More silence. It's calming, but also awkward. ShirenX, Robin's adding X for no reason, soon passed by & apologized to him for almost killing him. Robin was wondering about this new personality of hers, or rather, is she really was Shiren at all. Lucina broke the ice next, explaining about her scar. It was a surprising story, but somehow feels common in everyday life.

"Such an experience could change anyone..." Robin lets out. It didn't make Lucina comfortable talking about her traumatic past. She doesn't take this story likely. Robin feels honored to know about her story. He now knows about her family as well.

Well, enough of these talks. Robin isn't into socializing, & it seems Lucina follows ShirenX into her room after they hear a loud noice. Maybe now I can get some peace & quiet. It was okay speaking to Lucina, but no more talking for Robin. He steps inside a different bathroom & gets in the tub. As he's soaking, he thinks back to Lucina's past, as well as why Saito was killed. ShirenX took Nightmare somewhere, & she's here now. So much to learn. Tomorrow, Robin will ask ShirenX what she did with Nightmare. Tonight, rest.

As he headed to his room, Robin sighs lightly. That <<Friend Request>> from Kagome has been bugging him for a while now. He's not here to make friends. His only purpose is to free everyone from this death game. Friends would just put him in...guilt. What if they died, & it was because of Robin? He hesitantly taps his finger on <<No>> & gets ready for bed, taking off only his cloak.

Tomorrow, this floor will be explored & see what's different from the open beta. Tomorrow, a new day dawns...

The next morning was another day in this game, on a new floor. Robin wakes up with sleepy eyes & opens up his menu to equip his cloak once more. On this new floor, there are new eventful discoveries to explore, like the new monsters & shops to see. On this new floor, Robin will definitely need some new equipment. Perhaps he'll stick with his sword a few more days of floors.

Something to eat, he thought, Robin takes out a bread & something else. Strawberry jam to add on the bread. As he puts his right index finger into the jar & takes it out, his finger starts to glow. He spreads the light on the bread, & what appears is jam/jelly on the bread. The jar's durability soon drops to zero, & it becomes small fragments. Robin takes a bite of his food until it's all gone. Kinda dull from Lucina's cooking.

Robin exits the inn & thinks about what to do today. He could explore the plains & farm for <<experience>> as he heads for <<Marome Village>>. He's also short on <<Col>>, at least 620. Luckily he's a beater, so he knows the monsters' patterns of attack. With a plan in action, Robin glances towards north & charges ahead without any hesitation.

Some Ox-type monsters were roaming the plains. Only a few were left when Robin deals with a couple of them. His <<Experience>> rose up, up to 57%. Robin was about to take a short break when he finds Lucina somewhat far away, as well as a man. This man held a weapon against her. Lucina knows her way around a fight, so why is she just frozen. Robin can't just stand there & watch another get killed. That's not him!

"Gotta time it just right," he mutters as he quickly activtes <<Beautiful Luna>> & hustles towards the two. He adjusts his sword just right to deflect the man's, this man from Lucina's past, weapon. "Not now, not ever...!"

Sensing movement close to him, Turnip woke with a start. He'd fallen asleep comfortably, resting against the inside wall of the inn's parlour – a little softer and warmer than the dungeon that became his bedroom yesterday night. After getting about eight hours in, someone had come relatively close to him.

Too close.

Back in the 'real world', Turnip had more-or-less accustomed himself to being ever ready. Unfortunately, that led to him having an arguably overdeveloped reaction to interrupted sleep: In one swift movement, whatever unfortunate soul had wandered too close to him was knocked over and pinned with a quickly drawn bastard sword pointed directly at their throat.

Still adjusting to the conscious world, Turnip's brain managed to focus and make sense of the information his body was feeding him – as opposed to simply reacting to it in a violent way. The image of a young woman came into clarity before him, clearly shocked and breathing heavily - he recognised it: the same person from yesterday evening. As his ears regained function, he picked up on slightly strangulated cries of "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod" and general movement and weapon drawing from some other inn patrons who weren't too keen on the current situation. He was still in the inn, then, so the situation was likely not too bad, considering the safe area thing and all.

Turnip deadpanned, "Oh. It's you."

He rolled backwards and stood, glad to see the potentially hostile patrons stop advancing. The woman breathed a sigh of relief, still breathing heavily.

"God… Dammit…"

Turnip gave her little time to recover, "What in hell were you thinking?"

"What… was I… thinking!? You… attacked me… for God's sake…!"

"Hmm… I suppose you have a point there."

A man stepped forward, "Hey, so you aren't trying to kill her?"

"You better not!" The woman shrieked.

"Well, I don't think I am."

"Good… uh… well, uh…" The man ran his thumb over his sword's pommel, "aren't you going to apologise to her?"

"Meh, it was her fault."

"WHAT!?" The woman shrieked again. Obviously she wasn't having much trouble breathing anymore.

"Shouldn't wake me when I'm sleeping." Turnip answered matter-of-factly.

"You were sleeping!?"

The armoured figure laughed, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, "Heheh, yeah, I guess I was."

"Who the hell sleeps standing up!?"

"Evidently, me."

"So just because she woke you, you pretty much tried to kill her?" The man questioned.

Turnip just shrugged, "If she was close enough for me to pull that off, then she was closer than she generally should have been. I don't know what you were trying – pickpocket or whatever." He brought up his inventory, quickly checking that none of his items were missing.

"You're accusing me of stealing?" The woman asked, offended.

"You tried to con me yesterday. What other reason would you have?"

"I was trying to get your attention. Wasn't working."

"I think it's times like now when you take a lesson from this and stop bothering people."

The woman gasped, incredulous.

"True story." Turnip piped.

"Well," The man said, "this ain't my problem." And he walked back to his seat to finish his breakfast.

The armoured figure closed his inventory screen, satisfied that everything was in place. He figured it was time to get started on the day, though he didn't particularly feel hungry at the moment. Thank goodness. Screw breakfast! Exaggerated heavy metal played, condemning breakfast in Turnip's mind until it cut off abruptly when he remembered that the real world was a thing that existed.

The young woman seemed to be sulking, so Turnip left quickly while he had the chance of being unnoticed. Sheathing his sword, he exited the inn, morning light shining off his armour plating. Towns were interesting, but fighting stuff was more up Turnip's alley – he headed immediately South, hoping that he'd find something interesting in that direction.

William Danielson||Godot
Lv. 13||Floor 2​

Godot let out a small yawn and checked his messages, of which he had none. He'd hoped for one from Lucina, Kagome, or Princess...but nope. He also realized that he needed more guy friends. Godot sat up, pushing himself from the tree he was sitting against. Or rather, he sat up from his bed, which was a tree branch protruding from the Lone Tree.

"Trees aren't beds."

Godot heard a quiet sound below him. It didn't sound like a person, exactly. Instead, it sounded like something that fit in with the ambiance, like a leaf brushing against the grass or a chipmunk nibbling away at its food...and yet, at the same time, he was sure that he could make out words. He decided to ignore it, as it couldn't have been directed towards him if itwas a person.

"Trees aren't for sitting, either."

There it was again. It was as if the voice was so deadpan and separated from everything else and yet fit in just enough that it was impossible to ignore. Godot gritted his teeth and winced. It was starting to annoy him. He covered his ears and clicked his teeth together. It worked, until a figure appeared in front of him.

"Trees aren't beds, and they aren't meant for sitting, either," The figure said. It turned out to be a girl with braids hanging down in front and dark purple, almost black hair. "Get down," she commanded. Godot could only look at the girl in surprise. She spoke with a voice so monotone and stoic that it made Aubrey Plaza seem like a cheerleader. Her name was hidden, sadly, so he simply sighed and complied. Godot vaulted his legs over the side and pushed himself off, and she followed. He looked at her, and she looked back. She seemed to be adept at hiding any and all emotion from sight...or rather, she may not have been capable of displaying them at all.

"So...who are-" Godot started, but she interrupted him by putting her hand up as if to tell him to shut up. "I hate introductions," she stated. She put her hand down, and Godot was put off. "My name is Apathy, and I hate everything." Godot raised his eyebrow. He'd assumed she would go on, but she seemed to be done talking.

"Not one for subtlety, I see," Godot said.

Apathy quickly responded, "I hate subtlety."

"But does that mean you like bluntness?"

The girl took a thoughtful pose...though strangely she didn't really have the facial mannerisms that generally went along with one. This posed as another silent moment in a conversation filled with them. Godot surmised that she was comfortable with them, and he was the same way. "My name is Luka Evans," she said.

Godot chuckled at her sudden change of heart and said, "Well, my name is-" Again, the girl stopped him and said, "I hate introductions." Godot caught her yet again, and said, "But you just introduced yourself twice." He expected her to change her mind again, but instead she quickly responded in a sharp yet ever-deadpan voice, "Shut up." Yet another silence fell over the two. Godot couldn't get a handle on the situation. How was he supposed to communicate with someone who not only hated everything, but also denied her own contradictions at random points in time. It was frustrating, and at the same time, something he found incredibly interesting.

Luka pointed to the dungeon. "I'm going in there. Follow if you want." She put her hand back down and looked at Godot for a few moments before departing. Godot was dumbfounded. It seemed as if she hated him- and she probably did given that she hated she everything- but maybe she hated him just slightly less than she hated introductions.

This man was surprised to get his attack intercepted by some player. This player isn't one to be taken lightly, however. As Robin & the man get their distance, ShirenX from yesterday sneak attacks the man from behind. She gets paralyzed in the process, then the player turns back to Robin, giving some rousing speech. Little brat he calls him. He looks like a dagger user from his weapon. Robin didn't know what level he was, so he had to be careful.

Robin says nothing when this man gloats that their weapons will speak for them. Just Robin's style. He swings his sword down ready for this fight as his opponent jumps into the air. He activates a Sword Art as he lunges down at Robin. He quickly, slightly steps to the side & knocks the dagger a bit on the side. The shockwave took down some of Robin's HP, bringing him one step closer to death. He retaliates by swinging around & swings his sword horizontally at his opponent's side.

Robin quickly follows up the attack with a Sword Art. He takes the stance necessary hastily, which happens to be Sonic Spin. His sword glows a spiky blue as he jumps in the air & lunges down at his opponent. He spins forward with his sword, aiming at his opponent.

Turnip breathed in the cold, dry air of Floor Two as he stepped out onto the plains. He noticed it seemed a little colder on this floor now than it had yesterday, which was strange because Turnip found late evenings in SAO to usually be a little cooler than mornings were. It seemed like there was a bit of light snow, too, of which there hadn't really been any sign the day before.

As much as the warrior criticised the game, he had to admit that the engine was largely superb. Despite the fact that SAO had slightly outlandish landscapes sometimes, there was still something about the atmosphere in general that was oddly real. Kayaba's was certainly a mind that would be interesting to delve into, and so Turnip felt fairly remorseful that he'd probably end up killing him before he'd talk with him. Such was the way of things.

He contemplated these thoughts as he grinded. For the armoured figure, buffalo were targets that were about as interesting as the life of the underside of a coaster. They were a tad dumb, even for mobs, and the experience gain wasn't as much as he might have hoped. He'd probably just finish off one or two more, then go further west. Away from the buffalo and, hopefully, away from the relative multitude of people as well.

It was generally in and after situations in which people annoyed him – situations like the one this morning – that Turnip's introvert side shone through. As much as his other side was juxtaposed to it, he was surely the mysterious, faceless armoured figure that everyone made him out to be when he felt like it. If something gave him reason to seek out company, then he would gladly roll with it. Likewise, though, if anything gave him reason to shun it, then he could easily pull off the 'tall, dark stranger' look, whether or not he was much taller than average.

He was very much nearing level fourteen now, but he'd reach it elsewhere. If he could find a good, comfortable dungeon, then he'd gladly level there until the sun went down. After a while of walking, Turnip noticed a couple of would-be landmarks appearing before him. Soon, he could make out a village to his right; that didn't really interest his grinding prospects. To the left, what looked like steam clouds rose into the sky.

Geysers, perhaps? Any kind of volcanic action wouldn't be unfeasible, considering the fairly rocky landscape – and if that was the case, then it fitted well with Turnip's grinding ambitions. There could be all kinds of more interesting enemies in a volcano: maybe fire elementals, giants, duergar, salamanders, golems… anything really, within imagination. Safe to say Turnip headed to his left, South.

As he neared the steam clouds, though, the helmeted man became less and less excited. He came to the realisation that there were no big, looming staircases into massive volcanoes. No rivers of lava, fire and brimstone to traverse. Hell, there weren't even any mobs.

"Just a load of bloody pools of water…" Turnip muttered, "There's actually sod-all here. One hundred per cent sod-all. Nice one, Turnip, you sure can pick your destinations."

Strangely enough, it was only in making some noise himself that he heard some. To his right, a piercing scream was quickly silenced. Turnip, of course, took off at an immediate jog to the source of the sound. He questioned his morals slightly as a thought of "that's more like it" crossed his mind, but he dismissed it. Things that momentarily crossed his mind were generally best pushed aside, for the sake of sanity and resistance of strangeness.

The armoured figure could make out more sounds as he made his way over a few clusters of rocks. Finding himself on a smoother outcropping, he could understand what seemed to be a conversation between two people. And I don't mean 'conversation' in the friendly-chat-over-a-cuppa-tea sort of sense.

"Look, just give me all of your gear, and I won't have to hurt you."

"But I don't-"

"-But I waaannnt iiiit…"

"Uh, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Stand and deliver already."

"Please, just- you don't have to do this. You can just leave, and I'll go back to my group-"

"Well that's all great, but alternatively you can give me everything you have, then go. Now just hurry it up before I cut your face off!"

Turnip dropped down a few feet from them, deliberately disregarding stealth. He could see the two now; a young girl of maybe fourteen or fifteen, being threatened by an older male with a wild sort of look in his eyes. He had an orange colour cursor, which was unsurprising, considering the situation. Turnip launched Boomeraxe from his side without a word. The guy's eyes snapped to him at the noise, and the girl began to turn.

She was grabbed around the neck by the criminal, who shouted out to Turnip.

"Don't come any closer, or she gets- AH!"

Turnip smirked under his helmet as Boomeraxe sliced across the man's back. The criminal shouted in pain as the armoured figure advanced on him, still silent. In what might faze many people, the criminal's eyes hardened as he brought his short sword to the whimpering girl's neck.

"Alright, you asked for it!"

And he raised his sword and stabbed.

The girl cried in simulated agony, but the criminal was surprised to see that Turnip, who caught and sheathed Boomeraxe, hadn't even slowed. The criminal was even more surprised, though, to receive the force of Draw Steel at close range – he was blown backwards, hitting the rock face with a cringe-worthy thud. Turnip, playing the silent, faceless warrior, yanked the short sword from the girl's neck and threw it at the criminal's face.

In an unrealistic – and somewhat comical – event, the sword lodged steadily in the man's forehead. He screamed shortly, and quickly removed the blade before it did too much damage. He managed a few panicked swipes at Turnip with his sword, which had been lodged in his skull a few seconds ago, but the strikes were easily struck aside. His panic increased further as he looked at his thoroughly depleted health bar, and confusion took him as he wondered why this random guy hadn't acted how he should have done. For each hit he managed to make, this armoured bastard had hit him back with ten.

As for Turnip; he couldn't be more pleased with how the situation panned out. By taking a hostage the guy had only inconvenienced himself. He'd wasted time dealing irrelevant damage to the girl, and left himself unable, for the most part, to co-ordinate any proper counterattack. That'd probably end up being a fatal mistake for him.

On the edge of his health bar, the criminal began to cry out.

"Please, don't kill me, please!"

In an instant, Turnip's attacks ceased with a sigh, his bastard sword pointed at the criminal's throat. He did want to kill the guy, as he clearly wasn't helping anyone in this game. The possibility of redemption would pull on his conscience a little, though, maybe, as much as he doubted this arse would reform. He'd give him the easy test, and quickly, so he got what the guy would really do, rather than just a calculated survival strategy.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you." Turnip said, wincing inwardly at the cliché.

"Oh, I- I'll never kill again! I mean- uh, no, I've never killed anyone before, uh, um, no, but I still won't and I- oh! I'll never steal again either! I'll be good! I'll go home and be a family man! Promise!"

Turnip breathed a fake sigh of relief, flipping his sword in his hand and turning his back on the criminal.

"Oh, thank God. Geez, my health was getting low, too, and-"

Almost immediately, Turnip felt the criminal's sword pierce his back. The criminal, though, silly git, hadn't bothered to check how low Turnip's health actually was – a healthy green, bordering on yellow. In swift reaction to being stabbed, the armoured figure drove his sword backwards into the criminal's stomach, prompting an almost instant shower of red, pixelly confetti.

"Rest in peace, idiot…" Turnip sighed, plucking the short sword from his back, which even he had to admit was a little gruesome. Thank goodness this game wasn't entirely realistic. The armoured figure smiled, though, at the notification box that appeared before him, congratulating him on reaching level fourteen.

"Y-you killed him…"

Turnip had almost forgotten about the girl that he had sort of saved, but he didn't so much as even glance back up when she spoke.

"Well observed." Turnip replied, closing various pop-up windows and admiring his newly-increased stats.

There was a long pause, after which the girl took a deep breath, apparently mustering up the courage to say something.

"… Did you have to risk my life like that?" She asked.

"You mean your comfort."

"What?"

"I risked your comfort, not your life. There's no way he'd one-hit you. You'd take five at least."

There was another pause.

"Did he have to die?"

"Don't make me kill you."

Even for Turnip, who was a registered expert at cocking up social interactions, that was a little harsh. Still, he reasoned, he was a little busy. Loot from players was certainly a lot better than loot from mobs – Turnip could see why the PKers did it, but that didn't mean he thought it was justified. Sensing no movement from the girl, though, he simply stashed the lot to look over it later.

"OK," the armoured figure asked the girl, "why were you down here without a weapon equipped?"

The girl rubbed her arm nervously, "I left it at the spring, with my group... They're probably worried. I heard some noises over in this direction, so I went to check it out. I came down that slope, but I can't get back up it. Then that man attacked me…"

"Noises? The criminal, or…?"

"Like snapping. Some things even a little like croaking, I don't know. Off down there somewhere."

"Hmm. Maybe I'll check it out. Noises usually mean mobs."

"So, um… thanks for saving me, but, uh, could you help me get back to the spring? I mean, if I had a weapon, I could hit that rock to fall down. Could you try it?"

Turnip sighed and stood, told the girl to stand clear, then Pulse Edged the jutting rock. The rock crumbled into a suitably diagonal slope that the girl could easily use to climb the ledge. After that, Turnip simply left without another word.

"Uh, thanks! I guess…" The girl called. But Turnip was gone.

Never before has Robin fought a formidable foe this good. Well, formidable is a bit of an exaggeration. Robin was able to land his hits on his opponent. There sword & dagger keep clashing against each other, Robin watching his HP drop slowly from each shockwave. He was able to knock him back for some distance, take a brief stop. The man charges at Robin, who ready's a parry. However...

This man runs past Robin. He turns around to look where he was going. He knew for a fact he was gonna dish it out on Lucina now before finishing Robin off. Whatever happened between them in the real world, Robin can't understand, but he wasn't gonna let him kill Lucina. This might be a desperate attempt, nonetheless Robin dashes his way towards the man with no hesitation, intending to kill him. He has no choice.

Before the man could strike Lucina, Robin drives his sword through the man's back, "Aaaaaaaaaghh!!!" just above Lucina's back. "You brought this upon yourself." Robin watched the man's HP drop to zero, he takes his sword out, then onn instinct, runs out of there to hide somewhere, but stops. He comes back after thinking why he would hide. Such tragic memories.