Black Bread

The night was quiet. As time passed, only a few lonely streetlights remained on. Moonlight spilled down, preventing the town from falling into complete darkness. Under the moonlight, the Green Stone Slab Road was deserted. Around the gates of the Town of Beginnings, several shadows could be seen in the distance.

Even for Players who hadn't participated in the Beta Test, with a Player Base of nearly ten thousand, there were bound to be many skilled individuals.

Clearly, Wang Yang was one of the lowest-ranking Players. He had entered the game by accident and hadn't read the Manual. Thus, on the first night, he could only hide in some alley, fumbling with the various settings in SAO.

Fortunately, as an Otaku, Wang Yang had plenty of free time. He had played many well-known Online Games before. So, as long as he could overcome the Language Barrier, he was quite adept.

Time slowly passed. As the clock hands approached midnight, Wang Yang was still huddled in the chilly Small Alley. After hours of exploration, just as he was getting a handle on things, a piercing hunger gnawed at his stomach.

Leaning against the wall, Wang Yang sat on the ground and rubbed his belly. He cursed Kayaba Akihiko. While exploring the System Settings, he discovered that SAO's settings were quite user-friendly. Besides the default settings, they could be customized.

For example, the cold Notification Sound could be toggled on or off. There were also options for whether to display the Health Bar and names. Many settings could be chosen according to personal preference. Wang Yang guessed that the original owner of this body had disabled name and Health Bar displays for a more realistic virtual experience and had also set the Five Senses to the highest level. However, Wang Yang couldn't find any settings related to Tactile Sensation. He suspected it had disappeared along with the Logout Button.

Yet, even though the settings were gone, the hunger in his stomach was a very real feedback to his brain.

"Starting Funds were only one thousand Kael. It's probably only the Inn that's open now. Before I know the Prices of Equipment and Food, I should save it," Wang Yang curled up, nestled between two wooden barrels, and muttered to himself.

Wang Yang didn't know what one thousand Kael could buy, so he could only wait until tomorrow to check the Prices at the shops to make a judgment.

Sleeping on the cold floor in the middle of the night was not pleasant. Wang Yang, who had never experienced such hardship, even tried to convince himself to give up and go sleep comfortably in the Inn. But thinking about the future, he gritted his teeth and endured. It was thanks to his regular Basketball practice that he could do this. If he were a typical Otaku, he would have forgotten all about it and gone straight to the Inn.

Wang Yang knew very well that even if he slept comfortably now, it would only make things more difficult later.

Anime had once described the situation of Players a month later. The most miserable were those who spent money without restraint. When their money ran out, they lacked the ability to hunt monsters for money, leading to dire straits. Whether anyone would actually starve to death, Wang Yang didn't know. At least he didn't want to become like that. It was precisely because he had watched anime that he gave up on waiting two years for Kirito to successfully clear the game...

In a sense, in this current game, Combat Power was equivalent to Survival Ability.

Lost in thought, Wang Yang drifted off into Dreamland.

The next Early Morning, Wang Yang was awakened by the sounds outside the Small Alley. As soon as he woke up, his whole body felt uncomfortable. It was sore and painful, painful and numb, causing him to gasp.

Compared to the soreness in his body, the "sword" in his stomach was far worse.

"Hiss... I'm so hungry." Wang Yang struggled to support himself with the wooden barrel and stood up. His legs were weak and trembling slightly. His stomach wasn't just hungry; it was also cramping.

He rubbed his blurry eyes. Wang Yang wasn't in a hurry to go to a shop to buy food. Instead, he stayed put and did some light exercises, gradually increasing the intensity. After the Numbness in his Limbs disappeared, he walked out of the Small Alley.

Inside and outside the alley were two different worlds. Passersby glanced at Wang Yang as he emerged from the alley and quickly looked away.

The sun had just risen, and there were already quite a few people on the street. Wang Yang glanced above the crowd and saw only a few Green Diamond Symbols. He was stunned. Then, he observed the people walking past him, or rather, the NPCs.

After observing for a while, Wang Yang realized that the NPCs in SAO were no different from ordinary people. It was just a pity that the Emptiness in their eyes indicated that these numerous NPCs lacked Intelligence.

Seeing this, Wang Yang breathed a sigh of relief. If every pedestrian had intelligence, this world would truly be terrifying. And Kayaba Akihiko, who created this world, would be even more terrifying.

Without further thought, Wang Yang opened the World Map of the Town of Beginnings and walked towards the shop names, bathed in sunlight.

The Town of Beginnings occupied a considerable area, as large as Tokyo in Japan. Centered on the plaza in front of the Black Iron Palace, four straight streets extended in four directions. On either side of each street stood rows of Medieval Style Buildings, forming the expansive Town of Beginnings.

Wang Yang was on East Street. Relying on his map, he quickly arrived at a well-decorated shop. Pushing the door open, he found quite a few people inside, about twenty or so. All of them had markers above their heads indicating their player status.

Wang Yang's arrival didn't draw the slightest attention from the players in the shop. Instead, he was the one observing the people inside. After just a few glances, he noticed something.

Among the twenty-odd people, five or six had tired expressions on their faces. This indicated that they had likely been out all night, battling monsters and leveling up in the dark, which was why they looked tired in the early morning.

Wang Yang hesitated for a moment but dismissed the idea of asking for advice. After the situation last night, he had no desire for that anymore.

If it were Kirito...

He shook his head subtly, thinking that Kirito was probably already ahead. He patted his stomach and walked towards the food counter.

The counter selling food was formed by two combined glass cabinets. The glass cabinets were semi-circular. The left glass cabinet displayed pastries that looked very expensive at first glance, while the right glass cabinet contained some bread. The difference between the two was obvious.

Looking at the Strawberry Cake in the left glass cabinet, Wang Yang reached out and tapped it through the glass with his index finger. A virtual window popped up, showing a price of 25 Kael.

Players started with 1000 Kael. A single Strawberry Cake cost 25 Kael. If he ate only one Strawberry Cake a day, it would only last forty days. And Wang Yang didn't believe that a single Strawberry Cake would be enough to keep his stomach from growling.

Clearly, the items in the left glass cabinet were luxury goods like the Strawberry Cake. So, after swallowing and glancing a few times, he shifted his gaze to the right glass cabinet. He tapped on the Black Bread, which looked the worst, and the pop-up window showed a price of 1 Kael!

"So cheap." Wang Yang bought 20 of them in one go without a second thought and left the shop without looking back, afraid that if he stayed any longer, he might not be able to resist buying the Strawberry Cake.

After leaving the shop, Wang Yang found a chair under a streetlight. He sat down with a plop and eagerly materialized a Black Bread, then took a big bite.

"This is a rip-off!"

The bread was dry and rough, with even a faint bitter taste spreading from his tongue. Wang Yang's entire face darkened.

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