The Difficult First Step

Seeing Hua Fei Ye Luo's two 10-point review votes made me very happy.

I will add one more chapter when I get back tonight, two if time permits!

"Ptooey!"

Wang Yang ungracefully spat the bread in his mouth onto the Azure Stone Pavement. His crude behavior didn't draw any attention from the passing NPCs. In the real world, such an action would only invite pointing fingers.

The bread, streaked with black, landed on the Azure Stone Pavement and instantly turned into scattered, multi-angled Glass Shards. They sparkled under the sunlight, disappearing into the air moments later.

Wang Yang wiped his moist lips and stared at the Glass Shards that vanished in such a short time, falling into a daze.

This phenomenon, the only explanation he could recall, was death. It was the death phenomenon in SAO, but here, it was merely the annihilation of a piece of Black Bread.

This place, after all, was not reality...

Wang Yang lowered his head slightly, looking at the large bite taken out of the Black Bread. He wondered if he should just throw it away, but thinking about the 19 Black Breads still in his inventory made his entire face contort into a grimace.

Shouldn't have touched it! I should have tried the taste first.

"Forget it, I'll treat it like bitter melon. Detoxifying and reducing internal heat, no loss!" He paused, his expression hardening, and took another large bite of the Black Bread. Before the bitter taste could spread in his mouth, he swallowed it down, gulping it in a few breaths. The palm-sized bread in his hand was gone.

As he finished the Black Bread, the protests in his stomach gradually subsided, offering Wang Yang some comfort.

If only I had some water...

Poor Wang Yang didn't know that Clear Water could be obtained anywhere on the street. Fountains, for instance, provided readily available Clear Water.

Having just eaten the bread, Wang Yang began to understand why the Players who chose to wait for rescue a month later would become so miserable. They were likely forced into it.

If he didn't have 19 Black Breads left in his inventory, Wang Yang would have really wanted to try the taste of other types of bread, and what the Pastries in the glass cabinet to his left tasted like.

Shaking off the unproductive thoughts, Wang Yang looked at the top left corner. There was a Green Bar, with the numerical value 126/126 displayed below it. To the right of the numerical value was lv:1.

Just last night, the first thing Wang Yang figured out about the system settings was to lower the touch sensitivity. However, the touch sensitivity setting had disappeared, so he had no choice but to give up. The second thing he did was to set the Simplified Status Bar to visible.

Here, when HP reached zero, it was true death. Therefore, the Simplified Status Bar displaying HP had to be in a constantly visible location.

After filling his stomach, Wang Yang opened his map and started looking for the icons of the Equipment Shop and Weapon Shop. Next, he wanted to check the prices of the initial equipment. If the prices were acceptable, he would get a full set and then personally experience the strength of the Newbie Monster, the Frenzied Boar.

He quickly found the location and Wang Yang got up, blending into the crowd, heading towards the closer Equipment Shop.

Like most equipment shops in games, SAO's equipment shops were more or less the same. They usually had prominent markings of armor or shields on the exterior of the building. Inside, numerous shelves displayed various pieces of equipment for appraisal. Even the walls were fully utilized, hung with equipment and shields for every part of the body, along with a mirror taller than a person.

Wang Yang felt utterly awestruck as he walked into the Equipment Shop. The shelves and walls were adorned with genuine Copper Equipment. It was understandable that he was shocked, having never seen anything like it before.

Suppressing the excitement that arose in his heart, Wang Yang walked directly to the counter. He assumed the equipment in the shop was merely for display, and the NPC at the counter would present a list for him to choose from, as was the usual setting in games.

There were three counters in the shop, each manned by a beautiful young woman with a delicate and lovely appearance. They wore unchanging, gentle smiles, but the emptiness in their eyes made it obvious they were just data.

Wang Yang wasn't surprised. As he approached a counter and looked at the woman, he heard her say in a monotonous, cold voice, "How may I help you?"

At the same time, a dialogue box popped up in front of him, listing the names of various equipment slots.

Helmet, Chestplate, Belt, Gauntlets, Pants, Shoes.

Hearing the voice, Wang Yang's impression of the woman plummeted. The cold tone made her gentle smile incredibly jarring.

This is just an NPC...

He didn't dwell on it. He reached out and tapped the topmost slot, Helmet. The dialogue box immediately changed to a list. However, the virtual menu, which took up half his field of vision, only contained two items.

Cloth Headband: Armor +19 / 150 Kael.

Bronze Forehead Guard: Armor +26 / 300 Kael.

There wasn't even a hint of a description, just the name and armor bonus. These were undoubtedly newbie equipment.

A Bronze Forehead Guard cost 300 Kael, but it only offered 7 more armor than the Cloth Headband, which cost 150 Kael. At first glance, even though the Cloth Headband was cheaper, there was a fundamental difference in practicality.

It wasn't hard to guess that the equipment for other slots would be similar. Wang Yang opened the virtual menus for the other equipment slots. Just as he expected, each slot only offered two types of equipment. The armor bonus varied depending on the slot, and the prices fluctuated. However, every type of equipment shared a common trait: the Bronze Type offered 7 more armor than the Cloth Type. A full set would provide an additional 42 points of armor.

But each player is only allocated 1000 Kael at the start, not enough to buy all the equipment.

Looking at the virtual menu before him, Wang Yang pondered slightly, finding himself in a dilemma. Based on his past gaming experience, he should have spent all his money to increase his armor. But this was SAO, so he couldn't decide immediately. After all, if he bought equipment, he would have very little Kael left, and even with the equipment, he couldn't guarantee that hunting monsters would provide enough profit to sustain himself.

The risk is huge! This is the main reason I can't decide.

"Hey, buddy, are you hesitating about what equipment to buy?" The counter was long, and one counter could serve quite a few players. A short-haired young man standing next to Wang Yang seemed to have noticed Wang Yang's difficulty and struck up a conversation.

Wang Yang snapped out of his thoughts and turned his gaze to the side. He saw a short-haired player with a tanned complexion and a hearty laugh staring at him.

He couldn't help but give an awkward smile and nod in response.

"I suggest you buy a piece of light armor with the highest armor bonus," the short-haired player said friendly when he saw Wang Yang looking at him.

"Why?" Wang Yang asked almost instinctively.

The short-haired player chuckled upon hearing this. "A piece of light armor only costs 500 Kael, and the armor bonus is very high. With it on, you'll be basically safe against a Level 1 Frenzied Boar."

"No danger? Are Frenzied Boars easy to fight?" Wang Yang immediately pressed.

The short-haired player said with a relaxed expression, "Pretty simple, they die in a few sword strikes."

Uh...

Wang Yang was extremely surprised. They die in a few sword strikes? And he says it so casually?

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