Sword Art Online DLC

Chapter 7: Encounter

January 6th, 2029, 1:24pm game time, floor 10. Jyenka and the rest of his party had gathered at the entrance to the large stone fort in floor 10's main settlement 'Esfera'. Another month had past and the assault team had moved up another 5 floors. With new floors meant new difficulties, enemies were getting tougher and environments were getting harsher. Although after spending so much time in this game players were starting to get comfortable living here, a little too comfortable.

"This is the place" Silvia said as she looked up at the medieval-style fortress. Silvia had changed her gear, she wore a white cloak with a grey base layer. The pants were also white with metal padding over her kneecaps, completing the look were a pair of brown boots with a small heel. She had her hair tucked behind her ears with a silver ribbon on each side tied in a neat bow. Her axe had changed from the basic one to a golden rimmed double-edged axe with a shiny crystal on the to of it in between the two blades.

"Kinda hard to miss" Jyenka commented also looking up. Jyenka now wore a slightly roughed-up light blue jacket with a white singlet underneath it. He wore a dark blue pair of pants that he tucked into his brown boots at his feet. The boots he wore were similar to Silvia's only his had golden lightning bolts on each side. He had upgraded his double-ended sword to one with a green hilt and thinner but longer blades at each end.

"We should go inside, wouldn't want to keep the rest of the assault team waiting" ThirtySix said walking ahead of the group. ThirtySix wore armour that somewhat resembled a Viking, he had large iron shoulder plates and huge adventuring boots that looked a little worse for wear although ThirtySix liked them nonetheless. He spear was now a trident with 3 points shooting out the front of it.

"It's not like we're late, we should be fine" Taijou added. Taijou had replaced his black jacket with a red one, he now also had a black scarf sitting on his neck. He wore skinny black jeans with iron plates over his knees and black boots with orange strips on them. He had upgraded his sword to a blue blade with the Kanji for water on it's hilt. He had also acquired a iron shield to use with his sword.

"This is definitely one of our better runs, usually Taijou will get us lost or Jyenka will do something stupid" Shoko added, she hadn't changed much of her gear.

"Hey!" Jyenka and Taijou said at the same time turning to face Shoko. Silvia let out a chuckle.

"That or Silvia finds a cute outfit she wants to buy." Shoko said walking past Jyenka and Taijou

"Hey!" Silvia exclaimed watching Shoko walk a head.

The group walked inside to see Kirito and his party standing inside, they'd all upgraded there gear as well.

"Good to see you guys again, the meeting doesn't start just yet so feel free to take a seat anywhere" Kirito said pointing to the giant table in the middle of the large room they were in.

"How do you think the assault team manages to rent these places out all the time?" Asked Taijou.

"Not sure, they might have a large col income maybe?" said Jyenka who sat down next to Taijou when they found there seats.

"It's all about building trust with the NPC's in the villages" Explained Silvia who sat down next to Jyenka. "The more quests you do in a village, the more word gets around that your a nice person. If the villagers trust you enough they'll start to give you discounts in shops, on food and rooms in inn's and even let you reserve places like this"

"Wow, the assault team really is on top of everything I guess" said Jyenka turning to look at Silvia.

"Naturally, we have to set a good example as the strongest player group in Aincrad" Silvia commented. As they spoke more players began to enter the room until just about every eat at the table was filled.