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Sword Art Online: Infinity Edition [IC] [T] [Best Rookie 4Q '12]

KRISSU

"Well," Elise answered hesitantly. "I do the same thing that your, ahem, 'friend' does. That is to say..." Her finger ran over the heart shaped emblem emblazoned on her breastplate. "I have a pretty high forging skill, probably a little higher than Architam here if I had to guess." She gestured her hand towards the wall of weapons.

Higher than Architam, eh? Well, that wasn't too hard to believe. Architam was a wonderful person, hearty and loyal and fun, and he never demanded outrageous prices for his wares. That was why he was a rather popular Blacksmith around Celedona. But even Krissu knew he wasn't the best there was. It wasn't really like with her Alchemy... sure, she wasn't the most skilled one here; there were people who knew already one month ago that they wanted to be alchemists and had worked out their technique and recipes since then. The reason Krissu was special was that she too took slightly lower prices than the other alchemists in town - because she went to get her ingredients herself instead of buying from travelers - and because she sometimes had weird recipes with unusual ingredients that other alchemists didn't think it was worth making because so seldom did people come and ask for them. Like a potion to raise Hiding skill temporarily. Often it was much easier to bring a friend or two to take down a creature than to bother getting a rare potion to sneak past it.

"I guess we could do a product swap, unless you'd prefer money? I don't have much of that at the moment. Maybe I should have taken the free option with the information broker after all," Elise joked sarcastically. "Anyway, I'm level 11 right now. I would be happy to escort you and make sure you're okay. Besides, I need the potion and you shouldn't have to die to get it to me." Elise smiled at her again as she swiped down her right hand to pull up the menu and toggle the party screen while shooting over an invitation.

"The what?" Krissu said, but then decided to not bother. "Well... as much as I enjoy having Architam making items and armor for me... I guess I would like something a little more exotic. So if you think you could make me a two handed sword that is better than this one," she went back to her room quickly and brought the large, red shimmering but rather insignificant sword she had been using for the past week and handed it to Elise, "then I'd be happy. Maybe it's worth more than this potion, but I do have to make a journey to make it, so... We can see how difficult the journey gets and discuss the exact terms of exchange later?"

She raised her hand to respond to the party invite at last. She hesitated a little. Not because she never had been in a party before, but because she wondered what she had really gotten herself into. Floor 4 was rather dangerous. Not as atrociously so as Floor 5, but still. But then again, she needed to become stronger in order to get somewhere in this game. This world. So she accepted the invite.

"Let me change into my field armor and we can get going."
​
 

Leilani Estefania Juarez Garcia
Floor 2 - Celedonia | Level: 5

*SLASH*

The Buffalo, cut in several small pieces, was cooked in a rectangular pan, sprinkled with spinach leaves, carrots, and broccoli around it. It had the aroma of a cooked roast beef that can be smelled all across Ollie's loft. Ollie was at the table, preparing the table for the food. Ollie couldn't take the smell, every time he sniffed, his stomach growled. Leila did the same thing.

With oven mits, Leila carried the tray of cooked buffalo to the table, setting it on the middle. Leila smiled at her latest cookery creation. "It is ready!"

"Awesome!" Ollie exclaimed, as he sat down at the wooden gray chair. He grabbed a fork and a knife as he took two drumsticks of buffalo meat from the tray, then took a bite from one of them. He opened his eyes to see Leila with her head facing down on the table, towards the empty plate. It seemed like she was sad, probably weeping. "Is something the matter?"

Leila looked up and glanced at Ollie quickly. "Oh, no. I'm sorry. I quickly say a prayer to God before I eat. It's something I do everyday with my family."

Ollie continued to chew on his food. "Yoo mish dem doo choo?"

"Yeah… I most certainly do. Can't contain the fact that the whole thing here is real." Leila replied as she stared at the buffalo right in front of her. "It feels like you're forced to live here after a strange situation."

"Bush yoo ahr hurr fo ficht fo da fhreedum." Ollie continued to chew his food.

"Please swallow, Ollie. It's disgusting."

Ollie did manage to swallow, obeying Leila. He grabbed another drumstick, and placed on the greasy white plate, filled with bitten bones and pieces of fat. "I said, but you are here to fight for the freedom, and I've thought of something while I was waiting for the food to be ready."

As Leila was about to take a bite of the buffalo meat, she looked up to Ollie. "What is it?"

"You know…we've had a pretty good partnership back then when we were at the Dragon Scarce. I was thinking of bringing back the guild and recruit a fresh set of members." Ollie, with his hands together on the greasy plate, proposed an idea to Leila, which involves bringing back her old guild. What was going through the mind of Leila was that she never liked being in a guild, she preferred being alone. A partnership with Ollie would be okay, but…reforming a guild that would eventually wipe out everyone again?

It's not worth it…thought Leila, but she didn't want to outright say it like she usually would. She immediately thought of something else to say as she took a bite of the drumstick. "I'll see if I can think of it. I mean…I don't feel fit to be in a guild right now, as I am still training."

"Reason why is that Floor 5, Mount Lost, is filled with lots and lots of monsters, and the majority of the players here on SAO are heading there. Guilds from all over the game are forming up, so it's really a great opportunity to find players from all over the first few floors, especially Starter City to head up towards Floor 5 to help the other guilds out." Ollie paused a little, quickly glancing at the final piece of buffalo left at the tray…tempted to eat it. "You can be my second in command, if you like."

Floor 5 was the floor that was deemed too difficult to enter for Leila, as she wasn't at the recommended level. She wasn't at her "comfort zone" still in regards to being in a guild again…but the opportunity was there. The opportunity of leadership. Leila stared at the plate, barely took a bite of her food. A lot was going through her mind. It was a matter of life and death…but it has always been that way.

​
 
Elise Vivian Molyneux
​
Krissu disappeared for a second and reappeared with a shimmering, red sword. Elise studied it from afar and its correlation with its wielder. One wouldn't really expect a girl like Krissu to be using a two handed sword like this. This girl was full of peculiar nuances. Normally you would see big guys running around with these things, usually a bit of a status symbol for them, nothing more. Krissu had likely chosen it for other reasons. After she had handed the sword to Elise, it was evident that while of interesting design, it wasn't anything overly significant. She turned it over in her hands, her eyes running up and down its form. It shouldn't be too hard to come up with something better given the right materials.

"Ok, I think I might be able to make something that is better. I do have one caveat however." Elise turned her eyes back towards Krissu. "Like you, I need the right ingredient to do so. It's called Adamantite." She cleared her throat deciding how much to share with her. She was already a party member, probably no harm in telling her now. It was better than having to share with a whole party of people. "That's what I was after when I discovered I needed that potion. It's a rare, strong, bright green, almost luminescent mineral that I heard about in Dysthaven. If we can get our hands on that, I'll make your sword and one for myself." Elise handed back the weapon and rested her hand reassuringly on her own. This must have been how ancient warriors felt, your weapon was your life.

"Like you said however, we can discuss the exact terms later. I'd rather not count our chickens before they hatch." She watched as Krissu hesitantly accepted the party invitation. Elise looked to her top left and noticed Krissu's health bar appear just below hers. A nice feature of the system to help you keep track of party members' health levels. Should anything get too out of control, hopefully Krissu would have the good sense to teleport out. Elise didn't want to have to explain to Architam she got his friend killed.

Subtly she shook her head and chased the thought from it. Her typically happy and rambunctious behavior returned in a second. "Okay," she clapped her hands together a few times. "Chop, chop. Get into that armor of yours. Do you have stage fright? Need me to step outside?" She flashed a devious grin before turning her attention to make sure all her equipment was good to go.

"After you're all done, feel free to lead the way."

​
 
John Archer[Ranzatsu]​

-The sound of padding boots on stone sent out a faint whisper relating the presence of Ranzatsu to those that would listen. He moved quickly and with faint breathing, aware of the monsters whose hearing would be enhanced due to life in the caves. He was a solo player ever since the incident on the bridge of Mount Lost that still gave him torturing nightmares, both in the night as well as the day. His purpose for his visit to the caves was nothing more than simple experience grinding, on the side of keeping an eye out for a potential tamable monster that would aid him as well as keep him company.

A month since the game incarceration, a month since his supposed "new life" and yet he was still stuck in the same mood.

~BOOM!~

His thoughts were interrupted as the ground beneath his feet shook violently and the weaker stalactites above him broke off and fell towards the ground. Already knowing the distinct ~crackle~ Ranzatsu dove forward, rolled and recovered quickly running as the natural spearheads rained down on places he had been only a second ago. Against his better judgement he sprinted in the direction of the noise, even after the stalactites had stopped falling fearing already what the cause of the disturbance was. According to the beta tester manual the only monster that could cause such a racket in the the level 4 dungeon was the golem, an animated creature of stone.

Arriving at the scene, he spotted two players already facing the golem; one grounded already and another who had pulled out two daggers. The golem seemed aggravated already, probably a normal encounter between the golem and the grounded player angered it. They were generally protectors, and one player might have gotten too close to whatever it was protecting and it was only doing its job. Seeing the other player getting to his feet and take his fighting stance again, the two looked as if they were preparing to strike at the golem again. Activating his speed skill he closed the distance between him and the opposing forces pointing both hands opened palmed at them signalling a cease-fire.

After a moment he lowered his arms facing the the golem, and pointed at the two behind him, speaking in a low but stern voice as not to aggravate the creature more than it already was.-

"You two... sheath your weapons, but be prepared to move if it does attack. Golems are usually placed to protect something and you might be too close to whatever that something is."

-He kept his eyes trained on the golem and began slowly moving towards it, whispering a few reassuring words to try and calm the creature down a bit.-
 
Daniel Williamson / Level 8
Floor 4: Dysthaven​


This...this guy isn't serious is he? Daniel thought to himself, slightly chuckling in amusement at the gesture of calming it down. It really wasn't his fault, though, being that he wasn't actually informed on the whole situation. He started to tell Archer that his efforts were in vain and that the golem was pissed off simply because they wouldn't die, but he decided not to. He pulled out a homemade potion and restored his health, and then yelled "SWITCH!". He and his sword started to shine a bright white color as he dashed passed Archer and towards the golem, attacking his right arm. Lucky him, the "switch" actually allowed the sword to go through. This caused the golem to let out a loud screeching noise, which was quite off-putting due to its low pitch. Then it started to go on a rampage, swinging its arms rapidly in every direction. Daniel hadn't faced many monsters like the golem in his time on SAO, but as he knew from any ARPG, if something goes on a rampage you must never attack it and you must not block, both of those would be a death sentence. Running was always a good option, and Archer and Jet were free to do so, but Daniel was having a little too much fun to let it all end now.

"Hey, Haseo," He said, referring to Jet with an obscure reference based on his daggers. "My answer's yes, we'll team up. Now you guys may know this good and well, but this monster is rare and above all of our levels, and it being made of rock makes it rather difficult to harm it," This plan was mostly inference, mainly due to the fact that he hadn't fought anything this powerful since he started, but he had to go with what he knew, and it was darn sure more safe that rushing in blindly. "My guess is that this boulder won't stop its rampage until we're dead or its dead." He inched backwards as it walked towards him. "Here's the plan, and it's a plain and simple one."

Party => Add Member​

He sent invitations to the two of them. "One of you needs to perform a Switch Art, then for the very short moment that it falters, I and whoever else doesn't switch will attack it with our strongest Arts." Daniel lifted his sword in front of him and again it started to glow. "Ready!?"
 
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John Archer[Ranzatsu]
​

-By instinct, Ranzatsu was up at his regular height and had jumped back, retreating to the wall opposite of the golem. He turned his head upwards to see the golem now going into a rage state, nothing could get through to it now. Thinking back on it, it was probably inevitable from the start, as the monster was a much higher level than his own and well beyond his taming abilities. While getting to his feet from his crouched landing, a party request popped up at eye level from the boy who attacked at which he frowned.-

"You give me no other choice..."

-He lifted his right hand and selected the yes button with his index finger after which Ranzatsu placed his left leg a few inches back and bent it outwards while sliding his right leg forward so it slanted; his right arm came to hover inches above his right leg while his left arm was brought up and bent so the back of his hand was centimeters from his face, assuming his custom fighting style. Since the first few times he had tried, he had learned a few moves that would activate correctly with his stance. He shifted the position of his arms slightly, and the system kicked in, lighting his arms in a crimson red light with a soft ~whuuuur~ as he prepared to attack.-

-He waited for the golem to take a few seconds to rest from its rage, and in that moment, he spoke in a whisper, but loud enough for the boy to hear.-

"Switch."

Ranzatsu brought back his right leg and pushed off the ground, leaping towards the golem trailing the crimson light and in the moment he reached him, began his attack. His right arm which had been bent to the left quickly moved across the assumed face of the golem, while the left arm he had been concealing was brought up and into the head of the golem.

"Feint Palm Strike"

-While it was recoiling from the attack Ranzatsu planted a boot on its shoulder and pushed off, landing behind the creature and bending his legs slightly to absorb the impact of the landing.
 
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KRISSU

The two young women appeared in the middle of the town of Dysthaven on Floor 4. Krissu had gotten dressed into her field attire, with her leather armor on and her broadsword in its sheath on her back. They had teleported from Celedona's portal directly to this place. As soon as some player had cleared the boss on a floor, every player was able to teleport to the next floor if they wished to. The game was kind in that manner. Seems fair, as it was so unkind in other ways. This allowed for the player civilization to spread up as the floors got cleared. Of course, now it had been a while since Floor 5 was revealed... progress seemed to be halted somewhat. Krissu wasn't about to go up there and help them, anyways. Not yet.

"This isn't the most cheerful place..." she commented, sweeping a hand at the empty square in front of the portal. "But I guess it must be a heaven for a Blacksmith? To live and work so close to a lot of good ore. I wonder why Architam didn't suggest that we moved here instead. Probably because it's more dangerous than Floor 2..." She interrupted herself and shut up, realizing that she had been voicing her thoughts out loud.

"Anyways. Are you good at finding your way around here? I've only been here thrice or so, and I never ventured far from Dysthaven town. Few plants on this floor, you know," she said, turning back to Elise. Her red hair seemed a bit off in the dusty, not very colorful world around her. This town couldn't be much bigger than Celedona. Perhaps even smaller, as this land wasn't quite as pleasant to live in.

​
 
Elise Vivian Molyneux
​
Floor 4...again. The two women had headed directly for Celedona's portal to here after Krissu's changing into more appropriate field attire. Elise had spent a great deal of time on this floor so far. Far more than she cared to admit in fact. All that promising ore was just too tempting to pass up. Many a blacksmith had been spending their time here. This arid wasteland didn't attract many others beside the ore-crazy. It left a lot to be desired this floor. Certainly not a beauty of design, but one of almost ruthless formidableness.

"This isn't the most cheerful place..." Krissu commented, sweeping a hand at the empty square in front of the portal. "But I guess it must be a heaven for a Blacksmith? To live and work so close to a lot of good ore. I wonder why Architam didn't suggest that we moved here instead. Probably because it's more dangerous than Floor 2..." She interrupted herself and stopped mid sentence.

Elise turned to look at her with an inquisitive brow raised. She wondered why she had stopped mid sentence, but wasn't in the mood to pry. "Yep, a lot of good ore." Was all she said in response at first. "Pretty sucky place to work and live however. I only come here for the ore and then leave when done."

Krissu turned towards her and asked if she was good at finding her way around here. One might say that she was pretty adept at it. She hadn't mapped every possible inch of it, but what she had seen, she knew well enough. Looking at Krissu, her hair contrasting with the rather desaturated surroundings, caused Elise to chuckle a little. Krissu was probably going to be the most colorful thing on this floor with that hair. "I guess I know it well enough. Spent a lot of time here, with all the ore and stuff. Even in the digital world, sand seems to get in places it doesn't belong." She joked lamely and walked in front of Krissu as she waved her onward.

The two girls walked through the small and desolate town. This barren world was slightly disheartening and dreary. It almost reminded Elise of one of the middle eastern bazaars she read about in a magazine at one time. The sand and dust laden streets were lined with blacksmiths selling their respective wares. A few of them stood out from the rest, others Elise recognized from previous occurrences of passing through. It was a small town, and it didn't take long for the two young women to make their way through it to the outskirts and just past the safe zone. That was when Elise stopped and turned to face Krissu again.

"Ok, now that we're outside the town." She turned her gaze south and pointed. "That is the way to go for the ore we need later. A few underground tunnels infested with Golems and Goblin Miners. I don't recall seeing too many plants in that direction however." She turned back around and placed her hands firmly on her hips. "Over there," she said nodding her head to the east. "I haven't been over there too much, I would say that might be our best chance."

"What do you say?"​
 
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KRISSU - floor 4

It was a small town, and it didn't take long for the two young women to make their way through it to the outskirts and just past the safe zone. The afternoon sun was in the sky, which in reality was the bottom of Floor 5 of course, with a programmed texture looking like a hot blue sky. That was when Elise stopped and turned to face Krissu again.

"Ok, now that we're outside the town." She turned her gaze south and pointed. "That is the way to go for the ore we need later. A few underground tunnels infested with Golems and Goblin Miners. I don't recall seeing too many plants in that direction however." She turned back around and placed her hands firmly on her hips. "Over there," she said nodding her head to the east. "I haven't been over there too much, I would say that might be our best chance. What do you say?"

Krissu nodded. "The only times I've been here, I've gone together with other random people and we went to the east, actually. Never far though. But I'd agree! There aren't many enemies spawning on the surface of this floor, are there? Most are in the caverns, from what I've gathered."

They started trekking east and only spoke lightly. Krissu observed the slightly older girl. Perhaps Elise was a little more versed in battling than she was, but she was nice and polite enough to gain Krissu's respect quickly, and not annoyingly boasting or blatantly skilled enough to awaken her sense of rivalry. To put it shortly, she thought they got along well and felt a bit relieved that she for once managed to allow herself to relax and not perform. In the real world, she had never relaxed and for the first few weeks in Aincrad, the pressure of performing good had been larger than ever. But it seemed like she was slowly coming to terms with herself. The friendly rivalry she had with Architam was also calming in some strange way. Maybe because she knew that he didn't really wish her any bad luck.

They reached some cliffs in the arid landscape. A very obvious entrance to a cave was there, only a couple of meters wide but at least five meters tall. Krissu thought she could see a faint glow inside. Hopefully some luminescent crystal or chemical and not the glowing eyes of some demon.

"Here we are..." she said and reached for the broadsword on her back, unsheathing it just to be ready. "Seems like an as good place as any to start. I'm not sure where the Dustskin should grow, but it should be someplace relatively deep, since the air might not be as hot down there and there might be some underwater source of water. However that can work in this floored world. What monsters could we expect to find here? Goblins and golems? I never focused on fighting on this floor."

​
 

Leilani Estefania Juarez Garcia
Floor 2 - Celedonia; Floor 3 - Blues Village
Level: 5

"I love the opportunity of leadership," Leila, who still hasn't taken a bite of her food, continued to contemplate Ollie's proposal of rebuilding the Dragon Scarce, their former guild. However, Leila had thoughts of not becoming part of a guild…but according to Ollie it seems like being in one can clear the game a lot faster than with a solo player like herself. "But I can't take it right now, to be honest. Wait till I'm Level 10, then we'll talk."

Ollie seemed to be understandable towards Leila's statement. He's seven levels above her, and she needed more space for training. So, it would be best to leave her as is. "Right, you need to train more to be more. Well, if all possible, you should head over to Floor 3, which is Blues Village. There's a lot of great monsters to fight with, and with your two powerful daggers, you'll be able to beat all of them, in my opinion."

Floor 3 seemed to be another good floor to head for, a level above Celedonia, which is Floor 2, and it seemed an alright floor for her. It became another challenge for Leila as she nodded and smiled at Ollie. "Okay. That's what I will do then. Maybe sometime soon, we should keep in touch again and we'll bring this up in our next 'buffalo' meeting…if you decide to bring your cookery skills to my buffalo."

"Just message me and I'll be there. Or visit me at Starter City, where I live."

"However, Leila…"

"What?"

"Your food is already cold."

********

Leila spent an extra half an hour with Ollie, and agreed to message him when she's ready to revive the Dragon Scarce. For now, she decided to exit Celedonia and head towards the next floor up: Blues Village. Ollie remained at his home, resting from eating way too much Buffalo.

Blues Village, it was a village filled with amphibian and swamp monsters. Leila is more of a clean freak, and she wasn't expecting to be teleported to the dirtiest part of the floor…nearby the swamps.

A blue light flashed in between the trees. Leila appeared right next to a deep swamp, on the verge of entering the murky waters. Everything was dark, and the village was right nearby as well. Who would build a village right near a dangerous swamp? Leila looked around the area, assuming people who stay here are people who live here.

She looked down to her red & white kimono dress. "Should have changed before I left Ollie's." She said to herself. "Oh well, I'll see what I can do without armor."

One step, that's all she ever took in this floor. With a giant sharp-toothed frog with green scaled skin coming out of the swamp, it eyed Leila, and opened its mouth with roar. Leila prepared to grab both of her daggers and targeted the giant frog. Her status bar showed:

Leila: 100%
Sharp Toothed Frog: 100%

Weapon: Daggers
[Attack] [Do Not Use]

Skill: Speed
[Use] [Turn Off]

Of course, she would use attack for this one. Both of her daggers are out in the open, and starts to sprint towards the frog. With one dagger pointing towards it, and the other to the front of her, for a bit of protection. She hits the frog in one blow, two blows, and three. With the dagger on the left hand to finish it off. Swipe by swipe, the frog was filled with red cuts, with lots of data marks inside. The frog roared as it fell on the shore of the swamp, and disappeared with bits and bytes.

Immediately, a status window appeared.

Level up!
Leila [Solo-Player]
Level: 6

Congratulations!

Either those monsters would level Leila up quickly, or this floor is easier than Celedonia. Leila puts away her daggers, and continued to walk around the swamp for more beasts.


​
 
Jet cocked his head when another player appeared between the Golem and the two of them. The brief pause in battle allowed Jet to go over what he knew of Golems, mentally confirming what the newcomer had said. What's it guarding? he thought. It was the perfect thing for him to discover, at the moment. Then the swordsman decided to attack the Golem, which sent it into a rampage. Jet quickly moved out of range of the flailing arms, listening as the swordsman outlined his plan. Personally, I'm not sure that it's a higher level than me, but no time to check.

Jet swiped one hand to accept the party invitation, then made sure his Speed skill was on. "Ready when you are, captain," he said to the swordsman, giving an exaggerated salute before reversing his daggers so they pointed down from his fists. Seconds after the martial artist struck the Golem, Jet sped forward and jumped up at it, bringing his daggers downward and plunging them into the construct's torso once the other player was out of the way. Jet immediately pushed off with his legs, dragging his daggers up and out as he flipped backward to land on the ground.
 
Daniel Williamson / Level 8
Floor 4: Dysthaven​


Daniel watched as the two warriors attacked the golem with both flair and style. He couldn't seem to get the smile from off of his face, it'd been so long since he'd fought anything other than swine and other minor creatures, and he was trapped inside a sea of nostalgia from his younger days. It was finally his turn to attack, but looking at the health bar of the beast made him slightly unsettled. It was enough that he wasn't sure the next attack would be a sure-fire kill, but he was certain that anything below the goliath's nonexistent neck wouldn't be enough. What was worse, if he missed then the golem would have a clear shot of one or two of the players, and that would do some pretty massive damage, maybe even proving to be fatal. He brought his glowing sword down to his waist and took a deep breath, knowing that it was all or nothing.

Then, suddenly, he dashed forward as fast as he could. He let out an incredible battle cry, and inadvertent one that was brought on by adrenaline. Then, when he was somewhat close to the golem, he jumped, took hold of his sword with both hands, brought it down to his stomach, and then yelled, "SWITCH! " He thrust his sword forward into the face of the golem, which was rather high off of the ground (or rather, higher than he thought it was from his previous vantage points). The sword pierced the rock as was expected, but after that there were a few moments of silence. The world felt still, and all Daniel could hear was his heartbeat as he hung from the sword so high off of the ground. He feared that, at any moment, the golem would emit a loud roar and kill him effortlessly. He feared that the golem would spontaneously react and kill one of the other two. He feared the worst. His face slowly rotated to the right as he shook uncontrollably. He was scared to see what the health indicator had to show. He knew that he was only delaying the inevitable, but it wasn't something he had complete control over.

Gray. Normally filled with green, yellow or red, the health indicator was completely and utterly gray. Daniel was immobile. He wasn't able to control the ecstasy that he felt, and thus, it took him over. Initially, his face showed shock and he became immobile. Then the shock was replaced with surprise, and the surprise replaced with rapture. Again, it was a nostalgic feeling that he had, reminding him of days of old when he would challenge in incredibly tough boss, dying again and again, only to prevail in the end. It was a childish reaction, but it was all he could manage. He looked above the golem's head to see in the word "Congratulations!" in a glorious gold color. Promptly, the Golem started to disintegrate into a mass of small transient golden orbs of light from the head down.

Unable to dismount in time, Daniel fell to the ground when the face of the golem disintegrated. He would have gasped in pain, but he was too busy laughing. In front of him was a prompt that showed him the items he won.

You obtained:

  • Golem's Ore

  • Charm of Goliath


Both of these were rare items, indeed; it was only fitting for the defeat of a rare monster. The Golem's Ore is a rare resource that one can have forged into a weapon, accessory, or piece of armor by a skilled blacksmith. The Charm of Goliath is a unique accessory that gives a moderate increase in defense without the strain of speed-lowering penalties often paired with rock-based or metal armor.

Then, another message showed up.

Congratulations! You are now level 10!

You learned:

  • Parry

  • Sonic Strike

T-two levels? He thought the golem was a higher level than him, but not by that much. It was likely because of the fact that it was rare that he gained more experience than usual. Parry is a rather common RPG ability; it is a timed technique where one pushes away the opponent's weapon and then counterattacks. Granted, one can already do that on their own due to the unrestrained control of Sword Art Online, but this seemed to be in the form of an Art, thus likely stronger than an average parry. The Sonic Strike, from what Daniel could deduce, seemed to be a Speed-dependent lunge…though that was just theory, he actually had no idea what it was or how it was preformed.

Daniel turned to his temporary comrades and said, "Thanks, guys. I was way outta my league. I probably could've run, but I was having so much fun-"He stopped himself, rethinking what he was going to say. "Uh…sorry about putting you guys in so much danger. I'd like to hope that the items and EXP you guys got as a reward would be enough, but…" He turned in another direction. "I'm Daniel. This may have been a temporary pact, and I don't know what your motives are, but I really am in your debt." He pulled out two Minor Attack Potions, as well as two normal Potions and threw one to each of them. Despite being "Minor", they almost literally cost Daniel an arm and a leg to make. As one would expect, the potions temporarily boost one's Attack, the magnitude depending on the first descriptive word of the potion (in this case it was Minor, the lowest level). "Thanks for all of the help."
 
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Elise Vivian Molyneux
​
Cliffs loomed over Elise as the two girls came to a stop in the arid landscape. They were not their destination however, no self-respecting plant would be found up there. It was far too hot and dry, even for a desert type plant; if Elise had to assume based on her lacking plant knowledge of course. Elise looked up and down the cliffs, wondering if anything lay hidden at its peak. Sometimes developers of games would hide stuff in hard to reach places, but Elise had never heard of such a thing in SAO. The trek up was definitely not worth the payoff in curiosity, especially if she fell. Spontaneous or not, sanity won this time. No, the entrance to the cave was what served as their best option.

Five meters tall at least and a few sparse meters wide, a faint glow issued forth from its bowels. The source of the glow eluded Elise, maybe some sort of crystal that helped illuminate the interior?

"Here we are..." Krissu said and reached for the broadsword on her back, unsheathing it readily. "Seems like an as good place as any to start. I'm not sure where the Dustskin should grow, but it should be someplace relatively deep, since the air might not be as hot down there and there might be some underwater source of water. However that can work in this floored world. What monsters could we expect to find here? Goblins and golems? I never focused on fighting on this floor."

"Well," Elise began trying to recall what information she knew of this floor. Krissu already mentioned the two enemies she had encountered the most on this floor. The Goblin Miners seemed to be everywhere, but only recently had she seen them in such high a concentration. "Golems and Goblins are the most common enemies that I've seen, the Goblins more so than the Golems. I have heard of one enemy that I've personally never seen before however. Something called the Crystal Weaver, if I'm remembering the name correctly." Elise placed a finger on her chin and bit her lower lip as she tried to remember what she had heard of it.

"Supposedly," she lifted her fingers in air quotes sarcastically. "It's some kind of spider monster, but I don't know much beyond that. Could just be some kind of myth however." Elise shrugged and pulled the shield off her back holding it in front of her. "Anyway, you ready? No time like the present." She smiled at Krissu and gestured towards the cave. "Just stay close, I don't want you dying on me." Her teasing side resurfacing again. So far, Krissu had been a pretty good sport with her teasing. Elise respected that about her. A lot of people had a tendency to get offended when she did so in the past.

Elise took a few steps forward, her feet crossing the threshold of the cave. Her feet made a soft echoing noise as she stepped in, her senses ready for whatever the cave would throw at them.​
 
John Archer[Ranzatsu]

-Ranzatsu watched as plain wild survival instinct took hold on one of the other players as they prepared a skill. It shone bright in their eyes and was relayed in his body language as well. With an intimidating battlecry that caused Ranzatsu to double-take, the player advanced at great speeds towards the raging beast with his sword drawn and trailing the aura of the skill. At the last moment he had lept into the air, using his momentum to boost his jump greatly only just reaching the face of the golem.

Ranzatsu's eyes alternated between the health bars of the beast and the player itself quickly, only just catching the players sword being driven down into the face of the golem. This move was truly a foolish one to make, despite the damage that accompanied it. His sword struck true though, dealing a successful high damaging moved that emptied out he golem's health bars and in turn killing the creature. The kid was a bit slow on the dismounting however and was dropped to the floor as the head of the golem vanished and the sword lost its hold.

His arms were crossed indifferently as a message made its way onto his screen with an announcement.

"Congratulations! You have reached level 10!"

His facial expression didn't betray the concealed joy at reaching a higher level, not one but two in one. The message then showed him the amount of experience that he had earned as a result and showed that he was a little over halfway to his next level. The golem they had just defeated was indeed a rare creature that was worth tons of xp, but it seems only the initiator of the fight was awarded with the rarest drops from it. After reviewing all of this information Ranzatsu turned to catch the 4 potions, each visible for a few seconds before they disappeared into his inventory.

In a few short steps he was already in front of the player called Daniel with a fixed glare upon his face.

"That creature didn't have to die. It was protecting something, you disturbed it, and then others were brought into this. Don't say you didn't ask for our help because I am aware of that, but there are some people who would sooner kill themselves than to see another player perish before their eyes. In the future I would advise choosing your battles more wisely."

-Ranzatsu then turned and began to walk off in the direction the golem had come from, then stopped and turned halfway back.

"Every good tamer knows that in order to work and tame other monsters, you must first understand them. You would do good to remember that."

-Having said this he continued in his direction without another word.-
 
Fester and Rose
"Hey Fester look over there monsters!" Rose exclaimed, they had killed so many monsters she was now level 10 and able to help fight, "Why don't we both take them out?" She was getting bored watching him slay numerous monsters without her.

"Indeed there is Rose, but I want to kill them all." He groaned, "It is so fun and I have stuff I can cook!" He said excitedly. But then he drooped his shoulders, "Okay let's fight, but do computers have sword skills like can I substitute?"

"Uh, yeah they programmed us to do that before!" She knew sword skills, but not substitute, "No substituting yet though, I need to be level 15 for that."

"Odd but understandable, as I player I must be stronger than the NPCs at all times!" He said this heroically, though it was much out of place, "Let us go then!" This randomness would've surprised Rose earlier, but she'd been with him all day and this was how he always started a fight. She was now finding him more funny than scary.

They slew the group of monsters fairly quick, Rose only taking two potions, Fester forgetting to remember his health. "I must say I have way too much ore, of what use could a cook like me possibly do with ore?" He dramatically dropped to his knees, "Alas! A fair alchemist such as you has no reason for it either." He clutched his chest as if he were dying, "What a cruel trick!"

"We could find someone who needs it." Rose suggested.

"Very good girl! I'm glad you have risen from idiot AI to advanced!" That would be about the fifteenth insulting compliment he had told her.

"I'm twen-- designed to be the age of twenty!" She didn't want to be called a girl.

"Well then, I suppose a year is much shorter because surely you can't be more than fifteen!" He was standing up now.

"What makes you say that!?" She yelled.

"Well first of all, your breasts are lacking, in a game not rated for kids that is. Then you are quiet small and look fairly young." He spoke in a way that seemed like he was stating facts, but again another insult and compliment.

She said quietly, "I'm just a late bloomer..." Her voice rose again, "But I am twenty!"

He held his hands up, "Okay, okay these programmers are very odd about how NPCs act." Rose sighed, she knew Fester was only being an idiot, and was in fact a kind man. They decided to set camp up there.
 
Jet Stryker / Level 13 - Floor 4/Dysthaven

Jet's eyes darted between the swordsman and the Golem's health, watching it plummet and turn gray. "That didn't take long," he commented, sheathing his daggers. When a message popped up to show how much experience he'd earned, Jet's eyebrows went up. That was a strong Golem. I'm about halfway to level 14 now. On the heels of the experience was a window showing the drops he'd gotten.

Unidentified Dagger

Unidentified? Jet didn't recall hearing anything about unidentified items before...but he was going to take it anyways. As he stashed the dagger, Jet listened quietly as the swordsman, Daniel, spoke his piece. "No problem, cap'n," Jet replied, easily catching the Potions tossed to him and stashing them in his inventory. "'Sides, it looked like--"

Jet cut his words short when the martial artist got in Daniel's face. "That creature didn't have to die. It was protecting something, you disturbed it, and then others were brought into this. Don't say you didn't ask for our help because I am aware of that, but there are some people who would sooner kill themselves than to see another player perish before their eyes. In the future I would advise choosing your battles more wisely."

"Um..." His sunglasses hid Jet's eyes as they ricocheted between watching the martial artist walk away and looking at Daniel. He was feeling uncomfortable with the situation, partly because he wasn't really on either side. The other's parting words confirmed that one or both of the other two players were Tamers. "Yeeeeaah," Jet started, his fingers tapping, "uh, I don't know about you, Daniel, but I'm gonna go see where that Golem might've come from. If it was guarding a room or somethin', then why don't we find it?" Jet began walking in the direction he'd seen the Golem come from, which turned out to be where the martial artist was heading.
 
Daniel Williamson / Level 10
Floor 4: Dysthaven​


As the two walked away, Daniel smiled. "I can see what your teacher said when you were in elementary school, 'smart but quick to jump to conclusions.'," He said to himself in a low voice. It was a reference to another game that he knew he'd rarely have the chance to use, even if he did mangle the original quote. Daniel could have explained himself to Ranzatsu, stopping him then and there to explain himself, but the three of them were headed in the same direction, anyway, so he decided to follow behind him. In reality, Daniel was incredibly tolerant of animals and other creatures. He was the type of person who would refute human superiority to the death and say that animals had as much worth as humans did, they weren't to be looked down on. The philosophy really bled into pretty much everything he did, including religion and video gaming, so the accusation was a little annoying to him. Still, he had no intention of taming the golem, it was nature that probably had no feelings or conscience that was bent to the will of an individual. At least, that's what it seemed to be.

Originally, he was going to leave the cave, but seeing as the two others were venturing into a potentially dangerous situation, he took a look at his inventory to see if he had any crystals in the case that the situation did prove fatal. He knew that the golem was rare, but he also heard about an incident about a week back involving a few players on the third floor sighting what they suspected was a 50th floor level monster. They got away, luckily enough, and there was no way to prove that what they saw was a monster from the 50th floor or if they saw anything at all, but considering the strength of the golem, he decided to be overly cautious. Unfortunately for him, there were only 2 escape crystals in his inventory, thus if anything were to happen, it would be him who was getting the shaft.

Then there was the fact that he found the two he was traveling with to be interesting. Ranzatsu seemed to be the somber and quiet yet stern person not different from how Daniel himself had been at a younger age. Jet was empathetic and adventurous, making him a joy to travel with. These were two people that were far too enjoyable to let die. Couple that with the fact that the only person on his Friends List was the missing Alistair, and he really couldn't afford to let these two go. He equipped his Charm of Goliath and ran deeper into the cave until he was up to speed with Jet and Ranzatsu.
 
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Fester and Rose
While resting they saw a young boy walking through the caves, "Hey Rose what do you make of that? A small child in a cave like this!" He looked a hit harder, "Does that seem odd to you?"

"Yeah quiet odd indeed, I wonder why he looks so sad." Rose exclaimed.

"No no, that won't do! We must cheer the lad up, a child down in these caverns must be here to mourn his father or such." Rose recognized this character as merely a young player. Though she really had no choice in the matter, and she herself truly wanted help if he was sad.

"What is your plan?" She really needed to know what he was going to do, since he was eccentric.

"Plan? Such matters require no plan! We must greet him and shower him with gifts, that will surely liven his spirits!" He ran after the boy, Rose followed.

It seems odd that a mere child would be soloing down here, I wonder if he is lost. Wait a minute... WHAT GIFTS!? She stopped him, "What are you giving him?"

"Why simply all of our food and ore, I have no use for the ore and we are killing much for food!" He spoke matter-of-factly.

"I guess so" She was hoping to sell the ore for money, but before she could protest he had already stopped the boy.

"Young man!" He bellowed, "Allow me to shower you with gifts to raise your spirits! And while you're at it, what has you down in such a way?" Rose winced at how loud he spoke, she simply smiled and nodded.
 
Dante FareFyre, Floor 5.


…? The man on the ground kept his silence as time seemed to slowly creep by since Dante had asked the question.
"I'm sorry if I came off rude my good man, I was just curious to why you weren't fighting back against such a weak monster when you had almost full health." Dante said as sincerely as possible while putting out his hand to help the man up.
"Here I'll help you up."
The man just continued to staring at Dante with a blank look in his eyes, not moving a muscle.
"Uh.. I'm actually on my way out if you want me to escort you out of here?" Dante asked as nicely as he possibly could. Still no answer nor reaction from the man sitting in front of him. Annoyance was starting to creep into Dante's voice as he continue the one sided conversation. "I guess you want to stay then?"
Nothing came from the man in front of him.
Sighing Dante told the man that he has about 30 seconds left until the next monster would most likely show up and that he was leaving.
"Here kid, at the very least take these, I hope to meet you again." Continued Dante as he dropped a teleportation crystal and a health potion into the man's lap as he began walking back in the direction he had original came from.

That kid was really odd; I wonder why he wouldn't reply to me, thought Dante as two animated armor monsters burst into data fragments.
[Congratulations, you have reached level 17.] The golden plate that appeared in front of Dante stated. With a swipe of his hand he closed the plate and continued towards the exit, picking up the drops as he walked past them. Three levels above the recommended for this floor now, I guess this high respawn rate is good for something after all. "Speaking of which, I wonder if that guy back there ended up moving." Dante asked himself as he rounded another corner, slowly getting closer to the exit.

The world suddenly opened up as Dante finally made his way out of the cave after taking another 20 minutes to get past all the monsters that got in his way on the way out, his inventory now almost completely full. He approached a small group of players sitting outside the cave with a smile on his face.
"Hello everyone, how's it going?" Greeted Dante, smiling warmly at the group. His greeting was meet with a chorus of "hello" and "good".
"So any news on whether the boss room has been found yet?"
"Nah, no one has found it yet, sorry," replied a man who was wearing bronze plate armor and a helmet that covered his face completely.
"Okay thank you for your time." Dante said, hiding his frustration. He turned from the group and began walking towards the bridge.

Nearing the bridge Dante remembered that his inventory was already almost full thus leaving him no reason to continue to walk back to the town. Quickly swiping in the air he opened up his inventory and activated a teleport crystal, while he continued walking. "Ah back in town." Dante said to himself as he walked towards a bench by the teleportation portal. The town was a lot busier now than when Dante first got to floor 5 with more suppliers setting up shop for the clearers such as him.
This is nice but I do need to sell this stuff and get a new sword.. I guess I have to ask her for a hand again. Swiping the air Dante quickly opened up his friends list and with a sigh began composing the message.

Message
To: Sona
Subject: Miss you
Hello darling, I need your help again. Come to the 5th floor, I'm by the portal. Can't wait to see you.

After hitting the send button Dante closed the menu and lent back gazing into the sky.
 
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John Archer[Ranzatsu]

-Ranzatsu didn't have much to say in terms of the mans greeting, but the way he referred to him was annoying. John in his normal life had been 16 and was about 5'10 which was taller than most men grow in a lifetime. His in-game avatar had been made to look the same way, and when his own real appearance was integrated into it, there wasn't too much difference except for the hair color and style which was now shorter and black. The man was only about an inch above him, and didn't look much bigger than John himself so to be titled with a term such as "young man" caused some vexation. When he turned to the man his face held the default "POed" look that he wore in public in his normal life.-

"It is funny how you should call me a young man when I am just about as tall as you and look only a few years younger, maybe two but probably four at most. I don't require your gifts, and I'm not down, just annoyed. Your yelling is only worsening my mood and I would be grateful if you wouldn't do it again."

-Sending his gaze over the woman behind him once, he sighed slowly and continued on his way deeper into the cave.-
 
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