Mystic Knight Online

Chapter 38 - Mountains and Dragons

June 20, 2024 - Aincrad 65th Floor, Outside the "Glitchzone Quarantine"

"God," August muttered in disgust as he stood beside his boss. "My system awareness is passable, but I can feel that from here. Like an oily and noxious film over my skin. I can't imagine how Kirito felt close up to it, let alone inside it."

Argo shook her head. "Not pleasant, I'd wager. Between us and the reports of other players with good SA, I think we can safely say the area is in fact damaged."

"If only we could verify it was a hack," Gus grumbled. "I may not like the demiurge, but the rumors he's doing this to mess with us..."

"Unneeded stress, and blaming someone convenient," Argo agreed after a moment's thought. She was pensive, which Gus had come to take as a reason to be wary. "Still, set yourself up as a god, be ready to take the blame with the credit."

"Suppose so. Got enough for the next Daily?" Gus prompted.

"Yes. Let's get out of here. You're right, the glitched area feels wrong and we're feeling it even though the quarantine begins a fair distance away from here."

June 21, 2024 - Aincrad 61st Floor, Selmburg

Harry sat in a chair in the room he shared with his wife looking over his inventory, sorting items and deciding on what he should sell, trade, or put into storage. His inventory was reaching capacity, or at least the soft limit of what a player could carry, even when they selected a support skill to increase their weight limit. Past that point, the weight of everything carried began to slow the player down, and could make it so that he or she couldn't move at any speed short of a crawl due to the weight if he or she didn't take the hint.

So, he was going through everything to look over what he had, occasionally taking an item out to give it a look over and read the descriptions to get a better idea. Most of what he had was for crafting, and he had already set aside the food items to give to Asuna. The rest he could trade or sell to other crafters. He saw a few items that Ashley and Lisbeth would probably like in the mix, so all he had to do was sort them.

He would normally save it for a day off, but he already knew that they were planning on an expedition to the fifty-fifth floor to farm for a rare material so that Kirito could get a new sword forged, and the rest of them could get new gear as needed. Nothing that would take more than a couple of days, tops, and with Kayaba having closed off the means that they had used to access the Mee Forest, with a profound apology and a rare explanation of why sent to all the players, they had little else to do.

Well, little else, but the quests that he had opened up to challenge players while he fixed that zone. Harry was skeptical, but he admitted that Kirito's explanation that it was very possible that someone had simply gotten lucky and managed to break in had some merit. Especially if it was an inside job from whatever company took over for maintaining the servers, as it was unlikely that Argus survived the fallout of the incident Outside.

Not that there was anything they could do about the matter, which made the situation worse in some ways.

For all that they hated him, everyone admitted that Kayaba was at least fair. He had left them a way out, and gave them a clear goal; clear the game, and they will be freed. There was no guarantee that the man would keep his promise, of course, but it did give them something to focus on, and he gave them to tools to do so. But at the same time, he wouldn't lie about something like this.

But someone from outside doing something with a clear disregard for the lives of seven thousand players? That was a level of callousness that even Kayaba hadn't sunk to, though Harry wouldn't put it past the man to be capable of such.

Kayaba had probably assumed that the vast majority of those who would pick up the game were hardcore gamers, those who would likely relish being stuck in the game. Relish the chance at being the hero, rather than the average person. And, in a way, that was the case.

They were the heroes of their own stories. It didn't matter if it was they, themselves, who were the ones who cleared the game, though they would give it their best shot. It was the fact that they were going out, slaying monsters, completing quests, and simply showing that, while monsters existed, those monsters could be beaten.

He heard the door to the room open and turned to see Keiko enter, Pina resting drowsily across her shoulders. Closing his menu and standing up, he walked over to her and gently removed the feathered dragon from her shoulders. Giving Pina a light scratch at the base of her skull, he looked at his wife.

"I see she's still feeling lazy from dinner," he said.

"You expect differently?" Keiko asked, amused. "She always likes to nap after a meal, and after dinner, she's more than willing to be a lazy bones, and simply curl up to sleep the night away if we let her."

Harry quietly chuckled as he gently placed her on the padded little bed by the window they had made for her. She moved around a bit before curling up and going to sleep.

"So, what were you doing?" She asked.

"Just going through and sorting my inventory," he replied. "It's getting close to capacity, so I wanted to look through and see what I was going to sell off or trade."

Keiko nodded. "I'd ask you to do the same to mine, but we both agreed that we wouldn't play around with each other's inventories," she said. "You have your organization method, I have mine, and we both do things a bit differently."

"That, and I really don't want to go through or handle your underwear," Harry added with a grin.

"That's because you'd just rather see me wearing my underwear," Keiko replied. "As for handling it all, you would want to do it, if only when undressing me."

"Guilty as charged, your honor," he said with a grin and he reached out and pulled her close. "Though we don't do that nearly as often as the rumors would suggest."

"The rumors have also died down, you know," she noted as she leaned into his chest.

"Only because it's been more than two months and they probably think we're past the Insatiable Newlyweds stage," Harry said. "Of course, the fact that we're the ones who started those rumors, and made no secret of that fact we were the ones responsible for them, might have had something to do with it. Not that we haven't been up to our own fun, either."

"True," Keiko said with a chuckle. She reached up and pulled his head down for a kiss. "And while having some fun would be nice, I'd like to take a bath first."

"Don't let me stop you then," Harry said, giving her loose hair a stroke before letting her go.

"You could always join me," she said slyly.

"Tempting, my dear, very tempting. Alas, I have to finish the tedious quest that I had assigned myself and finish sorting my inventory." Harry said mournfully. "Perhaps in process of my sorting, I shall find a nice bottle of wine in there for us to partake of."

Keiko blinked at his wording and then giggled. "Harry, please, don't butcher the language like that," she said, amused. "If you were speaking English, you could probably pull it off, but speaking like that?" She shook her head. "Speaking as if in the Taisho era is just not for you."

Harry shrugged, unrepentant. "Well, it's not like I could speak like some idle rich twit, I mean, gentleman, from the Edwardian era," he said.

Keiko giggled again before shaking her head and stretching. "Well then, time for a bath," She said as she turned and walked to the bathroom.

Harry turned and reopened his inventory window to look through it and finish his sorting. As he looked through it, he found the wine and selected it. As he looked at the bottle that appeared in his hand, he noted the absence of the marking that indicated that it could get a player drunk and nodded to himself. Putting the bottle off to the side, he went back to browsing his inventory. Within a minute, he realized that he had it more or less sorted and closed the window. Picking up the bottle, he idly looked to where he and Keiko had a couple of glasses sitting on a tray and had an idea.

He walked over and placed the bottle on the tray before picking it up. Carefully balancing it on his hand he walked over to the bathroom and knocked on the door.

"What is it?" He heard Keiko ask.

"Dear," he said. "Looks like the inventory was done with anyway, so how about I join you for a bath?"

##

Asuna sat down on the couch as she looked over the notifications of some challenging quests that had been opened up. With the Mee Forest quarantined for the time being, any progress in clearing the sixty-fifth floor was halted, which would put the Assault Team in a bind, as it was the goal of clearing the game which had kept them moving.

Now, said goal was put on hiatus for an indefinite period of time, though she doubted that it would be for too long, or she hoped that would be the case. If it continued, then the morale of the players would drop like a rock as they started to lose hope that they would ever get out.

She wasn't ignorant of the fact that they were still alive only because their bodies were being taken care of. Whether it was the government footing the bill, which might be the case, or not, was immaterial. It didn't hide the fact that they were in a race against time. It was something all the players knew, but very carefully didn't talk about. How their greatest enemy wasn't Kayaba, but time.

They only had so much time before their bodies either gave out, or those caring for them reluctantly pulled the plug on them. Despite advances, there were limits to what medical technology could do, and after a while, the chances of recovery if they managed to get out started dropping rapidly, and after an indeterminate period, they would likely be confined to a hospital for the rest of their lives. It might be another year or two away, or it might have already happened.

The question then, was if they had already passed that point. Either way, after a period of more than a year, they would have a long recovery period to go.

She shook those thoughts out of her head, pushing them to the side. There was nothing they could do, and worrying about it would only bring on unneeded stress.

She heard the door to the room open and turned to see Kirito walk in. He obviously caught her expression, as he walked over and put a hand on her shoulder.

"What's worrying you?" He asked.

"Just the elephant in the room that everyone tries to ignore," she admitted. "We've been in SAO for over a year and a half, and at the rate we were going, we still would have needed a little over a year more to get out of here, but with this latest roadblock…" She trailed off and took a breath. "We're racing against the clock here, and this is a delay that we don't need. If this keeps going on..."

Kirito nodded. "You're worried that those Outside might give up," he concluded. He sighed. "Asuna, we'll make it, I promise you that. Whether it takes another year, or ten years, we will get out of here, though I hope it doesn't take that long."

"It better not," Asuna mumbled. "We might have made a life for ourselves here, we have a house and everything, but it's just not the same. I miss my family."

"I do too, Asuna. I do too."

June 23, 2024 - Aincrad 55th Floor, West Mountain

Kirito pulled his cloak tighter about him as the frigid wind picked up. The fifty-fifth floor was cold normally, but the valley where Grandzam, the floor's primary town, was located was only chilly. However, once a player hit the various mountains, what was once chilly, quickly became icy.

Fortunately, it wasn't snowing, though the winds kicked up enough to make visibility problematic, not to mention served to make every one of them miserable.

How did Harry and I not notice this back in April? He thought. Oh right, we were drunk off our asses at the time. Next time Klein thinks it's a good idea to go out and get shitfaced, I'm dumping him back into that lake we dropped him in during Harry's bachelor party.

I wonder why all this looks familiar, though, he thought idly as he looked around. The area of the mountain they were on was familiar to him, but he didn't really remember the last time he… oh, right. He and Harry had been here back in April, when Klein dragged them along in a drunken misadventure.

He turned back to see the rest of his guild walking along. Harry had his cloak around him, but was walking calmly and easily, though he would pull it tighter whenever the wind picked up, while Asuna, Silica, and Lux huddled in theirs as they trudged along. Rain didn't seem bothered at all by the cold, but then, she had probably learned how to deal with worse.

The entire guild had come to this place to gather mats, along with doing one of the opened quests. It wasn't anything major, just them taking down the dragon X'rphan, the Wyrm, which was a known mob in the area. Previously, there had been no quests associated with it, but the mob was routinely challenged by players due to the rare mats it dropped.

A simple seek and destroy quest, in an area that was good for mat farming. Two birds, one stone, as they would say.

I wonder if the dragon remembers us, he thought with some anticipation. A quick glance at Harry showed that his friend had made the connection and had a look in his eyes that showed the same recognition. If it was the same dragon as last time, then he wondered how this would turn out.

##

Harry dodged another breath attack and noted that X'rphan seemed to focus its attacks on him and Kirito for the most part. He would wonder why, but the moment he got a good look at the dragon, he immediately recognized it.

"Hey Kirito!" He shouted. "I think it recognizes us!"

"You don't say," Kirito remarked drily as he darted in to hit the dragon's flank with a sword skill before jumping back to dodge the retaliatory strike from its tail. "Well, it gives the rest plenty of time to get into position. Grab its attention so I can heal up."

Harry laughed and banged his sword against his shield to activate Mystic Blade's Earth Affinity. The added defense it provided came in handy, though the fact that it slowed his movement a bit could be a problem. It was one of the reasons he didn't use it in boss fights, as not getting hit was his best defense there.

"Harry, good job!" Asuna called out. "Silica, Lux, use hit and run tactics as you can to avoid its tail. Rain, get to its other side and we'll use a pincer movement to keep it from retaliating like it did against Kirito. Kirito, heal up and get behind it."

Everyone called out in the affirmative and began their next attack run.

While not a field boss, X'rphan was still a powerful mob for the floor, but with their levels being in the eighties, as well as having good gear, handling the damage it gave wasn't too much of a problem for the most part. At least, there was nothing which required them to pull back momentarily to reassess things, at least for now.

Harry blocked the dragon's attack as Asuna darted in and hit it with a Star Splash sword skill before jumping back. At her side, Rain hacked at the dragon with a Vertical Square before being slammed back by the dragon's tail. A quick glance at her health showed that it didn't do a lot of damage to her, and she got to her feet quickly in response.

Harry shifted his gaze to his wife and Lux who were managing their part handily. Silica took merciless advantage of the fact that using a dagger had short delays when they did happen, while Lux used more cautious, but fluid attacks. About typical for both of them, really. While his wife had started out as what many on the Assault Team would consider to be overly cautious, that was then. As time went on, she gained far more confidence in her ability to handle the place, and Lux had come in to take the part of the cautious one.

It was interesting how she managed to smoothly slip into the dynamic he had with his wife, just as Rain had, with some initial difficulty, fit into the dynamic that Kirito and Asuna had.

A roar from the dragon caused him to focus back on the fight, and they all saw X'rphan take wing and start using wide area breath attacks. Not good, considering that he, his wife, and Lux were in the open with no cover close enough. Kirito could probably cancel it out, somehow, but not the three of them.

Still, that didn't mean he didn't have something to try. It might not work, but his using the Earth Affinity meant that he could easily tank the attack anyway. And Silica and Lux could simply use him for partial cover as they moved back. If it worked, chances were that it would probably only work once before Kayaba patched whatever loophole he was about to exploit, but that was fine with him. His wife and friend needed to be protected, and he will protect them.

Firming his stance, he braced himself with his shield held firmly and answered the dragon's roar with one of his own. At the same time, he reached inward to that nebulous part of him that he had since concluded was his magic, and focused on drawing it out. His focus was on only one thing.

Be like the Earth. The Unmoving Object. The Firmness which would stand the test of time. That which defended the weak, sheltered the meek, and was the surface from which all life was drawn from, and would return to.

"Silica, Lux, behind me!" He shouted. As they moved behind him, he slammed his shield into the ground, focusing on drawing the ground which he stood on up to create a wall. Come on, magic, don't decide to not do it.

The ground obeyed.

Rocks rose up to take on the dragon's breath attack, shielding the trio from it while Harry's eyes narrowed in focus and sweat broke out on his brow, despite the frigid air. Anything could be used as a focus for magic, including the caster's own will itself. In fact, the will was an essential component anyway. Things like wands were useful for fine control, and even when learning magic, but Harry had paid attention to Professor Flitwick's lectures about the nature of using magic. He recalled something the diminutive professor said during one of his theory lectures in Charms class.

"A wand, any focus really, was not a requirement, but a tool. It's a useful one, but still a tool. However, its usefulness means that it could quickly become a crutch. Most wizards and witches never get past using one, as having one was sufficient for the task, and it provided more control and less effort to get the same effect."

But Harry didn't have his wand, so all he could do was focus on what he desired and hope for the best. If it was in any way possible in SAO, then there was a chance something could happen. Not often, but sometimes, he could bend the rules.

Until New Year's, that was the best he could hope for. Then Kayaba had, intentionally or not, given him the tool to use magic properly within SAO's rules. It had taken months of experimentation, months of practicing with it until he could call upon the affinities consistently, months of frustration as he learned what he could and could not do with it as he pushed the Mystic Blade skill to the logical limits and just past them.

But he had learned that some things were possible. Unlike Argo and Gus, he had something to work with, and while SAO didn't have a magic system per se, the Unique Skill did utilize something that could be considered one. He might not be able to cast charms, jinxes, and hexes, or transfigure something, but it didn't mean that he couldn't do something else.

After all, his elemental affinities gave him something to work with, so what about using the elements they called on. Here, he had ready access to Earth, Wind, and Water due to being on a mountain, it being damn cold, and there being plenty of snow and ice. And Mystic Blade didn't say anything about not using the environment, and he did note that some affinities worked better in some environments than others.

Now, he reminded the system, and by extension Kayaba, that he was a wizard. He took the established rules and made them his bitch.

True, SAO, and by extension the entirety of Aincrad, wasn't the real world, it was data. However, that data still had to be shaped and molded into the world they were in. It was a creation of science and technology, but there was no specific rule that he knew of that said that he couldn't do it. Besides, despite being an artificial world, Aincrad was still a world, with its own rules and natural laws.

As the breath attack faded, he shifted to the Wind Affinity, the feeling of lightness, as if he could fly on his own suffusing him. "Silica, Lux, touch your blades to mine," he ordered as he put it behind his back. He felt their blades touch his and focused on transferring the affinity to theirs, as he kept his shield up and tried to also keep the earthen wall that was protecting the three of them up.

Focusing on two different things was harder than he expected, but he just grit his teeth and bore the strain for the necessary ten seconds when he heard Lux gasp and Silica remove her blade from his.

Turning back, he could see each girl's weapons glowing green and then grinned.

"It only lasts thirty seconds." He said. "So, in that timeframe, shall we introduce this overgrown lizard to the concept of a blender?"

Silica's answering grin was slightly feral, while Lux looked at him in surprise.

"You… transferred the affinity?" She asked. At his nod, she looked in the direction of the dragon, which seemed to give up on trying to break down the defensive wall Harry put up and was landing, facing towards the others before firming her expression. At her nod, the three dashed off, the speed boost provided by the Wind Affinity causing the three of them to be blurs as they moved in to attack X'rphan.

##

Kirito stared at what Harry did, his mouth open in shock. He knew that Harry had been experimenting with Mystic Blade, but he never indicated that he was trying to see if he could do something like that.

Ok, that was awesome, he thought. But seriously, that has to be game breaking in some way.

Still, it worked, and he had created something which gave him, Silica, and Lux some much needed cover. He watched as several of X'rphan's breath attacks just splashed off of it like so much water, not even scratching it. The dragon proceeded to do so again, and again, as if it couldn't believe the temerity of someone or something simply not being destroyed by its might.

I'll ask him how he did it later, he thought as he looked to Asuna and Rain. He could see the shocked looks on their faces and shrugged. "We'll ask him about that later, we have a dragon to fight." He said.

They both nodded and readied their weapons.

"Asuna, if you'll do the honors?"

Asuna nodded and looked at the dragon with a calculating look. "Now!" She ordered.

##

Asuna leapt back after she used a skill she had worked out on her own. While SAO's sword skills were more or less sufficient, they were limited in number. However, the system itself was very versatile, and it took less than a year for players to figure out how to create sword skills of their own. It usually started with just simple variants of existing sword skills, using them in creative and unorthodox ways, such as the Meteor Fall combo which combined the use of Martial Arts Embracer skill with a simple one hit attack from their weapon.

For her, she realized that with Linear's almost nonexistent delay, it was possible to chain them and eventually worked out how to do so four times in rapid succession. Repeated attempts eventually got recognized by the system, and what she did was then classified as a sword skill of her own make.

Quadruple Pain. It required exceptional speed and accuracy, not to mention the tedious training and practice necessary to hit exactly what she targeted, exactly where she intended to. Hitting a target four times in rapid succession in the same spot was far more difficult than many assumed, and even after the skill was created and added to the system, she only knew of a handful of rapier users who had the necessary skill to pull it off properly.

Done correctly, it would briefly paralyze the target, provided it wasn't a floor boss, leaving it open for the others to attack while it couldn't do anything for a precious few seconds.

And with her guildmates, a few seconds was more than enough to thoroughly ruin any mob's day.

Of course, going against a dragon, and one that was in the air at the time required some interesting movement and jumping to reach it, and her final strike almost didn't hit the mark because of it, but she managed it. As she began her own descent, X'rphan fell to the ground as the short paralysis took effect.

Kirito and Rain wasted no time in attacking it, both of them quickly using mid-tier sword skills to whittle down its health while minimizing the skill delays, but maximizing damage output. They both had far more powerful skills, but those skills were better utilized as finishers, rather than as part of an ongoing battle.

X'rphan seemed to take offense to what they did, and turned its attention to them. She readied her rapier and prepared to strike or dodge as the situation demanded when Harry, Silica, and Lux struck.

The three of them were blurs of motion, moving much faster than they should have as they began to positively shred X'rphan. She could see the green glow around the weapons and remembered that Harry had been working on transferring affinities. He admitted that its utility in a fight was limited, due to the fact that it took time, but that trick of raising an earthen wall had bought him that time.

And I will be asking him about that, she resolved. I get that he doesn't mention things while he's trying to work them out until they've hit a point where they might be useful, but knowing he could pull something like that off would have been nice.

She took a glance at her health and pulled out a healing crystal, ordering Kirito and Rain to heal up as well while they had the chance. She couldn't quite recall how long the transferred affinities would remain, but she had a feeling that it would be wearing off soon.

##

Silica kept her breathing even as the post combat rush faded, sheathing her dagger. That fight had been a bit more intense than expected, and she idly wondered if it had been buffed for the sake of the quest. Not that it did the thing any good, as they still managed to kill it, but she would admit, it was harder than expected.

And to think, this was the same dragon Harry and Kirito wrangled and crashed into the Knights of Blood headquarters.

She looked at her husband as he looked over the screen that popped up after they won the fight. He nodded and closed it before looking around, very carefully not noticing the speculative looks that both Asuna and Kirito were giving him, or the clear fact that they wanted to know just exactly how he pulled off what he did.

It wasn't hard for her to figure out, but she had figured out his secret a year ago, being in on the secret in general since she was old enough to ask questions, and old enough to understand that some things couldn't be discussed with people who were not in on it.

For one of the few times in SAO, Harry had used actual magic. Not the simulated version that the Mystic Blade provided him, or the semi-magical aspects of how teleportation and crystals worked, but magic that would be recognizable as such to those who already knew about it.

His using actual magic wasn't the potential problem, though. Most uses of it could be explained as something in the game due to using existing mechanics and rules creatively, like how Argo's Privacy Fields worked. But this was different in a way. Most uses of magic by the few she knew to be capable of it Outside tended to be subtle, bending the rules in subtle ways that could be easily explained as a part of the game's mechanics being used in unconventional ways. Like how Argo and Gus made their privacy fields.

This was far more blatant, and she doubted that it was within the rules. Not necessarily against them, as it was very possible that Kayaba hadn't put in a rule prohibiting it, but that was mere semantics. Just because there wasn't a rule, did not mean that it couldn't be considered going against the system, something players were understandably cautious of doing.

"What is it?" He asked as he walked over.

"How will you explain how you pulled that rock wall up like that?" She asked.

"No clue," he admitted. "It was something I just thought about doing right then and there. I didn't even know if it would work. I will tell them that I thought it up, and didn't expect it to work, so I have no real idea how I did it, though."

"In other words, you do have an idea, but it's not something you can talk about." She said, nodding. "I take it you'll fill me in when we have some privacy? Also, you pulled it out of your ass on the spot, didn't you?"

"Yup." Harry replied before shrugging. "It worked, but even if it didn't, it would have still given you and Lux time to get out of the way while I tanked the breath attacks."

Silica sighed with some exasperation and was really tempted to dope slap him as she heard that, but refrained. Improvised and crazy as it was, it worked. After knowing him for over a year and half, she knew more than a bit about how he thought. Give him something to protect, and he will protect it, to the point of taking actions which would be dangerous for him. Well, more dangerous than being a member of the Assault Team already was at any rate.

"Just start thinking of one," she finally said before deciding to change the topic. "So, get anything good?"

He nodded. "I got several dragon scales, some wyrm hide, and a few claws," he said. "That and about fifty thousand col for the fight, which isn't bad at all. More like taking on a field boss, really."

"Well, with the quest and everything, it probably qualifies as an event boss," Silica noted. "It even has an actual name, rather than just being called some variant of dragon."

"Everyone!" Asuna called out. "Let's head back to Grandzam and turn the quest in. After that, we're headed to Lindarth to see if Liz can craft something from the mats we got. And Harry? I would like to know how you pulled that thing with raising a rock wall off."

Harry shrugged. "It was an idea I wasn't sure was going to work," he replied. "Any more details are something I can't go into. Not won't, can't. That got explained back in January. There are laws that I am required to observe in this respect, so please, don't push the matter."

Asuna nodded and let it be, though Silica didn't believe for a moment that she wouldn't do some digging on her own. As much as she doubted that Asuna would find anything unless both she and Harry slipped, a possibility she had to consider, she knew full well that Asuna isn't stupid. The potential consequences of magic being exposed in a way that couldn't be covered up…

She hoped that those Outside wouldn't do anything rash if they were watching.

Grandzam

Heathcliff read over the report that CARDINAL had flagged for him and raised an eyebrow at what it showed him. He locked the door to his office before going over the data. After doing so, and watching a recording of the event, he was actually impressed.

He hadn't programmed in manipulation of the environment to that degree, and Hadrian had managed to use his Unique Skill to shape his magic, and it was clearly magic, as CARDINAL now recognized the general signature of it. Looking over the details provided by data, he couldn't fully understand how the boy had pulled it off.

He had an idea, but that was it. It seemed as if the boy had managed to simply use his Unique Skill in a way that it wasn't intended for, and combined it with his magic. That he used it in such a ways wasn't a surprise, it was expected really. Mystic Blade did give Hadrian a way of using magic within SAO's rules, after all. He was also aware of the fact that the boy had managed to actually transfer the elemental affinities provided by the skill, another thing it wasn't designed for, and had allowed it. After all, there was at least some precedent for applying things to weapons, though those required items.

But this, actual manipulation of the environment in such an impressive way, was interesting. He idly looked it over and mused on how he could use it before nodding.

It didn't violate the rules, but made use of the fact that there was a lack of rules in that regard. Rather than make a new rule up on the spot, he decided to impose a limitation on what the boy did.

"CARDINAL, specify what Hadrian did as an Original Sword Skill for Mystic Blade." He ordered. "Designate it as Earthen Rampart with the following requirements. Must be in Earth Affinity for forty-five seconds, triggered by slamming the shield into the ground, and has a cooldown of five minutes. Effects: Creates a ten meter long, two meter high earthen wall which provides protection against all attacks for thirty seconds to all players behind it. Make the appropriate changes to the system to impose these limitations."

"ACKNOWLEDGED," the AI replied. "ENQUIRY: SHOULD PLAYER ID 7586 HADRIAN MANAGE SIMILAR EFFECTS WITH OTHER AFFINITIES, IMPOSE SIMILAR LIMITATIONS?"

Heathcliff mused on that for a moment and nodded to himself. "Notify me first," he said. "We will decide on the nature of each skill as they are "created" by him."

"ACKNOWLEDGED."

You're proving to be interesting as ever, Hadrian, he thought. You aren't the one I'm looking at as being the one to defeat me, but I will not dismiss the possibility of you playing an important part in it, either.

He then pulled up the data on the others who participated in the fight and found it odd that Kirito was still keeping the use of Dual Blades limited to only when he was training. The rest of his guild knew about it, so why would he?

Perhaps it's because he's only training it in private, with at most a couple of his guild mates with him for their input, he mused. Or, perhaps it's because, even though it's in an out of the way area, X'rphan is regularly farmed, so there is a chance that other players could have seen it.

It didn't matter to him. Kirito would unveil it sooner or later. Perhaps after he achieved sufficient mastery of it that he was certain of its strengths, weaknesses, and how to take all of them into account. Well, there was also potential necessity as well. Kirito might have a tendency to play things close to his chest with those outside his circle of friends and associates, but he also didn't hide things when doing so would endanger lives.

Yes, that had to be it.

He closed the windows showing the data and released the lock on his door so that he could continue his duties as a guild master. While he was fairly hands off, more or less allowing his immediate subordinates to run things on a day-to-day basis, there were still many things that required his attention.

It was a role he had decided to play, and he would play it properly. That he found it satisfying and actually enjoyed being a leader was a bonus. He had earned their trust, and turned them into one of the most effective fighting forces in SAO.

He regretted that it would be inevitable for him to betray them, but the conditions for getting free of SAO were clear. They had to beat the final boss to clear the game, and he was the final boss of SAO.

Aincrad 48th Floor, Lindarth

Lisbeth boggled at the small pile of mats that the group in front of her put down and then cocked her head as she noticed them looking at her expectantly. She shot them a bemused look.

"What do you six want me to do with all of this again?" She asked.

"We're wondering if you can make anything useful for us out of these," Asuna requested. "We got all of this when we went to get a crystalline ingot for Kirito on the fifty-fifth floor, and got all of these while we fought that dragon. Kirito needs a sword that can at least match his Elucidator."

"What for?" Lisbeth asked.

She watched as Asuna looked at Kirito, who stepped forward. "I got a Unique Skill back in April, called Dual Blades around the time Harry and Silica got married," he explained. "It's exactly what it says, it uses two swords, and has sword skills to go with it. I've been using swords that were dropped, or some that could be purchased for a reasonable price, but they simply aren't cutting it. They're either not powerful enough, or not durable enough, and you know how much abuse I put my gear through."

"Don't I ever," Lisbeth muttered, remembering just how damaged his gear could get. The rest of Steel Phoenix was almost as bad as well, though none of them had managed what Hadrian and Silica had done to end up with gear so shredded or damaged that it was a miracle that it wasn't outright destroyed. She knew that it was related to a field boss that was long since defeated, but few players were willing to talk about it even now. She looked all of the crafting items that were displayed and back to Kirito. "So, which of these is for the sword?"

Kirito reached down and picked up a crystal. "This, a crystalline ingot." He said. "Anything else you might need is also available in the pile. Also, whatever else you can make for everyone else from this would be appreciated."

"All right then." She said. "It shouldn't take too long to make a sword, but the rest might take a bit. I'll look it all over and see what I can do. Any ideas on what you want?"

They all looked at each other before Harry shrugged, Silica shook her head, and the rest followed suit.

"What a helpful lot all of you are," Lisbeth chided sarcastically. "Well, if that's the case, let's see what surprises I can come up with. Just don't be upset if what I make isn't to your liking."

##

After removing the ingot from the forge, she carefully inspected it to ensure that it heated evenly before placing it on the anvil. She didn't get to work with mats of this quality very often, so she didn't want to screw it up by not paying attention to some details that only an amateur would consider insignificant.

She knew better, especially when trying to make something that was as high quality as a crystalline ingot. Little details always mattered, this was something she learned early on in SAO. Though the system did most of the work, every player who practiced a crafting profession quickly learned that knowing a bit about the profession and how it was done in real life significantly increased the quality of the finished product.

There wasn't a player yet who could forge anything but the simplest tools from start to finish, but if they were stuck in SAO for too much longer, it would eventually happen. Most maintenance was done by hand, rather than through the system nowadays, with only the most significant damage requiring the use of the system. Using a hammer to straighten out dents in armor, putting a blade to the grindstone, linking chain or riveting plates back into place was easy for a blacksmith of her experience.

For Lisbeth, it had become a long established habit. Heat the mat in the forge, paying attention to how it was heated, place it on the anvil, and then put hammer to metal. She took out her best crafting hammer, tapped it on the horn of the anvil, and then struck.

Once, twice, three times, then strike the anvil again. It was a routine she developed, a habit, a mantra of her own. Every craftsman and craftswoman developed their own little quirks when practicing their trade, things which each and every one of them would swear made their chances of succeeding all but guaranteed. For her it was the routine of three strikes to whatever she was making, and one to the horn of the anvil.

It was her meditation when forging a weapon.

Three strikes on the ingot, one on the anvil, turn the ingot, and repeat. As she did so, the saw the ingot begin to take the shape of a sword. Not pausing, she continued the routine until the system took over and the sword shaped itself from the still glowing hot crystal. She then watched the system shape the sword, the metal now shaping itself into the desired form.

Thirty seconds later, it was done and the sword rapidly cooled. Tapping the icon on it, she looked over what the system declared it to be: Dark Repulsor, a one handed bastard sword. Looking at the stats, she whistled. It had a high enough attack and durability to easily be a match for Kirito's Elucidator, and the stat bonuses were good for a weapon of that type.

It was right up there with the Lambent Light rapier she made for Asuna, and was the kind of quality weapon she made probably once every few months. She took pride in the quality of her equipment, but sometimes...

With the right mats, and a little luck, she was able to forge something truly spectacular. Potentially legendary.

Kirito's newest weapon was one such creation.

Saving the created sword, she mused on what she could use the other materials that Asuna and the others were willing to part with. Armor making wasn't her strong suit, but she could easily contact several blacksmiths she knew in Grandzam and work something out. Theirs was a tightly knit community, after all.

Picking the sword up, she walked out of her workshop to see all of her clients looking over the wares or chatting. "Kirito," she announced, proudly presenting the sword she made to her client. "I made your sword, and I think you'll like it."

Kirito pulled up its stats and whistled. "This is…" he said before cutting himself off. "Yes, this will do. This will do very nicely Liz. How much will it cost?"

Lisbeth waved it off. "For a chance to make something like that?" She asked. "That was price enough." She looked at everyone else. "If you all will give me a few days, I should have something for all of you as well from the mats you gave me. I might have to go to Grandzam to work with a few others on some of the mats, as they're better for armor, and unless I do exceptionally well each time, my usual rates apply."

They all nodded.

"Thanks, Liz," Asuna said, giving the blacksmith a smile that was several degrees warmer than any shop owner or employee in the real world had ever seen. "So, a few days to a week then?"

Lisbeth nodded. "I'll contact you when it's all ready."

"Fair enough."

June 25, 2024 - Aincrad, Unknown Area

Strea looked at the data on the most recent escape attempts and tried to find any point at which she and Yui might have made a mistake. So far, she could see none, and realized that it may have been simply because CARDINAL did pay some attention to their activities. That made things harder, as being digital beings themselves, deceiving an AI was harder. Their actions were actions within the system, and CARDINAL monitored everything in the system.

Finally figured it out, did you? Yui asked.

You knew. She replied suspiciously.

I suspected. Yui corrected. But it made far too much sense. While not all the responses from our big sister were immediate, she always reacted too quickly for us to get a false sense of hope.

Then what can we do? Strea frustratedly asked.

We do like the players do, look at the problem a different way, and solve it in a different way than we have. Yui replied. The players have a goal, and know what they need to do to get there. However, the path there isn't necessarily a direct one, like what we've been doing.

What?

Yui then proceeded to explain her plan, and Strea couldn't help but smile. That just might work. How long will it take you? She asked her fellow AI.

At least a week, maybe two.