Chapter 74 - Moving Gears

BANG!

Metal struck metal.

BANG!

Hot, incandescent sparks flew.

BANG!

Metal, being molded into a deadly edge with each strike.

BANG!

At last, the hammer stopped. And Shinozaki Sato put the sickle, the farming tool aside. With that, his daily cota was met, and he could practice forging what he really wanted: katanas.

Before that, he turned to the laptop he left in the corner of the forge, as far away from the heat and burning furnace as possible. The raid of the 6th floor was over, but the news channels kept playing replays of the ending. Sato watched the equipment of the frontliners break, and fixed his gaze on a pink-haired girl wielding a shield and a hammer. He sighed.

"Ha... You never liked the family traditions, but it seems you fell to them all the same, little sis. Bend metal to your whims. I'm waiting for you to come back."

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"Uff! That's the last of them!"

Liz swiped at her brow, wiping non-existent sweat. She had a huge smile plastered on her face as she stared at the knee-high pile of crafting materials she had dumped in front of her forging station.

A proper forging station. Could you imagine that? With everything she could need. A proper anvil, not like the miniature one she brought from the shop, and a real furnace, instead of a small fire.

Of course, none of this mattered much when forging in SAO. She just had to hit all the materials a couple of times and a sword or a shield would appear. But it reminded her of home. And, more importantly, it gave a bonus to her << Blacksmithing >> skill.

Reaver's Requiem had paid a small fortune to rent the blacksmithing station for the day, all so Liz could have the highest chance of success when forging their new equipment and enhancing it.

Lisbeth smiled. And then she got to work.

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"Woah! These are amazing, Liz!"

Yuuki held the new greaves the blacksmith had made for her, and hugged Liz. Drifter was also admiring his << Emerald Rock Bracers >>. They were almost thrice as strong as his old << Cyan Scale Bracers >>.

In the common room of an inn on the 7th floor, the Reavers praised their new equipment and the blacksmith who created it. And she had gone all out.

Instead of just Asuna, Drifter, Nautilus, and Ran, pretty much everyone had received some new equipment. Sinon and Yuna were the only two left out, because they used leather armor, but Merida had promised to take care of it sometime soon.

So, almost everyone had received an upgrade - and it was about time. Most of the Reavers had equipment at least two or three floors old. Granted, it was all enhanced to get as high as it could go, but it was still outdated. Not anymore.

Drifter had gotten not only his new bracers, but also a chest plate. Nautilus held his new shield, which seemed to be made of stone, even though it was created by a blacksmith. Ran was admiring her chest plate and boots - she would have to make do with a lower-leveled glove for now. Yuuki had her greaves, and Merida was staring slack-jawed at her new broadsword. Kirito was testing his movement with the new pair of bracers, the same as Drifter's own. Liz herself was proudly swinging her warhammer, now enhanced to +8.

And Reaver's Requiem weren't the only ones beholding new pieces of armor and weapons. Players from Agil's party, the Legend Braves, and Klein's Fuurinkazan had commissioned Liz to create equipment for them, seeing as how the blacksmith was on a forging spree. Even Silica and Vallerk had somehow found their way there, the girl looking at her new dagger, and the boy his helmet. Argo was chatting with them while idly flexing her new claws.

And amidst all that, almost thirty players, Asuna stared at the item Liz offered her. The fencer took the rapier in her hands candidly, almost afraid.

"It's... It looks almost the same as my fleuret!"

The fencer stared wide-eyed at the weapon in her hands, and many were drawn by her exclamation, Drifter included. The spearman glanced at the rapier and nodded. It did indeed look a lot like Asuna's << Wind Fleuret >>. The same slim blade, glinting with a dangerous edge, and the same fragile hilt, curving on itself, looking as if it was about to break any moment. But it wasn't exactly the same. To start with, the colors were different. Instead of silver and light-green, this rapier was white with dark-green, creating a stark contrast. And, just by the way Asuna was gingerly holding it, Drifter could tell the sword was a little heavier than the old one. Liz scratched her head shyly.

"Well, yeah. I knew how attached to it you were... And how pretty it was, and that you liked it a lot... So I thought I would make the new one with a similar look, y'know? That way, it will be kinda like the << Wind Fleuret >> is always with you."

Liz whispered the last sentence, afraid she had overstepped her bounds. Asuna lifted the rapier, << Spring Breeze >>, above her head admiring the blade. Then, she wrapped the blacksmith in a crushing hug.

"It's perfect, Liz! Thank you so much! I love it!"

Yup, trust Asuna to go for aesthetics over stats. In that, she and Kirito were exact opposites. The swordsman would wear a pink tutu in battle if it gave him better attributes. Though, Drifter could guess the stats of << Spring Breeze >> were good just by looking at it. The rapier was a work of art, and a deadly one on top of that. So, Drifter asked the only thing he could, to the groans of the Reavers.

"So, who wants to test out their new gear?"

...

Drifter was inclined to agree with Kirito. Fighting invisible snake mobs was not how you spent some quality time with your guild and friends. But even the ambushing reptiles could do little to douse the enthusiasm of the players.

Nautilus lifted his shield right in the path of a lunging << Mirage Prowler >>, and the mob bounced. Asuna was there before it could submerge in the murky water again, her rapier pricking it full of holes. Nearby, Merida almost cleaved another monster in half with her broadsword.

Not far, Agil, the Legend Braves, and Silica and Vallerk were also testing their new gear, and Liz was beaming with the praises she received. It took a little getting used to, especially for those who received new weapons or shields - the different lengths and weights were all things to consider - but it was definitely an improvement.

The crowd - and it was one, 27 players in total since Argo and Nezha had left to do their info-broker thing - waddled through the swamp merrily. It was rare to see so many players in one group, since the experience gain would be almost negligible, but none of them were worried about leveling right now. They simply treated it as a day off with friends.

Drifter himself was chatting with the Fuurinkazan players. Drifter was remembering what it was like to talk with people near his age. Not that he thought his guildmates were children, far from that, but there were some things they couldn't relate to, like Klein's account of getting smashed in a karaoke booth the day after being admitted into university. Agil and Orlando, his drinking buddies on the rare occasions they took the night out to do something other than sleep, were great company, but they were also nearing their thirties.

"... fired me with less than a week's notice. That was like two days before SAO."

"Uff! I feel you, Drifter. I worked at least a dozen part-time and proper jobs during uni, and I would have sworn to anyone who asked that the last one, in one of those big tech companies, would have lasted me, you know? I thought I was set to stay there for at least a couple years after I graduated, but just three months before the bastards laid off about seventy people, myself included."

That was Issin talking, and he patted Drifter sympathetically on the back. All of the Fuurinkazan members were just 3 or 4 years older than the spearman, so they had more experience in the workforce than him, but their stories were all very similar to his.

Drifter was really enjoying getting to properly know them. Before today, they had always been 'Kirito's friend's guild'. Now, he considered them close acquaintances, and possibly friends.

Fuurinkazan were good fighters, though not the best. In fact, as far as frontliners went, they were at the low end of the spectrum. But they were frontliners, and that was a threshold most players could never, or didn't dare to cross.

But more than just warriors, Drifter looked at Fuurinkazan and saw something he liked. They were friends, companions. They knew each other in real life, yes, but there was a big difference between that and being willing to trust your back to someone else in the middle of a fight. That was the biggest reason there were over six hundred clearers, and yet less than eighty frontliners. But Klein and the others dared to do it, and they were welcomed. Even if the red-headed man was a bit of a pervert.

Case in point, one of the first topics Klein brought up was women - not any of the girls in Reaver's Requiem, thankfully, or Drifter would have stabbed him. No, he just talked about women in general, and, from the grimaces and sighs of his guildmates, that was a constant conversation starter with the other man.

"You know, a lotta people envy you guys?"

"Hm? What are you talking about?"

Now, having exhausted that particular topic, Klein's idle chatter was directed at the Reavers in general. He swept his hand to show Yuuki, Ran, and Liz, who were currently bullying a << Mirage Prowler >>.

"Well, you know how the male-to-female ratio in SAO's about 7 to 3, right? Not that it matters, of course."

The red-headed guild leader quickly amended his statement when Asuna glared at him. Then she smiled, and giggled at his confused expression.

"Yup, I know. That's why us girls gotta stick together, right, Sinon?"

The archer let loose another arrow, which flew between Chuchulainn and Namate's heads, hitting another mob, and gave a thumbs-up to Asuna. Drifter smirked and shook his head while Klein and the others laughed. The redhead continued.

"Thing is, some people say you are sticking together too much, Asuna. You've got ten people in your guild, and seven of you are girls. Not following the ratio at all. The exact opposite, actually. Course, the people who complain 'bout that the most are either the fools in the ALS or players who don't even leave the Town of Beginnings, so you shouldn't give a damn about what they think. It's just jealousy. Like we have time to think of romance in here."

When Drifter heard the first half of what Klein said, he raised his eyebrows. This was not something he had ever thought about. And nor did he particularly care, now that he did think about it. Asuna, Yuna, Sinon, Liz, Ran, Yuuki, and Merida were part of his guild, and his friends. Family, even. And that was all he needed to know.

He missed Asuna sneaking a glance at Kirito when she heard Klein's last sentence, mainly because he was searching for Yuna. The songstress seemed to feel his gaze, because she turned to look at him from where she was talking with Silica, and smiled. He grinned right back.