Sword Art Online: Enhanced - Chapter 5.2 (Patreon)

You were about to comment, when you noticed something. The small, light amount of damage Asuna had dealt..began to slowly rise up.

"..You've got to be shittin' me!" you swore.

At your curse, Asuna whirled around and gaped at the Ruin Kobold Trooper, "Wait! Wait, why is it's health going back up!"

You scowled and hefted your black bladed claymore from your back, "It's got Battle Healing, that skill I was telling you about earlier."

"..That's just not fair at all!" Asuna whined, stomping her foot. She pointed at you in annoyance, "You said it was supposed to be a pretty hard skill to get or something like that earlier, why does a monster on the first floor have it!"

"..I'd love to know that question myself," you growled, "Looks like I'm gonnae need to help you out a bit with this. This isn't something a lower level can handle alone."

"Feh!" Asuna spat, raising her nose up a bit, "I coulda took it if it didn't have such a busted skill. Kayaba clearly doesn't know anything about making games. Even I know the first level of a game is to help ease players into stuff, you don't just throw them in the deep end."

You chuckled, "I don't doubt it." you waved off her complaints. If it was the normal one from the beta, Asuna would likely have no problem taking it down. It'd take her a decent bit to wear it down, but with her skill with Linear and speed, she'd be able to do it. Probably level up in the process, and make it even easier on her to repeat until she got easily strong enough to run circles around them.

..Sadly, this isn't anything close to as easy as the beta. One thing is for sure though, you'll need to see about levelling up your appraisal skill, if only to see the attacks and skills these things had!

"Follow ma' lead!" you ordered and sprang forward rapidly in a sprint, your speed exploding doubly for a few seconds.

The massive kobold roared and tried to lash out, but with your enhanced speed and acrobatics, it was easy to jump up and land on its club, then launch yourself into the air.

"Cascade!" You shouted, bringing your blade down on its head. It roared as your glowing blade gouged out the top of its head and stumbled back, falling, but not dying.

You swung your blade around, using the heavy weight of it to make you spin and then lashed out a second time, this time with a glowing side slash, "Cleave!" this time, your blade gouged into its neck and it howled.

It toppled back further and you pushed, yet its massive bulk and strength was enough to let it regain its feeting.

Or it would have, if Cu didn;t appear with a roar from its side, fangs glowing red and sink his teeth into its side. "Linear!" nor if Asuna didn't appear at its other side in a blur of speed and to your astonishment, hit with a Linear, followed by a Linear in the shadow of the first!

It took quite a while for the rapier users in the beta test to figure that trick out.

The massive kobold hit the ground hard enough to make it shake powerfully, but as soon as it hit the ground, it burst into polygons and disappeared.

"Oh, we beat it!" Asuna cheered as you landed, "And I levelled up again!" she fist pumped looking over the congratulations message that appeared in front of her.

"Yeah, we smashed its head in good and proper." you grinned.

"Right!" Asuna laughed and suddenly held her hand up in the air, palm facing you expectantly.

Grin widening, you raised your own and high fived her, the ringing of your palms meeting resounding audibly in the area.

Huh surprisingly, you levelled up as well. You hadn't been really paying attention to your experience bar today, so you hadn't noticed. "Me to," you smiled happily, that brought you to level eight. "Now, let's see wit we got here."

You opened up the loot tab and smirked. "Talk about a coincidence." you mused, eyeing the loot staring back at you. fifty col, a Kobold Head..and a Wind Flouret.

You deposited the col into your inventory before opening up a trade screen and sending an invitation to Asuna.

The girl yelped a bit in surprise as the trade screen appeared in front of her. "Eh, what's this?" she asked, looking it over.

"It's the drop we just got for killing that thing, it's a weapon, a rapier and a much better one than yours." you told her.

That was for sure. The wind items were pretty much the best weapons that could be found on this floor besides the Anneal Blade.

What your appraisal of it told you, was enough to hit that home for you.

[Wind Flourent]
[Weight: 10]
[Durability: 275/275]
[Damage: 6]
[Strength: +2]
[Agility: +4]
[Level: 1]
[Upgrade Slots: 6]
[Upgrade Chances: 5]
[Ability - Wind Shear: Agility +50%]

"Ooh, gimme!" Asuna cheered and happily accepted the trade. And a second later, she got rid of her Iron Rapier and equipped  the Wind Flouret. "Ooh, so pretty!" the hooded girl gushed, holding the thin sword up and looking it over intently.

You had to agree with her there. The entire thing was made out of a blue-green metal that shone beautifully like a rippling forest lake surface in the sunlight/

Asuna ended up staring at the beautiful rapier for a good few minutes, to the point where you had to actually wake her up from her stupor to get her to continue on with you.

You still needed nine more Kobold heads to complete the quest back in Tolbana City after all. And while you didn't really need her help, this was a good opportunity for her to level up, and once she did a few times, she should be able to take one or two on herself.

_____________

"Do you have to wear that?" Asuna complained as you headed down the stairs from the fourth floor of the mining shaft dungeon, down towards the fifth.

"Yes, it's by far the best armour I have access to right now." you replied with a shrug. The Barbaric Brassard was a one in twenty five or so drop rate from Ruin Kobold Troopers. It didn't exactly cover much, but the stats spoke for themselves, and it wasn't like you had anything to be ashamed by.

You'd managed to land two of them during your traipse through the mining dungeon. Along the way, you, Cu and Asuna had taken down twenty nine Ruin Kobold Troopers, for a total of thirty heads, and now you were just making your way down to the final room, where the reward chest should be.

You'd spent years learning kickboxing, and playing football was something any teenager from your country did from a young age, unless they were the biggest of antisocial geeks. Since even most of the geeks played football religiously, it was quite a big thing in Scotland.

And thanks to your parents connections, you'd been part of the Celtic boys club for years, with a chance to go pro when you turned sixteen.

"Aren't you embarrassed with barely wearing anything?" Asuna pressed again, squirming as she walked.

You shrugged again, not at all bothered, "Nope, where I'm from, guys walk about shirtless all the time in public, especially when it's hot." you replied.

"Not what I meant you idiot." Asuna replied before shaking her head and pulling her hood down to cover her face a bit more. Odd girl.

Moments later, you entered down into the final room of the dungeon. It was a bit odd though, you remembered before that the place was dark and dank, like the rest of the dungeon.

..Yet right now, the room was bathed in yellowish light, highlighting the ancient and worn down room. And there in the middle of the room, was an old, mold covered chest.

"Ooh, is that a treasure chest?" Asuna grinned as she entered down behind you. "Wonder what's in it?" she hummed, stepping around you and making to head over to it.

"Wait a sec." you stopped Asuna from heading over to the chest and bent down, grabbing a small rock.

"What?" She asked.

"Another lesson for you, a newbie, sometimes chests like this are traps," you explained, before pitching the rock through the air. It hit the chest and bounced off. And...nothing happened. "Looks like it's safe, maybe, unless it's a trap that only activates if a player gets near it."

"Oh," Asuna blinked before looking at it worriedly, "Should we leave it then and just go?"

"Nah," you shrugged, pulling out a teleport crystal, "We'll just teleport out if it's something we can't handle." you explained and then made your way over to chest.

"Oh yeah, we had those!" Asuna giggled, smacking a fist into her palm.

You made your way over and kicked the chest open. To your relief, nothing happened, so looked like you were safe for now. 'Oh shit, that's amazin'!' you cheered mentally when you saw what was inside the chest.

A quick use of appraisal told you exactly what they were.

"Hey, hey, what's in it!?" Asuna asked hurriedly when you stared at the item in question for a few moments.

You shook your head and grinned, "Oh, just a pair of Barbaric Tassets." you replied with a shrug. And to fully explain, you looted them and equipped them right away, replacing your leather bottoms with them.

In a flash, your bottom half was clad in an armoured kilt like piece of clothing, with your shins wrapped in spiked guards.

"Eeeh, is that a skirt!?" Asuna shouted in surprise, eyes wide, before bursting into absolute hysterics. She pointed at you, still laughing loudly, "Am I gonna get upskirt shots from you?"

Honestly, it didn't bother you. You owned quite a few kilts back home. People from other countries visiting your parents for buisness always liked the novelty of the traditional wear for some reason. "Only if I get some from you." you retorted right back.

She only laughed harder, "Yeah, you wish meat boy."

Honestly, it wasn't that funny. But, you were fine with the laughter, considering the amazing luck you had with this. The Barbaric Tassets had the exact same stats as the Barbaric Brassard after all.

_______________

After leaving the dungeon behind, you and Asuna made your way towards Tolbana. Since it was already halfway between Tolbana and the Town of Beginnings, it took you maybe twenty minutes at most to reach your destination.

Along the way, you sent a message to Argo, letting her know about everything you'd discovered. Both the level increase for the Scavenger Toads and The Ruin Kobold Troopers, and the more worrying aspect of them having access to weapon skills that were unique to players in the beta, and the most problematic of them all, that they had Battle Healing.

Honestly, you weren't sure how many player skills they had. But, you'd noticed quite a few while clearing out that dugeon. The basics of all the weapon skills, Shield Pierce, Battle Healing, Parry, those were the ones you recognised, and made sure to send the information to Argo.

"Wow, this place is so pretty!" Asuna cheered as you entered Tolbana. And you did have to admit to that. An asshole he may be, but Kayaba really did have an eye for aesthetical details and beauty.

The town was olden, yet pristine. Filled with beautiful green grass, suburbic streets and homes, and many a fountain filled with crystal clear water.

Agil was on the other side of town, and quite busy still with his smithing, so you'd give him the spare kobold heads later when you both met up at your place of residence at the farm.

You led Asuna to where you remembered the mayor's office being in the beta, and it was still there, not moved, not that it would have been an issue, since you could have just asked Agil where it was since he found the mayor to confirm the quest for you earlier.

The reward was great. A total of three hundred experience, five hundred col and the two pieces to finish off your barbaric armour set. Barbaric wrist guards;

And Barbaric boots.

They gave the exact same boosts as the tassets and brassard. On top of that, when wearing the entire set, damage you dealt out was increased by twenty-five percent.

It was, pretty much the best set of armour you could get early on, and the odds of getting it all were pretty slim even back in the beta. Now, with everything going on, you wouldn't be surprised if there were only like five people that managed to get it all come the time you ascended to the second floor.

The experience got you to nearly level ten, while Asuna grew to level nine, the same level as you. It would have been bullshit that she caught up to you, if it weren't for the fact it it was because of you she could do it in the first place.

"Well, that's that then," you grinned as you made your way out of the mayor's office, Asuna and Cu by your side, "You're officially fine to do basically whatever you want on this floor now, well, you'll still need to be careful of the Scavenger Toad's, and the night mobs for them and the kobolds, but other than that, as long as you don't get swarmed, you'll be fine to go as you please from here."

"That's it already?" Asuna blinked, and she sounded disappointed. She shook her head, "Honestly, I expected things to take way longer than that."

You shrugged, "It would have, if it weren't for me and my knowledge as a beta," you replied, "Though from here, levelling up is going to get much harder, until we can take on the night mobs, and I'm just not wanting to take them on myself quite yet, they'll probably be way higher level than us going by the night mobs from last night."

"Ah..I see." Asuna hummed.

You raised an eyebrow at the light reply. "What's up?"

"Nothing," she shrugged and fingered the gleaming beautiful blade rapier at her waist, "It's just... I don't know what to do from here now."

"...True, it is your first game," you agreed, you hummed yourself in thought for a moment before clicking your fingers, "You could always help out Argo, you added her as friends before we left the town of beginnings, she will probably have a lot for you to do."

Asuna bit her lip, "..I suppose I could," she nodded lightly, before turning her hooded head and looking at you, "What about you? What are you going to do?"

You shrugged back, "Probably grind out some monsters here and there to try and hit level ten, then grind up my stats a ton for a few days, until I think I'm good enough to take on how strong the kobolds will be during the night, once I do that I should be able hunt them down to grind for experience on and get some more levels," you explained, you didn't really have a big solid plan yet, you were just making this up as you went along to be honest, "First things first though, I'm gonna head to where I'm staying and take a bath to relax for a bit." you added idly.

You turned away from her, but a moment later a vice like grip latched onto your shoulder, "...You have a bath?" Asuna's voice sounded dangerously in your ears.

It wasn't long later, that you were dragged off to your rented cottage. Asuna was all too happy to slay the four wolves for the quest to get inside the farm and enter your cottage.

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This is sadly where this story ended. I'll post an update with the stat sheets to give you guys a look at it for the characters.