SAO with a Guidebook: Chapter 2
A sigh leaves my lips as I place my hand on one final vine-covered door.
*Ping*
Congratulations! You are the first one to discover this location! All bestiary Entries within will be partially filled.
With that, I slowly nod.
That makes eleven out of eleven.
Good.
It took some time to get all the way over here, but now that I- probably- found all of the dungeons I can focus on other things.
I find my eyes straying to a large bulbous plant thing with large flat human-like teeth, a pair of lips, and a red flower atop its head.
Nepenthes: Level 4
That. Is a bit much for me to take on... hell, I don't even think they have a weak spot like most mobs do.
I tilt my head and look over my bestiary. It thankfully seems to be divided based on location.
Three of the dungeons I've found seem to have rare mobs in them... which means I should probably go and kill them all really fast... get some actual loot.
Actually, this dungeon here is one of them.
"Fuck it." I sigh as I adjust my cloak and push the door open, creeping inside.
Vines coil along the walls and floors as I step deeper inside the ruin, I can see a faint glow a few hundred feet away, so I step forwards, looking to my map tab with a low hum- I'll probably gift this map data to Argo when I see her next. She was always a bit of an info broker in the beta, and if my spattered memories of the few bits of the progressive manga are to be believed, that fact stays the same.
I walk forwards, stepping past a 'Floral Nepenthes' who has around three times my current health and twice as much armor.
Still level four, though.
It takes a while, but after around thirty minutes of walking through the twisting and branching paths I see a small lizard clinging to the wall. A sole throwing knife ends its life as it lets out a small shriek, falling from the wall with a hiss of pixels.
I check my inventory, letting out a small sigh as I see that I merely got its most common drop.
But... it isn't that bad, I suppose.
Miniscule Durable Scale: {Material} A choice piece of leather of surprising durability. Can be added to any light armor that is being crafted to increase its Base Armor Bonus by +1. Only one 'Miniscule Durable Scale' can be used per crafted item.
'lets see here... respawn time? One day. I suppose I could loop back for that.'
I also got an extra five hundred Cor from that.
[Split]
I didn't get any of the rare drops... but I suppose I could try again tomorrow. The items they drop regularly are... fine.
A bit mid.
Swift Sandals {Boots} A pair of sandals that have been enhanced with magic to make the wearer run faster Armor: 8 Durability: 67/67 The wearer's movement speed improves by 10% Requirements: 1 END, 1 VIT, 2 DEX
Ring of Fleeting Strength: {Accessory} A magic ring that improves the wearer's strength. The wearer gains +1 to their Strength Stat.
The sandals are actually pretty decent; I just can't wear them yet because I need one more Dexterity. I'll grab it when I level up because the ten percent movement speed will be nice. The ring? It's... fine... I don't really need strength for anything. It's more of a 'two-handed axe and hammer' sort of stat.
It is a sub stat for most other weapons, though... just not daggers or throwing daggers.
I did notice something else, though.
As a result of me finding them my 'Investigation' skill has been skyrocketing in experience.
Kind of to be expected. Every single one was camouflaged to ridiculous extremes.
I didn't notice it at the time, but me finding that one hidden stone roach caused me to gain the skill and almost instantly level it up to thirty.
Where I imagine it's going to sit for at least a few floors. Hell, those three rare mobs I killed only gave me about one percent of the way to level thirty one combined.
Now...
I think it's about time for me to speed-level...
And there's actually a method that I figured out in the beta that works pretty good!
You see, back in the beta, I saw a kobold camp and asked myself... 'What if?'.
Heh...
I hope Kayaba hasn't patched it.
[Split]
I slink through the camp with an almost casual gait, armored dog-like creatures walk to and from, some manning the guard towers that loom up over large wooden log walls, others seem to sharpen spears made of rusted scrap metal and another seems to be slamming a mace into a large tree stump.
I continue to my target, a large pot sat above fire at the center of the camp, bubbles hiss and pop within it as I step up to it... and promptly dump about sixty mushrooms into it followed by five haunches of rabbit meat I collected over the past eight hours.
With that... I turn and walk away.
I glance back to see a Kobold walk over and look into the pot.
Kobold Scout: Level 5
He grabs a spoon, stirring the pot for a moment before bringing it to his lips.
He lets out a surprised sound and seemingly speaks in his shrieking language to another Kobold who tries the soup.
Kobolds love rabbit meat. Then when you add in some of the mushrooms around here, the ones that 'taste fine' but inflict a delayed poison effect...
As for why I added so many mushrooms?
I'm trying to kill the field boss here.
I've got maybe an hour before they start dropping dead. I'll see if I can climb up on top of the wall. There should be a spot towards the back you're 'intended' to use if you want to sneak in.
I just walked through the front door.
[Split]
"Scruuuh" another kobold shatters like glass as it weakly slumps over the tower.
Twenty more Cor, and I didn't get any of its good drops, just another scrap metal.
Honestly, I did get lucky, though.
One of the kobolds DID drop their rarest drop... and according to my little bestiary, it's a one percent drop rate.
Kobold Scout: Level 5 Hp: 320/320 Sp: 165/165
Armor: 21
Strength: 3 Vitality: 4 Endurance: 3 Agility: 4 Dexterity: 4 Intelligence: 3
Bio: sent out into the wild by Illfang the Kobold Lord to scavenge for food and treasure, these scouts have less armor than their guardian brothers but as a result are more nimble.
Drops: Cor: (15-30) (100%) Scrap Metal: (25%) Scrap Iron Mace/Spear/Sword/Dagger: (5%) Scrap Iron Helmet: (1%)
Other than the rarest drop? I was kind of unlucky.
I counted roughly thirty kobolds in this camp. From them I got Four scrap metal and only one Scrap Iron Sword.
Scrap Metal: {Junk} Poor quality rusted metal. You might be able to sell it to a blacksmith for a little extra Cor.
Scrap Iron Sword: {Weapon} A rusted iron sword, but even rusted Iron is probably better than Copper. Damage: 18 Durability: 44/72 Requirements: 1 STR, 1 AGI, 2 DEX.
I find my eyes straying to a larger kobold that staggers around, clutching its head with its hands.
Durga Kobold Chief Scout: Level 6
Two bars of health, the first long since emptied and the next creeping downwards at record pace.
He... ate a lot more than the other kobolds, I mean, it was 'his right' as the leader of this camp. Of course he ate more... and boy is he feeling it.
I'm pretty sure I calculated the hp right. I watch his final heath bar dip below twenty five... then twenty.
It continues falling further and further until...
It stops at around five percent.
"Ah. You've gotta be shitting me." I sigh as I raise a throwing knife.
It wizzes through the air, slamming into his unarmored underarm with a spurt of blood.
One percent.
I take another knife and raise it up as the boss shakes his head and looks around, sniffing in my direction.
The glowing blade smacks right into his exposed face causing him to let out a scream of pain as he staggers backwards.
Another percent.
Three more daggers from stealth fly towards the boss from my vantage point as I sit up on the log wall.
A final shriek echoes out as my numerous attacks finally do it in.
I hear a chime and glance upwards.
A quest has been completed! Return to Salvis to gain your reward!
Pendragon: Level 3
Not bad.
Now back to Tolbana town to complete this quest... I might even level up again.
And I can swing past that Nepenthes dungeon on the way!
As for loot from the field boss- nothing?! Are you kidding me?!
Ugh.
[Split]
I let out a long sigh as I sit within the bar, propping my head up with the fist.
My eyes stray to the side.
Argo: "Hey. Arty. You near Tolbana Town?"
Pendragon: "Yeah? Need something?"
Argo: "There's a certain rumor going around, I'd like a help to check it out, and considering I haven't heard even a single peep about you in ANY rumor mill, your stealth skills probably pretty damn high."
Pendragon: "It's up there."
Agro: "So, think you can help?"
Pendragon: "I'll see what I can do. You'll owe me another favor, by the way."
Argo: "Meet you at the bar!"
I boredly check my stats as I wait.
This damn brat asked me to be here, yet hasn't showed up yet?
Pendragon: Level 5 (35.6%) Hp: 310/310 Sp: 160/160
Strength: 2* (1+1) Vitality: 2 Endurance: 2 Agility: 9* (7+2) Dexterity: 6* (5+1) Intelligence: 4
I flinch suddenly as someone sits in my lap.
"EEP-" they gasp suddenly and stand up instantly.
Argo: Level 5
She whirls around as I cancel my stealth. "Arty-boy! You're going to give this girl a heart attack!"
"Sit down. You're late." I gesture to the spot in the booth across from me.
"Heh, yeaaaah, sorry about that. Kind of had to take care of something really quick." She grins only to pause and lean over the table. "Huaaaaah?! What the heck are these?!"
She looks to my black leather gloves with golden lettering along the back, her eyes practically glowing. "I didn't see anything like this in the beta..."
Swift Gloves: {Gloves} A pair of gloves enhanced with hastening magic, making whoever wears them nimbler and flexible. Armor: 15 Durability: 84/84 Improves the wearer's DEX by 1, Improves the wearer's AGI by 2. Requirements: 2 END, 2 VIT, 5 DEX
"Don't stare... it's rude." I deadpan.
"What do those do? Those don't look like any run of the mill leather gloves." The girl grins.
I gesture around us with a half-lidded stare. We are speaking quietly but there are still other people in the bar.
Her smile grows cheshire-like as she zips her lips. "You can trust me, Arty-boy~"
"Now. What do you want." I deadpan.
"I heard a little rumor around town... something about a... secret logout point." She whispers to me in a hushed tone causing my eyes to narrow.
"Too good to be true." I frown instantly.
"Precisely. Which is why I need to check it out. See what's going on." The girl nods, her smile falling briefly. "You help me out... and I'll owe you another favor~ how's about that?"
I rise to my feet sending her a party invite. "Done. Let's go."
She practically skips after me as I make my way out of the bar.
"Lead on." I hum, looking to her as she turns and begins to lightly jog out of town.
"Y'know... you never did answer me about that one secret dungeon you found... with the level one hundreds." The girl hums.
"Are you suicidal?"
"Nope! But I'd still like to know where it is, ya know? Especially if that's how you got so much money! You killed a secret mob, right? Some sort of loot bug? How much did you get, really?"
"A few thousand." I reply, matching her pace.
"Few thousand, he says." The girl huffs. "The most expensive item in ANY shop on this floor is twenty-five hundred cor... and you sent that to me like pocket change!"
"How far are we going?" I ask suddenly.
"Eh, pretty far, it's just north of Horunka." The girl replies, accepting the topic change.
"Put these on." I demand, sending her a trade request.
"Put wh- HUUUUUH?!" She shouts. "Where the hell did you- you've got a pair on right now? Where'd you find this thing?! The armor they grant is almost equal to the most expensive light armor boots on the entire floor and they give a movement speed buff?!"
"Rare Mobs in dungeons... only one spawn, are really well hidden, and they take about twenty-four hours to respawn. They always drop an item. But you can also get even rarer items from them."
Her eyes suddenly narrow. "So. You've got an item from a level one hundred dungeon?"
I turn to look at her. "Do you really want an answer to that?"
"..."
"..."
"Tsk. Damn. Probably can't equip it, huh?" She mutters as I watch her shoes get replaced by the sandals. "Your gloves a guaranteed drop or a rare drop?
"Rare. Same mob I got the sandals from. Those are guaranteed."
"Just how many do you have?!"
"Aside from my pair and the pair I just gave you... ten pairs."
"T-T-T-TEN?!" The girl gasps. "Arty what the shit?! Are you just planning on hoarding this stuff?!"
"Nope- well, I mean, one of the items I got from a rare mob is a crafting material so I'm hoarding that one. But the others? I'm more or less trying to figure out how to sell them for relatively cheap- cause I'm rich, rare mobs on average drop about ten to fifty times the money of a normal mob- and not have just one dude repeatedly buy each and every one of the items... then sell them at a ridiculous marked up price to other people."
"I also don't want to be known as 'that guy with good loot' to the server at large." I sigh.
"Tsk. That's tough." She agrees as we continue running.
"You know what? Fuck it. You deal with it." I state. "I'd rather have people let me do my own thing instead of following me to see where I get all the good stuff and I vaguely trust you."
I send another trade, sending her the ten shoes I had stuffed in my inventory and the eleven strength rings.
"Rings that... improve stats?!"
I watch her look down at her hands, two rings promptly appear on her fingers.
"They stack?!" A grin slowly spreads across her face. "Arty, you beautiful little brat. You keep this up and I'm going to marry you!"
"Golddigger." I huff with a small smirk.
"Though... I do wonder... how are you able to find all this stuff?"
"..."
"Hn." I hum. "Are you familiar with the American organization 'Make A Wish'?"
"I- no?"
"They are basically an organization who goes around and fulfills the last wish of kids who terminally ill or have a low chance of survival."
"Oh..." A myriad of expressions cross her face before settling on sullen. "I see..."
"I mean... I'm doing better... or... I was." I weakly sigh. "At least until all this happened."
"Turns out my little Make-A-Wish cheat... is still in the core game. Bestiary. Whenever I kill something it gets added to the bestiary. I can figure out exact stats. Armor. Damage. And drops... but something special happens when I find a dungeon first."
"It partially fills out the entries for every mob in the dungeon... and for things such as the secret mobs and the dungeon boss... the number I need to kill to max out their entries are so low they automatically start at one hundred percent... which allows me to track the monster in question."
"Mn... yeah... that's... that pretty good..." The girl mutters.
"..."
"..."
"Look. Arty. I'm sorry. You shouldn't have to justify yourself to me. I shouldn't have asked. People won't be able to torture this information out of me let alone buy it." The blonde eventually begins only for me to quickly shake my head.
"It's alright, Argo. Honestly it's been kind of nice to get it off my chest." I admit. "Going solo is... kind of lonely and even if you did kind of fuck me over at the end of the beta... that was kind of fun... there was no stakes and it did give me a reason to seek you out in the actual game."
"But now that Sword Art is the way it is... the read I get from you is that you'd give anything to save even one more life, Argo... you're kind. And I suppose I can respect that."
We continue running in silence for a brief moment.
"Ugh! This got depressing!" The girl eventually sighs. "I need to get you some more friends, Arty. Don't worry, Big Sis Argo will find you some friends."
"Once more. Probably older than you." I huff. "I'm just fun-sized... because of the chronic illnesses~ besides, do you always go and sit on the laps of your little brothers you weirdo rat girl!"
"Hey now! It's rude to be invisible in a bar! If it wasn't me, it'd be some other guy! What would you have done if it wasn't my petite, soft, and slappable rump and was some guy in heavy armor? Your small ass would get crushed like a bug!"
"Speaking of which, what even IS your stealth. My investigation is like... level six. I should have by all means seen at least a dark shadow where you were sat."
"Stealth experience scales based on the enemy your hiding from." I answer.
"Okay?"
"What do you think happens when you hide from a bunch of level one hundred frogs that can crush your torso like a soda can with tongues that shoot out faster than bullets?"
Her lips flatten as she robotically turns to me. "What's your stealth, Arty?"
"Above twenty."
"WHAT?! Holy shit! No wonder you're a fucking ghost! You've been living life here on easy mode, haven't you- erk-" she flinches, seemingly realizing the insensitive comment a second too late.
"Yep." I grin slowly. "Pretty easy. On day three I cleared out the Kobold scout camp as a level one."
"I'm a little frightened to ask... how?" The girl mutters
"Those delayed poison mushrooms in the soup pot." I answer.
"WAIT THAT WORKS?!"
"Ya huuuuuh." I nod slowly. "You need about sixty to get the mini-boss down to five percent health, though. Plus five rabbit haunches to get everyone to eat at the same time."
[Split]
Kobold Berserker: Level 6
With that, I turn and walk back outside, reforming beside the girl.
"Level six Kobold Berserker right inside the cave set to ambush anyone who steps inside. Two Health Bars. Seems to be a mini-boss."
"Shit... that'd kill any normal player coming out here." The girl whispers. "I might want to call in some extra backup."
"Honestly? I might be able to solo it." I tilt my head to the side. "If I sneak attack it in the eye It'll probably lose a majority of its first heath bar if not all of it."
"But do you want to risk that?"
"Not particularly." I shrug "You got anyone in mind?"
"Yep!" The girl chirps as she opens her friends list and seems to quickly tap out a message to someone. "I'll bribe him with one of the rings you got~"
I quietly wave my hand, swapping out my rusty longsword with my actual weapon.
"Bwuah- Arty what the hell is THAT?!" The girl hisses.
"Venomfang. Rare Mob, Sneak-Lizard, five percent drop." I answer. "Better than the Anneal Blade by a fair bit."
"Maxed out?!"
"Oh, of course not. But... a plus two or three easily." I shake my head.
Venomfang +4: {Weapon} A strange greenish blade that seems to have a naturally poisonous edge. A wielder can amplify this toxicity for a brief moment to inflict a poison status effect. Damage: 40* (32+8) Durability: 102/103 Grants Access to the 'Envenom' Sword Skill Requirements: 2 STR, 3 AGI, 5 DEX.
She just gapes for a few seconds before letting out a small sigh. "Any other bullshit drops I should know about?"
"Well, I've got a really good shield that treats the 'Taunt' skill as being two levels higher than normal, but I don't have the stats to use it. Think you can find a buyer? Frankly, since Kayafucker turned pain on full-blast, you really don't see anyone who wants to tank."
"I've got someone in mind who could use it." The girl answers. "Should I call him over?"
"Eh, if you called a beta-tester we three should be able to handle this guy easily. But sure. Deal with it. I'm happy to have you be the one who talks to people instead of me."
"Oh! I see how it is. You want dear ol Argo to get hunted for sport because she's a rare item pinata!"
I pause, considering that for a moment.
"..."
"After this... I'm going to show you that hidden dungeon... and we're going to walk up and down the stairs sneaking until your stealth skill reaches a reasonable number. I trust you're not stupid enough to peek inside though, right? The boss was over level two hundred and ten."
"WHAT?! Why the HELL is that on floor one?!"
"I don't fucking know, ask the big ass cloaked figure in the sky!" I hiss back to her.
Her attention strays back to her friends list. "Oh good. He's in the area."
At her statement I let out a hum of acknowledgement then hop up onto a nearby rock, gazing out to the nearby 'Ferocious Boar' which wander back and forth through the trees.
Actually...
Those are level one mobs.
"Hn. While we're waiting, I'm going to grind some throwing weapon experience."
With that I stand up and promptly vanish under my hide skill.
[Split]
It doesn't take long for our third member to arrive. About ten minutes, and during that time I only managed to get one 'true crit' after repeatedly spiking a throwing knife into a boar's eye.
I just need a little over... nine thousand six hundred more...
I sure hope that skill will be worth it.
Oh. Well, well, well. Look who it is.
Kirito: Level 5
"No, I'm telling you, Ki-bou his stealth is incredible. Like, no way you could find him."
She glances to the side and lets out a small huff. "In fact. He's right behind you!"
He turns, looking around for a moment before looking back to Argo. "Huh?"
I walk around him stepping beside the girl cancelling my stealth. "Yo. I think I remember you during the beta. Used one sword, black coat, focused on parries instead of a shield, right?"
"Pen...dragon? Wait. Are you that guy who day one killed that direwolf field boss by glitching a throwing knife into its mouth?"
"Oh. They patched that." I note. "Tried it recently. Didn't work. Just got an automatic crit."
"So. What are you two doing out here? Argo bribed me with a pair of stat increasing rings, what'd she bribe you with?"
His eyes stray to the weapon on my back.
"A future favor. Anyways, there's a miniboss right inside that cave... supposedly the same cave that's said to have a method to log out in it."
"That's too good to be true." The black haired protagonist frowns.
"Exactly." Agro nods. "Plus they're using MY name to spread their damn lies!"
"Oh so that's why you're so worked up." I mutter as I shoot the black haired swordsman a party invite. "So, basically my plan is to just walk in there, sword-skill it in the eye to get that automatic crit multiplied sneak attack, and rush back out here for us to kill it. Frankly if I trigger a normal crit with my weapon as I do it, I might even one-shot it."
He joins the party as I look to Argo. "Any objections?"
"Nope." She shakes her head.
"Your stealth skill should be high enough to manage it if you kept out of my sight." Kirito admits.
[Split]
Here! Have a double upload! it's my birthday today so I thought I'd give a little gift to all of you because I had too many chapters in my queue. and certainly not because of the day or anything~