Future Plans
-----[Ten days after IIIFang was defeated]-----
It's been ten days since IIIFang was defeated. After they defeated the boss, the news spread like wildfire and many people were happy about it, but they were also terrified, as of the more than forty players who challenged the boss, only fifteen players survived.
But from this topic, two subjects were the most addressed by players in recent ten days.
The first was about the strange phenomenon that happened in the boss's room: the appearance of the IIIFang [ERROR]. This is the name players gave him, as he looked like IIIFang, and he also came from within numerous [ERROR] messages.
The second was about the player who fought 1 v 1 against this anomaly, and won alone. And not only did she win, but she also ended up stealing the kill from other players, thus getting all the Cor, EXP, and items dropped from the two monsters.
Of course, the last part was said by some envious players, and players that want just want to cause discord. Most players feel grateful to this player who protected them while they were fighting IIIFang.
And this player who is hot news on the first floor and also on the second, is none other than Rory.
After separating from the others, Rory quickly got rid of the broken equipment she had, because as she finished the first floor, she could now use the outfit and weapon she loves the most, Emroy's Apostle set and her beloved partner, Nightmare, her huge and beatiful halberd, which was presented to her by Emroy himself.
(N / A: I looked for the name of Rory's halberd, but it doesn't seem to have a name, or it's not mentioned, so I just made up a name.)
Rory was very happy when she got her original clothes back, as per the description, they are unbreakable and also evolve with the wearer, so she doesn't need to buy any of the ugly outfits she wore before.
That said, being excited after get her stuff back, Rory in these ten days hasn't stopped hunting and doing missions, she's only stopped to level up her cooking skill every now and then, as she really wants to have decent food.
On the sixth day after the first floor was cleared, she entered the second-floor maze alone to hunt, she found the door to the second-floor boss.
And on the tenth day, she decided to challenge the boss as she doesn't want to wait any longer, there's something on the third floor that she really needs.
-----[Second Floor Boss Room]-----
''That was a good fight~'' Rory says with a giggle.
*GRUUUUUUH~.....*
In the boss room on the second floor, much of the room was destroyed, and in the middle, the body of a giant and thin minotaur is lying on the floor, paralyzed.
The huge ten meter minotaur lying on the ground was Asterius the Taurus King, the second-floor boss.
His six horns were broken, and he looked totally beaten, and on top of one of the broken horns is Rory, sitting cross-legged while playing with her huge halberd.
''But it was a little unexpected, I prepared myself a lot for this fight, thinking that there would be another Fragment of Chaos, but it seems that this is not the case, such a bad luck~''
Rory knows there are more of them, because as the name says, it's a fragment, a piece of something bigger, and that's probably what she needs to finish the mission given by Gabriel, she thought each boss would have a fragment, but it looks like it's not the case.
''I prepared myself so much for nothing...'' with a sigh, Rory gestures with his finger and opens her Status.
-----[]-----
- Name: Rory Mercury
- Level: 35
-Cor: 189.745 (N /A: Cor is the form of currency in the world of Sword Art Online, in Romaji it's Koru)
-Strength: 240 ( 10 + 5*34 + 60);
-Agility: 225 (10 + 5*31 + 60);
-Skill Slots: 7 -Attribute Points Avaliable: 0
-EXP: 226.423/280.000
-Current Skills: [Halberd User Lv. Max]; [Culinary Lv. 35]; [ Acrobatics: Lv. 27]; [Superhuman Strength (Passive)]; [Superhuman Agility (Passive)]; [Super Regeneration (Passive)]; [Immortality (Passive)];
-----[]-----
In these ten days, Rory has earned a lot of money selling useless items for her dropped from monsters, and also from quest rewards, the quest rewards and drops from monsters on the second floor are much better than on the first floor.
She also managed to level up nine levels in ten days, it was almost a level a day, she was really happy with the explosion of EXP difference between the monsters on the first and second floors. Of course, it's still harder to level up now than it was before, and it's going to get harder and harder.
''I think it's time to end this, I have business on the third floor, thanks for your company~!''
Rory jumps off Asterius' broken horn, and with a quick clean slash decapitates him, making his HP down to zero.
Asterius explodes into blue data particles and a few seconds later, the congratulation message appears, and she receives the bonus item.
.
-----[]-----
Congratulation
You got the last attacking bonus!
Bonus Item: Minotaur King's Thong.
-----[]-----
.
Rory stared wiht dead fish eyes at the reward, and couldn't help but feel disgusted.
'Who in their right mind would use this....?' Rory thought.
It's an ugly brown thong, looks like Tarzan's thong, but the effect is relatively good, if the person wears it while training the [Martial Arts] skill, they will gain an additional EXP Bonus.
Fortunately, Rory has no use for this, so she'll leave this item in her inventory for now, and then she'll sell it off as soon as possible.
''Alright, time to go, but before that...'' Rory opens the friend list and sends a message to Silica, saying that she has defeated the second floor boss, and also texts Kirito, telling him to prepare to fulfill the vow he made with her.
Finishing everything she needed, Rory smiles excitedly, ''Now it's time to start spreading the word of Emory~!''
She walks towards the stairs and climbs them, arriving in front of the door that leads to the third floor, the door has a drawing of two humanoids carrying a sword, as if protecting the door.
She opens the door it and marvels at the sight.
Unlike the first and second floors, the third floor is entirely composed of giant trees, basically it is a huge forest.
''Looks like Argo-chan's information is true, it was worth trading some information about me for information about the known floors~''
A few days ago when Rory went to the main town on the second floor to resupply supplies to level her Cooking, she came across a very useful character, but who barely appeared in the SAO anime series. She met Argo, the Beta Tester who is also a information broker.
In fact, it was Argo who found Rory. Rory didn't know and even if she did, she wouldn't care, but after what she'd done on the first floor, she'd become something like a legendary player. She literally solo a boss that, said by the first floor expedition players themselves, was stronger than the original First Floor boss.
Argo learned that she was spotted in the central city of the second floor and soon went after her to gather information, but she didn't expect Rory to discover her, after all, Argo's [Hide] skill is of the highest level among the other players.
Rory then, knowing who Argo is, made an exchange with her. Argo would give her information from floors 2 through 10, information of missions, places, monster and other things, and in exchange for that, Rory would give her some information about herself. The floor 10 are the last floor the Beta Testers managed to reach before the Beta ended, so that's basically all the information Argo has.
Who would think that her information would be worth that much? How many people are interested in her so that just some information about her would be worth full informations about all the floors up to floor 10?
A suspicious name pops into Rory's mind, and she can't help but laugh at how the man must be feeling right now, he must be crazy looking for information about her.
Of course, she didn't give information about her just to not have to use her Cor, she did it as bait for this person who is interested in her.
Rory kicks the ground and starts running looking for something.
Unfortunately for her, she's barely entered the floor, and it's already crowded with monsters chasing her, most of them being Treants, tree-like monsters. Treant are the most common monsters on this floor, according to Argo, and it makes sense.
After almost half an hour of running and dodging monsters to waste no time, she hears swords clashing and she smiles, she immediately heads towards the noise.
Arriving at the scene, she sees two humanoids fighting, one of them has white skin and long blond hair, he wears full armor without a helmet, and the other has dark skin and short black hair, and unlike the blond one, she wears a set of leather clothes and the two of them have long, pointy ears.
The two are fighting and seem to really want to kill each other.
''I found you~'' Rory mutters happily as she approach the two of them.
She found the starting location of the Elves quest sequence that goes up to floor nine, and for Rory, it's also the starting location of Emroy's religion and church...