybe I should also arrange to meet with Lupin as well, he thought. Get a perspective on his interactions with Potter, who went through it too.
Alfheim, Yggdrasil City
Kirito reached the sparring circles just in time to see Harry get sent flying from one and land in a heap right outside the ring. He noticed the Imp still in the ring sheathe her sword as she backed away from where she was.
"Nice one, Yuuki!" Harry called out as he got up.
"You're not half bad!" The Imp, Yuuki apparently, replied.
"I would hope not!" Harry called back. "So, two out of three?"
"I wouldn't want to hurt your feelings by kicking your ass a second time!" Yuuki replied.
Harry laughed.
Kirito shook his head at the byplay as he made his way to the others. "So, what did I miss, outside of Harry losing?" He asked.
"Not much," Asuna replied. "She wants to challenge you. Apparently she believes that she's the best fighter in ALO."
"A bold claim," Kirito agreed.
"She's good, though," Silica said. "Harry's own style of aggressive defense threw her off for a bit, but she adapted to it quickly. And the only holding back he did was that he didn't approach the fight like an SAO fight against Laughing Coffin."
"Though even then, she probably still would have won," Strea noted.
Kirito nodded to that comment. Despite what people would think, Harry holding back via not approaching the fight the same way as he would have in SAO wasn't him holding back his skill. It was his mindset. In ALO, he approached it as the game it actually was, regardless of how serious in a fight he was, rather than the deadly battle to survive that SAO was.
He turned his attention back to the sparring ring, it seemed that Harry was able to talk his opponent into another round. Kirito wasn't under any illusions that Harry was unaware of him being there, so it was simple for him to determine why Harry was going for another round.
He wanted Kirito to see what the skills of that player were.
He watched at both got into ready stances, the Imp in a simple one-handed middle guard, Harry in his seemingly defensive stance, with the round shield held in front of him and the flat of his sword resting on his shoulder.
From numerous spars in back at the Villa in Selmburg, Kirito knew how deceptive that stance was. Harry was just as comfortable attacking with his shield as he was in using it for defense, and his stance offered him the best balance of both methods.
In an instant, both were moving. Yuuki led off with an attack that Harry easily blocked, though she managed to bring her sword back to parry his attack. Both of them moved, trying to get around the other's guard before another exchange of attacks happened. Each time, Harry blocked the arrack and had his attack blocked as she quickly brought her sword in play to parry.
She's fast, Kirito thought. And Harry's playing it defensively right now, but…
He saw Harry's feet shift slightly and he was on the attack, leading with his shield and knocking Yuuki's sword to her side. She quickly jumped back and avoided his attack before darting back in, aiming her sword to his main hand's side. Harry barely parried it and countered in an unconventional manner.
He dropped his shield and delivered a punch to her gut, forcing her back. He easily kicked the shield up into his hand and readied himself again.
Kirito watched as the match continued, filing his observations away. Yuuki was clearly faster than Harry was, but he was used to sparring with faster opponents and knew how to handle them. Her skills were good, very good, and Kirito would place them at a little above Harry's, not that his friend wasn't making up for the difference with experience. He kept his movements short, simple, and efficient, rather than resorting to more advanced swordplay.
Not that Kirito couldn't already tell who was going to win, and it wasn't going to be Harry. Three minutes later, his observations were proven right when Harry was sent flying out of the sparring ring again.
"So, you done or do you want to get beaten a third time?" Yuuki called out.
"I'm good," Harry called back as he got up and dusted himself off. He looked at Yuuki and walked over to her. "That was fun and I would like to have another spar with you some time," he said as he held his hand out.
"I'd only win again, you know," Yuuki said with a smirk as she took his hand in hers. "Wouldn't want to hurt your ego and make it cry."
"My ego can take it," Harry replied with an equal smirk as they shook hands. Harry then turned his attention to Kirito. "And Kirito's here. You wanted to challenge him, didn't you?"
##
Yuuki turned to look at the group Hadrian was with and spotted a familiar Spriggan with them. So he's here, she thought, clearly recognizing Kirito even though she had last seen him personally back when she, her sister, their friends and the two who joined up with them did and completed the Grand Quest.
He was the one she wanted to have a match with. Not that her match with Hadrian hadn't been fun, but she had come to challenge Kirito. Strea had talked up his skills and she knew that the Gnome wasn't overselling them due to her own having watched some of the SAO footage and seeing him fight there.
So she knew he was skilled, very skilled. It was whether Strea was right and he was more skilled than her that was up for debate. And the only way to see who was better was to have a proper match.
Now she just needed to give him her challenge and see if he would accept.
Shiba Compound
August walked into the room that his godmother had arranged for him to have the meeting with his stepfather. It was secure and private and away from gawkers. Since a notable number of Japanese still reacted to dark skin as an exotic novelty, meeting Luke in public? Problematic.
Not that they still didn't get odd looks in America when he called Luke "Dad".
Ami was looking after Alice right now, so he didn't need to worry about his daughter trying to butt in and interrupt the meeting.
Not that either he or his stepfather would begrudge her and both would happily humor her. He, because he had missed far too many moments of his daughter's life since she was born. And Luke, because she was his granddaughter.
Still, better to get the meeting over with and then the both of them could happily spoil Alice with attention to their heart's content.
"I'm surprised it took this long for you, mom, or anyone else to show up," he said without preamble.
"Things have been busy back home," Luke said as he looked at August. "You still need to put some bulk and muscle on, but you're looking better than when I last saw you, when you were stuck in SAO."
"Ami makes sure I eat right and I've been exercising," August said blandly. "Still, it's good to see you, Dad."
Luke smiled. "And it's good to see you out of that damned game," he replied. "Your mother is making sure that Aladdin won't implode on itself when she takes some much needed time off and comes here. She not only wants to see you with her own eyes, but she hasn't met Alice yet."
August nodded. "Who's she leaving in charge?" He asked.
"Richards will be taking the reins while she's on leave," Luke replied.
"Garret?" August asked.
Luke nodded.
"So, I take it you arrived early because you want to find out about SAO then," August said.
"Among other things," Luke said.
"Well, get comfortable, it's a long story."
Alfheim, Yggdrasil City
Kirito parried Yuuki's strike, forcing her to take a few steps back to avoid his counter, not that her darting in to attack again did her any good.
Yuuki was fast, as fast as Asuna is, maybe slightly faster. It was pushing his Hypersense's ability to essentially predict her movements a moment before she made them to the same degree as if it were a match against Asuna at any rate.
Skill wise, she was certainly up there and her self-proclaimed title of being the best fighter in ALO may be an exaggeration, she was certainly one of the best. While her actual skills were definitely Assault Team quality, he would gauge them at being a little below Harry's, which was still quite skilled, it was her speed.
How she came by those skills is a question, Kirito thought. Maybe she's just that talented and put in the effort to bring them to this level.
And he knew that even with talent, no one got as good as she was, or any of Steel Phoenix for that matter, without putting the time in. She didn't fight like someone who learned a formal style like Kendo, though. So… how?
Their blades clashed together and he locked hers into a corps a corps.
"You're good," Yuuki said.
"I've had a lot of practice," Kirito replied. "And I think you have a similar reason. You… don't really log out often, do you?"
Yuuki's eyes flashed and she broke the lock their blades were in, pushing Kirito back. She was on him in a flash, forcing Kirito to desperately block, parry and dodge her rapid and furious strikes. I think I touched a sore spot, he thought wryly as another part of his mind began to break down her attacks. For all their speed and ferocity, they were sloppier and from what he saw of her grip...
He parried her next strike with a hard blow, knocking her sword out of her hand. Before she could dart over to it, she was definitely fast enough, he had his sword at her throat.
"Do you yield?" He asked.
Yuuki's eyes darted about for a moment, as if she was determining if there was any action she could take, before her shoulders slumped. "I yield," she replied sourly.
Kirito nodded and brought his sword away from her throat before he carefully backed away. Once he was a safe enough distance from her, he saluted her with his blade and sheathed it. "You know, I don't think we have anything planned right now, so… care to join us for a few drinks at the Sword's Rest?" He asked. "And feel free to invite your friends." He gave a glance to the side, where a group of players were looking on with shock on their faces.
##
Ran had to admit, she was surprised. She knew how good her sister was, so seeing her get beaten in a fight was surprising. She only told her twin recently that she would eventually go up against someone better than she was, but she didn't expect it to be this soon.
"Yuuki… lost?" She heard Jun ask in shock.
"Well, she did go up against the best fighter among the SAO Survivors," Nori said. "If anyone could have beaten her, it would be him. Well, maybe the Undine with his group as well if the rumors are true."
Ran noticed the Sylph beckon her and the others over. "It looks like they want to talk to us," she said to everyone. "Well, let's not be rude."
Shiba Compound
August watched at Luke's eyes and posture as he summarized his two years in SAO. His stepfather kept his face neutral throughout it, the benefits of two decades as one of Aladdin's top agents, but August knew how to read the man.
Luke was clearly less than pleased by some elements of the summary, such as how long it took for him to figure out who Kayaba was masquerading as, but all in all, he seemed to be satisfied. Even on that point, it was less "should have been faster" and more "it would have been so much easier".
"You definitely kept yourself busy," Luke said. "Mostly working with the player, Argo, in helping her ensure that her information was accurate, but you also made your own contributions of helping people clear Sword Art Online."
August nodded. "Of course," he replied. "Both Argo and I had to go out in order to make sure our combat abilities were satisfactory, and the best way was often to verify information on things ourselves when we could. It also allowed us to get more information on Aincrad, as those who gave us information were often missing out on details that could be useful. They would give us the most pertinent bits, but that was about it most of the time."
"Informants tend to be like that," Luke said. "They tell you what they think is important to know, but they always seem to miss out on some detail or another."
August nodded. "All too true," he admitted. "Anyway, Dad, is there anything else you want to know?"
"There is a lot I would like to know, but most of it can wait for later," Luke said. Then, he smirked. "Now, show me my granddaughter."
April 28, 2025 - Alfheim, Terun
Chrysheight stumbled as he landed and made a mental note to keep the way new players were welcomed into ALO in mind for later. In case he decided to make an alt account. As soon as he got his bearings, he looked around at his surroundings.
Terun was a city that seemed to rise out of the lake it was in the center of, with walkways and platforms crisscrossing the surface of the lake, all of which were arranged like the spokes of a wheel, or the legs of a star. From what he could tell, he was in a plaza that was in the center of the city, allowing him to see several towers and from a glance upward, they seemed to serve as a jumping off point for players to take off from and land on.
Not a bad design choice, he thought. The information about the game he had looked up said that flight was limited, with unlimited flight being a quest reward for completing a notoriously difficult quest that had a very low successful completion rate so far.
Not that he would have the time to gain the skills needed to even consider attempting the quest. Some of the necessary skills, like voluntary flight, he may learn when he had the time to dedicate to it, but playing the game was merely a bonus to why he had decided to create an account and character.
If he couldn't make the arrangements to meet with certain people in the real world due to having been warned off from trying, perhaps he could arrange for a coincidental meeting with them here. And there was a possibility for him to verify a suspicion of his about a couple of their associates.
But first, he would have to take the time to learn the basics of Alfheim Online and gather what information was available on certain players here in Terun.