A journey to another world starting from a sword

"Everything is ready."

Fully armed, they headed toward Taran.

Chapter 62: One Day and One Night, Twelve Floors

"Here you go. This is a map up to the fifth floor. Tong asked me to give it to you."

In Taran, Dante and his companions first met briefly with Argo, who tossed them the map scroll.

"No charge, right?" Dante joked with Argo after confirming receipt.

"Hmph, what do you take me for? Of course it's free." Argo snorted. These two had already provided her with the map files for free. She would feel guilty charging him for running errands like this.

"If I want you to help me find buyers for some of the dropped items..." Dante brought up another matter, something he had discussed with everyone.

“Ah, that’s another story.” Argo chuckled, a boyish smile spreading across his face as he held the back of his head with both hands.

"I'll give you a 5% commission; how much you sell is up to you," Dante said, holding up five fingers.

“Hey, hey, hey, who would do this job for such a small amount? At least give me 20%!” Argo protested vehemently.

“This is just an email for you, how about 10%?” Dante cut Argo’s request in half.

“Hmm…” Argo paused for a few seconds, then sighed, “I’m an information broker, not a peddler.”

She muttered a complaint under her breath, then said, "One part at a time."

The main problem is that there aren't any dedicated merchant players right now, and the "vendor carpets" used to set up stalls on the street are very expensive. As for dedicated shops owned by merchant players, that's a long way off.

In the future, Agil's item shop will be on the fiftieth floor. Whether he saved up enough money when he was on the fiftieth floor, or he had it before and just moved to the fiftieth floor later, nobody knows.

Selling these decent items directly to NPC shops would be too cheap, as NPCs don't allow bargaining and always buy them back at a low price. If you calculate it carefully, you could lose several thousand Cor.

Otherwise, Dante wouldn't have entrusted this matter to Argo. He then gave her some expensive but useless props and asked her to help find a buyer.

The most outstanding item is, of course,...

"Who are you planning to sell this to?" Argo asked, pointing to a piece of equipment that could increase attributes.

“We originally intended to sell it to Agil,” Dante decided to tell the truth.

"I can't believe you guys came up with this..." Argo thought about what it would be like to see a giant with chocolate skin like Akiel wearing this "powerful belt underwear" outfit, and he found it a bit of an eyesore. "I can't guarantee that this will sell."

After all, for the average player, this appearance is really too hard to accept.

"Just cover your face," Dante offered as a solution. "Besides, there will always be players who care more about practicality."

“...That’s true.” Argo had to admit that there were all sorts of people among the players.

After all, this piece of equipment not only provides strength, but its defense is also surprisingly good?! And there's so little fabric used?!

"Then it's up to you," Dante said, waving his hand.

“Oh!” Argo nodded. “You guys are really bold, daring to spend the night in the labyrinth.”

"Because everyone is very strong," Dante explained casually.

"Very strong..." Argo glanced at the three players behind him.

Leaving aside the original beta tester named Mitt, Xiaoya's strength is also close to that of a top-tier player. If it weren't for them guiding her, little sister Silica probably would never have wanted to spend a night in the maze area.

Trust in your companions is indeed the most important thing.

After parting ways with them, Argo walked onto the road, pondering how to handle the matter properly, especially that troublesome piece of equipment—which guy would actually buy it?!

No! Wait!

It seems she does know a player who might buy this piece of equipment; they just met!

Compared to the insignificant changes in appearance, the other party would probably care more about the strength attribute bonus that the equipment brings.

With that in mind, Argo swiped through the main menu, opened the friends list, and sent an email to one of his logged-in friends.

After about ten minutes, the two met at the agreed place.

"Tongzi, don't say your sister didn't take care of you," Argo chuckled. "When I got this equipment, you were the first person I thought of."

Finally, a black-haired boy bought this piece of equipment, which had good defensive capabilities but looked a bit strange, for a high price of 10,000 Cor.

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

Around noon, Dante led Asuna and the others to conquer the eighth floor in one go.

Outside, the sun should be shining brightly, but inside the maze, one can only see the enemy with a negligible amount of light.

“According to Argo’s intelligence, the nearest safe zone is on the eleventh floor. We should be able to get there before dark.” Mitt sat down against the wall, flipping through Argo’s strategy guide to solidify his memory.

But the answer from my companion was...

"Should we also add rosemary...?"

Dante was squatting next to Asuna, watching her grill a piece of meat that had been taken from the Boss on a stone slab.

"It seems that this method exists, and it also includes thyme. But I didn't find similar spices for the second layer, only black pepper and salt."

Asuna placed the butter she had bought that morning on the scorching hot stone slab, where it immediately melted into a brownish-yellow solution.

"Hey! Are you two even listening?" Mitt couldn't help but shout, squinting his eyes.

Apart from Silica sitting next to him reading a book, the other two completely ignored him.

"I'm listening," Dante shouted without turning his head.

"Ah, wait a minute." Asuna's words clearly indicated that Mito's words hadn't reached her ears at all.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. This is meat from the Boss's body. If it gets burnt, there won't be any extra ingredients left.

So she focused intently on the caramelized layer on the surface of the steak, constantly monitoring its cooking time to avoid any mishaps.

"Alright!" When it was almost done, Asuna placed the seared steak on another stone slab that had been rinsed with water.

Looking at the perfectly caramelized steak, Asuna exclaimed in her heart: Perfect!

"Doesn't the meat need to rest?" Although it looked delicious, Dante asked again just in case.

"Hmm, SAO's cooking is much simpler. It seems like there's no step of resting the meat, right?" Asuna tilted her head uncertainly.

"That's true." Suddenly Dante remembered that he had forgotten the most important thing, so he glanced at his beloved sword lying at his feet.

No, this is too big.

Moreover, I just can't get over the thought of using a sword that's been used to slay minotaurs to cut steak; it feels like the food will be tainted with some kind of murky, bloody taste.

"Silica, lend me your spare short sword from your inventory," Dante called out behind him. The short sword was quite handy for cutting steaks.

Although Celia specially bought a spare weapon, it was never actually used.

Normally, you would only use a backup weapon when your main weapon is about to run out of durability and will break and disappear if you continue to use it.

Just as Silica was about to agree, Asuna pulled a small knife from her waist. "I already thought of that."

"Oh, oh." Dante marveled at how thorough her thinking was, then humbly declined, "The head chef, please go first."

"Hmph." Asuna showed a pleased expression, cut off a piece of steak and put it in her mouth, immediately making a subtle sound.

"Well......"

His eyes widened, and even the chewing motion in his mouth stopped.

"What's wrong? Does it not taste good?" Dante became nervous because of Asuna's expression.

"No," Asuna murmured softly.

"What?" Dante didn't hear clearly and leaned closer to listen.

"It's delicious," Asuna said clearly this time. "It's delicious!"

Saliva was flowing wildly from his mouth, mixing with the rich, mellow oil.

Oh my god, it really is Wagyu beef.

This time, even Mitt and Silica heard the sound.

"Really?" Mite was a little surprised, but it made sense, since it was food dropped by the Boss.

"Everyone, come and have a taste," Asuna invited, and then returned to the kitchen. She cut a large piece of "Ballhead Bull Meat" into several slices, and had only grilled the first piece so far.

I originally intended to gain experience, but I unexpectedly succeeded right away.

While this amount may not be enough to fill you up, it's sufficient to satisfy your stomach when eaten with the bread you had in the morning.

Soon after, the completely cleared stone slab had completed its mission, just as the inscription described, showing no trace of food that had ever been there.

"Ah... I'm so glad I've managed to survive until now." Asuna sighed deeply.

If Mito had previously argued that Asuna was exaggerating, now she simply wanted to agree with her, saying, "Asuna is right."

"Will we never be able to eat such delicious meat again?" Silica suddenly felt a little regretful.

"No, it's not that simple. With improved cooking skills, even ordinary ingredients can be made into delicious dishes. It all depends on the chef's skill," Dante reassured Silica.

"Okay, I'll take care of it!" Asuna confidently flexed her arm muscles, but as a girl, her arms only looked soft and inviting to touch.

After a long while, Dante broke the silence that had lasted for several minutes as he was still savoring the afterglow of the delicious food.

"Let's go on."

"Oh!"

Everyone's morale is even higher than before.

On the way, Dante, Asuna, and Mito walked ahead to scout the path, while Silica kept watch behind them.

Silica then replaced Asuna, and then Asuna replaced Mito.

Only Dante fought the entire match.

"Are you alright? Do you need to rest?" Asuna, walking to Dante's right, looked at his face and asked with concern.

"It's alright, we should be arriving at our destination soon." Dante smiled reassuringly.

“Hmm, one more level and we’ll reach the safe zone of the maze.” Mitt, who was half a body length behind him on the left, checked the terrain from both sides, a feeling of familiarity mixed with strangeness welling up in his heart.

Having passed through this place many times before, as Mitt entered the eleventh floor of the maze area, his memories gradually came back to life.

During the closed beta, everyone rushed forward, and the time spent on each level was very even. Because you could try again countless times, everyone accumulated experience through countless deaths.

It can be said that the more closed beta testers die, the stronger their combat power becomes; this formula is almost an equal sign.

"This is the safe zone." After leading everyone into an empty room, Mitt announced that the team had achieved a partial victory.

"Ah...we've finally arrived." Silica couldn't help but exclaim, the whole day's fighting had taken a toll on her.

"Let's rest for a bit, we'll have dinner later," Dante said after looking around to make sure everything was alright.

No one on the second floor is progressing faster than them, meaning they are currently the only player group to have reached the middle of the maze area.

Even though he was the one who initially proposed it, he now finds it somewhat unbelievable.

After resting for a while, Asuna decided to follow the same method and fry the meat of the trembling cow as well.

Because much preparation was needed, Dante and Mitt decided to first "take a stroll" around the eleventh floor of the labyrinth.

"We won't take this." Mitt tossed the useless item back into the treasure chest and closed it.

For the sake of subsequent operations, not all treasure chest items will be taken away.

"Pity."

Mitt didn't detect much regret in Dante's tone. Dante was thinking that it would be good if he could bring them all back, but since he couldn't bring them back anyway, there was nothing to regret.

The current amount of Cor is sufficient; there's no need to obsess over the money earned from selling items.

When they got back, Asuna had already prepared dinner, and this time it was an all-you-can-eat beef buffet, a special Aincrad treat!

"You two went monster hunting again, didn't you?" Asuna muttered to the two of them during the meal.

"Well, we've explored about a third of the carpet on the eleventh floor. We'll finish exploring it all tonight," Dante explained the general situation.

"It would be best to scout out the twelfth floor as well, just enough to find the stairs leading to the upper floors," Mitt suggested. "Otherwise, we won't have enough time tomorrow."

After today's battle, she was confident that she could conquer the Boss's room in one go tomorrow. However, she was unsure whether to spend the night in the maze again or return to town to relax completely.

"Silica and Mitt can rest here for a while." Dante glanced at the tired-looking Silica.

“Me!” Silica was about to retort that she had no problem.