59th Floor.
Yuuji and Asuna walked side by side, hand in hand, their fingers intertwined.
They walked slowly through a dirt path that led to the main settlement town of the 59th floor, Danac.
The sun on the eternally clear skies of the floor shone brightly above their heads as a perpetual spring breeze blew across them, rustling the lush green grass and verdant trees on the other side of the simple, wooden fence that lined the side of the path all the way.
A quiet, relaxing date through nature. A perfect way to wind down after a stressful meeting.
Asuna had come to enjoy a slow and quiet respite away from her duties, position, responsibilities, and other people.
She had lived an extremely busy lifestyle, constantly grinding for levels, equipment, and materials, working on their investigation on Laughing Coffin, handling strategy meetings, and raiding field bosses and floor bosses one after another.
The one thing she wanted was a quiet time to herself away from everything, and spend a nice, relaxing time with Yuuji.
Aside from their home on the 22nd floor, this floor was the perfect place for it.
The floor wasn't particularly teeming with players. It was a simple, quiet, and rural countryside floor with windmills, sparse homes, massive fields, and buildings that barely reached two floors.
It was a floor that truly embodied the phrase "a moment of respite" with its environment, atmosphere, and especially its location on the floating castle of Aincrad. It was the floor right before floor 60, where the monsters and floor boss would jump suddenly in difficulty and danger.
But because of its slowness and "emptiness", many players rarely returned after they cleared the floors above.
Rather than returning here, they'd rather return to floors with actual towns that had more infrastructures and establishments.
Almost no one would come to visit the floor to simply relax and walk around like Yuuji and Asuna. Only a few players with the potion-making skill and cooking skill came to gather herbs and hunt animals that were available in the forests on this floor to make potions or meals.
A few of such players came across Yuuji and Asuna on their outing.
They were no longer wearing the eye-catching and conspicuous white and red outfit of their guild. Instead, they wore a simple, pure white hooded cloak that hid their armor beneath it.
Normally, they would've been indistinguishable from any other players. And they did. No one recognized Asuna or either of them as members of the Knights of the Blood.
It was their closeness that caught the attention of players who passed by them.
Couples weren't exactly difficult to find amongst players within Sword Art Online.
Although they were still "trapped", almost a year had passed since the start of the death game. And humans, adaptable as they were, had begun bringing some sort of "normality" that they would have in the real world into this digital world.
Daily life routines. Going to the market. Hanging out with friends. "Working" during the day, and enjoying their time to rest in the evening.
Aside from the "monsters" and the lack of internet, many players were living lives as they would in the real world. They were simply living in a different place.
Naturally, some players who had spent a lot of time together, gone through life and death situations, and grew close, would naturally fall in love and become a couple.
And the game seemed to support this notion.
The marriage system of Sword Art Online, including a certain "setting", was available for couples who sought to cement their relationship and act on their feelings.
And many had done so. Players, who were married in their real life, would also marry in this world. While some who were single, had found their partner through this game.
Thus, while not as common as they would be in the real world, married couples could still be found on most floors.
And Yuuji and Asuna were currently acting as if they were a married couple who's still on their honeymoon period.
They were stuck to each other so closely, and they didn't even seem to notice the stares from other players. It was as if the world around them didn't exist.
They were the kind of couple many "solo" players would've cursed to explode.
And some players did so in their minds. It was the only way they knew how to vent their envy and frustration.
Though, it still didn't help with their own loneliness.
"Asuna, are you tired? Should we rest for a bit?"
They've walked for an entire morning. But both of them knew that a simple walk wouldn't tire Asuna, even though her constitution and stamina was her lowest stat.
At their level, they wouldn't even feel anything after a whole day of walking.
Still, Asuna felt her heart flutter from his concern.
It didn't matter if she was tired or not. His thoughts mattered to her most.
"Sure. Where should we go?"
She was still full of energy. In fact, she felt even more energized after hearing Yuuji's concern. Still, she was curious where Yuuji wanted to bring her, so she agreed with him.
Yuuji looked around, scanning his surroundings. Then, his eyes spotted a nice place for them to rest.
"Let's take a rest and sit under the shade of that big tree. It's a nice day out, after all. It'll be nice to enjoy the breeze."
"Sure."
The two hopped up the fences and made their way across the field towards the large, mahogany tree that sat at its center.
There, Yuuji laid down a blanket at the feet of the trunk, completely shaded from the sunlight.
Yuuji sat down, leaning his back against the massive trunk of the tree. Then, Asuna laid down her head on Yuuji's lap as nuzzled towards him, burying her face in his stomach.
His hand naturally landed on her head and began stroking her smooth, light chestnut hair.
Before long, he could hear her soft breathing as she fell asleep peacefully on his lap.
'Cute…'
His lips curled into a smile, and he continued stroking her hair slowly, maintaining a constant rhythm, as he leaned his head against the tree trunk, looking at the glimpses of the clear blue sky beyond the verdant green canopy.
The gentle breeze, pleasant weather, and the warm presence of their beloved would've easily put anyone to sleep.
But Yuuji didn't feel sleepy. Although he'd love to join Asuna and cuddle with her, he wouldn't fall asleep while she's sleeping outside.
Cities, towns, and inner areas were safe zones, where no monsters existed and players couldn't be attacked and killed by other players, hence the name.
However, it would be different when a player was asleep.
He had heard cases of players being killed while they were asleep. And it happened enough times that it had earned a name.
Sleep-PKs. A method of killing players while they're asleep by abusing the duel system.
Just like in any other mmorpg, the duel system simply existed to facilitate tests of strengths between players. In a game where most of its gameplay revolved around defeating digital monsters, PVE, players yearned for a way to test their strength with other players, PVP. Thus its popularity that made it a staple in any mmorpg.
Sword Art Online also possessed this system, despite it being a death game where players would truly die when their HP reached zero. During it, players could even take damage and lose HP, even while they're in safe inner areas.
However, there existed three types of duel in Sword Art Online.
First Strike Mode, Half Lose Mode, and Total Lose Mode.
In First Strike Mode, the winner would be decided by whoever lands the first clean hit that dealt at least ten percent damage or whittled the opponent's HP to half. It was the most popular and most often used type of duel in Sword Art Online.
In Half Lose Mode, the winner would be decided after the other player loses half of their hit points. This type of duel was rarely used, since a critical hit could reduce a player's HP to a dangerous zone.
While in Total Lose Mode, the mode that was never used in any type of duels between consenting players, the winner would only be decided when a player's HP reached zero.
In other words, it would not end until one of the players died.
No one in their right mind would ever challenge another player into a Total Lose Mode duel, nor will anyone accept it.
But rejecting it wouldn't be possible if the player was asleep.
A player killer could simply challenge a sleeping player to a duel and use their finger to accept their Total Lose Mode duel challenge. Then, they can attack the sleeping person while they're unconscious, even while they're within a safe zone.
The sleeping player would not be aware of any of this as their HP fell down to zero, never to wake up again.
This was one of the methods some red-players had used to kill other players.
Thus, sleeping outside a locked room in an inn or their own home was something players would normally avoid.
But with him here, Asuna didn't even feel the slightest bit afraid and fell asleep quickly in his lap.
She slept deeply, evident by lack of thrashing around as she curled up to him.
"Hey hey, look at that."
"Kuh… Who's that? He's got a girl sleeping on his lap!"
"I'm so jealous…"
"Ah… I want to relax too… Why are we doing errands on such a nice day out?"
Several players walked past them, through the dirt path on the other side of the fence. At this distance, they thought their voices wouldn't be heard by the dozing couple. But Yuuji heard every word clearly, not that he cared.
He simply continued to lean back to the tree and stroke Asuna's head softly.
The clear blue skies turned orange-red as the sun began to set.
Then, Asuna began to stir.
"Ah, good morning."
"Mmnnghh… Good morning…"
She stretched her arms and body before wrapping her arms around Yuuji's waist and rubbing her face against him.
"Ahahaha, that tickles. Are you still sleepy?"
He asked softly, stroking her head with the same gentleness as he had been doing for hours.
"Mm… I'm fine now."
She answered, her words muffled by his shirt.
Asuna stayed for a few moments before finally sitting up and stretching her whole body again.
Then, a sound resounded from her stomach.
*Growl* *Growl*
Her body froze and Yuuji quickly covered his mouth with the hem of his shirt.
"Pfft!"
"G-Geez! Yuuji, I'm hungry! Why are you laughing?! You have no delicacy…!"
Asuna pouted her lips and crossed her arms, glaring at Yuuji as her cheeks reddened like the afternoon skies.
"Ahahaha, I'm sorry! Then, shall we go have dinner? It'll be my treat!"
Her mood immediately improved, and she quickly stood up and pulled on his hand as well.
"Really? Let's go!"
"Slow down. Do you have any idea where to go?"
Yuuji slowly stood up, stretched his body, and let Asuna pull him away.
"Let's go to the restaurant Marten! We had their pasta last time and it was great!"
"Sure."
Hastened by Asuna's hunger and excitement, the couple made their way to Danac's Teleportation Plaza and teleported themselves to Marten on the 59th floor.
In a blink of an eye, they appeared on a large dais of Marten's Teleportation Plaza.
A large urban city, filled with compactly-built buildings with narrow alleyways and red terracotta tile roofs, appeared before them.
The afternoon sun bathed the city with an orange-red hue. A large, gothic cathedral stood high in the distance, as NPC and player-owned stores lined the area around the plaza.
Their arrival didn't turn any heads.
Unlike Danac, Marten was a bustling city with plenty of players going about with their respective businesses.
It was currently the highest floor with a large urban city, shops, and inns. It was the ideal floor to stay in for clearers who would often return to the upper floors.
Thus, players appearing and disappearing from the Teleportation Plaza were commonplace.
Still, despite that, some players still turned and did a double take upon seeing Asuna, who had taken off her hood.
"Hey… Is that?"
"That light brown hair and cute face… Is it really the Flash?"
"Who's that dude beside her?"
Whispered awe and confusion began to spread, but not far. Only those who turned and saw them questioned it. The rest were too busy with their own business.
They soon arrived at the restaurant and the two quickly took a table at the very far corner of the first floor.
This time, more players recognized Asuna. After all, her beauty and eye-catching light brown hair were difficult to miss.
To the clearers, she was akin to an idol. She was one of the very few high leveled female players, an elite member of the famous Knights of the Blood guild, and also extremely beautiful.
Many had come to respect her and fell in love with her. But most of them knew that their feelings were something they would never be able to act upon. All they could do was watch her from afar.
They've accepted that fate… But they hadn't accepted another man being that close to her.
Moreover, none of them recognized the hooded man who was sitting on the same table as her.
It didn't seem to be the Knights of the Blood's guild master, or any of the sub-leaders in her guild. They've appeared frequently in player-made newspapers.
And with such ambiguity, speculations and suspicions for his identity and the nature of their relationship naturally became the main topic of conversations between patrons of the restaurant.
"Hm~ What should I get today?"
"Order anything you want. It's my treat, after all. I'll eat whatever you can't finish."
Yuuji had every intention of spoiling her today. After all, not only was it their date today, he was able to watch her cute sleeping face all day. That alone was enough for him to feel satisfied for days.
"Really? Thank you, Yuu-!"
"KYAAAAAAAAAAA-!"
A bloody scream resounded from outside the restaurant, and with it, shattered any trace of peacefulness to the rest of their day.
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AN: I hope you guys enjoy this chapter~! Please comment your thoughts~! I would love to hear what you think about it~!!!!
Also, if you'd like to read additional chapters ahead and get a pdf version (Light & Dark), please feel free to check out my at patr_eon.com/verglasx ~!
Thank you~!