Chapter 15: Sharia and Argo's Bizarre Night Adventure.
"I can't sleep."
Sharia muttered, lying on his bed and staring up at the ceiling. He opened SAO's main menu to check the time.
[23:25]
It was late, but sleep was nowhere in sight. "Ugh," he groaned, tumbling back and forth on the bed a few times.
"Argh, fine." Finally, he sat up in annoyance, ruffling his hair.
Sharia swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up.
With a few taps on the main menu, he changed out of his pajamas and into his usual gear—a slightly oversized white jacket with black sleeves, black pants, and a checkered scarf around his neck.
"Fuu—" he exhaled deeply before heading outside, leaving the inn behind him.
As he walked through the quiet streets of Urbus, Sharia looked up at the sky.
"With such a beautiful night sky, and yet I can't even—"
"Huh?" Sharia suddenly paused as he heard footsteps approaching from behind. "What the—"
He turned around to see three people running in his direction.
The person leading the group had golden-brown curly hair and wore plain leather gear—someone very familiar.
"Argo!?"
Upon hearing her name, the girl in front looked up, recognizing him immediately. "Shar-kun?" she called out but didn't slow down.
"Wait... Argo, huh—"
Sharia barely had time to react as she reached him and grabbed his hand, pulling him along with her.
Seeing as she wasn't offering any explanation.
Sharia allowed her to drag him along, though he couldn't help but glance back at the two players following closely behind.
Their entire bodies were clad in dark grey cloth armor.
Light chainmail covered their upper bodies, and small-sized scimitars were strapped to their backs.
On their heads, they wore bandana caps and pirate masks of the same grey color.
One of the two, noticing Argo running off with Sharia, shouted out.
"Hey! She's got a partner with her!"
"He must be her accomplice! Get him too!"
Realizing they weren't going to stop their pursuit and were quite fast on their feet; Sharia quickly scanned the surroundings.
"Hey, Argo, over there."
In a swift move, he swapped positions, now gripping her hand and leading her to an alley that ended in a dead end.
However— "Hold on tight."
"Wait—hey!"
Argo finally spoke as Sharia abruptly lifted her, dashing up the wall of the dead end and landing on the roof on the opposite side.
"Where did they go?"
"That damned rat!"
Soon after Sharia leaped onto the roof with Argo, the pursuing players arrived.
They searched around, but Sharia and Argo, had already escaped to a safer spot by jumping from roof to roof.
"Haah, thanks for the help, Shar-kun. I'd probably be in trouble if it weren't for you."
Argo said, sitting on the roof as Sharia stood nearby, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings.
"By the way... what are you even doing outside at this time?"
Argo gave a sheepish smile. They were now perched atop a roof far from their original location.
"And...? Why are they chasing you? Of course, if you don't want to explain, then you don't have to."
Sharia sighed.
Considering Argo's AGI-based character, the fact that she couldn't shake off her pursuers meant they were likely high-leveled.
'Beta testers?' Sharia pondered briefly before dismissing the thought.
He decided to wait for her to explain.
"Iyaa~ They're just a bunch of wannabe ninjas from the testing period. Apparently, they want to know the location of where to get a certain «Extra Skill»."
"Well, it's not that I don't know the location; it's just that... Let's just say the quest is almost normally impossible."
Argo's words piqued Sharia's interest.
Impossible!?
Such a word didn't exist in his vocabulary, and a quest like this was exactly what he needed to pass the time.
As long as it didn't involve a stressful battle, he was game.
And the reward being a System Skill, was something he's interested in.
Note: All the skills he had been using up until now were his bugged-system skills.
In SAO's parameters, Sharia's stats would be...
[Sharia Lv 16]
[Agility: 79]
[Strength: 54]
[Stamina: 50]
[Blacksmithing: 1]
[Cooking: 1]
[One-handed Sword: 1 (99+)]
[Two-handed Sword: 1]
[Katana: 1]
[Rapier: 1]
[Skill-Extra Skill: None]
These were the stats the system recognized for Sharia in SAO.
While he had indeed been using Sword Skills, none of them were actually from SAO's system itself.
Naturally, Sharia was aware of this, which is why he's interested in the «Extra Skill».
"If you don't mind me asking, how impossible are we talking?"
Argo glanced at him for a moment before her gaze drifted off.
"If it's you, I don't mind telling you. Let's see... I'd give that quest a solid 9 on the difficulty scale."
"That's... high."
Sharia frowned at first, but soon a smile spread across his lips.
"As expected, you'll try to take the quest, won't you?"
Before Sharia could even say anything, he saw the information broker looking at him with a knowing smile.
"Am I that predictable?"
In response to his question, the female information broker nodded her head to which the swordsman shook his head in resignation.
"However—I wouldn't tell you for free."
"Hah!?" Sharia blinked, realization dawning on him. "Tsk, I should have been more careful."
He had fallen into her hands again, and now it was back to the negotiation table. "Haah. Fine, what do you want in return?"
"No, let's leave that aside for now. I'll get my payment later, but first... follow me."
Argo said as she abruptly jumped down from the roof, running towards the exit of Urbus town.
"Haah." With a sigh, Sharia quickly joined her, trailing behind.
***
[00:15]
It had taken them a total of thirty minutes from the city of Urbus to their current location—the summit of a towering mountain.
They had climbed cliffs to gliding along an underground stream like it was a waterslide.
Along the way, they also encountered some monsters [Trembling-Ox]—two and a half-meter-tall bulls—however, Sharia was able to take care of all of them with ease.
They continued like that till they arrived at a place near the summit of an exceptionally high towering mountain on the southern edge of the second floor.
That place was a small clearing surrounded by cliffs, with a spring and a lone tree; also —— a small hut was built there.
"Is it here?" Argo nodded at Sharia's question before walking to the hut without hesitation.
She then forcefully opened the door. There was an NPC inside, along with some furniture.
He was a large middle-aged man with a well-built body; his head was a slick skinhead, and around his mouth was a thick beard.
A gold-colored [!] mark was placed over his head, indicating a quest starting point.
"....." Sharia now looked over Argo with a questioning gaze, who only nodded.
"This guy is the NPC giving the «Martial Arts» extra skill. The information I can give is that up until this point, accepting the quest or not is Shar-kun's decision."
Sharia looked at Argo for a moment.
Since the information broker had gone out of her way to lead him here, he didn't see any reason to reject it.
"Well, then I guess I should add a special bonus on that."
Bringing Sharia out of his thoughts was Argo, who then proceeded to explain.
"«Martial Arts» is a skill that allows attacking with bare hands; that is my speculation. It would be effective when the weapon is dropped, or its durability is at the limit."
Hearing this, Sharia's eyes sparkled.
'So—that was the skill Kirito used to attack Kuradeel...! So, you can't just use your hand for that? No wonder.'
It was now he is here; is he able to piece together every event. 'It makes sense now.' The swordsman thought.
"You know, Shar-kun, you can still turn back while you can. Well, knowing you, I wouldn't be surprised if you cleared the quest this night."
Argo shrugged her hand as she watched Sharia—saying "Bet"—approach the old man sitting in a Zen pose.
The old man in a rugged dōgi looked at Sharia before saying, "Thou wishes to be a disciple?"
"Yes."
"Even though there be a long and steep road of training?"
Sharia smirked hearing this. For a useful extra skill like «Martial Arts» it is way worth it. "I'm expecting no less."
After a short conversation, the [!] above the head of the old man changed into [?], indicating that the quest was accepted.
The old man, who became Sharia's master, moved outside the hut towards a huge rock at the edge of the garden, which was surrounded by cliffs.
Its height was about two meters, with a diameter of about one and a half meters.
The master lightly knocked it and spoke while he was stroking his beard with his left hand.
"Thine training is just one. Splitting this rock using only thy palms. Once thou have succeeded, I shall teach thee all my knowledge."
"——Excuse me, master, can you run that shit by me again?"
Sharia blinked comically as he had a bad feeling about this. Looking at such a rock, he could tell.
Taking a step towards the rock, then lightly tapping it with his knuckle.
'This sensation... Isn't this something close to an immortal object!?'
Yeah, it's impossible.
'No wonder Argo—' But before he could finish his thought, the old man's voice cut through his mind.
"Until this rock is split, leaving this mountain is forbidden. And thou must bear the mark for that reason."
The master pulled out strange objects from the bosom of his dōgi.
In his left hand was a small pot, and in his right, a thick and elegant writing brush.
Sharia's eyes widened in alarm as he began to realize what was about to happen.
"E-erm, is it too late to quit." The ever-bold young swordsman at this point was left flustered.
He took a step back but before he could do so—
—The master had already closed the distance with alarming speed.
The brush, dipped in ink, was already poised at Sharia's face. 'How fast.'
Sharia barely had time to register the thought before— Splash!
Ink exploded across his face.
"Pft—Nyahahahahahaha!"
"Nyahahahahahaha!"
At this moment, the information broker was laughing while pointing to him.
She wished to have taken pictures, but it was too dark for that as it was currently midnight.
But of course this didn't stop her from laughing at him. Sharia on the other hand simply froze over as he saw this.
"That «Mark» cannot be removed until thou hath split this rock and finished the training. I believe in thee, my disciple."
Sharia's master said such words before returning to his hut, disappearing behind the door.
"Argo——" With a smile, Sharia turned over to the information broker, who saluted upon his call.
"Sir, yes, sir!" Even though she did this, she was still trying to hold in her laughter. "Pftt—"
"Fuu. Haah, it's something I put myself into, forget it," Sharia sighed, letting it go.
This surprised Argo, who stopped laughing and allowed a genuine smile to form when Sharia wasn't looking.
"Alright, for my dear Shar who decided to forgive me, I'll add some extra information."
"Huh? Where's that coming from?" Sharia asked, a bit confused by her sudden shift.
"—Shh." She shushed him, pointing towards the rock. "That rock... it's a demon."
"No shit, Sherlock, I can already see that."
And so, the insomniac Sharia, who couldn't sleep, spent the entire night trying to split the rock.
After many attempts and broken fingers, it took him around six hours to finally split it in half.