A journey to another world starting from a sword

The dim light from the game window only allowed him to make out the monster's blurry outline, so he continued operating with his left hand and finally found the torch in his inventory.

Click the torch, select "light," and the entire room will be illuminated, completely revealing the snake-shaped monster. The monster's name on the red buoy is "Silver Serpent."

"Where is Miss Nirunier?" Kio called out as she turned around. She and the others were each dealing with a snake-like monster in small groups.

“It’s in the box,” Dante replied, with three snakes before him.

Having lost sight of Nirunier, they turned their hatred towards themselves. However, five snakes and five people, not just one snake, were still relatively easy to deal with.

"?" Qiao was initially bewildered by the literal answer, but after seeing the wooden box at his feet, she was completely dumbfounded. "You!"

She wanted to praise it as a great idea, but locking the young lady in a box was so impolite that she couldn't bring herself to speak.

"I never expected such a thing to be done. What a quick-witted person!"

Badan's sigh came from the other side of the wall; it was unclear how he had observed the situation inside the room.

"I'll give you a chance. Release Miss Niel, and I'll forgive your previous offense. You'll also inherit a share of the Kutai family's fortune. Think it over carefully. This door can't be opened from the inside."

As soon as he finished speaking, Qiao and Faso focused their attention on Dante, Faso's eyes filled with blatant distrust.

"Forget it, a miser like you who would ambush someone halfway through the journey has no credibility." Dante calmly used a single sword technique, "Diagonal Slash," to slash away a "Silver Serpent," reducing its HP by a third.

Rather than betraying her and joining Bardan's side, choosing to continue helping Nyrunel is clearly the right path, and Dante believes she will definitely show some support later.

“Five million… I’ll give you five million Cor.” After a period of thought, as if he had made a great decision, Badan’s voice came again.

“I refuse,” Dante replied bluntly.

"Ten million." At this moment, Badan was still holding back, which made Dante wonder what other tricks the other party had up his sleeve.

He has already sent out the distress call, and Asuna and the others will arrive soon. The fact that Badan attempted to murder the head of the Nakutui family will also be exposed to the public.

"Even a hundred million wouldn't work."

"Hmph, so obsessed with this little girl, what is it about her that bewitches you?" Badan clearly couldn't understand why someone would choose to help a dead person, even if that dead person was beautiful, instead of liking money.

“Miss Niel is so cute, she’s much more pleasing to the eye than an old man like you,” Dante said as he confronted the last silver snake.

The silver snake's scales are quite hard; they slip off easily when you try to cut into them. Judging from its name, its scales are likely indeed made of metallic silver, which would make fighting it somewhat troublesome given the current sharpness of the spare sword.

"Then you can die here with them!" Badan shouted angrily.

With a sharp "clang," the sound of glass shattering rang out, followed by the straw placed in various corners of the room bursting into flames, instantly turning the sealed room into a cage of fire.

"Despicable scoundrel!" Kio shouted angrily. Badan had stopped talking, either because he had walked away or because there was no need for him to speak.

There was more straw than expected, and within seconds, a pungent smell of smoke and a wave of intense heat rushed over.

"What should we do?" Kio asked anxiously after seeing Dante quickly take down the last silver snake.

“‘The Lord of the Night’ should be afraid of sunlight, not the light emitted by any light source,” Dante said, taking out the sword from deep within his inventory.

The box was opened from the inside, and Nyrunel, illuminated by the firelight, stood up, raising her head slightly. "Of course."

"Where did you come from...?" Kio stared wide-eyed, surprised that Dante casually uttered the term "Lord of the Night." This should be a secret of the Kurtuy family, something outsiders couldn't possibly know. Could it be that the dark elf told him?

"Then I'll leave it to you, young lady." Kneeling on one knee, Dante held up the "Sword of Vorbuda" with both hands and presented it to Nyrunel.

“I didn’t expect you to be carrying this sword.” Stepping fearlessly out of the box, Nirunier resolutely grasped the scabbard with her left hand and touched the hilt with her right.

After her petite hand grasped the red leather hilt of the sword, the white gem embedded in the hilt shone with a bright red light.

Transparent energy, accompanied by the wind, pushed Dante's body backward. Nyrunel's beautiful blonde hair and black summer dress swirled around her feet, revealing her snow-white calves and part of her thighs above the knees.

As the crimson light shone through the golden ridge embedded in the sword's spine, the originally silver blade seemed to have its plating evaporated, turning into a translucent black.

That's right, this sword couldn't possibly be made of silver, because only the "Lord of the Night" can unleash its true power.

The once ostentatious gold, silver, and gemstone sword has shed its disguise and transformed into an elegant black longsword.

"Melancholy Nocturne" — that is the true name of this sword.

Nirunel adjusted the direction of her sword, and the blade emitted an even more intense crimson light. Then, she raised the red-glowing longsword high with both hands.

"Drink ah ah ah!"

With a shout that tore through the air, the crimson energy blade slashed forward, cutting through the stone floor and flying toward the stone wall. The flames in the room were suppressed by the wind pressure and everyone tried to avoid it.

"Boom!"

The moment the sword blade touched the stone wall, the thick stone wall was blasted away!

Chapter 157: Follow-up Actions

Afterwards, Badan received his due punishment, was forced to relinquish his position as head of the family, and was exiled from Worubda.

Although many people, including Kio, felt the outcome was too lenient, and some even suggested that the Nakutui family should take direct control of Worubda.

However, Nyrunel refused. She didn't have such great ambitions. Of course, part of the reason was her physical condition, which meant that she inevitably had to stay in her room most of the time.

Even if monsters can be tamed at night, the casino is not only frequented by arena guests. As the city and casino administrators, their behavior of remaining hidden during the day and being active at night will cause unnecessary controversy.

Now, no one in Worubda knows that the hero who pioneered the town, Faruhari, is actually the "Lord of the Night," and no one knows what the residents of Worubda will think if they learn this secret again; it might cause unnecessary unrest.

Nyrunel also took the opportunity to confess this to Dante and the others. So the silver snake that appeared in the stable was indeed a monster specially trained to target the "Lord of the Night". Being bitten by it would cause one to be poisoned by a special poison that was effective against the "Lord of the Night", and one would die in no time.

As for the Korroy family, a large number of people involved in the incident were dismissed, and in order to maintain their position, they were forced to pay a large amount of compensation. It is said that even the things in the mansion were emptied out. They lost both people and money, and their vitality was severely damaged. For at least the next ten years, the Korroy family will dominate the entire world, including the seventh floor.

The first strategy meeting of the new year was held on the morning of the second day in the main street "Recusio" on the seventh floor.

Linde arrived at the meeting on time with his newly established guild, "Dragon Journey," along with a number of small teams of two or three people and solo players without fixed teams.

Of course, there are differences between solo players. Kirito, who had declined several guild invitations, sat alone on the edge. After rejecting Agil, he was a little embarrassed to get too close, lest they actually become partners.

Even so, the number of people present was only forty-two, less than half of what it used to be.

Argo and Mitt both hoped that more people would catch up by the tenth floor, as the difficulty of conquering Aincrad would increase significantly with each floor that was a multiple of 50 or 10.

The meeting was mainly conducted by the captains of several newly formed temporary teams standing in the middle to discuss matters. If there were vice-captains, they could participate in the discussion, while others could only pass their opinions to the captains, who would then relay them.

However, in reality, "Eternal Garden" held the main power in the strategy meeting, and even the "Dragon Journey Group" could only listen.

After discussing with Argo and Mitt, Dante decided to raise the level of most ordinary players to level 20 before organizing the raid, because the seventh floor boss, the fire dragon Akira, can use "Intimidation" to force players below level 20 into a stun state.

The full range level of the seventh floor is seventeen, and only Dante, Asuna, Mito, Argo, and Silica have actually reached level twenty.

Lingyin is level 19, Liz is level 18, Jeliska, who just joined the guild, is level 16, and Xiaochun is level 14.

Most of the members of the Brother Legion, including Agil, were around level 18, and Lind was probably at the same level. After all, he hadn't been able to focus on frontline strategies these past few days because of guild matters, so it was understandable that he was so far behind.

That being said, we still need to set a deadline, otherwise it would be too wasteful to wait until the last person reaches level 20 before taking action. After discussion, everyone decided to hold the second strategy meeting in five days.

The Argo Weekly published a supplement that day, exposing the incident at the Worubda casino. However, she did not intend to discourage people from going against the tide; she simply hoped that players would consider their wallets when passing by casinos.

A little gambling is harmless fun, but excessive gambling is harmful to your health.

The real headline-grabbing event was the auction. Dante planned to hold an auction in Reccio, mainly for the surplus and useless items they had brought from the casino, while also accepting consignments from other players.

Some of the staff for the auction were borrowed from Nyrunel, and the auctioneer was Argo.

The location wasn't in Worubda because many players couldn't even get there, but to prevent players without money from just watching the spectacle, an entrance fee of 200 Cor was set.

The auction was held two days later, and on that day, more than 300 people came and filled all the seats in the venue. It was literally full. It seems that even though there were restrictions, there were still many people who wanted to come and see the excitement.

Before it even started, they easily earned 60,000 Cor, equivalent to all the Cor of several ordinary players, or even the entire fortune of a frontline player. Unfortunately, the girls were already immune to this level of Cor. To be honest, Liz and Lingyin made about the same amount by opening shops nearby.

The final transaction amount of the auction was 1.31 million Cor. Theoretically, this number could have increased more than fivefold, but in reality, the players did not have that much money at all, and some items even failed to sell. Argo joked that this auction had drained the Cor of the richest group of people in Aincrad.

Many players were able to afford this amount of money because of the scavenging they did in the ruins on the fifth floor. One player, who seemed to be a former member of the Aincrad Alliance, spent lavishly, bidding on a lot of equipment and items before returning to the starting town via the portal.

"Thank you," Dante said to Chio across from him, sitting in the carriage.

"Please express your gratitude to Miss Nirunier in person," Kio said, closing his eyes and bowing his head.

"Hmm... I'll say it later, but what I really wanted to say was thank you for your hard work." Although it was indeed Nyrunel who agreed to help, it was actually the employees of the Kutei family who did the work.

"Dante is right, we owe a lot to Miss Kio and the others today." Asuna clapped her hands and chuckled beside her.

Upon hearing this, Qiao was taken aback for a moment, then remained silent before saying, "You're welcome."

“Hahaha…but I really hope there will be more events like this in the future,” Argo, the last person in the carriage, remarked.

As an intelligence broker, she is essentially a businesswoman. This sudden increase in exposure will make it even more beneficial for her intelligence sales.

"The chances are probably slim." Dante shook his head, after all, opportunities to exploit loopholes in missions are rare.

Argo pursed his lips, picked up a snack from the table, and took a bite. "Speaking of which, another million Cors has been added. How are we going to spend this money?"

"Hmm..." Asuna tilted her head slightly, "So, what should we do?"

Upgrading equipment shouldn't cost that much money, and as you go higher, the frequency of equipment upgrades gradually decreases, making upgrading more important. However, some materials required for upgrading cannot be found on the current floor. Upgrading equipment to its limit is actually the limit for the current floor.

"Well, let's buy some furniture first." Dante smiled easily, reminding them that they owned a house by the sea, and the land deed they obtained from the casino was still valid.

"We'll also help with the furniture," Qiao said immediately.

“However, the house issue can’t be resolved in a day. The hotel’s lease is about to expire, and a large number of players are expected to flood into Worubda soon. How long should we renew the lease?” Argo put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair.

Kio immediately suggested, "You can stay at the Kurty family's mansion later on; Miss Nirunier will definitely welcome you."

"Really?" Argo exclaimed in surprise.

Chapter 158: Thanks for the invitation, I won't marry into the family.

Sure enough, when she saw Nirunier, she waved her hand and said, "Then stay here."

"Qio, arrange rooms for them."

"As ordered."

“Oh, that’s great,” Argo said with a grin.

"You don't live here..." Dante, who was standing to the side, was about to complain like this. After all, Argo, as an intelligence broker, needed to travel back and forth between different floors frequently, and living in Reccio was much more convenient than living in Worubda.

Afterwards, Kio reported the auction to Nirunier.

"I didn't expect it to be so popular. Should we make one and give it a try?" Nirunier thought to herself.

"It might be a bit difficult," Dante advised. Although it was good to have the NPCs... the residents of Aincrad hold the regular auctions, the residents of Aincrad were generally unable to move between floors.

Unless one uses the power of the spirit tree like an elf, but even elves can only travel between the third and ninth levels, which is too limiting.

Therefore, the items that casinos can obtain are mostly low-level items, and once the mainstream players level up, these items will obviously become useless.

Accepting player consignments is a good idea. The auction items prepared by the casino itself lack sufficient competitiveness, so hiring player craftsmen might also be an option.

Moreover, it takes an hour to get to Worubda and another hour to get back to Recusio in the main town, which is very inconvenient.

After all, Reccio is not the city of the Kutei family. If they cannot use the venue there, they must send someone to Reccio to make the arrangements. Argo can help with the publicity.

"You've already given us the solution," Asuna said with a smile. "Actually, if we don't do it, we won't know the outcome, right?"

“Asuna is right,” Lisbeth nodded vigorously. “Besides, as a craftsman, having an auction to make a name for oneself can make things much easier.”

Once you've built up a reputation, and saved enough money, you can buy a permanent studio and have no shortage of customers coming from far and wide.

“That’s a great idea, an auction.” Jeliska also thought it was a good idea.

"If it were an auction hosted by Miss Nirunier, I would definitely consider attending," Xiaochun thought. But it's true... NPCs with personal charm make players feel more reliable.

“If Miss Nirunel could show up, it would instantly convince everyone of the auction’s credibility,” Argo suggested, pointing to his finger.

"How can this be?!" Qiao immediately panicked.

"Qio." Nirunier spoke up to stop her, then thought seriously, "Tonight isn't out of the question either."

“Ah, it would be better to treat this as a surprise!” Lingyin suggested.

"You just occasionally appear at auctions?" Silica asked doubtfully.

“Yes, yes!” Lingyin laughed. If she appeared frequently, the players would be curious, but if she only appeared occasionally, with Miss Nirunier’s charm and cuteness, she would definitely attract a lot of curious players.

With everyone chiming in and out, the idea for the auction suddenly became a real possibility.

Even if it becomes deserted later due to player attrition, the investment has already been recouped by then, and it's also great that there's a reliable trading platform that can provide players with a lot of help at this stage.

“Then let’s do it.” Nirunier clapped her hands, then clenched her fist.

"Yes!" Even Qiao was excited by what everyone said, believing that this was a pioneering move by the Kutui family, far superior to the Korroi family, which only knew how to use underhanded tricks and crooked methods.

“Another thing.” Nirunier, with her feet crossed, handed a glass containing a dark red liquid—which was indeed wine—to Kio.

"The purge of the Chorroy family is over. Now let's talk about your compensation. Is there anything you want?"