Story quests
Updated 16 Oct 2026
The story retells Sword Art Online from the first floor of Aincrad onwards, then moves on to Alfheim Online and Gun Gale Online. Every chapter, its quests, enemy levels and drops are listed in Quests & Events.
How the story is laid out
- Chapters are split into battle quests and story quests (scenes you read).
- Battle quests have a Normal and a Hard level. Hard has much stronger enemies and better drops.
- The first time you read a story quest you get a Memory Diamond.
- Re-read any scene later from Archive in the menu.
On MD:Rebirth the story unlocks strictly in order: clear a quest to open the next one.
What unlocks as you play
The early quests teach you the game, and menus open one by one:
| Clear | What opens |
|---|---|
| Quest 2-1 and the first chapters | Missions, the Attribute Matrix, the Blacksmith, Supporters and more, one at a time with a short tutorial |
| Quest 2-8 "Beater" | Extra Quests and the character, introduction and equipment creation events |
| Quest 3-10 "The Red-Nosed Reindeer" | Time-limited events. On MD:Rebirth the event list stays empty until you clear 3-10 |
Clear rank, missions and chests
Each battle is ranked S, A, B or C by how fast you clear it, and has three bonus missions that pay Memory Diamonds once. After the battle you choose one of three treasure chests. The Battle basics guide covers this in detail.
Duels
Some story battles are one-on-one duels (for example 10-2 "Duel" and 10-8 "Kuradeel's True Intentions"). Their entry requirement allows only one unit, so start them with a party of one.
Farming Decryption Keys
Decryption Keys unlock the next ring of a unit's Attribute Matrix. These story battles drop them:
| Key | Quests |
|---|---|
| Lv. 10 | 2-7 Battle with the Kobold Lord |
| Lv. 20 | 3-9 Nicholas the Renegade |
| Lv. 30 | 4-9 Titan's Hand, 5-8 Finding Schmitt |
| Lv. 40 | 6-5 The Truth: Pt. 2, 7-7 X'rphan the White Wyrm |
| Lv. 50 | 7-9 X'rphan: The Final Battle, 8-7 Duel |
| Lv. 60 | 9-5 The Blue-Eyed Demon, 12-2 Blackiron Palace Dungeon 1 |
| Lv. 70 | Treasure chests from chapter 11 on, and the user rank 15 mission |
| Lv. 80 | Treasure chests from chapter 12 on, and the user rank 20 mission |
In the original game Lv. 70 and Lv. 80 keys came only from treasure chests. On MD:Rebirth the story chests from those chapters can hold them too; the chance may be tuned later.
Farming crystals
Later chapters drop full Crystals (not just Shards) of every type. The original players' favourites:
| Crystal | Quests |
|---|---|
| Defense | 11-2, 17-4 |
| Attack | 11-6, 16-2 |
| MP | 11-4, 17-7 |
| HP | 12-3, 17-6 |
| Skill | 11-1, 17-1 |
| Critical | 12-2, 17-3 |
Chapters 16 and 17 are the second and third chapters of the Alfheim Online arc. The weekday Extra Quests are the other main source of crystals.
Rank EXP
Later battles give more user rank EXP. The SAO finale battles, The Skull Reaper and Heathcliff, were the classic rank EXP farm because they are short.