Am I the only one streaming Sword Art Online on the entire internet?

“If it were just the result of my efforts these past few days, that would be fine, but this tree is not as simple as it looks, Solin.” Eugeo stopped after swinging the tree fifty times, leaned against it and wiped his sweat. “This giant tree is called ‘Kijasceda’ in sacred language, but most people in the village call it the Devil Tree.”

Sacred language? The name Gigas Cida is a combination of giant and fir tree, partly English and partly Latin, so it seems that sacred language here is something similar.

Seeing Sorin's puzzled expression, Eugeo smiled and shook his head, then explained, "The reason it's called that is because this tree has become accustomed to the blessings of Tyria in the surrounding land. So only moss like this can grow under the branches of this tree, and the trees within its shadow range don't grow very tall."

It's actually the result of succession, isn't it? Dominant species crowd out the living space of other species; that's how it is from a biological perspective. Sorin pondered this, but Eugeo's next words interrupted his thoughts.

“The adults in the village wanted to develop this forest, but as long as this tree is there, it’s impossible. So we thought about cutting it down. But three hundred years have passed, and we’ve only cut down these trees so far.”

As Eugeo spoke, he drew the shape of SC in the air with his finger and then clicked on the tree. A light purple window suddenly appeared in front of him, displaying a six-digit number, which appeared to be the tree's health bar, durability, or something similar.

"Like this. I estimate that when I hand this job over to the eighth-generation loggers, they'll be lucky to cut down 20 logs."

"What is this?" Solin asked curiously, pointing to the pale purple window.

"Oh... This isn't the first time you've seen a sacred spell that summons 'Window of Stysia,' is it?" Eugeo looked at Thorin with a rather strange expression, unaware that the latter was already experiencing even greater turmoil.

"This guy... no, he's not a player, I'm sure of that. But... could it be that in the world of these NPCs, such system menus are commonplace, or even considered part of life skills?"

As he was thinking this, he suddenly noticed that Eugeo was staring at him with a rather strange look, so he quickly turned his head away, and his voice became weak.

"Don't stare at me like that... I've just forgotten a lot of things, at least this 'Window of Stia' is the first time I've ever seen it." He quickly explained, then reached out and tried to imitate Eugeo's gesture, "Is this okay?"

A similar window appeared in front of him, but it also contained information about the "Demon Tree," and in fact, it only had a durability section.

“That’s right, but the elders in the village said not to go and watch the Demon Tree’s ‘fate’ too often. I was just showing you.” Eugeo wagged his finger. He looked at Sorin’s wary expression and suddenly found it a little funny. “By the way, you must be hungry. I have some bread here. I’m not hungry yet, please have it.”

He took out a round bread like the one he had before and handed it to Solin. Although Solin felt that the line was a bit off, he was already starving and didn't dwell on the details. He just took the bread and took a big bite.

"Ah... this bread-like texture really brings back memories..." he mumbled, complaining about the bread's quality, then tried his best to eat it slowly and elegantly. Eugeo stopped what he was doing and stood to the side, watching Sorin eat his bread with great interest, as if the scene was quite amusing.

“You remind me of my childhood friend,” Eugeo suddenly said after a while, “a girl the same age as me, we played together almost all day long…”

“WQNMLGB (Chinese)…” Solin cursed irritably, then suddenly became curious, “Can you tell me about her?”

He saw Eugeo's expression turn ashen almost instantly, clearly indicating that it wasn't a particularly pleasant memory for him.

"I'm sorry..." he said, glancing cautiously at Eugeo, but Eugeo just smiled helplessly and didn't get angry.

“There’s nothing to say. What happened back then was all my fault… On the Sabbath, she and I went on an adventure in the northern caves, but we ended up on the other side of the End Mountains. You know, that’s the Dark Kingdom that the Taboo Index forbids us from ever setting foot in. She tripped and fell, and her hand accidentally hit the ground outside… But for such a small thing, the Integrity Knights came to the outside of the village and tied her up in front of everyone…”

His tone suddenly turned very heavy, perhaps he was still regretting his actions that day. A strong sense of indignation made him grip the axe handle tightly.

"...I wanted to save her. I thought it wouldn't matter if we were both captured, so I was prepared to attack the knight with my axe. However, I couldn't move my limbs at all and could only watch silently as she was taken away..."

As Sorin listened to his story, he continued to ponder something. From his words and experiences, Sorin could deduce that the people of this world seemed to need to follow a special set of rules, more like procedures than laws, and that the Integrity Knights might be a group of people who existed to uphold these rules.

“She must still be alive, even though all the elders tell me to pretend she’s dead. I want to go find her, but with this ‘duty’ on my mind, I simply can’t bring myself to do it…”

"Is this considered issuing a mission?" Solin wondered, and spoke first.

"I'll help you. Can I try to cut down this tree?"

Underworld, March 4, 378th year of the Human Calendar

If this world were viewed as a single-player game where you were the protagonist, then this request would definitely be the main quest. This made Solin's thinking much clearer. As for how to help the boy in front of him... perhaps because this world is more realistic than a game, even if it's a somewhat fantastical reality, his first thought was actually something related to his major.

"No, there's not enough material. There's definitely no equipment in this place that would allow me to perform a complete analysis with just a piece of wood shavings. Using acid or something similar without knowing the material might have the opposite effect... But they probably can't even prepare strong acids here, so this approach is completely blocked."

Solin shook his head, then spoke first: "I will help you. Can I try to cut down this tree?"

“Okay, so there’s a rule that you can’t ask others for help if you don’t have a duty… But it’s actually quite difficult. When I first started, I couldn’t even accurately cut the cross-section.” Eugeo shook off the sadness and indignation he had been feeling earlier and gave Sorin a smile that the latter found rather forced. He then handed the axe to Sorin. “Be careful, don’t hurt yourself.”

"How will you know if you don't try? I'm a professional, okay?" Sorin deftly took the axe, then pivoted on his left foot, twisted his body, and took a big step forward with his right foot, precisely chopping the axe into the notch. A burst of orange sparks exploded, and Sorin's hand was hit by a fairly strong recoil, causing the axe to fall to the ground.

"Ugh... wdnmd blyat... this thing is so hard."

Eugeo laughed heartily from the side, but after Sorin glared at him with those beautiful blue-purple eyes again, he stopped laughing, which made Sorin feel embarrassed. He casually said "sorry," but still had a smiling expression on his face.

"What the hell? Why are you even using the 'hooking' sound... Are you really not an eggplant?"

"You used too much force. It looks impressive, but if you use too much force, you'll really hurt yourself." Eugeo patted Sorin's slightly petite shoulder and exclaimed, "But you're really amazing. To be able to unleash such a powerful attack on your first time using the Dragonbone Axe, I'm suddenly starting to wonder about your original job before you lost your memory."

“Alchemist,” Thorin said casually. “Never mind that for now, I’ll try again… wdnmd blyat!”

This time, there wasn't the massive recoil that sent him flying like before. The axe cleaved into the center of the cut with a clear metallic sound, scattering tiny black fragments of wood. That counted as a successful strike. According to Eugeo, his "lumberjack" duty required him to make two thousand such chops every day, which was certainly no easy task.

He then switched shifts with Eugeo, each performing fifty slashes before taking over, and then rested to recover their strength. Finally, as the sun began to set, they completed their task for the day.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Sorin. Let's go back to the village." Eugeo slung his dragonbone axe over his shoulder, picked up his empty water bottle, and led Sorin towards the village. Before reaching the village, Eugeo told Sorin many things, such as his predecessor being a skilled lumberjack, or the more trivial matters that other people his age in the village thought his work was quite easy. While Sorin responded to Eugeo, he was also trying to think of a way to break the deadlock in this task. He certainly wasn't going to spend his whole life cutting down trees here with Eugeo; besides, even if they spent their whole lives, they wouldn't be able to cut down even a tenth of this tree.

However, if this tree cannot be cut down, Eugeo will have no way to find his childhood friend. Although he doesn't know exactly what "Call of Duty" is, Sorin can vaguely guess that it should be a limitation similar to a program framework, and to break this limitation, he must complete his Call of Duty.

"There must be some way; it should be in this village. The Supreme God wouldn't issue a mission that guarantees death, even if the death is from old age..."

Thinking this, Sorin looked up and saw that the path led to the end of the forest, where an orange light was spreading out. Near the entrance, there was a building that looked like a warehouse. Eugeo walked over and casually opened the door.

Inside this "warehouse" were several ordinary iron axes and machetes, as well as ropes, buckets, and other props, and a long, thin leather bag, the contents of which were unknown.

Eugeo leaned the dragonbone axe against Johnson's, then slammed the door shut and walked back down the path. Sorin noticed he hadn't locked it, but he didn't ask any questions, assuming the villagers were simply honest and kind, or that the people of this world wouldn't commit any illegal acts under the "Taboo Index."

“It’s like a utopia or a paradise… a world of fantasy. Perhaps the people who created this place were trying to simulate this situation.” Sorin couldn’t help but think this way. However, he discovered another bug: such an ideal place that could only exist in theory should not need guards, but according to Eugeo’s statement, this village has regular armed units.

Thinking of this, he quickly asked, "By the way, Eugeo, there shouldn't be any thieves in your village, so why are there guards?"

“Of course, it’s to protect the village from attacks from ‘over there’,” Eugeo said, pointing to a hill in the distance over a nearby wheat field. “See that over there? That’s the ‘End of the Mountains.’ And beyond the End of the Mountains lies the Dark Kingdom, a realm even the Light of Solus cannot reach. There are goblins, orcs, and all sorts of monsters there. They occasionally sneak over from time to time through the caves beneath the End of the Mountains to get here, so the guards need to be on guard against their attacks.”

"That's quite a traditional Western fantasy RPG setting, isn't it?" Solin nodded, having gained a little more understanding of the other settings in this world. "That's your village, right? So, which direction is your house in?"

“This is the south gate, and my home is near the west gate, so you can’t see it from here,” Eugeo said, then pointed to the tallest tower in the village. “I’ll take you there in a bit; that’s Sister Asalia’s church.”

Alicization, February 1, 2025

A day after the attack, Mo Yulan and Chongcun Youna completely vanished from everyone's sight. They disappeared so completely, as if they had never existed. Of course, this was true for someone like Kirito, who knew nothing about the underworld. Kirito had questioned Sinon countless times after the incident, but Sinon remained silent, until several days later, when she too disappeared from everyone's view.

In fact, we won't go into the specifics of Shino's location here, but Mo Yulan's family is actually on a large ship called "RATH" located at sea, which is more like a large fortress than a research institute.

"If I had to pinpoint a reason, it would be to protect the child. He was carrying an incredibly heavy burden."

Tetsuya Shigemura stood by a small window at the back of the computer room, looking at Mo Yulan lying on the machine. He shook his head and sighed, his next words carrying a sense of helplessness.

“This is incredibly reckless. Your actions have disrupted a delicate balance, all for the sake of saving a little girl… Luckily, he got the little one to throw the Eden's Cross into the sea in front of the Templars, otherwise you would be in serious trouble now.”

“I’m sorry, Dad.” Yuna’s voice was very low. She pressed her face against the glass, staring blankly at the other side. “But…”

“There’s nothing to regret. Luckily, you were close to the hospital, otherwise no one could have saved him.” Tetsuya Shigemura patted Yuna’s head, then sat down in a chair and opened a notebook on the table. “His self-healing ability is beyond human imagination. I even suspect that once his condition stabilizes, any external medical assistance will be superfluous for him. That’s why I let him recuperate there. I also happen to have a considerable amount of research in that world.”

"In the virtual world?"

“That’s right, but this virtual world might not be what you imagine… To be precise, it’s a world of reduced dimensions, where the people living are, in theory, real life, not the AI ​​we usually think of.” Tetsuya Shigemura turned to a page in his notes and explained to Yuna in this way.

"Like little Ivy?" Yuna asked, puzzled and curious.

"No, in fact, it's the complete opposite. To put it in a way you can understand, Ivy's way of thinking is actually the sum of countless individual responses. Essentially, it's still a program, which we call 'top-down artificial intelligence.' What we're researching, on the other hand, is produced through a special method, using artificial devices to reproduce the human brain, which is 'bottom-up artificial intelligence.'"

“But is it really possible? I mean... to recreate the human brain with an artificial device or something…” Yuna’s face showed surprise. “It seems too difficult.”

“That’s right. I used to think that bottom-up artificial intelligence was just a hypothesis, but there is real bottom-up artificial intelligence in this world.” Tetsuhiro Shigemura said, then suddenly looked at Ivy Xin, who had been silent all along, with a rather peculiar look. “You know this person, especially this little guy.”

"Vivi?" Ivy Xin suddenly perked up and asked, "Is Vivi really that amazing?"

"Perhaps. In fact, these two types of artificial intelligence will each have their own advantages when they are developed to the end. I consulted Mr. Blank before I started this project, but his answer made me feel a little confused. He said that it was technology from the 1960s. A genius scientist developed something like mind mapping, but he died. I suspect he was implying something, but that is not a reason for me to stop the research."

As Tetsuhiro Shigemura finished speaking, he realized that Yuna's attention seemed to be completely elsewhere.

"He must feel lonely over there. After all, he doesn't know the inside story of these studies; to him, it's like being trapped in a virtual world..."

She leaned weakly against the glass, sobbing softly, while Ivy gently walked behind her and hugged her.

"Don't cry, Mom. If Dad wakes up and sees you like this, he won't be happy either," Ivy whispered to Youna, trying to comfort her. "We just need to wait here. Maybe Dad will wake up soon."

“But I still hate this feeling, this… feeling of not being able to help at all.” Yuna lowered her head, then suddenly looked up at Tetsuya Shigemura and asked, “Dad, is there any way to enter that world?”

"No, not yet." Although Tetsuhiro Shigemura didn't want to see his daughter like this either, he still refused Yuna's request. "Let's rest here for a while. I need to go out and check on my students. They'll be here soon."

"Students?" You Na asked, her expression suddenly turning strange. After all, one of her father's students had been defeated by Mo Yu Lan and was now wandering in the virtual world, while another had been betrayed by her. So she still harbored some psychological trauma towards these people.

“It’s the other two. Don’t worry, people like Kayaba Akihiko and Sugo Nobuyuki are a minority. You can’t expect all my students to be traitors, can you?” Shigemura Tetsudai seemed to see through Yuna’s worries and comforted her with a smile. “They’re here to assist with this research and can also provide some help to our hero. You should stay here for now and don’t show your face outside; it’s too dangerous.”

"Okay, Dad." Yuna replied listlessly, then slowly walked to the chair facing Tetsuya Shigemura, slumped onto the table, and closed her eyes, wanting to take a nap. Ivy Xin had intended to stay by Yuna's side, but a sudden communication interrupted her plans.

“Avixin, you’re in RATH, right?”

“That’s right, what’s wrong?” Ivy responded quickly.

"It sounds strange, but be prepared for defense. I'll airdrop what you need to the top floor of RATH. It's not the Templars, it's another group, and it's not aimed at your father... Well, I'll explain in detail later. Don't tell the others in RATH."

"Sounds like another troublesome job. I understand."

Underworld, March 5, 378th year of the Human Calendar

[Known information that remains uncertain: information related to the calling, information related to Taboo Index, Eugeo's backstory...]

[Unknown Information: Information related to the Dark Realm]

Main Quest (Current): Help Eugeo fulfill his duty—to cut down Gijascedar.

[Main Quest Clue: Find a more effective way to cut down trees / Analyze tree texture]

Solin sighed, placed the quill he had just asked the nun for on the table, and closed the notebook he had just written four lines in. This kind of notebook was one of his daily tasks, though he usually wrote things like, "Why hasn't G1 Bridge XX Bridge been banned yet?"

Upon arriving in the village, Eugeo went to the guardhouse next door. Inside was a young woman about Eugeo's age. Although she initially looked at Sorin with suspicion, upon hearing that he was a "Lost One of Vector," she immediately allowed Sorin to enter the village. On the way to the church, many people approached him curiously, asking who Sorin was. Each time, Eugeo stopped to explain, which took about twenty minutes.

Interestingly, during this time, Suolin also encountered an old woman carrying a large basket. She looked at Suolin with teary eyes, then took an apple out of the basket and handed it to him. This made Suolin wonder what the old woman was imagining.

After some twists and turns, Sorin and Eugeo finally arrived at the church. To be honest, Sorin originally thought that the stern-looking nun would immediately kick out this guy of unknown origin. However, perhaps as part of the game's progression, although it seemed quite illogical, the nun still took in the homeless amnesiac girl (?), gave him a meal, and arranged temporary accommodation for him—this small room.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Sorin stood up and opened it, finding another nun dressed in a black monastic robe. She looked very young, probably only twelve or thirteen years old, with brown hair hanging down her back and her eyes constantly darting around, completely different from when she was with Sister Asalia.

"Sister Solin, here are a pillow and a blanket. If you feel cold, there are several more blankets in the closet inside. Morning prayer is at six o'clock, and breakfast starts at seven. Although I will come to check on you, I hope you can get up on your own as much as possible. Also, you are not allowed to go out after lights out, so please be careful."

She gave a sweet smile, her eyes filled with affection and curiosity as she looked at Suolin.

“Okay. But… I think I already said it from the beginning, I’m a boy, isn’t it better to call me brother, Seruka?” Sorin looked helplessly at the little nun in front of him and said with a wry smile, “As for morning prayers and stuff… I’ll be careful, I’ll try to get up earlier.”

The girl named Seruka seemed to be a novice nun studying sacred arts at the church. Perhaps because she also had to supervise several children who lived at the church, she spoke to Sorin, who was clearly older than her, in a tone like an older sister or mother, which Sorin found quite amusing.