A journey to another world starting from a sword

After thinking for a while, he revealed the name of the guild. The name was mainly inspired by Aeterna Girls' Academy, the school that Asuna and Mito attended. Secondly, the name also came from a beautiful girl, and the girls who would be creating the guild with him were equally beautiful.

As expected, upon hearing the name he uttered, Asuna and Mito both widened their eyes slightly, as if they had hit the bullseye.

“This name…” Asuna’s eyes sparkled as she parted her teeth slightly.

"What do you mean?" Lisbeth suddenly interrupted.

"..." Dante was stunned, not expecting anyone to ask this question.

"...Pfft, hahahaha." After a two-second pause, Asuna couldn't help but burst into laughter, as if she was about to laugh until tears streamed down her face.

“Liz, that’s Latin,” she explained, turning to her. “It actually means the Everlasting Garden.”

“I’ve never studied Latin,” Lisbeth muttered shyly, then exclaimed in despair, “Why not just use English?”

“Ah! I remember the English is something like…” Lingyin thought for a moment, then immediately remembered, “Ever Garden.”

“Ever Garden,” Asuna repeated.

Then she clasped her hands together towards Mitt and asked, "What does Mitt think?"

"Ah, um, well. English is fine too." After thinking for a moment, Mitt smiled nonchalantly.

"Then it's decided!" Asuna clapped her hands excitedly. "The guild will be called 'Eternal Garden'."

"So, what's the guild's emblem: a mirror lotus, a lily, or a violet?" Dante continued to ask.

"Is there any difference?" Lingyin couldn't help but ask.

"Yes. The lotus symbolizes eternal love. The lily represents purity and nobility, among many other meanings. The violet also symbolizes eternal love, but it also represents humility and loyalty," Dante explained.

Everyone was somewhat undecided, but in the end, Asuna overruled the objections and chose Violet.

Because the mirror lotus is a succulent plant originating from Mexico, it's actually not very attractive. Lilies have many symbolic meanings, even including expressions of maternal love.

Therefore, violet is still the best.

"Congratulations on the founding of the guild—Eternal Garden! Cheers!" Dante raised a glass of purple wine and shouted.

"Cheers!!!" The girls raised their glasses excitedly, and Argo naturally joined in.

Like Dante's, their glasses were a beautiful purple, and this "Violet Fizz" officially became their guild's signature drink.

"Oh—so Silica and the president met first," Lisbeth remarked after hearing about it during a casual conversation.

“To be precise, Miss Asuna and Dante met first,” Silica said carefully.

"Huh? Miss Asuna, what's going on?" Lingyin asked Asuna with great interest.

"Hmm..." Asuna couldn't help but smile, a captivating smile spreading across her face as she recalled the memory. Her words held a teasing tone. "That's right..."

"Asuna!" Mito slammed his fist on the table to stop her.

“Eh—” Lingyin immediately let out a regretful sound.

"Hahaha..." Asuna didn't intend to say anything, after all, she had almost believed that magic really existed in this world because of someone.

Thinking this, she looked at the culprit, Mr. Xian, and found him staring motionless out the window.

"what happened?"

Finding that he didn't respond, Asuna reached out and nudged him.

"Ah, um." Turning around, Dante looked at the gentle girl with a worried expression and wanted to joke with her, so he leaned close to her ear and whispered.

"I think I just heard Yggdrasill let out a wail."

Chapters 8 & 9: The So-Called Perfect Infiltration

"What do you mean?" Asuna couldn't understand his words at all.

"It means I'm probably that Nidhogg."

The metaphor would be more apt if his hair were still black; of course, he doesn't want to destroy the world like Nidhogg.

"Hmm... I still don't understand." As shook her head.

Nidhogg, right?

In Norse mythology, the black dragon coils beneath the World Tree, gnawing at its roots. When it bites through the roots, the World Tree withers, and Ragnarok arrives.

Legend has it that at Ragnarok, the underworld would carry the dead on its wings and fly them out from the northern mountains of the underworld, only to be crushed by the weight of the corpses and fall back into the abyss.

"I'll explain later." Dante mysteriously put his finger to his lips; he was in a very good mood.

When the guild was founded, he saw the progress bar for controlling the world rise to 20%, which meant a huge change in the timeline, and Asuna would probably never have the chance to join the Knights of the Blood Oath.

Of course, this is also largely due to the addition of Lisbeth and Lingyin.

He had originally planned to let the guild develop naturally, but now it seems he needs to be a little more proactive in recruiting.

"By the way, I have a question," Argo said, holding up the ale he had just ordered. "What are your thoughts on the guild emblem, Dante?"

“Because it’s Hortum, the emblem has to be a flower, and it also has to reflect Aeterna’s meaning,” Dante said, resting his chin on his hand.

"Besides, isn't eternal love a very romantic notion?" Asuna chimed in.

"Mwahahaha... Indeed, I was overthinking it." Argo gulped down his beer as if he were punishing himself for saying something strange.

"Another cup, please!" she said, picking up the empty plate beside her. "And another serving of ham, please."

"Okay," the owner behind the bar replied.

"Are we having dinner or not?" Dante complained helplessly. Among the people present, Argo had drunk the most; the others had just had a drink when they got thirsty while chatting.

“Mmm mmm…” Argo said, a wooden stick dangling from his mouth, his chin resting on his hand. “Intelligence brokers don’t eat regularly, and it’s rare for them to have a chance to drink.”

"You still need to eat a proper dinner," Asuna admonished sternly.

“Yes, Asuna’s mother,” Argo joked.

"Mom is..." Asuna lowered her head slightly, as if she had been hurt. Was it because she was being called "older"?

After the chat ended, Dante formally called everyone to another round table.

He and Asuna sat on the chairs on the left, while the others sat in a circle around them.

"Asuna and I will continue to advance the Elf campaign," Dante stated, outlining his and Asuna's plans.

“What about me and Silica?” Mit asked, resting his arm on the table.

He lowered his hand, not answering Mitt's question, but instead looked to the right and asked, "Lisbeth, Lingyin, what are your ranks?"

“Me? I’m already level 7,” Lisbeth replied, referring to the strategy guide she’d received for free from the item shop, allowing her to move freely in the simpler areas of the second floor.

After all, practicing smelting skills requires the use of ore, and when going to the mining area, safety on the way must be ensured.

"I'm only level 3," Lingyin asked, sounding slightly uneasy.

Normally, she would do simple tasks in the starting town, such as running errands or delivering messages, to earn the necessary Cor.

Occasionally, he would go hunting blue wild boars outside the main street, or practice his sword skills in the town's training grounds.

"Ha, the situation is more serious than I imagined." Dante sighed to himself, then said to Mitt, "You and Silica should focus on getting the newbies to level 10 or higher. Remember, the key is to learn how to fight."

This is the level at which we can move around normally on the third floor. The raiding group is about to reach the fourth floor. We don't expect Lingyin and Lisbeth to be strong enough to participate in the boss battle, but we hope that we can at least move around without too much worry.

"I understand." Mite nodded, accepting the assigned task.

"Please, Miss Mitt," Lingyin said earnestly, bowing her head.

Seeing Lingyin's seriousness, Lisbeth hurriedly lowered her head as well, "Please."

“No need for honorifics, we’re guild partners,” Mitt replied gently, unlike his usual manner.

"Yes!"

"Hmm... and Lingyin, you're using a one-handed sword, right?" Dante glanced at the small sword at Lingyin's waist.

“Yes.” Lingyin sat up straight immediately and answered seriously.

"Here, take this." Dante brought up the game menu, materialized the weapon in his inventory, and handed Lingyin a longsword with a red scabbard. "This is the Resilient Sword."

Although the sword looks old, it exudes a presence that early equipment could not match.

"Thank you..." Lingyin murmured softly, then held the longsword in both hands. As soon as Dante let go, she felt a heavy weight in her hands.

It feels like it weighs about 1.5 times as much as a small sword, but with my current strength, I can equip it.

"Whoosh—" Argo put his hands behind his head and whistled a beautiful tune. "As a gift for the newlyweds, he really went all out."

"Huh?" Lingyin looked at Argo in confusion. Could this sword be something very valuable?

"Well, when I broke through to the first level, this sword's price rose slightly to 16,000 cor. The market price has dropped somewhat now, but even so, the sword's market price is still over 10,000 cor," Argo explained with a grin.

"Ten thousand!" Lisbeth was stunned. This was almost as much as her entire fortune, and it was only the value of a sword.

Lisbeth, who had always only been able to sell forged items to NPC shops, was surprised to learn for the first time that selling high-performance weapons to players could actually make a lot of money.

"..." Only then did Lingyin realize that this sword was more expensive than all of her clothes combined. She immediately hugged it tightly to her chest, her skin pressed against the scabbard.

"It's just an overuse, don't be so careful," Dante gently reassured her, putting her at ease a little.

Then he turned to Lisbeth and asked, "And Lisbeth, your skills are one-handed warhammer, one-handed weapon crafting, and heavy metal armor crafting, right?"

“Mm,” Lisbeth nodded.

After asking around, Dante learned that Lisbeth didn't even have a portable furnace; she usually rented space from a blacksmith's shop, and her only tools were the most basic bronze smelting hammer.

But the proficiency level is close to 100, which is not high but certainly not low.

Because she has to collect materials and forge them all by herself, her current skill level is about the same as Nezhar, whom she encountered before, but slightly lower than the blacksmith in the dark elf camp.

However, these shortcomings can be made up for later. Once the period of rapid development begins, it is not difficult to improve the proficiency of craftsmanship skills.

Although Dante didn't want Lisbeth to become just a blacksmith and hoped she would have the ability to fight on the front lines, it all depended on her own wishes.

To be honest, it's already quite remarkable for a blacksmith to be able to collect materials on his own outside the circle, and there should only be one female blacksmith in SAO who can do this.

You can collect monster drops that you can't use and that no player wants, then recycle them into new weapons or metal armor, and sell them at a stall in the main street to earn a good amount of Cor.

The earning potential of artisans is no less than that of combat personnel, and may even be much higher if the customer base is large enough.

"I previously obtained a vendor's carpet and a set of advanced smelting tools, which I'm giving to you." Dante directly handed over everything he had obtained from Nezhar to Lisbeth.

"Those were the ones you got from the con artist on the second floor, right?" Lisbeth had heard about this from Silica during their conversation, which was why they needed a blacksmith.

"Okay, then Liz, you can give the discarded tools to Lingyin for now," Dante instructed.

“Okay.” Lisbeth nodded in agreement. After all, selling those things to NPCs wouldn’t fetch much money. It would be better to give them to her companions to use for beginners. Later, when they were no longer needed, they could even be sold at a stall. It was definitely more worthwhile than selling them to NPCs.

However, she never dreamed that she would collect everything she had been longing for in an instant after joining the guild.

Or is it because this is the guild of the top player "Knight"?

"Lingyin should learn how to make two-handed weapons and light metal armor," Dante continued. His two-handed sword was a two-handed weapon, as was Mitt's. Having a blacksmith companion with high proficiency in these skills would make things much easier.

When he still couldn't find a suitable sword after breaking through to the fourth level, Dante decided to have Lingyin forge one for him again.

“From now on, whenever we reach a new level, you will be in charge of training the new recruits, making sure they keep up with the average level of the raiding group.”

“I understand.” Mitt had no objection.

"Then the meeting is adjourned," Dante announced, then suddenly remembered something and said to Argo, "Argo, I have something I need your help with."

"Hmm?" Argo gently raised his head from his wine glass, twitched his beard, and said, "No problem."

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

Next, they returned to the Dark Elf camp. Dante and Asuna had just stepped out of the wooden walls of Zumford when they sensed a distinct gaze.

"Kizmel?"

He shouted loudly, and Asuna, who had been silently following him, immediately looked around in surprise.

"Ah, we've been exposed." Suddenly, a clear voice came from not far away.

With the sound of fabric rustling, he and Asuna quickly turned around and saw the dark elf older sister forcefully throwing her cloak behind her.

Her slender figure appeared out of thin air, and her two eyes, like onyx, gleamed with a mischievous light.

"Ki...Kizumer?" Asuna exclaimed in surprise, covering her mouth.

“Asuna, your reaction is much more interesting than Dante’s.” Kizmel laughed happily, then walked over gracefully.

"When did you start following us? Oh! You weren't following us since this morning, were you?" Asuna asked worriedly.