The Survival Logs || Sword Art Online Fanfic

Elf War Arc: Chapter 8 - Elven Encounter

14 December 2022, 3.15pm

Wandering Mists Forest, 3rd Floor

When I received Argo's message that the 2nd Floor was cleared, I immediately set off for the 3rd Floor entrance, which was as expected located at the far end of the 2nd Floor boss room.

"2nd Floor's cleared, Z. The team's done it with no player deaths, apparently. The third and final boss's called Asterios the Taurus King. By the way, you should visit the 3rd Floor through the 2nd Floor Labyrinth, and not the teleport gate that's about to be activated soon. I'll be waitin' for you there, with some juicy info you might like to buy. You're one of my favorite customers, after all."

That was what Argo's message had said.

Well, I did save her from being killed by an axe-wielding minotaur a week ago, so it looks like she's offering me info on the 3rd Floor, since she'd already recognized me as one of her 'privileged' customers to even know that there's information on sale. No other non-beta tester would know that.

To cut a very long story short, I got through the 2nd Floor Labyrinth without problems, though I was travelling very slowly, since I was the only one reaching the 2nd Floor boss room. Most of the player population were using the teleport gates.

When I stepped into the 3rd Floor, I felt the change of atmosphere flowing through me. Trees were surrounding me all around, providing a very dark environment, and the path in front of me was only visible due to the small amounts of light that seeped into the forest.

"Welcome to the Wandering Mists Forest, Z."

Argo suddenly appeared beside me, and I jumped a little from the shock of her presence.

"As you can see, the 3rd Floor's basically a giant forest. " Argo continued. "And it's the first floor that really defines what SAO really is about."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The first 2 floors were kinda easy to clear, with only monsters to fight. In this floor, however..."

Argo paused, and stretched out her hand as if she wanted to receive something. " 1000 col if you want me to continue. This is related to the info I'm offering to sell you."

I brought down my menu with a slightly skeptical look, and transferred 1000 col to Argo using the trading system of SAO. Col transfers can be made between players, but they must be agreed between both parties for col to be transferred from a player to another.

Argo settled her received col and cleared her throat. " What you're gonna encounter on the 3rd Floor are AI enemies, more specifically, enemy NPCs."

"They can only be encountered in a specific kind of quest that's introduced on the 3rd Floor, and those kind of quests are called campaigns. These kind of quests are not the normal ones that you just receive and complete after hunting or collecting stuff. They can last throughout a few subsequent floors, as long as you don't abandon them halfway through."

"Interesting." I said. "So this is like being part of a story?"

"You could say that," Argo replied. "Anyway, if you want me to help you start this campaign quest, you gotta pay a fee of 9000 col. I decided that the total cost of this set of info would be 10000 col."

"Can't there be any discounts?"

"Not this time, cos business is business. Though if you become a regular customer of mine, I would consider discountin' one of your future purchases someday."

That sounded like a saleswoman putting up an advertisement to encourage customers to buy more of her products.

I sighed a little and paid the rest of the fee to her. 10000 col seemed relatively cheap anyway, due to the number of ox-type monsters I had hunted to earn as much col and EXP as I could for the past week.