117 chapter 18

When Leonard opened his eyes, what greeted him was an unfamiliar ceiling, he soon notices that he was in a room that he was not familiar with.

"Where the hell am I and what the hell just happened?" he asked while laying down on the soft and comfy bed.

Soon the door to his room swung wide open, revealing two figures of Asuna and Kirito.

"Leonard! You're awake!" Asuna called out to him.

"Yeah...what's up, and where the hell am I?" Leonard asked her.

"Your in an Inn within the town of Urbos, I found you in an alleyway unconscious, so I dragged you back here to the Inn," Kirito told him, which answered one of his questions as to where he was.

"Tell us what happened Leonard, why were you passing out in a dark alleyway out of all places that could possibly happen? And what's with that green metal bar you were holding onto when you passed out?" Asuna asked him with a serious expression on her face.

"Yeah, what's with that metal bar? The moment I touched it the dang thing literally drowned me in all type of debuffs." Kirito added in.

"Metal bar...Saronite! Where is the metal bar?" Leonard asked the both of them.

"I stored in my inventory, for now, I'm not going to touch that thing!" Kirito said as he shivered after suffering heavily from just holding on to a bar of metal.

"Well, that's my weapon material," Leonard replied to them honestly.

To which they were greatly surprised by his answer.

"Weapon materials? What kind of materials could be so dangerous?!" Kirito questioned him.

"Can you hand me the bar of metal first? I'll tell you what it is." Leonard asked the teenager, who was a bit hesitant to pull it out once more.

However, after a bit of persuasion from Leonard, he gave in and quickly pulled it out and tossed at Leonard.

Leonard of course Immediately caught the flying bar of green metal in his hand.

The moment the skin of his palm touched the metal, Yogg-Saron whisper once again sounded out within his head.

"Ahhh….it's you again, mortal- I see that you manage to came too now, I hope you don't forget about our deal…" the whisper then began to fade off.

"Kirito...tell me, the moment you pick up this piece of metal...did you hear a strange voice inside of your head?" Leonard asked the teenager.

"What are you talking about? The moment I touched the darn thing my whole interface was drowned in debuff, other than the constant warning message and red screen, there is nothing! You got a lot of explaining to do!" Kirito charged up and grabbed Leonard by the collar and keep shaking him.

"Alright alright calm down! I'll tell you if you just let me go!" Leonard told him, to which Kirito then let go of Leonard collar.

"This piece of metal is kinda special you see...it calls Saronite, it's a type of metal that I imported from outside of the system," Leonard told Kirito.

"What? You did what?" Kirito eyes went wide open.

"I said, I imported this from outside the game...well before it went to hell and trapped everyone inside," Leonard told him, he then continued on telling some unbelievable bullshit to the both of them, something on the line of hacking the system and etc...

"'You're telling me that...you hacked into the NerveGear before SAO officially launched and put in some item codes…does that include your skills and stats?" Kirito questioned him in a serious expression.

Asuna, hearing this couldn't be any more surprised.

"You mean Leonard is practically cheating the Cardinal system designed by the greatest genius the world has ever seen?" she asked.

"Something like that," Kirito answered her.

"...I'm kinda surprised how Akihiko Kayaba didn't find you and deleted you yet...but I guess it's a good thing that he didn't, with you around it will at least give us a fighting chance on clearing this game and get back to the real world." Kirito let out a long sigh as he spoke those words.

"So...what are you going to do now? Are you thinking what I'm thinking of bringing out that curses metal?" Kirito asked him.

"Well, clear the game obviously...I'll takes all the chances and advantages I can get," Leonard smirked as he tossed the piece of Saronite up and down.

"I suggest you be quick about it, it has been almost three days since you last awoke, you did tell me that the quest deadline was three days right?" Kirito reminded him.

"Oh crap! You're right!" Leonard quickly dashed out of the Inn leaving the Kirito and Asuna behind.

"Do you believe what he said Kirito?" Asuna asked him.

"I don't...but he must have a deeper reason for hiding it from us of all people," Kirito told her.

*****

Outside of the blacksmith shop which belonged to the shameless old man that forced him into helping him building another masterpiece of a weapon.

Immediately Leonard rushed to the door and kicked it open.

"Old man! I got you the material for that so call masterpiece!" Leonard shouted out to the old blacksmith who was sitting listlessly yawning behind his counter before Leonard outburst woke him up from his daydream.

"Oh, you're back? Are you ready to be sent to the dungeon today?" the shameless old blacksmith Ingvar asked him.

"I told you I got you the material for the weapon!" Leonard quickly walked up to him and slammed down a bar of Saronite.

"Huh, like there's any trashy metal that could compare to the highest grade of steel money could buy from this floor." the old man clicked his tongue before he fell silent after he lay eyes on the bar of Saronite.

"W-what is this…" the old blacksmith stuttered, as the moment he lay eyes on the piece of metal, it instantly gave him the chill that he had once experienced before within his long life of fighting as an adventurer, the chill of death.

"This...is the best weapon material that you probably could get your hand on within this life," Leonard smirked at the old man.

Hearing Leonard words, the old man used his hand to try and grab the bar of Saronite, it was then that he got a nasty surprised, the moment he touched the Saronite it the feeling of dread assaulted him and he immediately dropped the metal out of fear, another reason was that upon holding up the metal on his hand, the system literally drowned him debuffs- however since he was an important NPC of the system he was protected by the "immortal object" blessing, even with the blessing it still gave him quite a scare.

"Brat, tell me...are you seriously asking me to forge a weapon using this cursed piece of metal?" the blacksmith Ingvar asked him while gulping down a mouthful of saliva.

"You're asking me to bring you the best piece of metal I could get my hand on, here it is, bona fide Saronite has a fourth the weight of steel while having high strength than steel itself," Leonard told the old man.

"What! Such a thing exist! Quickly! Follow me to the forge!" after saying that the old man grabbed Leonard arm and pulled him behind the closed door, just before Leonard was dragged away he didn't forget to grab the bar of metal with him.

From then on for almost four days straight, Leonard was trapped within the forge with the old blacksmith.