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

"That's true, but one thing is undeniable—you're too weak."

Sorin spoke dismissively, deliberately charging towards Igum with rather reckless steps. This was exactly what Igum wanted to see. He crouched slightly, then swung a more powerful slash at Sorin's sword than before. He was certain that this strike would hit Sorin's rapier and cut the standard-issue sword in two.

But Sorin's response the next second was completely unexpected. In the instant the two swords clashed, Sorin released his right hand from the sword, and then used a movement so subtle that it was almost impossible to see the trajectory to circle behind him, switching his right hand to a katana held in reverse.

The katana rested firmly against Igum's waist, then remained there. Igum wanted to make some other moves, but when the judge stood up and loudly announced, "The match is over!" he had no choice but to stop in his tracks, glaring resentfully at Solin before walking off the stage on his own, even skipping the formal bowing ceremony that usually follows the duel.

"How rude of an opponent..." Sorin turned her head away in disdain, then gave the judge a gentle smile. She then performed the elegant and elaborate courtesies before slowly walking off the stage. At that moment, the cheers around her grew even louder, becoming the most eye-catching sight in the entire arena. After this battle, the title "Sword Dancer of the Silver Moon" began to circulate throughout the city.

Although Sorin always wore a "holy crap" expression of utter disbelief whenever strangers called him that, he couldn't be too rude to them because of the persona he'd unconsciously created. But that's a story for later. After dealing with that troublesome guy, the remaining two weren't too difficult for Sorin, and the same was true for Eugeo on the other side.

And so, the two of them won the swordsman tournament. Eugeo became a guard in the town, while Thorin resigned from the guard job, citing his status as a lost soul and lack of duty. He simply helped prepare meals at their temporary lodging and continued to teach Eugeo swordsmanship in the evenings.

Of course, what's rather interesting is that, to outsiders, the "Sword Dancer of the Silver Moon" seems more like a dutiful wife, even though anyone who tries to ask Sorin about this will only infuriate her, prompting her to draw her sword and demand a duel. This mundane routine has continued for over half a year without anyone noticing.

The Sakarya Sword Tournament, August 9th, 378th year of the Human Calendar

From Sorin's perspective, this should be a short break. In the RPG games he'd seen before, such transitions were usually shown with a scene followed by "a year later," but here... he'd been waiting for the next step of the main quest, which was passing the Imperial Sword Academy exam, for a full half year.

This made him feel somewhat irritated. He didn't know if time here was converted to the outside world at a 1:1 ratio. If so, it meant that Yuna might have been waiting for him for a long time, and might not even know his exact location. That was the worst-case scenario he could imagine, but the current situation was, in some ways, even worse—after all, everything that awaited him was still unknown.

There's a saying, "The power of habit is terrifying." Without realizing it, he had become accustomed to spending his time in his room reading books borrowed from the town library when Eugeo wasn't around, preparing dinner just before Eugeo's return, then beating (scratch that) and training Eugeo until about nine or ten o'clock after dinner, then getting up early the next day to prepare breakfast, and making lunch for Eugeo when he was on duty at noon—a daily routine. But it was precisely this habit that frightened him.

He was afraid he would forget his past, forget that there were people waiting for him outside, even though he didn't know what had happened outside that had brought him to this place... But thankfully, this unchanging routine was about to be broken tomorrow. In Solin's plan, the two of them would embark on their journey to the Central Capital early tomorrow morning to take the Imperial Sword Cultivation Academy exam, and what awaited them was a long-awaited period of travel.

"Solin, you're going to the Central Capital tomorrow?" Eugeo said, half excited and half nervous, intending to help Solin clear the dishes from the table, but Solin, as always, reached out to stop him. "Let me help you clean up once in a while, it's always like this..."

"You'll only cause trouble if you come up here. There's no training tonight, get some rest, I'll wake you up early tomorrow and we'll leave." Sorin spoke gently but with a hint of disdain. He neatly cleared the dishes from the table and then pushed Eugeo back into his bedroom. "Hurry up!"

"Sleeping right after eating will cause indigestion... Okay, okay, I'll go to sleep now." After muttering a few words, Eugeo finally gave in to Sorin and turned back to his room.

Now only Suolin was left in the huge living room. He busied himself for a while, washing all the dishes and putting them back in the cupboard, and wiping the table until it shone. Then he sat down at the table.

It was completely dark. Yet Solin did not light the oil lamp, letting the bright moonlight fall upon him, illuminating his pale, almost translucent face. He slowly began to sing, his voice not as ethereal and clear as usual, but rather as if it contained complex emotions.

“Позови меня тихая родина. Позови меня на закате дня-а (Call my name softly, quiet homeland. Call me at sunset...)”

At some point, his voice began to choke, and then he had to stop. He didn't want Eugeo to see him like this. Just like he had told Yuna a long time ago, the eldest brother is always the eldest brother in front of others, and the eldest brother's tears will not be shed in front of his younger brothers. Even after experiencing so much, the vulnerable side of his personality had not been erased, but was simply hidden by him subconsciously at all times.

Only in the quiet of the night, in places where no one knows him, would he sing a song from his hometown and feel a little sentimental for a while. When he woke up the next day, he was still the same person, and no one would wonder about the red marks at the corners of his eyes... That's how it should be.

A warm embrace enveloped Solin without him even noticing. He looked up in confusion and felt a hand gently stroking his head.

“Although I’ve wondered for a while why you always let me go to sleep first, this is the first time I’ve confirmed my suspicion, Sorin.” Eugeo whispered in his ear, then gently wiped the corner of his eye with his other hand. “Are you crying?”

Solin didn't reply, but silently shook his head. He knew very well that if he spoke now, he would give himself away, so this was the only way he could do it.

However, Eugeo didn't care about his show of bravado at all. He let go of his hand, walked around and sat down in front of Sorin, staring into his eyes as if he saw through everything.

"Missing home? That's true, I've been away for so long, I'm starting to miss home too." His tone was gentle, trying to comfort his companion who was clearly not in a good mood, in a way he understood. "I heard from them before that you were..."

“That was just a smokescreen. I’m a human being, and there’s no need for me to hide that from you.” Sorin’s tone suddenly turned cold, but a clear sob could still be heard in the middle. “I was just thinking about… something else.”

“I’m sorry, although I’ve heard from elders that saying ‘I understand how you feel’ might make you feel a lot better in times like this. But… I probably can’t truly empathize with you. So I don’t know what to say.” Eugeo felt a pang of heartache seeing Sorin like this. “I should be comforting you right now, but I don’t even know why you’re so upset.”

“What do you mean by ‘like this’? Is it that exaggerated?” Sorin shook his head, then leaned his upper body on the table, not even bothering to look up at Eugeo. “But thinking about it carefully, there are indeed many things I haven’t told you. Or rather… even I’m completely confused myself, so I don’t know how to tell you.”

“That’s true, but Solin, there’s one thing I can understand. For us, since our only goal is to reach the Central Cathedral, let’s just keep moving towards that goal. If we don’t think about those other things…”

Eugeo had just finished speaking when he was interrupted by Sorin's next words.

“No one can escape their past. One day, it will come back to haunt you and throw cold water on you. I’m tired, Eugeo. I really don’t know how much further I can lead you, or if we will ever get there. I don’t even know if reaching the Central Cathedral will be of any use to me, or if it will allow me to go home… I have no idea.”

His voice was muffled, probably because of his current posture, which prevented it from carrying. After speaking, he stopped and lay motionless on the table. Eugeo noticed that Sorin seemed to be trembling slightly; he was probably still sobbing, he thought.

"But we still have to keep going, don't we? If we stop, all these things that were possible will become impossible."

Eugeo didn't know what to say, because he had absolutely no experience in comforting others.

"Whatever. I can hold on for now, so let's keep going. If I ever really can't hold on anymore... remember to give me a hand."

His voice was still trembling. Eugeo opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but after saying those words, Sorin had already fallen asleep on the table. His beautiful silver hair, shimmering in the moonlight, obscured his face, as well as the tear stains that still lingered on his cheeks.

"So sometimes don't be too stubborn, Solin. You still have companions to rely on, don't you?"

Eugeo muttered to himself helplessly, but these were words that Sorin could no longer hear. Sleeping like this all night, he'd probably wake up sore the next day. Thinking this, he stood there for a while, waiting until Sorin was completely asleep, before carefully lifting him up in a princess carry and carrying him back to his bedroom.

------the next day------

Solin was genuinely startled when he woke up in the morning. He remembered sleeping at the dining table in the living room. Sleeping in such a terrible place would mean being woken up early the next morning with aches and pains all over his body. This saved him the trouble of getting up early, since there were no alarm clocks in this world.

However, when he woke up, he was surprised to see Eugeo sleeping in front of him. He hurriedly looked around the room and realized that this was not his bedroom, but Eugeo's.

"Damn it... so what happened after I fell asleep yesterday?"

Sorin gently rolled out of bed and made a point of checking on Eugeo. Eugeo was still fast asleep and hadn't woken up by his movement, which made Sorin breathe a sigh of relief.

Next came the time to prepare breakfast. This time, he didn't need to prepare lunch for Eugeo, because from today onwards, Eugeo would no longer serve as a guard in Zachariah.

He moved quickly, and of course, breakfast didn't need to be too lavish. Two sandwiches and two glasses of warm milk took fifteen minutes, which was usually the amount of time he allowed Eugeo to linger in bed.

"Get up~ Breakfast is ready~" Solin called softly from the bedroom door, while a faint murmur came from inside the bedroom.

"Ah~ yawn~ Is it already dawn?" Eugeo stretched and saw Solin standing at the door, still wearing his apron. He was instantly wide awake. "Right away... just a moment."

He quickly dressed himself, washed his face briefly at the well by the door, took a handkerchief from Solin and tied it around his neck, and sat obediently at the dining table.

"You... you must have slept well yesterday."

His tone was somewhat uneasy, but he was relieved after seeing Suolin calmly nod.

"Not bad, thanks to you. But sleeping on the table isn't a problem, at most you'll feel uncomfortable when you wake up," Solin replied casually. After a while, he added, "Although you're not very good at comforting people, thank you anyway."

"It's nothing. After all, it would be wrong not to comfort my friend who I spend every day with, seeing him like this." Eugeo took a big bite of his sandwich and said indistinctly, "Time flies. It feels like I just finished the sword tournament yesterday, and today I have to leave this city."

"That's right... wait a minute?"

Solin subconsciously responded, then realized a blind spot in his focus. Generally, the feeling that time flies is an illusion. But Solin didn't think this illusion had been with him from the beginning—that's right, his perception of time had always been slightly slower than normal, making him always suspect that a day was only twenty hours or less.

"This isn't an illusion... If this difference is so significant, could it be that I've been accelerated?" Sorin wondered to himself. "Damn it, I used to be able to guess how much time had passed in the outside world, but now I can't even do that?"

His face suddenly turned pale, which Eugeo noticed, but he didn't understand and didn't dare to ask anything. He could only silently munch on his sandwich.

An eerie silence fell over the table, which was only broken by Solin after the two had finished their sandwiches and warm milk.

"Come and give me a hand." Solin stood in front of the weapon rack, hanging one dark weapon after another on his body. "That's the downside of having too much stuff; it's too much trouble to organize it."

"But it's strong enough, if I were that strong..."

“You’ll complain about how much stuff is too much trouble, don’t lie to yourself.” Sorin interrupted Eugeo’s envious words, then simply stopped moving, stretching his arms out to the sides, letting Eugeo hang the weapons on both sides of his belt. “I finished all the formalities last night, the luggage is at the door, I’ll go with you to the guard post to report in a bit, and then we can set off.”

"So fast? You're really efficient." Eugeo gave Sorin a thumbs up and exclaimed, "We don't know how long the journey from here to the capital will take, and you've already prepared all the supplies for the road."

"No, I might have to show you what wilderness survival is like halfway through. There are some things in this world... the difference between being edible and not being edible is just a hair's breadth. Just don't be disgusted by them then."

Sorin made a casual joke, then picked up the only remaining weapon on the weapon rack, the katana "Black Feather" that he had forged from the very top branch of the Gijas Sida, and walked to the door and pushed it open.

Alicization, February 6, 2025

"Avixin~ Wake up~"

Vector sat sideways on the edge of the bed, gently rocking Ivy's upper body while softly calling her name. After a while, Ivy finally opened her eyes with difficulty, staring sleepily at Vector before closing them again.

"No good morning kiss, and you have to wake Vivi up in such a rough way, Vivi, you big bad guy."

She murmured a complaint, then felt a soft touch on her forehead and opened her eyes with satisfaction.

“I just can’t do anything with you, my little angel.” Vector sighed and picked Ivy up in his arms, then took her dress from the side. “Change your clothes. We’ll find our employer later and ask about the details of the mission. I have a bad feeling about this.”

"Mission details? Didn't that guy tell you?" Vivi tilted her head in confusion, took her dress from Vector's hand, and then calmly took off her nightgown. She watched as Vector blushed and turned his head away, letting out a light laugh. "Every time I see Vivi like this, I think Vivi is so cute."

“Stop messing around. He didn’t tell me anything, and my files don’t contain any details about this incident, so I have no information at all.” Vector coughed twice. She could never do anything with the little angel, and now she could only let her act up. “I only know that a fight will definitely break out here soon. As for who the opponents are, how the fight will go, and even their real plans… those are all unknowns. It would be better if we could know more.”

"Okay... Vivi, turn around, Ivy has finished changing."

Ivy stood up from the bed, lifted her skirt, twirled around in the center of the room, then leaned forward and extended her right hand to Vector.

"As expected, a girl with the mind of a sixteen-year-old is more suited to this kind of childish dress... It's so good to be young." Vector sighed softly, then composed himself and returned to his usual expressionless demeanor. "The turtle's structural diagram should have been entered by now."

"Everything's done! Ivy has already figured out where to put those boards. First, surround Dad's room, then..."

"So, you're going to build an impenetrable nursery and a mansion to your doom, huh? Don't be ridiculous, little angel. Doing that with limited equipment is just laughable." Vector sternly stopped Ivy Xin from turning Mo Yulan's room into an impenetrable fortress, a ridiculously over-the-top defensive concept that practically covered it with ADS (Advanced Devices). "Let's go, it's getting late. And be careful what you do later. This isn't a place where you can just randomly blow up things and still find an escape route. If you accidentally blow this place up and it sinks, we're all doomed, understand?"

"Ivy knows~ Ivy isn't some kind of demolition maniac, it's just that those few times we happened to need to use bombs to clear the way..."

Ivy nodded, readily agreeing to Vector's words, and then followed her out the door. Their room was on a relatively high floor; to get down to the lower floors, they needed to go down a spiral staircase near the turtle's main axis. Under the orange LED emergency lights, the rust-proofed metal staircase made a hard, clanging sound underfoot.

"Wait a minute, Vivi, don't you think... there's an extra voice?"

"Ivy asked this question with a puzzled look, and then pulled Vector to a stop. The two listened carefully for a while, and the extra sound sounded quite muffled and slow, appearing only once every three to four seconds.

“We can make a bold assumption: this thing might be a 200-pound fat guy without a head,” Vector joked casually, then took out the Vector from his waist, switched the fire selector to the double-shot position, “There’s another possibility… this thing is probably something like a Cyclops, which I can’t handle.”

"A Cyclops? What's that?"

Aivis asked in confusion, then took out his own pistol and walked at the front.

“You can think of it as another type of tactical doll, only with a more hardcore appearance and heavy external armor,” Vector explained briefly, then followed Ivy Xin down the stairs. After descending many more steps, the two finally saw a platform, where quite a few people were already standing. Among them were Tetsuya Shigemura and Rinko Kamishiro, whom Ivy Xin had seen before, while another man wore a plaid short-sleeved T-shirt and floral shorts, with sandals on his feet and sunglasses on his face, looking incredibly flamboyant.

Clearly, none of these three people looked like the kind of terrifying individuals weighing over 200 pounds. Therefore, the one who made that sound must have been someone else. Just as Vector realized this, he saw the strangely shaped object surrounded by the three people.

Its overall outline is humanoid, but the skeleton is an unpainted metal frame, and there are several resin-cased cylinders on its hands, feet and waist.

Its joints exposed complex gear structures, while colorful wires spread throughout its body like blood vessels. It carried a large box on its back, and its face was equipped with three lenses of different sizes. Clearly, this was a robot, and one with a distinctly cyberpunk design.

Good morning, everyone.

Seeing this, Ivy quickly hid the gun under her skirt and waved enthusiastically. The three people below looked at the energetic girl with unanimous envy, and their expressions towards the robot turned somewhat regretful.

"Good morning, Ivy. You're as energetic as ever." Tetsuya Shigemura waved to Ivy, then smiled at Ivy and the silver-haired, emotionless girl behind her. "Aren't you going to introduce your friend?"

In fact, Tetsuhiro Shigemura knew Ivy Xin, but he obviously didn't know the other two.

"Hello, I'm Vector, and I'm here to take care of the turtles' security."

Vector also put Vector back into his waistband, read the words in a monotone and expressionless manner, and then walked back behind Ivy. This humane behavior was also observed by Tetsuya Shigemura, whose eyes couldn't help but show a hint of envy.

"Um... Grandpa, what are you doing?" Ivy subtly grasped Vector's hand, then looked at the strangely shaped robot and asked curiously, "Are you testing this?"

(This title seems a bit off, but upon closer inspection, it makes sense.)