I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

It's clear that the game company wanted to build this chalk town into a grand and magnificent place. In addition to the vast square where Sky Temple Yu is currently standing, there are gray brick fortresses resembling the city lord's mansion and huge black palaces in the distance. Stairs leading to the upper levels can even be seen in the misty clouds.

But apart from the steps, these buildings are obscured by a layer of blurry mosaic, far less clear and real than the scene before us.

"The Starting Town" is the starting village in the game "Sword World".

According to the setting, it is located on the first floor of the giant floating city of Aincrad, and is the largest town with the most NPCs.

Pausing for a moment, Yuu Tenkuji looked out.

Five main avenues extend from the large stone-paved ground, radiating outwards from the center of the square; the surrounding area is lined with lush green trees, casting dappled shadows on the medieval-style streets.

Shops and buildings of all kinds line the streets, with the sounds of shopkeepers enthusiastically calling out their wares and children laughing loudly. The sounds of hammering, chopping, and colliding create a crisp symphony, like background music in a game, giving the whole town a strong otherworldly atmosphere.

Meanwhile, several people dressed in medieval clothing and equipment were talking loudly about the monsters outside the city while brushing past Yuu Tenkuji.

Then, not long after, they walked back from in front of him, following the same route, saying the same words, and making the same gestures.

"An NPC?"

Since the closed beta test hasn't even started yet, there naturally won't be many players in this game—or rather, very few.

Yuu Tenkuji looked around but didn't see any other players wearing the same initial outfit as him.

To verify this, he even took a picture of the group of people who passed by him for the third time:

"Hello, would you be interested in getting to know our great Lord, Flying Cat Head?"

The leading man with the sword turned around, his face beaming with a smile as bright as a chrysanthemum: "Friend, if you need information on the monsters in the area, I'll just charge you 1,000 Corsos!"

Tenkuji Yu was taken aback for a moment. Following the instructions, he slid his right index and middle fingers downwards in mid-air, and with a crisp bell sound, the game's main menu appeared in front of him.

He clicked on the backpack icon, saw that the inventory was empty and the money slot only had 500 Cors, and decisively turned around and left.

"That's all."

△

Without a sword in my hand, I cannot protect you... Wait, I misspoke.

Without a sword in hand, Yuu Tenkuji cannot enjoy this virtual game that is said to be all about fighting and killing and full of violent elements; and novice players only have a simple set of cloth clothing, which has low defense and no additional effects, and is basically just for covering their bodies.

So his first stop was naturally the weapons shop.

Following the map, Yuu Tenkuji quickly found the weapon shop owner sitting at the shop entrance, hammering away at a red-hot iron.

He smiled politely and asked, "Hello, do you sell swords?"

"Take a look and see for yourself what you need!" the shopkeeper replied in a gruff voice without looking up.

Then a menu appeared in front of me.

Tenkuji Yu glanced at the menu a few times, then walked around it and said to the shopkeeper, "Master, do you not make staffs here?"

"Take a look and see for yourself what you need!" The shopkeeper replied in a gruff voice without looking up.

"cut……"

Well, it seems this game company can't do what online game novels from my past life did—giving some NPCs a certain level of intelligence.

Tenkuji Yu shrugged, putting away his playful thoughts and turning his attention back to the shop menu.

I remember Koichiro Yuki telling me that Sword Art Online is a world without magic, and the main means of attack is "sword skills".

The so-called "sword skills" do not only refer to the skills of using swords, but also include knives, spears, halberds, axes, hooks and forks. Even the skill of "throwing" is considered a "sword skill".

In the shop menu of "The Town of Beginnings", there are only common weapons such as one-handed swords, rapiers, and long axes, as well as throwing items such as darts, which are cheaper but disappear after use.

After looking at all the items, without any hesitation, Yuu Tenkuji bought a beginner's one-handed sword worth 300 Coles, and 10 throwing knives at 20 Coles each.

There's no mana bar in the game, and given his reaction speed, he probably wouldn't get hit by wild boars or anything like that, so he didn't have any money left to buy health potions; if he accidentally lost health, it would be more cost-effective to rely on automatic regeneration or just die and return to town.

"Thank you for your patronage!" The shop owner finally raised his head, staring at him with wide, bright eyes as he thanked him.

Without replying, Yuu Tenkuji equipped the one-handed sword and walked towards the wilderness leveling area without looking back.

The town appears bustling and peaceful, but the liveliness belongs to the NPCs and has nothing to do with the player who is alone at this moment.

"As expected, games are more fun with more people."

As she walked from the shopping street to the city gate, she didn't encounter a single player along the way, and Sky Temple Yu couldn't help but sigh.

When you reach the wilderness where NPCs don't appear easily, the sense of desolation becomes even more pronounced—to give an analogy, it's like being summoned to school during a holiday and standing on the rooftop overlooking the quiet, silent playground.

I wonder where Yuki Koichiro is now...

"Damn it, I'm actually starting to miss a grown man." Tenkuji Yu slapped his face, shook his head vigorously, and shook the strange feeling out of his mind.

With his spirits lifted, he drew the one-handed longsword he had just bought from his waist and swung it a couple of times to get a feel for it.

"Yeah, not bad."

The game includes simple instructions, and after reading them, Yuu Tenkuji roughly understood how to fight monsters in the wild.

In short, attacks are divided into basic attacks and "sword skills"—basic attacks are self-explanatory, while "sword skills" require you to put the corresponding skills of your weapon in the skill slot beforehand, and then use them through the preparation animation.

Sword skills are powerful, fast, and accurate, and can make players perform impressive attack actions. The downside is that they cause a stun after use. Therefore, how to cancel the stun and smoothly connect sword skills has become the most worthwhile aspect of the game's combat elements to study.

Unfortunately, even on her first time entering the game, these things posed no difficulty whatsoever for Yuu Tenkuji, who possessed proficient-level "learning" skills and expert-level "games," "swordsmanship," and "throwing."

Soon, he found his first target on the green grassland outside the city.

With its blue fur and bright red eyes, the wild boar slowly nibbled on the grass, its head marked by a red buoy.

"Rampaging Wild Boar", a level one monster.

"Equip the skills first..."

The founder character comes with two skill slots, and Yuu Tenkuji immediately threw in "One-Handed Sword" and "Throwing Sword," both of which had a proficiency level of 0.

Temporarily sheathing his sword, he took out a throwing knife worth 20 Cors and assumed the throwing posture prescribed by the system.

A green light suddenly shone on the throwing knife, but he did not use the basic initial technique of "single-throwing sword" - "single shot" - but instead made a slight adjustment to his body angle without breaking his posture.

After he finished adjusting his wrists, elbows, arms, waist, hips, and legs, the light that was originally light green turned dark green, and the aura he exuded was much stronger than that of his previous conventional posture.

"Then came the video recording."

Using her other hand, she activated the in-game recording function, pointed the camera at her arm and the wild boar in the distance, and cleared her throat, saying:

"The first time I faced a wild boar, using a ranged weapon, I bet it wouldn't last three seconds."

As soon as he finished speaking, his hand holding the throwing weapon flashed in the air, and the long-awaited throwing knife instantly transformed into a green laser beam, shooting out at bullet speed and piercing the neck of the wild boar that was still grazing with its head down.

"Waaah!"

With a mournful cry, amidst a flurry of grass clippings, the frenzied wild boar collapsed to the ground, its health bar rapidly decreasing to zero.

The next moment, the body, which had been convulsing, froze.

"boom!"

Like shattered glass, the wild boar transformed into polygonal fragments, exploding outwards.

This is what happens when a character or monster dies in the game "Sword World".

Yuu Tenkuji paused the recording, which lasted only about five seconds, and looked at the window that popped up on his left.

The screen displays the experience points, Cor, and materials he gained after defeating the "Rampaging Boar".

"It's simple, but there's no fun in it at all."

It's boring and tedious, and it's also a huge waste of money.

Although a wild boar's worth of Cor could buy three throwing knives, the thought that this was equivalent to spending real money to level up made the thrifty Sky Temple Yuu immediately unhappy.

He drew his one-handed sword, picked up a pebble from the ground, and casually threw it at another "raging wild boar" that had its back to him.

With a green glow, the pebble accurately hit the center of the wild boar's rear end and then disappeared.

Chapter Five: When Five Black Pig-Headed Men Surrounded a Girl

"Waaah!"

The wild boar jumped high into the air, letting out a mournful cry that echoed through the sky.

Even with his beast language skills, Yuu Tenkuji couldn't understand what it was yelling, but he felt that it was much more tragic and desperate than the cry of the beast before it died...

Hmm, it must be an illusion.

Even NPC characters have lost their intelligence. How could a mere level one weakling understand the pain of a broken chrysanthemum?

While his thoughts were wandering off course, the wild boar had already turned its head, and with a frantic and tragic gait, its hind hooves kicking up dust and grass clippings, it charged desperately toward Tenkuji Yu like a cannonball.

With its bright red eyes, ferocious beast-like appearance, and incredibly realistic charging sound, a timid person would probably be too scared to move, or might blindfolded swing their weapon and be brutally abused to death by the wild boar.

Too much realism also has its downsides. At least this game isn't suitable for little kids or cute girls like Sora who are delicate and easily pushed over.

Tenkuji Yu turned on the recording again, slowly pulling his one-handed sword back, leaning forward and staring intently at the approaching boar, muttering softly:

"Shoulder meat, thigh meat, tenderloin, neck meat, cheek meat, braised pig's feet..."

Even in a virtual body, his sharp eyes, perfect muscle control, enhanced reaction speed, and expert-level swordsmanship skills combined perfectly, giving him the confidence to face the wild boar.

In the blink of an eye, crimson eyes appeared before him.

The sudden gust of wind made his clothes flutter, and he slowly exhaled, then slammed one foot into the ground.

The next moment, two sword lights flashed across the wild boar, like fleeting afterimages.

First the neck, then the heart, the boar pierced through both points with unparalleled precision. Then, Tenkuji Yuu turned to look at the wild boar that had just brushed past him.

What would have been a fatal wound in reality only left two bright red lines on the blue-furred pig's body.

With its yellow health bar already halfway into the area, the "Raging Boar" turned around and glared angrily at him, stomping its hind hooves on the grass like a bull before charging at him again.

"The damage from normal attacks is really low... It seems I'll have to rely on the sword skills prescribed by the system."

Muttering to himself, he turned his sword behind his back, and only when the strong wind hit him again did the crimson effect light shine from the 300 Cor's sword.

Basic initial technique for "One-Handed Sword" - <Diagonal Slash>.

Almost the instant the two crossed paths, Yuu Tenkuji lowered his body, allowing the sword's edge to lightly slice through the space.

hum-

A faint, mournful sound emanated from the air.