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

"How could that be... It's just Expert Mode. If your character dies in the game, there's no way to revive; you have to start from scratch. However, all the equipment you've acquired will be kept in your inventory. As for the equipment you're wearing, it will drop when you die. If a teammate helps you retrieve it, leveling up another character is quite easy," Andrew explained, rubbing his forehead with his right hand.

Just then, there was a knock at the door, which was then suddenly opened. Two familiar figures appeared in the doorway. This time, the visitors drew everyone's attention; many people stopped talking and looked towards the door.

"What a spectacular sight... Am I late?" Mo Yulan asked suddenly, looking at the crowd below, which had almost all arrived. "Good evening, Mr. Andrew, and everyone."

"No, President, the banquet hasn't officially started yet. You've come at just the right time." Andrew waved from below, trying to call Mo Yulan over. Mo Yulan turned to look at Yuna, who simply gave a faint smile before walking over to Kirito and sitting down opposite Asuna.

She understood what Mo Yulan meant; she thought it wouldn't be appropriate for her to leave her at the party and chat with her friends afterward. However, she didn't think there was anything inappropriate about it. After all, they weren't completely bound together, and besides, she also wanted to chat with her classmates from school, so she let Mo Yulan go.

"Long time no see, Brother Solin. Have you been playing any new games lately?" As soon as Ya Wang saw Mo Yulan coming over, he remembered Andrew's initial suggestion and asked directly.

"What new game? It's even more exciting than a game... I haven't played anything other than Dota 3 these past two days, you guys who watch my streams know that. Hey, you might not believe it, but the other day I got outplayed by a mid-laner Rubick, his plays were unbelievable, and the thing is, I've never even seen that guy before... never even heard of him."

Upon hearing Ya Wang's question, Mo Yulan inexplicably thought of that person again, and then asked, half-complaining and half-inquiring, "Speaking of which, have you ever heard of the ID Yuuki?"

284. No matter how funny it is, we won't laugh unless we can't help it.

"Who is Yuuki?" Andrew immediately became interested when he heard Mo Yulan say that. After all, he knew his own guild leader's level; if even he could impress him... he must be a very remarkable person.

"It's not any one of them, it's Rubick, the guy I was facing off against during the live stream a couple of days ago."

Mo Yulan's voice was quite deep. He placed his hands on the counter, picked up a bottle of vodka from the side of the table, opened the cap, and started chugging it down.

Andrew nodded, then took out a poster of the fallen angel Hibiscus from behind the counter and showed it to Mo Yulan. He was indeed hinting at someone, which Mo Yulan noticed, but he simply shook his head.

"It's not Ywwuyi, Shuang-ge isn't that amazing, it's Yuuki."

Andrew put the poster away, thought about it carefully for a long time, and then took out a picture of Yoshida Yuki.

“Oh, he’s not a singer… he’s a gamer, and with that kind of reaction speed, he couldn’t possibly be older than me.” Mo Yulan shook his head again, his brows furrowed, as if he felt something was amiss. Hearing Mo Yulan deny him once more, Andrew thought seriously for a moment, then took out a photo of LGD.Yuuki.

"I don't play League of Legends, I play Dota."

Andrew was about to reach his hand behind the counter again, but Klein suddenly stopped him. He then searched on his phone, found Maybe's Weibo account, and showed it to Mo Yulan.

"It's not Xiao Ke! If it were Xiao Ke, would I not recognize him? Besides, LGD has been busy with matches lately, why would he come to the fishpond to smurf?" After Andrew guessed so many times (and the key point is that he still didn't get it right), Mo Yulan suddenly became excited. Not only did she have expressive facial expressions, but she also used strong body language, waving her arms and shouting loudly, "Yuuki! Did you watch my live stream the other day? You know, the one who stole my ultimate, dodged Kirito's ultimate jump, stole his Destruction, and used it! Do you understand?"

“I understand, please continue.” Klein nodded, then turned his curious gaze to Mo Yulan.

"He went out with nothing but a basic starting outfit: a charm and a Fairy Flame. He logged in and immediately started harassing me, even typing in the public chat that I was squishy. Everyone knows that, right?" Mo Yulan nodded, then began to recount his experience that day in detail. "Then he and the White Bull ganked me, right around the river rune spot. It was packed with people. And there was a Little Dog. Little Dog! With such long claws, he activated Berserk and Open Wounds, and immediately tried to attack me. Rubick picked up his staff and just lifted me up and cracked me... Then, seeing they didn't have any hard crowd control, I quickly teleported back to the fountain. I was like a human..."

Mo Yulan suddenly stopped speaking. He looked at Klein, Andrew, and Ya Wang and noticed that they seemed to be holding back their laughter. Then Andrew suddenly burst out laughing, then held it back for a moment, and then burst out laughing again.

"What are you laughing at?" Mo Yulan asked Andrew with some displeasure.

“I’m thinking of something happy,” Andrew said, turning his head slightly before speaking casually.

"What's the good news?" Mo Yulan pressed.

“I managed to get a legendary core yesterday,” Andrew replied. Klein, who was standing next to him, was also trying very hard to hold back his laughter, but finally couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

What are you laughing at again?

“I also got a legendary core yesterday through a raid.” Klein’s smile faded, and he said with a serious expression.

"What you two did yesterday...was it a raid?"

"Yes, yes... no, it was a raid on the same day."

"I'll say it again! I'm not joking!" Mo Yulan slammed her hand on the table excitedly, glared at the two of them, and her voice was even more agitated than before.

“Yes, yes,” Andrew replied casually, then laughed with Klein.

"Hey!" Seeing the two of them like this, Mo Yulan banged on the table again. Klein and Andrew, seeing how excited Mo Yulan was, once again tried hard to suppress their laughter, looking much more serious than before.

"Let's get back to the main topic. Um... what you just mentioned, Yuuki, is he good?"

"It's not a matter of whether he's good or bad, he's really the kind of person who's very rare. His playstyle is very aggressive, but his operation is very delicate, like he's using a cheat code, his skill level is very high. It's a pity that Kirito and Sinon were too bad that day, otherwise we could have played with him for a while."

Mo Yulan carefully recalled what had happened that day, but Andrew and Klein laughed halfway through his somewhat comical description. This was hard for him to accept, so he banged on the counter again and pointed at Andrew, shouting.

"You've gone too far! I've put up with you for far too long!"

“I launched a surprise attack on the core,” Andrew replied calmly. However, Mo Yulan didn’t seem to believe this explanation.

"You're clearly laughing at me, and you haven't stopped!"

"President, we've received rigorous training. No matter how funny it is, we won't laugh unless we can't help it," Andrew replied seriously, suppressing a laugh. Then, Klein, who was standing next to him, thought for a moment and offered a suggestion that sounded more plausible.

"President, how about this? Why don't you go sit over there for a while? Andrew and I will investigate this person and let you know as soon as we have any progress."

"Okay, you guys hurry up and go find it, okay? It's very mysterious, so search a little longer." After saying that, Mo Yulan stood up from her chair and walked to Kirito's table, sitting down next to Yuuna. However, as soon as she left, Andrew and the other two stopped suppressing their laughter, and their loud laughter almost lifted the ceiling of the cafe.

Mo Yulan turned around, but all he saw was the three of them still raising their glasses and drinking, and no one was laughing.

"President, did you forget to order a drink?" Andrew asked Mo Yulan, looking at her blankly. Mo Yulan thought for a moment, then went over and picked up the bottle of vodka that he had left on the counter, which was already open, and sat back down next to You Na. But as soon as he sat down, Andrew and the other two burst into laughter again, the same exaggerated laughter that seemed to lift the ceiling off the cafe.

He turned around again, but the three of them were still quietly drinking.

"President?"

Mo Yulan didn't go over this time. He turned his head back dejectedly, put his coat on the back of the chair, and then lazily slumped onto the table.

285. Casual conversation before the gathering

"Lan, what were they laughing about just now?" You Na looked at Mo Yu Lan, who was sprawled on the table like a slime, and naturally placed her hand on his head to stroke him. "Judging from their expressions, it seems like they heard something really funny. Did you tell them a joke?"

"Yeah...it's hilarious..." Mo Yulan looked utterly dejected. Perhaps because he had just drunk some alcohol, his originally fair face was flushed, making him look particularly adorable. "And Kiritani-kun, please stop laughing, okay? If you hadn't been so bad that day, would we have lost so quickly?"

He seemed to have forgotten that there were quite a few people around, and most of them had never seen their homeroom teacher so adorable. Of those still gathered around the table watching Mo Yulan, only Kirito's expression remained relatively normal; the others all looked surprised.

"Wow, you dragged me here and then you call me bad? That's really too much." Kirito shrugged nonchalantly, then looked at Mo Yulan, who was sprawled on the table like a slime, and asked suspiciously, "So you're not really questioning your life ever since you got beaten up by that guy, are you?"

"I was just annoyed by those three idiots. What's so funny?" Mo Yulan replied helplessly, then slapped away Kirito's hand that was trying to pinch her cheek.

He glanced at the people sitting at the table. Across from him were Kirito and Asuna, while Sinon and Kirito's sister Suguha sat on the other side. Opposite them were Keiko Ayano (Silica), who looked quite petite in real life, and her friend, Rika Shinozaki (Lizbeth), the blacksmith from the original SAO.

“Great, that makes eight people at the table. Let’s close the door and have a contest.” He told a lame joke, then sat up with his hands supporting his chin in a classic Commander Ikari pose. After looking around, he asked with a common opening line often used when outsiders join a conversation that has been going on for a while, “What were you talking about just now? You all seemed to be having a good time.”

“We’re talking about a really cool new game, Arashi, and it’s definitely the kind of game you’ll be interested in.” Yuna explained in a deliberately mysterious tone, “Kiritani-kun said he’s been playing this with Asuna-chan lately.”

"So that's why you've been claiming to be catching up on your homework at home these past two days and haven't responded to my invitation to play games together, Kirito-kun?" Mo Yulan stared at Kirito for a long time after hearing what Yuuna said, then asked in an extremely sinister tone, "So, how much homework has the clever Kirito-kun done yet? Want me to see?"

"Wow, it's holiday time right now, why are you still concerned about this? Do I look like the kind of person who skips class and doesn't do homework to play video games?" Kirito retorted, quite unconvinced. "How dare you slander me like this out of thin air!"

"What innocence? Which young gentleman did you ask Asuna-chan to answer for you and then let me find out? Tell me!" Mo Yulan pressed on, then, seeing Kirito's sudden flustered expression, she suddenly laughed. "Alright, enough joking. Speaking of which, why were you all so sure I'd be interested?"

"Truly customizable skills, a complete PVP system, a grand and detailed world view, and... an all-hardcore (expert) mode for everyone," Sinon continued from the side. "I guessed that these were the keywords that would interest you, so I picked them out for you."

"That's so exciting? Everyone's in hardcore? Isn't that almost like SAO?" Mo Yulan's voice was full of surprise, presumably because some of the keywords Shino had mentioned earlier had indeed caught his attention. "And what's this about custom skills? Can I customize a skill that makes someone die instantly just by glaring at them?"

"It means exactly what you said. As for the situation you described, it probably doesn't exist because the game's customization system has a self-balancing mechanism to prevent overly powerful or overpowered skills. As for what you're talking about... even if someone did create such a skill, the success rate would only be about one in ten thousand." This was Asuna's explanation. She seemed to have been playing the game for a long time, acting like a seasoned veteran. "Generally speaking, the strength of a custom skill is fixed, but if you can design a sophisticated system, the final strength will be significantly higher than others, which is part of differentiating skill levels. Of course, there are many powerful general builds available now. These builds aren't the strongest, but they're enough for newcomers to try and understand the game."

“Yarimasune (appreciation)!” Mo Yulan nodded seriously, then directly opened the Steam version downloaded from Augma, went to the game's page, and showed it to Asuna. “Which of these versions is more suitable?”

"Someone as rich as you should just choose the most expensive one. Why do you need to think about these things?" Shi Nai said, looking at Mo Yu Lan's conflicted expression. "I'm a streamer with over 20,000 followers and I earn 200,000 a month. You should earn much more than me, right?"

“That makes sense, but you can’t just squander money like that. You know where all my money goes.” Mo Yulan looked at the girl who could be considered her colleague in many ways and said with a serious face, “But what you said makes sense. Just go for the most expensive one. Anyway, the in-app purchases in games with built-in balance systems are only things like costumes or transmogrification.”

"I really envy rich people like you... You can just buy the most expensive stuff whenever you want." Asuna sighed at Mo Yulan's extravagant lifestyle, then suddenly remembered something and continued, "By the way, speaking of 'Hyperdimensional Illusion,' have you heard about the rumors surrounding the [Absolute Sword] lately?"

"The Absolute Sword? Sounds like an absolute sword." Mo Yulan casually remarked, "Don't look down on me, I haven't even played this game yet, you guys continue."

"You mean Juejian? I've heard rumors about her. Her win rate in the Arena is as high as 80%, and she's never lost a duel. Plus, she almost never appears in the open world. She's been in the Arena since she first appeared, leveling up through PvP." Shino recalled the rumors she had heard before, and then added, "She's a rare female player. I think her ID is Yuuki... Why does that ID sound familiar?"

She had only casually mentioned what she knew, but to her surprise, upon hearing those words, Mo Yulan suddenly stood up excitedly and asked incredulously:

"What did you say?"

286. Kirito's Confusion and the Little Angel by the Roadside

"What did you say?"

"That Absolute Sword's ID is Yuuki... Is there something wrong with that? Oh right, I remember now, Rubick's ID that day was also Yuuki."

Shi Nai suddenly realized that she finally remembered where the sense of familiarity she felt when she mentioned this ID came from, and then looked at Mo Yulan in confusion.

"It can't be that bad. Are you still holding a grudge about that game? It was just a ranked match."

“You probably didn’t feel that terrifying pressure. There’s only one person who ever gave me that feeling, and that was when Miracle was at his peak. That was back when I was playing for IG.” Mo Yulan sighed, seemingly organizing her thoughts, and after a long while, she continued, “Anyway, now there’s another reason that attracts me to play this game. I guess you guys will be watching my stream tonight because I’m playing this.”

He picked up the vodka beside him, only to realize that he had finished it without even noticing. As he reached for another bottle, Yuu quickly stopped him.

“Yuuna, I…” Mo Yulan tried to explain, but Yuuna just shook her head firmly.

"Listen to me. Drinking too much is bad for your health." You Na placed the cup of fruit tea in front of Mo Yu Lan, her tone leaving no room for argument, and her gaze turned dangerous.

“…I’m really defeated by you.” Mo Yulan obediently sat back down, leaning against the back of the chair in a Ge You slouch, turning into a whole slime once again. “So nothing is more cruel to me than only being able to drink one bottle of vodka at a party.”

Andrew had already changed the background music to the ones they often heard in SAO, which meant the party had officially begun. Parties, regardless of their purpose or type, are basically about eating, drinking, and chatting. Mo Yulan was enjoying the lively atmosphere, but the fact that he couldn't drink was still a bit of absurd for him.

This resulted in Mo Yulan remaining in a soft and adorable slime state until the event ended. Of course, the girls who were curious about Mo Yulan's appearance and wanted to pinch her were scared away by You's fierce gaze.

"Then I'll head out first. See you in the live stream tonight. The first step should still be leveling up or something, which I can do solo." That's what Mo Yulan said, but everyone could basically understand his subtext, because You Na hadn't started playing the game yet.

"Should I help you out? It's so much easier in the early stages of the game if you have an experienced player to guide you... No, no, no, I'm sorry, I was just saying, don't take it seriously..."

Kirito was glared at by Mo Yulan before he could finish his sentence. As he was about to say something more, he noticed that both Mo Yulan and Yuuna had reached for their waists at the same time. So the lines he had prepared instantly turned into words of pleading.

The three watched Mo Yulan and Yuuna walk away, then each went their own way home. Of course, due to certain reasons, Kirito and Asuna haven't truly gotten together yet.

"When will I be as strong as you, not just in the game, but in real life too..."

Kirito pondered this as he hopped on his motorcycle and headed home. He would pass through Akihabara on his way home; he used to frequently stop there to buy game cartridges or other merchandise, but he hadn't been there much lately.

Akihabara was just as bustling at night, and it seemed there had just been a comic convention, with young women and otaku dressed in all sorts of cosplay outfits everywhere on the streets. He sighed and continued driving, but a pair of hands suddenly appeared in front of him and stopped him.

"Wow! That's dangerous! Who is it?"

Kirito quickly slammed on the brakes, relieved that he hadn't been driving fast, then glanced to the side with displeasure. Standing beside him was a silver-haired girl in a white and blue cheongsam, her crimson eyes looking at him curiously, a hint of apology in them.

"I didn't mean to stop you, Uncle Kirito... Could you take Ivyxin home?" she said, then placed the paper bag with the FGO promotional image on it onto Kirito's handlebars, seemingly quite certain that Kirito would grant her request.

"Oh, it's Ivy... Could you tell Mo-ge? He should be able to come pick you up. Besides, it doesn't seem to be too far from your house." Kirito looked at Ivy with some confusion, then examined the paper bag. "I didn't expect you to be interested in anime conventions like this. What did you buy?"

"Actually, I'm selling things..." Ivy muttered softly. She naturally straddled the back of Kirito's motorcycle, pushed back the helmet Kirito was offering, and then changed her words, "I wanted to learn about people's lifestyles and hobbies. I've been a VTuber lately, and some viewers suggested I go to anime conventions or something, so I came to check it out."