(Thanks so much to "Desire to Fly Without Heart," "In Love With Anime," and "Kaede no Chōrei" for the tips!)
"Phew..."
Standing by the window, Wu Yan took a deep breath of the wind rushing toward him. Feeling the familiar sights and scents, he let out a heartfelt sigh of relief.
It had been exactly seven days since he left the Sparlier World, which meant seven hundred days had passed since Wu Yan entered the Instance World to carry out the "Path to Demigod" mission—nearly two full years!
Two years!
For Wu Yan, that had truly been a very long time.
Although he had spent a full three years in Sword Art Online's "SAO," Asuna's gentle and virtuous companionship had been at his side, along with little Yui's cheerful cuteness. He had not found it particularly difficult. This time, however, was different.
In the past, while in other Instance Worlds, Wu Yan had not been unconcerned about completing the "Path to Demigod" mission, but he had never felt any urgency. Besides carrying out missions, he would often make time to flirt and talk about love with the plot characters. Life had been quite enjoyable.
But this time, over these two years, in order to complete the "Path to Demigod" and return as quickly as possible to deal with the Beast King, Wu Yan had spent virtually all his time rushing about and working tirelessly. Forget finding time to flirt or talk about love with the plot characters—sometimes, he even had to forcefully squeeze out time to sleep. The hardships involved were beyond outsiders' understanding. If Natsuki, Nagisa, Natsuoto, and Aurora had not been with him, these two years might have changed his temperament completely, turning him quiet and cold.
Of course, such hardship had not been meaningless.
Two years of