"So, this is the Midnight Coat."
The moment they defeated the boss, Daniel checked his inventory and saw several items had dropped, including the rare Midnight Coat. In addition to this prized armor, there were also some rare materials.
In SAO, Kayaba designed the loot drop rates to be exceptionally low to enhance realism. Only bosses guaranteed equipment drops, and elite monsters had slightly better rates. Ordinary monsters dropped items infrequently, and when they did, it was mostly crafting materials or blueprints.
In SAO, loot from defeated monsters went directly to the inventory. So, to grab a boss's rare drop, you either had to deal a lot of damage or land the final hit, as the last striker was more likely to receive the top loot.
"Feels pretty good." The game's equipment automatically adjusted to the wearer's size, fitting perfectly.
"Thanks," Diavel said, approaching Daniel. The unexpected shift in the boss's attack pattern had shown Diavel that without Daniel's intervention, he would have died.
"No need. We're all just trying to get out of this game." Daniel didn't make much of Diavel's gratitude. If he could help, he would.
"Right, we're all here to escape." With that, Diavel stepped forward to rally the players. Having defeated the boss with zero casualties was a huge victory. Clearing the first floor gave all trapped players a glimmer of hope.
For humans, despair is the greatest enemy. Many players had succumbed to hopelessness and taken their own lives. But now, opening the path to the second floor showed that escape was possible. With hope rekindled, players would find renewed determination.
As news of the cleared path to the second floor spread through the Starting Town, players' attitudes changed. No longer lost in despair, they began to believe in their chances of survival.
"Let's move on to the second floor!"
As the main attacker and the one who dealt the final blow, Daniel had the honor of opening the door to the second floor. He stepped up to the stairway at the back of the boss room and opened the door to the second floor of Aincrad: Urbus.
Daniel was already familiar with the layout. The monsters on this floor were mostly various kinds of bulls, with lore hinting at a long-lost kingdom of bulls. The floor's boss was a formidable Minotaur General.
With the door opened, everyone surged forward excitedly, feeling that each cleared floor brought new hope.
With that, their alliance ended. Diavel and his party went their separate ways. Before leaving, Diavel invited Kirito, Klein, and Agil to join his team, though they all declined.
As for Daniel and Asuna, Diavel hadn't extended the same invitation. Diavel likely saw Daniel as a threat to his leadership, given Daniel's impressive performance.
Even in a death game, where everyone shared a common goal, it was unrealistic to expect all players to stand united. Later, the Army Guild would attempt to enforce this kind of unity, seeking to confiscate all money, equipment, and resources for communal use to conquer Aincrad together. But this approach generated resentment among the players, especially the more skilled ones. Lacking any expert members, the Army Guild resorted to sacrificing lives to clear floors, ultimately demoralizing their members to the point where they abandoned the mission of clearing the game altogether.
"Kirito, want to join us?"
"Sorry, but I prefer going solo." Kirito, despite not bearing the beta-tester stigma this time, still enjoyed his independence and declined Klein's invitation.
"See you around." After splitting from Kirito, Daniel also parted ways with Asuna. They had teamed up temporarily to fight the boss, and with that task done, it was time to go their separate ways.
With the second floor opened, more players moved up, gradually making Urbus livelier. With increased exploration, more parts of the map were uncovered, and dangerous areas were marked.
Diavel's reputation grew as he gathered a following, creating a small force among the players. Other groups began to emerge, including the early members of the Army, with Kibaou playing a notable role in rallying support.
Kibaou's speeches won over some players, but Daniel wasn't concerned. In a death game, everyone was responsible for their own survival, and anyone fooled by Kibaou's rhetoric had only themselves to blame.
"Wind Style: Rasenshuriken." Meanwhile, Daniel also made progress in the real world, using his shadow clones to handle minor tasks while he focused on mastering the chakra nature transformation needed for the Rasenshuriken. This powerful technique was versatile, effective in close combat and as a long-range attack, making it both a high-damage skill and a devastating area-of-effect move.
The world of SAO offered Daniel an ideal training environment and a refreshing break from his usual duties.
"The second-floor boss, huh?"
Before long, players located the Minotaur General's lair on the second floor. Although beta testers had some knowledge of the monsters, Kayaba had made changes to the boss locations for the full release, forcing players to search anew.
The second floor was considerably more dangerous than the first, especially on the plains west of town, where bull monsters roamed in large herds. With packs of 10 or 20 bulls charging, most players stood no chance. The initial encounters resulted in numerous deaths as players unfamiliar with this trait were caught off guard.
Despite the risks, a few elite players hunted the bulls, drawn by the high price of the meat they dropped.
Even for beta testers, SAO's adjustments made their prior knowledge less valuable. Kayaba had changed various monster abilities and skills, evidenced by Illfang's unexpected switch to a longsword instead of a scimitar. The Minotaur General also possessed new abilities compared to the beta version.
In fact, Kayaba had held back from making SAO too difficult at first, as he wanted players to have some hope of success. The real challenges would begin around Floor 75.
Diavel led several attempts against the second-floor boss but eventually gave up to focus on leveling. This time, he didn't rally all the top players for a boss raid.
"Let's go tackle the boss." With the boss's location confirmed, Daniel called over his three shadow clones and prepared to challenge it.
"A Minotaur General, huh?"
Entering the boss room, Daniel's group faced the towering Minotaur General, armed with a massive, gleaming warhammer. Like Illfang, it could summon three elite minions—Minotaur Colonels.
The Minotaur General was significantly more challenging than the first boss because of its paralyzing sword skills, which triggered randomly, leaving players immobilized and vulnerable to a fatal blow.
Diavel's previous attempts had ended in failure due to this paralyzing skill, which had thrown their formation into chaos, causing even fatalities.
"Let's begin."
Splitting into pairs, two clones occupied the boss while Daniel and another clone quickly dispatched the three Minotaur Colonels. Working alongside his own shadow clone ensured flawless coordination, and they soon eliminated the minions. Then, through seamless switches, they overwhelmed the Minotaur General, preventing it from using any skills before its health bar hit zero.
The Minotaur, if it could speak, might have questioned who the real boss was, given the complete lack of a "game experience."
"The warhammer dropped, but it looks like we'll just have to sell it." Upon the boss's defeat, the warhammer dropped, though no one in Daniel's group used hammers.
With their victory, they moved on to the third floor, a forested region. This floor's monsters presented new challenges, primarily plant-based creatures and forest spirits. The boss, a tree spirit, was notorious for using poison gas, a tricky skill to counter given the scarcity of antidotes at this stage.
"Someone cleared the third floor!" Word of the unlocked third floor quickly spread, stunning many players, as no one had heard of any boss raid.
The sudden appearance of a mysterious team that cleared the third floor created a sensation. Diavel intensified his efforts to stay competitive, while Kibaou used the news to further his anti-beta tester agenda, claiming the clearers had insider information. His target this time was Daniel, whose outstanding performance made him a natural scapegoat, especially since Kirito hadn't yet drawn much attention.
"That guy's really looking for trouble." Daniel chuckled coldly upon hearing the news. He'd already investigated Kibaou's real-life identity but wasn't inclined to act outside the game.
Kibaou's efforts had been instrumental in creating the unpopular Army Guild, which alienated so many players and suffered massive casualties as a result.
"Take care of him when you get the chance," Daniel instructed his shadow clones.
Fifth Floor of Aincrad
"Looks like he didn't escape his fate in the end."
Time passed, and the clearers slowly progressed through Aincrad. Diavel's group, fortified with antidotes, had finally managed to clear the third-floor boss. The fourth-floor boss also fell, this time to Daniel's group. Daniel made no effort to conceal his involvement, as Kibaou's provocations were little more than noise.
Though Diavel hoped to conquer the fifth-floor boss first, its difficulty was a sudden jump. Its devastating area attacks and traps resulted in heavy losses, including Diavel himself.
Diavel's downfall was his familiar flaw—just as on the first floor, he'd gone for the last hit. But this time, there was no one to save him.
Boss fights didn't only reward rare gear but also huge amounts of experience, worth several days of leveling.
Diavel's death and the raid's failure demoralized the players.
"That idiot's really asking for it," Daniel mut
tered, hearing that Kibaou had blamed him for Diavel's death. Annoyed, Daniel told his clone to kill Kibaou without further delay.
"No problem. My latest potion experiment is ready." Attacking players directly led to a "red player" status, and Daniel preferred to avoid it. But that didn't preclude indirect methods of eliminating players.
In SAO, killing another player was disturbingly simple. Even setting monsters on players had already been used in some player-killing incidents.
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