Ch 10: Fateful encounter.
Since Noah completed the special quest, two weeks had passed. He had gained seven levels and was now lvl 12 in the game, and lvl 5 with the Yin Yang System. He tirelessly worked in grinding both his level and proficiencies and was starting to grow significantly more powerful than the other players.
Noah.
Lv 12
Exp: 2560/22500.
HP: 712/850.
Strength: 20
Agility: 23.
Unattributed: 0.
Cor: 100 000. (house repayment 0.3%)
With 11 Strength and 15 Agility in his Yin Yang status, his attacks were barely stronger than those of other SAO players, and he knew there were some beta testers who had a higher level or had invested more in their strength stat that could pull off greater damage numbers. But his investment in Agility was really paying off, as he could engage monsters by groups of two or three and wear them down without letting them corner him. At least, as long as he had room to move around. As for his proficiencies… He still had a lot of work to do…
Proficiencies:
One-Handed Sword: 207/1000
Light Leather Armor: 190/1000
Martial Arts: 123/1000
Parry: 72/1000
Cooking: 67/1000
Leatherworking: 48/1000
Light Metal Armor forging: 5/1000
Sewing: 12/1000
Throwing: 25/1000
Hiding: 46/1000
Tracking: 25/1000
Night Vision: 52/1000
Mining: 14/1000
Woodcutting: 17/1000
Carpentry: 22/1000
Accessory Crafting: 1/1000
He had unlocked three of Lilith’s special patterns in leatherworking, and they didn’t disappoint.
“Black Leather Blindfold: Deprives the wearer from their vision. Sensitivity +20%."
“Crude Leather Cuffs. A pair of soft leather cuffs, linked together by a single link of steel. Used to restrain the wearer. The wearer cannot manually unequip this item. If equipped via the interface, the arms will be restrained on the wearer’s back. If the wearer has over 30 strength and attempts to break the item, its durability will degrade.”
“Slave Collar. The wearer cannot manually unequip this item. Transfers the control of the user’s interface to the individual who last possessed the Slave Collar in their item storage. Hidden effect: Significantly promotes the wearer’s production of dopamine and serotonin.”
The collar’s hidden effect in particular seemed… incredibly vicious. Dopamine and Serotonin were two hormones naturally produced by the human brain. The first was directly responsible for the feeling of reward and pleasure, while the second was related to the day/night cycle, libido, and long-term happiness.
It took a significant amount to produce those items, in leather and processed metal, but he had made one of each. He wanted to be prepared, if an opportunity presented itself.
As for the new Accessory Crafting proficiency, there was only one pattern unlocked so far, but it left little doubt about what kind of "accessories" the proficiency was about, and it wasn't jewelry.
“Silicon anal plug (S). A small silicon anal plug, easy to insert and clean, ideal for beginners.”
…
It had been a week now since a beta tester had found the entrance of the labyrinth, and a dozen teams were busy mapping it out.
Noah was currently on the 16th level. The labyrinth had a strange design. The floor was made of a gray, almost white stone, and not straight. If was full of gentle slopes, and constantly curved to the right or left. Without the map, teams of explorers would lose their bearings very quickly. There were no ceiling or walls, giving players the feeling that they were standing on a sinuous bridge and surrounded by the endless void. There was no visible light source, yet they had no issue seeing everything within fifty meters. Beyond that, a dark mist blocked their vision. In countless occasions, the floor widened into an island at least fifteen meters wide, and that was where the dungeon monsters were waiting.
He was operating alone so he wouldn’t have to share the experience. Kobolds, large humanoids with dark gray fur and rabbit ears, were hard targets, having 1500 HP and enough armor that Noah’s normal attacks only inflicted about 70% of the damage they would have done to weaker targets. They were armed with a sword and a shield that they used to block some of his blows. And the Kobolds used some of the most basic Sword Skills, Horizontal, Vertical, Linear, Oblique and Slant with a high frequency. They were tough and dangerous. Noah wouldn’t be able to take more than five or six hits, unless he healed himself.
Thankfully, Kobolds were alone in the labyrinth. He wasn’t sure he would be able to safely take on two of them at the same time.
Another player emerged from the darkness, and they blinked at each other in surprise. Noah paused and waited for him to walk closer.
“Hey, Kirito.” smiled Noah.
“Hi, Noah. I didn’t expect you to adventure alone. Or did you lose your companions?”
“No. I just think that I’ll grow stronger faster by fighting alone. At least for now. Aren’t you the same?”
“Well, yeah.” Kirito scratched the back of his head.
“Are you willing to share our map data?”
“Sure.” Kirito nodded. They both opened their interface and shared the data of what they had explored.
“Thank you. Now, do you go left, or right?” asked Noah, pointing to the bridge branching out a little farther away.
“I’ll take right, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t. Good luck.”
“Thanks. You too.”
They each went their own way, and Noah soon found his next Kobold.
As soon as Noah entered the widened section, the Kobold turned toward him, and roared in challenge.
Noah walked to within three meters of the Kobold, and it changed its posture for a Linear. Noah waited for its sword so start glowing, locking the monster into the move, and quickly stepped aside. The Kobold went past him, and Noah managed to strike its back three times before the mob could turn.
-68,-68,-68.
The Kobold made a wide slash with his sword, forcing Noah to quickly widen the distance. He immediately stepped in, slashing upward and hitting the monster’s chest, then tried to make a return strike on exactly the same spot. And he succeeded.
-68, -194.
It was something he had eventually found out after accidentally doing it with the bandit. It had taken him a lot of trial and error to understand why a normal hit had done more damage than expected.
As it turned out, the lines left behind when someone took a hit, weren’t just decorative. It took a lot of accuracy, but if one could deliver another hit at exactly the same spot, the hit was not only a critical hit, but also ignored the target’s armor.
Even better, it actually stacked. The second hit laid another layer of red line, and a third hit on the same spot would deal four times as much damage!
Of course, it was easier said was done. The line was only two or three centimeters thick at its thickest spot, and the monster being hit wasn’t going to just sit down and take it. It also didn’t work if a player just attempted to intersect two lines in a cross pattern. From Noah’s tests, the tolerance margin to trigger the effect was about 2 degrees or less between the trajectories of multiple slashing hits. And in the case of thrusts, the overlap needed to be almost perfect.
Noah stepped back to avoid the Vertical from the Kobold. Since it had lost a little over half its HP, Noah decided to finish it with the newest Sword Skill he was trying to master.
He waited for the Kobold to try another sword skill, got out of the way, and adopted the pre-motion of Horizontal Square. His sword was already starting to shine before the Kobold could get out of the post-motion freeze.
Noah’s body moved at impossible speed, making a series of four jump and four 90% turns around the target, slashing at the monster mid jump each time.
-176, -176, -176, -176.
The whole move was executed in less than a second, leaving four traces of sword slashes around the monster and penetrating its torso. Its body shattered.
Noah collected the loot and continued on his way.
Some time and over two dozen Kobolds later, Noah met another player, who kept their face hidden under a hooded cape and used a rapier.
He knew who that person was, of course. Mentally thanking Lilith for arranging that encounter, Noah slowly walked closer, as the other player was busy fighting a Kobold. Noah wasn’t a sword master by any metric, but even he could see that there was something desperate in her fighting style. Her movements were exaggerated, like she would die if she failed to overwhelm the Kobold even for a moment. Noah’s own style was more based on waiting for the opponents to get in a vulnerable posture and punish them for it.
The Kobold died, and she glanced at him for an instant as she sheathed her rapier, then started to walk away.
“There’s something wrong with your fighting style. You’re going to die if you keep this up.” He called out to her.
She stopped, and turned her body half-way toward him, looking at him over her shoulder.
“Why do you care?” She asked in a tired voice.
“Do I need a reason to help another human being? And you sound exhausted. How long have you been in the labyrinth?”
“…Three days.”
“You haven’t slept in three days? Are you mad?”
“…You should not care about me. We’re all going to die either way…”
She turned and walked away. And ten steps later, she collapsed from exhaustion.
Noah walked to her as he looked around, making certain no other player was nearby.
This was a crossroad, he knew. He could choose to mimic what Kirito had done in the fiction, act like a perfect gentleman, hiding his perverted desires, and slowly make her fall for him over the next few weeks. If he chose that option, he still would have to somehow convince her to become his slave, not just his lover, and accept sharing him with others. That would be a tall order. Or he could outright enslave her, and then cause her to develop a liking for it.
If Noah were to later have the management of multiple worlds as his responsibility, he needed subordinates he could absolutely trust. Subordinates who would be absolutely uncorruptible. That kind of absolutes could not be achieved by mere love between equals. Not for long. Love faded over the years, and people in love generally still prioritized their own interests.
No, the kind of absolute trust he needed could only be achieved by complete subjugation and brainwashing, to the point where his subordinates would not prioritize their interests over his orders.
His decision made, he picked her up, held her limp body against his chest with an arm around her waist, and with the other, took his teleportation crystal.
“Teleport.” whispered Noah.