In stark contrast to the desert and canyons of the second floor, the fourth floor was a lush forest divided by countless rivers and lakes. With no footpaths available between most of the areas, players were forced to traverse the floor using ships they had made themselves through a quest.

In a game where thousands of players would pass through each floor, the concept of player bound ships which could not be stored, brought about the exact problems one would expect. The rivers around town were packed with abandoned gondola’s of various colours sizes.

The NPC ships struggled to navigate through the graveyard of abandoned ships often finding themselves so stuck they needed to turn around completely. The curses they muttered under their breath seemed surprisingly human for preprogrammed dialog.

While most the gondolas were small single seaters, one massive gondola stood above the rest. It had a large gong on the top and the name ‘Leviathan’ painted on the side of its blue trimmed hull. It lay so buried in the cluster of abandoned ships, that it seemed unlikely its owners would ever be able to sail it again. It seemed a pity considering the amount of effort that was no doubt put into its construction.

Kara’s gondola was a small and maneuverable boat named ‘The Liberator’. It held up to two players with one player sitting up front and the other piloting from the back. Thankfully it had been anchored close enough to the edge of the cluster of ships that Kara had been able to skillfully navigate it back out into the open waters.

After a brief test lap to re-familiarize herself with the controls, Kara led us out of town at full speed. Her face seemed to sparkle as we bobbed along the water’s surface. It almost made me a little envious to only be a passenger, but I could always ask her to teach me how to drive the gondolas later. We kept sailing until we reached a calm, empty lake.

“This was once the home of the field boss.” Kara informed me in a nostalgic manner as she slowed the gondola. This was information my anxiety could do without. I cautiously peered over the edge at the water below as I nervously scanned for any moving shadows beneath the surface.

Bosses in Sword Art Online would supposedly never respawn, Yet I still felt like there was always a chance something unexpected could happen. To add to my paranoia, there was also unresolved issue surrounding the Briar Nightmare we had fought a week earlier. We were still unsure why such a high level boss had appeared in what was previously considered a safe zone, but the most obvious hypothesis was also the most terrifying… As the front line climbed higher through the tower, Aincrad was adapting…

Attempting to chase such terrifying thoughts from my mind, I raised my head to attempt to appreciate the beauty of the still lake. To my surprise I noticed another gondola had started sailing past us. It was another small gondola like ours and was painted black with a red trim. It was piloted by a tall man maybe in his mid twenties with unkempt blond hair and metal armor. In the front sat a lady of similar age. A spear user wearing black and red leather armor. Her hair was shorter than Kara’s, but was of a similar dark red shade.

Noticing my gaze, she gave a polite, but somewhat belittling smile my way as if I were a cute young child looking her way. Her bangs were draped over one eye but she seemed to be wearing red contacts.

I quickly averted my eyes blushing slightly. As I looked away I realized the lake was now full of gondolas surrounding us. It was as if the entire population of the fourth floor had decided to go sailing at once.

“What’s going on out here?” I asked an elderly man passing by who was steering his gondola like a seasoned sailor.

“What else?” the elderly man grinned. “We’re getting ready to celebrate surviving to a new year!”

Since my arrival to Aincrad three months prior, I had never really given much thought to real world dates and holidays. In fact, even concept of day and night often went past my notice when I was focused on grinding. I briefly remembered seeing snow outside my window a week prior, but at the time I had been far too distracted by the fates of my previous companions Sterra and Stern to question why. As the elderly man’s words processed in my head I was shocked to realize it was indeed December 31st; New Year Eve.

“Should we join them?” Kara had asked me as the elderly man caught up with the other gondolas. There seemed to be players of all ages cheerily calling out to each other in a festive mood.

“If your sister is on this floor, we probably won’t have a better chance to locate her than this.” Kara reasoned.

The logic was sound, but something in my heart felt off. Like it was wrong to celebrate or enjoy myself while trapped inside this cruel game. The only time I had let myself have fun was with Sterra and Stern, and Sword Art Online had been quick to punish me for my hubris.

I shook my head. Sword Art Online was just a game. There was no divine punishment for my choices here. I couldn’t let myself be weighed down by such illogical paranoia. Besides; Kara was right. If I wanted to locate Miku, this would be my best opportunity.

“Let’s go!” I replied with a determined smile.

Kara changed our course and we followed along with the rest of the group. We encountered a few battles along the way with low level mobs, but with the large group and our high levels, we made quick work of them all.

Watching the red headed spear user fight, it suddenly made sense as to why she had been the passenger on her gondola. With the long reach of her spear, she could easily defeat enemies before they had a chance to get close. I envied her weapon’s effectiveness in naval battle in contrast to my tiny dagger which I was having to get creative with. Noticing my glance again, the red headed spear user gave me a smug smirk, as if knowing I had been admiring her work.

Not wanting to be outdone, I leapt from my seat activating ‘Jab’ which allowed me to skewer a leaping enemy midair. Following up with ‘Crescent Moon’ I re-angled myself to land back in my seat. The boat rocked back and forth as I landed causing Kara to cry out in distress but I had pulled off the flashy maneuver. Looking towards the spear user’s gondola, my pride turned to embarrassment as I realized she hadn’t been watching at all.

“How about fighting without leaving the boat next time!” Kara scolded unaware of my one sided rivalry. Defeated, I fell back to my seat, unsure what shade of crimson my cheeks had become.

After close to an hour’s of sailing (fights included) we finally reached our destination.

We disembarked from our gondolas to explore the shores of yet another supposed safe zone. This safe zone was a large clearing by the lakeside surrounded by large baobab trees and hills. My eyes darted around at all the dark hiding spots nervously, almost afraid another Briar Nightmare would leap out at any moment.

In spite of my fears, the rest of the group seemed to have dropped their guard completely. Some of the players wasted no time unequipping their weapons and armor to float on the lake in giant colourful inner tubes and swimsuits they had brought with them. Others got to work setting up the numerous types of foods and drinks they had brought with them to share. The elderly man I had spoken to earlier had equipped a long fishing rod and was now sitting on a rock by the lakeside enjoying the blissful tranquility.

I let out a sigh starting to feel foolish for my paranoia when I noticed one young man who also seemed unable to enjoy the festivities. He walked nervously looking around in every direction and cowering at every sound. It seemed I was not the only one who didn’t fully trust safe zones.

It made sense. Even though monsters were never supposed to spawn within safe zones (a rule I had already unfortunately disproven) one could not entirely escape the gnawing realization that the system wouldn’t be protecting your health points like in town. Even if it were unlikely to die, the knowledge that you COULD die was relentless. It was this paranoia that kept so many players on the first floor trapped within the Town of Beginnings.

Looking back over my shoulder I noticed Kara had sat down leaning against the trunk of a massive baobab tree. While her body posture appeared relaxed, her eyes still scanned the area wary and alert. It was hard to tell if she was enjoying herself or preparing for trouble.

‘I guess that is what it takes to be a clearer.’ I thought to myself as I turned back to the main reason we had come. With a deep breath, I began scanning the crowds for anyone who looked remotely like Miku.

In general, there was a large gap between the male and female population within Sword Art Online. This wasn’t to say there were no girls whatsoever in the game. I had gotten to talk with at least five in the last few months alone which had to be some sort of record in my life. This wasn’t even counting Miku who was still out there somewhere. There were also a number of girls I would often see wandering the town of beginnings, though we had never interacted.

All this being said, I had never seen such a perfectly even split between male and female players as here on the fourth floor. My cheeks turned red yet again as I realized 90% of players present were couples. It was hard to focus as my eyes kept stumbling across players acting all intimate, flirting as if no one was watching. I needed to find Miku, but I wasn’t sure if my inexperienced teenage heart would be able to take much more of this.

“The fourth floor is a pretty popular spot for couples.” Kara mused to herself innocently.

‘What on earth does that make us look like then?’ I cried out in my head. Kara; however, appeared to be innocently oblivious to such implications so I decided against pointing it out to her.

As I gave my best effort to scan the crowd, I noticed a few girls with shoulder length black hair, but none who looked like Miku. It was possible that Miku had changed her look since arriving in Aincrad which would make my task a lot trickier. While Kayaba had unwillingly forced us to use avatars that mimicked our real life appearances, Sword Art Online did provide a number of cosmetic options to change the colour of your hair or eyes. Liz and Kara had been just discussing it the other day, and knowing Miku’s obsession with character creators, I wouldn’t put it past her to experiment frequently.

My eyes trailed over to the older red headed spear user I had noticed earlier. Her red eyes glinted as she laughed at something the blond haired man next to her said. From her ornate armor and red contacts, she had clearly put a lot of effort into her appearance.

My eyes trailed back to my green eyed partner with a longer pony tail yet nearly identical hair colour who was resting against the tree stump.

“What?” Kara asked raising an eyebrow as she caught me staring. My mind failed to come up with a reasonable excuse to give her.

“Ah! I was just curious as to what made you choose your hair and eye colour.” I replied honestly. “It is a bit surprising as you don’t seem the type to spend col on something like cosmetics.”

Kara gave an odd expression my way as if she was questioning just what went on in my head.

“I didn’t choose to look this way…” she explained while twirling the end of her pony tail between her fingers. “It’s just how I look normally.”

“Wait? You aren’t Japanese!?” I reacted louder than I intended. It was poor manners to discuss the real world in Sword Art Online, but this revelation had been too much of a surprise to not react to. Thankfully, Kara seemed used to this question and with a sigh, rambled off what seemed to be a well practiced response.

“I’m half Japanese.” She explained. “My father is Japanese, my mother is from Germany. I was born and raised in Japan, but I got my hair and eyes from my mother.”

This explanation did make sense and thankfully put my heart at ease. The main reason I had been so surprised hadn’t been because of Kara’s flawless Japanese, but because Sword Art Online had only been released in Japan; much to the rest of the gaming world’s chagrin. While other countries were now very relieved they had avoided this deathtrap, I was concerned if Kara’s real life body was being properly sustained if she hadn’t been living in Japan.

“Gather round everyone!” A middle aged man who had climbed up on a stump called out pulling me from my thoughts. At his call, all the players in the surrounding area gathered around him. Even those floating in the lake walked back up onto shore. Drinks were distributed to each of the players

“Fellow players!” the middle aged man began. “We are gathered here today to not only ring in the new year, but also to celebrate our rapidly approaching freedom! This time last year, the front line clearers had only managed to conquer the fifth floor. Now we hear they are preparing to conquer the fiftieth! While each floor is harder than the last, the clearers continue to move through at a steady pace. At this rate there is a high possibility we will be celebrating the next new years back in the real world!”

The crowd cheered and I couldn’t help but applaud as well. It was true that the rate that the players had been burning through the floors in spite of the deadly risks was admirable. Though I had only been in this digital world for a fifth of the time of everyone else, I too longed to return to the real world as soon as possible.

Throughout the crowd, some players were jumping, others hugging, a number were even crying at the thought of their freedom coming. Looking at a couple staring lovingly at each others eyes I thought back to Sterra and Stern and how Sword Art Online had changed their relationship for the better. It was encouraging to see that this world could bring more than just despair and destruction.