Floor 59
April 14 – Year 2
Joltron sat in bed, cross-legged, while he scrolled through the clothes Diemond had made him. He made his choice and switched. He would deal with his armor when he needed to. He enjoyed the pretty clothes she made them. He felt relaxed and comfortable, but manly.
Joltron got up and washed his face before he went to the door. His room was next to Lessa's. She was interested in Kiefer, and Kiefer was interested in her. Except he wasn't making a move, and neither was she. The most Kiefer was doing in that direction was waking her up in the morning and being the last person she saw before she went to bed. Neither of them had said anything to him or anyone else about it, but he had no problem seeing how it was.
Joltron listened and found that Kiefer was at Lessa's door. He opened his, hoping his disruption, once again, would push Kiefer and Lessa to finally declare something. Kiefer tried to act natural as Joltron interrupted them.
"Morning," Kiefer greeted him.
"Hey," Joltron said, unable to stifle a yawn. "Morning Lessa. We should get down before Thunder and Astro eat everything. I don't want to make AFCK make more. I know we impose limits on them-"
Lessa groaned. "I still fear it." She started to head to the stairs. "And we already are behind since they both are below us one floor."
"Good point," Joltron said.
Below, on the second floor, Joltron saw the soccer ball not only out in the open, but in the middle of the floor. Soccer was a sore subject in the guild because Astro and Thunderborne had made their own field on the second floor. They had nowhere else to play, but it caused havoc and a lot of commotion when they played. He got it out of the way and hid it under a couch so they couldn't find it easily. If they didn't see it, Astro or Thunderborne might forget and not play indoors.
Joltron watched Kiefer adjust his steps so that he let Lessa head down first. It was a ritual by now. Kiefer needed to stop the rituals and make a real move. It was getting ridiculous how long it had been going on.
Breakfast was the usual scene, and the food, while good, was also normal. Not much could be done with as little time as they had. AFCK could use more help in the kitchen.
For the day's dive into the labyrinth, they stacked heavy under Bladescape. She took Backbreaker, Astro, Thunderborne, Kiefer and Joltron. It was going to be a fun day. Joltron loved working with Astro. She was clean and efficient. Her experience with gaming and intuition, along with the reach of her spear, made the two of them an extremely deadly pair. Thunderborne being in the party was going to make things interesting. Who he worked with would shift, but his roll never would.
Once they finally began to fight skeletons, most of the time Joltron was working with Thunderborne and Kiefer. Thunderborne was a pain to work with, but he would never complain. She jumped around too much and made it hard, if not impossible, for him to block for her. Sure, the back and forth got boring, but she was a cocky fighter who used her agility to avoid. She spent a lot more energy dancing around than actually fighting. And if something went wrong, far too often she would be without immediate help. They were all solid in their levels, but the danger was real.
Joltron and Kiefer couldn't get a good flow going. Kiefer was having to pull a lot of aggro from Thunderborne. At least he was a skilled fighter, despite lacking a shield. He was their leader from the start for a reason. Joltron would still follow him to the gates of hell if it came to that, and Kiefer still had a lot to learn about leadership. He was learning well from watching Bladescape and Knightstar.
Joltron wasn't a sheep, but he wasn't a leader. He was a fighter, on the front lines. He knew how to make a stand. He knew how to think. He just didn't like to be the front man, unless it was the required battle order with tanks out front.
Lunch, was as always, amazing. He told AFCK whenever he could how much he enjoyed her food. What she did was so routine, they all forgot to thank her and she often thought little of it. She enjoyed cooking.
Joltron enjoyed helping her when he could in the kitchen. There It wasn't a lot he could do, but he could at least fetch ingredient and he could remove something from the stove or oven. The game was complex when it come to cooking, ownership, and the finished product. That or it was somehow related to AFCK's odd ability to flex the coded system. Either way, he could help and did when he could.
Seeing Kirito eat AFCK's offered cupcake brought a smile to his lips. He had fought in plenty of boss battles with the Black Swordsman. Under his cold outer shell was a kind and warm human being. He was doing his best to survive, and he was a good player. Joltron also couldn't help but smile over AFCK's happy reaction.
Thunderborne played a little nicer in the later battles after lunch. Joltron also got the chance to work with Astro. The two of them were very fluid in combat. Unlike Thunderborne, she expected Joltron to be more than a shield and actually strike back, fighting to give her the perfect opportunity to strike. When that moment came, it almost always meant a blast of polygons.
They were the group that met Fuurinkazan. It was always fun to run into them. They saw each other often enough, and would even run together informally at times, which usually ended at a split in the dungeon or labyrinth. This time, both Bladescape and Klein wanted a fresh start after they compared their maps. On top of that, they set down a plan to fine tune all of them as assault team members.
The next day was going to be fun. Joltron couldn't help but grin at the idea of once again running with Fuurinkazan Guild. They were great guys, and they were also guys. It was nice to have a few more males around. He loved the girls, but it was nice to have a few more boys to hang with.
The pair up would also mean AFCK would be cooking for 6 more players. She could handle it fine, but Joltron didn't want her to do it alone. Any help was help, even if she didn't need it. Why should it all fall on her shoulders when there was things he could do? Besides, Kiefer and Lessa would be occupied, and playing soccer always ended badly and usually with some pain as he got hit with the ball or tripped. Their gear was well maintained, meaning Lessa wouldn't need to do anything with it. Joltron would be on his own if he wasn't helping AFCK.
Once they were back home, Joltron changed out of his armor and into something he could get a little messy. Diemond hadn't made him any clothes designed to get floury or splattered with other cooking fluids, but he had some simpler garments that could take the beating.
"Need any help?" Joltron asked as he came in.
AFCK had headed straight to the kitchen and she was already floured up; cooking and baking.
“Yes!” Pinkie Pie laughed. “Take these rolls and this butter to the table. I will have more ready in ten minutes.”
Astro also came in to help get dinner to the table. She was considerate to how much AFCK had to do to cook for 11 of them. At least it was only 11.
After dinner, Joltron washed the dishes, a very easy task in SAO, while AFCK continued to get ready for the next day. Joltron hung out while she continued. She was working on a song they played in their band in the real world. She was not good at it at all, but she apparently was their drummer, which meant notes were non existent in her mind. Still, he wasn't going to leave just because she was still learning it on the fife.
It wasn't long until AFCK certainly didn't need him, and was almost done. He took his leave, so he could get to bed and be well rested. Days with Fuurinkazan tended to be long, hard, and hot. They pushed, in a good way. They usually did, at minimum, twice the mapping they could do separately. It was often three or four times as much. Of course, morale was also higher on those days and at points, it was actually fun. And not because they had more guys. Joltron preferred to have to play catch up as tank because everything was flowing so smoothly and quickly they didn't need to throw a heavy shield forward. That was different from what Thunderborne did jumping ahead.
Joltron sat crisscrossed on his bed, he pulled up his menu, navigating to his Skills slots. He opened up the Skill selector and clicked on "Cooking." He slid it into place over "Blunt Weapon Forging" and dropped it in.
Warning: This will reset the previous skill to 0. Do you wish to proceed?
He had been playing with this switch for a good week, and had thought about it longer. He rarely used the forge anymore. After a long day of work on the Front Lines, he didn't want to work on crafting skills. The most he did anymore was Metal Refining. Lessa needed material to fix their equipment, and Diemond would sometimes get metal ore cheaper than bars, so he refined what he could for her skill leveling. He wasn't able to do much because his skill level was so low though.
At this point in the game, he would never be able to craft useful weapons for the Wondercolts. He had come to accept that, mostly. He wasn't willing to wipe out making swords and axes yet, but only two Wondercolts used blunt weapons.
If he hit the blue circle, he could start cooking and actually help Pinkie Pie in the kitchen. And it was already fun assisting her. The kitchen was more than sufficient in size to be used by two cooks full time. The Wondercolts could certainly use two cooks over one.
Joltron jerked his hand, hitting "accept" before he once again overthought the decision. His heart stopped as he saw the skill lock in and then saw his progress was 0/1000. He had just wiped away hours, days, of hard work on that skill. All of it was gone now. Yet, it left him with a relief about it.
Joltron fell back on the bed. His menu automatically cut out from the excessive movement. Joltron took a deep breath in and let it out. He was a bit giddy from the exhilaration of switching skills, but he needed to get sleep. He took deep breaths in and slowly let them out until he calmed his mind and slipped into a light slumber.
Bladescape (SS): Lvl 79 – Two-Handed Sword – Search – Weapon Defense – Leather Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Sprint – Acrobatics – Blade Throwing – Extended Weight Carry
Knightstar (TS): Lvl 69 – One-Handed Sword – Shield – Equipment Appraisal – Parry – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Light Metal Armor – Search – Armor Pierce
Thunderborne (RBD): Lvl 72 – Rapier – Sprint – Acrobatics – Armor Pierce – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Leather Armor – Weapon Defense – Extended Weight Carry – Search
Backbreaker (AJ): Lvl 75 – Heavy Shield – One-Handed War Hammer – Extended Weight Carry – Heavy Metal Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Fishing – Search – Martial Arts – Acrobatics
AFCK(PP): Lvl 72 – Two-Handed Axe – Parry – Cooking – Weapon Defense – Martial Arts – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Light Metal Armor – Thrown Weapon – Musical Instrument
Diemond (R): Lvl 72 – Heavy Shield – Mace – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Heavy Metal Armor – Tailoring – Light Metal Armor Forging – Heavy Metal Armor Forging – Jewelry Making – Extended Weight Carry
Doombunny (FS): Lvl 69 – One-Handed Dagger – First Aid – Hide – Search – Listening – Battle Regeneration – Fighting Spirit – Familiar Communication (Colorra) – Drug Mixing – Reveal
Astro (PS): Lvl 72 – Two-Handed Spear - Purchase Negotiation – Armor Pierce – Acrobatics – First Aid – Light Metal Armor – Battle Regeneration – Weapon Defense – Parry – Extended Wight Carry
Kiefer: Lvl 69 – One-Handed Curved Blade – Parry – Weapon Defense – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Light Metal Armor – Slash Weapon Forging – Katana – Martial Arts
Lessa: Lvl 69 – One-Handed Sword – Shield – Light Metal Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Equipment Repair – Metal Equipment Repairing – Armor Pierce – Search
Joltron: Lvl 73 – One handed Axe – Heavy Shield – Heavy Metal Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Metal Refining – Cooking – One Handed Weapon Creation – Two Handed Weapon Creation – Extended Weight Carry