Sword Art Online: From Spark to Flame

Part 6 - The Sword Key of Fire

----- December 15th, Aincrad 8:15 -----

<Hikari> gently sighed, picking up the various flowers and herbs scattered along the forest floor and trunks. Though sleep was technically artificial within Sword Art Online, she had been having difficulties over the past several days, and it was slowly taxing her concentration and stats. She had recently reached Levels 25 in Alchemy, 20 in Attack, 18 in Defence, and 19 in Stamina. The overall combination of the stats put her combat level at 18, which <Hikari> noted to be higher than average players'. There was obviously other stats <Hikari> had leveled up, such as cooking and crafting, but they were currently not significant to her, so she decided they were obsolete.

After collecting several dozen alchemy materials, she opened her bag menu with a few swipes of her right hand, taking note of the plentiful amount she already had and the four open slots she had left. She had recently taken a few pelts of <Savanna Rabbits> and crafted a simple side pouch, which was visibly attached to her avatar's belt along the back, and had added a good ten more inventory slots, though she found she tended to fill them up pretty quickly.

Searching through her menu, she selected the <Moderated Alchemy Pot> and looked around for a good place set up a small fire. Her eyes were drawn to a small patch of dirt with a small amount of sunlight that peaked through the trees shining down upon it, creating the illusion that it glowed.

Cradling the small pot in her hands, <Hikari> slowly walked over to the seemingly glowing patch, glancing around to be sure it wasn't a trap in the game. She soon reached the dirt, and knelt down to inspect it, gently wiping with her hand.

After doing so, she placed the pot right up on the dirt, and sat down with her legs tucked underneath her rear. She pressed a finger on the pot, opening a small menu. The menu had a calm blue background with four boxes below a <Mix> option and a small arrow pointing to a box on the right side of the menu where the produced potion was spawned after the items mixed. On the opposite side was a small vial labeled <Water>, and was currently empty.

<Hikari> opened her menu, pressing on the ten stacked of vials containing water in her inventory. A glow appeared before her, spawning a water vial into the world. She grabbed it by the neck, and pressed on the empty vial in the alchemy pot's menu. The vial in her hand disappeared, replacing the empty vial in the menu. Water appeared in the pot, and a small flame erupted beneath the pot, causing a soft rolling boil to appear.

<Hikari> was about to begin selecting herbs to mix a potion when she heard a skitterish sound behind her. She closed her inventory, and spun around, Angurvadal drawn in a flash. Behind her was a thick tree trunk, no sign of any mob or player. She glanced around, alert for any movement or sound.

The skitter, clearly on tree bark, came from her left this time, and she turned in that direction. She caught a glimpse of a small twig like shape disappear behind the backside of the tree. It occurred to her that, besides the dark elves and forest elves of the <Elf War Campaign> quest, she didn't know any of the hostile mobs that dwelled on the third floor.

"Come on out," she muttered aloud, wondering if they would react to sound, as a few other hostile creatures did.

A fresh skitter came from behind her, and she whirled around, her heart beating quicker as she, once again, caught sight of twig shape dart behind the tree. She heard a small twig crack to her left, and a fresh skitter to her right.

Then silence. Only the sound of the water boiling within the <Moderate Alchemy Pot>.

<Hikari> took a quick deep breath and carefully looked around, searching for whatever was hiding in the shadows.