Chapter 7

I sat up there around Seven in the morning, hearing a player named Diavel and two other players, Agil and Kibaou argue about Beta Testers and their significance within SAO. Kibaou has been arguing to Diavel and Agil for a good Fifteen minutes about how Beta Testers are insignificant since they know a majority of the first few floors. I won't lie, I would agree with him about our knowledge, but so much has changed since our beta testing days.

Besides that, Diavel had originally made this meeting because this floor labyrinth was located and searched thoroughly. Sato and I sat through this argument as Agil (Or as I call him Tiffany) had tried to break up the conversation but got caught in it himself.

I looked past Sato as I glared again at Kirito, sitting at the other side with a hooded figure that was sitting nearby. By looking down a bit, I noticed that the figure was a female player, due to her skirt being visible and the cloak being unable to fully hide a player's body.

After about an hour and thirty minutes of nonsense argument we all decided to do a vote, in which the majority vote goes to two to three days before the raid starts. Most of us were okay with this and hence we never debated about it, after most players left, including Sato, Diavel recognized Kirito and I as we were leaving.

"May I talk to you two?"

Diavel said to us as he took us back to the coliseum to talk privately. "Thank god there were more beta players that are alive" He said with relief in his voice, we both looked at him weirdly and confused as he then explained the situation to us.

"When you two walked in at separate times, I was glad to see familiar faces from the beta. I thought we had all died out because of the news rate of how many players had already died."

He said with a concerned look on his face and having a sort of shiver in his tone, clearly scared but relieved at the same time. "Yeah, I didn't think I'd run into you two either." I said to both Diavel and Kirito, Kirito just looked at me and said "Me neither, But let's just stick close as long as possible.".

"Good Idea, we have 2-3 days to get better items either way, Let's get going then"

I said to them as they nodded, we all walked out of the coliseum and headed our separate ways. I walked over to a NPC, accepting a quest that I had knowledge of down to the item given, The Item given is called Shinestone Rune, an item that reduces the Stamina that sword skills take by five percent. With a really strong passive on an item, it has only 5 active uses so it's needed in dire situations. The item however, scales off the user's stamina, which means that If I have more stamina I can burst out more sword skills without worry. Some beta testers know about this item and would most likely use a method called Skill Burst with this item.

I accepted this NPC quest and headed off towards Windstallen Fields. The Fields held blood wolves all across the fields, but also some wild boars and a certain mini-boss NPC. I ran through the field, following a pathway that led to a small village that was almost 2 to 2 ½ miles off from Tolbana. I then opened my menu, pushing onto my maps and clicking my tasks menu. I looked at the task again as I needed a reminder of where I was supposed to go.

"There is a monstrous being over at Windstallen Fields! I've heard rumors that the monster that terrorizes Windstallen Fields also terrorize Horunka Village, taking young men, women, and children alike to the darkness of the night.

I have sent a messenger pigeon to Horunka Village that I am sending someone to solve the problem. In return I will give you the Shinestone Rune. I beg of you, defeat this monster for the greater good!"

I then swiped up, closing my menu and headed towards the village. On my HUD, a large text appeared above the town as the text said "Horunka Village" pointing down onto the village. I walked into the village as a safezone effect had turned up. I walked to an NPC shop and looked at the items, an Item particularly caught my eye as it was a sword that looked unique in a way.

I tapped onto the sword, the sword was called Stonegail Sword with some good stats (18 STR, 10 DUR, 10 AGI, 5 WGT) as the price was pretty decent, only 142 COL in which I had 209 from the dungeon earlier.

I bought the sword as a text box popped up saying "Added to inventory", I opened my inventory and equipped the sword. I then walked out of the village around noon to sundown, waiting almost 8 hours at Horunka Village. I opened my menu once again and checked my stats just in case I was under leveled.

Name: Kirin

HP: 282/282

LVL: 8

EXP: 208/304

STR: 20

VIT: 18

AGI: 15

DEX: 6

LUK: 8

I was nowhere near under leveled as I swiped the menu away and waited until my mission menu had updated. Moments later, my mission logs did update and I immediately headed out, running out of the village and looked at my mission logs.

"There has been a disturbance in the nearby fields, check out what disturbed the area"

The updated mission log said as I quickly ran over there, I then showed up at where the disturbed area was and quickly jumped back and away from a club swing. I stumbled backwards rolling back a bit before catching myself, I looked at the beast as the name showed up in red, A Cyclops that was way stronger than my own level. I got up and pulled out my sword, hearing a bellowing scream coming from the Cyclops.