15 January 2024
Ant Hill Dungeon, 47th Floor
The light that shone onto my right cheek persisted relentlessly, as I tried to block it loosely with my right hand. My hooded longcoat was coloured in different shades of silver, as the shadow of my hand formed quite the random pattern on its simple design.
Being on a cliff which stretched out from the mountainous hill, the terrain scenery of the northern half of the 47th Floor greeted me, amid only the safe zone settlements catching my eye.
Unlike the other Floors, the 47th Floor wasn't one to boast of much natural structures, such as valleys and mountains. Only the Ant Hill could be considered as such, but the creepy crawlies that endlessly spawn there didn't make the field dungeon seem as natural as it would be.
But because of that, it became the perfect place for players to speed up on their EXP grinding.
Enemy mobs that are fragile to even a single slash of the sword, plus they come in swarms. No middle-leveled player would get into serious trouble there.
I leaned sideways, with my left arm lightly pressed onto a barrier, which traced the edge of the irregularly shaped cliff, bordering off from the drop that was more than enough to kill a player with just fall impact damage alone.
As I turned my head from the scenery, a female player strolled towards me, her right hand swiping through the floating windows in front of her. Her armour was a simple set of chestplate and knee pads, the kind that was pretty common in the lower Floors. Her sword was sheathed at her waist, swinging back and forth with every step she took.
In the distance, a few more players were sitting on regularly sized boulders behind her. A couple more girls were in the group, chatting away with the guys.
In a normal 7-player party, it was relatively common to see no more than 2 female players. Naturally, seeing 3 of them today was a rare occurance.
I wasn't saying that female players couldn't fight as well as male players do, but most of them preferred to stay out of the fighting, and preferred to level up non-combat skills instead.
They are a common sight as blacksmiths or other safe zone jobs, but there are always exceptions that seemed to like the thrill of combat as much as the guys do.
I've known a few of those exceptions that surprise me every now and then, so much so that I could just eliminate the stereotype of feminity altogether.
But then again, the world we players live in is a world where we were given a chance to become what we desired to be with the touch of the amazing phenomenon known as the system menu. Anyone can easily be as powerful as they can be, as long as they simply knew how to use it to its fullest.
"Am I interrupting you?" The female sword user asked, still behind a system window as she stepped over into the cliff area.
"Not at the moment." I replied. "But I'm waiting for the breeze that doesn't seem to ever come..."
I turned to her, while absent-mindedly turning onto my double bladed spear on my back, feeling the sudden bump.
"You feel hot also, right?" I straightened myself up as I asked.
"Yeah, I guess..." The girl looked at the sun in the eastern direction, as if it was sandwiched like an egg between the underside of the 48th Floor above and the surface of the 47th Floor below.
Her system window was still there, seemingly waiting for its owner to do whatever she wanted on it. I was starting to wonder how long she would need to use her system menu for.
"You asking about the Drifting fees...?" I asked again, trying to guess her reason for approaching me like this.
The girl's hand kept running all over her system window for a while, until it suddenly halted at the center. The window finally disappeared, her hands gesturing as if she was holding something thin.
A rectangular object materialized, falling right into her hands to be held. At first glance, it looked something like a tablet, but my mind soon came up with the idea of holograms, as the object was bluish and transparent, like those seen in sci-fi movies.
"Might as well ask you that..." The girl flipped the object around. "I seem to have forgotten it."
"You guys discussed the final price with me at the foot of the Ant Hill." My eyes was focused on the flat object. "20000 col, for me to bring you guys up to the summit's field boss."
"Guess I wasn't paying attention..." The girl looked up at me with a sheepish grin.
Looking over at the 5 other players in my party, who were still sitting leisurely, I turned back to the flat object that the girl was holding.
"By the way, is that...?" I pointed at it.
"What about it?" The girl asked.
"I've never seen it before. Quite strange. Is it a tablet of some kind?"
She simply smiled, holding the flat thing a bit higher, this time with only a couple of fingers clamped at the edge. Shaking it back and forth, the 'tablet' swayed, making slight bending movements with every swing.
A little breeze rushed through between us, into the object, which fluttered.
"I always forget that no other player would never know that such items can be crafted..." The girl shook her head a little, her smile retained.
"This is what you would call.....'paper' in this world."
I eyed the flat hologram for a while, slightly curious about it. "Paper.....huh....."
"It's something a fighter like you would never imagine exists here in this world." She continued. "You guys are all about your swords and stuff, and going after those monsters every time you see them."
I chuckled at her subtle rant. While most of the player population fought in SAO as if it really was a game, there were others who either never did see it as a game, or thought that they could never fight as well as their party members did.
In the current frontline of the 55th Floor, the player population had pretty much separated itself into some kind of occupation classes, even though SAO never ever had that kind of concept in its systems.
The simplest classification of players would be those who were combat-oriented and those who were not. Of course, they were complications in each of those categories, but in this world, it was either you fight, or you stay in the side-lines, supporting those who fought.
"You're Jacelyn of the Gazette guild, right?" I pointed out. "You went after those ants, you know."
"T-that's because I had to, as well as everyone else in the Gazette guild!" Jacelyn turned away from me slightly. " We're all under-levelled, and we have no choice but to get more EXP this way!"
"Which is why you guys came to me, a Drifter." I said matter-of-factly. "Anyway, I'd like to know more about the 'paper' you have there."
"Well...the Gazette guild was formed with the purpose to broadcast all kinds of information to all the players." Jacelyn explained. "In order to do that, we needed something that we can record information on, and this item is the solution."
"So basically, you guys are a news agency." I leaned back on the barrier, facing her. "How did you make this.....'paper'?"
"We simply use the Crafting skill with a special drop material, which can only be found in a very special tree in one of the Floors." Jacelyn answered. "We can't disclose the location, though."
"I think you disclosed plenty....." I pointed out once more. "I mean, I make it a point to visit every dungeon and settlement on every Floor. I might be able to pinpoint where."
"You can try." The girl responded with a tinge of confidence. "Only the guild leader knows the location.....and a few others."
She tapped on the 'paper', which popped out a keyboard much like one found on a laptop. Noticing my slightly dumbfounded face, she giggled a bit as she typed onto it.
"I know it's strange.....pens or pencils can't be crafted in this world. But paper is meant to be written on, so that's how it is."
"No shit. Life's strange, I guess." I stared at her tablet. "What're you doing?"
"An interview, with you."
"Huh?"
"About you as a Drifter. You're the first one we came across."
"Umm....."
I wasn't quite prepared to be asked questions by some random player, even if they are my client.
"I've always wanted to be a journalist when I grow up." Jacelyn continued. "It's my habit to ask about stuff that most others don't know much about. Of course, my questions won't be personal."
"..."
Even so, I didn't like leaking any kinds of information to someone I just met. But as she stared at me expectantly, I couldn't help but reluctantly sigh a little.
"You doing this for your guild?"
"Not particularly. But since we're quite a new guild, we've been trying to find ways to get some stories for our first newspaper issue."
"The info brokers won't like this, though."
"Oh, we don't deal with info that involves secret dungeons and hidden quests or stuff like that. What we do is tell our readers about what's generally happening on the other Floors, that's all."
Jacelyn then tapped the tablet a few times. "You avoided my interview request."
I looked over at her guildmates, who were still sitting and chatting away. They were the kind of players who never seemed to like combat in the first place. But yet they had to fight in some way or another if they wanted to be stronger.
That was how things had always worked in this world, like it or not.
"Mmm.....I wasn't...." I tried not to make my eyes lock on to hers. "How about....one question. Just one question will do. Our break's almost over, and we can't stay here no matter what. We still have the field boss at the summit to deal with."
Jacelyn looked back at her guildmates. "They seem happy here..."
"This isn't exactly a safe zone, you know." I pointed out. "The ants can't come here, but other players can....."
My voice trailed off, as I realized something crucial. Field dungeons such as the Ant Hill might not be as normally safe for players as I had initially thought. They might have fine to stay in the past, but now...
"What's wrong?" Jacelyn asked.
"...I think...just make it quick. I'll answer just one question, then we're off to the summit." I replied, with a bit of firmness in my tone.
"Oh...okay then....I'll just ask you the last question on the list." The girl looked through her hologram tablet. She probably had sensed my concern, or simply thought that our break had taken far too long.
"What does it take to be a Drifter?"
As she asked that question, I stayed silent for a while. Leaning off the barrier that bordered off the cliff, I stretched my right arm to check on my spear strapped on my back, while letting out a sigh.
"That's quite the question you have there."
"It is?"
"I mean, no one's ever brought that up before. They all heard of Drifters, but that's it. Even the solo players get more recognition than them."
"Well, the solo players are what they are, no such mystery to what they normally do. The moment I heard of the Drifters, I wanted to know more."
"Didn't you see first-hand at what a Drifter does? You know, me helping you guys climb the Ant Hill without any problems."
"I want to know how you can become a Drifter, Zenalyth. Like, what makes you think you can become one."
I turned sideways to the scenery behind me, looking forth at the terrain once more. There wasn't any way to explain to her about this.
"'Drifters' is just a loose term for players who join many different parties, never sticking to the same one for too long." I started to explain while rubbing my head. "Of course, in exchange for col and stuff. At least, that's what I do to make a living."
"I'll keep the answer short and simple. I don't have what it takes to be a Drifter.....yet. At least, in my opinion. In my perspective, Being a Drifter takes more than just helping a party clear a field dungeon that they can't clear on their own."
I started to step past Jacelyn, as she stood silent of my response.
"That's quite the answer you have there." She said, turning back at me.
I paused for a while, before simply smiling back at her.
"You should find other Drifters to talk to, though I don't even know where they are, let alone who they are."
"But...." Jacelyn brought down her system menu, her tablet disappearing afterwards. "Would you know, if you've found another Drifter?"
"I can always guess." I replied briefly. "If solo players can choose to be alone all the time, then we can choose to join a random party on just a whim. It's the choice that matters, not the title."
"However, whether you have the capability to become a Drifter or solo player is an entirely different story altogether."
Jacelyn looked down at the sword sheathed by her side. She skipped to the spot beside me, as her eyes darted to my direction.
"You aren't that bad of an interviewee, although your answer is something that I think I won't be able to ever understand." She let out a short but sharp giggle.
As she skipped over to her guildmates, I followed, watching silently on as she cheerfully chatted with them. My lips curved into a frown, as my thoughts of concern returned.
I felt my right hand touched something, and when I turned around, it was behind my back, about to grab hold of my spear.
Was that a sign of danger? Maybe. My right hand moving briefly on its own might have been a glitch, but I didn't freak out much.
I was just probably not conscious enough to realize my inner fears, enough to make me reach for my spear in response.
Putting the hood of my long coat over my head, I buried my hands into its pockets as I jogged back to the group of players, who were waiting for me expectantly for my guidance for the challenges that face them ahead.
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