The Nexus realm of the Unital Ring consisted of the Tower of Trials, Aincrad-the Floating Castel, and the world of Elder Tales.
The Tower of Trials was the place where the floor bosses and their armies stayed. The inside of the tower contained mysteries of space laws that made each floor akin to a world of its own with links to other dimensions in the Multiverse.
The tower was situated at the center of Aincrad, which acted as its zeroth floor and contained a dimension of its own too.
The Elder Tales was the territory below Aincrad.
During the Beta, the players were not allowed to leave Aincrad and reach the world below. Aincrad had its own native population too, which inhabited the vast lands it had.
As for the people below, they themselves got entry to the Floating Castle just three months ago.
The world of Elder Tales was extremely complex and was not as simple and plot holed as shown in the Anime, plus it contained multiple dimensions that needed much exploration and explanation.
Still, it was not the right time to delve into that.
During the Beta, the players can get missions from either the Adventurer's Hall or from the natives of the Aincrad.
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Shriek! Krrr… Shriek!
Shrieeek!
"Behind you!" A white haired young man alerted the other guy as a flurry of goblins came from behind him and crashed into him.
"S-Shit! A little help here." The other guy shouted as he lost his balance and fell down. Meanwhile, about three goblins raised their axes at the guy trying to kill him.
At this instant...
Foosh! Teuchk!
[Mana Bullet.]
Thud!
A bullet made entirely of Mana pierced a goblin from one side of the head to the other. This stunned the other goblins, but...
[Multiply.]
Teuchk! Teuchk!
Before they could even react, they were also pierced in a similar fashion and died.
Thud! Thud!
Uegh!
"Shit! Arrgh! G-Get of me!"
These two goblins were quite close to the guy, so their lifeless bodies fell above him.
As for who was him, he turned out to be none other than Kirito, our MC.
And of course, the guy who shot the bullets made from Mana was none other than Rev.
Rev moved towards Kirito as he helped him get up and stand, saying, "Man, I never imagined my first mission would be this tough. Though it is exciting too..."
'And at the same time, it is familiar." He didn't say the last part out loud and kept it inside himself.
'I never imagined I would be facing this for my first mission.' Rev continued to muse as Kirito said, bringing him out of his stupor, "Thinking back, this is really a mission way out of our grade. Isn't it?"
"Indeed it is. But that's what's exhilarating about it. Now let's move, or else we may not be able to save the priestess." Rev replied.
"Yeah, let's move. We don't wanna miss this opportunity." Kirito replied as he and Rev ventured deeper into the dark cave.
As they moved, Rev couldn't help but chuckle, thinking back to when they got this mission and how it ended up quite similar to something he knew quite well.
Back to when Rev met with Kirito.
After the intention...—Kuhum!—coincidental meeting with Kirito, Rev offered to have a party with Kirito.
{Ding!}
{A party-forming invitation arrived from Rev.}
{Accept/Reject.}
"Accept." Kirito also accepted his invitation and joined his party.
"Let me treat you with a drink to commemorate the creation of our party." Rev said.
"Wait, let me inform the Mission Hall about the completion of my mission first." Kirito said as he went near the Mission Hall, submitted his mission completion details, and received his rewards.
After this, Rev escorted Kirito to the cafeteria and ordered one beer for himself and one fruit cocktail for Kirito.
"Kampai!"
They hit their jugs and drank to celebrate their party formation.
After that, Rev finally came to the main topic, which was of course the issue regarding missions, and said, "So how do we get a mission? Most of the missions in the Mission Hall are leftover useless missions."
"You are correct. The good missions are already taken by the Adventurers, leaving only the less rewarding ones." Kirito acknowledged.
"Sigh! So are we going to waste our time doing these missions?" Rev frowned and questioned back.
To which Kirito replied, "Of course not. Follow me; I know a place where we will get good missions." As he finished his drink and stood up to leave.
Gulp! Gulp!
Rev also finished his beer and followed Kirito.
They left the Hall of Beginnings and went towards the nearest village. Apparently, this was the village where Kirito had his first mission.
He continued to walk towards the village head's home and finally knocked on the door of the village head and said, "Village head, sir, this is Kirito."
"Oh, it's young Kirito. Come on in." An old man opened the gate and greeted them, welcoming them home.
Kirito and Rev followed him in and sat down on the couch, and the village head asked, "What brings you here, young Kirito?"
"Sir, we are here to ask if you have any tasks that you need some help with or if there is something urgent you want our help with."
"Hmm! I see, so you are here for work."
"Yes sir. We would be honoured if we could give our services to you and this village." Kirito replied with humility.
"Now that you mention it, there is indeed something that I am in a pinch about and would like your help with."
"Tell us, sir. We are ready to provide any assistance we can." Kirito said.
"I would like you to go and clear the goblin infested cave near the village and rescue the priestess and any other survivors you find.
It has been 2 days since the priestess and her party entered the cave, but we have not received any news from them till now. It's quite worrying."
'This plot! Isn't it quite similar to that?' Several cogs went up in Rev's mind as he heard these words from the village head.
{Ding!}
{New Mission Issued!}
{Goblin's Menace.}
{Mission Grade: D-Class.}
{Mission Details: The villagers are constantly being tormented by the goblin infested cave nearby. The Adventurer's Guild has issued multiple missions to clear the cave, but all of them have ended in failure. The frequency of the goblin attacks has increased, causing more problems for the villagers. Help them!}
{Clear Conditions:
1. Kill all the goblins.
2. Rescue the priestess.}
= = = = =
{-Success-}
{Rewards:
1. 1000 Gold.
2. Goblin's Loot (?).}
{Reputation: +2.}
= = = = =
{-Failure-}
{Penalty:
1. Village's Ire.
2. Can't take missions for 1 day.}
{Reputation: -5.}
= = = = =
{Accept/Reject.}
= = = = =
Seeing the mission window pop up, both Rev and Kirito looked at each other with a gleam in their eyes and accepted the mission.
At the same time, in Rev's mind, 'I wonder...'
…..
