"…"
In a small wooded area near Horunka Village, Lillian stood facing Argo. She stared at the hat on his head, remained silent for a moment, then finally couldn't help asking:
"That thing you're wearing… is it equipment?"
"No, just a cosmetic item. No stat bonuses."
"Then why are you wearing it? It looks kind of dumb."
"I think it's pretty cool," Lillian replied casually, steering the conversation away. He raised a hand, and a map immediately appeared.
"99% exploration…" Argo smacked her lips in amazement as she looked at the map data. "That's impressive. You did this in just five days. You know, back in the beta, dozens—sometimes over a hundred—players took almost half a month to fully explore it. You really are something… How about this? I'll buy it for twenty thousand Col."
Lillian shook his head.
"Too little?" Argo frowned slightly. "The map's value isn't actually that high. And there are already plenty of players preparing to enter the labyrinth. Every extra day you wait—"
"No, that's not what I mean." Lillian cut her off. "I'm not looking to sell it for money. I want to trade it for information."
"What kind?"
"I want information on how to learn the special skill Martial Arts."
Special skills in SAO were hidden abilities that required specific conditions to unlock. They were extremely rare, and the trigger requirements were harsh. Even among beta testers, only a handful had managed to acquire one.
The Martial Arts skill Lillian mentioned was a special skill obtainable on the second floor. Once learned, it allowed the user to fight barehanded—normally useful when weapons were lost or broken due to durability.
But for Lillian, this skill had an even greater value. If his physical attacks could deal damage, then combining his speed, martial arts, and greatsword strikes would massively increase his overall output. It was a skill he was determined to obtain.
"How do you even know about Martial Arts?" Argo stared at him in disbelief. "That's a second-floor skill… You're really not a beta tester?!"
"No." Lillian pulled out his all-purpose excuse once again. "Didn't I tell you before? I'm Kayaba Akihiko's neighbor. He told me that he'd set up some special skills in the game—and Martial Arts was one of them."
"..."
Argo looked at him speechlessly. "What else did he tell you?"
"A lot." Lillian smoothly redirected the topic. "So? Trading information on the Martial Arts skill for a complete first-floor labyrinth map—no matter how you look at it, that's not a bad deal. I nearly got myself killed in there several times."
"You? I don't buy that." Argo made her signature nasal sound and pointed at his head. "You're already level 10. You're the highest-level player on my friends list. The second place is two full levels behind you."
"Is that so."
"As for the info—I'll trade." Argo said. "But I'll warn you in advance: getting that skill requires completing a very difficult quest. If you can't finish it and fail to get the reward, don't blame me."
"Of course."
"Mm."
Lillian sent her a complete copy of the map. After looking it over, she nodded in satisfaction and muttered to herself, "With this, I can finally release my first-floor area strategy guide."
Watching her, Lillian suddenly said, "You know, right? If you really publish that thing, your identity as a beta tester will be exposed."
"Eh, I don't really care."
"Really?"
A few days ago, saying that might have been fine. But over the past couple of days, whenever Lillian returned to the safe zone, he often overheard players criticizing and cursing beta testers. Clearly, large-scale player casualties had begun occurring recently.
Argo let out a soft sigh.
"Quite a few players are blaming the casualties on beta testers. In reality, a lot of beta testers have already disappeared as well," she said. "Just like how the BOSS attack patterns you mentioned changed, some regular mobs have also undergone subtle changes. Those tiny differences are like poison needles. Many beta testers operate solo, and when something goes wrong, there's no backup… A lot of names on my friends list never light up again."
"Those ordinary players don't really care," Lillian said calmly. "They need an outlet—someone to blame. Beta testers just happen to be the group filling that role."
"Well, whatever~" Argo shrugged her slender shoulders. "There's not much I can do about it."
"Just don't expect people to be grateful because you released a free guide," Lillian said. "There might be a few who are, but most will only think that this is something beta testers—people like you—should be doing."
As he spoke, he felt there was no point continuing the topic. "I'll get going then. As for the Martial Arts info, I'll come back for it after the first-floor BOSS is cleared."
"Hey, wait!" Argo called out to stop him. "There's still something I haven't told you."
"What is it?"
"The person who bought the BOSS information from me earlier wants to know your identity."
"Huh?"
Argo smiled and held up two fingers. "He offered two thousand Col to buy your name. I haven't sold it yet. Since you could offer a higher price, I figured I'd keep you confidential."
"..."
"Don't look at me like that. When you sold me the intel back then, you didn't ask me to keep your identity secret. So as long as you offer more than two thousand, I'll keep quiet. You could also buy his name from me, and then I'll go ask him again."
Listening to her, Lillian's mouth twitched.
"So basically, you can ask both sides for bids, and whichever side pays more gets the other person's identity?"
"Bingo~"
That was downright merchant-like… a bit too much so.
Lillian sighed. "I'm not interested in knowing who he is. Tell him if you want—I don't care."
If anything, he'd rather have all players know his name and face. That way, there would be more memories available for revival.
"I knew you wouldn't care about stuff like this," she said. "That guy also said he wants to hire you."
"Hire me?"
"Yeah. For the BOSS fight. He'll pay ten thousand Col as a service fee, and he only has one condition: if the raid succeeds, he wants the BOSS's exclusive drop."
Lillian thought about it for a moment. "He's in a hurry, huh. Makes sense—five days from now you'll release the info for free anyway. If he doesn't act soon, that intel he bought will be basically worthless."
"Exactly. So what do you think? Will you accept the job?"
"Sure."
Lillian didn't feel any resistance to the idea. He wasn't particularly attached to exclusive drops anyway. More importantly, he wanted the floor cleared as soon as possible. After reaching level 10, he'd already noticed that grinding on the first floor had become very inefficient. He needed to move up and fight higher-level monsters as soon as possible.
As for who landed the Last Attack, he genuinely didn't care.
"Alright. He'll be here soon."
The two waited for about ten minutes before a player hurried over.
The man looked to be in his early twenties, tall and broad, wearing a full suit of metal armor that immediately gave off a reassuring presence. He was clearly the type of reliable, pressure-tanking main defender you'd want in a party.
"Nice to meet you!" The young man smiled and extended his hand to Lillian, who shook it in return. "Nice to meet you too."
"I didn't expect the person Rat talked about to be so young," the man said, glancing at Lillian's bamboo hat and the greatsword on his back. "You're impressive. A launch player, yet you entered the labyrinth faster than us beta testers."
"It's not that big a deal."
Afterward, they introduced themselves properly. Lillian learned that the man's name was Terusuke, a beta tester and a hardcore gaming enthusiast. In other games, he'd once been a prominent guild leader. He'd originally planned to establish a guild in SAO as well, but never expected things to turn out like this.
Even so, he had quickly regrouped his former guild members—mostly beta testers—ending up with a group of over thirty people. His strong desire to secure the Last Attack stemmed from his wish to become a leader.
"To clear this game, everyone has to unite," Terusuke said openly, sharing his thoughts without reservation. "That's why a strong leader is essential. I want to be that leader, so I have to become the strongest."
"Oh…"
Seeing the light in Terusuke's eyes, Lillian didn't think he was putting on an act. He genuinely believed what he was saying. Of course, this person never appeared in the original storyline.
In a game with ten thousand players, only a few dozen named characters ever showed up in the original plot. Most players were never mentioned at all. Now that Lillian was part of this world, it was only natural that he'd encounter people outside the original story—and in fact, those were the people he was more interested in getting to know.
"Sorry about that," Terusuke said with a smile after finishing. "It might be a bit much to say all this on our first meeting. But since Rat trusts you, I trust you too."
"Ahem."
Argo cleared her throat and said to Terusuke, "Lillian has already agreed to accept your commission. Hand over the Col."
"Got it."
As the intermediary, Argo naturally held onto the money. Once the raid was completed, she would pass it on to Lillian, preventing any possibility of him taking the money and running.
After the transaction was complete, Terusuke said to Lillian, "Lillian, is it okay if I call you that? I'm thinking we spend a few days leveling up in the labyrinth first, then challenge the BOSS. What do you think?"
"Sounds good."
They really did need to level up. Lillian himself was fine, but after adding Terusuke as a friend, he saw that Terusuke was only level 8. His subordinates were probably around level 7 or 8 as well. That was honestly a bit too risky. Level 9 would be the bare minimum, and level 10 or higher would be much safer—but there wasn't enough time left for that.
After that, Terusuke went to gather his people, while Lillian went to the potion shop to restock supplies. Once more than thirty people had assembled, the group set off in force toward the labyrinth.