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A flash of sword light.

The jet-black greatsword came whistling down, smashing heavily into a giant beetle. The beetle that had been struck immediately turned into data fragments and vanished into the air, followed by notifications announcing victory and gained experience points.

"That puts me at level fifteen."

Fang Zheng gave the greatsword in his hand a flick and looked at the two beside him.

"How about you two?"

"Everything is going smoothly. No problems."

In response to Fang Zheng's question, Esther nodded gently, while Lestia smiled faintly as well.

"For a Sword Spirit, this is a piece of cake, Master."

"Good. Let's keep going."

Fang Zheng raised his head and glanced at the pitch-black night sky. The three of them were currently in the forest on the northeastern side of Aincrad's first floor. Fang Zheng's goal was to clear this forest, then head for the castle deep within it. He still did not know what was there, but judging by the usual pattern, artificial structures hidden deep in forests always came with plenty of good loot. And if he was right, that place should be the core region of this world.

Of course, there was no shortage of danger, either.

Although Fang Zheng and the others had mainly focused on studying the game over the past few days, they had not neglected leveling up. In fact, Fang Zheng, Esther, and Lestia had already reached level fifteen, firmly placing them in the first echelon. If Argo's information was correct, then the three of them could be considered the highest-level players in the game so far—or at least among the highest.

The reason was simple. No matter how fantastical this world sounded, its essence was still an online game, and characters in an online game were still just characters. That meant