Mission System

''Here ends the Sword Art Online tutorial...good luck players.''

The GameMaster is gone, leaving all players completely dumbfounded. Almost every player present was still digesting this myriad of information.

''N-No...NOO!!'' Silica gives a weak cry and hugs Rory even more tightly, sinking her face into Rory's chest, she starts to cry and shake even more.

Silica's scream was the catalyst that reset the minds of everyone present, and slowly everyone came out of the stupor, and then a big commotion started. Many were desperate, others were angry, some still think it's just a joke, and others seemed to have already given up on living, the players pushed each other and without even caring they stepped on players who had fallen to the ground because of the commotion.

After the GameMaster announcement, chaos set in...

Rory seeing all this around her, seeing all this despair, fear, anger, and violence, began to breathe heavily, her knees felt heavy and if it hadn't been for Silica who was supporting her in a hug, she would have fallen. She looked like she was having a panic attack, but looking closer...she's blushing heavily with her eyes closed, she feels her groin get hot and wet and she tries to suppress a moan that wanted to get out of her mounth, but she couldn't hold it.

''Nnngh....! Ahh~! '' Rory was completely aroused.

Silica notices Rory's strangeness and lifts her head to look at her, ''R-Rory...a-are you okay?'' Silica sees Rory's flushed face and wonders why she's so red, maybe she got a fever because of the GameMaster's announcement?

''I-It's n-nothing~''she smiles at Silica.

The little girl is trembling with fear and is still conscious of worrying about a person she's known for a day, it made Rory's heart warm a little. Rory's blush fades and she returns to normal, seeing Silica's cuta and tearful face she can't help stroking her head to soothe her. Rory may be sadistic, but she's also kind to those close to her.

Suddenly, Kirito appears between them and Klein, ''Silica, Rory, Klein, come with me quickly!'' he muttered to them. Kirito looked really tense, Rory wondered if maybe a laxative would help...just kidding.

Without much hesitation they followed Kirito out of the plaza, the three of them had grim expressions on their faces, and Rory followed them as she bounced around with a smile on her face and imaginary flowers fell from behind her, she was in a good mood.

Fortunately, Kirito, Klein, and Silica were feeling too turbulent in their minds to pay attention to Rory.

Kirito enters a dark alley with the other three and turns to them, ''Listen, I'm going to the next village right now, come with me.'' Kirito looked at the three with serious eyes and continued, ''If what he said is true, the best way to survive in this world is to do everything you can to get stronger as fast as you can, the ressources of a virtual MMOPRG, that is, the money and experience we can gain is limited. The fields surrounding the beginners' town will soon be cleared, and in order to be able to earn money and experience efficiently, we must go to the next village.....now.''

''But...wouldn't it be dangerous to go to the next village with just the four of us?'' Klein asks.

Kirito shakes his head, ''Klein already knows, but Silica and Rory don't, I'm a Beta tester, I know all the paths and dangerous areas that exist on the first floor, even if we are all level one, we can get there safely.''

Kirito looked at the three and waited for their answers. If possible, Kirito wanted them to go with him, he's usually a solo player, and he hardly ever hangs out with others, but he feels that Klein, Silica and Rory are good people to befriend.

Klein scratches his head, '' Sorry, Kirito, but... I can't go with you. My friends who bought the game together with me...are somewhere in that plaza, I...can't leave them alone.''

''I see.....and you two?'' he turns to Silica and Rory

Silica's voice is stuck in her throat, she doesn't know if Rory will accept, so she waits for Rory's answer. She doesn't want to let Rory, but she also doesn't want to let Kirito go alone.

''Before I give you an answer, Kirito, I would like to ask you a question. Since you are a Beta Tester, could you tell me how the quest system works?'' Rory asks. She is very curious to know how the quest system works in Sword Art Online, as this part was never explored in the anime Rebecca saw.

''Well...I think I have time to explain briefly.'' he shows his hand and holds up four fingers, '' There are four types of quests: Normal, Special, Hidden, and Conclave quest. Normal quests are quests that NPC's give to all players, quests like delivering wild boar meat are in this category. The next one is the special type, special type missions, as the name says, gives a special item as a reward, but it is more difficult than the normal ones and usually you need to defeat some kind of Sub-chef. Hidden quests are the rarest, they are quests that NPC's give only when certain conditions are met, and not much is known about the rewards because so far nobody has found a hidden quest. And lastly, there are the Conclave Quests, these quests are quests assigned to guilds, and usually these quests are about clearing a certain portion of the labyrinth of a floor and even defeating the floor boss. In short that's it.''

Rory puts a hand on her chin in contemplation, ''I see, thank you for explaining to me. And about your offer, I'll have to kindly decline, I don't want to rush anything, you know~?''

Seeing that Rory didn't intend to go with Kirito, Silica also made up her mind, '' K-Kirito, I'm sorry but... I don't want to leave Rory...''

Kirito looks at the three of them with a sad smile, everyone realizes he's holding back his tears, ''I...I see...in this case...goodbye.'' he turns and starts walking with heavy steps and with his head bowed.

''Pfffft-!''

Hearing someone hold back a laugh, Kirito turns and looks at the three of them and sees Rory clutching her stomach and trying not to laugh.

Silica, Klein and Kirito face her with different expressions, ''...what is so funny?'' Kirito asks with a frown.

''N-No, s-sorry, it's just that....ehem, ''Rory stops laughing and looks at Kirito, '' It felt like you were saying goodbye to us like we'd never see each other again.....but there's something called ''Friends List'', Mr Beta Tester~'' she responds prococatively with a finger on her lips.

Hearing Rory's answer, after a few seconds Kirito blushes and both Silica and Klein giggle.

''Yes....you're right, it's not like we're never going to see each other again...'' Kirito says, trying hard to hold back the blush.

Then, after laughing a bit, they add each other to the friends list....except Silica, she rejects Klein's friend request.

Saying goodbye, Klein and Kirito separate from Silica and Rory. Klein runs towards the Plaza while Kirito runs towards the north gate, which is the direction to the next village.

The two are alone and the alley is silent, ''Rory...why didn't you go with Kirito? Wouldn't it be safer to go with a Beta Tester?''

''What's the point of playing a game if you're going to rush things~? Isn't it better to play while having fun~?''

''Well it's true but....'' Silica squeezes the tip of Rory's blouse she was holding a little tight and lowers her face.

Seeing Silica's expression grow grim, she pats her head, ''Fufu~, there's no need to be worried, if you become strong, you won't have anything to fear and...why didn't you go with Kirito, Silica? I thought he was your knight in shining armor~''

Silica quickly lifts her flushed face, ''R-Rory!'' she looks at Rory annoyed and Rory giggles, ''Sorry ~ sorry. Well, let's go after quests~!''

Silica instinctively grabs Rory's hand and the two leave the dark alley, looking for missions to do to strengthen themselves and to have fun.

Rory might never know, but Silica's knight in shining armor wasn't Kirito.....it was Rory.