Chapter 133 - Crystal Tablet

In the broken down temple of a lost civilization, Drifter was holding up the big purple crystal he had received after defeating the boss, End False Star. The item, aptly named False Star, was even bigger than his head. Liz's eyes were glowing as she stared at it. Unfortunately, the blacksmith was destined to be disappointed.

"It's a quest item. And since the quest updated, I know what we have to do now. C'mon."

Ignoring Liz's angry pout, Drifter walked towards a structure in the back of the temple. It had been hidden by the meteorite when they entered, and nobody had paid much attention to it during the boss battle, but now the quest was indicating for him to go there.

The structure was a chest-height, crescent-shaped altar. It had a grove in the middle which, lo-and-behold, fit the False Star perfectly.

Drifter didn't put the crystal in its place yet. Instead, he sent a message to Argo. They both had to complete the quest at the same time for it to work.

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[ Drifter: Boss taken care of, little rat. Ready when you are. ]

"Finally!"

A curly-haired girl with a hood shot up from her sitting position, scaring a few players who were nearby. They actually hadn't noticed her until she shouted, despite Argo being in plain sight.

The info-broker cared none for their reactions. She had been bored out of her mind, sitting here for the last 4 to 5 hours, waiting for news from Drifter.

Bolting with the eagerness of someone who wanted to do anything else but what she was doing before, Argo ran towards the doors of the old temple on which steps she had been sitting.

Previously, those doors had been closed and wouldn't budge no matter what she did. But now, they opened with the slightest touch of her fingers.

The doors creaked when they opened, and the inside of the little temple was almost completely dark except for a few rays of sunlight entering through the windows.

Anyone else would have been scared by the eerie ambience, or at least a little taken aback. Argo strutted in with all the confidence in the world.

This was a safe zone, and there was no way she could be killed or hurt here. And even if there was something along the lines of a horror house attraction, she wasn't worried. She had been through and seen too much to be scared by a mere deserted temple.

With light steps, Argo walked over to the other end of the temple, where an altar was resting. If Drifter was there, he could have told her that it was identical to the one in the bigger temple.

Stopping in front of the altar, Argo opened her inventory and took out an item she had received from the NPC who gave her the quest. It was a round, dark purple crystal, about the size of an adult's fist. The item was called False Star Core.

[ Argo: Eye on the clock. The moment it ticks, we put the crystals in the altars. ]

[ Drifter: Got it. ]

Counting the seconds, Argo watched the clock in her HUD intensely. When it changed, she immediately deposited the False Star Core into the altar's grove. Drifter must have done his part correctly, because the quest item glowed, and then, to her surprise, melted and vanished. In its place appeared a crystal tablet with many engravings and letters in a language she didn't recognize.

Argo picked up the tablet and examined it. Another quest item. By then her HUD had already pinged, telling her that the current quest had been completed, and that another stage would activate once she took the crystal tablet to the 21st floor.

'Multi-floor quest!'

This was huge. It had to be known that, while there were quests in SAO meant to waste a player's time, quests that spanned multiple floors were always extremely important. It wasn't wrong to treat them as the main quests of SAO. Rewards aside, multi-floor quests always involved information on floor bosses.

[ Drifter: The quest is complete. I got half of a purple crystal tablet-sorta thing here. I'm assuming you have the other half? ]

Reading Drifter's message, Argo's eyes widened and she turned over the crystal tablet to see that it was, indeed, incomplete. She had failed to notice that due to her being lost in thoughts, but it made sense once she thought about it. This was a two-players quest after all.

[ Argo: Get back as soon as ya can, Dri-bou. We need to get this thing whole again. I'll bet my whiskers that it got intel 'bout the floor boss. ]

[ Drifter: Really? We are on our way. ]

Having gotten an affirmative response from Drifter, Argo closed her menu and looked at the crystal tablet. If it truly contained information about the 20th floor boss, then it was invaluable. She wondered how high this quest would go.

"Haa..."

Sighing, the info-broker put away the item. She had too many worries at the moment. The 20th floor, the free guides for low-level players, maintaining her information network... Maybe it was time to get an assistant.

She had Akari, of course. The ninja, while slightly off in the head, was Argo's right-hand. But right now, all of Akari and Fuumaningum's efforts were concentrated on finding the red players and Laughing Coffin, and that was more important than anything, even the 20th floor.

There was also Nezha, who she sometimes loaned - read: stole - from the Legend Braves. But he could only help her with smaller tasks. Unfortunately, despite his special weapon, Nezha was at most a mediocre clearer.

"Haas..."

Shaking her head, Argo sighed again and walked out of the little temple. Behind her, the doors closed, looking as if they had never been opened.

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It was just about 5 PM when Drifter and his party returned to the town. Kirito and the others were still out leveling, and would come back when the sun set.

Now, most of the players in the party were very famous. Broken Spear Drifter was one of the faces of Reaver's Requiem and the Assault Team. Lisbeth was SAO's best blacksmith. Yuuki was one of the twin sisters that were recognized as an invincible duo in the frontlines. Silica was well-known simply because she was the youngest frontliner. Only Griselda wasn't a famous face, but even then quite a lot of people had gotten interested in her after knowing she joined Reaver's Requiem.

But today, the amount of eyes on the party as they walked through the gates and into the settlement was ten times the normal. And the reason for all the staring was, of course, the little dragon perched on Silica's head.

As it had been proven clear earlier, the knowledge of the Monster Taming skill was nearly null. So to see a small mob with a green cursor in a safe zone, obediently following a player, came as a huge shock.

But when those players who stopped to watch saw who the party members were, somehow they felt like it wasn't that absurd anymore.

Even amongst the Assault Team, Reaver's Requiem had to be one of the most famous guilds. Although they couldn't be considered a small or even medium guild anymore, they were famous for only having frontliner elites. Of the 12 titled players, 7 were part of Reaver's Requiem. And as rumors quickly spread, another was soon to be added.

Even Argo was stunned when she first saw Pina. It was one thing to read a message about it, another entirely to see the Small Feathered Dragon firsthand.

"I- I can't even... Only ya could- Ya know what, not gonna think 'bout it. Nice to meet ya, Pina. Ya are a cutie."

Argo stammered and stuttered for a few seconds before giving up. She put out a hand as if she wanted to shake paws with the little dragon. Pina sniffed her hand and, apparently approving, flew over to Argo's shoulder and nuzzled her cheek. There and then, another was conquered by the little dragon's charm.

Argo was surprised, then laughed. A warm smile appeared on Drifter's face when he heard her childish giggles. Sometimes it was easy to forget Argo the Rat was just a young girl, the same age as Kirito, Asuna, Liz, Yuuki, and Ran. Only 2 years older than Silica, and 2 years younger than Yuna, Nautilus, and Vallerk.

"Right, what 'bout the crystal tablet half ya got, Dri-bou? Can I see it?"

"All yours, little rat. I'm sure you will let us know if it has info about the floor boss."

Drifter transferred the item to Argo without thinking twice. The info-broker joined both halves of the crystal tablet, and they magically glued together, becoming whole again. She nodded thoughtfully.

"Yer right on that. Hmm. I'll need a few days to get through this. I'll get right back to ya as soon as I got somethin'."

Drifter nodded. This was Argo's domain, and the info-broker was already murmuring to herself, lost in her notes. Shaking his head with a fond smile, he said goodbye to her, receiving a mumbled response, and left with the party. Kirito and the rest of Reaver's Requiem would be returning soon-ish, and they had a surprise for them.

They hadn't told the others about Pina yet.

...

It was a tired group that made their way into the city an hour after sundown. Kirito and the others had gone quite deep into the 20th floor, hoping to find the entrance to the labyrinth. They failed to achieve that objective, but they had a much more complete map of the floor now.

[ Drifter: We are at the inn at the end of the main street. ]

Perfectly timed, Drifter's message arrived just as they crossed the gates. Kirito didn't even bother replying, since they would see the spearmaster and his party in about 5 minutes.

When he mentioned the message, Yuna, Sinon, and, curiously enough, Vallerk, quickened their steps. The Black Swordsman smirked. Their unique situation - aka risking their lives everyday - made them all clingy to a certain extent.

None of them were prepared for Pina. The little dragon had been laying in ambush above the inn's door, and dive-bombed the Reavers the moment they entered.

There was a lot of shrieking and swords drawn. Pina got scared and flew off, making a sad chirping sound, before landing on a table.

Drifter, Silica, Liz, Yuuki, and Griselda were on the floor, struggling to breathe. Pina tilted her head curiously and looked at them.

"Priii?"

"What the hell is that?!"

Agil finally lowered his ax after realizing there was no danger, and stared unabashedly at Pina. The others seemed too tongue-tied by surprise to say anything.

"Haa... Man, I need that laugh. Hahahaha! Agil, Yun', everyone, this is Pina. She is a Small Feathered Dragon and Silica's pet, an absolute sweetheart. Everyone, say hi to Pina."

Finally getting his laughter under control, Drifter struggled to get up. His belly hurt and he was gasping for breath. Plucking up Pina, he scratched her head, and the little dragon purred and snuggled into his arms. Drifter smiled, then placed her on top of Yuna's head.

The songstress froze, afraid to move for a whole minute. Then she raised a cautious hand and touched Pina's head. The little dragon closed her eyes and rubbed against the hand. Yuna carefully picked her up and held her in her arms, and Pina licked her cheek affectionately.

That took the fear out of Yuna and the other Reavers, and they crowded around her to see the cute creature. Pina basked in the attention, chirping and licking people's hands.

"This... Who- Why- How?"

Yuna stammered, and Drifter chuckled. Silica, Yuuki, Liz, and Griselda walked over to join the big group.

Pina was flying around Tetsuo and Ducker's heads now, dodging their grabbing hands and spitting bubbles in a game of tag. Drifter and the party launched into an explanation of what happened while they were separated.

"Wow. Not just Pina, but a boss too? Was it hard?"

"Not really. More technical than anything. Each of us could have taken it alone, just would have wasted a lot more time."

Drifter shrugged. It wasn't arrogance in his voice, just confidence.

"Anyway, this is amazing. Pina is amazing! Aren't you, girl?"

The little dragon chirped from her perch - Nautilus' shoulder at the moment. Drifter had no idea if she understood what Yuna was saying, and Pina seemed too preoccupied having a staring contest with Feredir, who was sitting before Kizmel's feet.

"We told you about our day. Now, how was yours?"