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

To his surprise, the game not only featured weakness-based critical hits, but also had an even more realistic setting. He watched as Squirrel, as if in great pain, dropped his twin swords and covered his pierced left eye, his health dropping slightly. He immediately rushed forward, thinking he could take advantage of Squirrel's momentary distraction to land as many blows as possible.

This burst of damage was more than three times greater than the results of his previous half-day of rolling and slashing attacks, giving Sorin hope of killing Squirrel. After all, although the camera was always on Sorin, he still had a teammate.

"Kirito! Come here and use your dash skill to slash his eyes!" After finishing the last round of attacks, Sorin saw the blinding debuff symbol above Squirrel's head disappear and immediately sheathed his sword and retreated, shouting at Kirito, who was struggling behind him.

"Wait ten more seconds! Only a rapier thrust to the eye will cause blindness. If I slash at it, it will only cause a stagger, and it won't even trigger!" Kirito, who knew the game better, immediately understood Sorin's idea. He had already taken down one of the demon guards, but he had also lost a lot of health and was now in a precarious situation.

"Solin, switch!"

Sorin looked on in bewilderment as Kirito shouted and immediately ran towards him. He subconsciously followed the original meaning of the word "switch" and took two steps toward Kirito, only to find that Squirrel, whom he had previously held onto with such hatred, had suddenly changed his target to Kirito, and the enemies attacking him had turned into two low-health monsters.

"Does this game even have such an advanced way to transfer aggro?" Solin was taken aback. "This is almost like faking death."

He glanced at the two ghosts' health bars; one had 72% and the other 58%, neither of them enemies he could defeat quickly. After fighting them for a while, he also realized that under their alternating attacks, health potions were practically useless.

As expected, after Kirito took over Sorin's position and began to retaliate against Rasque, he was constantly on the run, and his health gradually returned to a relatively healthy state.

"Ready! Kirito!" After seeing his thrust cooldown refresh again, Sorin casually swung his sword twice to repel two monsters, then turned and aimed at Squirrel's right eye. He moved like lightning, instantly blinding Squirrel's other eye. "Kill him! Unleash a burst of DPS!"

"You don't need to tell me!" Kirito took two steps forward and then charged at Squirrel. During the second period of blindness, the two of them used all their skills to deal damage and finally killed the boss before Squirrel could recover from the blindness for the second time.

"Watch the loot drop and switch!" Solin shouted as soon as he saw Squirrel turn into light. He had been dealing damage while enduring the basic attacks of the remaining two ghost guards, and now he only had a sliver of health left.

Kirito returned to his position, while Sorin, after downing a potion, stepped forward and drew the aggro of one of the demon guards. A lone demon was no match for these two experienced players, even with a several-level advantage. After a little effort, the two demon guards turned into a cluster of sparkling fragments and vanished before their eyes.

【666666】

[I'm a fan now! This streamer is awesome!]

[It seems like the streamer isn't treating this death game like reality at all; he's playing so recklessly.]

Solin stood there, watching the barrage of comments flash by, and realized just how dangerous the battle he had just experienced was—a life-or-death struggle.

"Is it finally resolved...?"

7. This is the protagonist's real cheat code!

After a perilous life-or-death struggle, Sorin and Kirito finally defeated the goblin boss that had spawned out of nowhere. And after killing the boss comes the most tense and exciting part of MMORPGs – checking the boss's loot, commonly known as looting the corpse.

"I'm lucky, let me go!" Solin volunteered and was the first to run to the spot where Squier died, and opened the loot window below. "This kind of high-intensity boss that spawns randomly should give us some reliable loot, right?"

[It seems that old man Suolin has forgotten the days when he was only one player away from winning the Auto Chess game.]

[Even those who don't understand the game, like the black guy, claim their hands are red?]

[So why is the streamer called Suolin? Wouldn't it be better to call him Tefili? That would fit the image of a black man much better.]

"However, the best item in this boss's loot list is a long katana, which neither of us can use." Kirito had just made this comment when he heard Sorin let out a roar that sounded like a berserker's.

"Rua! Who just said I had bad luck? Check out this weapon whose stats are almost two levels higher than a beginner's weapon!" Solin had already picked up the dropped, jet-black long katana and casually opened the equipment stats window. "Did you eat my rice if I said I had bad luck again?"

Did the big fan eat your rice?

An embarrassing sound came from the rice bin.

[Wow! There are even Zheng Shuang fans here?]

The katana was called the "Master's Katana," a name likely a tribute to a certain game. However, Sorin was only concerned with its stats, which were more than ten points higher than the "Beginner's Rapier" in his hand. Kirito, who had come over, was more interested in something else.

"It really is this weapon. It's a pity that neither of us is proficient in katana. If we switch weapons, all the proficiency we've gained will be lost." He pointed to the attributes of the Enlightened Katana and explained, "In addition, the best thing about this weapon is that it can be refined up to nine times. After refining it nine times, you can use this weapon for a long time."

"No, Kirito, I only care that this weapon is awesome. As for why it's awesome, that's not what I need to care about right now." Sorin shrugged, smugly put it into his backpack, and then immediately equipped it. "This time, the equipment distribution will follow the GKP rules for solo teams. If you don't want it, just give me an estimate and I'll give it to you slowly."

"Don't be so serious. I really don't need this equipment. You can take it if you want it." Kirito waved his hand somewhat embarrassedly. "Compared to this, are you sure you want to give up your previously acquired rapier proficiency in exchange for a long katana?"

"You should settle accounts. Saying it like that only shows you're used to playing solo and are unaware of these things, not that you're being righteous." Solin shook his head. After all, having played World of Warcraft, he knew all too well how terrible the consequences of such irresponsible loot-sharing could become a habit. "Let me tell you this, Kirito. In other MMORPGs I've played, there were often groups of friends who divided loot haphazardly. When high-end equipment like Ashbringer or Warglaives of Azzinoth dropped, they would turn against each other, arguing on forums and even engaging in real-life PvP."

"Is it that exaggerated... I really didn't know." Kirito replied awkwardly. He had indeed always been a lone wolf in his previous games and had never experienced or even heard of what Sorin was talking about. "If this sword were sold at a discount, it could fetch at least 2000 Cole, which is a very high price for low-end equipment."

[The release of AL means the end of all brothers, and that's no exaggeration, buddy.]

"Never mind that. I'll pay you back slowly after I've paid you back 2000. And when the team is officially formed, I'll be responsible for keeping track of DKP. When distributing gear, we can follow the DKP system... You should know what that is, right?"

DKP, or Dragon Kill Points, is a point system used in previous MMORPGs (mainly World of Warcraft) as the primary basis for equipment distribution. Essentially, the DKP system is suitable for fixed or semi-fixed teams (mostly fixed teams but with solo members), and its core principle is a reward-based system based on contribution. Of course, this is still a new term for Kirito, who hadn't played other MMORPGs before and was a solo player during the closed beta.

So Sorin had to give Kirito a lesson on DKP basics, but after a long explanation, Kirito still seemed only half-understanding. Of course, even Sorin himself didn't expect that his explanation would actually elicit a lot of insights from veteran World of Warcraft players.

"Forget it, let's focus on GDP (Gross Damage Per Second) while it's just the two of us in the team. We can explain DKP (Dragon Kill Points) later when at least a third person joins." After arguing for a while, Sorin finally gave up on explaining the DKP for the time being. However, as he continued on his way, he discovered something unusual.

"Kirito, you just said that if I switch to this Enlightened Katana, the progress I made in mastering the Rapier skill will disappear, right?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that. First of all, if you don't have the skill in your katana, you can't equip the Enlightened Katana at all. And the operation of changing the skill can only be done in the main city of each floor. For example, the main city of this floor is the Beginning Town. After changing the skill, the original skill will disappear, and the proficiency of the newly learned skill will naturally be 0."

After Kirito finished explaining this long string of words, he saw Sorin walking around showing off the Enlightened Blade that had just been looted from Squirrel to his audience, looking extremely surprised.

"Wait, why are you able to equip this katana right now?!"

"How would I know? I just clicked on the equipment and it was equipped. I didn't know before that I couldn't use a katana without changing my skills." Sorin shrugged again and opened his skill bar in a safe place to check.

In the first skill slot, the [Rapier Mastery] skill, which originally had a rapier icon, had been changed to the corresponding [Katana Mastery]. And in the last gray slot of the skill slot, a strange new skill had suddenly appeared.

[Weapon Master lv.1 (2/1000)]

【Effect: 1. You can have different weapon mastery skills, the maximum number of which depends on the current skill level (current maximum number of weapon mastery skills: 2)】

2. As long as you have an available weapon mastery slot, you will automatically gain the weapon mastery skill equivalent to your Weapon Master skill level when you equip a certain weapon.

"One Law Understands All Laws – Dark Elf Sword Dancer Kissmael"

Looking at the skill description, which clearly didn't seem like a beginner's skill, Suolin was momentarily at a loss for words. After a moment of hesitation, he decided to ask a veteran beta tester next to him for help.

"...Kirito, come here and take a look at this. What is this thing?"

VIII. The Youth's Determination

After another ten minutes of travel, Kirito and Sorin finally arrived at their first place that could be considered a place to stay—a village in the wilderness. This village was obviously smaller than the starting town, but it still had a peaceful and tranquil atmosphere.

Sorin observed carefully and found that although this place wasn't as large as the starting town, it still had everything one would need, such as blacksmith shops, tailors' workshops, taverns, and inns. It was small but complete. At least when fighting monsters of higher levels in this area, Sorin didn't have to worry about running out of supplies.

“We were among the first players to arrive here. Many of the quests here have a unique reward, which is only given to the first player to complete the quest. Players who complete the quests afterward will only receive the normal rewards.”

Kirito walked along the village road, picking and choosing some quests to accept. Then he explained to Sorin, "We'll leave some for the players who come here later. For example, there are seven quests here with the unique reward of a high-level weapon. We can each take one. The rest can be done in the same way."

“I think we should take them all while there are fewer people, so we can build our own team.” Sorin disagreed with Kirito’s approach. “At least as far as I know, attracting players with superior equipment and better treatment is a prerequisite for building a large guild.”

"But if that's the case..."

"It won't significantly affect the level of top-tier players, or rather, if handled properly, the combat power of top-tier players might even increase. But that's something I need to consider, since someone like you who's used to going it alone can't possibly be good at this."

He ran back a couple of steps, picked up all the tasks he had just left, then ran back to Kirito's side and asked again, as if still worried, "You really don't know what the last thing in my skill bar is?"

"I only saw the eighth floor during the closed beta. This is obviously a very high-end thing. How would I know?" Kirito spread his hands, indicating that he really didn't know about it, and asked Sorin a question out of curiosity.

"Speaking of which, Solin, you're quite enthusiastic about forming guilds and such, and you seem to know a lot about these things. Why are you so fixated on this?"

“Persistence…maybe.” Solin listened to his question, nodded thoughtfully, then sighed and continued, “After all, the final boss of each floor requires a team to fight, right? Having a fixed team makes it much easier to conquer, even though the game has now become an expert mode.”

"Expert mode?"

"It's a mode where characters disappear permanently when they die. I remember the Diablo series having this feature, but I'm not really sure about the others... cough cough... don't interrupt." Sorin realized he had gone off-topic after explaining for a couple of sentences, so he quickly steered the conversation back to the previous point, "To put it nicely, I want to be the savior, to rescue the players trapped here and get them out as soon as possible. To put it bluntly, I just don't want to stay here, I want to get out of here as soon as possible."

"But there's still a risk of death when you're attacking the boss on the front lines, right?"

Kirito asked in confusion, but as soon as he spoke, he saw Sorin's expression suddenly turn serious.

"Kirito, I have a serious question for you: are you afraid of dying?"

"Well...everyone's afraid of dying, and I'm no exception."

"Well said, but if everyone is afraid of dying and doesn't bother to take down the boss, I'll never get out of this damn place in my entire life." Solin suddenly spat on the ground angrily and swore, "Don't you fucking disbelieve me, out of the ten thousand people trapped in this game, there won't be more than two hundred heroes who dare to stand in front of the boss guarding each level. If you don't believe me, let's make a bet."

"..." Kirito suddenly fell silent. He knew that very few would stand up in a life-or-death situation. This was no longer the era of eighty years ago, when any Japanese person would shout "Gyokusai" (honorable death) and willingly fight to the death for such laughable ambitions. The saying "Born in hardship, die in comfort" was truly apt.

(Tips: This is for descriptive purposes only; please do not take it too seriously.)

At this moment, the chat in the live stream, which had been filled with complaints, suddenly paused, seemingly shocked by the reality described by Solin. This wasn't an MMORPG where a few people could clear a dungeon after a night of continuous raiding and wiping; this was a reality on another level, connected to real life only by the cold reality of death, yet enough to make the timid stop in their tracks.

It is enough to allow true heroes to stand on the front line where death and redemption intertwine.

"This isn't something a little brat like you should be carrying, Kirito!"

Sorin looked down at Kirito's youthful face, his voice trembling, seemingly filled with anger.

"You talk like you're so much older than me, Sorin Markov! Stop lecturing me like that!" Kirito's usually handsome face contorted with rage at Sorin's words. He pointed at Sorin's excessively youthful face and retorted, "I'm a closed beta tester, the one who went the furthest among the closed beta testers. I should be a top player, standing on the front lines... I have that kind of awareness, don't underestimate me!"

"Alright, then stay by my side and be good to me. Kirito, I believe in you." Sorin looked at Kirito's determined face and suddenly sighed. "Also, I graduated from university two years ago, and I didn't want to look like this."

Although he had just been lecturing Kirito with a whole host of grand principles, he was actually quite confused himself. After all, he wasn't a closed beta player, so he didn't know how strong the bosses were, or whether he could continue progressing step by step like he was doing now.

There is no room for error in this death game; one wrong step and you're in the abyss. He said this wasn't something a kid like Kirito should be carrying, but in reality, it's not something anyone can or dares to bear.

However, just as Suolin was feeling lost, the long-silent live stream suddenly became active, and quite actively at that.

[Aru gave 10 rockets to the elegant Mr. Solin]

[This is the MTG Club of Ice City Academy. Wishing Teacher Mo a safe return.]

[Disdain for this decadence 38324 gifted 10 rockets to the elegant Mr. Solin]

[This is the Planeswalker's Camp. May Teacher Mo return alive.]

[Go, Grandpa Suolin! (Songwei*1)]

Don't stop! (Referring to a strategy game)

……

This sudden wave of donations left Suolin a bit bewildered, but when he saw those familiar IDs, he knew that he wasn't fighting alone; at least he had a group of friends silently supporting him from behind.

"There's only one thing you can rest assured about: since that old bastard Kayaba says this place is his domain..."

As Sorin said this, he raised his katana and pointed it straight at the sky.

"Then I'll tear the sky apart!"

9. The Mysterious Rapier Wielder