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

“I’m faced with two choices now: be a beast, or be worse than a beast… What kind of situation is this?” Solin sat there motionless, his pale cheeks flushed crimson, his mind racing. “Wait, what am I thinking? She clearly isn’t overthinking it, I’m the one overthinking. If I act impulsively now, my favorability rating will plummet…”

He was lost in thought for a long time, unable to move for the rest of the time. He sat there and let Yuna wipe his face with a handkerchief before he finally managed to stammer out a dry "thank you".

"So, Sorin, you're really innocent and adorable." Yuna smiled as she looked at the suddenly flustered and dumbfounded Sorin. In an instant, the relationship between the two seemed to have reversed, with one flirting and the other being flirted with. "I can give you a chance."

Suolin never expected that he would be turned on by this artistic girl. At this moment, he had completely forgotten the so-called techniques that his seniors had taught him, and for a moment he couldn't say anything, he just nodded.

"Hmm, it's getting late, it's time to go back." Yuna glanced at the time on the menu, then placed her hand on Sorin's, who was still sitting on the ground, and tried to pull him up. "Starting tomorrow, we'll be back to fighting, won't we?"

“Alright, you’ve reminded me of that.” Sorin shook his head, stood up from the ground, and naturally took Yuna’s hand, his tone regaining its previous confidence. “Now I need another weapon… or rather, two. Come back to the city with me and take a look.”

------

Sorin woke up very early the next day, actually because he had insomnia the night before. But now he had to put down the fish he was holding and get back on track. Asuna and Kirito were already working hard to get the ship the team needed, so he also needed to obtain the key exclusive equipment for the [Weapon Master] skill as soon as possible.

Interestingly, when he woke up this morning, he found that the [Irish Elbow Organ Mastery] skill that had suddenly appeared in his skill bar had disappeared. Based on what happened last night, he deduced that all of Yuna's instruments might be taking up skill slots.

He stood at the door and knocked gently twice, opening it only slightly before closing it again. He didn't emerge for quite some time. Yuna was still dressed as a typical Serena bard, the rapier and silver flute at his waist gleaming, and he exuded an indescribable sharpness.

"Let's go, it's time to set off."

"As you wish, Milor."

Fifty-six or two hundred catties, excluding head.

Surat had never imagined that after the 2008 incident, he would still need to take commercial flights for missions. Of course, his current annoyance wasn't just about that, but rather…

"Damn it, Doc must have lost his mind to send both of you here, and now I'm stuck here eating dog food." He glared angrily at the two Germans sitting next to him. "I've fucking had enough."

“Actually, to be honest, your volatile temper is one of the reasons you’re still single, Surat.” Elias shrugged helplessly, speaking with a hint of provocation. “The problem is, I don’t understand it either. The three of us plus Hibana could have formed a pretty reliable assault team, but my flash shield and Monica’s electric scanner couldn’t even get through security, let alone anything else. What are these Japanese thinking?”

“You’re asking me? Who should I ask? Last time at least we had someone providing us with weapons locally. Now I don’t know what we can do empty-handed.” Surat’s voice still sounded quite frustrated. “This is the most cowardly government I’ve ever seen. They’re incapable of solving problems and they’re hindering us, who are capable of solving them.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. SIX said he’ll report the situation to the Pentagon and then have us equipped with weapons at a nearby US military base. Our equipment will also be delivered,” Monica said calmly. “The action team has six operators. We need to find a foothold locally first and then start the investigation, while waiting for Mox to join us. I estimate finding that guy won’t be difficult, but the rest depends on that streamer. This process may take a long time, after all, he hasn’t undergone any training; he’s just a gamer.”

"So in other words, Surat, relax and just treat it as a vacation."

------

"Hello everyone, welcome to Sword Art Online brought to you by MagicTV and Suolin. We have now progressed to the fourth floor, which has a waterway theme. My two other teammates are currently working on the shipbuilding questline, so we can only rent a ship at the port for now."

Solin turned on the screen recording again to prepare for the next episode. He was standing at the stern rowing, while Youna was still sitting on the gunwale, now holding a fishing rod.

[It's a girl, I'm so excited!]

[It seems that when Grandpa Suolin wasn't streaming, he was constantly boosting the girl's favorability rating (knife)]

Where did that straight man named Kirito go?

I used to think this was a survival show, then you guys said it was Monster Hunter, and now I realize it's a total White Album show.

[It's 2202 already and there are still "White Album" scholars? Why are you so knowledgeable about this, upstairs?]

[Brothers, beat the white-collar scholar to death!] *N

"It turns out that the silly viewers in the chat are also one of my hopes for fighting..." Sorin suddenly sighed, coughed twice, and then continued explaining, "So now we're going to do a quest for a hidden skill's exclusive weapon. The first step is to find the Kaldorei NPC we rescued on the third floor. The Kaldorei territory on this floor is still quite far from the main city, on the side of the labyrinth area. We'll see a fork in the river leading to the labyrinth area. Walking into that fork will lead you to their castle. I don't think it'll be like Darnassus... probably."

"Sorin, what are you doing?" Yuna suddenly turned around and looked at Sorin curiously. "You've been talking to yourself since the beginning."

"Well... to put it simply, it means that I can use some special means to show people outside our current strategy progress, and I can see the messages they send." Sorin briefly explained the function of the live stream to Yuna, and then pointed to Yuna's fishing rod, "With an old angler's intuition, you should have something hooked there."

"Ahhh...Really? Whoa!" Yuna was both surprised and panicked. She pulled the fishing rod back with all her might, bending the entire rod at a ninety-degree angle and continuing to bend downwards. It looked like either the fishing rod would break or Yuna would be pulled into the water.

Solin shook his head with a wry smile, put down the oar, walked to You Na's side, gently covered her small hands with his own, and then gripped the fishing rod tightly.

“Get the rhythm right, this is a big one, it might take a while to catch it.” Sorin said, guiding Yuna’s hand to pull the fishing rod lightly and heavily. The force of the struggle in her hand indicated that there was indeed fish down there and it wasn’t just a snag. “At least fifty pounds… Great, looks like we’ve got our dinner sorted for tonight.”

[Grandpa Suolin's fishing (and beauty) tutorial?]

I want to know if there's anything Grandpa Solin can't do.

[Reply to the person upstairs: Having a baby]

[Replying to the person upstairs, how do you know it won't work?]

As it turns out, between his crush and his silly online friends, Sorin still chose Yuna. Seeing all the nonsensical comments, he just smirked, his mind still focused on outsmarting the massive creature underwater. Yuna, meanwhile, felt the warmth emanating from Sorin's hands, her face slightly flushed but filled with a sense of security.

"Give it to me! Take off!" After feeling the struggle below lessen once again, Solin suddenly shouted, pulling the fishing rod back forcefully while simultaneously reeling in the line rapidly with his right hand on the reel. Huge ripples suddenly erupted on the water's surface, and a large salmon, about half the size of a boat, was pulled from the water into the air.

Upon seeing the salmon's red name, he immediately tossed the fishing rod to Yuna, then drew the Illusion Blade he had just obtained from the previous level and unleashed several slashes in mid-air, dealing massive damage. By the time the unfortunate fish landed on the boat, it was already a pile of red polygonal fragments.

"So this is how the fishing system works in this game. This fish is really big, weighing 200 jin (100 kg) excluding the head, a standard product from the Huangpu River." Solin sighed softly. "This fish dropped a 1:1 scale exhibit specimen and food ingredients. If there's an NPC with advanced cooking skills in that castle, we can enjoy this tonight."

[Has the streamer grown gills or can now digest cement?]

【FGNB!】

[Warning: Drowning in the River.jpg]

"Hmm." Yuna's voice was weak again, just like before, completely different from her strong performance last night. "I only brought the fishing rod for fun, but I'm having a lot of fun now, Sorin."

"Hey? Suolin, what's wrong with you now?"

57. Red-Name Gathering & June Boat Song

At this moment, in an underground waterway below the mountain, a dozen or so people dressed in black sat in a circle. The person standing in the middle held a one-handed axe and appeared to be the leader of the group. These people had one thing in common: the markers displayed above their heads were not the green of ordinary players, but a menacing red, the only difference being the shades.

“Those who have gathered here at this moment are like-minded people who are willing to shatter the existing dull order.” His voice was deep, yet it carried a power that could easily inspire people. “I believe that you have already experienced this pleasure, even if it comes at a small and insignificant price.”

The so-called insignificant price naturally refers to the bright red marker above their heads. In SAO, this marker represents "having killed a player," but in this death game, it represents a murderer. As red-named players, they cannot resupply in ordinary villages, and if they appear among the current player group, they will likely... or rather, they will definitely be attacked by the entire group, because they are now the enemy of all the players.

Ironically, the leader, who was recognized or elected by these people with red names, still had the green mark above his head, representing the innocent.

“You’re right, PoH, we’re willing to gather here because of your call,” one of the people responded. “But it seems your plan hasn’t worked, and your player marker is now a glaring green.”

"It was just a minor mistake, Johnny Black, the so-called great hero who stepped forward, [Thousand Swordsman] Sorin, was very resourceful, and there was also a woman who could provide a group healing buff at the time." He curled his lip, as if scoffing at this statement, "But now the biggest enemy standing in our common cause is this very person."

"What do you mean?" asked another red-named man wielding a rapier.

“According to one of my informants, he kept his livestream running throughout the game, and I don’t need to explain what a livestream is.” PoH nodded to the person and continued explaining, “In other words, Sasha, normally if we kill people here, no one will be able to match us with those killers in real life once the game is over. But with him around, once our red names are discovered, what awaits us after we get out is jail and soap. I think you all understand what I mean.”

After PoH finished speaking, the red-named individuals sitting below began to murmur amongst themselves. After waiting patiently for a while, seeing that the murmurs were getting out of control, PoH quickly coughed twice to interrupt them.

"So what should we do, boss?"

“It’s very simple. First of all, we now have the means to make masks. After we put on the masks, he naturally won’t be able to see our faces clearly. Of course, you can also try a look like Molt’s.” He pointed to Molt on the side as he said this. “However, the number of masks is ultimately limited. More and more people will join us in the future, so we need a solution that can be solved once and for all.”

"Find his location and kill him."

------

After her first fishing attempt caused some trouble, Yuna finally put down her fishing rod, found a spot on the gunwale close to Sorin, sat down, stretched her legs out over the gunwale, and began to play the silver flute.

"Kirito told me before that there's a hidden high-level blacksmith in the Dark Elf camp on the third floor. He made Asuna a knight's light sword with a maximum enhancement level of 15. Once we get to their castle, we can get you a better weapon." Sorin said, rowing the boat vigorously while trying to speed up by pressing the spacebar. "I happen to have a spare weapon, which I can melt down into a metal block and use to make a weapon for you."

He was naturally referring to the [Enlightened One's Katana] he obtained on the first floor. Kirito had predicted that this katana could be used for at least the sixth or seventh floor, but since he obtained the Illusion Blade from the tree spirit Nereus on the third floor, the [Enlightened One's Katana] was naturally rendered obsolete.

He had considered selling the sword or putting it in the guild warehouse, but he later learned that he could equip the katana directly because of the [Weapon Master] skill effect, while the [Katana Mastery] skill was hidden and could only be obtained after completing a long questline on the tenth floor. Therefore, no one else could wield the sword except him, and it could only be melted down into metal blocks.

The smelting system is an alternative way to upgrade weapons. In normal MMORPGs, players frequently change weapons before reaching the level cap, while smelting allows you to retain some of the current weapon's attributes and proportionally add those attributes to weapons forged from smelted metal. The method Kirito previously told Asuna about "saying goodbye to the sword, yet still carrying its soul with you" is precisely the smelting system.

Of course, Sorin is essentially saying goodbye to the sword and giving its soul to the person he loves. But if the [Master's Katana] really had a soul, it probably wouldn't object to Sorin's actions.

[Master's Katana: MMP! Did you hear me? MMP!]

Yuna didn't reply, but simply nodded slightly. She was still working on improving her [Bard] skill proficiency. Similar to Sorin's [Weapon Master], each level increase in the [Bard] skill would grant a new buff skill that could be played.

The music now echoing in Solin's ears is "June Barcarolle," originally a piano piece by Tchaikovsky, but when played on the flute, it takes on a more melodious and graceful feel.

“This time it truly is the music of home,” Solin sighed slowly. “Walk to the shore—where the waves will kiss your feet, and mysterious, melancholic stars will shine above us.” (Russian)

"Is it the poem about June in 'The Four Seasons'? It sounds somewhat similar." Yuna stopped playing, put her hand that was holding the flute back on her thigh from her lips, turned to look at Sorin, and gave him a faint smile.

After sacrificing tens of thousands of Ah Wei, Sorin finally developed some resistance to Yuna's smile. However, after thinking for a while, he suddenly realized a problem.

"Yuna, you understand Russian?" he asked. He recalled his second meeting with Yuna, during which he had hurled a lot of insults at her in both Russian and Chinese. Now, thinking back, wasn't that...

“Well, I’ve taught myself Latin and Russian, and English and Chinese were taught in school, so I can understand them.” Yuna said softly, as if she knew what Suolin was thinking. “It’s okay… I know you were trying to scare away those thugs that day.”

"And... more than anything else, I care more about what you said at the very beginning. Coming by summons, willing to cut through thorns for the sword in my hand... you're a very trustworthy person."

58. Yuffie City

Twenty minutes later, Sorin finally steered the ship to the front of Yuffie, the main city of the Dark Elves. The canyon connecting Yuffie to the river was shrouded in mist, visibility was extremely low, and a sense of danger permeated the air.

"The smog in Harbin is fucking awful, but at least it's awesome," Solin sighed as he looked at the thick fog. "Look at this, they're doing heavy industry but don't know how to manage it, they don't pursue sustainable development, and this is what happens. If you ask me, these Kadorei are still too naive and sometimes quite childish."

Of course, at this moment, the only response he received was from the comments section, and Yuna did not receive his explanation, which was a mix of Qin dialect and magical language.

"This fog must be some kind of defensive measure, since this place can be considered a hidden area." Yuna looked at the fog in front of her, analyzed it seriously for a moment, and then suddenly pointed excitedly to the front after the fog dissipated, "This castle is so beautiful!"

Sorin followed her finger and looked ahead. They were now on an extremely wide lake, and in the center of the lake stood a solemn and magnificent castle... which could probably be called a fortress. Four spires of different heights stood on the huge roof, and at the top of them fluttered black banners with crossed horns and curved sword emblems.

“It’s almost comparable to the castles I saw when I traveled through Europe.” Sorin nodded in admiration as he looked at the magnificent castle. “These Kaldorei strongholds are truly impressive.”

"Have you ever been to Western Europe, Sorin?" Yuna asked curiously.

“I’ve played Assassin’s Creed. The whole series.” Sorin shrugged, revealing the truth. “But I’ve seen Yekaterinburg, which is similar to this one.”

Yuna nodded seriously, then continued to admire the magnificent exterior of Yufiel Castle. The castle's exterior was made of snow-white marble, and the roof was covered with dark gray tiles laid at an angle. Below the castle, a large walkway extended from the main gate, with dozens of warships, each capable of carrying about twenty or thirty people, moored beside it.

A section of the boardwalk was flashing blue warning lights. Sorin rowed the boat twice to turn it around, moored the small boat at the berth, and then jumped off the boat first. He turned around and took Yuna's hand to help her off the boat.

"What's your Dark Elf reputation level?" Thorin asked. He first met Yuna at the Dark Elf camp on the third level, so he knew that Yuna's Dark Elf reputation was definitely above neutral, but he didn't know exactly where it was.

"Friendly 64%, that shouldn't stop me from entering, right?" Yuna glanced at her character menu and asked cautiously, "Your reputation should be higher than mine, right?"

"Respect 21%, no problem. If they stop you outside, I'll take you in with me." Solin casually boasted, then led Yuna to the bottom of the gate, where they were stopped by two dark elf NPCs who looked like guards.

“You cannot pass through here, human,” one of the guards said.

"We are the Dark Elves' helpers, please allow us to enter the city," Thorin said, taking out a reputation token from his inventory. Of course, he was just trying to avoid looking too out of character; otherwise, he could have simply said "FNMDX" and shown the reputation item to get through.

"The Dark Elves thank you for your assistance, human warriors." After saying this, the guard raised the halberd he had used to block the door, indicating that the two could pass.

"Let's get the weapons sorted out first, then I'll go pick up the hidden quest Kirito shared with me." Sorin glanced at the minimap and led Yuna toward the blacksmith shop inside the castle. "Kirito had previously guessed that the way to unlock the blacksmith in the Dark Elf stronghold was to reach Revered reputation, and now it should be about the same."