COTE: Trapped Inside The World of Sword Art Online (SAO)

[Third Person Pov]

[10th of November, 10.09]

It's been a day since he was in the Labyrinth. When he arrived at home, he slept until 2 PM, very nice 8 hours of sleep. Before that, he bought the right to offer his Map Data's to be offered by various NPC's.

He chose the locations where most players were buying their equipment. In total, for each NPC store, he paid 800 Cor's to let his Map Data's be offered there. It wasn't limited to one item. He could choose several more, which he did in the end.

His Boar Tusks Knifes, the <>, Wolf Pelts, Boar Meat, armor, and swords that he got from monsters, which he did repair with the Durability. For armor and equipment around level 5, he wanted 600 Cor's. For the Boar Tusk Knifes, he wanted 1.500 Cor's, after finding out that the quest <> in general couldn't be completed anymore. It could only be completed by players 80 times in a month.

That was information he found out by Horikita, who asked him yesterday whether he also couldn't start the quest anymore. When he went to the Horunka Village again, he then affirmed she was right and learned the limit of how often the quest could be completed per month.

Well, Ayanokoji completed them 60 times, so someone like Argo and Kirito, perhaps also this Coper Guy, and the two times his class did them must be the person group that completed the quest aside from him, multiple times.

It wasn't like he knew that this was limited. But the EXP he has gotten from this quest was quite high, so it might be logical that you couldn't complete the quest often.

Regarding his items he was offering, especially the Map Data in the NPC store, there were many thoroughly explained conditions that prevented him from gaining loss and letting other players sell his Map Data further. The system verified that this information of the Map Data was correct and would additionally be shown for the buyers of the Map Data for the first floor.

There were so many conditions listed there that were thoroughly explained that it contained more than than forty pages if you wanted to read it through. If you were to buy this item, you'd need to agree that you accept all these conditions.

Obviously, any other person could offer the Map Data, too, if they explored the Labyrinth, but not with his Map Data. They'd need to explore it on their own and weren't allowed to have any party members with a Map Data of his that would lead them their and then sell theirs in the end.

In addition, they couldn't ask someone for a detailed route to the Boss Room. If it were his, then they were not allowed to sell it. They would keep the Map Data if they explored it too, but well, they couldn't share them either. It was only for them.

But for the person who broke the rule, a fee of 10.000 Cor's would follow.

Those were the basic market rules regarding Map Data's. Obviously, you could offer them for free and all, so they wouldn't apply in this case anymore. Also, anyone could share them on their own, but well, not something that quite attracted him much.

To his fortune, your username didn't stand there. You had the option of including it or not, but out of obvious reasons, he chose not to do so.

The price of the Map Data was 5.000 Cor's, which should not be quite much, as it only requires 167 <> to kill to get these amounts of Cor.

He didn't keep the price too high as 5.000 Cor's were easy to earn in his opinion. Especially since for someone like him, it took more than ten hours to arrive there, considering his high stats, so lower leveler should take far longer than him.

Ayanokoji slightly sighing, realizing that no one bought any of his items so far, decided to eat breakfast, and then farm.

Kei said that she would meet up with Sato, so she would be busy for now. He wasn't sure what they'd do, but it didn't really matter to him. Perhaps they would buy clothes or something else, but well, that didn't matter.

Ayanokoji would now head out towards the Kobold Swamp Area to gain EXP and Cor's.

But during his walk to the front gate, he heard someone from behind.

"Isn't that Ayanokoji?" a blue haired girl asked.

"Now that you mention it, Ibuki, you're right," the boy said. "Hey, Monster."

The person identified himself as Ryūen Kakeru, the one he beat up 9 months ago on the rooftop.

In a deep sigh, Ayanokoji looked around him, seeing a handful of people there. He explicitly didn't want to gather attention, as he wasn't the most 'social' guy. But well, if he would walk further and ignore Ryūen, then people definitely would pay more attention to him, which was a drag, quite honestly.

If he were to turn his back now, people would think that this was a joke amongst friends, and he doubted that anyone would particularly pay attention to them.

Deeply sighing, Ayanokoji turned his back. "What do you want?" he asked, coming directly to the point.

Ryūen had a slight grin. Even now, the monster didn't change. "Kukuku, nothing much. We want to invite you to our party? Isn't that kind of us?"

Ichizaki seemed to be confused. "We want?"

Ibuki kicked with her elbow Ichizaki in the stomach. "Shut up, Ichizaki. We're trying to recruit Ayanokoji. Don't say anything unnecessarily here."

[Ibuki's Appearance:]

Ichizaki then realized it. Having Ayanokoji in the party meant having less amount of work and higher level monsters. "Yeah, yeah, Ayanokoji, you must join our party! We'll even put a good word to Shiina-san for you," Ichizaki exclaimed enthusiastically.

Ibuki kicked Ichizaki in the stomach again with her elbow. "What did I do now?" Ichizaki exclaimed.

While Ichizaki didn't feel any damage nor a decrease in HP, he was so accustomed to Ibuki's kicks in his stomach that his brain simulated the pain.

Ibuki looked mad. "You're saying stupid things!"

"Now, now, Ibuki, Ichizaki, you're already making us look bad," Ryūen said, with a malicious grin.

It wasn't like he wasn't amused by their conversation. He was quite amused if he had to be honest. But he couldn't let himself focused on their conversation and then let the Monster disappear.

"Tch," Ibuki replied.

Ichizaki still frowned what he did wrong. Ayanokoji spent quite a time with Hiyori, so he thought that Ayanokoji might romantically be interested in her.

Even if not, they were quite good friends.

Ayanokoji responded. "No interest," he said, thinking Ryūen and his group would let him alone now.

Ayanokoji walked away, looking behind him. There, he saw Ryūen and his group. He took a turn left, inside an alley.

It did not change. Ryūen and his group were still following him. "What do you want?" he asked, but realized immediately it was a futile question.

"Didn't I say that already? Join our party, Ayanokoji."

Ryūen exclaimed, again with his malicious grin.

"And I said I have no interest in joining you. Won't you mind leaving me alone?"

Ryūen shaked his head. "I can't let a gold mine go, can I?"

'What did I do to deserve this?' Ayanokoji thought.

"That 'Gold Mine' has no interest in working together with you," Ayanokoji responded.

"That's unfortunate. Then, we'll spend the rest of our day following you, Ayanokoji."

"What makes you think that I won't simply head over to the Inn and ignore you."

Ayanokoji chose his words carefully. He didn't want anyone really to find out that he was living inside a house. Especially not Ryūen. If he knew that, he could imagine him coming always to his house, waiting there and simply to annoy him.

"You can do that. But that means that you won't be able to farm monsters just like you planned."

"What makes you think that?"

"You were heading out to the front gate. It's clear as hell that you were planning on killing monsters."

Ayanokoji took a deep sigh. "If I join your party, promise me not to bother me in the future when you see me again."

Ryūen had a slight grin because he wasn't planning to do so. "Sure, I promise."

"What's your username? No, wait, I know it," Ryūen said, thinking that he chose his surname as his username too.

[Ryūen has invited you to the Party]

[Do you accept]

[Yes] [No]

Deeply sighing, Ayanokoji pressed the 'Yes' button of the interface.

"So, where did you plan on heading?" Ayanokoji asked.

Ichizaki enthusiastically answered. "The West Fiel—"

"The forest," Ryūen spoke up. "Scared?" he asked.

Ayanokoji shaked his head. "If that's what you want, it's fine by me. Just tell me your positions."

"As expected, you're coming directly to the point. As you might think, Albert is our tank. If he is low in health, he'll retreat and take a few healing potions until he's ready. Ichizaki is the support. He's a Spearman. Ibuki and I are the main damage dealers. Normally, when Kaneda was here, he'd also use a spear to support us from the back. But he accompanies Hiyori today with the gathering of materials."

Ryūen continued. "So, what is your weapon, monster?"

"One-handed curved sword, Main Damage Dealer," Ayanokoji answered.

"I see..." exclaimed Ryūen. "So you have the same weapon as me, huh?" he added.

"Seems to be the case," Ayanokoji replied.

As for Ibuki, Ayanokoji saw the dagger from the side that was equipped there. No, in fact, there were two daggers.

Ayanokoji wondered whether you could also wield sword skills with two weapons, so he asked Ibuki, as he hadn't tried that before.

"Ibuki, can you use for the two daggers sword skills?"

She shaked her head. "No, only with one dagger. It says it's an 'irregular' equip and prevents me from using sword skills. But I only have one sword skill, so no great deal. I deal with these two daggers more damage."

Ryūen nodded his head. "Ibuki mainly focuses her stats on agility. She is responsible for attacking the weak spots and critical spots. I'd normally do the rest."

Ayanokoji nodded his head. "Okay."

'Well, it seems like I'll be back at the forest again.'

[TimeSkip]

[Time: 12.37]

The five of them appeared right in front of the forest. It did take a while since they weren't sprinting, just normally walking.

During their way there, Ibuki advanced up to Level 3, the edge she needed. Ryūen was at Level three, too, near Level 4.

Ayanokoji didn't tell them his Level, but all of them felt like he was stronger than him. Even if just a Level. Ayanokoji reduced his stats accordingly to Level 5. In other words, 15 Stat Points, that he would distribute among strength and agility.

"Ayanokoji, I'm sure you might know it already, but don't attack the... Fruit Nerpent," exclaimed Ryūen, recalling the memories of his homeroom teacher's death.

"Fruit Nerpent?"

"So do we call them. It's kind of bothersome calling three types on the same name. So we split them up in three names. <>, <>, and <>. The <> lures them to the location when he gets killed. Although, I doubt that you can't kill it. I guess you just are not allowed to attack the fruit atop of its head, as it seems to have some kind of ador luring them there."

Although Ryūen had no definite conclusion, he speculated how so many monsters appeared at that time.

All of them needed for their own sake to confront the <> again. They didn't fight them and had initially not planned to do so. It's only because of Ayanokoji that he had a sudden change of mind.

"As for the other two types, they are normal. Well, the one with the flower atop of its head isn't because it drops an item, but I'm not sure what's the use of that."

It does appear like Ryūen and his group had not discovered Argo's guide. He wasn't sure whether Argo published it already, but if she did, then that meant they didn't discover it yet.

"So we're here again..." Ibuki said.

"Yeah..." Ichizaki exclaimed.

"...." Albert didn't seem in the mood to say anything. It was an incident that constantly replayed inside of their minds.

"I heard it from Hiyori. My condolences."

"Hiyori told us already. But I guess thank you..." Ryūen exclaimed, unsure how to respond in this particular situation.

While they were talking and walking inside the forest, Ibuki appeared to be visibly quite affected.

But it got worse when they met one of the <>.

"Dammit," she shouted out loud, sprinting immediately to the <>. Her anger has gotten ahead of herself.

With her two daggers, she cut one of the arms of the <> and then backing a few steps away.

"That one is mine," she shouted to the group of her party members.

All of them stayed there. They respected that Ibuki needed to vent out the frustration and sadness that she felt that day.

The <> released from atop of its head a corrosive spray. "Albert," Ryūen said.

Albert then proceeded on holding the shield upwards, blocking any amount of damage they'd take.

Ibuki, instead of sprinting away, threw a small mini knife with one of her skills, [Throwing Pick] to disable the corrosive spray that the Monster was attacking her with, from atop of its head.

'Good thinking,' Ayanokoji thought.

Then, she sprinted, taking the other arm, until doing five more attacks, killing the monster in the end.

Ryūen approached her. "Better?" he asked.

Although Ryūen could be sometimes a real asshole, he knew when he should stop.

"Yeah. Sorry, that was egoistic from me," she replied.

"Don't worry too much, Ibuki. As long as you are calm and rational in the next battle, that's what matters," Ayanokoji reaffirmed.

She nodded her head.

"Well, then let's go further," Ryūen announced.

[TimeSkip]

"That... bastard of a monster is the reason why we suffered..." Ibuki said, seeing the <> right in front of her, additionally with some other Nerpents.

"Ibuki."

Ryūen remarked, indicating that she should calm down.

"Yeah, I didn't plan on sprinting like previously."

Ryūen slightly grinned. "Really?" he asked.

"Then explain to me why I needed to hold your waist to prevent your outbreak."

She looked down, seeing that Ryūen was preventing her from sprinting there. "Tch..."

Ryūen released his grip. "Everyone, are you ready? You too, Ayanokoji?" he asked.

"Count me in, Ryūen-san," responded Ichizaki in enthusiasm.

"Me too."

The same could be told with Ibuki. She was finally getting her revenge on that monster.

"Yes, Boss."

Even Albert, the one in the group who had a Pacific mindset, was eagerly on defeating this monster and avenging his homeroom teacher.

"Sure, let's do it."

Although Ayanokoji was the least enthusiastic one in the group, he knew how important it was for them to defeat this monster. Like everyone else, he was prepared.

"Then, let's kill that thing once and for all," Ryūen shouted.

The first person who moved was Albert, as he was the Tank. Ayanokoji, Ibuki, and Ryūen followed from behind.

Meanwhile, Ichizaki was giving them support from the back, looking out that no monster would spawn either from the back or would attack them from the side.

There were a group of seven <> they were dealing with. Mainly, they target Albert, who was able to defend 8 out of ten attacks successfully. As Albert gathered their attention, Ryūen, Ayanokoji, and Ibuki took each one of them head on head.

Ayanokoji was the first one to finish his monster, with the sword skill [Vertical]. Obviously, he did not use this skill against the <>.

Ayanokoji, seeing that Ibuki was in trouble, as she was targeted by two monsters, said, "Ibuki, Switch!"

She slightly nodded her head, backing a few steps away, while Ayanokoji was charging his sword skill, [Slant] hitting both of them with that, but not completely killing them.

Ibuki then sprinted back at the monster again, both her and Ayanokoji taking one of them.

When Ayanokoji killed his one, and Ibuki did too, they looked at Ryūen and Ichizaki, who didn't seem to be in need of help.

"Ichizaki, switch."

Ichizaki nodded his head, then shouted out loud.

"Oorah, take that."

The monster disappeared, and all of them began to go to Albert again, who was holding three of them back.

"Albert, is everything fine?"

"Yes, Boss."

"Then, let's kill the rest of these bastards."

Without a single hesitation, Albert then proceeded to throw the three Nerpents with his shield upwards, for a small second stunning them.

Even without communication, they knew that this was their chance. Ayanokoji looked slightly at Ibuki, who made it clear which monster she wanted to target, as she looked at it directly in the eyes.

Ryūen too, did see it in her eyes. He knew that she wanted to kill this monster the most out of these five. In a situation like that, he didn't hesitate to take the Nerpent on the right, like Ayanokoji took the Nerpent on the left.

Both Ryūen and Ayanokoji activated their [Slant] skill, focusing the Monster on them and not on Ibuki.

As for Ibuki, she headed on the battle with that monster, while Ichizaki was supporting her, and Albert waited until he could use his [Horizontal] Sword Skill for the Warhammer.

Ayanokoji didn't take long on defeating it and decided to support Ryūen.

Ryūen, who saw that Ayanokoji was finished with his monster, shouted, "Ayanokoji, switch!"

Ayanokoji activated his other sword skill, [Vertical], while Ryūen retreated. Then, he killed the <> as it was priorly damaged by Ichizaki and Ryūen.

As for Ibuki, he didn't think she needed any help. She was basically dominating the Monster in every aspect.

[TimeSkip]

[Time: 16.47]

It was time to say farewell. They decided to leave.

"Ayanokoji, just say when you want to join our party, and we'll immediately make a place for you ready," Ichizaki exclaimed in enthusiasm.

Ayanokoji simply nodded.

"Tch, thank you for helping us today. I'm sure it wasn't really beneficial to you at all."

Ibuki was well aware of how fast Ayanokoji was killing the monsters, reason why she thought that him complying with their request to join the party was completely stupid.

But well, it wasn't like she what was on his mind.

"Farewell, Ayanokoji. If you want to join our party, just message me," Ryūen exclaimed.

With saying that, they left. As for Ayanokoji, he was thinking of heading to the Swamp Kobold Area until a sudden message through his interface appeared.

[Horikita: Mind talking a bit later?]

[Ayanokoji: Sure. Just tell me the location and the place.]

[Horikita: At 9 PM, at my Inn's room. Here's the location...]

At her room, huh?

"Well, let's see what she wants..."

--

A/N: This concludes the chapter.

And I'm back with a chapter again.

I hope that you liked this chapter because I wanted to focus on Class C a bit.

There are quite many characters of which I actually want to focus a bit, but well, it depends on how long the chapters I will cover the first month in Sao.

I mean, I'm unsure whether I'll write until the 75th floor or perhaps cover all 100 hundred floors because I'm still in the thought of who will get the unique skills and all.

I have a few ideas, but telling them would be quite lame, so I won't do that.

Well, that's all.

Have a good day!

Goodnight!

Well, where I live, it's midnight, so well, I guess it's more appropriate to say goodbye.