Chapter 24: Lady Asuna's House-Hunting Guide
Having successfully completed the boss battle, the group began ascending the stairs to the fourth floor.
"Kirito, can I ask what the next floor is like?"
"If I remember correctly, it should be a dry and empty level. The shops and such are in the upper areas — kind of like a ruins-themed zone."
"I see, sounds like it'd be a dusty place."
Chatting like that, the group climbed the stairs and seemed to be close to reaching the fourth floor.
Cheers echoed from up ahead, and everyone began to run.
The four of them also broke into a run and finally arrived on the fourth floor — however...
"What... is this...?"
As the blue light of the teleportation faded, Hachiman was hit in the face by a wave of damp, salty air.
Looking down at the ankle-deep, clear blue water at his feet, he suddenly realized he was standing in a shallow area that felt like some kind of translucent jelly.
The black-clad boy was also clearly confused, his ahoge standing straight up like an antenna.
"During the beta test, this was definitely a desert... Don't tell me the devs got lazy and just swapped it out with a Mariana Trench model?"
"So that's why the shops were built on high ground..."
"What do you mean?"
"They probably foresaw this in the beta and designed the map accordingly, but the water-related programming might not have been finished in time."
"I see."
Asuna lifted her skirt slightly and stepped back, her rapier tracing ripples across the water's surface. "More importantly... doesn't this texture feel weird to you? I mean, we can actually walk on the surface?"
At that moment, Argo asked an innocent question:
"This looks like an island, but how are we supposed to cross this river?"
The four of them fell into thought.
Around them, other players could be heard yelling, "Investigate the area! There has to be some mechanism here!" The four decided to join in the search.
"Kirito, is there anything here that wasn't in the beta?"
"Hmm... maybe that tree?"
"That one?"
Fifteen minutes later, the group gathered around a massive, doughnut-shaped fruit.
Asuna poked the elastic orange skin with her sword's scabbard, and suddenly, a cream-like substance burst out with a "splat" from the jelly-like pulp.
"Could it be..."
"A lifebuoy?"
Two of them decided to try knocking the fruit down to see if it was usable.
"Wouldn't it sink if we were carrying too much gear?"
"Who knows..."
"Alright, I'll try it first while wearing a swimsuit."
"You actually brought a swimsuit... secretly?"
"Yeah, bought it from the elf campsite. It looked sketchy, so I figured why not."
"You've got some nerve."
"Kirito, don't you dare let go! Hold on tight!"
"Got it."
Hachiman changed into the swimsuit and entered the water using the fruit as a lifebuoy. The buoyancy seemed fine.
Gradually increasing the weight of his gear for testing, he found it could actually handle a surprisingly large load.
In fact, the doughnut fruit's buoyancy rivaled that of Noah's Ark.
Lying back on the pink lifebuoy in his flashy swim trunks, Hachiman even had enough stability to pull out a fishing rod and start fishing.
"Hey! Weren't you supposed to be testing the weight limits!?" Asuna blushed and threw her longsword at him. "Take this seriously!"
The moment the metal weapon touched the water, something strange happened — the surface of the water suddenly crystallized into a blue, glass-like substance, and Hachiman was frozen in place like an insect encased in amber.
"I see now!" Kirito exclaimed, striking his palm. "The surface hardens if the weight exceeds a certain threshold! That must be why Nezha's ring-blade attack earlier..."
After sharing this information, everyone began crossing the river.
Though some people greedily collected a large number of fruits, everyone managed to cross safely. On the way, they encountered monsters several times, but Nezha dealt with them using his ring-blades.
"Nezha, your abilities are a perfect match for this place, huh?"
"Looks like it!"
After crossing the river, the group headed toward a town.
The fourth floor's main city was called Rovia.
Since it was late, the party disbanded and each person returned to their inn.
Kirito searched for accommodations on the fourth floor.
Nezha returned to his guildmates.
Asuna said she wanted to take a bath, so although it was a bit far, she returned to the first floor.
Hachiman, on the other hand, said he was going to quickly scout the area and disappeared into the city. Not long after, he passed on some intel to Argo.
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The next day, the four regrouped with Argo in front of the teleport gate.
"Alright then, shall we go explore the quest-related areas first?"
As per Kirito's suggestion, the five of them split up to look for quests.
All information would be collected and managed by Argo, and if anyone found something significant, they'd contact the group.
As the four were about to go their separate ways, Argo called out to Asuna.
"Hey, Asuna-chan, I got info yesterday on a property on this floor — comes with a bath. Want it?"
"Buy it! It's such a pain to return to the first floor every time just to take a bath."
Asuna responded instantly.
Argo grinned lewdly at Hachiman, but Asuna didn't notice, and Hachiman pretended not to see it.
"Well then, allow this lady to escort you for a house viewing."
After Argo and Asuna left, the remaining three split up as well.
That evening, the scent of grilled seafood wafted through Rovía's main city.
Hachiman was squatting by the canal, studying the gondola paddles, when Argo's message caused his hand to go numb from surprise.
[Information Fee: 500 Cor! Lady Asuna's Bath Play House-Hunting Guide.ver]
The city was full of canals.
By using the regular gondola routes and dividing the area by water regions, they were able to complete their information gathering within a few hours.
After being summoned by Argo, the group reconvened.
"That's about it." Argo marked the map with exclamation points [!].
"Argo, can I see that?" Kirito asked, pointing at one part of the map. "There wasn't a quest here in the beta. Maybe something's hidden."
The group immediately headed to that location. Argo stayed behind to work on her strategy guide.
The four of them arrived at a run-down hut, where they found an old man named Romoro with an exclamation mark [!] over his head. However, no matter how they spoke to him, there was no reaction.
"There's clearly a quest marker though..."
"Maybe we're not triggering it the right way?"
"Let's search the house."
All they found were oddly shaped screws and tools.
"These screws are..."
"Maybe we're thinking about this wrong... New floor, new elements... canals..."
Suddenly, Kirito's eyes lit up. "That's it! We need a boat! Traveling around this floor without one is way too inconvenient."
To the others' surprise, Kirito said to the old man: "Could we build a boat?"
The mark above the old man's head changed from [!] to [?]. After receiving a list of boat materials, the group decided to build two two-person boats in case they needed to split up again.
Collecting the materials went mostly smoothly — until the final task: defeating the giant bear monster Magna-Terium.
"Isn't there some extinct animal with that name?"
"It's slow, but its attacks are really powerful."
"Let's start with Nezha's ranged attacks."
"Got it."
The bear's main weapon was charging attacks, so the group used trees for cover while fighting.
After defeating it, it dropped several quest items. They kept one for the "Hero" guild and distributed the rest to friends. Even the fallen trees from the battle were salvaged as materials.
"Looks like we can only build one at a time."
"Alright then, let's use what we've got to build a boat for Kirito's team first."
"Okay, I'll contact you once I'm done. Should take a few hours."
Three hours later, they got the message and started building Hachiman and Asuna's boat. Kirito suggested equipping the prow with a ramming weapon.
They named it Flash Saber. After some practice sailing, the group continued exploring. Nothing new turned up that day, so they each returned to their inns to rest.
"Hachiman, you should move to the fourth floor too."
"Yeah, it's a bit far."
"Right? I already got a place with a bath, so I want to invite Liz over."
"That's great. If it's just for transport, this boat can hold three people, so it should be fine."
Hachiman noticed that a shipbuilding craze had taken hold among the players.
Medium and large boats were starting to appear.
Thinking this might help speed up the game's progression, he drifted off into sleep.
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Important Announcement!
I posted a new Fanfiction!
The Exorcism Story of Hikigaya Hachiman
Introduction:
Ever since the car accident, a strange system has appeared in Hikigaya's mind.
Not only that, he has often been able to see hideous things that the system refers to as "evil spirits."
He originally thought he was the only one who could see them.
That is, until one day three months later, a girl named Miko Yotsuya appeared within his field of vision—and she looked terrified while staring at the evil spirit behind him...
From that moment on, the truth of the world began to reveal itself to him!
As always you canRead ahead (60 chapters) by supporting me on pa treon.com/ VarieTL
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