A journey to another world starting from a sword

Chapter 6: The Beginning of the Death Game

Although a wild boar's charging trajectory is relatively straight, if you dodge early, the boar can still make slight adjustments to its direction, which could result in you being grazed by its tusks. If you dodge late, needless to say, you'll be knocked over and rolled around a few times, which is the least of your worries; you might even become paralyzed.

Therefore, the key is to know how to dodge the boar's frontal charge at the right time and still manage to slash at it.

After an afternoon, looking out over the grassland, the sun was setting, and Dante had finally leveled up to level two. SAO even thoughtfully added a light bell sound and a golden light effect.

After opening the main menu and moving to the Ability Values ​​tab, he allocated 1 out of the 3 valuable Ability Points he gained from leveling up to Strength and 2 out of Agility.

In SAO, there are really only two types of stats, which is completely different from other games. There are no attributes like stamina or intelligence, so there's no need to worry about them too much.

The powerful two-handed swords he may acquire later require a certain amount of strength to equip, so strength is still very important to him.

However, at this stage, it's difficult to obtain any good two-handed swords, and heavy armor is unavailable for purchase. Moreover, even if it were available, it wouldn't be worn. The current priority is to focus on agility, which allows for more flexible movement.

He had cleared this area by himself, leaving only a few scattered wild boars in the distance. He was able to stand still and quietly look towards the outer perimeter of Aincrad, the floating city. Through the gaps between the floors, he could see the sunset in the sky, and the setting sun shone on the grassland on the first floor through these gaps.

This made him exclaim, "So this is a game!"

"Is it almost time?" Dante stood on the path in the meadow, sighing with worry.

I've spent the whole afternoon hunting blue boars in this area. I went from being timid and hesitant at the beginning to now having a very skillful way of killing them.

Thanks to this, Dante slaughtered boar after boar on the monster-rich plains, and of course, he was also fortunate that the wild boars were clumsy in their attacks, so he didn't have to worry even if there were two or more attacking him.

Just focus on the present moment, strike first and take down one of them. In the process, Dante becomes more and more familiar with his current body.

Perhaps they haven't transcended the human realm, but they are certainly extraordinary, whether it's their coordinated physical movements, keen visual perception, or clear thinking.

Logically speaking, in SAO, even if you suffer terrifying damage that can reduce 90% of your health in one hit, you should only feel the impact and not the pain.

But when he made a mistake and was hit by the wild boar, he did feel a burning pain.

Along with the fiery heat came a shiver, but thankfully the adrenaline in his body blew away the chilling fear, and he endured the pain to kill the wild boar.

Ah, even though it's a virtual entity, it feels this real pain. If it hadn't been short-lived, he really wouldn't have dared to continue fighting.

Ironically, the stiffness that usually results from being attacked also disappears, meaning that as long as he can endure the pain of physical injury, he can continue fighting even when hit.

This means he has to get used to the pain as quickly as possible and avoid getting injured as much as possible.

The bells of the distant starting town rang out, their "clang clang clang" sound clearly audible even from the grasslands.

The next second, Dante was enveloped in a blue light effect and forcibly teleported to the central square of the starting town, which is where the player first logged in.

The square was now filled with all sorts of players, some of whom were completely unarmed, and new players appeared accompanied by a blue light effect.

"what happened?"

"I do not know."

"What kind of event is it?"

"Why can't I log out?"

"Damn it, why isn't the operations team responding yet?"

"I have plans in real life!!!"

Dante looked around at the players, some anxious and some confused, his ears constantly receiving messages filled with negative emotions.

As if in response to this strange phenomenon, a pool of scarlet liquid suddenly seeped from the sky, giving off an ominous aura.

The liquid gradually formed a humanoid figure completely covered by a cloak, obscuring its face. The sky also turned a dark red, and the atmosphere in the entire square became somber and somewhat terrifying.

"Welcome to my world, fellow players. My name is Kayaba Akihiko, and I am currently the only human capable of controlling this world."

The red humanoid figure began a somber self-introduction.

"As you players have likely noticed, the logout button is missing from the main menu. However, this isn't a game malfunction; it's simply part of Sword Art Online's original gameplay. Players cannot log out manually, and external players cannot stop or cancel NERvGear..."

Listening to Kayaba Akihiko's explanation, which was both strange and familiar, Dante felt an inexplicable urge to burst forth from his chest.

As he had predicted, Kayaba Akihiko revealed that if he forcibly deactivated the device, his brain would be burned by the high-powered microwaves emitted by the game helmet, and that dying in the game would also result in his brain being burned.

The only way to log out of the game is to clear SAO, specifically the 100-floor floating city.

Upon hearing this, the surrounding players instantly stirred, while Dante watched with considerable sympathy as their faces were filled with disbelief and fear.

"Finally, you will find the gift I gave you in your inventory. Please check it."

He knew that Kayaba Akihiko's so-called gift was a mirror, and since he already had his original appearance, there was no need for him to look at it again.

What happened next shocked all the players. Enveloped in clusters of blue light, the players regained their real-world appearance.

And so, one by one, the handsome men and beautiful women disappeared, their weathered faces etched with stories.

In one corner, a male and female player, as intimate as a couple, transformed into a fat man and a thin man, and then simultaneously pointed at each other and let out a cry from the depths of their souls:

"Are you a man?!"

"You're lying if you say you're 17!"

Looking around, almost everyone there was a man. No matter how hard Dante tried, he couldn't suppress the twitching at the corner of his mouth. He sighed and rubbed his forehead with his left hand.

The ratio is completely one-sided; from now on, female players will become a rare breed, and those who are good-looking will be even rarer.

Meanwhile, Kayaba Akihiko was about to finish his speech as Dante pondered, "Although this is a game, it's not something to be taken lightly... Good luck to all players."

After saying that, he disappeared, and the sky returned from its gloomy dark red to the orange-red of dusk.

But the square remained eerily silent, as if the heavy air was squeezing everyone's lungs.

Seconds after Kayaba Akihiko disappeared, a girl's scream of despair rang out, and the players who had come to their senses erupted.

"What a joke!"

"Let me out! Get out of here!"

"I have something urgent to do, you bastard!"

"No! Help me!"

"It's a lie, it must be a lie!"

"Say it's not true!"

Anger and panic spread throughout the plaza, and the transparent light barrier that Kayaba Akihiko had set up around the plaza to restrict players from leaving also disappeared.

Dante looked at the scene before him, shook his head, sighed, turned and ran out of the square; staying any longer would be of no use.

He is fundamentally different from these players.

Chapter 7: Their Own Actions

Meanwhile, several players were already making their way through the commotion and heading towards the outer perimeter.

Dante knew very well that those were closed beta testers, and they were the first to understand the situation and immediately began to act in a planned manner.

Using information gathered during the previous closed beta, be the first to accept high-quality quests in the town, open hidden treasure chests in the maze area to obtain rare items, and occupy the best training areas to grind those weak monsters that give a lot of experience.

What were these people's original intentions?

Perhaps it's because SAO has now become a death game, and the sense of crisis that only by constantly becoming stronger can one truly ensure their own safety.

It could also be that they simply want to maintain a sense of superiority over the players, and the fear of falling behind motivates them to take action.

Who knows.

Logically speaking, he should be heading to the next stronghold now, because in a few days, the nearby training areas will be occupied by players whose consciousness is gradually awakening.

This leads to a situation where the speed of killing monsters is much greater than the speed of spawning them, greatly reducing the efficiency of leveling up nearby. Everyone is searching for spawning monsters, turning it into a competition of who can be the fastest.

However, Dante could not make such a hasty decision, because he knew very well that he was not a closed beta player and that the information he knew was limited to what he had seen. Even Cardinal could not recall memories he had not seen.

Heading to the next village, we were completely lost.

At this moment, he was not heading towards the road to the West Gate, which is the most friendly and easiest road for solo players to reach "Horuka Village".

Instead, he chose to go through the North Gate during the day, first selling the materials he had collected over the course of the day at the item shop in the commercial street, earning over a hundred Cors, then replenishing his used healing potions, and finally heading towards the grassland where he would level up in the afternoon.

"Cardinal, retrieve sword techniques for fighting monsters and humans."

"Yes."

Before my eyes appeared light and shadow of a completely different color from the main menu. This was not the SAO game menu, but the masterpiece of "Cardinal".

It lists the sword techniques he can currently learn, mostly those used by adventurers, mercenaries, or masters from other worlds.

Of course, these were not copied from some other world; they were created out of thin air based on impressions in one's mind.

It's so amazing that now that he says he wants a pair of Sharingan, Cardinal can create a pair with superhuman insight, able to cast and see through illusions, copy non-special moves, and continuously evolve based on spiritual energy, with red eyes and tomoe inside.

In its final evolution, it can even summon a giant that is entirely of one color.

Can you say it's not the Sharingan?

No, it is the Sharingan.

However, this is not the Sharingan from the Naruto world, but a "conceptual weapon" that has been created to be infinitely close to the original.

The amount of mana required is much larger than what is needed to directly copy it from the Naruto world, making it expensive and not worthwhile.

He glanced at it and realized that after transmigrating to this world, Cardinal had almost exhausted his mana; all that was left was enough to learn swordsmanship or something.

I'll try again later to see if I can get any benefits from the SAO world. At least fighting the monsters outside the circle doesn't do anything and I can't get any mana. Maybe it's not special?

Dante quickly ran outside the circle, and there was no one around, just like in the afternoon.

Currently, he wants to level up to level 3 as soon as possible and practice the swordsmanship he just learned so that he won't be afraid of monsters when he goes to the next village. Later, he hopes to get the first-level strategy guide made by the information merchant Argo.

It can fill in information that is not recorded in the original work, except for important nodes.

However, that booklet probably won't be printed in the first week.

what......

As dusk draws to a close, the grassland is bathed in the blood-red glow of the setting sun, the evening glow merging with the horizon to create a golden-red hue.

Fortunately, the "Target Acquisition" skill allowed him to observe monsters even at great distances, and it was very useful and convenient, even at night.

So he decided not to go back to sleep until the medicine ran out.

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

"Why, why did it turn out like this?" In the square, Mitt bit his thumb, completely bewildered.

Of course, it wasn't just her; everyone around her, including Asuna, was too.

She gripped the steel sickle she had just bought for 970 Cors in her hand; only the hard, cold metal slightly dispelled the fear in her heart.

Until Kayaba Akihiko disappeared into the sky, the blood-red sky turned orange again.

Asuna, standing beside her, blinked softly, inwardly murmuring incredulous thoughts.

Is this reality?

Isn't this from a game?

She kept asking the same questions, but unfortunately no one would give her the answers she wanted.

When I came to my senses, the surroundings were filled with arguments and cries, despair and panic intertwined, and a suffocating atmosphere permeated the area.

Just then, Mitt noticed that several people in the crowd were quickly retreating to the outer edge, as if they were about to leave the square.

"...!"

She suddenly realized what was happening and immediately grabbed Asuna's hand.

"W-what happened?" Asuna looked at Mito in confusion, her friend having already returned to her original form.

The frightening old man's appearance had vanished, and the pretty girl with a purple ponytail standing before him was his true self.

As for the other party—Mitsu himself—he wasn't surprised by Asuna's appearance, because she hadn't changed at all. The only idiot who could log into the game in her real-life form was the one in front of him.

"Leave this city immediately."

Hearing Mito say this, Asuna didn't understand what he meant, but Mito continued speaking anxiously.

"In order to complete this game as soon as possible, we must become stronger. But the monsters around here will soon be cleared out by nearby players, and it will be very difficult to level up."

"I don't understand any of this..."

Unlike Fukasumi, she had almost never played games in her previous life.