Battle

The thing really did turn him from a pile of data into a physical body. 😳🐺

There was no need to elaborate on the advantages of being a player. With pain reduced to a minimum and a health bar that let you keep fighting even when you were down to your last sliver of health, you could still get back up and strike back.

But what about in reality?

Forget being near death—he probably wouldn't even be able to fight properly at half health.

Once he understood the key point, Kazuto Kirigaya couldn't help but smile bitterly.

The system's betrayal had been crucial.

It hadn't just erased his trump card; it had also banned him from using the advantages he'd had as a player.

And he still had to grind monsters and level up as quickly as possible, reaching the strength needed to advance to higher floors.

He could follow behind Kazuto Kirigaya and Asuna, take advantage of their efforts, and ride along with the story. It wasn't as if he couldn't.

But Kazuto Kirigaya didn't want to do that.

Would there be any point?

He didn't think so. There was no need.

Things hadn't reached the worst-case scenario. If anything, this was exactly what his predecessor had wanted: a chance to put himself through his paces.

Once he'd thought it all through, Kazuto Kirigaya breathed a sigh of relief and strode forward again.

A flash of cold light swept past. One sharp sword stroke after another sliced through the wolves' throats.

As blood and flesh flew and the wolves fell, Kazuto Kirigaya glanced at his level, his face expressionless.

He'd gained a level, but it wasn't enough.

A warm current flowed through his body. It wasn't much, but he could clearly feel himself changing.

He was more agile, and stronger.

It was about the same as a month's worth of training.

The discovery surprised him. He also had a daring thought: after the game ended, could his real body inherit these gains?

For now, though, he needed to rest before he could keep fighting. Otherwise, the fatigue from fighting at such high intensity would affect his performance.

After resting for a while, his stamina gradually recovered, and his mana bar slowly refilled. This time, Kazuto Kirigaya knew better and didn't use Sword God Style sword skills.

Before, it hadn't mattered. Using them had only drained his mana bar.

Now, they drained his mental energy directly.

He'd have to wait until he was a higher level before he could fight without holding back.

He drew his sword and sprinted forward, the iron blade flashing in his hand. Wolf after wolf became a corpse beneath his sword.

Farther ahead, more wolves respawned after a while.

These level 1 Magic Beasts were easy to deal with.

As Kazuto Kirigaya leveled up, the Magic Wolves stopped giving him much experience. After thinking it over, he decided to race farther ahead.

The boundless grassland, his heart pounding faster as he ran, the earthy scent in the air—all of it left Kazuto Kirigaya feeling a little dazed.

Even though SAO had been developed as a fully immersive game, it had never been this realistic.

The reason was that it reduced players' pain to a minimum.

After all, it was still a game, not reality.

If playing a game meant suffering through pain, not many players would choose to play.

What players wanted was the feeling of soaking peacefully in the morning sun after work, feeling the sea breeze, and walking across soft grass.

In short, they didn't want pain. They just wanted to feel good.

Although pain was reduced, a lot of other sensations were lost along with it.

The most obvious was the sense of touch.

Now, Kazuto Kirigaya could feel the difference at once.

This world could no longer be called a game.

A breeze passed through his hair, and sunlight warmed his body. It felt wonderful.

To be honest, he really wanted to bask in the sunlight and sleep for a while.

He checked the time. It was already noon.

Kazuto Kirigaya had always been in the habit of taking a nap.

That was something he'd picked up from his predecessor. Both Kazuto Kirigaya and Roa believed that an afternoon nap was the best way to feel refreshed for the rest of the day.

But this wasn't the time to indulge himself.

Kazuto Kirigaya hurried toward the forest.

He needed to lure monsters over by the Man-eating Flowers. Maybe he'd even run into a rare monster.

That rare monster was a hooded rat. It was extremely agile and could drop a one-handed sword with very rare, excellent stats.

That sword was still useful even on the third floor.

It was a beginner's miracle weapon.

But after walking for a while, he gave up.

The reason was simple: there were too many monsters along the way.

They were seriously slowing him down.

Even if he went deeper into the forest, he wouldn't be able to accomplish what he wanted.

Besides, the GM would probably announce the game's true rules around four or five that afternoon. He was still only level 2.

That hardly made him an expert.

Kazuto Kirigaya had no choice but to stay where he was and kill wolf after wolf, along with the bees floating in midair.

Kazuto Kirigaya was unlucky. He had to kill his twenty-third bee before it finally dropped a piece of equipment.

It was a fairly heavy longsword, its blade gleaming with a deep, cold light.

At a glance, Kazuto Kirigaya's eyes lit up. This sword had to be better than his beginner's iron sword by a huge margin.

And it was.

[Steel Sword]

[Equip requirement: level 2]

[Property: Sharpness (1)]

The sword still only had a level 1 property, but its stats were indeed much better than those of his beginner's longsword.

Kazuto Kirigaya continued grinding monsters with his new weapon.

Thanks to the sword's Sharpness property, he leveled up quickly this time. With his level advantage and the sharp blade in his hand, he could kill almost anything in one stroke.

Before long, he was back at the entrance on the edge of the forest.

He checked the time. It was already 3:45 p.m.

It was too late to go deeper into the forest and grind levels.

But on the outer edge, the wolves, bees, and other crawling creatures could no longer give him much of a reward.

Kazuto Kirigaya thought it over and decided to keep going.

He wanted to try his luck and see if he could find one of those rare monsters.

If it dropped equipment, he could give it to Asuna.

The forest was vast. Its towering trees blocked out the sky, letting only a little light filter through the leaves.

A gust of wind stirred the mottled shadows of the trees.

The dim light slightly affected Kazuto Kirigaya's vision.

Sometimes, he didn't see a wild monster until he was only five or six meters away.

His feet crushed the thick layer of leaves on the ground. Yellowed leaves were scattered everywhere, and Kazuto Kirigaya could just make out a few insects crawling over them.

Strangely, these insects weren't considered wild monsters. Kazuto Kirigaya had been curious enough to try crushing one.

The forest was so dense that, by rights, there should have been plenty of mosquitoes. But Kazuto Kirigaya didn't hear a single one, and the insects didn't crawl onto him either. They just moved along the shadowy ground.

Kazuto Kirigaya grew increasingly curious about this world.

In the forest, a boy with dazzling blond hair strode along a narrow path, his head held high.

Kazuto Kirigaya had discovered the winding path during the beta test.

At the end of this path was the chamber where the BOSS was.