This chapter is split into multiple parts for better retention. Hope you enjoy and leave Power.
---
The glimmering light of the sun cast faint shadows through the jungle leaves. Perched high up on a kapok tree, a toucan lightly croaked as it used its beak to pick at ruffled feathers. If not for the jarring yellow color cursor floating out of place above its head, the scene could have been mistaken as something existing in reality.
A sharp whistle of the wind and a surprised squawk later, the toucan was pixeled away in miniature pillars of blue. Behind the base of another tree within some foliage, a matted mess of black hair popped out.
"This is more fun than I would've thought," Kirito mumbled to himself, shaking his head rapidly to straighten his hair. Hunting non-aggressive mobs didn't sound very exciting, but offered a surprisingly enjoyable twist to combat. It wasn't blood-pumping or serious like most fighting, but rather peaceful and quaint. He knew this type of gameplay would never offer the same adrenaline high he could obtain fighting a boss where the stakes were at its highest. Still, it was good to switch up the pace now and then.
Brushing the reward menu aside, Kirito didn't bother checking the contents. Unless the mob was of a rare-spawning breed, it wouldn't offer much. That toucan had only been a D-rank hunt. Nothing to write home about. Coming across something like an A-rank or an S-rank would attract his attention, but those rarely spawned and the boy doubted his luck of either of those spawning
"Fat chance. I used up all my luck already," He chuckled, thinking back on his time hunting reindeer around Christmas. That challenge was one of the most memorable ones he'd had in SAO and the reason why he finally decided to obtain the «Blade Throwing» skill. That and of course Sinon, who had made a big fuss of it before.
He'd put it off, unsure if he really wanted to use a skill slot on it. Against aggressive foes, it wasn't very helpful. At best, it could only be used to distract an enemy to sneak by undetected, or to quickly defeat a lower level monster. Sneaking up and striking with a sword skill was always a more effective surprise attack. But perhaps the worst aspect to Blade Throwing was the cost of material.
Unless it were a consumable, almost any small object in SAO was applicable to use for «Blade Throwing». Even a rock on the side of the road could be picked up and blasted at an enemy. The issue was that such a weak object would accomplish little against mouth-breathing monsters varying between a few to a dozen feet tall. A player needed to invest in actual weaponry, such as bladed nails or darts to strike down superior mobs. Powerful ammunition was scarce and hardly sold inside npc shops. Commissioning them from a player smith was better, but more costly. Finally, the object would immediately disperse and disappear upon use, so using them for every combat scenario was too costly to be viable.
The skill seemingly offered more negatives than positives. Having clipped dozens of birds perching or flying through the sky, Kirito could safely say it was worth it. Testing his sniping abilities was fun and as long as the skill offered that, it was worth it.
'Although... would throwing rocks at harmless animals make me a psychopath?' Kirito considered the real world implications of such a thing. He never considered such a thing IRL, but he didn't even hesitate picking up a rock and chucking it at a bird here.
Maybe it was a bit harsh...
...but they gave loot, so it's fine.
"I'm already a criminal, anyway. Guess I'll add animal cruelty to the list," Kirito joked as he claimed the toucan's resting spot for his own, laying back and resting his arms against his head. It had only been a few hours since his run in with Yuuki and by extension, his 'crime' against Hero. His orange marker wouldn't go away until it was well into the next day.
It wasn't much of an issue, but it meant Kirito had a whole day to kill outside the safe zone. Traveling between floors as a criminal was tedious, so that was out. He was substantially over-leveled for the current floor, which now didn't offer him much xp. He couldn't try making progress to the next floor because most other players would congregate around those areas.
Effectively, Kirito was stuck here in the jungle. That's why he opted out on leveling his newly acquired skill and becoming the bane of all avian creatures in the process.
Apparently, one toucan didn't get the message, flapping down on the same tree Kirito laid back against just a few branches up. Unfortunately, he was out of rocks and he didn't feel like hopping back down to grab some. If he did, the toucan would likely detect his heavy movements.
Having what he considered a phenomenal idea, Kirito leaned forward and slowly took his «Anneal Blade +10» out of it's sheath, shifting it around with a reverse grip and propped the blade up with his other hand.
Slowly... carefully... take aim...
...FIR-
Ping!
His blade soared past the toucan, blatantly missing as it flew into the distance out of sight. Startled, the toucan croaked loudly and flew up, shooting him a look as if mocking the bipedal boy incapable of flight.
"My sword!" Kirito gasped in horror, ignoring the toucan as he frantically leaped off the tree, chasing after it through the jungle. Scavenging his way through bushes and tree roots, the swordsman could see his trusty companion embedded inside a light-colored stone.
Wrapping his gloved hands around the handle and pulling the sword out, Kirito half expected a triumphant jingle to start playing. As a matter of fact... he did hear a jingle. Had he acquired a second Excalibur?
...No, he'd just gotten a message.
Message
Sinon:
Why the hell are you an orange player? What the hell did you do?
"So much for falling off the grid," Kirito sighed. Not only could friends track each other down, but they could even see their player status. The glaring orange that should be displayed next to his name on her friend list made it clear he hadn't been up to any good.
Whatever. He just needed to explain it to her. Better in person than through a message. That way he could show her proof and justify his actions.
Message To
Sinon:
Meet me in the Jungle next to Lake Talpha and I'll explain. Use the tracker to find me.
Cryptic, but got the point across. His own tracker revealed she was already on floor 6. Shouldn't take her too long to get to his location and at this point, he was sure that she wasn't together with Asuna anymore. Perching himself back against a nice tree root, Kirito waited patiently for Sinon to arrive; this time ignoring any birds low-key instigating him to chuck his weapon again.
Trading a few more messages and deflecting any questions, a familiar cyan-shaded hair came into view - blending oddly well against the scenic green backdrop of the jungle.
"Okay, what's this about?" Sinon asked, getting straight to the point.
"Geez, not even a hello?"
"Just tell me why you're an orange player!" She snapped, clearly not appreciating his casual behavior. The risks severely outweighed the benefits of becoming a criminal player in a death game. This wasn't a simple matter, regardless of how light he wanted to treat it.
"Alright, fine." Within a few seconds, a golden sword materialized within the boy's hands. Tossing it over to her, Kirito called over, "Take a look at that."
Sinon grunted as the heavy metal was suddenly thrown her way, nearly keeling over from the weight. Letting the intricate scabbard hit the ground for balance, she held the hilt with her hands and looked at the sword with disbelief, his rude action lost on her as her growing ire dissipated. "What is this?" The words escaped her lips before she could register them.
"You're telling me you got the one-handed sword skill and don't know what a sword is? Maybe you should go back to the tutoria-"
"Dude-!"
"I'm joking! Come on, it's not that serious." Kirito put his hands up placatingly. What's done is done, so there wasn't any point getting super serious about it. Her demeanor said otherwise, so he continued for her sake. "Check its stats real quick."
"W-what? Why?"
"Just do it. You'll understand afterwards."
Poking at the weapon's menu screen and fumbling for a moment, her breath was swiftly taken away. Her teal eyes rolled across the digital window for nearly a minute before snapping back up. "How in the world did you get THIS?!" She asked urgently, an almost panicked expression growing on her face. Unlike Yuuki, Sinon's gamer instincts easily told her this weapon was bad news.
"I got in a fight with Akihiko Kayaba and he dropped it."