A journey to another world starting from a sword

"So that's what you were thinking..." Mite felt relieved.

"Aren't you two coming to see?" Asuna shouted, turning her head, seemingly unaware that the two were whispering to each other.

"Okay," Dante agreed, and went to the window to look out at the view from the third floor, which was sixty meters above the ground.

The lush forest is like a vast green ocean, with layers of trees swaying in the wind like rolling waves. Sunlight filters through the gaps between the treetops, casting dappled shadows—a truly picturesque scene...

"It is indeed very beautiful," Dante murmured involuntarily.

“Right?” Asuna continued with a bright smile after receiving his agreement, “Although sleeping in a tent at the Dark Elf camp is also comfortable, it’s different from this.”

Just imagine what it would be like to live here. You can see nature coming back to life as soon as you wake up, and at noon the sun shines in a golden light. At dusk, when the afterglow falls on the earth, there is another kind of tranquility. It's really wonderful.

After quietly admiring the scene for about ten seconds, she turned back, her gaze moving from left to right, finally pointing to the easternmost bed in the room. "I'll sleep in this bed, Dante, you can sleep in the other one."

After making that announcement, Asuna looked at Mito and blinked, "If Mito doesn't plan to go back, he can sleep with me."

"..." Mito was stunned for a few seconds before he processed Asuna's words. "Huh?"

"If Mito doesn't want to, then forget it." Asuna said with a smile in response to Mito's reaction.

“It’s not that I’m unwilling… no!” Mito pointed to Dante next to her, “Asuna, Dante… is a boy.”

"It's okay, we're just sleeping in the same room, not in the same bed."

Asuna's very ordinary reaction made Mito wonder if it was her who was acting strangely.

Then she saw Asuna walk up to Dante, raise her finger, and say in a lecturing tone, "It would be better if you took a proper rest this time."

"...I usually get time off too."

"Sneaking out in the middle of the night isn't considered resting properly. I'll be keeping a close eye on you this time."

"Watch" means to guard or watch over.

He wanted to tell her not to worry, but when he saw Asuna's eyes, which should have been clear and transparent like jewels, now filled with a faint look of worry, Dante closed his slightly parted mouth.

"I see."

"Yes, very good." Asuna smiled with the satisfaction of a mother.

Then she went to her bedside and quickly removed the rapier from her left waist, along with her metal breastplate, hooded cloak, gloves, and boots.

Feeling much more relaxed, she sat down on the bed and looked up at Mitt, who was still standing there.

Is Mitt coming?

"Hmm... um, never mind." Mitt shook his head helplessly. "The bed is still a bit narrow, I'll go back first."

This at least confirms that Asuna did it intentionally, not accidentally.

Given their personalities, there's absolutely nothing to worry about even if they're in the same room.

Once only the two of them were left in the room, Dante removed his equipment and sat down on the bed.

Although I don't know the price of the room, the pillows and mattress were quite soft, and this quality should cost at least a hundred kronor to rent a room for one night.

Sometimes, I feel like you're even more anxious than I am.

Suddenly, Asuna's soft voice came from the other bed.

"Why do you think so?"

Lying flat on his back in bed, Dante looked at the ceiling and asked.

"I don't know why, but I have this feeling."

"That's it."

Even under these circumstances, sleepiness quickly overwhelmed me, after all, I had been fighting for more than 8 hours.

As Asuna wiggled her feet and took off her boots, she uttered an unexpected statement.

"This time it's just the two of us again..."

"Um......"

"The last time we were together was when we spent the night in the maze area on the first floor."

Blinking several times to fight off sleepiness, Dante thought about what happened back then for a moment and said, "Yes, a lot of things happened after that time."

"Yeah, I was actually very nervous at that time." Asuna chuckled a few times as she spoke. "However, with you by my side, I slept very soundly, and I felt very satisfied when I woke up in the morning. It was probably the most satisfying sleep I've had since entering SAO."

"Really......"

Dante struggled to lift his eyelids, and as he listened to Asuna's gentle voice, he felt it was fading into the distance.

"Yes, so this time it's my turn to protect you..."

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

After this afternoon nap, Dante realized that meditation could not replace sleep, and he also experienced the satisfaction that Asuna had described upon waking.

Especially when you wake up with your beloved by your side, when your eyes meet in the air, it's as if you can hear the sound of your heartbeats flowing quietly between you.

With an hour to go before the meeting was to begin, Dante placed two props on the floor and then looked at Asuna and Mito in bewilderment.

"In any case, let's discuss the guild name after Silica arrives."

"Well, after all, Xi*** is one of us too."

"So be it."

"Then let's wait for Silica to come back. She said she recruited two new people, two girls. I told them to go to Ashurai's place to change their equipment first."

Wearing the equipment from the starting town is a bit too shabby. Ashurai has many ready-made clothes made from practice skills, and with his very fashionable eye, he should be able to dress the two newcomers up nicely.

But blacksmiths... there shouldn't be many female players in SAO who play blacksmiths. Silica is really lucky to have met two.

Dante shook his head and pointed to another prop, "Who wants to use this?"

"Kares O's Glory" turns hair golden and has some nice bonus effects.

"I'll pass," Asuna firmly refused.

“Why don’t you just use this item yourself? You got it anyway,” Mitt said casually. “Look at Diabel, he has blue hair.”

"So he's the biggest conspicuous bag on the front lines," Dante quipped. "I know, I'll just use it."

Click on the item to open the operation menu. After selecting "use," a reminder appears. Ignore the reminder and press "confirm" with your finger.

There was nothing particularly special about it. The next second, his head was enveloped in the game's special effects light. When the light disappeared, Dante saw Asuna and Mito looking at him with some surprise.

"It's surprisingly suitable," Asuna stammered.

“Asuna is right,” Mito said, stroking his chin with interest. “Eh—so that’s the effect.”

Although he didn't have a mirror, judging from Asuna and Mito's reactions, Dante subconsciously felt that maybe things weren't actually that bad...

It wasn't until he entered the meeting room and was greeted by Diabel, who opened his mouth in astonishment, that he realized things weren't quite as they seemed.

Chapter 86: Signs of Division

"Change your mood?" Diabel quickly regained his composure and joked.

"There are additional effects," Dante replied succinctly.

"I see." Diabel let out a soft sigh, tilted his head slightly, and teased, "It is indeed a waste not to use it. By the way, it looks very cool. It would be even cooler if you could wear white armor, Knight."

"I know without you telling me. You're the hero, how about you take a short trip to the starting town? I'm sure there will be female players willing to join your guild." Diabel's guild was predictably full of male players, which is why Dante said that.

"Eh—so this guy actually realizes he's quite popular," Asuna, standing behind Dante, stared at his back with an extremely subtle expression.

Mito didn't react to the conversation between the two men. Dante, like Asuna, was aware of it but usually didn't take it seriously. Diabel, like Dante, couldn't imagine that this guy would casually do something like a male escort, going up to female players and saying "Please join us."

"Pfft, hahaha..." Diabel laughed first, and Dante followed suit.

The two went a step further, holding each other's forearms, and Diabel said "Welcome" to Dante.

"Ah."

Dante and Diabel then walked side by side, with many people coming up to greet them, including Agil the axe-wielder they had met on the first floor, and the two-handed swordsman who was the leader of another squad...

He also saw Kirito, who waved from afar, but... Kirito was still wearing that outfit.

Next time, I'll talk to them about making a set of equipment for them if I have any rare materials.

Since saying that in the first floor, several players have been contacting Dante with rare materials and items. Ashura doesn't want to show up in person to avoid being bothered by others, so Dante is acting as the middleman to deliver them.

This led to several squads knowing that there was a highly skilled tailor in the Knights' guild, but Dante actually had no intention of inviting Ashurai; he simply considered her a game friend.

"Miss Liting!" Asuna suddenly exclaimed in surprise. Her teammates, who had teamed up with her to take down the boss on the second floor, also appeared at the venue.

"Hello, Miss Asuna, Mr. Dante, and Miss Mito. Oh, the student council president is here too." Ritsuka, wearing a suffocating helmet armor, jogged up to them and greeted them.

"Who is the president?"

Faced with Asuna's simple question, Liting smiled shyly, "Actually, I've already joined the Aincrad Alliance. The chairman personally invited me."

“…” Mit decided to retract his earlier statement. It turned out that Diabel would indeed personally invite female players, although his motive was indeed…

“After all, Miss Liting is very strong. In order to avoid being beaten by someone else, we must show our sincerity.” Diabel tapped Dante’s armor with his fist when he mentioned someone else.

It would be strange to refuse an invitation personally from the leader of a large guild, or even the only one at that time; rather, it's impossible to refuse.

However, Diabel's emphasis on strength was more likely due to the opponent's steel armor, which was capable of reaching the sixth level, a necessary piece of equipment for becoming a qualified tank.

"It's alright." Seeing the embarrassed expression on Li Ting's face, Dante gave her a bright smile and comforted her, "If you need any help with boss strategies in the future, please don't refuse."

Seeing that the president didn't seem to mind at all, Liting lowered her head slightly and said, "Yes! If Mr. Dante and Ms. Asuna need any help from me, please let me know. As a friend, I will definitely lend a hand."

After Li Ting took her leave, Diabel invited Dante, "Would you like to sit over there for a while?"

He was pointing towards the seats on the periphery of the venue.

“Okay,” Dante agreed, accepting the invitation to chat as a way to pass the time.

The group walked up the steps to the outer edge, and after Dante and Diabel sat down, Asuna also sat down next to Dante with Mito.

"What a huge number of people!" Dante remarked, looking at the crowd in the hall. He had been seeing unfamiliar faces that he had never seen before.

"Well... many people were recruited by Mr. Ya Wang leading people to the first and second floors. As long as their level is above ten, they can join. I don't want to discourage his enthusiasm."

Level 10 isn't a particularly high threshold, but most players in Aincrad might not be able to reach it.

Furthermore, when evaluating a player's combat strength, the most important factor is not their level, but the skills they develop to increase their level.

As for levels, as long as you accept the collection or raiding quests in Zumford and complete them efficiently, it's perfectly fine for a level 10 player to level up two or three levels in a short time.

However, most ordinary players can only complete a few tasks in a day. For example, the task of collecting materials and items in the forest is like the first time you go to the wild to pick porcini mushrooms. Just finding the right place takes a lot of time.

According to Argo, it will be a few more days before a detailed strategy guide suitable for novice players can be published.

Before this, non-frontline players really needed to put in a lot of effort to catch up with frontline players.

Therefore, the best place to close the gap is undoubtedly a mid-level hunting ground, where you can gain a lot of experience points and hone your combat skills.

Having experienced players guide new players is one strategy, but too many new players will undoubtedly slow down the progress of experienced players. Increasing the number of new members and improving the speed of completion are completely opposite goals.

It's unclear what measures Ya Wang will take, but at least for now, he's still an ambitious and passionate gamer.

"Didn't Linde take any countermeasures?" Dante asked casually after looking at the players gathered around Linde and those surrounding Fang Wang.

"Lin Dejun asked the team members to recruit people on the third floor." After saying that, Diabel smiled wryly, which meant that Lin De hoped to recruit scattered frontline players.

He looked at the guild members in the venue, who were divided into two major factions, and couldn't help but feel a little worried. Of course, there was also a small number of players who did not have this factional consciousness and were drifting in the middle of the group.

However, most of them were held back by the elders, trying to avoid going to the other side. Diabel's guild had already shown this trend shortly after its establishment.

"That's why I don't like large guilds," Dante said, shaking his head. He then turned to Asuna, who was sitting next to him, and asked, "What do you think, Asuna?"

"It must be because of the conflict between the King of Fang and Mr. Linde," Asuna speculated.

Ya Wang is the kind of person who will offer very radical opinions, while Lin De is the kind of person who is good at following orders and is very rigid. The two of them represent the ideas of the players, and neither of them can overpower the other.

Linde lacked the ability, yet naturally sided with Diabel. Although the King of Fang respected Diabel, he had his own agenda.

Diabel couldn't personally participate in the battle, which is why he hoped Dante could join the guild to help him, so that the guild could definitely unite as one.

Unfortunately, becoming the vice president of Diabel's guild would definitely require shifting half of his focus to guild management. Dante's current goal is to quickly improve his strength to the point where he no longer needs to fear unexpected events. A small guild that is easier to manage is more suitable for him, so he declined Diabel's offer.

"I do hope they can get along well," Diabel said, resting his chin on his hand with a hint of worry.

"Maintaining a semblance of harmony is already quite good, as long as they don't joke around with the Boss battle." Dante knew that there were limits to team management; Diabel could only manage a few squad leaders at most, and he didn't have the energy to manage most of the other players.

In the army of ancient Rome, the commanders at different levels were called decamen, centurions, and chiliarchs, and they believed that it was best for one person to manage ten people.