Soul Art Online

Soul Art Online

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 20: Greenfrost

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- Arthas -

"So there might be more potential classes available if we level up our skills to the max level?" Shiroe asked. I nodded and he went back to his thoughts again.

"The main problem is that some classes might be unavailable if we select other ones. Doesn't that mean the people who lead the levels might become the ones who lag in the coming days?" Star asked, making everyone quiet.

"No use worrying about something we can't control. It just means we shouldn't rush into things. Take your time to master the techniques. We already knew that the gap will be reduced as we go further. The best we can do in this time is make the most of this gap to get to a more advantageous position."

"Yes. We can use this time to find better options for our advanced Classes. " Shiroe agreed. "What we need to do right now is work so that we can find clues for the higher tier classes. T6 is hard to get and T7 is even harder. We don't even know about higher ones. This game is vast. It is only reasonable that we will need more time to finish it."

"Even now, I don't think many people can complete the T5 Class Advancement Quests for some classes. As time goes on, more and more people would start moving towards Production Classes. The number of fighters will get lower." Star added.

"I mean, it's not like there are no easier classes. They just have to go through more classes to get the next class. But yeah, I don't think many people would like to continue with the rising degree of danger."

That would be a problem as it would mean clearing the higher level areas and world quests will become more challenging.

The situation of Rose and Bina had been a rude awakening for us.

In this game, just having high strength didn't matter if we encountered something like the last World Quest.

After all, both of them were strong and yet they were captured and faced that situation because their town was filled with mediocre players.

"We have two options. First would be to make our guild stronger by promoting fighting type classes. Maybe, helping them level up and distributing the knowledge of Class Advancements. Did you say there are classes which require people to grind more skills instead of having high difficulty quests? We can always let them go after those." Shiroe suggested after some thought. "It would also allow us to have a better central leadership during World Quests."

The game was getting harder and we had to change our tactics too.

For example, our skills.

The game gave us four quick slots for our skills which could be used with just a thought. As for other skills, we needed to go to the menu.

This was the case till T4.

I gained another Skill Slot when I became a T5. Shiroe and Veena did too so it seems it wasn't just something unique to me.

But as levels rose we would need more skills.

I can now understand why Arnold would ask me to master my skills so much. We could invoke those seals even without the menu if we had enough practice with them.

It's just that, that only happened when we actually mastered the Skill.

Yes, Mastered… not max out. Not even maxing out the skill could do so. We actually needed to understand what was happening and how we were using it.

Veena had compared it to learning magic and just using a prepared spell through a magic circle.

This meant, going forward, everyone had to force themselves to learn these techniques or they would be at a disadvantage.

It was also a reason behind me being the strongest in our group right now.

I mainly used the Hiten Mitsuruhi-ryū which was a swordsmanship style. All Skills were parts of the Swordsmanship Style and could be understood easily compared to something like say… Holy Blade or some passive buff aura…

Since sparring with Arnold, I was also working my ass off to master Armament and Observation Haki.

In fact, Chidori had levelled up to level 20 and now I could actually channel lightning on my sword. It was working like an elemental enchantment and increased the damage of my weapon.

"At this rate, I don't know how long it will take someone to get to T10… and if they can even get to that tier."

…

"Well, we will find that when we get there. No use worrying about it right now." I clapped my hands. "Anyways, I have to attend the party in Greenfrost in a few days. Arnold has offered me a ride there with him. I can take any two people with me. So, who wants to come with me?"

"I will be helping Star with his quest, so I won't be able to go with you." Shiroe replied.

Star had just completed levelling his T4 Ranger Class and received the quest for T5.

The T5 Class he had chosen was the Sniping Ranger. The reason for that was because this class could use guns, bows as well as a blade.

Star was quite good with all of them and didn't want it to go to waste. Normally he would have preferred something with guns more but we didn't have many good guns here. Everything was from the collection we got from Sabaody so we couldn't get him a Gunner exclusive class.

This was the second best option and it was something he preferred too. He didn't want to be a specialist but rather a hybrid build.

We supported his decision. After all, the one who knew what he wanted the best was himself.

For his quest, he had to solo hunt a T5 Boss. Others could help him but they couldn't damage the Boss.

Seriously, the quests were getting more and more ridiculous every time.

This meant I was more or less useless in this fight. All I could do was tank.

Shiroe could help out a lot as he could use his skills to trap the monster and make Star's job easier.

Similarly, Elaine and Whistler were the healer and buffer so their job was necessary too.

Bina was joining them to assist Shiroe in keeping the monster busy using Earth Wall Skill of hers.

As for Suikazura-san, she stayed behind to act as a tank just in case.

That meant the only ones left were Veena and Rose.

"I think you should take both Veena and Rose. Talking to the other nobles could get us quests and orders for the Guild. We need those Guild Points quickly, not to mention the business." Shiroe suggested.

Veena was good with business and Rose was very professional as a bodyguard, having worked for a literal king of Gods… not to mention, she was very good with the budget, the best even.

Among the people living in our house, Bina, Veena and I were all from rich backgrounds. We have never had to live with a smaller budget like in this game.

Even in my previous life, I was from a well to do family.

Rose on the other hand knew how to be frugal and was much better at maintaining a reasonable budget for our daily activities while not discounting anything.

She had even saved us a lot of money in our Guild businesses. That's why bringing her with us was supported by everyone.

Finally it was decided that we would leave for Greenfrost and even secure any deals we could there.

We discussed a few more things before we left for our homes.

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I walked towards the place where Arnold had asked me to meet him today. Rose and Veena followed behind me.

We had decided to leave early at dawn so as to cover the most distance while the sun was still out.

Arnold stood in front of a carriage, talking to the Knights who will be escorting us. He saw me coming and walked towards us with a smile.

"Arthas, Rose and Miss Veena if I remember correctly."

"Lord Straight." Veena gave the man a curtsy that wouldn't be out of place for any noble lady. Well, she was a noble so it wasn't out of place.

He nodded at her and turned towards me.

"We are ready to leave too. It's a two day long journey and we will stop by at the Kirkwall Village on the way and rest there for the night and continue the next day. We will be reaching Greenfrost by tomorrow evening."

"Sounds like a good plan."

I looked at the two knights who were following him. They were familiar faces from the Knight Academy. The two gave Rose and me a curt nod as we approached the carriage.

We had already packed enough food for the journey and without much talk we began.

Arnold sat with us inside the carriage with the two escorts driving the carriage.

"What? You look confused by something?" Arnold asked.

"Oh, I was actually expecting more people than just the six of us. Don't nobles usually bring servants for these kinds of things?"

"I don't really like those pompous rallies of carriages. This much is more than enough for me." Arnold replied with a roll of his eyes. "In fact, had it not been an official visit, I would have preferred riding my horse all the way to Greenfrost. Silver would have gotten me there by tonight."

Silver was the name of his horse.

"Too bad if I did that the Marquis would lecture me again."

"Again? You have done that before?" I asked with a smile.

"Obviously. This time I have someone to accompany me so it's not that bad but can you imagine sitting quietly inside a carriage for two days… it's like I am in solitary confinement… a luxurious solitary confinement but still a solitary confinement." He replied, his face scrunching at the thought which made me laugh.

Arnold has grown up in a village near the forests. As the son of a woodcutter, he has always preferred staying in open nature and hated closed spaces like these.

He wasn't much older than me either. Just twenty two, one of the youngest people in the Kingdom to have achieved this level at such a young age. He was one of the top talents in the kingdom. Due to this, we got along quite well with each other.

"So, what's that about the Marquis lecturing you?" I asked with a laugh.

"Well, it is a formal occasion and I am a noble under the Marquis so my behaviour also affects his reputation. Our Kingdom hands out nobilities based on strength but that doesn't mean there aren't those who have inherited the position from their families. Several of the old nobles, especially the ministerial ones, always nitpick, trying to find a way to put us, so-called rowdy bunch, in our place and win His Majesty's favour. A good thing the King doesn't pay mind to these things. That said, we are still expected to pose with the dignity of a noble on such occasions."