A journey to another world starting from a sword

"Oh, right, give me five thousand Cor, and I'll give you information on the special skill 'physical combat'," Dante suddenly remembered.

"Physical techniques!" Kirito exclaimed in surprise from inside the canned helmet. "Where did you get this information?"

"I bought it from Argo for 50,000 Cors." Although it was a free gift with the 50,000 Cors donation, Argo might not have told me without that 50,000 Cors.

"What if I ask Argo to buy it..." Kirito pondered this possibility.

"Do you think she'd sell it to you cheaply?" Dante chuckled, berating the information broker. Argo was a shrewd businessman, after all.

“That’s true… I bought that information!” Kirito still believed what this person said, but then he had another question, “So what are you now?”

"I plan to learn it now," Dante replied, nodding in agreement.

"Can I just go with them?" Kirito was somewhat tempted, after all, it was a special skill! It was an irresistible temptation for any hardcore player.

"Um, are you really going? It might take some time," Dante kindly advised.

"It's alright, it's alright, I'm free right now anyway." Kirito waved his hand, his enthusiasm undiminished.

"..."

Chapter 66: The Imposter Hero

They climbed up a round, table-shaped rock formation that was visible everywhere on the second level, then crawled into a small cave and slid down into an underground waterway similar to a water slide.

They encountered monsters three times along the way, but these monsters were powerless against the two players who were ranked among the strongest in Aincrad.

After glancing at the map, Dante knew that he and Kirito seemed to have arrived at the summit of a towering rocky mountain in the eastern corner of the second level.

This is a small space surrounded by rock walls, where you can see a spring, a tree, and a small hut.

"Hey—this is it." Kirito looked around at the surroundings. To ensure a clear view, he had already removed the helmet he used to enter the city. Then, he couldn't wait to walk forward and quickly push open the door.

There were only a few pieces of furniture and one NPC in the room.

He was a muscular man who had just entered old age. His head was bald, a hairstyle that clearly belonged to a strong man, while he had a thick beard around his mouth.

At this moment, a quest symbol "!" appears above the old man NPC's head.

"Looks like that guy is the NPC who teaches the special skill 'physical techniques'." Kirito turned to look at his companion.

"It should be." Dante peered into the doorway from halfway through.

As they stepped into the small house, the uncle who was meditating in front of them suddenly asked a question.

"Are you here to become my apprentice?"

Dante and Kirito looked at each other, and finally Kirito nodded to the NPC and said, "That's right."

"The path of cultivation is long and dangerous."

These words sounded like a warning, as if something bad was about to happen.

"I couldn't ask for more!" Kirito acted like a passionate young man, no, he was a young man to begin with.

After the brief Q&A session to accept the mission, the symbol above the uncle's head had changed to a "?".

"There's nothing here?" Kirito looked around, but there was no record of accepting a mission in his sight.

But then Uncle, whom we should now call Master, led the two of them outside the hut to a huge rock in the corner of the garden, which was surrounded by rock walls.

Then the master patted a heavy rock, and while stroking his beard with his left hand, he said:

"Your only training is to break this rock with your own fists. If you succeed, I will teach you all my skills."

"Huh? Wait, wait a minute." Kirito looked at Dante, who was shrugging his shoulders, and started to panic. He immediately lay down on the huge rock and tapped it lightly.

Hmm, impossible.

Dante squatted down next to him and touched the texture of the rock; it was indeed very hard.

No wonder Argo abandoned this quest during the closed beta; with all her points allocated to agility, where would she get enough strength to break this boulder?

Sensing something was wrong, Kirito wanted to cancel the mission, so he stood up and turned to his master, but it seemed that his master had not finished speaking.

He took out a small pot and a thick, beautiful calligraphy brush from his Taoist robe!

"You are not allowed to leave the mountain before you break this rock. I will leave proof of your cultivation on you."

After saying this, he inserted the tip of his brush into the pot with his right hand, and then swung the ink-covered brush tip with astonishing speed.

"Oh... Oh wah!" Kirito let out an embarrassed cry and leaned back, hurriedly wiping his face with both hands.

As a result, no black liquid could be found on my hands anymore; it seemed to be quick-drying ink.

Then, the master looked at Kirito, who had been marked, and nodded with satisfaction before saying something that made Kirito somewhat devastated.

"This 'proof' will not disappear until you break the rock and end your training."

With the words, "My apprentice, I believe in you," he strode back to the cabin and disappeared into the darkness of the room.

"Ah...ah..." Unable to close his mouth, Kirito could only stand there dumbfounded. He looked at Dante with a very comical and subtle expression and asked, "What's wrong with my face right now?"

"Um... Pfft... This is a funny situation." Dante accidentally choked on his laughter, but quickly regained his composure.

"I thought so too." Kirito felt tears welling up in his eyes.

“If you hadn’t thrown away the hand mirror that Kayaba Akihiko gave you, you should be able to see the state of your face right now,” Dante said with amusement.

"I threw that kind of thing away a long time ago."

It wasn't that it was lost, but rather that at that moment—the instant Kayaba Akihiko announced SAO as a death game—it slipped from his grasp, fell to the ground, and shattered. However, that only evoked bad memories, so it wasn't something worth worrying about.

"Don't worry, I'll be with you," Dante comforted Kirito, who was looking dejected.

“…” Kirito looked at Dante with emotion. This guy was indeed a good guy.

Dante then experienced the same treatment as Kirito, except that because he did not resist, the pattern his master drew was not so strange, but it still required a certain amount of courage to take it out to meet people.

Also, it really hurts to hit the rock with your palm. I tried for a whole day and night, but the rock still stood there.

Without sufficient strength, it's just a waste of energy, which is why he didn't let Asuna and the others come along.

Kirito made do with sleeping in the cabin during the night, while Dante simply found a sheltered spot to meditate.

According to Asuna's message, the daytime reconnaissance operation ended rather abruptly, as expected.

The game ended rather abruptly because nearly a quarter of the 20-plus players who followed him fell into a state of "paralysis," forcing Diabel to withdraw prematurely.

This was something Asuna regretted, because the Allied Forces almost killed Colonel Bull Nato, and others thought so too.

But Diabel rationally directed everyone to evacuate in an orderly manner, a decisiveness that Dante greatly admired.

Then Diabel himself asked when he would return to participate in the official battle. Dante thought about it and set the date for the day after tomorrow. Three days should be enough time for him to break the stone. If he didn't break it, he would wear a mask and go to the battle.

Moreover, even Diabel admitted that the main problem this time was with the equipment, and they really needed time to prepare properly.

Especially for tanks, the only way to reduce the boss's paralysis attack is to increase resistance through weapon and armor upgrades. There are no other good methods at this stage.

One particularly impressive team of new recruits who enthusiastically participated in the reconnaissance mission did an excellent job. They were all players who named themselves after heroes. Diabel expressed his bewilderment, noting that he had never heard of such a strong and distinctive group of players before.

Based on his experience during the closed beta, Diabel felt that their appearance was somewhat abrupt, despite their apparent lack of combat experience, they possessed powerful equipment.

Weapons or armor that have been upgraded to near the upgrade limit will emit a strong glow that shows their value. Their equipment has almost all reached the upgrade limit, which is even more exaggerated than Dante's team.

Dante had already guessed who they were, and as for the name of the hero, it was utterly laughable.

Chapter 67: The Legendary Blacksmith

"Ah!"

A heavy punch slammed into the hard rock, but the rock didn't budge, and its surface didn't change at all, making one wonder if it could really be shattered.

“Hey…” Kirito looked up wearily.

"What's wrong, Kirito?" Dante, who had been shaking his hand after each hammer blow, also stopped.

"No, don't call me by that name." Kirito subconsciously touched his face. Although he couldn't see it, he knew very well that everyone else in front of him could see it.

"It's alright. If it really can't be removed, we can just wear a mask," Dante said casually.

Like the one Mitt wore when he first entered the game, it was pretty cool, just like Hassan.

"Your face doesn't look like mine..." Kirito's voice suddenly lowered.

“Want to compare? My companions originally wanted to come and visit, but I persuaded them all to go back so you wouldn’t embarrass yourself. They should be quite fair as judges.” Dante chuckled and straightened up.

"Please don't!" Kirito covered his face with one hand and reached out with the other to stop him.

"Okay." Dante didn't actually want to use this kind of move that would kill a thousand enemies but also hurt eight hundred of his own.

"Do you think we still have time to participate in the Boss raid?" Kirito's tone was somewhat wistful.

I heard from Dante this morning that Diabel plans to do a boss raid tomorrow, but a whole day has passed since they accepted the mission!

After a whole day, the stone wasn't even cracked, let alone broken.

"Hmm... This is information Argo heard from an NPC on the seventh floor. There's a martial arts master or something on the second floor, so the strength attribute requirement is already very high, not a value that can be achieved at the recommended level for the second floor," Dante analyzed.

"Indeed." Kirito nodded.

However, they had been on the first floor for almost a month. The recommended level for players to reach in the second floor was around level 8. This meant that the cursors for most monsters on the floor would be a color below bright red. But now, the players on the front lines had long since exceeded that level.

Moreover, he mainly allocated his attribute points to strength, and he was wearing equipment that increased strength.

"Speaking of which, this rock must have lost a lot of durability by now, right?" Bending down to stroke the rock in front of him, Dante felt that the texture was still as hard as ever, a fact he had already fully felt from his hands, which were numb with pain.

"Probably." Kirito took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled. It would be better if there were some kind of reaction on the rock; as it is now, it's really discouraging.

“Instead of worrying about the graffiti on your face, I think you should be more concerned about which squad you’ll be in for the boss fight,” Dante said with a shrug.

"!" Kirito suddenly became alert. "Do you think Diabel will let me participate in the conquest campaign?"

"Don't think of Diabel as such a bad person," Dante said with a wry smile. "He certainly won't forbid you from participating, after all, it doesn't align with his policy of uniting the closed beta testers."

"But it's also possible to assign me to the rear alone." Kirito thought Diabel had a deep misunderstanding of him.

Although he enjoys conquering LA, it doesn't mean he's unwilling to participate in Boss battles. If there's anything that requires him to step up, he'll do so without hesitation.

Kirito was constantly worried about one thing: "The number of people on the second front line should be much larger than that on the first front line, and some of the rear has already... caught up."

Because of the successful breakthrough on the first level, a large number of players who were watching from the back began to catch up, so the number of players participating in this battle should not be as small as last time.

After all, there's only one level between the first and second levels, and since there's no significant difference in strength between everyone, this gap can be quickly bridged.

While this is a good thing, it's not so wonderful for a solo player like him.

Thinking of this, Kirito stammered to Dante, "Um, that..."

He knew that the other side was a fixed team, and that it wasn't even at full strength.

He'll be participating in a boss battle later, which will be a team-based alliance. Among all the people he knows, it seems only this knight in front of him would take him in.

"Don't worry, I'll persuade Agil's squad to take you in," Dante said, indicating that there was no need for him to worry.

"Huh? Agil? That burly man?" Kirito was somewhat surprised as to why Dante didn't take him in himself.

Guessing what Kirito was thinking, Dante's gaze began to move downwards.

Kirito followed his gaze downwards until he saw his own bare, barren chest.

"..."

Okay, he probably understands why now.

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

Near the center of the main street "Urubas" on the second floor of Aincrad.

"Phew..." As Asuna stretched lightly as she walked out of a restaurant.

"Ah, I'm so full," Silica exclaimed from behind her.

"That amount is really something else," Mite said, shaking his head. This was the second time he had eaten such a large cake, and the feeling he had not long ago that it was pointless to spend money to taste something composed of various virtual parameters was now completely gone.

"Speaking of which, is it really appropriate for us to come here to eat without Dante?" Silica began to worry after she had finished eating.

"It's alright, I've already sent the email. I'll bring him to eat next time." Asuna waved her hand to indicate that it wasn't a big deal, and added, "Everyone worked very hard yesterday, so consider this a token of our appreciation."

"It was really tough, I almost got knocked down." Silica clenched her small hands, filled with resentment.

"Yes, but our teamwork during the battle is getting better and better. Once Dante arrives, we can kill that guard in the same amount of time." At this moment, Mitt was concerned about another point.

“Because we trust each other.” Asuna smiled gently, a tender smile on her face.