Episode 12 - General Graardor And His Goblin Army
Episode 12 - General Graardor And His Goblin Army
Twentieth day in the Month of Cypress (November 20) in the Year of the Hawk
Floor 1 - North Northwest of Tolbana - 8 a.m.
The sun had moved from between the floors, to the artificial one on the ceiling. They were close to the mountains, north northwest of Tolbana, and very close to the outside of Aincrad. Malus and Thunderborne were arguing about whether or not they could actually get to the outside of the floating castle, and if they could, would they, theoretically, be able to jump or would the system have a barrier preventing that. It had started with the idea of climbing the outside to get to the next floor and deteriorated from there, not that the argument had any merit to start. It was all conjecture but they were probably trying to distract themselves from the fear of the upcoming fight.
It was annoying Bladescape, but she kept it pushed out of her mind so that at least one of them was focused on their task. They were here to kill General Graardor, take his head back to Tolbana, and hopefully bring peace to the area by installing General Wartface and General Bentnose as the reigning officers of the goblins of Floor One.
“Right there,” Knightstar said. She was the first to speak, outside of Malus and Thunderborne, since they left the city, and it shut both of them up. “That canyon has the goblin war camp.”
“That will make it difficult to maneuver,” Bladescape said. “I was hoping it would be more open, but that is a highly defensible position. I don’t see our Goblin friends either.”
“It was a good shot,” Natora said. “But we all knew it was a long one. Now for the real focus. Graardor won’t be alone and he likely won’t come out without us killing enough of his underlings. There is no way he isn’t a boss.”
“I agree, '' Bladescape said. “So tactics; Three squads, focused on our shields. Diemond, Konpeito, and Thunder, take our right flank. Malus, Doom, and Natora will hold the center. Knightstar and I will take our left.
“The goblins will probably have enough room to flank us, and we won’t be able to stop them. Shields, focus forward, because Graardor will be coming. The rest of us, try and not let them flank us, but if they do, go back-to-back so none of us are hit from behind. Let’s not rush in, but we need to push forward, as best as we can. If we are too cautious, it will take more time, and more time means more chances that we can get badly hurt, or worse.”
“We have to commit,” Natora agreed. “We all have good weapons and equipment, the best in the game at the moment, and our levels are at the top of the curve too. We can do this.”
Bladescape put her hand out. The others put theirs on top of hers and they rallied, “Go Wondercolts!”
They took up their battle formations and moved forward into the canyon. It immediately widened out, giving them plenty of room to fight, but also exposing their flanks more. Barely a hundred meters in front of them was a wooden fortress complete with towers and with stakes along the bottom to prevent the walls from being climbed. Goblins walked along the wall of the fortress, meaning they had a rampart, not just a wall. A long row of stakes were set up halfway between the entrance, and the fortress, with an opening in the center. They were spotted immediately and drums began to beat. Goblins poured out of the fortress, whooping and hollering as they did their weird hobble-skipping run.
“Malus! Hold the center between the stakes!” Bladescape ordered.
Malus charged forward with a reckless abandon only she could muster. Her shield didn’t matter, or her hammer. She had to get herself to that spot before they did. She had a new chest plate and helmet to give her the confidence to hold the line.
Malus didn’t make it. The goblins got there first. She didn’t stop though. Malus put her shield up, bracing it with her shoulder, and rammed into the goblins. Quite a few skipped around her, but the others behind them hadn’t seen her coming and she slammed into them, forcing them to pile into each other as she stopped their charge. She held them at the gap between the stakes.
Thunderborne and Natora attacked the goblins that made it past. With their new weapons, they killed them with ease. Konpeito and Bladescape were slower, but while Natora and Thunder were busy, the two of them got themselves in between Malus and the other goblins, keeping them from striking her in the back.
Diemond went to support Malus by adding another shield. She rammed into them like Malus had, and bounced off them, falling backwards without any grace. She immediately rolled up onto her feet and this time stayed up when she rammed into them.
“Not bad,” Malus laughed. “For a dainty fashionista, yah make a pretty good tank. I'll have to teach yah how to keep your feet planted proper.”
“Well, someone has to bring grace and elegance to the role,” Diemond replied.
“Yah certainly do,” Malus laughed.
Knightstar added her shield on Malus’ left. She was more calculated in her approach. Over her shield she began to stab the goblins, in an effort to break the shoving match.
With the goblins behind their line killed, the other Wondercolts turned their attention to supporting their shields. It didn’t matter as the goblins began to go over the wall of spikes. It was designed to keep enemies out, not the goblins in.
“Thunder!” Natora called. “Go right, I’ll go left. Pick them off as they jump over. They are most vulnerable then, so use your speed to your advantage!”
“Konpeito and I will take the shields’ immediate flanks,” Bladescape added as she grabbed Konpeito by the arm before she got distracted.
Goblins vaulted around their shields as they rushed to get their friends’ aid. It was too late as one swung its ugly sword. It shattered into polygons and then the next one shattered.
“Huh?” Konpeito asked as Bladescape dragged her to the fight. “What killed the gobs?”
“I’m assuming it was Doom, with Hide activated,” Bladescape replied.
“But Hide doesn’t protect from monsters, only players.”
“I didn’t say they couldn’t see her,” Bladescape said. She spun Konpeito around a few times, like they were playing pin the tail on the unicorn, to reset her mind and pushed Konpeito off to battle. “Now go protect our friends.”
Bladescape joined Knightstar’s side. Knightstar was doing major damage against the goblins, but she needed her side protected as two slipped over the barricade and charged her. Bladescape blocked one and shoved the other into the spikes to stop its advance. There were very light creatures. The goblin stuck its head directly on a spike and became polygons.
The Goblins suddenly backed up, breaking contact.
“Boss!” Natora yelled, warning them.
The drum beat changed to a rapid pounding like a thousand horses galloping past. The walls created an echo that easily doubled the sound. Out of the open gates came a vomit yellow behemoth. It looked like an oversized goblin that was the spawn of a cave troll, sired by an ogre, and raised by giants. A well-muscled body covered by fat, extra long arms, a beak-like nose on a small head, and carrying a boulder lashed onto a tree limb, at the fork. It bellowed an odd screech that was somehow deep.
Two health bars popped up above its head, along with “General Graardor.”
“Multiple health bars!” Knightstar exclaimed.
It laughed at her. “Scared, little human? You are thin, not good for eating, or fighting. Your bones will still make a good broth for our stews. But I am rude. Why have you come here and disturbed me?”
“We came for your head,” Bladescape declared. “To literally bring it back to Tolbana, and stop the attacks on the city.”
It laughed at them all. “You can certainly try! But my army will continue to fight you. Leave now with your lives, while I am still lazy.”
“No!” Bladescape stated. “We stated our purpose, so do your worst!”
“Foolish humans who are easy to squish. There are not enough of you to win against me.”
“Back the shields up,” Natora ordered. They followed her orders, making a steady retreat but never turning their backs. “Everyone step back a bit more. We will need the room to maneuver.”
“You can’t outwit me. I am general for a reason! A-” General Graardor paused. “What is this? The two rats who scampered free have come to try and leech off the battle.”
Bladescape glanced behind her and saw General Wartface and General Bentnose standing side by side in the entrance to the canyon.
General Wartnose raised his sword. “We come for what is rightfully ours. Goblins of the New Order-” he swiped his sword down as he yelled “charge!”
The two of them rushed forward. Behind them was the entire forest goblin army. General Graardor howled and charged at the girls. His army attacked the other goblins, forgetting about the humans.
"Strategy!" Natora yelled. "He is clearly slow and lacks agility. Hit and move! His strengths are well, strength and none of you want to get hit with that rock he is swinging! Not even with a shield!"
Since she was talking, his first swing was at Natora. She skipped out of the way, just in time. The thud from the rock caused her to slip and hit the ground hard.
Bladescape did the only logical thing, she struck with the Red Sun Sword. The slice along his arm turned his attention to her, not at an exposed Natora. As the General swung his club up to bring it down on her, the head smashed one of his own goblins. He didn't care as he brought it down on Bladescape. She had no problem dodging it. He had such a big wind up for the attacks, it was easy to dodge.
Malus, Diemond, Knightstar, and Thunderborne all scored hits while he was trying to pick up the club again. They were quick and efficient, keeping to simple skills to not get stuck in longer delays, and then they split back up to try and keep him busy as long as possible.
On the other hand, Konpeito was doing her own thing. Bladescape watched her use the beard of her axe to pull a mountain goblin's leg out from under him while he was fighting one of the forest goblins. She buried her Dane Axe in its back, ending its time in Aincrad, and then skipped off to whatever target found her fancy.
Bladescape charged General Graardor as he tried to smash Diemond. She slashed at his blubberous butt and he howled in agony as she retreated to a safe distance. Two goblins fighting were in her way, so she took a cue from Konpeito and ran the bad one through. Eliminating the enemy goblins in the chaos was not a bad idea. Especially if it helped in the long run. The forest goblins might be able to lose, regardless of the Wondercolts’ progress.
The others were also killing any enemy goblins that got in their way, but the forest goblin battle quickly shifted to the fortress, with General Bentnose in the lead. General Wartface was dealing with the stragglers outside the fortress.
The girls took off the first HP bar after several minutes. His attacks were limited to an overhead smash with a big wind up, and a low swing. They were both easy to see coming and dodge if you paid attention.
Knightstar misjudged an overhead attack. She was close enough to Malus that General Graardor had to decide who he wanted to hit with the stone above his head. At the last moment, he switched targets. He was denied as Malus pushed Knightstar out of the way, taking the blow in her shield. Metal groaned under the weight of the rock, but Malus held her shield overhead, bent down on one knee for stability. Her shield snapped in half, shattering into polygons, and Malus rolled to the side, avoiding the club's final descent.
"Well, that went better than expected," Malus stated. She was deep in the red. Her taunt was focused on the General. "If I had another shield, I could do that all day." She downed a health potion and backed up, out of his immediate target zone. Without a backup shield, she was useless as a tank, but she still had her hammer. Knightstar and Diemond needed theirs, although they would not have the mental strength to stop such an object.
Natora stabbed Deliverance deep into the General's side and then withdrew it. That ended the pause in their fight. They continued with the same strategy, getting General Graardor almost in the red of his second health bar.
Bladescape was once again targeted. She stood still, waiting to move as he brought the rock club down on her. Out of nowhere, Konpeito slid in between his legs on her back and swung her axe up, right between his legs. She slipped away as quickly as she came.
General Graardor groaned and let his weapon go as he clutched at his groin, and then dropped to his knees. The hit brought him into the red. Bladescape surged forward. Her sword glowed as she triggered a Sword Skill that was an overhead slash. She jumped, kicking off his fatty body and turning to bring the sword down over his neck. It sliced clean through and Bladescape was left trying to break her fall. She did a half decent job landing in a roll and was able to turn around in time to see him floating away as the colorful fragments that made up this world.
The others had all landed hits as he went down, including Doombunny and Konpeito. They cheered as the fanfare played and “Congratulations” appeared above them. Windows popped up in front of each of them. Bladescape had an extra one on top of hers for Graardor’s head.
General Wartface and General Bentnose strode out of the wooden fortress.
"It is ours!" General Wartface exclaimed. "You held up your end, and so will we. We will not attack any human settlements and work to bring all of the goblins under our banner. Like we said, we are rather independent, but we will do our best. We don't want you coming to hunt our heads."
"No, we do not," General Bentnose confirmed, shaking his head at the idea. They clearly knew how it would end up.
“Here is a treaty with our signatures, declaring peace and our intentions,” General Wartface said, handing Bladescape a rolled-up piece of paper.
"As added thanks, we have some things we think you should have," General Bentnose said. "Graardor killed many adventurers over his reign and he collected their stuff as trophies. He no longer needs those trophies and we can’t use them. This is the human stuff you might find useful."
Two goblins came out with sacks full of stuff slung over their backs.
"Thank you," Bladescape said, bowing to the two generals. "It is appreciated. This has been a most fortuitous arrangement for us all."
"We agree," General Wartface replied. "Good luck with your adventures."
The two generals walked back into their newly claimed fortress.
"Let's take it and go," Natora said. "We can sort it out back at Tolbana."
"Agreed," Malus said as she grabbed a sack and threw it over her shoulder.
"Are we done here?" Konpeito asked.
"Yes," Bladescape said.
"Who got the baddie's head?"
"I did," Bladescape said. "Now we have to take that other sack of look back with us."
"Okay!" Konpeito exclaimed. She grabbed it and slung it over her shoulder like it weighed nothing."
They began the long trek back to Tolbana. It was slow, with everyone’s inventories full of loot. Crappy loot, but loot. They made it back just before noon. They immediately went to Captain Markus.
"Am I to believe that, from the bags you are carrying, you were successful?" He asked before they could say anything.
Bladescape swiped up her menu. She pulled out the General's head and the peace treaty. "As promised, General Garrardar’s head. Also, the goblin generals, Wartface and Bentnose, have agreed to not attack any human settlements. This is the treaty, with their signatures. They advised that while they now have control over some of the goblins. Smaller, independent bands will exist outside their control."
Captain Markus took both and read the treaty. He rolled it back up. "We can deal with the small bands," Captain Markus stated. "They rarely dare to attack since they are smaller in number than our guard units and much weaker. It was their army that had the power to fight us head on. I can't believe that you succeeded in brokering peace."
"We happened to settle a disagreement between the two generals several days ago,” Bladescape explained. “From it, we learned that they had been kicked out of the mountain settlement. We offered them their position back, if they wanted it, so long as they don't attack Tolbana. They know what we did. They saw us kill General Graardor. They know we will easily do the same thing to them if they break their promise."
"You have done this city a great service and you have done me personally a great service. Take this col as reward, and then as promised, here is a Tolbana Round Shield and my ancestor's mace."
"Thank you," Bladescape said, taking the items. "We will be in town for several more days, if you need any more help."
"I wish I had more I needed done," he said. "Because I know you can get it done. I don't know of any tasks at the moment. If any come up, I will send a guard to find you."
The fanfare of leveling up played, as each of them moved to Level 12.
"Let's grab food and meet at our accommodations," Bladescape immediately said. "Doom, and Thunder, can you please get us food. Diemond wants to start sewing, and the rest of us either have gear to carry or need to sort it out."
"Sure," Doombunny said. "We can do that. We will grab something good, because I think we deserve it."
"I agree," Bladescape said.
They split and headed to the house. In the room with the table, they laid everything out. Most of it ended up on the bed or leaning against the wall. Knightstar had put her fourth skill as Item Appraisal. It was leveling up quickly as she looked at each one and wrote down the details in the journal she had bought.
All in all, the two sacks gave them four sets of Ancient Chainmail shirts, two Ancient Barbuta Helmets, two Ancient Chainmail Coifs, one Ancient Leather Chest Plating, one Ancient Leather Vendel Helmet, a Duster's Cloak, a pair of Ironwalker’s Boots, a pair of Ancient Lancer’s Bracers, one Ancient Telmarine Shield, one Ancient Telmarine War Hammer, six Ancient Solder Swords, two Ancient Soldier Axes, one Ancient Soldier Great Axe, one Ancient Soldier Great Mace, one Ancient Soldier Falchion, and one Ancient Soldier Mace. The Great Axe and Great Mace had the prefix of "great' because they were two handed weapons.
After a quick check, the mace given as a bonus reward, simply named "Engraved Mace,'' was the best weapon for Diemond. Statistically speaking, the larger Tolbana Round Shield was best given to Diemond, rather than Knightstar. She needed the larger and stronger shield to play her role as a tank.
Malus didn’t need the shield because she got a double upgrade, the Ancient Telmarine Shield and Ancient Telmarine War Hammer. The Telmarine Shield and War Hammer had griffons on them. The shield was an orange kite shield with a black griffon on its face, while the hammer had the orange griffon embossed on the side of the head and orange leather grip. The stats for the shield outclassed the Tolbana Round Shield by a decent amount. The hammer was significantly better than her previous one as well.
The Ironwalker’s Boots were a classless armor leather boot; a cross between an equestrian boot and a modern combat boot. They boosted the wearer’s speed and agility. Thunderborne was the one who would benefit most from them. She was happy to be given them.
The Ancient Lancer’s Bracers were a classless armguard. They had a significant defense boost and came with an enchantment. They would not allow the arms to be severed. The armor would break instead. Natora was given them to use along with her spear because her arms were the most exposed.
The Duster's Cloak was given to Doombunny because it boosted both the Hide and Search Skills, while also providing great defensive stats for a classless armor piece. She easily wrapped herself in its folds and the center slit became indistinguishable when she secured it with the hidden buttons and loops. It was almost as if she was wrapped in a dusty tan curtain. With the hood up, it put a shadow over her face, making it hard for anyone to see it. It was also light enough that she could sweep it behind her shoulders like a cape if it was in the way. It even came with a button and loop hidden under the cloak that could secure it open and behind her for battle.
Out of all the weapons they got from the day’s loot, Knightstar's Anneal Blade was still better. Konpeito's Ancient Dark Steel Dane Axe was the same way.
When they sat down to look at their fourth skill slots, several of them had already made their choices. They were, of course, free to do so, but they were trying to be smart in their early survival. Level 12 was the last time they expected to need to focus their Skills for the collective good. Knightstar taking on Item Appraisal had already been discussed. The surprises came from Malus, who had chosen First Aid, and Doombunny, who chose Blade Throwing. Throwing knives, ninja stars, and other such weapons were the only "ranged" weapons. It was a smart move for Doombunny, albeit unexpected.
Natora chose the much-needed weapon defense skill. It was a tossup between that, and an armor skill. For the time being, her classless leather equipment was sufficient for the job. Thunderborne also chose Weapon Defense, but that was because she didn't want armor slowing her down until she had built up her Sprint and Acrobatic Skills a little further. At level 20 she would be forced to adopt an armor skill.
Konpeito and Diemond chose Light Metal Armor. Diemond's goal was to get to Heavy Metal Armor as soon as possible, just like Malus was planning. Konpeito and Diemond were both given an Ancient Barbuta Helmet. Diemond was able to equip the Ancient Chainmail of Durin. Konpeito was given an Ancient Chainmail shirt, and so was Knightstar.
Bladescape had chosen Leather Armor for her Skill. It was decided that she would take the Ancient Leather Chest Plating. She didn't want the helmet, which was okay with Thunder since she wanted it for when she unlocked Leather Armor. The plating was clearly weathered and worn, with faded impressions of very elaborate decorations that had once been stamped into the hardened leather pieces. It almost looked like bronze armor, but the color wasn’t uniform due to the wear and tear of the ages.
Every Wondercolt now had gotten some form of armor upgrade from the goblin loot. Knightstar and Doombunny were the only ones who didn’t get weapon upgrades. Doombunny’s reason for taking the second dagger the day before was still unexplained, but it was extra and Bladescape was sure that outside of her and Knightstar, everyone else had forgotten about it. Natora probably had let it go as well since it wasn’t relevant.
The extra weapons they now had was one Ancient Soldier Rapier, nine Ancient Soldier Longswords, four Ancient Soldier Axes, one Ancient Soldier Great Axe, one Ancient Soldier Great Mace, one Ancient Soldier Falchion, one Ancient Soldier Mace, One Ancient Soldier Dao, and five ancient knives of various names. Plus the extra armor; three Ancient Chainmail Shirts and two Ancient Chainmail Coifs.
"We have plenty of equipment now," Bladescape said. "We should see who comes first while we do more quests. Then we can start to sell or trade these spare ancient weapons. Our target will be the players who could most benefit from them.
"I think that, for the rest of the day, we should take a break. We have pushed hard today, the past few days, and really, the past few weeks. Since we got stuck in SAO, it has basically been non-stop combat, focused on survival. I think we can say that we are out of survival mode, and now need to find what it means to live in Aincrad. It still is dangerous, we must never forget that, but we are not struggling financially, for equipment, and our health and stats are in good standing. We have some more quests we can do in Tolbana, but nothing important.
“Getting to Level Thirteen should be a focus, but we won't be able to easily do that with the quests left and the monsters available. For our crafters, we need to push forward on that angle.”
The others agreed and most of them left. Before they did, Knightstar took their individual goblin drops, listing them out on a receipt, so that Natora could sell them for the most profit.
Bladescape and Diemond went with Natora. Natora sold Diemond's stuff first, so the fashionista could go get materials for sewing. Then she sold Bladescape's and finally her own. Bladescape didn't rush off though. She stayed with Natora, looking at the weapons and equipment while Natora finished the rest of the transactions.
There wasn't anything worth buying, even for armor. Bladescape still had to check though, for her own mind’s sake. Once she was satisfied, she grabbed durable food for dinner and retired to the room. She sat at the table and opened her book of memories, to continue relearning what she had forgotten.
Bladescape missed Natora coming into the room.
"So, what did you get?" Natora asked. She wasn't even interested in the book.
Bladescape closed it and set it face down to hide her cutie mark on the cover. "What do you mean?"
"A boss always drops good loot, but they drop something special for the player who scored the final hit. In SAO, like many other games, it's known as the Last Attack Bonus, or L A B. You don't have to tell me, but I am curious. You got the goblin head, so it is safe to assume you got the LAB."
Bladescape let out a sigh and pulled up her menu. She pulled the item out of her storage. It was a pair of leather gloves. There was nothing fancy about them, although the leather looked like it had a red tint to the brown. "Gloves of Quickness," Bladescape said. "They drop my delay time by two percent for any attack while wearing them."
"That's a good drop," Natora said. "And Graardor was a low-level boss. Think about what a dungeon boss will drop, or better yet, a floor boss. They are the ones who will give a guaranteed unique drop for the Last Attack Bonus."
"I want it," Bladescape said, a feeling rising up inside her. It wasn’t greed, but it was a strong desire. "Teamwork is important, but I want every single one I can score."
Natora nodded to her. "You will have competition, especially from our group once they learn. But it's good competition, centered on us all becoming better for our collective sake. Thunder is fast and, as a damage dealer, she will often be in a position to score the LAB, but Konpeito...she has a knack for putting her axe exactly where it needs to be to do the most damage. She seems so distracted but don’t be fooled by it. She was one-shotting the goblins, meaning she was scoring critical hits.”
“I never noticed,” Bladescape admitted. “Although, now that you mention it, from what I recall she does have a knack for putting that axe exactly where it needs to be.”
"Another question?” Natora asked.
"What's on your mind?" Bladescape asked.
"These ancient weapons,” Natora said, looking around the room where they were scattered about. “They were not in the beta.” She tossed a small book on the table. “The item shop has been giving these out for free. It's a guidebook. It looks like, while it took a few days, some of the Beta Testers pulled together a really good guide for this floor, along with tactics, and other basic stuff. Stuff I taught our group. It's built for players to use for their survival. They even have a list of weapons in the shops of each town, and other weapons found throughout the first floor, including my old spear.
“However, there is no mention of any ‘ancient’ weapons. I'm surprised such powerful weapons were so easily collected by us. All of them were in two large caches, not spread throughout the floor like a typical game would do. I don't really get why though. It is a big change from the Beta. I expected changes, like my spear which I still am sore about, but this change is more like a restructure, and the weapons almost nullify the Anneal Blade and that quest, ignoring the XP. Knightstar almost switched so she could have an ancient weapon like the rest of you. Plus, there are a lot of them, but no spears. It doesn’t make sense. A sensible change was the shift in the reward for my quest, not these though.”
"You want to know my thoughts," Bladescape asked. "My real, unfiltered thoughts?"
"Of course," Natora said with a nod.
"I dove with my geode around my neck. I'm certain the others did as well. I know we covered the major stories and I am certain Dash told you others. They all involve magic, our magic, but there is no magic in SAO. It's a computer game, based in code, zeroes and ones, and it doesn't even have magic scripted in to be used by us. But the magic we have, it’s tied to us, our soul. We hoped to escape it during our trip to Camp Everfree, but that didn't work. The distance from our school, the epicenter of our magical abilities, didn't matter because it's inside us, it's changed us.
"There is no direct way the magic can assist us, but there are indirect ways. If it works with the coding and the game engine, not against but with, to give us better drops and such, it would be helping free us and therefore be protecting us. It would have to be small enough to go unnoticed. Anything more would risk the game reading it as outside tampering, causing it to kill us, or doing something to us for cheating, or even other players catching on and calling us cheaters. That is a possibility, and we don’t want a bad rep because we ‘might’ have a little extra luck. It doesn't explain the addition of the ancient weapons though, so my immediate thoughts could easily be invalid. Or I could be grasping at straws, hoping for something that is impossible, since we are governed by different laws in SAO. There are too many unknowns and, from inside, we can't know. We are very limited in our field of view."
"That is a valid observation," Natora said, thinking it over. "It does explain when we basically got this ancient gear dropped on us in the quantity it did, because it got the drops worked into it without the game realizing it. It also explains why it only gave gear you all could use, since I don’t have a necklace. You also are right that it has to be careful not to get caught, because it could easily cause us to be harmed.
“I think that it is wise to hope for small assistance. If we are to get out of here, we will need every advantage we can get. Besides, I know from Thund-, from Dash that you girls are not going to live in this world without helping where you can. If you get a little extra help, it will be pushed out to help as many others as possible. You can’t not help people, which is great! And even if the magic isn’t helping, hope is a strong force in its own right. So, hope, hope that we are getting the high end of col drop statistics, but stay anchored in here.
"A third question. What are you reading? Not a lot of books are available. I’m sure others will write and publish stuff to sell soon, and some other novels from the outside might be available to purchase soon, but very little, if anything, is currently available, outside the guidebook."
Bladescape sighed. "Stress induced amnesia. Nothing too terribly important, but all my Iaido lessons, and specifically the leadership lessons, were locked away by the shock of being stuck in SAO. The morning before we finally got me to sleep, I had a visitor. It was my memories. It gave me a book with them all transcribed. It's not cheating since they are my own memories. I'm sure it sounds crazy. I was pretty out of it."
"Not really," Natora shrugged. "Yeah, you were out of it, we all were, and we were getting concerned about your sleep issue, but we all had issues and were wondering who was really on the verge of breaking. Considering that our brains are hooked up to devices that read them, it's not illogical to think that our memories could influence the game in certain ways, or be read by the game engine for its use. This is a very complex system with little understanding of how it works. Kayaba was really the only one who understood the full scope of what SAO was capable of and after beta testing, I think he was so silent about it because a lot of what it really could do, or would do, was untestable."
"Let's keep the memory thing quiet,” Bladescape said. “We wouldn't want the others getting concerned over nothing."
"My lips are sealed," Natora assured her with a nod. “Like you said, it was nothing dangerous and you sprang back really well that morning. Obviously, it helped.”
“I sort of had a direct conversation with myself and it could answer back,” Bladescape said, unable to resist laughing.
Natora joined in. “Oh gosh, that is crazy. What was it like, looking at yourself?”
“Well, it wasn’t myself exactly,” Bladescape explained, chuckling a bit more. “It was my memories, in the form of what I found both comforting, attractive, and ultimately, what a warrior was, because that is the path in SAO I chose.”
“Young samurai who looks like he is very wise?”
“Absolutely,” Bladescape nodded. “Auspiciously bald, yet strong; confident, but serene. He had a sword, but he was in a silk kimono, not armor, and sandals.”
“I wish I had seen this,” Natora chuckled. “But at least I hear about it now.”
“Just picture a young, bald samurai and you will get an idea of what I saw.”
BLADESCAPE: Level 12 — Two-Handed Sword — Searching — Weapon Defense — Leather Armor
NATORA: Level 12 — Two-Handed Spear — Purchase Negotiations — Sales Negotiation — Weapon Defense
KNIGHTSTAR: Level 12 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Equipment Appraisal
MALUS: Level 12 — One-Handed War Hammer — Shield — Light Metal Armor — First Aid
THUNDERBORNE: Level 12 — Rapier — Sprint — Acrobatics — Weapon Defense
KONPEITO: Level 12 — Two-Handed Axe — Cooking — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor
DIEMOND: Level 12 — Mace — Shield — Sewing — Light Metal Armor
DOOMBUNNY: Level 12 — One-Handed Dagger — Hide — Fighting Spirit — Blade Throwing
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great update! I eagerly await more!
You know, I don’t think you ever answered my question. Will this story have the haremish elements that the original Sword Art Online light novel/anime had?
Things are going well enough. Now, I wonder how things will go from here, especially once others begin coming into town.
11609470
There are no harem elements in the original story. The anime studio kind of shoved those in, and it's kind of been a misconception ever since.
Telmarine... Isn't that a Narnia reference?
Another victory, and they keep getting stronger.
11609778
It is indeed
11609470
11609731
There is no "haram" for Kirito, especially in the light novels. Yes, a lot of girls fall for him, but he only falls for one. And it's not the fault of the other girls. They always meet him without Asuna around and he saves them. But his eyes are only for Asuna.
So, none of the girls will fall for Kirito. I need Kirito and Asuna to both be themselves, so certain canon aspects of the light novels have to stay true. Light Novels > Progressives > Anime > Manga. SAO was originally written as a serial novel. The anime is okay, they did a decent job adapting it. Some things are quite dated because of when Reki Kawahara wrote it.
11609778
I'm glad some readers notice.
11609930
I love Easter Eggs. Lots of fun eggs hidden all through the story. Yes, it is a reference to the "Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian." Technically Dawn Treader a bit too, but specifically Caspian. I love the series and much of what Lewis writes, but he is not the only place I drawn inspiration from.
11610291
Fair enough. You certainly explained it better than I could've.
agree,"*
Welp, there's no turning back now.
beard of her axe!?!?
That's gotta hurt!
sack of loot*
nothing.*
Interesting.
11613643
The beard of an axe is the lower part of the head, between the shaft and the bit/blade. It is not not sharp. The heel refers to the lower part of the bit while the toe is the top of the bit.
images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55b184c2e4b0071e8748c897/1611577442147-D7UAC3SRL3ADD5QNI95P/%24+000+000+000+00+AaA+DESIGN.png?format=1500w
11614851
got it.
11610291
Are you for real? Man…I WISHED I had that info way back in the day when SAO was starting, I would’ve given the anime a much bigger chance and not have such a disdain for Kirito. Your previous story and this one has done tremendously things to not only see SAO as it is but also gave me the chance to finally clear my grievances with the series and try it out…and turns out I like it and just lament on the years wasting on hating it cause it was the “l33t meme thing to do back then”
Looking forward to continuing reading your story as I dive in into SAO alongside it. Better late then never