A journey to another world starting from a sword

"Yuktrahiel what?" Asuna asked quietly, sitting on the empty ground next to Dante.

"What?" Dante was momentarily stunned and asked, frowning.

"Yggdrasil, weren't you talking about Norse mythology? That refers to the World Tree, right?" Asuna seemed to enjoy slightly intellectual topics.

“Hmm, it’s amazing you knew that,” Dante continued, following Asuna’s words.

"Isn't it quite famous? Well... but mainly because my mother often read it to me when I was little."

Asuna felt a pang of sadness as she recalled her mother, a professor, who had provided so much care and companionship during her childhood.

Although she disliked her mother's rigid attitude, she also knew very well that her mother was doing it for her own good.

Just because of a moment of playing around, I'm trapped in this game world. Will my mother be disappointed in me in real life?

If I go outside, I'll probably get a severe scolding from her.

Casting that lingering sadness aside with the night breeze, Asuna spoke again, her voice tinged with a question. "So why did you suddenly think of Norse mythology?"

"I'm wondering, SAO—is Aincrad considered Asgard or Midgard?" With his hands on the ground, Dante leaned back to get a better look at the simulated stars above him.

"It's definitely not Midgard, this is a game world." Asuna complained. Only the real world can be considered the central courtyard of the World Tree—the world inhabited by humans.

“Then this must be Asgard.” Dante couldn’t help but chuckle.

"Then Kayaba Akihiko is Odin, isn't he?" Asuna couldn't help but laugh at her own analogy.

“No, he should be Mimir. He’s not qualified to be Odin,” Dante said, waving his hand.

"The master of the Well of Wisdom, it seems, is the one who gave Odin the wisdom to use spells." Asuna immediately recalled who Mimir was.

“Yes,” Dante nodded.

"Asgard... Hey, do you really think this world is so wonderful?" Asuna hugged her knees, her eyes, which were glowing faintly, revealed a hint of sadness.

"If I were a god, I'd want to live here too," Dante remarked, then looked at Asuna. "But..."

A gentle night breeze caressed her face and stirred her chestnut hair; at that moment, it seemed as if the whole world had stood still.

Everyone who looks at her should be filled with amazement and fascination.

She raised her head, her eyes sparkling like stars, revealing a lively light.

Their eyes met in the air, and at that moment, time seemed to stand still.

"But without you, this world wouldn't be so wonderful."

Dante smiled; it was a smile of joy at the encounter.

Chapter 61: The best course of action is to stop being human.

Asuna, her cheeks growing increasingly red, turned her head to stare at her newly acquired leather boots. "What do you mean by that?"

“Of course, it means you are all my most important partners,” Dante said, crossing his arms and nodding deeply.

"Ah—so that's what it means." Asuna let out a long breath, cleared her throat, and then glanced at Dante out of the corner of her eye. She saw him grinning maliciously, and instantly felt annoyed.

"Speaking of which, didn't you say you were going to teach me swordsmanship when we were on the first floor?"

"Ha, aren't you tired today?"

"It's not even nine o'clock yet, I can't fall asleep at all." Asuna clenched her fists and waved them up and down slightly.

"Hmm... alright." Seeing her excited expression, Dante stood up, supporting himself on his knees. "I'll slow it down so you can master each move."

......

"Thrust, feint, dodge! Turn half a circle in place, thrust, dodge! Maintain balance! No, no, no, you should use your left arm to maintain balance."

Dante obtained a steel rapier that Asuna had previously used, and with the rapier in hand, he gradually taught Asuna the rapier techniques of Arno, the foremost swordsman in France during the French Revolution.

The most crucial aspect of using a rapier is mastering the distance. Given that rapiers in SAO generally have a certain width and can be used for some slashing movements, their prototype is not actually the modern foil, but rather closer to the swift sword from before the modern era.

"No! Where did your parry go? I told you, you must parry after dodging, and use your sword to protect your head and shoulders! Make it a habit."

Clap his hands, sternly reprimanding Asuna for her improper movements, Dante once again reached out and pulled her arm into the correct position, then stood beside her and demonstrated it himself.

"And then you'll have to design your own set of movements to connect the sword techniques, like this."

After parrying, he quickly assumed the starting position of a "linear attack" and then thrust out, mimicking the sword technique that Asuna had demonstrated to him countless times.

"...Like this?" Asuna repeated the previous movements, then suddenly changed her move while blocking. Her sword flashed with pinkish-purple light, and then she released a fleeting meteor.

Dante noticed that Asuna's sword was even faster than before, probably because her leather boots had a special effect that increased agility.

In SAO, equipment that adds attributes is very rare. This pair of equipment, dropped by a certain giant bull boss, adds a full 6 points of agility, meaning it will remain relevant even after more than ten levels.

"Beautiful!" Dante exclaimed without reservation, spinning his sword back into its sheath.

"Wait! Teach me that!" Asuna suddenly took two steps forward and rushed in front of Dante.

"Which one?" Startled by the girl's sudden attack, Dante took a half step back with his right foot and quickly asked.

"It's the way you sheathed your sword just now." Asuna awkwardly rotated her wrist, but she couldn't imitate that graceful feeling no matter what she did.

"No big deal." As he drew his sword, Dante casually twirled it a couple of times, which made Asuna's eyes light up even more. "Just like before, I'll demonstrate it slowly first, and then break it down and explain it."

As a result, even after being taught until the end, Asuna's swordsmanship was still not very proficient, but her movements of sheathing and drawing the sword were very cool.

I glanced at the digital clock on the main menu; it was already 10 o'clock.

Asuna slowly yawned, but always politely covered her mouth with her hand to avoid exposing her "ugly" state to others.

"Are you sleepy? Then I'll say goodnight first." Dante chuckled and waved his hand.

"Okay." The "goodnight" she heard seemed to have a magical power, making Asuna feel even sleepier. She knew it was time to rest, so she replied politely, "Goodnight, you should go to sleep early too."

"Hmm." Dante nodded, watching Asuna walk down from the rooftop.

He then found a spot on the edge of the roof and sat down again. The night breeze blowing in from the distant mountains gently caressed his hair. While sitting, he thought about many things.

He still hasn't seen the trajectory of Asuna's meteor strike. If he encounters it again, he will only be able to dodge it based on experience. So there will come a time when he will lose to Asuna because he can't dodge it.

To maintain his winning streak, he either needs to enhance his vision or his sixth sense.

So, does he need a pair of Mystic Eyes that can briefly see the future a few seconds in advance? Or perhaps Observation Haki that can sense the other person's "sound and breath"?

If you simply want to predict a few seconds, installing a single, inexpensive magic eye is undoubtedly the most cost-effective option.

The "concept" of Observation Haki, like the Sharingan, is a systematic power. Creating a flawed, limited-potential counterfeit for the sake of a single ability is somewhat counterproductive.

Moreover, the perceptive ability in Observation Haki is actually similar to the Mind's Eye; in reality, people can also learn the Mind's Eye through certain training methods.

However, the limits of an ordinary person's five senses are limited, and even if they master the tricks of mind-reading, they cannot achieve superhuman levels.

So... is giving up on being human the right path?!

No! If I'm really going to abandon being human, I should at least choose a better race, but who knows how much mana it would take to transform my body into that of a powerful race.

Let's start by gradually modifying the body to break through the limits of humanity.

He had previously gained the ability to meditate through alchemical potions. If magic existed in this world, meditation could even increase one's own magic power. Unfortunately, magic in the true sense did not exist in this world.

The remaining function is to increase mental strength and perception. The additional effect is that when he closes his eyes, three of his other five senses—hearing, smell, and touch—become more acute.

You can hear faint sounds within 20 meters, and smell unusual odors within 10 meters if the wind is blowing in your direction. The sensation of touch on your skin extends to a range of 1 meter, as if you are enveloped by a gel-like substance. If anyone puts their body into this range, your body will immediately sense it.

At the same time, when meditating, he is in a relaxed semi-conscious state, where his physical strength and mental energy can be restored. He is not really asleep, and his consciousness can use the other five senses to be alert to the surrounding situation.

Given that nobody knows the situation yet, this level of vigilance is sufficient.

As long as it's not someone who lacks sportsmanship and throws a throwing knife coated with level 5 paralyzing and damaging poison from 20 meters away, that's fine.

In a sense, the practice of some hardcore gamers who frequently venture into the front-line mazes is the safest.

Especially during the later stages of the strategy group, the PK players were still somewhat weaker than the frontline players, which caused them to remain active in the middle and not actively move to the frontline.

"what......"

The more I think about it, the more I realize my lack of strength. Before Kayaba Akihiko, the final boss, personally intervenes, there's also the disgusting and formidable enemy, PoH.

PoH should now have its first followers, who are lurking among the players on the front lines, inciting them to commit crimes.

So far, Dante has only met Johnny Black.

How can we eliminate the other party without incurring any cost...?

Back in his room, sitting on his bed, he kept thinking about the problem until he entered a meditative state.

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

A flash of light reminded Dante of the time, and he opened his eyes. Sunlight streamed into the room through the wooden blinds, and looking at the dappled light and shadow on the floor, he realized he had been meditating a bit too long.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Asuna and Mito were already at the table, but they weren't eating; instead, they were tidying up the props.

"The bread is over there. Eat it if you're hungry," Asuna said, pointing to the bread basket on the windowsill when she turned and saw Dante.

“Yes, madam.” Dante nodded, then walked to the windowsill, picked up a piece of bread that looked like Japanese salt bread, and took a bite.

"Madam? Ah! Are you joking again?" Asuna snorted angrily, then continued looking at the items on the table.

"What are you doing?" Dante asked, walking over and resting his hand on the corner of the table after swallowing the bread he was chewing.

"As you can see, we're sorting through yesterday's loot." Mitt shrugged and raised his head slightly as he replied, "These are useless items that can be sold directly, these are somewhat useful items that we can hold onto for now, and these are items that are useful to our team. Let's divide them up later."

"And this strong leather bra..." Asuna picked up a garment that didn't look like clothing at all, placed in the middle, and asked, "What should we do with this?"

"Huh? Wasn't it supposed to be sold to Agil?" Dante said. "Anyway, I'm not going to wear it."

"It's not like we know how to wear that..." Asuna retorted.

“Instead of selling it directly to Agil, wouldn’t it be better to hand it over to Argo to find a better buyer and get a higher price?” Mitt suddenly came up with a brilliant idea.

“Alright.” Dante decided to take Mitt’s suggestion. “I’ll contact Argo later.”

"So, the bread tastes alright, doesn't it?" Asuna tilted her head back, asking as if she were smug.

"This...you made this?" Dante paused for a second, then stared at the half-eaten bread in his hand. The cross-section had very uniform honeycomb holes, and it seemed no different from the standard bread sold in stores.

"Yes, it doesn't taste bad, does it?" Asuna said with a smile.

"It's more than just not bad." Dante was amused by Asuna's words. "It tastes no different from what you get at other restaurants."

"It seems the knowledge I learned in home economics class is quite useful." Asuna was somewhat relieved that she could even use it in the game, since Ms. Sada prepared the meals at home, and she didn't usually have the opportunity to practice cooking.

"..." These words made Dante look at Mitt, which made Mitt frown angrily.

"What are you doing? Let me make it clear that I'm also doing very well in home economics class, and I can cook at home," Mito explained. "Since Asuna has already learned the 'cooking' skill, I'll learn something else too."

"Smelting?" Dante asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No—I have no interest in hammering and forging.” Mitt didn’t keep them in suspense and said directly, “I’m more interested in ‘crafting’ and making some decorative items.”

Because accessories are the rarest type of equipment to drop, and what you buy in the shop are mostly just pretty faces with no real effect.

Why not have her make some rings, earrings, or necklaces with special effects to fill the gaps in her equipment?

"That's pretty good." Dante also saw the benefits and wholeheartedly agreed with Mitt's sudden idea to learn a skill.

As for Silica, let her learn skills like trap detection and lock picking first. If there aren't enough skill slots later when she can raise pets, she can forget the skills.

Just as she was thinking this, Silica walked into the restaurant in a daze, as if she hadn't woken up yet.

"Silica-chan, you should wash your face before eating breakfast."

Faced with Asuna's motherly admonition, Silica rubbed her eyes and said, "Okay~"

Breakfast consisted of bread with a second layer of unique butter. The taste wasn't as amazing as the first layer of creamy dark bread, but it was still pretty good.

Asuna made a lot of bread for practice, but very few failed, almost none, otherwise she wouldn't have put them in a basket after she finished making them.

She put the remaining bread in her inventory, planning to eat it before its durability ran out, around noon.

The room's lease was only valid for one day. They might come back later to collect materials or upgrade their equipment, but ultimately they decided not to renew the lease, especially Asuna, who looked back at the room with lingering reluctance.

No, even Silica felt a little reluctant to part with it.

Before leaving Urbas, they went to the shops to sell the items they didn't need. Although they could sell these items to other players and perhaps make more money, they didn't have the time to find players who needed them.

For players like them who are dedicated to working on the front lines, spending time and energy just to earn a little money is not worthwhile.

"Fuel, flint, torches, sleeping bags... are all these ready?" Mitt asked repeatedly, and discussed with Dante what else was missing.

Another important thing is to replenish healing potions. Fill your inventory as much as possible, so that if you really have to stay in the maze, you can have enough potions to last for two days of battle.