The Crystal Swordsman: Alfheim's Awakening

Fractal Dissonance

"The Vampires. And the Werewolves? It's going around right now. I thought you'd be the first to know." K assumed.

"I took a bit of a hiatus from info broking ta bag me an ultra rare mount, so I'm a bit out of tha loop on some things. Why, this recent or somthin'?" Argo informed.

"Fresh pressed off the printer. Speaking of which, your mount is one of the World Tree birds, isn't it?" K asked.

"Ya know your stuff. Yes, a one of a kind bird mount from tha highest reaches of the World Tree. It was no easy task ta obtain." Argo boasted.

"Vedrfulnir. I am quite familiar." K smiled and nodded.

"You know it?" Argo wasn't sure how he knew it's name.

"Who could not? I'm starting to think I'm the only one embracing the Norse roots of this world." K chuckled to himself.

"We're getting sidetracked. What can you tell us about Vampires and Werewolves?" I stepped forward.

"It's a disease that only affects NPCs as far as I know. It's used for certain quests and lore pieces but it's widely known to be within the backstory of the game." Argo regurgitated her usual info on it.

"It only affects NPCs?" Leafa repeated.

"It did." K corrected.

"But how did it jump ship to the player base?" Asuna wondered.

"Must have been a specific case." Kirito surmised.

"Or maybe a deliberate update?" Leafa proposed.

"Whatever the logistics may be, it's imperative that we learn as much as we can about them in hopes of counteracting Tetsuka." K explained.

"What about the werewolves?" I reminded him.

"We'll have to look into that later. For now, I feel we should focus our attention on the vampires. If DeathGod catches wind of their existence, he will no doubt try to manipulate them for his regime. We must prevent this eventuality at all costs." K was thinking multiple steps ahead.

"I hadn't thought of that. How should we go about it then?" I inquired.

"I think it's time we utilize our most powerful connections, the ones that reach far beyond the confines of our world view." K concluded.

"And who may that be?" Asuna asked with open curiosity.

"Not who, rather what. The eldest dragons of old will tell us much about a time long before ours. They will provide us with the insight we seek." K was confident.

"An avid suggestion, Spriggan King." Leafa giggled.

"We're headed to the mountain then?" I asked to confirm.

"Those who'd like to." K left it open ended.

"I'm actually gonna do some more digging here in Alne. I feel like there's a few more stones we could overturn." Lizbeth promptly stated.

"I'll go with you, Lizzy." Silica seemed rather excited by the idea.

"You two will get into trouble without me. We'll catch up later." Leafa smiled and waved to us as she followed them.

"What about you two? Up for a hike?" I asked Kirito and Asuna.

"I wouldn't mind a quest for knowledge." She looked over at him.

"I think my efforts would be better spent at the forefront." Kirito was honest.

"You're not going with me?" Asuna asked.