[Third Person Pov]
[14th of November, 13.53]
Ayanokoji was on his way to leave the Frontgates of the city when he saw an interesting event happening right in front of his eyes.
A player was having an orange cursor and seemed to be discussing something with the NPC Guards.
"What do you mean I'm not allowed to enter the city?"
"You can't enter the city."
It seemed like the conversation had just started. Besides that, what caused him to be attentively on this conversation was that the player had an orange cursor, a thing he had never seen before, since the eight days he was inside this game.
It was quite surprising for him, as he had never seen or heard from anyone about an orange cursor before. Partially, it was mostly his fault, as he never did make the effort to talk with people in Inn's or something like that. Although he would always be open for an ear if it was regarding the BetaTester's.
In the Beta, they were able to get to the tenth floor, well not quite, it is said that only one BetaTester was able to get there. Most of the others, however, were having quite the knowledge from the floor one to nine.
He had talked with a few of them, but usually, he couldn't get quite much information out of them.
He had still tried to prevent gaining information with Cor's, but he figured he'd need to do that soon.
Argo was a reliable source, so he'd rather build a bond with her, as they already have a past, and were according to her already friends. Although, if he encountered one, he would nonetheless try to gain information from them.
Then, he saw a few meters to his left side a familiar face. It was Kirito, the dark-haired boy.
"Hey Kirito," Ayanokoji said, approaching him from the side.
"Ayanokoji. What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to kill some monsters. But then I saw this happening, so I stopped moving and watched the situation from afar. Do you have perhaps any idea what this is about?"
Kirito nodded. "That player seems to have been brandmarked as a criminal."
"Brandmarked as a criminal? I didn't know you could be brandmarked as one? How does that even work?"
Kirito looked down on the ground. "Through either ... Player Killing, in short, PK or due to attacking Neutral NPC's or stealing items from NPC's. But those are only possible outside a safezone. It's one of these three options."
Ayanokoji nodded his head. "I just hope that it isn't the first option."
"Me too."
Both of them stood there, watching the scene playing in front of them further.
"Just shut up and move away."
The player had pushed them away, entering the city. But then, the guards immediately drew their weapons out.
"You wanna fight with me, you shitty NPC's? Don't fuck with me and get lost."
The two of them attacked him from behind. "Dammit," he shouted, drawing his weapon out.
Could he attack them? No, he could only defend their attacks with his sword. That was all.
"If you don't leave immediately, we won't have a choice but to put you in prison. Please leave this area."
Ayanokoji frowned. "Prison? Did you know that?"
"No, it's the first time I'm hearing about that, too. There wasn't such a thing in the Beta ever explained. Or perhaps, I simply did not pay enough attention to that matter, as I was focused on advancing up the floors."
"I see."
"Tch, fine, whatever! These bastards are attacking me only because I stole something from an NPC. Damn them."
Despite Ayanokoji having killed two people already, he never had an orange cursor. It was probably because they attacked him first, and he acted in self-defense, that he wasn't brandmarked as a criminal.
It was good to know that you would be punished by the system and brandmarked as a criminal. With that, he knew which groups he should prevent on meeting or having a conversation with. But definitely, it was obvious that some would use other 'means' on killing, such as Monster PK or the other method.
"Are there only these two cursor types?"
"Ah, yes. I mean, no. Actually, I'm not quite sure. Usually, in MMOs, there's one another... It's red but different from those of the monsters. But I don't know if that is also here. Normally, when you kill too many players in MMOs, you'd get a red cursor or tag that was indicating that you were a player killer. In many games, it was a permanent status, after having killed a certain number of players, but here in Aincrad.. I don't know if it is also like that, so it could be only orange and green."
"I see. How about we ask the NPC Guards. Perhaps they are able to tell us some information."
Kirito had not thought about that simple idea of asking an NPC of how it worked. "Good idea, Ayanokoji. Let's do that."
"Excuse me, but could you tell me more why you didn't let that player inside here?" Ayanokoji asked.
"Only people with green cursors are allowed to enter the city. People with orange cursors are not. If we see some inside in the middle of the city, we'll arrest them on sight. If we see someone nearby the Frontgates, we'll first try to get them out of the city. If that doesn't work, we'll arrest them, too."
"Are those the only two cursors you are in charge of knowledge of?" Ayanokoji asked.
"Yes."
"I see. Thank you for your time."
"It seems like it'll be quite hard on identifying whether a player has stolen items or killed players. I doubt, however, that many would steal items that aren't even that good. The good items are offered mostly in the safe zones, so if we go by that logic and that there is no use of attacking a neutral NPC, aside from getting an orange cursor, mostly the players with orange cursors will be murderers or just straighg up fools stealing some pathetic items."
"Ah, sorry, I was thinking loud."
Kirito shaked his head. "No, not at all. It's quite insightful to hear your analysis. It's just that... I don't want to believe that any human would voluntarily do such a thing. But... just like him, I guess other people might also be like that."
"Him?"
"Ah, it was nothing important. Anyway, what are you planning on doing now, Ayanokoji?"
"Killing monsters and perhaps heading to the Labyrinth. What about you, Kirito?"
"The same as you, I guess."
Then, Ayanokoji suggested. "How about we form a party? Exploring the Labyrinth together would be surely beneficial."
Kirito was in thought. It wasn't like he didn't trust Ayanokoji. It was simply the affair of his level that might be troublesome. If he was too low, he might die inside the Labyrinth.
"Okay. What level are you currently at, Ayanokoji?"
"I'm at level 6 currently. It takes a while until I reach level 7. What about you, Kirito?"
"I'm at level 8," Kirito replied.
"It's settled then."
"Yeah, I'll send you an invitation."
[Kirito has sent you a party invitation]
[Do you accept?]
[Yes] [No]
Ayanokoji pressed the 'Yes' button, accepting the invitation.
"Ayanokoji, have you ever visited Tolbana before?" Kirito asked.
"Yeah, a few days ago. I took the longer way with the less dangerous types of monsters on the way. What about you?"
"I visited it within the very first few days. There's a quest that I accepted there. But anyway, it seems like we can teleport there."
Ayanokoji nodded his head.
[TimeSkip]
Ayanokoji began to look around him. Then, he heard someone shouting from behind. "Ayanokoji, I'm here."
"Ah, there you are."
Ayanokoji walked over to Kirito.
"So, shall we move then?"
"Ayanokoji, could you wait one minute?"
"Sure, I can do. Are you perhaps interested in buying something here?" asked Ayanokoji as he saw Kirito looking around the market, in particular in a familiar shop he knew.
"Yeah, I think I'll be buying something."
"What precisely?"
"The Map Data of the Labyrinth that is being offered. I have spared enough Cor'a to buy it. It'll be surely beneficial. Especially... since more than fifteen people inside of the Labyrinth have already died. Having the Map should give us some security."
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Well, there go my 5.000 Cor's."
Without a slight hesitation, Kirito bought the Map Data for the first floor.
"Ayanokoji, let's move."
"Sure, let's go."
While those two were fighting in the Labyrinth, a familiar person was watching them from above. It was Akihiko Kayaba, the person who put them through this situation.
Although he was using his Heathcliff account, it had administrator rights, and such, he was able to watch everything that happened inside this world.
As for the reason he was watching them, it was quite simple. It's because of Ayanokoji, who several times outclassed every expectation he had on him.
The first time he watched him was during the first day, then the next following day, the next, too, all until now, and yet, the person called Ayanokoji was still a mystery to him.
When he wanted to discourage him that he couldn't monetize the achievement feature and thus, him deciding on removing it from the game, Ayanokoji knowing as the only player that this feature existed, he still continued killing monsters with that apathetic expression of his continuously.
Then there was this case where he spied after the two BetaTester's 'Kirito' and 'Coper' for the task of gathering useful information, but when one of them was in process of being killed, instead of his apathetic expression, he showed one of curiosity, as if he was studying him during his final moments.
Not to forget when he didn't show any remorse after 'Coper' got killed. He had the power of saving him, yet chose not to do so. Instead, he could see him sighing because he wasn't able to gather any additional information anymore. It was his first time seeing someone acting like this inside this very own game he created.
There was still far more than that made Ayanokoji more mysterious to him. It was the case where two players had tried to kill him, but them dying in the end.
That wasn't what shocked him quite much but rather something else. When he checked on Ayanokoji's condition, he was able to see that his pulse in these two cases remained the same, not changing one bit.
He built inside the NerveGear such a function like that to check the players' conditions. He didn't expect it to use it for that, in all honesty.
And yet, the list was still going further. Not only did he challenge Illfang, the first floor Boss, but got also without a scratch or any decrease of health out of the battle. All while facing them on his own. Yet, that wasn't even the most impressive thing he did.
There was an event boss who was never supposed to be out there. It was his decision on his last-minute efforts to change it from the special <
[Argus] The company he was working alongside wasn't very satisfied with the monster being too high-level and told him it was too reckless on having such a monster appear as the event boss on day four.
He had programmed everything about <
He defeated him unexpectedly, which was a huge shock for him as he had watched the fight over and over again and couldn't believe his eyes.
Kayaba was enormously shocked. It wasn't the first time, neither the second nor the third time.
The only thing that shocked him more was seeing him manipulating his classmate, the girl with the username 'Horikita' on that same evening.
It wasn't a long thought plan about manipulating her. It was quite the opposite. It was a spontaneous plan he made on the spot after having confronted 'Dai' the player that was in love with the player 'Horikita'.
After having seen his expression, it seemed like he knew what would happen afterward. With only one item that he placed in front of 'Dai's' room, he was able to trigger these events on happening.
Her witnessing his death, his carefully selected words that she would keep in mind, even if her classmates would die, that none of it would be her fault neither like the case of the boy, and then luring her to the event monster of having her the realization of getting stronger, so he could use her for the future.
That was what Kayaba thought about Ayanokoji's sudden spontaneous actions during that evening, which was quite terrifying, looking at it a bit differently, that it required only putting one flower in front of the room to trigger all this.
And he doubted that he showed even a slight extent of his abilities.
Perhaps — No, that couldn't be, could it?
Kayaba had a sudden thought. What if he realized that he would be trapped inside Aincrad before even logging himself inside. Could that be truly possible? He looked at the login data of Ayanokoji, seeing that the latter one calibrated The NerveGear during 12.57 and logged himself two minutes afterward.
And then, he knew where exactly he came from. Ayanokoji was a student from ANHS, and each student had already logged them inside before Ayanokoji. In other words, if he truly realized it beforehand, that meant this guy didn't want any media attention on him or any particular blame towards him as to why he didn't tell the school anything about his suspicions.
He couldn't really think of any other reason besides that. To top that, he was the first one to try to log himself out immediately after he was inside Aincrad, but he was denied on doing so.
It just confirmed his suspicions regarding Ayanokoji knowing about everything beforehand already. But he couldn't really understand his reasoning on logging in, no matter how much he tried.
There were only a handful of people who could understand it.
Professor Ayanokoji, Tsukishiro, Shiba, Chairman Sakayanagi, Arisu Sakayanagi, Ichika Amasawa, and Takuya Yagami — those were the people that could understand it, but as of now, the four adults could not be sure, unlike the three teenagers whether Ayanokoji did not know the game's nature or not.
One of them realized it a bit later than Ayanokoji, the game's true nature.
The other one didn't quite care when she found it out. Instead, she felt a bit of relief since she could enjoy her school life far longer than expected, and as for the other person, she had suspicions, but wasn't really thinking they would turn out to be true.
Kayaba was only thinking that he should prevent having 'Heathcliff' meeting Ayanokoji, if possible, to prevent him from discovering his identity.
But even if he doubted whether Ayanokoji would confront him about it. Instead, he would rather use him as a potential resource to advance as far as he plans on moving with them, the 95th floor. After that, they were supposed to do the rest of the floors themselves. And at the 100th Floor, he would await them.
There's no way anyone can beat <
It was overpowered, and the best option to defeat it was having the 10 Unqiue Skill users working together, which was quite hard, as one of the Unique Skills could only be obtained by having killed the most players in the game. There's no way anyone would voluntarily tag along with someone like that who might have taken hundreds and more of lives.
For Kayaba, it was now time to form some valuable connections with some players who would later on join his guild, so he closed the tab that was observing Ayanokoji.
--
"Ayanokoji, switch!" Kirito shouted.
"Leave it to me."
Ayanokoji slayed the <
"Should we do a small break?" Kirito asked.
"Sure."
The two of them followed the Map Data that Ayanokoji published, getting to an area where no monsters were there. Ayanokoji had moved many of these <
This was the reason why many of the areas in the Labyrinth were a bit empty of monsters.
Then, he heard a sudden voice. "We're so lucky to have bought this Map. I'm not sure how we'd have done without it."
"Yes, it's quite nice to be able to see where all monsters are. But, it's impossible currently to advance up to the second Labyrinth Floor 2 without larger groups. Morte, we should retreat now and think of forming some parties."
"Sure, PoH."
Soon enough, they saw Ayanokoji and Kirito leaning against the wall. "I'd not recommend you on going further. You two would at least have a tank with you."
"Thanks for your advice, but we know what we are doing," Kirito replied.
"Sure, sure, do what you want. If you die, don't blame me. I warned you."
With saying that, PoH walked further.
--
At the exit of the Labyrinth, Morte asked PoH a question. "PoH, why did you warn them?"
"Who knows? Perhaps I want that <
"An <
"Besides, having these two dying would reduce our chances of advancing up Floor 1. The brown-haired boy next to him was wielding a sword that could only be equipped at Level 6. These two are currently too valuable to die now."
Morte had this slightly crazy expression. "Morte, I don't mind if you kill them later, but not now. These two will surely play an important part in clearing the first floor boss."
"Sure, whatever, PoH. You said you wanted to create a guild in the near future. Have you thought of a name yet?" Morte asked.
"Indeed, I have..."
"Laughing Coffin, that'll be our guild's name."
--
A/N: And this concludes the chapter.
I hope I wrote Kirito partially right, as a socially awkward guy, like the beginning of the novels. I did try my best, but well, I'm not quite sure.
I originally planned on having published the chapter a bit sooner, but then I saw that the 'One Piece: Red' movie was playing here tonight, and I spontaneously noticed it, so I went to the cinema and watched it.
I really appreciate the German Synchro. I really can't imagine any other voice playing them. And the 'One Piece' LA was also goated.
Anyways, back to the fic again, Ayanokoji had manipulated Horikita, unfortunately, one more time. I don't really plan on changing his nature out of sudden, like his manipulative side, as he is like that and won't really change who he is all of a sudden. It might be a death game, but if he's able to make a person useful to him, he won't hesitate to do so.
He, however, also knows how important allies are, the reason why he's trying to create a bond with him, and Kirito.
I made Kayaba attentive on Ayanokoji because I can't imagine, given such a situation happening, he'd not do something like observe him and evaluate him since Ayanokoji is by far the strongest player currently.
Kayaba obviously was able to realize Ayanokoji's scheme, but that was a simple spontaneous plan he thought on moment after getting the confirmation that the player would commit suicide like he expected.
Horikita really had chosen the wrong person, but now, she's even more grateful to Ayanokoji. Even though I'm the author of the fic, I kind of feel bad for her.
Well, anyway, that'll be all.
I hope you liked this chapter.
See you next time.
Goodbye!