A journey to another world starting from a sword

So this is a real "dragon-slaying" gem!

Yes, not a gem obtained by slaying a dragon, but as the literal meaning suggests.

Upon seeing this scene, Dante and Mitte exchanged glances, then couldn't help but burst into laughter. Mitte's laughter was a girlish chuckle, while Dante laughed heartily without restraint.

However, based on the description, one can roughly guess that the necklace made of this gem should give the wearer considerable fire resistance, which would be very useful for defeating the boss of this floor, "Fire Dragon Akira". Dante silently memorized this equipment item.

While flipping through the prize booklet with Mito, discussing the performance of a certain item, time flew by. When they reached the last page, it was almost time for the Monster Arena's daytime session, so they returned to the lobby and headed to the underground level.

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Witnessing the battle between monsters firsthand truly stirred up a thrilling and exhilarating feeling within me.

I can somewhat understand now how the Romans felt watching gladiators perform in the arena during the Roman era.

"Won!!!"

When the monstrous badger-like monster defeated the crab with four pincers, Mitt, like the other winning gamblers, lost control of his emotions and excitedly wrapped his arm tightly around the neck of the calm Dante next to him.

The 8,000 chips doubled, suddenly reaching just over 20,000 chips, meaning they earned 1.2 million chips in less than an hour!

"I-I'm sorry." After half a minute, Mitt hurriedly let go of her hand and apologized, then leaned back and almost fell.

"There's no need to overreact, is there any need to apologize?" Dante chuckled as he grabbed her, helping her maintain her balance.

"No, it would definitely feel awkward to be suddenly hugged by someone of the opposite sex you're not close to," Mitt said, looking downcast.

“No, that’s not true.” Dante smiled and said, “Mite’s hug was the most surprising thing for me today.”

“…” Mit smiled for some reason, then blushed slightly and turned her face away for some reason.

After the monsters from both sides were led off the field by the casino's animal trainers, most of the guests in the stands had left.

Having finally calmed down, Mitt spoke up: "So, that secret document predicting the outcome was indeed made by the casino?"

"Have you noticed?" Dante turned and smiled.

“Hmm.” Mite nodded. “Thinking about it carefully, an NPC who would sell such things for almost free is either a simple scammer or someone involved with the casino.”

“That’s what I think too.” Dante turned to look around, and after confirming that it was just the two of them, he continued, “When something unexpected happens, you should first think about why it happened to you and not someone else.”

“So the secret scroll must be a scam.” Mite was smart; after a little thought, he grasped the whole situation. “First, they let the players win some money, and then in the end, they lose it all in one go.”

To that smiling face that seemed to eagerly await the answer to the riddle, Dante returned a wicked smile with a meaningful grin.

"So all we have to do is take the bait."

“The problem is that after we’ve made a lot of money, the other party might change their mind before we stop,” Mitt couldn’t help but think of the worst-case scenario.

"Then we just need to make them think we're fools who'll gamble until the very end." Dante thought this was quite easy.

He looked back at the platform behind him again, but there was no one of any distinguished figure in sight, which meant that the casino owner had no objection to them winning the game.

Of course, if the winnings get bigger and bigger, the other party will most likely be worried and show up at the scene, after all, one of the casino owners is a greedy and stingy person.

Even Dante feared that if he were to win in the end, he might not be able to escape from Vorubda.

But as long as they show a willingness to continue gambling, the other side won't easily change their strategy.

Ultimately, the casinos are really swindling money from NPCs who come from who-knows-where; the players' Cor is only a small part of it.

Keep in mind that this casino has a history of at least a hundred years, while the players have only been in Aincrad for less than three months.

Furthermore, before the player arrives at the seventh floor, it remains to be seen whether the seventh floor operates according to its own rules, or whether time is frozen until the player arrives and then begins to function.

Oh no, oh no, if I keep thinking like this, I'm starting to think that this is actually a game world.

Dante stopped his thoughts and prepared to get up and leave with Mitt. During their conversation, all the other customers in the casino had left.

But as he stood up, he suddenly realized that there were more than just the two of them left in the stands.

There was another man sitting opposite him, who looked directly at him after noticing Dante's gaze.

The other person's appearance was not intimidating at all. He was probably around twenty-five years old and had a thin, scholarly face.

His iron-gray hair hung down his elegant forehead, and his body was tall but slightly thin. Such a figure looked less like a swordsman and more like a magician who did not exist in this world.

However, Dante was well aware that his physique was in the minority in SAO, and the vast majority of players didn't have much muscle.

The most distinctive feature of the man opposite me is probably his eyes.

His incredible brass-colored pupils radiated a powerful magnetism that could instill fear in those who confronted him.

"..."

"..."

He looked over without fear, a hint of confusion in his eyes, and Dante's fingers twitched slightly.

The two stared at each other in silence for a long time, until Mitt also realized that something was wrong.

"Those are players..."

That's right, she also noticed that the man sitting opposite her had a green buoy above his head!

Chapter 144: A Shocking Gamble

"Heh, it seems we're not the only ones planning to take advantage of the casino's scam." After answering Mitt's question, Dante looked ahead and saw that the other man had already gotten up to leave.

Did this man actually enter SAO during this period?

Heathcliff, no—Kayaba Akihiko!

"It seems he has no companions," Mitt guessed, since the other person was alone.

Heathcliff probably hasn't started forming a guild and recruiting members yet; at least, Dante doesn't recall ever seeing him on the front lines.

So when exactly did the Knights of the Blood Oath rise to power?

In the original timeline, Asuna joined the Knights of the Blood Oath in March, so Heathcliff likely established his guild in February, and is probably still in the early stages of building up his resources.

However, being a clever person, he saw through the casino's scam at a glance and took advantage of it.

Even new players can easily get more than three thousand times the amount of chips here with the 1,000 Cor given to them at the beginning of the game. Besides the equipment and items they need, they can also exchange a few items to sell to other players. They won't even lack Cor for daily use.

However, SAO has its own balancing mechanism. If you go too far in exploiting the system, you will inevitably be punished by the game system. This is why Dante doesn't dare to bring along several groups of familiar players to make a fortune together.

“Let’s go too.” Dante shook his head, no longer thinking about it, and said to Mitte after seeing that Heathcliff had disappeared from sight.

“Okay,” Mite replied quickly.

With some time left in the morning, they had a quick meal on the first floor of the casino before starting their exploration towards the maze area, specifically the western part of the seventh floor, according to their pre-determined goal.

Before leaving the city, they took on many routine tasks, intending to do them casually.

Of course, it's not that easy, because some of the most rewarding missions require you to go to a large area on the west side of the seventh level called the "Bone Plains". According to the Argonauts's Guide to Conquest, it is a barren wasteland where you can only see dead trees that look like bones, and there is almost no green vegetation growing there.

At the end of the Windward Road, the closest town to the labyrinth area is "Prumio Town," while the Bone Plains are actually northeast of "Prumio Town," which isn't exactly on the way.

Although there is no shortage of Cor now, with a lack of merchant players on the front lines, some rare items are simply priceless and have to be collected by oneself.

This wasn't too much of a hassle, because Dante felt that Mitt also enjoyed the traditional fun of RPGs, teaming up with friends to collect materials or defeat monsters to complete quests and finally get a reward to have a big meal at the tavern.

If you put aside your eagerness to escape Aincrad, this is practically the life of a true adventurer in another world.

After marking Pramio's location on the map in the afternoon, they did not explore the map any further, even though they could reach the towering labyrinth tower by passing through the Ant Hill Canyon ahead.

In the evening, Dante returned to Worubda and met up with Asuna and the others who had returned from the third floor. They shared their adventures of the day in the tavern. Asuna mentioned that Miss Jeliska and Haru had made great progress. Although he didn't know exactly how much they had improved, Dante praised them without hesitation.

He often did this when he was alone with Silica at the beginning. Praise is the cheapest and most important thing. It was through his praise that Silica gradually overcame her fear of monsters and became a front-line player who can now stand firm on the front lines.

Moreover, the immense joy derived from a single victory, coupled with mutual praise for each other's efforts, creates a warm and supportive guild atmosphere.

Whether Asuna did it unconsciously or out of her more considerate and gentle nature than anyone else, she has been fulfilling her duties as the guild's vice president quite skillfully, making her a rather outstanding vice president.

"What? You guys are already gambling in the casino?" Argo put down his beer glass and suddenly sighed.

"Is there a problem?" Mitt asked immediately. She knew that Argo had been gathering intelligence in Worubda all day, so perhaps there was something noteworthy.

“No, there’s nothing particularly big of a problem.” After shaking his head, Argo thought for a moment and then said, “I just received a mission, well, it’s a request from the casino owner. I originally planned to share it with you, but it seems that the prerequisite for sharing it is that you can’t play in the casino.”

"The casino owner? Argo is really impressive." Asuna, sitting next to Dante, exclaimed in amazement. The casino owner is also the administrator of this city. To be able to receive a quest from such an important NPC, Argo's professional competence is indeed beyond doubt.

"Meow hahahahaha—" Argo then burst into laughter, "It's not that amazing after all."

Looking at her winking and gesturing, Dante knew she was probably very pleased with herself.

Mitt, however, had many concerns. After all, she and Dante had just gone to the casino that morning to take advantage of the deals, and they planned to go again that evening.

"That..." She then recounted the good deeds they had done during the day.

"..." Then the companions at the table were all surprised.

The 800,000 Ke'er has increased by about 2.5 times, which is 2 million.

"Wait... just a moment, let me calculate. Twenty thousand, fifty thousand, one hundred and twenty-five thousand..." Lisbeth started counting on her fingers. Since the odds at the casino were usually between 2 and 3 times, if she could win every time, she would simply calculate it as 2.5 times.

Everyone stared silently at Liz, who was muttering numbers to herself.

"Three hundred and twenty-two thousand five hundred... um... um..." When she got to the fourth number, Lisbeth couldn't continue. Her face was tense, but some things can't be achieved just by trying.

"Ha..." I knew it! Dante shook his head speechlessly. He had thought that Liz might have some hidden superiority complex, like she was actually a hidden big bust, but in the end, he couldn't have any expectations.

"In the end, it was about thirty million." Here, it says "chips" rather than "Ke'er".

Mito officially revealed the answer; the number could be calculated mentally with a little time, after all, she was a genius beauty who consistently ranked first in her grade, surpassing Asuna.

"Hey hey hey—so much!" Silica and Xiaochun immediately slammed their hands on the table and shouted.

"Eh eh eh eh eh!!!" Lisbeth jumped up from her chair in fright.

"That's 3 billion Cors?" Lingyin's conversion to Cors shocked everyone even more.

"Oh my... this is really something." Jeliska quickly covered the corner of her mouth with her hand. Even though you couldn't see her lips, you could tell from her eyes that she was smiling. "Our student council president is amazing."

"..." Dante was taken aback when he heard Jeliska's praise, and then he looked at Argo before calming down his peculiar feelings.

Is it true that the praise from a mature and beautiful woman is so powerful?

“Hey! Dante, your gaze is a bit rude,” Argon said, gesturing with his lips, especially with the slightly pleased smile that appeared when he looked at her.

“That’s not true,” Dante said, denying it word by word, while smiling at Argo.

"So that's why you borrowed 200,000 from me this morning," Asuna said, suddenly realizing.

"Well, I was just planning to see what prizes the casino had to offer," Dante said meaningfully.

"Tsk, I really didn't expect to encounter something like this. Compared to such a huge sum of money, this mission I received is a bit inferior." Argo sighed deeply and shook his head in distress.

“But… Argo received the mission from the casino owner, right?” Lingyin pointed at Argo with her index finger, worried that this might have some unexpected consequences.

“No, that’s alright, because the mission I received from the casino owner was actually to investigate suspicious aspects of the recent matches at the Monster Arena.” Argo shrugged and continued nonchalantly, “The casino is actually jointly managed by two families.”

Seeing the puzzled looks on everyone's faces, she said, "Oh, didn't I write this in the strategy guide?"

“Absolutely not.” Everyone shook their heads. They had indeed read through the advance copy that Argo had given them, especially Dante, Asuna, and Mito, who had read it several times.

“Oh, so now you know.” Argo scratched his head sheepishly. “So actually, it was the side I was investigating that used these underhanded tactics.”

"Argo, why are you so sure?" Asuna asked, puzzled.

“Well, if you had actually met my client, you wouldn’t have any such suspicions,” Argo replied with a grin, but seemed unwilling to continue, wanting to leave the mystery for later.

"..." Dante's eyes narrowed slightly. He knew what Argo was referring to. With Miss Neruel's beauty and temperament, she was certainly not the kind of person who would do such a thing.

"Speaking of which, can we participate too?" Although she didn't say it outright, everyone knew that Lisbeth was clearly tempted by the prospect of making a lot of money.

"It's best not to. If something unexpected happens along the way, the only loss will be the money of me, Mito, and Asuna," Dante said, shaking his head with a serious expression.

He was already prepared that if anything unexpected happened, he would sell his body—staying up all night every day to grind monsters in the training area to pay off his debts.

"Sigh—" Lisbeth sighed regretfully, still wanting to try again.

However, Asuna also firmly refused, "No way!"

She wouldn't mind lending Dante money, even if he lost it all, but if everyone's money was unexpectedly lost due to gambling...

"It's gambling after all." Xiaochun is indeed a good kid.

“That’s right, Miss Liz is too materialistic,” Silica chimed in.

"No way, Silica, you must be interested too, right?" Lisbeth vehemently denied, but that still made everyone laugh.

"Hey, but will they really let us keep winning like this?" Lingyin asked worriedly, lowering her head.

“Actually, I’ve thought about that too.” Dante sat up straight. “As long as we show that we’re prepared to keep gambling, the other side probably won’t do anything, but there’s definitely a limit to how much they can tolerate.”