Is this okay?

"Oh oh oh oh oh oh!!"

"It worked! It actually worked!!"

"We've finally taken the first step successfully!!"

"Ula——!"

The players hiding in the bushes immediately stood up and cheered loudly. They shouted their victory, hugged each other excitedly, and some even had tears of joy streaming down their faces.

This is not a simple success, but a victory for the players, just like the first time humans set foot on the moon, a moment worth recording in history!

At this moment, players recalled their naive selves when they first entered the game, when they first encountered the Tree Guardian and thought it was just a beginner monster, and when they rushed at it with their weapons.

Then... before I could react, the tree guardian slashed me one by one, cutting melons and vegetables like vegetables, and the scene of respawning points is so moving that it brings tears to my eyes.

Meanwhile, Lani, who was sitting on the wall of the Church of Elaine, was dozing off when she was suddenly awakened by deafening cheers.

"Victory?"

She turned her head in a daze and saw Leng Mo standing among the cheering players, wearing only four-cornered floral shorts and looking ridiculous.

"..."

Although I really wanted to say something to tell Leng Mo to get dressed, I realized that I didn't need to care too much, since we wouldn't be seeing each other again after this meeting.

For a moment, Lani sat on the dilapidated wall, looking at Leng Mo.

Before long, amidst the cheers of the players, Leng Mo arrived at the Church of Ellie.

Upon seeing this, Lani immediately sat up straight and looked at Leng Mo with a serious expression. Anyone who saw her eyes would understand that she wanted to see him.

As a result, Leng Mo ran to the blessing point and sat down without looking back, completely ignoring Lani.

"..."

Lani paused slightly upon seeing Leng Mo's condition, her gaze towards him filled with resentment.

"Hey faded one, come here. Can we chat for a bit?"

She extended an invitation to Leng Mo, who was standing nearby receiving blessings.

Upon hearing this, Leng Mo turned around and saw Lani. Although he really wanted to refuse, he wanted to see how this arrogant girl would manage to get him to achieve his goal after all that trouble. For a moment, he couldn't help but have an immature idea.

He walked up a few steps and looked at Lani sitting on the dilapidated high wall.

"What happened?"

"Nice to meet you, I am the witch Lena. I heard that some faded beings ride spirit horses, which took me some time to find... It seems to be you. That spirit horse named Torret—you can summon it, right?"

Lani had one hand folded on her thighs and the other hand placed in front of her chest with her fingers touching and her palms folded. Her blue-white skin was the color of the dark moon. There were two lines on her closed eye and her open eye was filled with azure light.

Although she felt there was something subtly off about Leng Mo's answer, she could still understand it overall.

Upon hearing this, Leng Mo replied with a comical expression, "What are you talking about? I don't know anything about it."

"...Making such a pointless lie, are you trying to say you've forgotten? Forgot the name of that spirit horse. I'll ask you one more time, that spirit horse named Torret—you can summon it, right?"

Lani stared at Leng Mo and spoke in an unpleasant tone, as if she had seen through everything.

At this moment, Leng Mo took a deep breath, looked at Lani, and asked, "You will only make your next plans if I admit it, right?"

"That's right, as long as you answer honestly, it's fine."

"But, I refuse!"

"..."

"The thing I, Leng Mo, like to do most is to say 'NO' to arrogant people!"

You made the witch Lani angry!

Lani was furious at Leng Mo's insane actions, but ultimately managed to protect her interests, saying in an amusing tone:

"...That's interesting. Do you want to deny it completely? That's fine too. The border region is full of lies anyway. Not trusting others is actually beneficial. I'll leave the things that Director Qian entrusted to me here. You can build them when you're interested."

As soon as she finished speaking, Lani's body turned into white starlight and disappeared into the wall, leaving behind a bell and the wolf's ashes.

Seeing this, Leng Mo's face showed a comical expression, and he couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark.

"Hehehe, so cute, you tsundere Lani."

After Leng Mo picked up the leader, he couldn't help but smile.

Once we find my older brother, everything will be over.

I will show the whole world what the King of Elden and his bell-ringing idiot are all about!

"Hey hey hey hey..."

Leng Mo happily ran back to the blessing point with the bell and sat down again. He Zhen, who was standing next to Leng Mo, looked puzzled and asked:

What are you doing standing there?

"Huh?? Lani, wasn't she just over there?" Leng Mo looked at Kazuma with a strange expression. How could he not see such a big girl like Lani?

"What?! Lani!? Where, where?" Kazuma's eyes widened in disbelief upon hearing this, eager to know where Lani was.

"Wait? What's going on?" Leng Mo noticed the problem and frowned.

"What's going on? Where's Lani? I can't see her." Kazuma looked around for a long time but couldn't find Lani, and he was even more puzzled.

"He just left, didn't you see him?"

"Have it?"

"There's none?"

"Have it?"

"There's none?"

For a moment, Leng Mo and He Zhen seemed to have given up thinking and kept asking if there was any or not, as if they had given up thinking altogether.

"Wait, wait, wait! Is it possible... that ordinary people can't see Lani?"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

"..."

"..."

Leng Mo and He Zhen stared at each other, then He Zhen resigned herself to her fate.

"Okay, I really didn't see it... It's really possible that's the case." Kazuma felt hurt and became very withdrawn.

"Huh... this doesn't make sense?" Leng Mo was also a little confused.

"It's nothing, after all, that's Lani, the Moon Princess, and this is the real world, nothing is impossible."

"Okay, I'll go ask the others first."

Leng Mo pinched his chin strangely and spoke.

……

Forum, chat area.

Stranger: Hey guys! Have you seen any NPCs on the road?

Kirito: Oh, I saw him. I just ran into Puck over here. What's up?

Kazuma Sato: That doesn't make sense. Why can Amo see Lani, but I can't?

Kirito: Huh??

Senior Xiaoyuan: Is this even possible? Question mark.JPG

Stranger: Yeah, I don't understand what's going on. I'll call Melina out to take a look.

Kazuma Sato: What's going on? You met with Melina again? Holy crap! It really is!

Stranger: No problem, can't you see it?

Kazuma Sato: Yeah, why can't I see Lani?

Stranger: I don't know.

Kazuma Sato: I'm numb.

……

For a moment, Zhen and Leng Mo were at a loss, completely unaware of what was going on, while Melina looked at Leng Mo with confusion, not understanding why she had called her out.

"Do you need me to help you improve your strength?" Melina asked, looking at Leng Mo.

“Not for now. I want to ask… if there’s no Finger Witch, what other ways are there to increase strength?” Leng Mo noticed something amiss and looked at Melina with a serious expression.

“No, only witches who serve the finger can have such abilities,” Melina said seriously.

Upon hearing this, Kazuma's expression changed drastically, and he exclaimed in surprise, "Wait! So, it means that I and the others can't level up without going through you or the Finger Witch?"

“Yes.” Melina nodded affirmatively.

"hiss--!"

Kazuma gasped in shock, and even Leng Mo, who was standing next to him, was stunned.

If players can't find a witch, they can't level up; if they can't reproduce, they can only resort to gua sha (a form of traditional Chinese medicine).

Imagine a useless player starting out, unable to level up and only able to rely on equipment... well, if the equipment is good, they might not scrape the loot, but if the equipment is bad, they might scrape the loot all the way to the end.

Kayaba Akihiko, if you want to wipe out the players, just say so. Don't beat around the bush.

"This is a mud game!" Leng Mo couldn't help but yell, his voice filled with "Holy crap!"

"That's right! How can there be discrimination in a game! This is unplayable!" Kazuma also looked grief-stricken, never expecting things to turn out this way.

"But it doesn't matter! Now that things have come to this... don't blame us for showing no mercy!"

"That's right! Hehehehehe!"

In an instant, Leng Mo and He Zhen both showed kind and friendly smiles. Since they were being so unreasonable, then they wouldn't be so unreasonable in return.

“Kazuma!”

"Oh!"

"Let's storm Stoneville today!"

"Oh!"

In the blink of an eye, Leng Mo pulled a go-kart out of his spatial pocket and placed it on the ground.

"?"

Melina, standing to the side, looked at the object with a puzzled expression, completely unable to understand what it was.

Leng Mo leaped onto the go-kart, quickly attached the pink candy bean head, and then gave Kazuma a thumbs-up to indicate that he was ready.

He floored the accelerator, and with the go-kart engine roaring, he was ready to go, just like in the Elden Karting King Championship.

Om-!

And it didn't forget to kick up a cloud of dust.

Melina, standing to the side, was stunned and opened her mouth in disbelief, completely unaware of what was going on.

Um... isn't Toret a bit redundant?

Can you give it back to me?

Melina watched Leng Mo leave, completely at a loss for words. If she had known Leng Mo had his own transportation, she wouldn't have given it to him.

Kazuma stood there dumbfounded, watching Leng Mo walk away.

"Damn it! You even have go-karts?!"

He quickly tried to catch up, but he couldn't keep up with Leng Mo's speed no matter what he did.

……

When Leng Mo arrived at the blessing point before the checkpoint, Melina appeared instantly.

"You... don't seem to need Torret..." She was a little unsure of what to say for a moment, looking at Leng Mo with an awkward yet polite expression.

"Of course I need Toret! I've even figured out how to best use Toret to bring about victory!"

Leng Mo was full of certainty and showed no intention of returning Torret to Melina.