On May 19th, the day the furniture was delivered, Akimi noticed that he seemed to have fully recovered— and was even in better condition than before.
In terms of reaction speed, Kirito was without a doubt the top player among all of them; no one else was on his level.
Heathcliff, PoH, Akimi, and Asuna made up the second tier;
and below them were high-level players like Klein and Agil.
Now that Akimi had recovered, he directly surpassed Asuna, though still a little behind Kirito.
If they were ranked, it would be: Kirito in Tier 0, Akimi in Tier 0.5, and everyone else Tier 1 or below.
However, Akimi's recovery also meant Asuna immediately and forcibly ended their vacation, dragging him back to the front lines.
As Asuna put it:
"Two days of rest is plenty. Or are you really planning to wait until someone overtakes us, and then put in a huge effort to catch back up?"
This left Akimi, who had been hoping to slack off for a few more days, nearly in tears— he had known Asuna wasn't one to sit still, but he hadn't thought she was literally incapable of sitting still for even a second.
Thanks to Asuna's decisive pace, they even caught up with the main clearing group preparing to take down the 30th Floor Boss, and unceremoniously took the LA (Last Attack)— perhaps only because the usual LA King, Kirito, wasn't there this time.
After the raid was over, Akimi looked half-dead.
When Asuna frowned at him, he just waved his hand casually and said,
"Don't look at me like that… as the saying goes, 'It's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go back the other way.'"
Before he could say anything more, Asuna grabbed him by the back of his coat collar and started walking toward the 31st Floor.
"Quit dawdling. Move."
As for Kirito…he was currently leveling up with the Moonlit Black Cats.
He would occasionally give instructions to Keita and the others, but most of the time, he was whispering with Sachi when she was taking a break to recover her status.
It had to be said—Kirito's straightforward "guy's guy" personality was actually quite attractive to girls… at least Sachi liked it a lot.
They had even opened a shared inventory slot just for the two of them.
When Akimi heard the news, he looked heartbroken and angrily said to Kirito:
"I can't believe it… you're the first to betray the organization… what a disgrace! You're now target number one for the FFF Inquisition!"
"You have the nerve to say that to me?!" Kirito shot back without hesitation.
"Don't think I don't know—you and Asuna opened a shared inventory ages ago! You're the one who should be burned first!"
Faced with Kirito's accusation, Akimi shamelessly replied,
"That's right. So what? You mad, bro?"
Kirito was dumbfounded—How could someone be this brazenly shameless?
For some reason, when Argo heard the news, she felt a twinge of disappointment.
Time flew by, and nearly a month passed.
On the night of June 11th, the six members of the Moonlit Black Cats sat in a circle inside their inn room, waiting for the good news that their leader, Keita, had promised.
Seeing their eager expressions, Keita didn't keep them in suspense any longer.
Smiling, he said,
"After last month's hunting efforts, we've saved up enough Col to buy a plot of land in the Starting City to use as our guild headquarters."
"R-Really?!"
Tetsuo exclaimed in delight, his perpetually squinted eyes opening wide.
Ducker said excitedly, "Does this mean we'll have our own home?! This is… just amazing!"
Sachi and Sasamaru were all smiles, and even Kirito showed a faint grin.
"Ahem, so, I've decided—we'll go buy our base tomorrow!" Keita raised his right hand high and declared loudly.
"Long live the leader—!"
"Let's gooo!"
With hearts full of excitement, the members of the Moonlit Black Cats went to rest.
The next morning, they gathered in front of the teleport gate to see Keita off to the Town of Beginnings.
"I'll be back soon." Keita waved lightly at the others with a smile.
The others cheerfully replied, "Safe travels!"
As the light shimmered, Keita's figure gradually vanished.
Sasamaru suddenly said with some emotion, "Before this, I never thought owning our own house could feel so moving."
Hearing his old-man-like tone, Ducker rolled his eyes, poked Sasamaru's shoulder, and said, "Don't talk like some old geezer."
That exchange made everyone laugh.
Suddenly, Tetsuo seemed to remember something.
Scratching the back of his head, he suggested, "While Keita's out buying the house, should we make some more money?"
Sachi clasped her hands to her chest and was the first to speak up, "Oh—do you mean to buy furniture?"
Ducker jumped in excitedly, "Yeah, yeah… let's go to a higher floor this time."
Sasamaru nodded in agreement.
But Kirito frowned and objected, "Hmm, I think it's better to stick to our usual leveling spot."
"But going to higher floors will make us money faster," Sasamaru shrugged.
Ducker crossed his arms with a carefree expression.
"Ah, don't worry, with our level, nothing will happen. Besides, we've got you, Kirito."
Even the usually steady Tetsuo agreed this time.
Just as Kirito was about to say something more, Ducker hooked an arm around his neck, grinning as he said, "Alright, even if Sachi supports you, that's still three to two—minority follows majority. Now, onward to the higher floors!"
Kirito had no choice but to agree, though for some reason, he couldn't shake a bad feeling about this.
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