Unital Ring II: The Virtual Study Society

Mutasina, the Black-Haired Witch

Instead of going home, Argo convinced us she needed to return to the Stiss Ruins to check on the quest's progress and, more interestingly, sneak into a strategy meeting being held by players at the ruin's center by ten o'clock.

Kirito Town (Name Pending) has been attacked twice, two nights in a row, and the only information we have is that they know of Kirito. The first attack and my team's journey pinpointed that the attacks were exclusively from former ALO players. Argo's earlier information about how someone from the second attack exposed our town's location to the whole world means we should expect another soon.

After some discussion on how to get to the meeting, Philia and Alice decided to stay behind in one of the abandoned houses with Kuro while Argo and us boys go on an infiltration mission. Kirito got rid of his metal armor as it'll expose him for not possessing starter gear, replacing it with a linen hooded cloak. I deliberated over whether to keep my gear, but it's GGO's starter gear, not ALO's. I covered my clothes with a cloak while Alice made Argo a hooded cloak of her own. Now we were with the Argo of old, minus the whiskers. I wanted to gather some dust and draw them with a finger over Argo's face to complete the look.

The north side of the Stiss Ruins was just as empty as the town Crimson Squad spawned in two nights ago. I wonder what lead to the fall of the two civilizations. The Patter had a similar fall from grace, but they survived the ordeal, whatever it was; the Ornith and the Bashin don't seem to have such legends, at least that we know of. We didn't encounter a single player coming into or leaving town either, which is weird considering five thousand ALO players spawned here after the conversion, and it's nine pm. For us students, this is prime-time gaming hours.

"Oh, that's because the north gate isn't popular," Argo answers.

"Huh? Popular?"

"According to that same wiki, at least. The pathways are too complex, so it doesn't offer easy access to the city center, plus the mobs don't show up very much north of the ruins. That's why I chose it as our meetup point, actually."

"Aha...but even still, not a single person...?"

"Listen, Kiri-boy. Not every ALO player—or player from any other Seed game—is still playin' this thing. In my mind, it's less than half...maybe a third. Everyone else is just bidin' their time, waiting for this situation to resolve itself. That includes the fairy leaders in ALO."

I considered that not every player would join in on Unital Ring, but it makes sense. To the average player, this is nothing more than an incident to be resolved. Only the hardcore gamers could be enticed by a sudden new game and try to reach the "land revealed by the heavenly light." Those are the same class of nutcases who ventured out to the frontier outside the Town of Beginning in the days the first few days of SAO, myself included.

Not that I care now whether they join, but the half of Crimson Squad that isn't with me haven't reported entering Unital Ring. When I sent the message to abstain from coming online, they followed along, yet by now, I at least expected Fukaziroh, Pitohui, and M to join the survival game and Llenn if she's coerced into it. But Pitohui and M are busy with a tour; I know Llenn well enough to know she's not addicted as the rest of us; as for Fuka, if she's here, she's one of the five thousand fairies as ALO is her main game. I never met her ALO avatar, nor am I bothered to do so. Itsuki and Bazalt Joe will most likely abstain from Unital Ring for their reasons.

After passing the north gate, we left Alice, Philia, and Kuro behind and then entered the winding streets of the Stiss Ruins. I quickly understand the player base here; the area is too complex for a low-level ruin. Thankfully, the place isn't filled with centipedes like the ruins I spawned in. Argo leads us spectacularly through until we come to a waterway. Beyond that, civilization.