Soul Art Online

- Rias -

She left the gates of Church, feeling very complicated inside.

Never had she imagined that she would be going to the Church, and registering to become a member…

The Princess of the Gremory House, the Crimson Haired Ruin Princess, the little sister of Lucifer… a Cleric of the Church… yes. It sounded odd.

Although this Church was dedicated to some fantasy God instead of the Biblical one, still the feeling didn't subside at all.

Could this be some trap of the Heaven side? She could actually see the Church doing this… especially after what they had done with Kiba…

Then again, that would probably start another Great War if they had trapped many people inside.

Hmm, maybe some exile from the Church then?

The Cleric Class had opened up for her and it had basic healing and support skills but she didn't need to level it up. Templar only needed one to have the Class, not be at full level.

Although she would have loved to level it up and gain more Skills, they didn't exactly have the time. She had to level up the Squire Class too.

She was met by Koneko outside the church.

"Buchou, is it done?" She asked and Rias nodded.

"Let's go. We need to level up the Squire Class too. I don't want to drag the team behind due to my level."

_________________________________x____________________________________

The next two and half weeks they had pushed themselves into grinding, even staying out day and night for days straight to level up.

With their cooperation, her level had increased to level 15 of Squire.

Fighting on the frontlines was a completely different experience.

While she had been trained in martial arts, it was just the basics. Devils had better physiques than humans. Even Low Class Devils were better than the best athletes in terms of physical capabilities. Moreover, Pure Blooded Devils always concentrated on their magical prowess more.

Obviously, there were some exceptions like cousin Sairaorg but they were what they were… exceptions, not the rule.

As the King of her peerage, she had always concentrated on staying back and commanding because the moment she falls, the game is over.

That's why suddenly changing to the frontlines, especially using swords was a completely new experience for her.

There were times when she was surprised by the change in pace of the battle.

The ones in the front lines had to observe and adjust to the change in pace in a completely different manner than someone who was supporting or damaging from the back like a Mage who had a wider view of things from the back where they didn't have to worry about being attacked so often.

It had taken her many battles to appreciate and get herself adjusted into the role.

When they were not hunting, she had to spar with Koneko and Chief to get used to using a sword. At the end of two weeks, she had a decent grasp of her skills and it showed in their hunts. She was able to anticipate the attacks and respond to them much better than before.

Although it might take time, she was going to master this class to the best of her abilities.

- Arthas -

"Here's what I got." I dumped a bunch of maps on Shiroe's table. "The captain was quite amiable when drunk. He even allowed me to borrow some of his maps to copy."

Shiroe took a look at the bundle and opened them one by one.

"Most of them are sea charts. There are some maps for other islands but I don't recognise most of the names."

"That's because they are countries beyond the Reverse Mountain." I told him the story which the captain had told me and saw his face blanch at the information.

"Gods, seriously? That has to be some high level raid if what the captain said was true."

"Probably. There's also the treasure of the Pirate King Roger. I think we should at least take a look at Loguetown."

"That's another week from here. You sure you want to go there?" he asked to which I nodded.

"Alright, we can go there directly from Sabaody then. The One Piece does sound like a huge quest of sorts. We might be able to find some clues in the birthplace of Roger."

"It is called the town of Beginnings and Ends after all." I said, laughing at my own joke.

"True. Anyways, I was able to talk to some sailors and found out the method of getting the Sailing related Classes. We would need one if we plan to explore the seas in the future." He said. "I am pretty sure there would be many quests in the seas. Even just now, the One Piece questline and the Davy Jones questline seem like big deals to me."

"We should also find a way to sell our products, especially the healing items to other countries. I just found out from some traders on board that they are in very high demand in other countries. Most of these traders buy them from here and sell them at high price on Sabaody or even directly have contacts with other countries." Star said.

"Heh, finally using that trader class." I joked.

"Yeah, who would have thought it was so difficult to level it up. No wonder no one tries it. We cannot just kill mobs to level it up but actually need to trade."

"The skills are well worth it, dear." Veena interjected.

"Well… yeah. Can't deny that." He agreed.

"I have asked around some traders from other lands too. The country we live in is famous for its healing items. A nearby country of Kal Kohldur is a country famous for their blacksmithing skills. Likewise, each country has their own products they are famous for and the price of these things are lower in those countries and the quality is higher too. Although we would need to have a trade permit to start that."

"And how do we get those?" I asked.

"Oh that's easy. All you need to do is write a letter and mark it with your seal and give it to Star. Someone with a Trader Class needs to get the verification and letter of recommendation from a noble. Any noble rank will suffice." She explained.

"Then we can?"

"Yes. We can and will be using this method to sell our healing items in Sabaody tomorrow. We level up Star's new Class and earn profits at the same time."

"Good then let's do just that."

Finally, it was Elaine who added. "Sabaody is not a good place. There are frequent kidnappings and the people kidnapped are often sold as slaves in the very auction houses of the island. These Auction Houses are backed up by bigwigs of all surrounding nations so no one can do anything to them." She said, a bit disturbed.

Yeah, that sounded just about right. The Sabaody in my memories was just like that.

"Do you think they will do that to other players too?" She asked after some hesitation.

I looked at her blankly. "Not to be rude but you remember the situation you were in when we saved you." I said and her face blanched. "If the game can do that then I don't see why it would hold back on anything else. I mean they have been killing people from the first day of the game. For all intents and purposes, we are just like any other NPC in the game."

A sombre look came to everyone's faces as we discussed the rest of the plans for the day and then left off for the night.

"That was quite harsh of you, quite unlike your usual self." Veena said as we undressed and got into the bed.

I let out a sigh. "I don't want her to keep thinking that we are some kind of heroes inside the game and suffer later due to this thinking. It's been proved over and over again that the Game Master will not hold back when it comes to testing us. The sooner she gets this idea down her head, the better it is for her."

"Hmm, maybe but you forget that unlike us, she has had a much lesser time to adjust. It's reasonable to have some hesitation and doubts."

I nodded. "Yes. I just… I will apologise to her tomorrow."

"Remembered the Goblin cave?"

If Sabaaody was anything like the one in my memories, then it was worse than the Goblin cave and I didn't want any of my team members to go there with such naive thoughts. Still, I guess I was a bit too harsh.

"Yes." I sighed.

"Don't worry. We have been working so hard to avoid any such a thing. Believe in your hard work." She reassured me.

"Thank you."

"Now, enough of all this. We will be landing on Sabaody tomorrow and who knows when we might get some alone time. You will not be sleeping until you satisfy me tonight." She said as she climbed on top of me.

A smile came to my face. "Yes Ma'am."

Over the next few hours, I worked to satisfy her… which was not an easy task.

Veena was relentless.

- Kuroka -

"Dammit. He wasn't supposed to have guards with him." She cursed as she ran through the narrow passages in the slums, changing her clothes while doing so to throw off the people chasing her.

She gulped down a healing potion and felt the pain in her gut calming down for a bit.

The bleeding effect was still there and would probably last for some time. She also felt the effect of the poison slowly catch up.

It was supposed to be a normal mission but who would have thought that it was actually a trap.

She quickly jumped into one of the garbage dumps and burrowed under the bunch of thrown food, the stench assaulting her nose but she held on.

As expected, the people chasing her didn't look there and ran forward.

She still stayed there for another hour and then left the place, sneaking away through another route to the place they lived.

"Open up, Gaspy. Be quick." She knocked quickly, feeling her consciousness fade. The antidote she had used couldn't fully cure the poison.

She would probably need a higher tier antidote.

The door was opened and the blondie's nose twitched visibly. "k-k-kuroka -san! What happened to you?" He quickly moved aside and walked into the bath, finally throwing up the vomit she had been holding back.

Gaspy quickly put water to heat for her to bathe but she wasn't going to bear the stench any longer and poured cold water on herself, scrubbing herself with all the soap she could get her hands on.

"K-kuroka-san, are you alright?" She heard the voice outside 

Controlling her pain,she replied. "Gaspy. I will need a T4 Antidote or a bunch of healing potions. I have been badly poisoned and cannot move."

"Whaaaa! What should I do, Kurokaaa-sannnn?" The boy cried.

"I am afraid I can only rely on you Gaspy. You will have to help me out with this or I don't know if I will make it."

She somehow opened the door with a towel wrapped around her and struggled down to the couch and crashed there.

"Kuroka-san, Kuroka-sannnn!"

She wanted to reply but couldn't hold back any longer as the comfort of the couch enveloped her and fell unconscious.

__________________________________x___________________________________

Her eyes opened and she saw the familiar ceiling of her hideout.

Beside her bed was Gaspy, sitting in his makeshift coffin.

She checked her status and her health was full, all injuries were healed.

"How long was I out?" She got up and stretched her body.

The movements were enough to wake up Gasper too and he quickly jumped up. "Kuroka-sann, are you alright? Are you alright now? I am sorryyyyy I couldn't find the antidotes. They were out of it in the shop."

"Huh? You went out?" She asked, truly surprised at the news.

"I-I-I did. I am sorrryyy I couldn't get the antidote." He apologised.

"No need to cry. I am alright. Huh, how am I alright then?"

"I… I bought Healing potions and kept feeding you till the Poisoned Status effect disappeared." He answered.

"Eh… that works? Wait, how long was I out for? How long was I poisoned? I am starving right now."

"T-t-three days. You were poisoned for three days. Your poisoned effect disappeared yesterday."

"What! Three days! Wait, you kept feeding me potions for three days? Where did you even get so many potions from?" She asked.

"I am sorryyyyy! I used up my savings and bought everything in the shop." He answered quickly, leaving her frozen.

"You used up your savings?" She asked, in a low voice, feeling slightly warm at his words. Gasper had a very sizable saving, having used it on nothing till now.

To think he would not only go out alone to the shop but also use up all his hard earned savings for her. A simple look at the side of the room showed the dozens of bottles that lay there.

She pulled him into a hug. "Thank you."

"Hehhhh!" The boy shrieked as she brought him to her lap.

On asking further, he told her about what he had done while she was asleep.

Turns out that he had actually forced himself to face his fears and go out but the shops were closed so he had asked around and found another player who told him that there were no antidotes and that he could save her by using this method.

A frown marred her face when she found out that that bastard had actually tricked him to buy the potions at double the price, tricking the poor boy due to his nervousness.

"Do you know what that player looked like? What his name and level was?" She asked in a kind tone. She was planning to go out and collect interest after she had a good meal. From both that player and the assassins who attacked her.

She will not allow anyone to take advantage of her little brother and herself. No matter player or NPC.

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Beta Note: The advance chapters are in order of what is updated, a first Tier will not get 2 advanced chapters for every story, only the next two to be released.

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Author's Note:

I am back with another chapter of SAO.

I was asked to explore more about what the other people in the Game were doing so I decided this chapter to show that.

Everyone has their own challenges and decisions to make which will make them grow in different ways.

The game will change everyone, for better or for worse.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.