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Rebuild of Sword Art Online

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But Rita died. On the other hand, we only got to know her name after she died.

Not getting a name beforehand gets you killed, remember that.
 
Something we haven't really considered. Children.

In normal SAO it didn't happen, probably do to technical difficulties, and time constraints. But this SAO seems to be running on underworld rules. It even already has a system in place for it, the Newborn brain model that the game uses to make the NPC's.

Are children going to be thing here?

And if so, might they contribute to the drop off in clearers? After-all, if you win the game you lose your kid.
 
Why would players adopt NPC children? Or, do you mean you can now conceive AI children by doing decimal number chapter stuff?
 
Since NPCs can give quests, an idea came to mind. A guild attacks a village and of course there are survivors and they give the quest to defend the town/kill the attackers. (Would the Cardinal give this quest in rebuild?) It would make a good read, I think.
 
@Crazael
Fearies?

As the people who picked magic are essentially the magic teachers for everyone else, how will they learn new words? Does the knowledge just pop into their minds when they get to a stat level?
 
There's probably also tomes out there with various words and what they do.
 
They probably get their spell words the same way the warrior types get their Sword Skills.
 
@Delusionist
So self-discovery or an explanation of how to perform in the ingame menu? I recall this rewrite mentioned Sword Skills having stick people performing the action to represent how to do it. I'm guessing the spell version would just list the words and how to sound them out, possibly with an option to play a sound file saying the word.

@ZerbanDaGreat
When can we expect the next update? Sometime over the course of next week?
 
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Just moved, so shit's still a little dire. I do promise an update within the week however!
 
Ah, I see. Moving's never fun :(
How far along are you with your moving? Do you prefer the new place to the old? If these questions are too personal, just say so :)
 
Well Zerban I hope you get settled in well, a new place is always...odd til you get your things where you want them.
 
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    • They forged deeper. Further into the mysterious dungeon, denoted as simply '???' in their menus. The labyrinth was strange, alien almost. At first Kirito had thought of it as procedurally generated, somewhat lazily at that, but that couldn't have been accurate. There was a strange method to it, a guiding hand to the randomness. No matter how far and wide they ranged beneath the earth it always led the down, slowly but steadily. Not even flights of steps, not even elevators, but a nearly imperceptible slope to the floors. He couldn't begin to guess how far down they were now.

    Deeper. They weren't just further underground. The very dungeon itself was changing. Once it had been relatively bright, every single surface of marble polished to a mirror sheen and glowing with an inner light. Yet now it seemed every step they took made their surroundings dimmer. Darker. Keita stopped briefly to strike a torch to light with his staff, but that was it. After all, it's not like the Moonlit Black Cats were afraid of the dark.

    "Break!" Tetsuo called from beside him as Kirito finished the last skeleton archer with a pommel-bash to the general neck area of its spinal column. He turned back to face the rest of the Black Cats, only to hunch over and wince in pain as the battle caught up with him. Turns out even glancing blows from maces suck ass. He wasn't the only wounded one either - everyone had at least a handful of cuts and bruises to show for their efforts.

    "Break... sounds pretty nice... about now..." Sasamaru panted. Off-tanking had taken its toll on him, his buckler-wearing left arm held stiffly and awkwardly.

    "Fair enough," Keita sighed. He sat down heavily, setting his staff down to keep the torch aloft with both hands. "Somebody loot the bodies and we'll take five."

    "Twenty!" Ducker demanded.

    "Ten."

    "Fifteen."

    "Twelve and a half."

    "Thirteen."

    "Would you just sit the fuck down already."

    "Alrighty, so, I might have sworn never to do this as long as I live, but there have been a few extenuating circumstances and I had Kazri help me so it all works out in the end," Sachi said. "So without further ado..."

    She fidgeted with her menu for a moment. Several things appeared on the floor before her amid flurries of bright white pixels, as if trailing bubbles of air as they sank beneath water. They were lunch boxes, six in all. Kirito pulled one over and opened it - a sealed pot of tea with a ham and cheese roll. His stomach growled.

    "Packed lunches," Sasamaru said almost dreamily.

    "Now before anybody says anything-" Sachi started.

    "I have never loved you more than I do in this instant of time Sachi," Sasamaru went on, as if on the verge of tears. He snatched the roll out of his lunch box and more or less tore it in half with a single bite. "so gud" he mumbled around his full mouth."

    "... or that." Sachi blinked, genuinely surprised.

    "Really Sachi. Thank you," Keita said. "This is exactly what we needed."

    "Don't forget Kazri either," Tetsuo laughed. "Dicks. He's been working plenty hard too."

    "Heh, nah, I didn't really do much," Kirito said hurriedly. "Sachi's been doing most of the work and teaching me. And hey, she's the one with high enough Cooking to get a health regen buff!"

    Ducker glanced up and to the left, obviously checking his health bar. "... oh yeah. Guess Cooking isn't useless after all. Awesome, thanks!"

    "How about everyone just appreciates everybody equally. Sound good?" Sachi chuckled.

    "Oh my God could this circlejerk get any worse? I can literally feel the cocks slapping me in the face from over here."

    The Black Cats turned and/or looked up as one. Their new best friend, come to bother the shit out of them again. Rosalia, be-crowned icon of a guild leader on full display, only a few scant metres away. How had she approached so silently? Not even a whisper, not even to Kirito. Had he been too distracted, or was she just that good? Either way, she seemed to delight in the surprise on everybody's faces.

    "Oh great, the skank patrol. Sorry, but it's going to be slim pickings for you here," Ducker said sharply.

    "A little upset, are we? About me, or just the fact that I sneaked up on you so easily?" Rosalia replied. "I'm just saying, for the party rogue, you're not all that good at your job."

    "Look just tell us what you want and get it over with." Keita sounded like he was barely holding back from leaping to his feet and making Rosalia literally flame-haired. "We're kind of busy here. Working to pay you back."

    "That's exactly why we're here," the woman replied as the rest of her party came into view. Relatively lightly armed and armoured, but they were warm bodies with swords, and that was what counted the most sometimes. "You're balls deep in this place and, from what we've been able to gather, you're already punching above your weight. And believe it or not sweetie I'd prefer you didn't all die before I could get my money back."

    "So... basically you want to party up with us?" Tetsuo asked.

    "That's basically exactly what I said, yes."

    Keita looked to the other Black Cats. So did Kirito. There were more than a few exchanged glances, the best they could do without showing weakness in front of Rosalia. Eventually, one after the other, they nodded. Keita turned back and nodded too. "Alright. We'll let you tag along if you're really that desperate."

    "Put it away Keita, I don't have anything sinister planned. Honestly, you people."

    ***

    Much to everyone's relief, Rosalia was true to her word. As they ventured deeper into the labyrinth, exploring its myriad nooks and crannies, she and her men kept pace almost flawlessly. The weight of numbers helped a lot, and Rosalia herself was no slouch with her spear. So much of the map had been revealed that it was actually getting hard to keep track of it all in the map screen.

    The bad news? Ninja looting. A lot of it.

    Technically they really couldn't complain too much about it since Rosalia and her men were helping them kill everything for said loot but that didn't change how ball-breakingly frustrating it was every time a Titan's Hand member got a kill and looted it immediately. Keita made more than a few strangling motions behind their backs.

    "Are you having fun? I'm having a lot of fun. I'm starting to see the appeal of this adventuring and grinding business. It's bracing you know?" Rosalia called over her shoulder from up ahead. Ducker flipped her off. Then he paused, middle finger still proudly upthrust, as he looked off to the side at something. Kirito followed his sight line and saw it too - a small square of the wall ever so slightly indented compared to the rest of the marble, hairline cracks marking it out. Either of which might have just been his high Detection skill but thinking about those things at this point made his head spin. Ducker ducked over (har har) swiftly, pressing his palm firmly against the marble button.

    Stone ground against stone, the vibrations rumbling through the floor itself as a secret door rose on some kind of hidden mechanism. One more spot on the map filled, a relatively small room containing a single treasure chest. The Titan's Hand rogues turned, alerted by the sound, but the Black Cats were already moving. Ducking under the rising door one after the other, darting into the room. Ducker practically did a knee-slide across the smooth stone floor to get to the chest, drawing his lockpicks with a flourish.

    "Sorry what was that I couldn't hear you oh look I found a treasure chest how that must suck for you!" he called, working the picks into the lock as easy as breathing. The Black Cats laughed, even as Rosalia said a few unladylike things from the corridor and hurried over.

    Wait...

    Something on the side of the chest. A wire, thick as a human hair, looping from the lid of the chest to somewhere beneath it. Invisible but for the ever so subtle shine that drew Kirito's eye. Ducker hadn't seen it. Skill too low, not paying enough attention. Kirito raised his hand.

    "Wait, don't open that-!" he called.

    The lock clicked open. Ducker turned his head as he lifted the lid. The wire went taut and snapped. There was a moment of dead silence, as if the world were holding its breath. The room was bathed in bloody red light as the marble seemed to turn to ruby. The door slid down, closing twice as fast as it had opened. Rosalia froze in place, having only just stepped across the threshold. She leaped back as quickly as she had come, leaving the door to slam down. Sealing the Black Cats inside.

    "What did you DO!?" Keita yelled as the group drew together in the middle of the room.

    "Don't look at me I just picked the lock! Ask Kazri, he told me not to do it at the last fucking minute after I was already opening it!" Ducker's voice cracked.

    "Just... just stay together and get behind Sasamaru and I okay?" Tetsuo said, trying to quell his own wavering voice. "It's probably just a normal trap. We'll be fine."

    The air rushed around them like a hurricane, displaced amid a flurry of dancing lights. Monsters spawning in, two dozen of them at least. Constructs of stone with mace-like fists. Dark dwarves, mad from isolation and lack of sun, clutching warpicks and heavy axes. Slavering war hounds the size of Great Danes.

    The disconnection returned. Slowly, inexorably, Kirito felt himself leave his body. He saw himself call up his inventory screen as if from a great distance, even as the monsters descended upon them all. His armour and sword glowed briefly, losing all definition and texture, becoming simple constructs of light. A split-second of blinding whiteness and they changed. The Coat of Midnight swirled around him, the Anneal Blade gleaming in his hand.

    It can't have taken long. Two minutes perhaps. Three at the most. Kirito was a blur of sapphire light and steel, darting this way and that across the room. Lungs burning. Arms heavy, like woven lead. He could sense rather than see the others fighting beside him, hacking and slashing and trying desperately to stay alive. He heard a scream of pain, the thump of a body hitting the floor. One of them. He didn't know which. Couldn't possibly tell. Had to keep fighting.

    A golem split beneath his blade. A clean cut straight through, shattering stone. The remnants shattering into a thousand tiny glittering pieces. He whirled, blade over his head and ready to strike. Turning this way and that, gasping for air. Something approached him and he nearly brought the sword down one more time.

    "Kazri, stop!" Sachi grabbed his arms. Shocking him out of it. It was like being shaken awake from an intense nightmare.

    Kirito blinked. Dazed. Confused. Breathing raggedly. He slowly lowered his sword.

    "Is... is everyone...?"

    Quick. Headcount. Keita leaning on his staff, holding a gash in his side. Sachi by his side. Tetsuo bent double, struggling to catch his breath. Ducker with his back turned, staring off into the distance. Sasamaru...

    Sasamaru nowhere to be found. Just a small circular bloodstain nearby, little wisps of crimson energy constantly rising and dissipating.

    "I don't feel so good," Kirito said in a small voice.

    "I don't think anybody does." Sachi said.

    "Okay. Okay guys... guys we just..." Keita sounded lost. Grasping at anything in reach. He didn't find anything. A single chest-wracking sob escaped him before he managed to crush the feelings down. He couldn't let it have an inch, or it'd destroy him completely. Kirito knew the feeling.

    "Sasa..." Tetsuo covered his mouth with a mailed fist, muffling the sound. He looked away from the bloodstain. Ducker wordlessly pulled out his teleport crystal.

    "Hey wait-!"

    Power gathered around the block of sapphire, only to unceremoniously dissipate like so much excess.

    "S'okay. Was just checking." Ducker tried to put it away. He missed three times. He didn't notice. "Won't work in here."

    Kirito tried to breathe. Why was the air so thick? He couldn't keep it down, he couldn't fill his lungs, he was drowning in the air.

    "Kazri. Kazri look at me, you have to focus." Sachi was surprisingly strong when she needed to be. She turned Kirito right around to look him in the eye. "It's okay. We can make it through this."

    Kirito raised a hand to his mouth, his stomach turning worryingly. He forced it down, tasting bile at the back of his throat, and swallowed. "Okay. Okay I'm... I'm good." He wasn't.

    "There's another secret passage over here." Ducker wasn't raising or lowering his voice at all. Not even putting inflection in it. He just pressed the switch, standing back and watching the second door open.

    "Sh-shouldn't we try the other door or... or at least get what was in the chest?" Keita asked.

    "The chest was empty. It was completely fucking empty."

    They forged ahead blindly. There had to be something. Some kind of reward as consolation. A way out. Something to salvage this absolute fucking mess of a day. Kirito slowly drifted to the back of the group, still wearing the Coat of Midnight, nearly invisible in the darkness because of it. Keita walked at the head, torch raised high, but his mind was elsewhere.

    "Keita I really think we should go back-" Sachi started.

    "And do what, scratch at the door and beg Titan's Hand to let us out!?" Keita snapped, refusing to turn his head. "We have to move on okay? We have to... Sasa didn't die for nothing, okay?"

    Sachi fell silent.

    "He didn't..." Keita cut himself off, clenching his jaw tight. Rubbing his eyes desperately with a sleeve.

    They forged ahead. Deeper. Darker. The stones themselves turning black around them, deepening the darkness that seemed to scoff at the paltry light of Keita's torch. Ancient torches, long ago burnt out, sat in sconces along the walls. Indentations revealing the rectangular profile of tombs. How many had they already passed? Kirito lost count. They stepped through an archway, into some kind of central area. Too vast for Keita's torch to possibly light it, the other side and ceiling lost to the darkness beyond. Only a few curving walls either side of them to give the impression of a circular catacomb.

    "Kazriwhat the fuck is going on!?" Keita whirled on Kirito.

    "I don't know!"

    "Well clearly you fucking do man because I saw a lot of inexplicable shit from you back there!"

    The ground shook with a jangling metallic crash as a great iron portcullis closed. Once again they were sealed off. Trapped. Not even their maps would offer any guidance. Trying just revealed a completely blank expanse labelled '???'.

    Then the darkness moved. Not just the absence of light but a physical thing, swirling through the room. Rising up in a pillar, coalescing into something solid and oily. A bright crescent of steel emerged, a sickle. A scythe. A hand, fleshless, pure white bone, grasping the shaft. A faceless skull, grinning endlessly, eyes no more than pinpoints of burning intelligence in the hollow pits of its sockets.

    Baleful Scythe, the Reaper, stood before them.
     
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