I ended my solo battle with the Lizardman Lord, a powerful enemy who resided in the " Labyrinth Zone " on the 74th floor. As he was on his way back, he was thinking about his memories from a long time ago. After walking for about ten minutes, he finally heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the light at the exit in front of him.
I no longer immersed myself in the memories of the past. After speeding up my footsteps and coming out of the passageway, I took a deep breath of fresh air.
What appeared in front of me was a small path that ran through the dense and dark forest. Looking back, he could see that the maze area that he had just walked out of was dyed red by the setting sun, extending all the way to the sky. To be precise, it should be a huge body that extended to the bottom of the upper level.
With the top of the castle as the ultimate goal, the maze of this world was not underground, but a huge tower. However, the monsters wandering inside the maze were more powerful than those in the wild, and there were terrifying leaders in the deepest parts of the maze. These settings had not changed.
Now, 80% of the 74th floor's maze area had been cleared, which meant that the map file had been recorded. In a few days, they would find the hall where the leader was waiting. Then, they would form a large-scale attack team. At this time, as a solo player, I will also participate in this battle.
He smiled bitterly at himself, who was both expectant and nervous, and began to walk down the path.
My current base is Argert, one of the largest cities on the 50th floor of Aingrunt. From a scale perspective, the starting town was relatively large, but it had completely become the base of the " army ", so it was not easy to enter.
After passing through the steppe where dusk was gathering, a forest of intricate ancient trees appeared in front of me. After walking in the forest for about 30 minutes, they would reach the " Main Street Area " on the 74th floor. They could use the " Teleportation Gate " there to instantly teleport to Argert.
Even though he could use the teleportation device on his hand to return to Argert, it was a little expensive now. He really didn't want to use it except in emergencies. Furthermore, there was still some time before sunset. I could only ignore the temptation of getting into bed to rest as soon as possible and began to walk into the forest.
Apart from a few pillars, the outermost layer of each floor of Ain Grand was basically an open space. At this moment, the sunlight shone in at an oblique angle, making the forest trees red as if they were about to burn. The thick fog flowing between the tree trunks flickered with a mysterious light after reflecting the sunset light. The bird calls, which had been rather noisy during the day, were now sparse, making the sound of the treetops swaying in the wind particularly loud.
Even though I knew that even if I had just woken up, I wouldn't lose to the monsters that roamed around here, I still couldn't suppress the uneasiness in my heart at this time of the night. The feeling of getting lost on the way home when she was young gradually filled her heart.
However, I don't hate this feeling. When he was still living in the real world, this primitive uneasiness had unknowingly been forgotten. The loneliness of being in the middle of nowhere was the real inspiration for role-playing games.
Immersed in my homesickness, I suddenly heard a subtle beast cry that I had never heard before.
It was a sharp and clear sound, similar to a short flute. I immediately stopped and carefully searched for the source of the sound. In this world, when you encounter something you have never heard of or seen before, it is a moment of unpredictable luck or misfortune.
As a solo player, I had thoroughly trained the [Enemy Searching Skill]. Other than preventing sneak attacks, this skill also had another effect. As long as my skill proficiency increased, I could see through monsters or players in hiding. Before long, the monster hiding in the shadow of a big branch about ten meters away from me appeared in front of me.
It was not a huge monster. I could see its greyish-green fur hidden in the leaves and its ears that were longer than its body. After focusing his gaze on it, the system automatically set the monster as the target. A yellow arrow and the name of the target appeared in his line of sight.
When I saw its name, I couldn't help but hold my breath. This was because the Chowder Rabbit was a rare monster.
This is also the first time I've seen a real thing. Although this furry rabbit that lived on the tree was not particularly powerful, the experience points obtained from defeating it were not particularly high.
Still, I quietly pulled out my throwing cone from my belt. My [Flying Sword] skill was only used to fill up the skill slot, so my proficiency level was not very high. However, I had heard that the fastest known monster to escape was the Chowder Rabbit, so I was not confident that I could get close to it and fight it with my sword.
I still have a chance to attack before the other party notices me. I picked up the short cone with my right hand and got into position. I prayed in my heart as I activated the basic flying sword skill, Single Shot.
No matter how low my proficiency was, I relied on my thoroughly trained Agility Enhancement skill. My right hand flashed like lightning, and the short awl that I shot out left behind a residual light before it was sucked into the shadows of the treetops. The moment the attack began, the arrow indicating the rabbit's position turned red, and the monster's HP was displayed below.
His ears were listening to see if the cone had hit its target. Soon, he heard a very sharp wail. Then, his HP moved back to zero, followed by the familiar sound of the Polygon Crushing Effect. I couldn't help but clench my left hand.
He immediately waved his right hand and called out the menu. His fingers hurriedly manipulated the interface and opened the item bar. As expected, the name " Rabbit Meat Chop " was at the top of the new item. In the private trade between players, this was a commodity worth more than 100,000 Cole. This amount was enough to forge his own custom-made weapons and change.
The reason why it had such value was actually very simple. Because it existed in the countless ingredients in this world, it was set to be the most delicious ingredient.
In SAO, where eating was the only pleasure, you could only eat European rural food. To be honest, I wasn't sure what kind of simple bread and soup it was. Although there were a few exceptions, they were made by players who chose the cooking skill and tried their best to make more types of food. However, because the number of chefs was very small, and high-grade ingredients were unexpectedly difficult to obtain, these foods were not easy to eat. This also caused all players to fall into a chronic food hunger.
Of course, I was no exception. Although the bread and soup in the NPC restaurants that I frequented weren't bad, I would occasionally suffer from the desire to bite down on soft and juicy meat. I stared at the column of text with the item's name as I muttered hesitantly.
The possibility of obtaining such a rare ingredient in the future was quite low. To be honest, he really wanted to eat it himself. However, the higher the level of the ingredient, the higher the skill level required. Therefore, if he wanted to eat it, he had to ask a player with a high level to help him cook it.
It wasn't that I didn't have a suitable candidate, but I always felt that it would be troublesome to ask someone else for help. Moreover, it was time to update my defensive equipment, so I decided to exchange this item for money.
As if I wanted to shake off my hesitation, I closed the status screen and once again used the enemy search skill to explore the surrounding environment. Although it was impossible for Thief players to appear at the frontlines, or in other words, at the border, he could not be too careful now that he had an S-rank rare item on him.
Thinking about how I would be able to buy as many teleportation items as I wanted after exchanging this item for money, I decided to return to Argert directly from here in order to reduce the danger. Therefore, I put my hand into the small bag at my waist.
What he took out was an octagonal crystal that was shining with a deep blue light. In this world where the elements of " magic " were almost completely excluded, the only magic tools left were all these gems. It was categorized according to its color-blue for teleportation, pink for HP recovery, and green for detoxification. Each of them was a convenient item that took effect immediately, but because they were quite expensive, people usually used cheap potions to heal themselves after they were far away from the enemy.
I found an excuse for myself, saying that it should be an emergency. Then, I gripped the crystal tightly and shouted,
[Transfer! Argert!"
The crystal immediately shattered along with the beautiful sound of many bells ringing at the same time. The blue light also surrounded my body at the same time, and the surrounding forest scenery disappeared as if it had melted. At this moment, the light became even more dazzling. When the light dissipated, the transfer was over. Then, the sharp sound of hammers and the bustling noise of smelting replaced the sound of leaves rubbing against each other.
I appeared at the " transfer gate " in the center of Argert.
In the center of the circular square, there was a huge metal door that was about five meters tall. The space behind the door was shaking like a mirage. Players who were preparing to move to other towns or from somewhere unknown were appearing and disappearing in an endless stream.
The main road extending from the square extended in all directions, and all the roads were crowded with small shops. After a day of adventure, the players who were looking for a place to rest chatted in front of the stalls selling snacks and izakaya.
If there was a simple word to describe the streets of Algate, it would be " messy."
There weren't any large facilities like the Town of Beginnings. The vast area was crisscrossed with countless small roads. There were also many studios that sold unknown items, as well as hotels that looked like they couldn't get out after entering.
Some players actually got lost in the alleys of Argert and couldn't come out for days. This kind of situation could be said to be too many to count. I had been staying in this inn for almost a year now, but I still couldn't remember much of the way here. Even the NPC residents were all people who didn't know what to do. It felt like the players who had been using this place as their base recently were all weirdos.
However, I really like the feeling of this town. Although I didn't want to admit that it was because this place was like the electronics street that I used to go to, it was the only time in the day that I could relax by hiding in the store that I often went to in the deepest part of the alley and sipping the tea that had a strange taste.
I planned to get rid of the items I had just obtained before returning to the hotel, so I headed to the item house where I often traded items.
On the main road that extended west from the central square with a transfer gate, they could see the shop after walking through the crowd for a few minutes. The store was crowded with five people, and the display shelves gave off a sense of chaos unique to a player-run store. The shelves were filled with weapons, items, and even food.
As for the owner of the shop, he was now standing at the counter and discussing business with others.
There were two ways to sell items in the game. One way was to sell them to NPCs, which were characters controlled by computers. Although there was no danger of being scammed, the amount of money earned was basically fixed. In order to prevent inflation, the prices there were set lower than the actual market price.
The other was the transaction between players. This method allowed players to sell their goods at a high price through negotiation. However, other than spending a lot of effort to find a buyer, there were also endless disputes between players who felt that the price was too high after the transaction or suddenly changed their minds. At this time, merchant players who specialized in purchasing goods were needed.
Of course, merchant players didn't exist just to do this.
The players of the other classes were similar to the merchants. More than half of their skill slots were filled with non-combat skills. However, this did not mean that they would not go to the outer area. Merchants fought for goods, while workers fought monsters for materials. Of course, they would have a much harder time fighting than a pure Swordsman. It could be said that there was no way to enjoy the pleasure of annihilating the enemy.
In other words, the meaning of their existence was built on the noble motive of helping the swordsmen who went to the frontline to complete the game. Because of this, I actually respect merchant and class players.
Even so, the words self-sacrifice would never appear in the dictionary of this merchant in front of me.
[Then it's decided!] I'll give you 500 cors for 20 pieces of Dark Lizard Leather!」
The owner of the prop house, Egil, who I often patronized, was waving his thick right wrist vigorously and patting the shoulder of the person he was buying and selling. The other party was a rather weak-looking gunner. Then, he opened the trading window and entered the amount in his trading column without giving the other party a chance to bargain.
Although the other party still looked hesitant, after being stared at by Aguirre with his fierce face that would make others mistake him for a battle-hardened warrior-in fact, Aguirre was not only a merchant, but also a first-class axe warrior-he hurriedly moved the item from his item window to the trading column and pressed the OK button.
[Thank you! Come and visit again! Brother!"
After giving the spearman a hard slap on the back, Aguirre laughed heartily. Dark Lizard leather was the material for high-performance defensive equipment. Although I felt that 500 cors was a little too cheap, I still remained silent and watched the spearman leave. He thought to himself that he should learn not to be too polite to the prop house merchant.
[Hey. You're still doing black-hearted business."
After talking to him from behind, the bald man turned around and grinned at me.
"Yo, it's Kirito. Buying cheap and selling cheap has always been the principle of this shop's business.」
This guy didn't even feel embarrassed when he lied.
"Selling it cheaply is quite questionable. Forget it, I have something to sell you too.」
[Kirito is a regular customer. I won't have any bad intentions. Let me see..."
Aguirre said as he stretched out his thick neck and looked at the trading window I showed him.
The SAO player's character was able to accurately display the appearance of the real world through the scanning function of the NERvGear and the adjustment of the initial body measurement device. However, every time I saw this Egil, I couldn't help but sigh at the fact that there was such a suitable appearance in the real world for the online game of fantasy.
Its body was 180 centimeters tall, and it was made up of strong muscles and fat. The rough face above its neck looked like it was carved out of a rock. It looked like a bad guy in professional wrestling. In addition, the only hairstyle that could be customized was a big bald head. Its appearance was not inferior to that of a barbarian monster.
However, despite his appearance, his unique face was quite likable when he smiled. He looked to be less than 30 years old, but it was really hard to imagine what kind of profession he was in the real world. It was an unwritten rule in this world not to ask about the other side.
The pair of eyes under the thick and protruding brow ridge widened when they saw the trading window.
"Hey, isn't this an S-rank rare item,'Rabbit Meat Cuttle'? This is the first time I've seen it in stock…Kirito, you don't lack money, do you?" Didn't you think of staying and eating by yourself?」
"Of course. I probably won't have the chance to get it again…However, not many people have such high cooking skills to deal with this kind of prop."
At this moment, someone poked me in the back.
[Kirito...]
It was a girl's voice. There aren't many female players who would call me by my name. It should be said that there was only one female player who would call out to me in such a situation, so I already knew who she was before I turned my head. I quickly grabbed his hand that was still on my left shoulder and turned around.
[We caught the chef.]
[Wha…what?]
With my hand in his grasp, a surprised expression appeared on his face as he retreated.
At this moment, I could see her small oval-shaped face and her large light brown pupils that were emitting a dazzling light under her long chestnut-colored straight hair that was parted in the middle. Below her small and straight nose, her cherry blossom lips added a little more elegance to her beauty. Its slender body was wrapped in a white and red knight-style battle suit, and an elegant silver sword hung on the white leather sword belt.
Her name was Asuna. He was a well-known figure in SAO.
There was a reason why she was so famous. First of all, she was an overwhelming minority of female players in the game, and she was a beautiful woman with impeccable looks.
In this SAO world, where players 'physical bodies, especially their appearances, could almost be completely displayed, beautiful female players could be said to be rare existences beyond S-class, even though they were reluctant to say so. Beauties like Asuna could be counted on two hands.
Another reason why she became famous was her pure white and bright red knight's uniform, which was the uniform of the Blood Alliance Knights. The guild name was " Knight of the Blood ", which was also known as " KO B ". Amongst the many guilds in Ain Grand, it was publicly acknowledged as the strongest player guild.
Although it was a medium-sized organization with only about 30 people, they were all high-level powerful swordsmen. Moreover, their leader was the legendary strongest man in SAO. Although Asuna looked like a weak woman on the outside, she was actually the deputy leader of this knight group. Of course, her swordsmanship was no joke. Her fine swordsmanship earned her the nickname " Flash."
In short, whether it was her appearance or her sword skills, she stood at the top of the 6,000 players. It would be strange if she did not become famous. Of course, there were many players who were her fans, and there were also some fanatical fans and stalkers. In addition, there were also people who hated her very much, so she heard that she had actually suffered a lot.
However, no one would dare to cause trouble for Asuna, who was one of the strongest swordsmen. However, in order to ensure her safety, the guild would still send a few guards to follow her. Right now, there were two male members of the KO B standing a few steps behind her, wearing white capes and heavy armor. The thin man on the right, who had his long hair tied behind his back, noticed that I was still holding Asuna's hand, and his gaze was filled with killing intent.
I let go of her hand and shook my finger gently at the man. I replied,
"That's rare, Asuna. It actually appeared in this kind of garbage dump.」
The long-haired man and the owner of the shop froze when they heard me call Asuna by her name. But when the shopkeeper heard Asuna say," Long time no see, Aguirre," his face relaxed again.
Asuna turned to face me and pouted with dissatisfaction."
[What? I'm just here to make sure that you're still alive because the boss battle is about to begin.」
"Don't you have a friend list? You should know about such a small matter. Speaking of which, you probably used the friend tracking function on the map to find this place, right?」
After being refuted by me, she immediately turned her face away in anger.
Other than being the deputy leader, she was also the person in charge of the guild's strategy games. This job did include gathering willful solo players like me to form a team to deal with the boss monster, but personally coming to confirm this was too much.
After Asuna received my exaggerated yet admirable gaze, she placed her hands on her hips and lifted her chin.
[It's good that you're alive. But... but... what did you mean by catching the chef?」
[Ah, right. What's your cooking proficiency level now?」
I remember that Asuna, who was crazy about cooking, kept improving her cooking skills during the time she was training her combat skills. After hearing my question, she smiled proudly and replied,
"You'll be shocked to hear that. I've already 'learned it completely' last week.」
[What!]
Was this guy…an idiot?
Although I had this thought for a moment, I didn't say it out loud.
Every time a skill was used, the proficiency would slowly increase at an almost imperceptible speed. In the end, when the proficiency reached 1,000, it would become a complete learning. By the way, using experience points to increase levels was different from proficiency. After the level increased, it would only increase HP, strength, agility, and the number of skills that could be learned in the " skill grid."
Although I currently have twelve skill slots, the only skills that I have fully learned are the single-handed straight sword skill, the search skill, and the weapon defense skill. In other words, this woman had spent countless hours and passion on skills that had nothing to do with combat.
[…I have a favor to ask of you, master.」
I waved at her and changed the prop window to a visible mode for others to see. Asuna, who was looking over with a puzzled expression, widened her eyes when she saw the name of the item.
[Woah! This…this is an S-grade ingredient?"
[I want to make a deal with you. If you help me cook this, I'll let you have a bite.」
Before I could finish, Asuna's right hand grabbed my shirt tightly and pulled me to a spot a few centimeters away from her face.
[I want one and a half!]
I was flustered by her sudden action and reflexively nodded in agreement to her condition. By the time I came back to my senses, it was already too late. Asuna clenched her left hand in excitement. I could only think to myself that since I could look at her pitiful face at such a close distance, I would forget about such a small matter and force myself to accept the truth.
As I closed the window, I turned around and looked at Aguirre's face.
[I'm sorry, but because of this, the transaction has been terminated.]」
[That's fine…but we can be considered good friends, right?] Let me have a taste too…"
"I'll write you my thoughts within 800 words.」
[No, you don't have to be so ruthless!]
Aguirre made an expression as if it was the end of the world and began to wail. Just as I was about to turn around and leave, Asuna suddenly grabbed the sleeve of my coat and asked,
"It's fine if you want me to cook, but where do you want me to cook?」
[Woo...]
In order to use cooking skills, other than ingredients, he needed at least cooking props, stoves, or oven. Even though my room has some simple tools, how can a small and dirty place like that entertain this deputy commander of the KO's?
Asuna looked at me impatiently and said,
[I don't see any good props in your room. This time, for the sake of the ingredients, I'll make an exception and provide my room as a place to cook.」
This guy actually made such an incredible suggestion with a relaxed expression.
I still didn't understand what she was saying, and my mind temporarily froze. Asuna ignored me and turned to the two guild members who were acting as guards.
" I'm going directly from here to Selmbrook today, so you don't have to protect me. You've worked hard."
As soon as he finished speaking, the longhaired man, who seemed to have reached the limit of his patience, shouted. If SAO's expression reproduction ability was a little more precise, his anger would have caused two or three more veins to appear on his forehead.
[Lady…Lady Asuna! It's one thing for you to move to such a slum, but now you actually let this guy of unknown origin go home with you. This, this is really too wrong!」
His exaggerated words immediately made me retreat. He actually called her " Lord ". I think this guy can be considered a crazy admirer of Asuna. I thought so and looked at him. I found that the person also had a very disgusted expression.
"Let's not talk about this person's background for now, but his sword skills are indeed superb. I think he's more than ten levels higher than you, Krattier.」
[You, you must be joking! How could I be worse than this guy…!」
The man's broken voice resounded throughout the entire alley. He had originally used the three-eyed look on his face. The black pupils of the eyes were close to the top, while the left, right, and bottom of the eyes were white. In physiognomy, this is called a fierce appearance.) His eyes were sunken. He glared at me fiercely, but suddenly, as if he had remembered something, his facial expression changed.
[Oh right…you should be the 'cheater,' right?]」
The so-called cheater was a combination of " closed test participant " and " cheater ", a term exclusive to SAO. Although he was already used to hearing this vicious term, every time he heard it, his heart would still feel pain. And then the face of the first person who had told me this, the face of my friend, flashed through my mind.
[Yes, that's right.]
After I admitted it expressionlessly, the man said even more aggressively,
"Lady Asuna, this guy is a selfish person who only cares about himself! There was absolutely no benefit in getting involved with such a person!」
Asuna, who had remained calm until now, frowned as if she was unhappy. A human wall had appeared around them, and they could vaguely hear the words " KO B " and " Asuna " coming from the crowd.
Asuna glanced at the crowd around her and said to the man named Kradil who was getting more and more excited,"
[Anyway, you can go back first today. This is the deputy commander's order."
Asuna's left hand grabbed the belt on the back of my coat and pulled me back as we walked towards the portal square.
"Hey... hey, is it okay?」
[It doesn't matter!]
Since she said so, of course, I have no reason to reject her. Leaving behind the two guards and the regretful Ajir, the two of us walked through the crowd. I looked back one last time and saw that the man named Kradil was standing straight in place, staring at me with a ferocious expression on his face. And his fierce appearance was like an afterimage that lingered in my sight.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。