*Chink*

*Chink*

The sound of a hammer striking on metal reverberated repeatedly and forced its way into her ears. A sound which she would have been annoyed of everywhere else than here. Gathering force into her grip she drew a perfect vertical line downwards onto the gleaming piece of metal.

*Chink*

"Yosh ! At this pace we can get it ready sooner than we thought !" A sigh full of exhaustion was followed by a few claps on her back by the other person.

"Really thank you !" The chestnut-haired girl, right next to her now, said with a huge smile.

The thing in front of her took her two weeks to forge while every other weapon could been done in less than a single day. And still it was merely a vague form of the result.

"Maybe…." Lizbeth dragged her fatigued body over to the bench on the other side of the room and let her body fall abruptly on it.

Fortunately there was nothing like sweat in this game because otherwise she would have been totally covered by it by now. Not only the heavy hammer strikes, but the hot forge fire made it exhausting. But apparently that didn't make Asuna any trouble.

"I can imagine his face only to well" Asuna exclaimed as she happily stepped next to her and giggled.

"Yeah, but you know what bothers me the most ?!" Lizbeth asked suddenly out of nowhere.

It was a question which had always lingered in the back of her head. And since Asuna's birthday party, that curiosity became more prominent.

It was needless to say that the leader of the biggest guild in a game, with around 6000 to 7000 players, was very busy, however since she got this opportunity she decided to not let it go.

"Did you ever asked yourself how much Kirito knows about you ?" Asuna's face changed to hard-thinking for a second before changing back.

"Pretty much everything, my family, my house, my school...I may not recall it clearly but I think he doesn't know my family name though…" It didn't take her long to get Lizbeth's point. But before she could translate her thoughts into words, Lizbeth did it for her.

"Now, how much do you know about him…" As she asked, Asuna's usual calm left her and she tried to revoke any knowledge she had about him. But there was nothing he had told her...Lizbeth could tell from her expression.

"You're right…"

"Go and see him, find everything out!" Lizbeth cried out, half out of cheering for her friend and half out of personal interest. 'It wouldn't harm me to have some teasing material ready' She thought holding back a huge smirk.

"Then see you later…" She noticed that Asuna, the biggest and most well known player, who was supposed to go on everything with serenity and keep calm in front of everybody else, hadn't any patience left in her and would have darted out the building if not for Klein who had just entered the room from the same door as Asuna intended to leave.

"Hey !" Asuna stopped immediately and looked up to the samurai's face with a penetrating glare, only a two steps distance between them.

"Klein, do you know anything about Kirito ?" The sudden question triggered an unusual reaction on Klein's face.

"No, nothing at all…" As soon as she heard the answer she left.

"What's up with her ?" Klein shrugged and averted his gaze to the anvil.

"You keep something hidden, don't you ?" If Lizbeth was skilled in something, then that something was reading other's mimics and gestures.

"Ehmm….well…" Klein let the truth out since he knew there was no escape. Lizbeth could be more stubborn than anyone else in certain situations.

"Let's just say, he isn't the kind of person you think he would be…" Klein, and perhaps Lizbeth, and perhaps even everyone else would have thought of Kirito being a guy with many achievements in real life as much as in-game, but that wasn't right. And on top of that his family life...nobody would have guessed that.

How he came to know about his past was when Kirito had came to the Fuurinkazan headquarters to get a job done, a player's quest if you will. Since he had to wait for his team members to appear they had a little spare time which they used to get to know about each other's real life. Even though if that was strictly prohibited by many, to talk about one's real life that is, it was always a great topic to talk about if nothing else came to one's mind.

Let's say it was not always a good topic to talk about, he learned that day.

"Hopefully Asuna doesn't mess it up because Kirito really wants some things to be unspoken."

"Like what ?!"

"You really thought I would tell you ?" Lizbeth pouted and glared at him at the same time, which he hadn't thought to be possible to be honest.

"Pleaaaaaase ?!" She insisted, suddenly dog's eyes having replaced the glare.

"Come closer" Lizbeth tried to gain height by standing on tiptoe. Klein made a circle with hands around his mouth and her ear. With the lowest and still clear voice he could muster he whispered into her ear.

"No"

"My parents, hm ?!" Kirito asked as if he never had the little space out right now.

"How are yours ?!" He brought the words over without any hint of his earlier reaction. Asuna didn't get it at all; she was really bad in interpreting situations like that. First she asked him about his parents, then he spaced out, and now he is his usual self.

"Mine are pretty good actually...though my mom is kind of annoying from time to time. But you know what? I sometimes wish I would have a little sister just like you do, Suguha, right ?" Asuna looked into the calming sky with bunches of cotton-like clouds floating around.

"Suguha isn't my sister…." A sudden low voice barely reached her ears. She averted her gaze to Kirito who was looking somewhere on the grass right in front of him. His bangs threw a big shadow on his face and made his expression hard to read.

"I may not have told you….but could you keep a secret ?" Asuna's interest piqued and an instant nod was naturally predictable. Kirito's face scrunched up as if in pain when he transmitted his next words.

"I am adopted…" Those three words seemed to have robbed all of his energy. His voice sounded weak again.

"Now it's out….." Without any doubt Asuna had totally no idea what to do in that moment.

'What's with your actual parents ?' she would have loved to ask but that would have been too rude and she never could bring that upon him

"I am so sorry" Her shaky arms wrapped his unmoving upper body which were willing to accept the embrace.

"Please keep that for yourself...I don't want anyone to know it. Only you and Klein know it and it should stay this way." Asuna strengthened her grip as she hummed affirmatively.

"We could go back actually…" Asuna suggested upon seeing her partner like this.

"But I still want to learn much more about Asuna…" A response she didn't see coming made her blink several times before she could react.

"Are you really okay ?!" Asuna asked.

"Yeah, of course. What's the problem about having my wife know about my past ?"

"Now we really get to it! So what did you do else?" The vibe had changed greatly without her notice and she was really enjoying the stories Kirito told her, like for example that one time he was having a Kendo match against Suguha and got literally wrecked and demolished. And the stories about the punishments he got from his gramps for not taking Kendo serious enough.

The day ended faster than she realized.

Next raid countdown: 5 days

.

.

.

"That's what I call useful information…" A cloaked figure chuckled mischievously as he/she received the information through the pet's, a rat's, ears.

"How much can I make with that? I think I will set up a new record."

With a satisfied chuckle the person teleported out of the area.

"Yo, mister Kirito, may I add you to my friends list please?"

"I want too!"

"Please !"

Almost every time he was walking through the beautiful cities of the latest floor, strangers would still bother him with those stupid and needless pleas.

"Sorry guys, my friends list is already full…" And he would still tell them the same lie over and over again. 125 was the maximum amount of people you could be befriended with, but his list was merely a few dozen people long.

Leaving people high and dry for the umpteenth time, he finally arrived at the exit of the city. The city was surrounded by a big concrete wall with around 5 meters in height. Four gates served evenly as the only entries and exits into and out of the city.

The southern gate towered high above head, reminding him of the endless possibilities in a virtual world as he gazed at the decorated concrete. The arched gateway was always open, but still no monsters could invade the boundaries of the city.

Stepping towards the huge gap, he checked if he had everything set for the next hours of non-stop farming.

He really needed to go farming. And to do it solo was still his favourite way of doing so. Even Asuna couldn't break his habit.

As soon as the sole of his leather boots touched the less firm ground of dirt, he shifted his hand back to his scabbard and drew his sword out of its sheath with a clear screech of metal.

'Isn't soon Christmas ?' Kirito's straight face formed into a grinning one.

'I already have a great idea !' With those thoughts he stepped onward to the lands of gorilla-like gladiators.

There, in the vast territories of different sorts of monsters in the deep forests, the nearest to the city was the easiest. However he went straight to the last territories, thinking that the walk would be more worthwhile.

A field boss entered his view when he reached the center of the hexagonal territory of the gorilla-humans with frightening strength and surprising agility. After having fought his way through the underlings it was meant to happen.

"The Beast Gorilla"

It was neither looking like a real beast nor was it a complete gorilla. It was more like an orc with human features and fur covering his whole body.

With his current equipment and stats, the boss could be done in under thirty minutes by himself. But he missed a sword and he naturally knew that that would make the fighting a lot riskier.

But without the precious experience points of the field boss, he could never live up to the name he was given by his parents and the expectations of his fellow comrades in this game Sword Art Online. His real-life name perfectly described him, at least his efforts.….

[The-...]

Before another thought could come up, the bulky figure a few tenths of meter in front of him huffed loudly through its pitch-black nostrils, shooting out steam as if it was a machine.

Kirito crouched lower into his battle stance, and waited for the monster to dive in first.

Just as he expected, the orc….-which was supposed to be a gorilla, charged in at a frightening pace, shaking the ground with every step. There was next to no difference between that monster and a huge rock. Four meters in height and two meters broad, with muscles like stone. He would have surely run away if he had seen this image of such a monster speeding towards him, if not for the important experience points.

The massive creature covered the distance of about thirty meters faster than he had ever imagined. One moment he saw the monster running at him far away, in the next that beast stood in front of him and lunged out his vast fist.

If not for the sudden rush of adrenaline in his body, he would have been crushed at the same spot he was a split second ago, he noticed whilst jumping back. The hard dirt ground displayed heavy cracks on its surface and dirt got spalled into the air.

With the most of his weight in his back in the air, Kirito used the momentum to do a backflip and get to his feet, to be able to rush in immediately. As soon as his feet connected with the ground and he shot forward at the same moment, he realized….

-...that another strike was dashing towards him. He tried to drag his sword in its trajectory in time, but there was none.

Without any trace of pain beside the stinging of the dirt, which was apparently too less to get suppress by the System, with a feeling of getting rammed by a truck, his body was sent at least twenty meters away. Only through endless the HP-devouring friction he came to a halt.

A glimpse to the upper left of his vision made him whip out a health potion, before he stood up and brushed the dust off his coat and pants.

The coat was all torn and ripped, especially the back. He would have to bring it to a Alicia, the same woman from whom he bought his outfits.

The field boss wasn't any dangerous any more as long as it hadn't a secret move hidden. Only the speed had surprised him, and that by far. And on top of that, there was a similar field boss at floor 64, it made him even think for a moment that Kayaba was uncreative.

Two health bars to deplete, he had two bars too with all the potions in total.

A kick, a dash, a horizontal strike, everything in an instant, not even the monster could react to his sudden movements. The monster howled in agony as the sword cut deeply into its flesh and left a red line adorning its black fur.

It was basically that, dodging the beast's swift attacks and the counter-attack. That didn't mean he could go on it easy. Kirito was able to dodge almost every attack of his opponent with his high agility stats, but even Heathcliff would have had difficulties blocking against this beast's attacks. In other words Kirito was lucky with this kind of opponent.

When he could tell by the red HP bar of the Gorilla that it was soon done, he activated his last skill to wrap it up. Waiting for the punch of the beast, he dodged it by jumping high above. Probably due his heightened senses he could see everything more clearly, the flexed arms trying to desperately reach the afterimage of him, and the monster's eyes rolling towards his real position.

Kirito activated Wind Dance by shifting his sword into his backhand, using his free left hand in front of his chest with the palms showing to the outside to balance his body in air, and giving his body a slight rotation. From there on, the invisible helping hands of the system took over and fulfilled his skill.

His sword flashed ocean blue, drawing the wake of his sword. And then he descended, rotating around his own axe like a windmill while descending upon his opponent. His vision got blurred and distorted, and sense of orientation totally screwed.

He felt the force against his blade which was by far too less to stop it, and afterwards he finally touched the ground on one foot and one knee, the monster bursting off into millions of polygons shimmering like glass shards dyed in orange under the dimming sun.

It took him long to regain his usual firm vision and sense.

A smile floated on his face when he read 'Congratulation' message and the following windows.

"Huh ?!" Odd….really odd...The monster wasn't named The Beast Gorilla without a good reason.

He opened the window to the new thing he got. A skill...'Don't tell me it is what I think it is...'

Beast's Rage…..

That smile of his left him when he read the description of it and he instantly set himself a clear rule which should never be broken.

I won't use it …...otherwise Asuna will kill me….. Gulping away scary thoughts he set foot on the path he used to get here.

That didn't mean that he wouldn't try it out.

I appreciate EVERY review of yours and each one motivates me a lot. Thanks guys ! The next chapter may come a lot earlier than usual as I have nothing to do and THE arc is about to start with Kirito's new thingie and his little secret which apparently got heard by another person.

And don't you find it odd how perfect Asuna's and Kirito's relationship was up until now ? I may not change it that greatly, since they are my fav couple, but I will add a little amount of drama. Enjoy it then ^^

[If you have any ideas or tips please send them. I will mention anyone who sends me a nice idea for the story, if it's good ofc. Remember: It's an author-reader story.]