Chapter 13: First Floor Meeting

[Third Person Pov]

[21th of November, 13.23]

Ayanokoji was walking through the Kobold Swamp Area far away from the city and the Horunka Village when he heard a female voice shouting about 100 meters away from him.

He didn't have anything else to do, so he thought about catching a quick glance at what happened there.

As much as the other part of his persona acted like there was no benefit on going there, he wanted to act like any other human too, helping other human beings in hard situations.

If he had to guess, the girl either didn't know the danger of this area, or she encountered more monsters than she could think of.

Even if there remained the risk that this might be a trap from a certain group of players that are PK's, he still didn't want one of the many possibilities to affect his judgment on saving others.

Despite knowing that there was a certain risk factor, he chose to go there. It wasn't like PK's were dangerous to him. He was at Level 21.

[Level 21: 294.232/324.400]

He was the danger, not them. If an event like that occurred, he wouldn't show mercy. Although, he'd let them attack him first to avoid getting brandmarked as a 'criminal' by the system.

There were many ways to use it to his advantage. He had done some extensive tests, but the best option for players would be to kill them through a [Duel] having challenged them, making it legal to kill other players. There was also the option of 'Sleep PK', accepting the challenge on your opponents' behalf when they sleep and kill them through that.

But that required on having your door not locked, which was quite stupid. But, for those who were 'orange' players, they would usually sleep in caves that were safe zones and could be easily killed through challenging them.

It didn't quite matter to him. He wasn't a killer. He was just someone who wanted to survive.

Sprinting to the area, he saw a girl on the ground, confronted with three <<Swamp Kobolds>>. She looked a bit scared, which was quite normal, given her situation.

Besides that, her HP was in the red zone, which didn't seem to be looking good.

"W-Who are you?" the girl asked in a scared tone.

"Just someone who wants to help. Nothing more. Here, take this," Ayanokoji said, throwing a [Lesser Health Potion] towards her direction.

"I'll deal with them. Stay behind."

It was quite mysterious why he was doing this. It wasn't like he was a 'savior' or something, but he felt that this game was demolishing any efforts he had done to change from his white room persona.

Perhaps it was a fruitless attempt of him to prove that 'that' man was wrong, but he wanted to contradict him as much as possible in any way.

Yet, when it was regarding Horikita's growth, he didn't hesitate and let the guy do what he wanted, committing suicide. He knew that he was a walking contradiction, but he really wanted to let his white room persona behind him.

An average life — that was his goal - after the age of fourteen, when he outclassed any tasks the White Room had given him.

Ayanokoji killed them within forty seconds, using several sword skills in the midthrough of the battle.

Then, he approached the girl.

"Are you okay?" asked Ayanokoji, offering her a hand to get up.

She accepted the gesture, taking his hand, standing up. "Yes. Thank you for saving me. I'm not sure if I'd have been able to escape them if it wasn't for you."

"No worries."

The girl looked curiously at Ayanokoji. "Your face seems familiar. I think I have seen you once..."

The girl was currently thinking where she saw him. "Ah, I recognize you now. Aren't you one of these people who are conquering the Labyrinth. I think they called you 'clearers,' right?"

"Yes, indeed. Were you present in one of the meetings?"

"Yes, but I just watched everything from the side lines. I didn't end up coming to the Labyrinth due to my low level. I was trying to level up..."

"But well, you know what happened next. If it wasn't for you, I'm not sure what would have happened. Perhaps I could have escaped with my [Hiding] Skill, but I'm not sure."

"Well, it was my pleasure..." Ayanokoji stopped, speaking further, not knowing how to address her.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I didn't introduce myself, did I? I'm Lux."

[Lux Appearance:]

"It was my pleasure, Lux. I'm Ayanokoji."

"Ayanokoji?" she frowned.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"You are using your surname as your username, right?"

"Yes."

"..."

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"No, nothing at all. I'm just a bit surprised because I never saw anyone ever using their surname. That's all."

"Well, I planned on deleting my avatar later onwards and changing the name, but well, that's not possible anymore."

"Yeah..." she frowned. Then, she enthusiastically spoke up. "Do you mind if I send you a friend request?"

"Sure, I don't mind."

[Lux has sent you a friend request]

[Do you accept?]

[Yes] [No]

Ayanokoji clicked on the 'Yes' button.

"Ayanokoji-kun, where are you heading too?" she asked.

"I think I'll return back to the <<City of The Beginnings>>. What about you, Lux?"

"Me too? Do you mind walking back together?"

"Sure. Also, Lux, you can call me simply Ayanokoji. There's no need for honorifics."

"Sure. By the way, how old are you, Ayanokoji?"

"I'm 17. How about you, Lux?"

"I'm 15. Next year, I'll be 16."

"I see. It seems like there are quite a lot of players that are still teenagers."

"Do you know some?"

"Yeah. I now know about 341 people who are still high schoolers."

"That much?!" she frowned. "How do you know that Ayanokoji?"

"Well, partially, it's because my whole school is trapped here. Alongside you, I met two other people who are still teenagers."

"Ah, I see," she hadn't processed the first part of his sentence immediately. "Wait, what?! Your whole school? How is that even possible?"

"Do you know ANHS?"

"Sure, everybody knows this school. It's the best school in Japan. Hold on a minute. Are you saying... that you are from there?"

"Yes."

"Oh my god. I don't know what to say anymore."

"Yeah. But if you don't mind, can you keep it for yourself."

"Sure, that's the least I can do."

"Thank you, I appreciate it."

"No problem. I'll be sure to repay you sometime, Ayanokoji. Currently... I can not, unfortunately..."

"You don't have to."

"Don't worry. I want to do it, not because I feel forced to do so."

"Okay."

--

Arriving at Aincrad, Ayanokoji wanted to say goodbye to Lux when he saw Hiyori there, who saw him too, interrupting him of saying farewell to Lux.

"Ayanokoji-kun, what are you doing here? And who might be the girl beside you be?"

"I returned from Tolbana back here, Hiyori."

At the immediate moment of the name 'Hiyori,' Lux flinched away in surprise. Was the girl in front of her, perhaps the person who stole her initial username?

"I met Lux on the way here, seen her attacked by some <<Swamp Kobolds>>. I helped her, and well, we've befriended each other in that short amount of time, I guess."

Lux didn't know what to say. Until now, she never had meet someone who truly wanted to be friends with her. Some were aiming for her looks, and she began trusting people less and less.

She was reluctant to trust others, but as for Ayanokoji, she didn't feel as reluctant anymore. He was a great conversation partner and a kind and nice human being. That was how she perceived it.

"Pleasure to meet you, Lux. I'm Hiyori. It's both my first name and my username."

"Im Lux. Also, coincidentally, my first name also happens to be Hiyori."

Their conversation continued.

--

"Lux, do you mind if I send you a friend request?"

"No, not at all. I'd be happy to be your friend. I didn't really have anyone until today. I'm glad to have met you two, Ayanokoji, Hiyori."

"Lux, Hiyori, I really don't want to disturb your conversation, but today is another meeting regarding clearing the two remaining Labyrinth Floors at 2 pm, which is why I need to go now. See you some other time!"

"See you later, Ayanokoji."

"See you later, Kiyotaka."

Without a second passing, Ayanokoji teleported himself to Tolbana, winking the two 'Hiyori's' goodbye.

It was quite the surprise seeing his book friend 'Hiyori' so happily, especially since the very beginning, she had not smiled at least once yet.

It was the case for both of them, actually. Until today, neither of them smiled at least once.

This was the beginning of a long friendship between these two.

--

"Ayanokoji, you've arrived," Kirito said.

"Yeah. I was a bit busy since I had some prior things to do. But now, I'm all focused on the Labyrinth again."

Then, a large figure sat behind them. "Kirito, Ayanokoji, you two seem to know each other."

"We do. We have done a few quests together and tried on advancing some floors of the Labyrinth together. How do you two know each other?"

Agil looked on the ground. "It's not something very pleasant... we've met each other when Ayanokoji and a friend of his were in search of one of their school comrades. They seemed to have died, unfortunately, just like many other players, ever since the game began."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, Ayanokoji. I didn't want to relieve some painful memories of you."

"No worries. You couldn't know that."

Just when Ayanokoji wanted to relax a bit, take a panini out of his inventory, he heard another sudden voice behind him.

"Hey, Ayanokoji," a voice he was all too familiar said. It was that of Ryūen Kakeru.

"Do you know him, Ayanokoji?"

"He's a person from my school."

"I see," replied Kirito.

Alongside Ryūen, three other people walked next to him. Those were Ibuki, Ichizaki, and Albert.

"I hope I don't disturb you three. We're also here to help clear the floor."

Ryūen was in all of a sudden quite polite. It was quite a surprise if Ayanokoji had to be honest.

"Sure, everybody is welcome! The more there are, the faster we clear the Labyrinth," Agil said.

Then, all of a sudden, his glance shifted towards Albert. For Agil and Albert, it was quite the surprise, as the two of them never saw any other black person inside this game, aside from them.

From the sideline, Diavel appeared, speaking up in the front, as he was the leader.

"Hello, everyone! We still have four Labyrinth floors to clear, so let's divide up in several groups, like usual. For those who are new here, we have divided up the groups as follows: tank unit, support unit, reserve unit, and the attack unit."

Then, Diavel began to explain the strategy, as most of the people present here had already Map Data.

Ayanokoji had earned quite much from the shop, which was quite nice, as the first floor probably would be the only floor where he could marketize the Map Data like this.

Besides the Map Data, eighteen of his Boar Tusk Knifes were bought, Equipment between Level 1 to 6 was bought, weapons from monsters, and some materials he didn't need anymore were bought.

Until now, a bit more than seventy people have died inside the Labyrinth, having not bought Ayanokoji's Map Data, as they thought it'd be easy to explore it, and earn from it Cor's.

After players realized how dangerous the Labyrinth was, how many players were backstabbing each other, or some let their comrades die while they were fleeing, quite the number of people have bought his Map Data.

In total, 216 people have bought his Map Data for 5.000 Cor's. In other words, he earned 1.080.000 million Cor's, until now, from the Map Data. Well, people had to adjust to his price if they wanted to get to the Boss Room.

In total, his earnings from his various items he offered were 1.193.340 million Cor's, quite a number of Cor's.

[Cor: 326.212] + 1.193.340

[Cor: 1.519.552]

He was definitely very wealthy in comparison to any other player. His level was also quite high, being that of Level 21.

Now that more players are openly farming monsters in many Map areas, he's currently covering his stats as much as possible, reducing the stats like average, which also quite affects his efficiency on killing multiple monsters.

He did sigh a bit, as he was only at Level 21, but the second highest player next to him was Kirito, having barely reached Level 11 with hard efforts. For leveling up between Levels 10 and 11, it took him three days, most of these days having only slept between four to five hours, unlike Ayanokoji's schedule, where he sleeps at the very least seven hours. Mostly, he would farm during night, where the players are usually back at night in the <<City of The Beginnings>>.

In any case, he slightly sighed, walking with the hundreds of players inside the Labyrinth, to clear the last two remaining floors until they'd arrive at the Boss Room.

To be honest, he felt kind of bad. He raised the difficulty for the last three Labyrinth floors much, having placed all monsters in no blind spots and strategically, that you'd need to lure some first, because if not, all other monsters would get attentive on you.

It'd take at the very least ten to twelve days to clear these four Labyrinth floors. That was his estimation, given the fact that he was also helping them, trying to lead them there unharmedly.

Within these ten days, he should be able to level up his level proficiency to at least [500/1.000], but that might also not be the case anymore. He was at [337/1.000], and it'd require lots of efforts to reach that kind of high proficiency. It was quite hard reaching this already, but well, he was also able to improve his weapon proficiency through training his sword, too.

It didn't quite much require to kill Monsters, but it was a bit harder to improve the weapon proficiency with only training your sword instead of killing monsters.

Well, it was a viable option for those who were a bit scared of killing monsters to level up and gain a bit of confidence first, given that if they die here, they'd also die in real life.

But well, a bit sighing, Ayanokoji followed the group along. He was in the attack unit like Kirito, Ibuki, and Ryūen. Ichizaki was in the support unit, and Albert and Agil in the Tank Unit.

Diavel was the one chosen as the 'leader' of the group, which he didn't mind, since he was doing a good job of leading everyone unharmed there. If anyone's Health Bar would fall down to yellow, you'd switch with one of the people of reserve units and heal firstly.

The people in the reserve unit were a bit lower on the level, being between level 5, while the ones in the attack unit were between 6 and 8, or a bit higher, like in case of Kirito or Ayanokoji.

Well, it didn't quite matter in the end. He was just thinking of what he should eat later, and perhaps, another thing could happen today, too.

--

In the end, they were only able to clear twenty percent of this Labyrinth floor, despite everyone's efforts. Ayanokoji was a bit surprised, seeing how they took so long, and yet, the monsters he placed in the Labyrinth floors above were surpassing these amounts.

He didn't know whether to feel bad or not, but well, he was with them, so he'd ensure them coming in the Boss Room more or less unharmedly.

Ayanokoji walked home with a deep sigh if he should secretively perhaps reduce the amounts of monsters in the Labyrinth Floors above or not.

After all, he achieved his goal, and he doubted that anybody else would buy his Map Data too now.

It was a good idea of not clearing the first floor and offering the Map Data for sale. But if that would be as effective for the latter floors, he didn't know.

--

A/N: And this concludes the chapter.

Honestly, I'm not sure if many of you know Lux, but well, I had to include her in the fic. Perhaps I'll let Ayanokoji meet some people like Natilus, Yuna, or someone like Sachi. As of now, I'm not quite sure.

Honestly, there are so many characters. I might focus a bit on Hiyori and Sakayanagi in the nearby chapters, as those hadn't much to do with Ayanokoji yet.

As for the Ayanokoji group, well, I need to figure something out.

Also, I have a question. What chapter length do you guys prefer?

Most of my chapters that I have written are above 4.000 words and far above, but well, is it hard to read so long chapters?

I never really asked since I always thought it'd be okay, but I want to hear some opinions.

Well, that'll be all. Have a great day!

Goodbye!