A journey to another world starting from a sword

The girl who was so scared that she cried just now was named "Xing".

“Um, Mr. Kirito… I apologize for being rude, but could you please tell me your rank?” Keita asked politely.

"...around 20." Kirito glanced at the LV40 marked in the upper left corner and said the fake number he had prepared beforehand.

In previous battles, he had been careful to avoid using sword skills that could only be learned with high proficiency. After all, it was quite impolite for upper-level players to cause trouble in lower-level areas by relying on their level advantage. The last player to do so had already been written about in the newspaper by Argo, and he didn't want to be exposed by Argo in the newspaper.

"Wow, they're about the same level as us, yet they can solo it. That's amazing!"

"Stop using honorifics, Keita." Kirito felt that the other person was probably older than him, and using honorifics felt really awkward. "I'm just looking for some lone monsters, so my efficiency isn't very high."

"Is that so? Well then, Kirito... I know it might be a bit presumptuous, but I think you'll be getting invitations from other guilds soon... If you'd like, would you like to join our guild?"

To be honest, he had been invited to join guilds a few times before, mostly by guilds full of cute girls or muscular guys. He refused because he didn't know how to get along with them. Later, a new guild invited him, but for some reason he felt a bit repulsed by the guild leader, so he refused that as well.

"...The only one who can serve as a vanguard is Tetsuo, who uses a one-handed hammer. Hey, Sachi, come here for a second."

The petite girl named "Xing" walked over with her wine glass in hand and nodded shyly to Kirito.

Then Keita placed his hand on Sachi's head and continued, "I want to transform her into a one-handed swordsman with a shield who can serve as a vanguard, but I'm not quite sure how to do it. Could you please teach me?"

"What? You're making me sound like a loser." Xing pouted and complained, "Because, I've always been responsible for attacking the enemy from a distance. If I were suddenly asked to run to the front and fight in close combat, I'd be scared."

"Ah, just hide behind the shield, how many times do I have to tell you before you understand?"

Indeed, with the shield equipped, most monster attacks can be blocked. Just avoid areas where elite monsters or mini-bosses spawn, and there won't be any overpowered monsters on floors within the safe level range.

Kirito squinted slightly, watching the "Black Cats of the Moonlit Night" interact in front of him—a scene that was both amusing and dazzling.

Noticing his gaze, Keita smiled sheepishly and said, "Ah—all of us in the guild are members of the computer research club at the same high school in the real world. But don't worry, everyone is very nice, and we'll definitely become friends with Kirito very soon."

"Then... please let me join you. I look forward to your guidance." Kirito smiled and nodded vigorously.

-----------------

"Hey, Kirito, how much worse are we than the strategy team?"

In the afternoon, on the twentieth floor in the countryside, Qi Tai lay on the grass, holding the latest issue of the Argo Weekly.

The reason for this sentiment is that the newspaper reported that the strategy team has broken through to the 28th floor.

"Asuna, the vice president of 'Eternal Garden,' is truly amazing. I wouldn't even dare to dream of commanding a large force to defeat a Boss."

Of course, the newspaper headlines weren't just about the "strategy team breaking through the 28th floor with zero casualties," but also about the activities of the emerging guilds "Blood Oath Knights" and "Sky Legion."

Kirito took the newspaper from Keita... Although he felt a little bad for Argo, it was common for lower-level players to share a newspaper.

The newspaper also includes information in the lower left corner about the next "Recus Auction" in the lower tier, an event that has become a must-attend event for mid-tier players.

If there are any good items that players want to sell, even the most advanced players will entrust the auction house to auction them off.

At the same time, the auction also supports a group of artisan players, because only high-quality items are allowed to be auctioned there, and selling a single weapon at a high price is enough to make an artisan famous.

The highest bid so far is for the "Giant Butcher," a top-tier two-handed axe crafted by Lisbeth in the "Eternal Garden." Agil spent all his money to buy it, which forced him to postpone his plan to open his own item shop on the 25th floor.

Kirito strongly suspects that this auction house is related to Argo, otherwise they wouldn't be promoting it so vigorously. Moreover, Agil had been borrowing money from all over the place to raise funds for the auction several days in advance, and he even lent Agil a sum of money to Agil himself.

Being able to know the items to be auctioned in advance can't be called knowing a little bit of inside information.

In other areas, there were various scattered pieces of information, as well as a farm recruitment advertisement in the lower right corner. It seemed that some players specializing in life skills had bought a lot of land below the tenth floor and planned to farm. They were currently recruiting people.

This advertisement, so full of everyday life, made Kirito feel a little dazed for a moment.

"Ah! Miss Asuna is Sachi's idol."

"What? Didn't you also say that you really like Asuna?"

"Such a handsome and powerful beauty... female players will definitely like him. Ah, I wonder if Miss Asuna has a boyfriend, Kirito?"

"Hmm... I haven't heard of it yet," Kirito replied, turning his head away.

For some time now, Asuna, the vice president of the once-dormant top guild "Eternal Garden," has maintained a strict and aloof demeanor, becoming an idol for most women. Male players, on the other hand, are mostly drawn to her because of her unbelievably beautiful appearance, though he has no evidence to support this claim.

However, Kirito still remembered that the other party seemed to be a novice player who didn't know anything at the beginning, but he was able to grow to this level in a short period of time.

Ignoring his companions' playful antics behind him, Kirito turned his head back and looked at Keita, who was now deep in thought, and then said...

"The difference between us and the strategy team is probably intelligence."

The term "strategy group," which originated from the lower levels and referred to the frontline player group, officially became the name for the strategy group after it was adopted by the Argo Weekly.

After uttering this specific term, Kirito unconsciously realized that he was actually a member of the strategy team as well.

Thinking of this, he lowered his head. The information he had just mentioned was precisely the reason he was able to join the strategy team.

Even now, the strategy team has monopolized the most efficient training area before the arrival of a large number of mid-level players. They also know information such as how to obtain more powerful weapons and equipment. Although these trivial pieces of information are mentioned in each issue of the Argo Weekly, not every lower-level player will notice or remember them.

Argo wouldn't be able to write in detail in later strategy guides about how a certain swamp lizard monster drops leather, and how taking this leather to one of the famous tailors in SAO could allow you to customize boots with excellent performance.

“No, that’s not right.” Keita shook his head. “Of course… that might be part of the reason, but I think it’s more of a matter of willpower.”

"Willpower?"

"Yes!" Qi Tai nodded heavily. "Because they have a strong will to protect their companions and all the players. It is because of this strength that they were able to win in dangerous boss battles."

"If all we wanted was safety, we could have just locked ourselves in 'The Town of Beginnings.' They were the first to leave. I think we left 'The Town of Beginnings' quite late. Our courage to leave was also fueled by the news of the strategy team constantly defeating bosses..."

"Someday I hope I can become a great person like a 'knight' or a 'hero' and be remembered by everyone."

"Is that so...that makes sense." Kirito remained silent.

He didn't even know that... their actions would have an impact on the lower levels. No, maybe he knew, but he never realized what kind of impact it would have.

Although the "hero" has sacrificed himself, his deeds are still recorded in a certain compiled chronicle. What this name carries is not the fear of death, but the courage to sacrifice.

As for "Knight"... to be honest, apart from appearing in Boss battles these past few months, Kirito hasn't seen him in town. Even the members of his guild "Eternal Garden" have been keeping a low profile, and few people have noticed their whereabouts.

If it weren't for the fact that she could show her face, the strategy team would have suspected that the other party had also sacrificed themselves. In fact, Vice President Asuna is already the president of "Eternal Garden".

"Of course, the safety of our companions is the top priority." After saying that, Keita grinned, but his expression immediately turned serious.

"But if we keep grinding monsters and leveling up, then one day we'll be able to join the strategy team too."

Chapter 165: You're a dark elf, aren't you? I am!

"Is this the place? The location of the mission." Asuna accidentally kicked a small stone with her pure white knight boots. She looked around at the dim cave. She was now standing deep inside the cave. The path that was flat just now had become bumpy. It was obvious that the area ahead was undeveloped or not yet fully explored.

Although the light is dim, the brightness of the area you are looking at will automatically adjust as long as you focus your eyes. Of course, the effect may be much worse than the "dark vision" skill, but the "targeting" skill originally has a vision buff, so you can see things clearly even in such an environment.

“Let me see the quest… um… um.” Lisbeth glanced at the detailed description of the quest “Haunted Mine” again, then compared it with the map, and said with a puzzled look, pinching her chin, “This should be the place.”

"But... we haven't encountered any monsters along the way." Lingyin shook the lantern in her hand and looked back at the path she had come from.

She just confirmed that she can't send messages here, so this mine should be considered a maze.

"Haunted... I've only heard the wind since just now. Do you think the ghost's cries mentioned in the mission refer to this?" Lisbeth hummed in agreement, guessing as she stretched out her palm to try and control the airflow.

Silently placing her hand on the hilt of her sword, Asuna stared intently ahead. Just then, a gust of wind blew in front of her, accompanied by a series of whistling sounds.

The theme of the twenty-seventh floor is "cave". It is full of "rock", but it is not just rocks. There are also "tunnels" and "ore". In fact, the real theme of this floor is "smelting". All kinds of mainstream metal materials and props can be found here, and you can also find a lot of particularly rare ingots from time to time.

Therefore, even though the strategy team has already broken through the twenty-eighth floor, there are still many valuable things to discover on the twenty-seventh floor.

"Why don't we go back first?" Lingyin said considerately.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a ghost…” Asuna took a deep breath. “Besides, there haven’t been any ghost-type monsters on the twenty-seventh floor. It should be more like dark goblins and constructs.”

That's why she let Mitt lead the others to explore the twenty-ninth floor first, while she took Liz and Lingyin to solve the task.

"Hahaha... Oh~" Lisbeth touched the back of her pink hair as if to hide her embarrassment, "I feel like I've caused everyone trouble."

"Opening the blacksmith shop on the twenty-seventh floor was a policy that everyone agreed on from the start." Asuna shook her head, reassuring Lisbeth that they were all comrades in the same guild.

The "Haunted Mine" quest was received after opening the shop. The quest description stated that a mine was forced to close due to goblin attacks. It was said that there was a vein of rare ore inside, so they planned to reopen the mine, but due to unforeseen circumstances, they were unable to officially start work.

If you can complete this task, you can get a cheap source of ore from the NPC.

While other players need to constantly mine ores, and then spend a lot of time and effort to transport these heavy and space-consuming ores back to smelt them into "plates" or "ingots".

They were already a step ahead of other blacksmith players who were still renting furnaces from NPC blacksmith shops, and were able to forge large quantities of high-quality standard equipment to sell to lower-level players, of course, at a low price with a profit margin.

As for whether this will squeeze the living space of other blacksmiths, at a speed of forging a sword every ten minutes or so, excluding the strategic operations that must be participated in in the morning, Lisbeth can only produce a dozen or so swords in an afternoon. It would take a month to barely cover the entire front-line player group, not to mention that there are at least thousands of players in the mid-level activities.

“It’s Lisbeth’s Smile Shop, 'Smith Shop',” Lisbeth corrected Asuna’s pronunciation, enunciating each word clearly.

Since Lingyin is now a player who mainly focuses on combat, most of the business activities related to forging have been handed over to Lisbeth. Moreover, with the "Giant Butcher" two-handed axe that sold for a sky-high price of 70 Cor, Lisbeth's name is known to almost everyone in the mid-level player group. Therefore, the blacksmith shop is named after Lisbeth.

Now that her level has increased, Lisbeth has learned all the skills related to "smelting". However, with the help of a large amount of ore, Lingyin can also quickly improve her "two-handed weapon crafting" skill, which has fallen behind, and her "one-handed weapon crafting" skill, which she has only recently learned.

Fanning herself against the dusty wind, Asuna complained, "I'll have to take a good bath when I get back."

"Hehe~ You're washing clothes too?" Lisbeth grinned mischievously at Asuna and made a joke that only they knew. There was no such thing as washing clothes in SAO, but if it were in reality, Asuna's pristine white knight outfit would be covered in dust.

The pure white sleeveless knight outfit, meticulously crafted by Ashurai, paired with an orange-red mini skirt and white stockings... well, just standing there is enough to inspire morale.

Lisbeth still remembers that the vice president, who was wearing this outfit, had a flushed face, clenched his right hand and punched the president who was clapping hard. Then the president suggested to Ashura that the hem of the shirt be extended to cover the thighs.

"Liz!"

"Yes, yes, it was my fault." Faced with Asuna's gaze, Lisbeth immediately admitted defeat. "Isn't it because Asuna was wearing all white? Ah... compared to that, our student council president's taste has been getting worse and worse lately..."

Since becoming nocturnal, the colors of their president and vice president have become completely polarized, one wearing black and the other wearing white.

They say black can block out light and is suitable for nighttime activities, so there's no need for particularly flashy colors. But when it comes to their own vice president, they enthusiastically suggest that white with orange would be better, since orange is the color of sunlight.

"Hmph." Asuna's expression softened instantly, revealing a gentle smile she only showed to people she knew well. "With me watching over him, that guy's taste won't be too bad, and besides, he's quite handsome now, isn't he?"

"Hehe, it's best to say that in front of the person involved." Lingyin let out a series of crisp and melodious laughs.

"No, that guy will definitely get carried away," Asuna pouted.

“Poor thing, I’ll praise him later,” Lisbeth teased.

"Ha..." Seeing that Lingyin seemed to be interested as well, Asuna sighed to herself, then pointed ahead, "Let's complete the mission first."

It's impossible for a mine to be without forks in the road, but the three of them didn't get lost because of the strange wind. After walking for a while, they would find that the wind stopped, and that path was a dead end.

However, the path leading deeper into the passage became increasingly narrow, and dense minerals began to appear on the walls. At first, they were just ordinary metals, which Lisbeth didn't even bother to look at after identification. Later, a lot of fluorescent stones appeared, which slightly improved the lighting conditions in the passage.

But an unexpected situation arose: as they walked, it seemed there was no road ahead.

"Dead end?" Lisbeth's eyes widened. She jogged a few steps to the wall at the end, touched it, and then punched the rock in front of her.

"It shouldn't be like this..." Lingyin muttered, feeling that they hadn't gone the wrong way.

"No!" Asuna tilted her head to the side. "There's wind."

She gripped the lantern tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force. The flickering light swept across the cave walls, revealing dark red iron veins that resembled dried blood clots forming between the rocks.

At this moment, Lisbeth and Lingyin also noticed the cool breeze that brushed against their faces. It was much cooler than before, but it had less of the smell of dust and metal.

Following the flow of the wind, they groped along the stone wall on the side.

"Here, here." Lingyin found a gap about half a person's height, not small, clearly a place where people could pass through.

"What should we do? Should we go in and take a look?" Lisbeth swallowed hard.

"Hey, maybe there'll be a Boss," Lingyin reminded him.

"We still need to go in and take a look, but let's prepare the teleportation crystal first." Asuna lowered her hand from the sword hilt and then looked back to check the items in her pouch.

“Okay.” “Don’t worry.” Lingyin and Lisbeth nodded repeatedly, and like Asuna, they prepared the transfer tools.

"I'll go in first, you two follow behind me." Seeing that the two were ready, Asuna took the lead and walked towards the entrance. Fortunately, she could pass through by crouching down; if it were a strong man, he probably would have had to crawl in.

As she moved forward, a howling wind surged from deeper within. Asuna felt her head pressing against the damp, cold rock wall, and the fabric of her clothes constantly scraping against the rocks. This made her wonder if it would be better to crawl. At the same time, the sounds of her breathing and heartbeat were exceptionally clear in this confined space.

"Isn't this a bit deep? It would be bad if we got stuck here," Lisbeth complained.

"Liz!" "Liz!"

The two shouts, one after the other, made Lisbeth shrink back. This situation was indeed possible, but there was no need to worry. At worst, it would just waste three teleportation crystals.

Mid-level players might not have a single teleportation crystal, but each of them carries at least one, either from the guild or from monster drops. For example, Asuna has three.

"We've arrived," Asuna suddenly said.

A much brighter light appeared before her eyes. As soon as she stepped out of the gap, she stood up and took a deep breath.

After confirming that Liz and Lingyin were both safe and sound, Asuna finally had time to observe her surroundings.

The tunnel was much more spacious, and the light sources on the walls emitted a beautiful blue light. Several clusters of blue crystals flickered in the shadows, like countless pairs of prying eyes.

Continue forward, and after turning a corner, the view suddenly opens up.