Chapter 6: Forming a Party with Kirito and Argo

[Third Person Pov]

[7th of November, 5:52]

Ayanokoji had gotten once again items. It wasn't because he had killed the player and got the inventory from them, but rather because the player too was wearing a pouch, which dropped on the ground and did not disappear, like the case of Coper, yesterday.

He didn't get quite a lot from the loot, but it was okay if he had to say.

[Inventory:]

[31 Boar Tusks]

[7 Lesser Health Potions]

[46 Boar Meat]

Those were all the things he had gotten from that player. It wasn't particularly like he cared about these items, but they are a bit beneficial, he had to say, regardless of the fact they came in price of the life of a human being.

It didn't quite matter in the end. All he did was defend himself.

Ayanokoji slightly sighing, went again to the NPC that was offering the <Frenzied Hunt> quest.

[Kill 20 Frenzy Boars]

[Bring back 5 Boar Tusks]

[Bring back 10 Boar Meat]

[Reward: 300 EXP, 450 Cor, Boar Tusk Knife]

He could only complete it four times, which were 1.200 EXP, 1.800 Cor, and four Boar Tusk Knifes.

'Well, it's was better than nothing,' Ayanokoji thought, doing them on a slight whim.

[Level 10: 60.138/66.000] - [Level 10: 61.338/66.000]

[Cor: 53.575] – [Cor: 55.375]

'I guess I'll be soon at Level 11, huh? I should try my best to keep the flow of leveling up.'

Ayanokoji sighingly walked further. But admist his gaze he saw fifty meters away from his location an immense amount of Boars that was a chance he shouldn't miss out at all.

Ayanokoji had done a killing spree of killing Frenzy Boars by now. For more than 43 minutes, he could all Frenzy Boars present or in near sight. He guessed that nobody aside from him and that other player came here, but that wasn't right either. There was one room rented in the Horunka Village, and he precisely knew who was in there.

It was the BetaTester called Kirito. That's what he guessed, but he hadn't gotten a confirmation anyway.

In any case, in these forty minutes, he killed a total of 303 Frenzy Boars, which was quite high. He was lucky that players weren't here in this area, or at least a handful of them, that didn't take this as their advantage yet. Regarding Horikita and his classmates, they unfortunately didn't seem to have discovered this spot, but rather another hunting village that was near the city of the Beginnings.

On average, for a level 1 player, it'd take two hours here. For Ayanokoji and players that were above level one, it took less.

Especially for Ayanokoji, since additionally to his high Agility stats, he had something else that accelerated his speed.

[Skills:]

[Sprint:]

[28/1.000]

[A standard skill that is used to accelerate speed]

[Agility Bonus: 0.28%]

When the skill was at [1/1.000], the Agility bonus wasn't shown. Only when he hit [10/1.000] he had gotten the Agility Bonus of 0.1%. Now that he's at 28, his Agility Bonus is at 0.28%, which isn't by far much, but once the skill is at the hundreds, it'll definitely aid him quite much. 100 is one percent of his 12 Agility stats, and 1.000 would be 10 percent of his current Agility stats.

The higher the agility is, the higher the agility bonus. The only negative thing is that it only applies when he sprints. Fight included, obviously. Otherwise, it'll not be working.

Besides that, he has now again leveled up.

[Level 10: 61.338/66.000] ‐ [Level 11: 68.610/79.200]

[Cor: 55.375] – [Cor: 64.455]

Ayanokoji was simply lucky that nobody has killed these monsters in this area yet. He didn't kill them there either. They were a bit far away if he had to be honest, which is why he could kill so many of them.

[Inventory:]

[92 Boar Tusks]

[264 Boar Meat]

He started like previously the quest again, but he did still not pass Level 12. It'd be quite easy if it were like that.

[Level 11: 68.610/79.200] - [Level 11: 72.810/79.200]

[Cor: 64.455] – [Cor: 70.755]

Besides that, there seemed to be a limit on how often a player could absolve these quests.

In his particular situation, he solved them by now 60 times, which seemed to be the limit on how often a single individual could absolve this quest. Perhaps it was limited per week, month, or in general, but he doesn't have any knowledge regarding that.

Regardless, this quest still helped him quite a lot. If he couldn't do this anymore, he would find out another way to level up quickly.

Right when he wanted to go to the direction of the class, he saw at the other side a familiar face. One that he had seen this morning. It was the person who rammed him, Argo, the info-broker.

She did not see him since she was facing him backward, but he could see her. Besides, the place she was going to was a place familiar to him. It was the place where the Anneal Blade could be found. But after ten seconds, she exited the room with a slight surprise written on her face.

"Huh, so there is a time limit, huh? Ya, I think I know who cleared this quest, ya," she exclaimed, walking to the one and only person who reserved a room in this place.

Argo knocked several times, making a rap on the sound of the door through continuously knocking, without any care whether the person inside was sleeping or not.

"Hello-o," Argo said, in a high-pitched tone.

Ayanokoji remained calm, using his hiding skill, hiding his Hit Points, leaning against a wall, observing her and the player Kirito.

"Heeey, I'm not gonna do anything bad. I just wanted to chat."

'That's exactly what someone who'd do something bad would say!' thought Kirito, withholding his desire to yell back at the intruder.

Ayanokoji looked simply further curiously as he encountered two BetaTester's together once again.

"If you were still sleepin', then my bad.. But I have my reasons, yknow. Can you just hear me out? I don't think it'll be a bad deal for you or anything!", as they gave the door another sharp knock.

"Who's there?" Kirito answered back.

"Oh good! I thought I was gonna get ignored forever, you know. My name is Argo," came the answer immediately.

"Argo...."

"Argo, what do you want?"

"I want you to sell me somethin"

"Uhhh.." Kirito frowned, not thinking he had much beside his <Anneal Blade> to offer for a player to try to PK Kill him again.

Even if she wasn't like Coper yesterday, he fought with his life to obtain this sword. He wouldn't sell it, even for a tons of Cor's.

He'd pretend to negotiate and see where Argo had this information about him having the sword.

It was quite simple, unlike what Kirito imagined. It was the time cool-down for the quest that Kayaba added.

"Ok then. I'll open the door. Wait 5 seconds, then enter"

"You got it!"

Five seconds later, Argo opened the door, closing it immediately, to Ayanokoji's unfortune.

Ayanokoji walked as near as possible to that Kirito's room, but he couldn't hear anything they were talking about.

He guessed, to hear something from the locked room, he would need a special skill, called [Listening], or however Kayaba decided to name it.

He was right regarding the skill. As for how to unlock it, he had not much of an idea.

In any case, spying was now useless, as he couldn't hear through the door, nor could he see unfortunately through the windows even if he tried.

He didn't really want Argo or Kirito to find him, so he looked around and tried to find the location of the quest. He didn't know whether this quest had also had a cool-down, but he couldn't possibly know that as of now.

As much as he tried to find the NPC, Argo wasn't really helpful with that. The only thing she wrote was outskirts in the Village, and he had already wasted more than one hour and thirty-six minutes of time finding the NPC.

The Horunka Village was deep located inside a forest. There were naturally a ton of monsters inside the forest too, which took him that long to arrive there, at the Ranch of the NPC.

Ayanokoji didn't really mind accepting the quest later because he was definitely sure they wouldn't reward him as handsome as this, by killing so many monsters that helped him advance to Level 12.

But after time and time, he seemed to come nearer and nearer until he found the Ranch and the NPC. He wasn't the only one who was at this place, however.

"Oh, isn't that Ay-bou right over there. Hey ya, how are ya?" she asked.

"You know him, Argo?" Kirito asked.

"Yeah, I met him today in Aincrad. At first, I thought he was an NPC, but that guy didn't even disable his name tag on him and didn't seem to have slept at all."

In fact, Ayanokoji slept for only three hours. He had a conversation with Sakayanagi, somehow in the middle of one a.m., who spammed him with messages, then at two a.m with Horikita, and then his girlfriend Kei had cried on his shoulders and told him she didn't feel ready on going on fighting.

When he offered them to stay at his house, he did it out of the norm to help a friend in need, if he could consider them even as friends or something else.

In the end, the issue didn't lie with them but with him, since he knew how he regarded them.

Ichinose was just a second available option he prepared if he ever decided to break up with Kei and date her instead. He knew her feelings, yet he made sure she wouldn't be able to move on from him at all.

He doubted whether Kei would be after his class transfer into Ichinose's class and be happy with their relationship at all. Besides, she slowly became more reliant on others, such as Sato, instead of being solely dependent on him.

Kei was changing. A change he wasn't sure he wanted to happen. Yesterday, she even seemed to have told Sato about her past, the bullying, and the scar on her stomach.

She talks quite a bit when she sleeps.

And it was essentially his issue with the second white room student that made Kei this way. They spread rumors to Sato about expelling her, which made Kei become reliant on others besides him.

If this continued, he doubted whether he and Kei would be even together when he would have switched classes, reason why, he thought about approaching Ichinose and see whether she could make him express and feel even tiny emotions.

As for Horikita, her sole purpose was to raise her potential so she could become the best version of herself, just like his other classmates, and then, let his old class defeat him in a battle between them.

Yet, his white room persona prevents him from losing to anyone, as much as he hopes to crush that man's dreams and ideology.

As for Sakayanagi... could they be considered childhood friends?

No, it was rather to say it was a one-sided view, which she knew very well herself.

Now that they were trapped inside this world, his white room mentality was doomed to appear here, perhaps permanently.

He wouldn't hesitate to kill. He wouldn't hesitate to be cruel. He wouldn't hesitate to be completely manipulative if these factors ensured his survival.

It was destined to come soon out.

No – in fact, his white room persona was already out the whole time, the moment he realized the truth about the game.

It was his denial that had prevented him from realizing this single truth that every effort he tried to put on to be a normal high school student like everyone else would become completely in vain.

For now, the most important thing was to gather more information about this game for the additional floors, aside from this.

Regarding that, he should ensure to have a good bond with some of these BetaTester's, that will provide him future informations.

Kirito would be one of those whom he will try to befriending, if it's for the sake of information and surviving in this game.

It was completely the right choice to initiate an "accidentally" meeting between them, waiting here, confirm the relevance of this quest that seems to be quite good, as he appeared here early on at only 8:10 a.m, to beat this quest.

He only had to return a few times back to the village nearby, hide somewhere where monsters won't detect him, use his [searching] skill that was able to detect players within the range of twenty meters, wait until Kirito passes the best available way to the ranch, then estimatingly guess his level and stats, and how long it'll take for him to arrive.

In the meantime, he would use a complete other way to arrive there, making it look like a coincidence that the two of them meet there.

Later, he'd suggest to party up, then have him over the time form a sort of bond of friendship with him, in some sort of way that he'd feel on sharing informations with him, or even offer to party up with him in the future.

Obviously, he needs to know whether Argo has more information regarding the floors or Kirito, which would majorly decide how he'll approach them.

"I see..." Kirito answered.

"Ay-bou, what are you doing here?" Argo said, approaching him.

"Same as the two of you, I guess. I'm here to clear the quest here," Ayanokoji answered.

"Are you perhaps also a BetaTester?" Kirito asked, confirming that Argo either hasn't told him about her guides or that she hadn't told him that she gave someone a survival guide already.

"No, Ay-bou isn't one, Kiri-bou. I gave ya one of my survival guides because I'd feel guilty if he were to die already."

Kirito simply nodded, understanding that the brown haired person in front of him wasn't one. "I see. So he was the person you spoke of."

Or it was this option, the third one.

"Ya, what should we do? Should we invite him to our party too?" Argo asked Kirito, although to their unfortunate, Ayanokoji was proficient in reading their mouth movements, thus concluding what they were talking about.

"Our party?" Kirito frowned, as he specifically told Argo that he would only party up with her if the quest had a cool-down like the Medicine of the Forest.

"If the quest has just like you said a cool-down, I don't mind inviting him in the party. If not, I'd rather solve this quest solo without you or him."

"Oh, ya seem to have forgotten about my legs that you stared constantly in ya room."

Kirito flustered. "I was just looking at your unique equipment."

"Sure, sure, I know ya like my legs, no need to hide it. But next time ya stare, refund me with some Cor's."

Argo exclaimed, laughing about Kirito's current expression. He was so easily to be messed with.

Kirito, trying to ignore Argo, messing with him, spoke up. "Ahm, how do I say it—"

"Let me talk, Kiri-bou. Ayanon-bou, Kiri-bou wants to see whether the quest has a cool-down or not. If it has one, he'll invite us. If not, we all will be completing this quest solo."

Ayanokoji nodded. "Fine by me."

"Kiri-bou?" he asked. "What's with this nickname?"

"Ya don't like it, Ki-bou?"

Kirito was once again surprised. "Ki-bou? Ah, I should stop by now," he said, realizing that whenever he questions the choice of her nicknames, she'll think immediately of another one.

"Well, I'll accept the quest then."

Kirito said, steering the conversation in another direction.

"Good day, sir. Is there anything troubling you?"

Kirito spoke to the NPC.

"One of the calves got lost. It's probably in a field out of the east side of the forest. Can you bring it back here before it gets attacked by a monster?" To which Kirito quickly agreed.

At that moment, the Quest Log Update message came up, and the man's "mark changed to a "?" indicating that the quest was in progress.

But if there were no cool down timers on this quest, then from Argo's view, there should still be a "mark above his head.

"So?" Kirito asked, turning back to Argo and Ayanokoji.

She shrugged as if to say, 'I told you so.'

"Ain't nothin' poppin' up"

"It's the same for me." Ayanokoji replied.

Argo pushed Kirito out of the way and stood in front of the man and asked again, "Hey bro,

what's up?"

In response, the man shrugged his shoulders exactly like she did and answered, "Can you come again at 3 in the afternoon?" The template response for every quest NPC with a cool down timer.

'Right now, it's 8:50 a.m., so if he tells us to come back at 3 PM, then that means we can assume the cool down timer is 6 hours.' Kirito thought.

"See?" asked Argo, turning back to Kirito.

Silently, Kirito brought up the menu window and invited the smirking information broker to a

party.

As for the other person, he didn't know the name.

"Excuse me, but I need the name of your username to invite you. Argo's nickname doesn't help that much."

Ayanokoji simply nodded. "It's Ayanokoji."

Kirito looked surprised because that sounded more like a surname instead of a username. "Invited," he said, surprised by the fact about the choice of the username.

He guessed that it might be the surname of the person in front of him. It doesn't seem like he was someone who played MMORPG'S a lot if he was going as far as to use his surname as a username.

In an instant, Ayanokoji accepted the party request.

The "Lost Calf" quest, true to its title, was about finding a calf who got lost and bringing it safely back to the ranch. If that was all there was to it, then it would just be a regular search or hunting quest. However, what made this particularly troublesome was that, to find the calf, you had to borrow the mother cow and bring it all the way to the grass field where you would search.

It turns out that this cow was a bit temperamental, and once every 4 or 5 minutes, you've to give her her favorite rock salt to lick, or she willose her temper and run all the way back to the or ranch, where you would have to start over again. Fortunately, monsters would never target the cow. However, the Salt Gauge can run out in the middle of a battle, so taking this quest on solo would be pretty difficult.

Suddenly, two worms attacked the three of them. Both Argo and Ayanokoji had used their respective sword skill to defeat them.

Ayanokoji, knowing that he had four skills available, needed to be careful only to show two, as that was the proper amount you had at Level 2, the Level he would tell them once he was asked.

In other words, he held extremely back to do as that much. For that, he even resetted his stats.

[Stats:]

[Strenght: 3]

[Speed: 2]

[Vitality: 5]

[Remaining Stat Points: 27]

Besides him not being able to reset Vitality, the other two worked out perfectly. There wasn't really a reason for someone to reset his stats, really, but just like in any games, you could do it in Sao, too.

Besides, there are only two stats points where you can distribute them either way.

Most people wouldn't even think of resetting since there isn't a great use in doing that.

What he needed to pay attention to is not to get hit by any monster because his HP was still enormously large, that it would make the two of them suspicious of him.

Argo then suggested something. "How about we all introduce ourselves? It's not like we have now something better to do?"

It was definitely true that there weren't really any monsters appearing since two minutes ago, and all they had to do was to ensure to feed the mother cow and let her search for the calf.

Once they would be near the calf, the mother cow would be mooing.

"Sure," Ayanokoji replied.

"How about you start, Ay-bou?" asked Argo.

"I can do that," he replied, making both Argo and Kirito curious.

He wasn't the most expressive person, even when he was facing monsters. Both of them noticed that early on.

"I'm Ayanokoji, I'm seventeen years old, and well, uh, I'm currently going into the Advanced Nurtiring High School, uh, I don't have anything I particularly like, and uh I have a girlfriend with whom I'm here."

Both of them were completely shocked.

"Did you just say the Advanced Nurtiring High School?" Kirito asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" he asked back.

"You don't know? Your school is the most famous in Japan, and perhaps one of the most famous even worldwide," Kirito exclaimed.

Argo agreed with Kirito. "Yeah, that's right. But wait, if you are here, what is with the rest of your school?" she asked.

"They're also here. Where should they be else?" Ayanokoji asked.

"Wait a moment, are you really saying your whole school is here?" Kirito asked.

Ayanokoji simply nodded. "Yeah, everyone from the first year up to the third year. I'm in the second year, by the way."

Argo muttered in disbelief. "So you are the oldest here..."

"I wanted to apply there next year, but well, my dreams seem to have been shattered," exclaimed Kirito.

Both were focused on completely different topics. Argo treated Ayanokoji as someone younger than her, but he was 2 years older than her.

As for Kirito, Ayanokoji was three years older than him. "Do you really mind telling us that information?" asked Kirito.

"Sure, I just hope that the two of you can keep it for yourself. I'm not sure whether the others would want that information to spread further."

Both Argo and Kirito nodded. "Sure, even if I'm an info-broker, I wouldn't spread information like this further."

"Me neither. I'll make sure to keep it by myself."

Out of nowhere, three forest wasps appeared.

"Ayanokoji, Argo," Kirito said.

Both of them nodded, all of them at least taking one. It wasn't that hard if he had to be honest to defeat the wasp, but he decided on keeping the fight longer than usual until Kirito would be at least finished with his one.

Only then did he attack several other times until he defeated it in the end.

Both of them noticed that Argo was still preoccupied with her fight, which made both charge their skill. Kirito was charging the sword skill [Slant], while Ayanokoji was charging the sword skill [Reaver].

But then, Argo killed the wasp by herself. Both of them looked at each other in awkwardness, seeing that she didn't need their help.

"Is everything alright with the two of you?" asked Kirito.

"Yeah," Ayanokoji nodded.

"Me too," she asked.

"Good job."

"You too, bud."

Ayanokoji simply nodded in return towards them.

"So where were we?" asked Argo.

"Well, Ayanokoji introduced himself. Now it'd be probably my turn, I guess," Kirito replied.

"I'm Kirito. I like playing MMORPG'S, and well, there isn't really much about me either way. I'm a BetaTester, and well, I guess that's it."

"Hehehe, if the two of you want information on me, ya need to pay 100 Cor each."

Both of them looked at each other in unity. "We don't have that much."

"Well, that's too bad. You won't get any information on ya big sis, Ki-bou."

Argo walked to the front, leaving Ayanokoji and Kirito behind in the back. She wanted to mess with Kirito and accuse him of staring at her legs again if he decided on looking on her.

"Was she also like that when you met her, Ayanokoji."

"Yeah..."

"I see..." Kirito frowned upon the info-broker's habit.

While Kirito and Ayanokoji were talking, Argo was walking quite ahead.

These two sighed upon Argo's carelessness of walking alone in the front.

--

[TimeSkip]

--

It was by now 9.55 A.M., and yet they still didn't seem to have found the calf. Although the mother cow was constantly mooing in one direction, which they trailed for more than fifty minutes, nothing came as a result.

They did a small break, then continued walking further.

Until something happened.

"Moo!" Unlike before, the cow had a different tone and ran to the east.

The tree of them ran after her, in the hope of the cow not triggering anything dangerous such as agrooing monsters.

To their fortune, the cow stopped moving after twenty meters. Although, the cow let out another sharp bellow. "Moo!"

When arriving at the cow's location, the three of them were surprised.

"What?" Kirito exclaimed.

"Oh!" Argo said.

"What's this?" Ayanokoji asked, although he realized what the situation was all about.

It didn't seem to be looking good, so he decided on distributing a bit of his stat points in strength, while the two of them were shocked.

The reason for their surprise was that the calf was in front of them. But that wasn't precisely it. Around its neck was a rough rope made from intertwined dried grass, and leading it with his back turned to them was a small man. It seemed like he was trying to take somewhere.

"Hey!" Kirito yelled instinctively as the cow thief turned around at the same time.

As soon as Kirito saw the man's face, he let out a "whoa," alongside Argo and Ayanokoji, who tried to sound as shocked as them.

The person in front of them was no man. It was one of the humanoid monsters that made the First Floor their home, a Kobold.

The cursor above its head indicated that it was a "Swamp Kobold Rat Hunter". Kirito had fought a few of them during the Beta. As far as Kobolds go, it was the weakest class, but for someone who's was barely level 5, the Kobold made a concerning opponent.

'In the first place, why is something that shouldn't even be coming out of the central wetlands here in the western part of the plain anyway?' Kirito pondered in thought.

"Kororu guru.." yelled the Kobold in its language as it noticed Kirito, Argo, and Ayanokoji, throwing

away the rope in its right hand and drawing the short spear on its back.

It was only a crude contraption that had a twisted wooden handle and a bone tip, but its attack power was no slouch.

"Argo, Ayanokoji, what levels are you on?" Kirito asked immediately.

"I'm level 3," replied Argo.

"Level 2," replied Ayanokoji.

"I'm level 5. If there's the three of us, it's going to be a close battle. What do you think, Argo, Ayanokoji?"

"This quest is turnin' out diferent from the Beta. As much as difficult it might become, I'd like to get the info." replied Argo, as if saying that it's for the sake of all the players who undertake this quest from now on. Without a doubt, anyone who takes this on without any prior information and encounters a Swamp Kobold for the first time here would most likely be squashed like a bug.

"Got it," replied Kirito.

Ayanokoji nodded. "Sure, let's do that."

The three of them readied their sword, but then a rustling noise came from the bush. It were two additional Kobold Swamp Trappers that came out.

"Shit," Kirito exclaimed.

One of these Kobolds was just like the previous one, a "Swamp Kobold Rat Hunter," but as for the other one, it was by far more difficult. It was a "Swamp Kobold Trappper", by far the most difficult ones among the Swamp Kobolds.

"Argo, Ayanokoji, let's run for it. At this point, there'd be no way we'd win this."

"No, if we run, we are screwed."

Kirito realized her point then immediately. "..."

She had a point. When a party tries to run away, the fastest player would need to stay behind and counter the rope attacks. But back in the Beta, the player who stayed behind had the highest probability of dying.

"Ki-bou, Ay-bou, don't worry, the weapon dropper doesn't work on the claws. I'll deal with the "Swamp Kobold Trappper." You two take the other ones," Argo exclaimed.

Ayanokoji was in deep thought, whether or not he should just simply reveal his true abilities, but he decided not to.

A decision he might come to regret.

"We'll take care of the rat hunters. You take the other guy," exclaimed Kirito.

Ayanokoji nodded along with this proposal. "Don't worry, we'll try to defeat them as fast as possible."

"Sure, ya guys," Argo responded.

After the conversation ended, the Trapper, the one person with the rope, seemed to have realized what they were up to.

He increased the rotation of the rope hook's

rotation and took a step forward. Entering the Weapon Dropper's range in 10 centimeters.

At that moment, a "Moooo!" came the bone ratling bellow from the cow that they thought was protecting the calf. Soon after, the ground began to rumble.

The mother cow charged between them, aiming for the Swamp Trappers and killing them all.

Ayanokoji couldn't help but wonder whether if they had to run away, the outcome would be different or not.

Was this a predestined event that should come once you decided the right route, not to run away and abandon one of your comrades.

Later that day, when delivering the cow and the calf to the ranch, he has gotten his answer. It did seem like he was right, as the name of the quest was, "The Heifer Strikes Back," in short, the revenge of the mother cow killing the culprits that kidnapped their child, the calf.

In the end, both Kirito and Argo had leveled up one level, and he presumably too, as he was "supposedly" now level three.

He wasn't quite near to breaking Level 13, but he was a bit nearer, which was good.

Besides that, he had gotten two new friends in his friendlist.

All in all, this quest didn't seem to be that bad.

Then, a sudden message appeared right in front of his direction.

[Ichinose: Ayanokoji-kun, can we talk? Please, it's really important."

[Ayanokoji: Sure. When would you like to meet up?]

[Ichinose: 8 P.M? Is it possible for you?]

[Ayanokoji: Yeah, sure, I'm free.]

[Ichinose: Thank you. Let's meet up here...]

This location, huh?

Interesting...

--

A/N: This concludes this chapter. I hope you liked it.

I'm not really that motivated on copying written things, so I naturally changed some things from the Short Story, "The Next Day," in the Sao Progressive Novel.

Also, I'm not sure what level I'll be giving Ayanokoji at the floor Boss fight, or whether I'll make him even potentially even considering to try on soloing the boss fight.

I'm really questioning that.

Besides that, I want to ask how important the second white roomer should be in the story?

I have some ideas on giving him just like Ayanokoji a unique skill sooner or later, before Kayaba gives either of them the Dual Wielder Unique skill, since both of them definitely have a better reaction speed than Kirito.

As for Ichika, perhaps she'll gain one too...

Well, anyway, this chapter was a bit lacking and all, and I really didn't like how I have written it, but well, the purpose was to meet Kirito, so that he could "befriend" him on early on and gain in the future valuable informations and relations.

Anyways, goodbye. Have a great day.