Soul Art Online

- Kuroka -

"Nyahahahaha one more drink." She laughed as he downed another cup of beer.

"You are drinking too much, Kuroka-san!" Gaspy shouted on her side.

"But you just became a Blacksmith today, Gaspy. We have to party."

It surprised her a lot and would probably surprise anyone else in the Game too.

After all, Gaspy hadn't killed a single monster and yet, he had become a Blacksmith, a T4 Class through crafting alone.

All his Skill Levels from Apprentice Blacksmith were maxed out.

Sure he wasn't the first player to get the Blacksmith but she could bet one of her tails that he was definitely the one with the best skill in the game.

Kuroka herself hadn't been slacking off either. She hunted day and night, getting any quests she could do and it had shown its result.

She had reached Level 28 T3 Thief and would soon be getting a T4 Class soon too. After the last debacle and close shave with death, she had started working far more cautiously. She often changed parties, not staying in any party for more than a few days to not let anyone know of her address.

This allowed her to form contacts with many players in the town. Then she used her contacts to bring customers to Gaspy, helping him earn both money and experience from crafting.

At this point, she was just waiting to get a T4 Class and they can then move on to Greenfrost. Gaspy's experience gains were slowing down the more he levelled up.

Greenfrost was a bigger town and there they could easily get better commissions for Gaspy and would help him level up faster.

At the rate she was going, it should probably take another week at best to be ready to move. She had already started preparing for the move.

"By the way, do you know which Class you are going to get after Blacksmith?" She asked.

"I… no. I don't know about any Classes." He answered nervously.

"No matter. We can always find what you will need. In fact, I will go and find more information tomorrow. I need to find options for my T4 Class too."

"O-okay."

"But today… today we party!" She hugged him to her side and cheered.

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She checked around and found the road clear and quickly snuck into the Black Market entrance building.

Treading the paths she had become quite familiar with, she reached the place which sold information.

A shady looking man sat there. He looked up at her and his eyes widened in realisation. "Cat… has been a while since I have seen you here. I personally thought you kicked the bucket after that last hunt." He spoke with a creepy smile on his face.

"A Cat has nine lives, Keith. I am not that easy to kill."

"Oh good good. After all, you were becoming one of my favourite customers. I was so sad when I thought you died."

She rolled her eyes. "You are the kind of man who would sell your own mother for money. You, being sad about my death? Don't joke."

"Well, that's not wrong exactly but that's also why I was sad. You bought information on so many people these past months. I was missing the flow of money."

Yeah, she had thought as much. In fact, she had a large doubt that this guy was the one who had sold her whereabouts to those people too. But right now she needs him. As much of a scumbag as he might be, he was also the best information merchant in this town. If she wanted information about potential Classes for Gaspy and herself, he was the best option."

"So, whose information do you want today? Another adventurer or is it a merchant or craftsman this time?"

"I don't want any of that today. What I want to know is the information about the Advanced Classes of Thief and Blacksmith Classes."

"Oh, Class Advancement. Sure sure." He presented her with the rates and her eyes twitched at the price but she had money. She had more than enough money after that bastard Herbalist had returned Gaspy's money and some extra.

Twenty Thousand for a T4 Class Tree and two hundred thousand for a T5.

Fortunately, they had the money.

She checked the Class Advancements available for her.

Assassin and Rogue.

An Assassin focused on hunting people while a Rogue was better at hunting monsters.

When she had received the Thief Class, she had accepted it as it gave her a quick path to power. But the last few months had given her time to think.

Maybe she was mellowing out due to Gaspy's presence.

Sigh…

At this point, she was basically given a choice.

What did she want to do going forward?

Did she want to continue on the path of killing people or did she want to change…

She paused as several thoughts went through her head.

The reason she had become a criminal in the real world was because she was forced to by the circumstances.

Did she want to continue that life…

Even in this game? A place where she could do what she wanted?

That life had separated her from her sister and from what she had found out from Gaspy, Shirone was afraid of that Kuroka… did she want to meet her sister as an Assassin or did she want to choose the path of a Rogue?…

Closing her eyes, Kuroka took a deep breath and made her choice.

Next came Gaspy's Classes.

A Blacksmith had two options.

Master Blacksmith or a Magic Blacksmith.

A Master Blacksmith needed a Blacksmith to get all their Skills to Max. Level while a Magic Blacksmith needed a Blacksmith to get the Mage Class.

Kuroka knew how to get that one but she doubted Gaspy would agree to leave home and hunt monsters to level up the Scholar Class for thirty levels.

That only left Master Blacksmith… which he would have gotten if he continued working either way.

…did she waste two hundred thousand gold coins… for this?

Sigh…

"Did you get what you wanted?" The man asked.

"Yes. That will be all." She paid the money for the transaction and left the Black Market directly. The longer she stayed there the more danger she was in.

Getting out, she changed her clothes and slipped through the alleys back to their home.

There was a lot of work to be done.

- Akeno -

"That was amazing, Arthur. You are doing very well.Now we just need to complete your Quest and you can become a Knight." Marielle praised.

Well, obviously he was amazing.

He was the descendant of Arthur Pendragon. It would be surprising if he wasn't good. Still, a month to go from level 5 Squire to Level 30 was quite a feat. Although, he did have the advantage of having high levelled party members which they didn't have so it was still understandable.

In fact, Akeno noticed that Arthur was far more skilled than even Yuuto with a sword. He could take down a monster at the same level as him by his swordsmanship alone, even without using any extra skills.

"Thank you, Marielle-san." He bowed politely.

"Mou… just call me Mari or Mari-nee like everyone else. You're too stiff. Look at Nao-kun here. He always has so much fun."

"Yes yes, Arthur. Chill out a bit. Actually, let's go out and… ouch. What did you hit me for, Akatsuki-chan?" Nao-kun rubbed his head, looking aggrieved.

"You were probably going to say something stupid."

"Hah! How do you know that? I was obviously going to just… ouch. Hey now!"

"Don't say it."

"Now now, Akatsuki-chan. Violence is not good." Mari chided and Akatsuki-chan looked away from Naotsugu with a huff. "What were you saying, Nao-kun?"

"Ah yes. We could totally go and check out some chicks in the entertainment district."

"See… I told you he was going to say something stupid."

"Ara ara, is Nao-kun interested in girls now? If that's so, Mari-nee can help him out." Mari held his armoured arm and pushed it between his breasts with a smile, making Nao-kun nervous.

Akeno chuckled at his reaction.

She wondered when the fool would realise that Mari was actually interested in him. Looking at her usual flirty behaviour, no one would realise how shy Mari actually was.

"Eh… I…" Nao-kun looked troubled when Arthur came to his rescue.

"I will pass. I still have to train my skills today." He apologised.

Nao-kun obviously caught the chance and changed the topic.

As they were walking, Akeno noticed something but didn't halt her steps. She threw a look towards Arthur who nodded almost imperceptibly at her.

"Mari-san, I need to go to the market for something so I will separate here."

"Oh, I also want to go that way." Arthur spoke up.

"Alright, join me."

"Take care, you two. Be back before dinner." Mari waved at her as they left towards the orphanage on the other side of the town.

Both Arthur and her looked at each other and walked to the other side and got into the alleys, and hid behind some barrels.

Sure enough, some people stopped at that place and looked around.

"Did you see where those two went?" One of them, a taller and lankier man asked his partner.

"No. You go and check that alley and I will check the next one. Dammit, why do we have to follow them around like this. Why can't we just ambush them in the forest like others?"

"Well, the boss likes the two girls. Especially the black haired one with huge breasts. He has heard that a noble, a Viscount, in the nearby city likes girls like that and he plans to capture them and offer them to the noble to get his support. With that, not even the City Lord of this small town will be able to do anything to us and we can do as we want in the town. Knights will not interfere if we can have the Viscount's support. And with their team out, our Dark Fiends group could easily take over the town. They are the only players who could challenge our group in this town."

"Oh and their potions business is great. Do you know how much money those brats make without even having to go out and risk their lives? It's not fair, you know. We slave around and can only earn a handful of coins and they laze around all day and earn more than us."

"Yeah… so go and check on them. We will launch an attack in a week when we know their hunting route."

"Alright. Meet me here in five minutes then."

"Kay."

The two dispersed and she got out.

Arthur looked at her and she saw anger in his eyes too.

"When are you doing it?" He asked.

"No time like today." She replied and he nodded in agreement and left the place together.

Five minutes later, they walked by the same place where those two goons had gathered and caught their attention.

As expected the scumbags followed them towards the forest.

Both Arthur and her hid behind the trees and waited for them to come to the place.

When they did, she directly used the Spell Heavy Spark.

Heavy Spark had a 20% chance to paralyse a target for 5 seconds. Luckily for her and and unluckily for them, both of them were paralysed from the spell and froze.

Arthur used this chance to use Paralysis Powder on them. When it looked like the other person was going to break from the paralyse, he used his Heavy Blow Skill.

Heavy Blow could stun the target for 4 seconds. Akeno used this chance to use even more Paralysis Powder and stun both of them completely…

With the two enemies being unable to move, she brought out a rope and tied them up.

And then began the questioning…

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Beta Note: The advance chapters are in order of what is updated, a first Tier will not get 2 advanced chapters for every story, only the next two to be released.

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Author's Note:

I am back with another chapter of 'Soul Art Online'.

So, several things happened in this chapter.

Arthas is learning.

Shiroe got even stronger than before.

Veena is going to be a T5 soon.

Rose made some resolutions.

Kuroka made a life changing decision.

Akeno and Arthur… well, they are facing their own share of troubles.

We will see what happens in the next chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.