SAO: Roleplay

"One room is 50 col," I clarified, "I wanted to know if you have enough to get your own room." I told him, checking my own inventory. After the food, I had 57 col left, which was just enough, though I wouldn't be buying anything expensive anytime soon.

Checking my inventory, I realized something kinda depressing: I only had 47 Col, her duel victory probably giving her extra coin. "47 Col......so uh, this is awkward."

"Here," I said, opening the trade window and adding three col, "Nice try." I added, sticking out my tongue.

"Hey I wasn't trying anything!" I hollered after her, though I added "And thanks." Buying myself a room, but now completely broke, I trudged up the stairs. "So an hour of rest, then some late night hunting?"

"Yeah. As much as I want to just keep training, being exhausted's only going to slow us down in the long run." I said, "Plus, most other players will probably hang around the staring area for a bit, so we're pretty far ahead of them."

"Yeah......still, we should be careful. The monsters got more dangerous at nightfall," I reminded her as we reached our rooms. "Night then?"

"See you in an hour," I replied as I opened my door. "Wasn't it level 11 that this floor's dungeon becomes manageable?"

"Uh....I think so?" I said as I opened my door. "Maybe."

Aether stepped into town. She had farmed well on the way here, but only had maybe seventy Col right now. She began hunting, until she found a decent quest. Was mid-level, but she could fight her way to there and level up. If she maximized her farm on the route, she could hit level 3 easy.

It was what seemed like forever. She managed to get to the area, but was half her life gone. Drinking a potion, she marked mentally she had two of her original four left, and pressed on. She had to get to level five. She wouldn't sleep until then.
This quest was just one stepping stone.

And as she approached the area, and as wolves circled her, she drew her sword.
"Piss poor odds for you dogs."

Floor: 1
One Hour Later

I hadn't slept at all , but I'd rested a bit in the darkness of my room, trying to work out what exactly had happened today. It'd been helpful to analyse it. Now though, I was standing and re-equipping my gear. I stepped out into the lit hallway and waited for Tavi.

It wasn't that easy for me to sleep. And when I did, I dreamed I was back in the real world, and it hit me that dreaming was going to become the most hated experience of mine in this game. It was going to be like dangling a carrot in front of my nose.

That said, I was ready to go as I stepped out, and found Astra waiting. "Hey....sleep well?" I asked her.

"No." I told him bluntly. "Who could?" I added, leading the way down the stairs to the front door of the inn, "Which way?" I asked, stepping outside.

"Yeah, I didn't sleep well either," I said as we left the inn. I took the lead, walking out of town and down the steps. "Well, I remember two places in the beta: one's a cave with some kind of quest attached to it, the other is just an area where a lot of basic enemies spawn that we can farm. Take your pick."

"Which one's worth more?" I asked him, rubbing my arms as the artificial cold bit into them.

"Well the farming area is just XP and a small amount of gold. The cave will be worth more but it might be more dangerous.....unless you have healing crystals and teleport crystals?" I spoke as we moved down the steps from the town.

"We could do the quest first, then go to the farming spot, if we have time." I said, "We might as well pick up whatever quests we can."

"Yeah, alright," I said. "Well the quest location is nearby, so let's get moving." With that, I broke off from the road onto a dirt path that was headed for a large hill, plenty of woodland around us. Even though we were trapped in a death game, I still took a moment during the walk to appreciate just how detailed the game was. The cold night air against my skin and in my lungs, the sound of crickets chirping and leaves blowing gently in the wind, while the smell of those same leaves drifted to my nose. Kayaba may have been a psychotic asshole for locking us in a digital cage.....but hey, at least the damned thing was a gilded digital cage.

I stopped at the entrance to a cave, and looked at Tavi.
"Is this it?" I asked him, glancing into the cave.

"Yeah that's it," I said, and I walked over to the entrance, past Astra as I went further inside. There was a light from within that grew brighter, and I saw the familiar lantern held up by an NPC, taking the form of an average looking guy with a backpack and supplies. "Ho there," he called, and I saw the quest icon on his head. "I need help!" With that, I moved over to him and he began his explanation.

"My name's Anon. My men and I were hoping to lay claim to this cave and mine it, but there's monsters in there and we have neither the weapons or strength to clear it out. Please, I have the coin, and if you clear out that cave then I'll gladly pay you." The quest screen popped up, reading 'Clear the mine for Anon. Accept/Decline'. I hit accept, waiting for Astra to do the same since technically, we weren't in a party.

I accepted the quest, it was worth a fair bit of col and XP. Enough that we could easily gain a few more levels tonight, if we kept training for longer than we were going to. I opened Tavi's interaction menu, and pressed on "Invite to party".

"Oh sure," I chortled as I looked at her. "I take you to the quest and then you want to be party leader." Still, I clicked the accept invite button and joined the party. Now at least, we would share in the XP at the end of the quest.

"Well someone has to be the party leader," I said smirking, "You weren't inviting me any time soon, so..."
I walked into the cave, drawing my sword.

"Well fine then," I said. We entered the cave, the entrance turning into a tunnel, lanterns mounted on the wall and bathing us in orange light. "So.....if I remember correctly, there's supposed to be a few giant moles, and some fledgling skeletons. The skeletons are armed with swords and shields. Do we go with the switch maneuver?"

"If they manage to parry an attack, we switch," I said, "That way we won't get hit back."

"Right," I said. As we continued, I decided to get my sword out, and wondered if this was going to be okay or not. It was after all, still a basic sword. That was when the ground ahead trembled, and erupted in ask small fountain of dirt as one of the giant mole rats emerged. It was a naked mole rat the size of German Shepherd, teeth half as long as my sword, and it growled out as it saw us. "Hey ere Rufus," I called to it. "Just watch the ground," I said to Astra. "These guys can do ambush attacks."

"Yeah I kn-" I started to answer Tavi as the ground next to me cracked and moved, a mole rat exploding out of it, giving me barely enough time to move away from it, "I know," I finished, getting ready to fight it off. I activated my trusty lunge skill and made the first hit.

I couldn't afford to spare Astra a glance, much as I wanted to. Activated my sword skill, my blade took on a blue aura and my stance changed. The mole rat before me snarled, and lunged forward at me in a leap, and I attacked with a vertical slash that caught it in the face, and dealt a huge amount of damage. But it was still alive, tossed back by the hit and sent to the ground, where it stood back up and readied another attack. "Astra, you okay?"

I heard Tavi's question, but didn't get time to answer as the mole rat I was fighting pounced forwards. I dropped to the ground and rolled underneath it, coming back to my feet behind it. Not wasting a second, I darted forwards, my sword gaining that familiar blue light as I readied another skill to, hopefully, kill the mole rat.

There was a strange thing where the mole rat I was fighting.....seemed to activate a skill. See, it's teeth began to glow like a skill activation, and it lunged at me again. Not wanting to see what happened, I sidestepped the attack and slapped it out of the air with my sword, killing it in a shower of pixels.

My skill connected, and my own mole rat shattered into pixels, though not before a low-damage bite took away a small amount of my health.
"So how many things do we need to kill?" I asked Tavi, straightening up from my fighting stance.

"We're supposed to get the end of the tunnel to a large chamber at the end. There's a few more mole rats along the way....and then after that, the more dangerous skeletons." They weren't just going to be walking bones either. They'd have been wearing some kind of leather armor and using weapons, spears mostly. "I remember that along the way, there's some hidden areas you have to look for with extra loot. Come on, I remember the way," I said, continuing forward.

I followed Tavi, making sure to glance at the ground to check for the give-away breaking before a mole rat ambush.
"Do you think the floor dungeon's in the same place as it was in the beta?" I asked, "Or even if it's been checked yet?"

"Same place, definitely. Checked yet.......probably not. Even in the beta, the floor dungeon was not a place to explore lightly. People will want to level up first." I found the spot, a small passage that was easy to miss. Stepping inside, I found a somewhat cramped room, but a chest was there at the end against the wall. "There she is.....want to check it out?" I asked Astra.

"Yeah, split whatever's in there 50/50?" I asked, stepping into the room cautiously.

"Sure thing," I said, and I stepped in and opened the chest. No traps, no hidden enemies, and no fanged toothed treasure chest attempting to bite my head off. All good signs. Instead of finding anything physical, he got a screen that showed what he got. 150 Col, and a dagger. "Money and a weapon.....so 75 Col for us both...land the dagger? We can sell it and split the profits."

"It could have better stats than our current weapons," I said, "If it is, it'd make more sense to use it. If not, then we should sell it."

She had a fair point, so I opened my inventory and brought the dagger. It appeared in my hand, a steel blade that was slightly curved. Tapping it, I brought up the item ID. "Steel Fang Dagger, does five more damage than my sword. No other buffs though.....I prefer a sword to be honest."

"Do you mind if I have it?" I asked, "It's closer to what I used in the beta than a sword is," I said, "Plus, extra damage is always nice."

"Sure thing," I said. Bringing my inventory back up, I selected the dagger and chose the gift option, giving it to Astra. "Not exactly the kind of gift I ever imagined giving a girl......but hey, at least it's practical," I joked.

"I probably wouldn't give a girl a dagger in the real world," I said, laughing, "But it's a very thoughtful gift."

I accepted the trade and equipped the dagger, holding it with the blade facing downwards.

"Okay then, let's get back to it," I said, leading the way back out, we walked down only a few feet before another group of mole rats spawned. "Want to test the dagger out?" I asked her.

"Gladly," I said, swinging it behind me. It glowed blue, and I launched an attack. It was a lot faster than a sword was, but had a smaller blade and therefore less reach. The attack connected, and I saw the difference in damage, it wasn't enough to kill the rat, but it definitely made it easier. I even managed to get a second skill ready before the mole rat attacked, but it could still attack before I'd launched it. When I did launch it after the rat had missed, it exploded into a shower of pixels. "I love it." I said.

The sound of metal striking metal. An Ingot being hammered by a Smith. The Ingot glows and takes form.
Time seems to pass slowly. Perhaps that's just his mind wandering while he works. Leveling skills takes time, but it leaves time for the mind to wander.
The rustling of bushes nearby.
He sat cross legged, hiding skill active, meditating. Listening to the world around him. Honing as much as he could at once.
A player runs through the forest. heading north.

Activating my own skill and attacking my own rat, I brought its health down to half before I spun and hit again, no skill this time just my own. The rat was cut in half, exploding into sparks before I started moving to the next rat.

"Wanna practise switching?" I asked Tavi from the sidelines of his fight, "It'd probably be good to check it still works."

"Yeah sure," I said to Astra, right as another mole rat emerged and got ready to attack. I let it charge me and attack, blocking at the last second and sending it reeling back as I shouted "Switch!"

At the signal, I darted forward, my dagger glowing blue. I struck the mole rat, doing damage before it could react.
"Switch!" I shouted, jumping away from the rat.

Dashing forward with my sword behind me, I activated a lunge skill and impaled the rat with the blade, skewering it before it burst into pixels. "Not bad, looks like we got the hang of it," I said,

"Yeah," I said, "Let's hope the newbies can learn it fast enough."
I started walking deeper into the cave, pausing at the beginning of a slightly wider section, "I think I see a skelly up ahead."

"Let me check," I said, and I stood next to her, activating my detection skill. It was still pretty low, but thankfully so was the skeletons level. I spotted him at the other end, shambling about with a stone headed axe. "He's there, axe weapon."