14 December 2022, 4.30pm
Forest Elf Base, Wandering Mists Forest, 3rd Floor
The trip to where the forest elves lived wasn't very long, but it was on a path that I never knew existed on the 3rd Floor. Monsters such as Middle Treants occasionally appeared unknowingly in my sight, disguised as normal trees. These were monsters that I hadn't encountered yet, and might probably be found in the deeper parts of the Wandering Mists Forest.
Legolia took care of most of the monsters that appeared in our path. From what I knew so far, she was a Level 15 elven swordswoman who wielded a one-handed longsword, but used no shield during combat.
When we stepped into the Forest Elf Base, I looked around to see many tents scattered all over a seemingly circular area of open land. The forest still surrounded the base, but I knew that although the 3rd Floor was a little smaller in size than the 2nd Floor, this base may still be found by other players, or even the dark elves.
"You guys sure put the effort to hide your base well." I commented as I followed Legolia past the tents.
"We have cast a Forest Sinking Charm on our base." Legolia replied." Humans such as yourself would not have found this place without a forest elf's consent."
We reached the forest elf commander's tent, where he basically praised and commended me of my efforts of assisting Legolia in battle. This just goes to show that although the elves recognised the difference between themselves and humans, they still respected humans as much as they respect their own kind.
Truth be told, if the elves were hostile in nature towards humans, the Elf War Campaign would never make any sense at all.
The forest elf commander then laid out 3 items, and asked me to pick one of them as a reward. They were all accessories that gave bonus passive effects when a player wears them, from increased attack power to heightened resistance against negative status effects. After looking through the items one more time, I picked a ring that boosts attack speed by 20% (not that the elves told me about the specific data of the ring, I knew that from bringing up its item description window).
I equipped the ring right away, and followed Legolia out of the tent after thanking the commander politely. Even if the elves were NPCs, I figured I needed to play the part of the main character in the storyline of the Elf War Campaign.
Legolia directed me to another tent, where she explained that I can stay here in the Forest Elf base, as she needed my help in preventing the dark elves from trying to steal the Jade Key from the Forest Elf base. I personally doubted that the dark elves would try to do such a thing, but I didn't tell Legolia that, of course.
As I settled on my bed, which was at a corner of the tent (Legolia's bed was at another corner), Legolia said," Feel free to make yourself at home in my tent."
"It's quite spacious." I commented. "Anyway, is there a place where i can take a bath?"
"If you are talking about the hot springs, they are at the very far end of this camp." Legolia replied. "That is the only way we can refresh ourselves here."
"Oh thanks...wait, there's hot springs?" My ears peaked up. That was exclusively one of the popular ways to take a bath in Japan, though it's a pity I'm not doing it in real life.
"Yes." Legolia replied again in a nonchalant manner. " Mealtime will be at 7 o'clock. I will meet you at the dining tent. Right now I must address other matters." She then walked abruptly out of the tent.
" Yeah... see you." I didn't think Legolia had heard my reply. I guess it's quite stressful being a member of the Forest Elven Royal Guard.
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14 December 2022, 7pm
Forest Elf Base, Wandering Mists Forest, 3rd Floor
I made it just in time to reach the dining tent, at 7 pm sharp. I would have come earlier if the hot springs didn't feel that amazingly relaxing. I wanted to stay there for another hour, but I knew that the sensation of dipping your body into a shallow pond full of boiling hot water was only artificial, and only my brain was enjoying that sacred feeling.
And so I quickly equipped all my gear after my bath and headed on to the dining tent, where the forest elves around me all seemed to be going to at that time.
The dining tent was spacious, housing enough long tables to accommodate all the elves living in the Forest Elf Base, apparently. I spotted Legolia waving at me at the long table nearest to me, her name title,'LEGOLIA, FOREST ELVEN ROYAL GUARD' floating above her head again, probably as an indicator that me, as a player of this Elf War Campaign, should recognize my NPC elf companion at all times.
She had saved a seat beside hers. I automatically took the seat, and stared at the various food dishes lined up in front of me. Some of them were dishes that I recognized in the real world, others were ones I hadn't seen before, and a few of them had elements of the food that I knew. They were probably fusion dishes, to describe them simply.
"How do you like our food?" Legolia asked. "This is the cuisine from the kingdom of Kales'Oh."
"It's nice...and looks delicious." I said, never caring about the looks of the dishes. I was the type to just take a bite of any food I see, though I must praise the people who designed and programmed the food to be so aesthetically appealing, that it only just increased my appetite even more.
We took an hour to dine in the variety of dishes. Honestly speaking, despite me not taking any preference on what food to try first, I prioritized the foreign-looking dishes first. I couldn't hold back my curiosity of what those dishes, which I assumed were exclusively Kales'Oh cuisine, tasted like. At the same time, I made a mental note about asking Legolia about the kingdom of Kales'Oh after dinner. She had mentioned the kingdom as if I already knew what it was, but all I could guess about that place was that it was inhabited by the elves.
By 8.15pm, Legolia and I were already back in our tent. The night was young, and I sat down on my bed, looking over at Legolia, who was combing her blonde, silky hair on the other side of the tent.
The center area of the tent was occupied by a square table with benches surrounding it. I got up and went to take a seat at the table. I was getting ready to attempt talking to the NPC elf, treating her like a real humanoid being.
"Hey." I said."I would like to talk to you about something."
Legolia looked up."Yes, Zenalyth?"
"That Forest Sinking Charm...it's magic, isn't it?" I started on my first burning question. The way Legolia caught my attention told me that she was no ordinary NPC.
Legolia got up from her bed. She was wearing a white nightgown, which swayed gently with every step she took to the square table. After taking a seat opposite mine, she began her explanation to my question.
"Our charms, such as the Forest Sinking Charm, are not considered magic. They are just remnants of the great magic my people once used in the past. When my nation, the kingdom of Kales'Oh was cut free from the ground, we lost all our real magic."
"Cut free....from the ground..." I pondered. From a realistic standpoint, Sword Art Online was created with no magic to begin with, as the game developers wanted players to experience close physical combat in a full Virtual Reality environment. But from the story lore of the game itself, especially about how the floating castle Aincrad came about, it was obviously for an entirely different reason.
Even with that inference, no one could figure out how Aincrad came to exist. The game trailers and information articles that I watched and read never mentioned the origins of the giant floating castle.
I could only theorize that the elves that I met so far on the 3rd Floor were not originally from Aincrad. They must have come from the earth, surface or ground, whatever you might call it. How they ended up here on Aincrad was a total mystery, though.
Legolia leaned over and stared at my downward-looking eyes. I was still swimming in my sea of thoughts when she spoke out.
"Is there something wrong? I wonder if all humans are like that when they are deep in thought."
"Eh? No,no,no, we aren't usually like that when we're thinking. I just... like to think that way." I snapped myself back from my mind into virtual reality. I was getting more convinced that Legolia might have some kind of advanced AI in her, for her to ask me of my general well-being. No normal NPC would even initiate a conversation with a player unless they were programmed to say something every time a player walked towards them.
I continued my interview with Legolia," So you were talking about a war between you guys and the dark elves, right?"
"Yes." Legolia started out with a simple answer, then went on," The kingdoms of Kales'Oh and Lyusula were once united, but after it was cut off, we and the dark elves were in conflict ever since the discovery of a sacred sanctuary in Aincrad. To this day, we have been at war with each other. We of the Forest Elven Royal Guard were sent to the 3rd Floor to retrieve a sacred key that will bring the forest elves a step closer to unlocking this sanctuary."
"But the dark elves are also doing the same thing, aren't they?" I said.
"That is correct." Legolia replied with a hint of pride. "Therefore it is the duty of the Forest Elven Royal Guard to make sure we safeguard the Jade Key, now that we have retrieved it."
Most of this info that she provided me were what I knew from the description window I looked at before taking the Elf War Campaign. It really was nothing new, and I got no new clues about the mysteries of, for example, how Aincrad was created,and why Aincrad was built in the first place.
And seriously speaking, I didn't even know how the Jade Key was connected to the unlocking of this 'sanctuary'. SAO's lore had too many plot holes that no one would have been interested to know it.
Legolia stood up. "It is getting late. Rest well, Zenalyth. Tomorrow we are to patrol the surrounding area of any intruders before we finally end camp."
"End camp? You mean like leave this place permanently?" I asked simply.
"I did not say that this place is our home." Legolia said. " You are to meet me at 7 o'clock in the morning. We will start patrol then."
She then gave me a serene smile, and walked back to her bed. It was then that I noticed her pointy ears, which reminded me that Legolia, despite not being able to use magic, was still an elf, no matter what.
Normally elves are associated with the element of magic. They also come from fantasy stories and can of course use magic with ease.
But the elves in SAO were very different, not only because of their lack of the usage of magic, but also they were really pretty much the same as humans, which the elves normally called players as.
Still, the elves claimed to have used magic when they were still living on the ground, so I guess this is one way elves can be differentiated from humans, who have completely no special capabilities whatsoever.
Unless you counted wielding weapons and using sword skills as one, in the context of this VRMMORPG. Those were the only assets us 'humans' were using to survive in the floating castle of Aincrad.
For now, I just have to get through the 3rd Floor events of the Elf War Campaign, as a current objective.
And hopefully that objective would be completed by the next day.