Posting chapter 3.
Please point out any typos or errors.
Broken ellipsis and inconsistent quote marks symbols are trivial and I'll fix them later, feel free to ignore broken commas and dots too.
Still posting 1 chapter a day, I think.
Also, if anyone has HQ illustrations from Yen Press please share them.
And yes, I'll share the full volume later.
Chapter 1: (colored illustrations inside)
Chapter 2:
Watching this thread. Proceed.
3TWENTY-THREE COPPER COINS WORTH TEN COL EACH.
Nine silver coins worth a hundred col each.
Two small gold coins worth five hundred col each.
One large gold coin worth a thousand col.
Three gems of fairly good quality.
One necklace that seemed to harbor a magical effect.
One bracelet of a similar nature.
Two rings of a similar nature.
That was the list of items that Asuna and Kirito found at the temple at the edge of Karluin before their buff ran out. They wouldn't know about the gems and accessories until they had them appraised, but the total had to be well over five thousand col. It was a stunning haul for just an hours work.
Right after they did one last sweep of the empty temple to confirm there were no more glowing objects, the buff icon stopped blinking and vanished.
“Phew…”
Asuna heaved a sigh and plopped down on a cracked bench next to Kirito. She looked down at the relics—the treasures—they’d collected, laid out neatly on a folded blanket, and sighed again.
“Yes, I can see the dangers of getting addicted to this.”
"Right? In the beta, there were people who gave up on leveling
altogether and just turned into expert relic collectors. We called them ‘hoarders，' out of respect.”
“…I don’t see what makes that term particularly respectful...”
She picked up a red jewel from the blanket and placed it in her palm. It was fun to crawl around the temple searching for glowing spots, but once the magic effect wore off, she was left with a feeling like guilt tugging at her heart.
In a way, to those players who chose to go into crafting or never left the Town of Beginnings, this was one of the few methods to make money in the safe zone. If the relics didn't come back, that made it even worse. They weren't wanting for food or lodging money, so getting a head start on scooping up all the relics before anyone else was nothing short of selfish greed.
She put the jewel back on the blanket. When Kirito spoke next, there was none of his usual ironic snark to it.
“…You’re very kind.”
He meant it in recognition of her regret, but that message didn't reach her brain at first. Only after three seconds did she squawk in surprise.
“H-huh?! Wha—？ I’m not — What do you...?”
Kirito smiled a bit shyly and explained, "You don't need to feel guilty, Asuna. Compared to all the relics in this town, what we picked up is just a tiny pittance."
He awkwardly reached out and very lightly patted the breastplate connector on Asuna's right shoulder blade.
Before, she might have socked him a counterpunch and demanded he not touch her like that. But this time, Asuna could only hold her breath as she tried to contain the sudden upswell of emotion within her.
She felt guilty for having fun collecting the relics without considering the implications. But she also wanted to argue her case, that she, too, was scared when she went out to fight monsters. The combination of these two emotions blew up within her, turning the feelings she'd been trying to suppress into a powerful urge.
She wanted to bury her face into the chest of her companion, the black-haired swordsman she’d teamed up with for no other reason than to more efficiently make her way through this mortal game, and cry her eyes out. She wanted to cast aside the role of a powerful elite player, an honor she never wanted, to throw out all the limitations placed upon her, and scream and wail like a little child. She wanted to be liberated—and to have that be accepted, forgiven, and consoled.
But it wasn’t an option.
She couldn’t cling to Kirito in her weakness. She was already taking too much advantage of his knowledge. How many questions had he answered for her in the single day they'd spent on this floor? And the reverse had almost never happened.
If she depended on him too much more, they would no longer be game partners—they would be protector and protected. In terms of game knowledge, that was already true. That's why she had to be his equal in combat and control her emotions.
On her left side, where Kirito couldn’t see, she clutched her rapier sheath, withstanding the storm of impulses. Eventually, the high tide of emotions began to ebb, returning to the bottom of her heart where she kept them.
Asuna let out a long, slow breath and turned to smile weakly at her concerned partner.
"Yes... thank you, I'm fine. I don't regret it; I had a lot of fun... but I suppose I’m satisfied with my relic seeking for now.”
“...All right,” Kirito said, grinning and nodding. He took an empty leather bag from his inventory, placed the coins and accessories inside, and said kindly, "When I said you didn't need to feel guilty, it was true. There are temples and squares like this one all over the city...”
“...Yeah.”
“And we don’t know for sure that they won’t come back..."
“...Yeah.”
“Plus, finding relics in town is really more like a simple side product of the real treasure hunt of Karluin.”
“…Yeah… yeah?” she asked，, pausing in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Know how we didn’t see anyone from the DKB and ALS around the teleport gate or anywhere else? Well, I feel like they're the ones who are going to scoop up all the relics to fund their war chest or whatever."
“...You may be right…”
She watched her partner, wondering where this conversation was heading. Kirito extended his index finger and pointed it straight down.
"I think they're down below."
“…Below?”
"Yep. There's an enormous catacomb beneath Karluin... Basically, a dungeon. It's so wide that it stretches out beyond the boundary of the town, and that's where the real treasure hunt is. The stuff you find in here is small beans in comparison.”
“...Wha—?"
"So there's no reason at all to feel guilty about this much. Come on, let's go get these appraised, turned into cash, and split between us. Then we can go to an armory and get our gear souped up..."
“Huh? Huh?! Huuuuuuh?!”
Something else ripped up through Asuna from the bottom of her heart—but unlike before, this was more of a bellow of rage. She clenched her right hand into a fist.
“You should have—! Said that—!! Earlier!!!”
Her right hook tore audibly through the air and would have walloped Kirito in his left flank, if it weren’t for the Anti-Criminal Code. The purple sparks that resulted shone brightly, briefly illuminating the ruined temple.
The only way to see the properties of an unidentified item was to take it to a player or NPC with the Appraisal skill. The former wasn't commonplace yet, so the pair went to an NPC merchant in Karluin to have their jewels and accessories identified.
The gems were all D-level stones worth barely five hundred col
each, the necklace was +3 to the Recitation skill, the bracelet was +4 to Mixing, and one of the rings added a 1 percent boost to stun resistance—not a great haul. But the other ring had an unfamiliar effect: Candlepower.
As they left the shop, Asuna examined the silver ring with the yellow stone, and Kirito suggested, "Why don't you equip that? It’ll be handy.”
“Uh... it will? But...”
They’d found it together, so she thought they ought to play rock-paper-scissors for the prize, but Kirito cut her off by holding his hands up.
“Look, I’ve already got rings on both hands.”
Sure enough, there was a silver shine on the index fingers of each hand. The one on his right hand was +1 to strength, a quest reward from the dark elf commander on the third floor. And the one on the left was the Sigil of Lyusula, given to him by Viscount Yofilis.
Asuna had the exact same ring on the middle finger of her left hand. When they received them together, she’d put it on her ring finger without thinking. Even recalling the moment of her belated realization and hasty transfer to the middle finger brought a fresh wave of embarrassment to her cheeks, and she lowered her hand.
“W-well... If you insist，, I will.”
She put the mysterious Ring of Candlelight on her right middle finger and started to walk off, forgetting to ask him about the magical effect.
They sold the rest of the relics at an item shop closer to the appraiser, and after converting the Karl Coins at the exchanger next door, they had earned 6,480 col in total. Kirito opened the trade window and sent her exactly half, which she accepted.
She hadn't entirely gotten over her guilt at cleaning out a whole temple, but according to him, there were still mountains of treasure around and underneath the town, so the people coming up from below to find relics would have plenty of fun left. Besides,
she'd only earned so much in such a short time thanks to the relic-finding bonus effect. Given the limited number of tarts available, the whole town wouldn't be picked clean for quite some time.
Asuna decided to use her sudden influx of money entirely for the sake of advancing the game, a decision that made her feel a bit better. Meanwhile, Kirito was already steering them toward an armory.
“Hey, they said there’s no magic in Aincrad，right?”
"Hmm? Yeah... that's what Kizmel said. The elves have their charms from before the Great Separation, but we humans have basically nothing left..."
"In that case, how does that tart effect work? I mean, it's basically a magical effect, right?"
“Ahh，,” Kirito murmured，grinning, “I just figured that one out today... I think maybe that's why it comes in the form of a blue-blueberry tart.”
“What do you mean?”
"You know how they say the anthocyanin in blueberries are good for your eyesight? Well, with two blues，there’s twice the anthocyanin, enough to make it possible to see relics better. So you could argue that it’s not exactly magic…”
“...Hrrm...”
In that case, she wondered how he would explain the luck bonus offered by the Tremble Shortcake—but decided she'd rather treasure the memory for what it was and held her tongue.
Instead, she looked up at the bottom of the floor above, shining dully with starlight, and muttered, “We’ll meet Kizmel on this floor, too, won’t we?，"
Kirito didn't have an immediate answer to this. Like Asuna, he looked up.
"...The flow of the campaign quest veered way away from how it went in the beta on the fourth floor. Before, General N'ltzahh and Viscount Yofilis didn’t even exist. So I can’t say anything for sure... but I hope we do.”
"Yeah," Asuna agreed hopefully.
“Oh,” Kirito continued, “but we might be able to go see her from here.”
“Huh...?”
"Remember, we have to go get the viscount's reward before they start tearing through the fifth floor in earnest.”
“Oh, right. Of course.”
After the battle at Castle Yofel on the previous floor, the castles master had offered them an eye-popping list of potential rewards, but at that very moment, they got word that the guilds had gone to challenge the floor boss and had to put off their selection and rush to the labyrinth tower. There was no time limit for their selection—they hoped—but they ought to return promptly.
"I don’t know if Kizmel will still be at the castle,” Kirito added, hoping not to get Asuna's hopes too high. She checked the time: nine thirty at night. It wasn't early, but it also wasn't too late.
“Shall we go back to the fourth floor?”
"Hmm, yeah... I ought to move on to my next sword soon, anyway..."
"Oh? You’re not going to keep using that one?” she asked, glancing at the Elven Stout Sword slung over Kirito’s back. “Isn’t it really tough?”
“Yeah, it is… but I only have one upgrade attempt remaining on it. Even if it’s successful ，this weapon won’t be useful to me for much longer.”
“Hmm... So I guess it doesn’t always work out."
“Exactly," he said, grinning sourly. "Well! Let's take the teleporter back to Rovia and gather all the ingredients by the end of the night.”
“Ingredients...? Oh, right...”
To move on the canals of the fourth floor, they needed a gondola. But their trusty Tilnel was still moored at Yofel Castle. They'd need to create a fresh boat to get from the town to the castle again.
“Well... I，'d like to see Romolo the shipwright, too… Let’s take care of business!” Asuna clenched a fist, burning with enthusiasm.
Kirito interjected fearfully, "We're just making a normal gondola this time, right...? Not one that requires monster bear grease…？”
“Oh，fine. I suppose I’ll make do with a normal one.”
Her partner sighed in visible relief, but Asuna jabbed his shoulder and picked up her pace.
When they went from Karluin's teleport gate into Rovia, the main town of the fourth floor, they were greeted by the pleasant scent of water and the sound of trickling waves.
It was night here, too, of course, but the sight of the residential lights reflecting off the waterways was as beautiful as a dream.
"We've opened up the fifth floor, but there are still so many tourists here," Asuna noted.
"At this rate, we might have to wait awhile at old man Romolo's place still… Well, let’s get collecting those materials for...”
He stopped. A deep baritone voice was hailing them from behind.
“Yo, you two!”
They knew who it belonged to before they even saw him.
It was the bald man who led the team of double-handed weapon warriors—Kirito called them the “Bro Squad”—that retained its independence from the two major guilds.
Kirito turned around and offered a breezy "'Sup."
Asuna followed with a polite bow. “Good evening, Agil."
“Hey.”
Agil the ax warrior grinned back at them, but his trademark ax was not equipped. Instead, he was hauling a large tubelike object over his shoulder. After staring for a bit, Asuna recognized it.
That object was a Vendors Carpet; the very same merchants item Kirito had received from Nezha the blacksmith and foisted off on—er, granted to—Agil afterward.
“Whoa, are you changing classes from fighter to merchant?” Kirito asked, stunned.
Agil grinned again.
"Well, since you gave it to me, I figured it shouldn't go to waste."
“N-no way...” Kirito groaned. Asuna was stunned, too. If Agil and his three companions put down their weapons, it would be a significant blow to the strength of the frontline group.
But Agil only looked at their concerned faces and laughed, leaning back. "Sorry, don't mean to imply I won't be helping out. But I figured I'd give this thing a shot and see how much better I can do getting rid of excess items with this, rather than selling to an NPC shop. I had a little business going earlier this evening.”
“Ahh... How did it go?” Kirito asked curiously.
Agil rubbed his neatly squared goatee and said, “Hmm... it seems to depend on the item. I was able to liquidate the items you need a lot of, like gondola materials, at a pretty good price. But the accessories with food ingredients or noncombat skill boosts didn't sell out. Basically, if you're going into serious trading, you need to keep an eye on the trends in high-demand items and work on your marketing.”
“Ahh, I see,” Kirito replied, rubbing his own chin with the back of his knuckles. “SAO doesn’t have one of those auction house features that everyone can access at any time. I guess if you're going to be serious about selling items, you need to put in the effort...”
“Yeah. It’ll be hard for a fighter to sell off items he doesn’t need at the roadside. It takes time, and the buyers and sellers don't know where to find each other... In fact, the lack of such a thing makes it really hard to set a market price."
“If only there was a major middleman, something like those large-scale recycling shops in real-life Japan, the trading among players would be much busier... but no one has the money to pull off a business like that. Not for a while, at least."
"But that means whoever pulls it off first is going to rake in the cash.”
Asuna had been listening to the two men ramble on and on
Hello again.
>an hours work.
hour's
>，,
I know you said to ignore punctuation, but these are double-commas, and they'll get missed if you just Replace it all at the end in Word.
>You know how they say the anthocyanin in blueberries are good for your eyesight? Well, with two blues，there’s twice the anthocyanin, enough to make it possible to see relics better.
Kirito fucking pls
>won’t we?，"
Also here too. Extraneous comma.
>I，'d like
And here as well.
>a breezy "'Sup."
Not sure if there is an extra single quote in there or if it is actually written as 'Sup.
>That object was a Vendors Carpet; the very same merchants item
I'm pretty sure there should be an apostrophe in Vendor's and merchant's.
about moneymaking schemes at a distance, but at this point, she interjected. "Pardon me, Agil... did I hear you say you were selling the materials for the shipbuilding quest?"
“Hmm? Yeah. My inventory was just bulging with wood and ores. Gotta do something with them."
“D-do you have any left?!”
Kirito came back to his senses and pressed him. "Y-yeah! Do you have any, Agil?!"
The large man smoothly shrugged his shoulders and held out his empty hands.
"Didn't I just say I sold off all the gondola mats? Not a single item left. But why would you want something like that now? Weren’t you the first to make your boat?" he asked curiously. Kirito gave him a quick rundown. The ax warrior nodded, thought it over for a bit, then opened his window, asking the two to hang on a minute. He was sending an instant message to someone.
Agil glanced over the nearly instantaneous reply and said, "My partners say it’s all right. You can borrow our boat.”
At the eastern dock of the teleport square, Agil loosed the mooring rope of the midsize Pequod and stood on shore as Asuna and Kirito waved back, steering the boat south down the main waterway.
Manning the oar at the stern, Kirito boldly proclaimed, “Ahh, there’s nothing so rich as generous friends.”
"You're going to thank him properly the next time we meet. With a real gift.”
"...Which we'll be splitting the cost of, I hope...?" Kirito asked nervously. Asuna only smiled back and turned to face forward.
It had only been a single day since the massive naval battle with the forest elves' fleet on the southern lake of the fourth floor, but it felt like ages since they'd ridden on a gondola. The beauty of the town lights reflecting on the water's surface, the occasional splash and spray, the gentle rocking of the prow as it carved through waves—it was indeed a joy to ride on a boat.
Hello again! Thanks for the help.
>double-commas
It's fine, these are numerous so there shouldn't be an issue dealing with them. Punctuation that isn't used as often is the real issue (I remembered now to start making a list of all odd punctuation to fix later). It's also really weird because does double commas don't display at all on ABBYY, just appear as a single comma or a single apostrophe.
>'Sup
Yep, 'Sup.
"You were just talking about making money as a middleman earlier； couldn't you make a business selling gondola tours on one of the big models?" Asuna suggested idly. "The NPC gondolas in Rovia can't go outside town, right?"
Her black-garbed gondolier took the suggestion quite seriously.
“Hmmm. I bet there’s a demand. But there are monsters in the rivers outside…”
“Oh, good point. You can’t run a business that involves any kind of danger to a players safety..."
"But if you had smaller boats at the front and rear for security... or outfitted your passengers in heavy plate armor..."
“Sorry, forget about the cruising.”
As they chatted, the gondola left the south gate of Rovia and made its way into the river that wove through the outer terrain. The rapids took them farther south and through the central caldera lake that had once been the site of their battle with the Biceps Archelon.
They did meet a few urchins, jellyfish, and giant crabs on their trip, but a single sword skill was enough for most of them as the gondola continued onward past the village of Usco, in the middle of the crescent lake, and into the canyon straits of the southern part of the floor. For the next ten-plus minutes, Kirito carefully guided the Pequod, which was larger than the Tilnel, ensuring it didn't hit any of the rocks, until they finally passed through the wall of white fog that marked the borderline between the regular field map and the instanced area—their own private copy of the destination.
As the elegant manor castle looming dark over the lake came into view, Asuna felt her heart leap in her chest.
It was just yesterday that she'd said farewell to the dark elf knight Kizmel at the labyrinth tower. But she couldn't stop the pangs of her heart with a reunion so dose at hand.
The gondola slid onward over the mirrorlike surface of the lake until it slowly docked at the pier of Yofel Castle. If they put the rope around the mooring bitt on the dock, the game would
ensure that only Agil, the gondolas proper owner, could release it again, so they simply jumped freely onto the pier instead.
Right next to the Pequod was a smaller gondola in white and green—the Tilnel, their own boat. Asuna whispered "we're back" to the craft, then looked to Kirito briefly before they set off for the castle gate ahead.
The dark, gleaming gate was still shut tight, guarded by warriors with halberds. But when Kirito brandished the Sigil of Lyusula on his left hand, they saluted him and began to open the heavy gate.
The ring gave them a free pass through the front door of the castle itself, and they headed up the large staircase to pay their respects to the castle owner. When they reached the fifth floor, they knocked on the heavy door to the right.
It was nearly midnight, but a familiar, beautiful voice emerged at once, telling them to enter.
Kirito shot Asuna a brief glance, then pulled the door open.
The first time they had come to this room, it had been as dark as could be, with heavy curtains covering all the windows, but the first thing Asuna saw this time was the warm orange light of a multitude of lanterns and candles. At the back of the office, seated across a large desk, was a tall, thin dark elf.
The master of Yofel Castle, Viscount Leyshren Zed Yofilis.
His wavy black hair was tied in the back, and an old scar running from his forehead through his left eye and down to his chin marred his otherwise beautiful features. He had shut himself in the darkness (supposedly) to hide that scar, which he called “proof of his greatest shame.” The battle against the forest elves yesterday had apparently brought about a change of heart.
The viscount smiled at them both, his face a combination of youthful vitality and aged maturity.
“Kirito, Asuna, you have returned."
"Yes. We... er, had an agreement with you, my lord," Kirito said awkwardly. Even for him, it was a bit difficult to admit that they
were only there to claim a quest reward. He looked over to his partner for help, but she ignored him and bowed to the viscount.
“Forgive us for intruding so late at night，, my lord.”
"I don't mind. You protected this castle from great danger; you are welcome at any time. Please sit."
At Yofilis’s beckoning, they crossed the office and stood before the desk. There were no other NPCs in the large room.
"Um... where is Kizmel?" she asked, assuming the knight must be somewhere nearby. The viscount fixed her with his gray-green eye and shook his head.
"I'm sorry to tell you that she is no longer within the castle."
“Huh?!” both players exclaimed together.
Yofilis leaned forward and steepled his fingers atop the desk, explaining calmly, "At the order of the priests, Kizmel undertook the task of transporting the Jade Key and Lapis Key to the fortress on the fifth floor. She should have arrived by now."
"...Oh, I see..." Asuna mumbled, trying to contain her disappointment.
Yofilis let a faint smile crinkle across his lips as he said gently, “Kizmel wishes to see you, too, I’m certain. If you have the opportunity, I suggest you visit the fortress. That sigil will grant you passage.”
“Yes... we will!”
“We'll go as soon as possible.”
Yofilis smiled again and motioned to the right wall of the room. There was a heavy-looking chest sitting there.
"I have not yet given you your proper thanks and reward for saving my castle. As I said before, you each have your choice of any two items from the chest."
Asuna was about to jab Kirito with an elbow, given how openly relieved he looked that the offer was still on the table, but she was distracted by the appearance of a quest reward box with multiple options to select.
She found that she was just as excited about it as her partner.
She thanked their benefactor briefly and scrolled through the lengthy list.
It took an entire twenty-five minutes before both of them had made a final decision on their rewards. The viscount waited patiently, but unless she was imagining things, Asuna thought she saw him stifle a yawn two different times.
They stayed the night in the castle and had breakfast the following morning before taking the Pequod back to Rovia. Once they’d moored the gondola to the eastern dock, dropped the anchor, and affixed the rope to the bitt, they sent a message of thanks to Agil. The center square was still packed with tourists， so they had to squeeze their way through the crowds to get to the teleport square.
As she went from watery Rovia to ruined Karluin, Asuna pulled her hooded cape up around her mouth to brace against the cold, dusty breeze. But instead—
They emerged from the gate into an even wetter environment than they’d found in Rovia. And it came in the form of millions of airborne droplets, falling in a sheet from sky to ground.
“...Rain?” she muttered, looking up. Her face was instantly pelted with large drops, and she hurriedly pulled up her hood.
"Yep, this is rain," Kirito muttered in surprise, flipping up the lapels of his leather coat. That wasn’t enough to block the onslaught of water, of course, and within moments his black hair was plastered to his forehead.
Wet hair was only an annoyance, but if armor got covered in water, it would suffer a waterlogged effect that made it harder to move.
"W-well, lets find someplace indoors to hide," Asuna suggested, looking around the square. Even despite the early hour of eight o'clock, the weather meant that there were few people around. Large puddles formed on the dark cobblestones, riddled with ripples from the constant downpour.
>players
player's
>dose
close
>gondolas
gondola's
"But we've already eaten breakfast... And we just upgraded our weapons and don’t have anything to buy at an item shop...”
“It doesn’t matter where we go, as long as there’s a roof!” Asuna hissed. Kirito thought it over for two seconds, then nodded, drops falling off the ends of his bangs.
"In that case, let's start whittling down the quests we picked up yesterday."
“In the middle of the rain?”
“Don’t worry, there’ll be a roof.”
Kirito trotted off through the deluge, and she had no choice but to chase after him.
They splashed through the puddles of the square and into the north side of town, which they had yet to visit. After just a hundred feet or two, they came to another big plaza. In the middle of it was a large, crumbling ruin, but compared to the temple they'd been spelunking in yesterday, this one seemed more creepy and sinister.
Regardless, they plunged into the dark, dank ruins, which finally gave them some respite from the rain. Asuna brushed off the water dinging to her cape and skirt with both hands and exhaled at last.
She looked around to see that they were in a large dim space.
The thick stone walls ahead and on either side had no doors, but set into the floor in the middle of the room was a descending staircase. Bizarre holy statues stood on either side, sending writhing shadows about the room in the flickering light of the fires, set in each corner.
“...What is this place?” she asked her partner, who was smacking off sheets of water from his coat. His answer was largely what she expected.
"The entrance to the underground catacombs I mentioned. There are other entrances, I guess, but this is the main one.”
“Ahh... And there are quests that we complete here?”
“Oh yeah, a whole bunch.”
Kirito swiped his wet bangs out of his eyes and opened his window, setting it to visible mode and showing Asuna his list of accepted quests.
“This one here, ‘Little Lost Jenny，’ is where you search for the girl's lost puppy or kitty or whatever. 'The Tasteless Collector' involves finding a certain type of relic, and the 'Thirty-Year Lament' is where you have to find some kind of wandering evil spirit—”
"Nyet!" Asuna squawked abruptly, covering Kirito's mouth with her hand.
Startled, he tried to mumble something through her palm, but she shot him a murderous look to silence him before finally letting go.
He stayed quiet for several moments, then raintly, hesitantly said, "...What was that nyet sound?"
“...It's 'no' Russian.”
“…Why did you say no?”
"...Because... erm... I don't want spoilers," she finished lamely—a weak excuse, in her opinion—but Kirito nodded seriously, quite convinced.
“Oh... yeah, good point. Quests necessary to beating the floor are one thing, but it's more fun to do these one-off quests without knowing the story beforehand… Okay, ，good idea. From now on, I won’t explain or interject comments about quests. You can take the lead, Asuna.”
He was so serious and earnest about it that she couldn't correct him now. She cleared her throat and looked down the stairs.
“Ah… yes. I-in that case，I’ll go first. Are you all prepared?”
“Of course.”
He lifted up his brand-new sword and rattled it at her.
There were two types of one-handed swords on the list of Viscount Yofilis's rewards. From what Asuna could see of their properties, the saber seemed stronger, but Kirito chose the Sword of Eventide instead.
Asuna mentally jotted down a reminder to ask him why at some point, but that wasn't important now. She took a deep breath, surrendered herself to her fate, and turned for the entrance to the underground graveyard.
“...Let’s get going, then!”
“Yeah!”
At 8:20 am on December 29, Asuna and Kirito began their conquest of the fifth floor of Aincrad in earnest.
-----------
That's chapter 3, yeah, couldn't fit that last bit above.
Chapter 4 is still 20 pages but chapter 5 is already 35, probably should get to work on those before starting to post here.
So google says this is some sort of reboot. For what reason? Is this anyway better than the original?
It takes things floor-by-floor instead of just covering random events off the whole 2 years.
As for if it's better, depends on what you liked or disliked about the original.
>dinging
clinging
>“...It's 'no' Russian.”
Is it missing an "in" in there?
If you want to see more MMO things, then it's good. If you hate Kirito or Asuna, then it's terrible.
>Is it missing an "in" in there?
Yep.
Ah, and to address your corrections from the previous thread.
>Black-iron Palace
>Don't have the volume in front of me. Can you check the capitalization of this name?
It has Black-
iron Palace.
Which would seem to me "Blackiron Palace" but googling that gives "Black Iron Palace" from the SAO wiki. I checked the previous volumes for it and it seems Yen Press actually uses "Blackiron Palace", guess we'll go with that for consistency's sake at this point.