Three days later, early in the morning, several players planned to head to the next leveling area. After discussing it, they decided to buy a map from the item shop. Then they noticed a new book in the shop's inventory, priced at zero. Curious, they each bought a copy.
The book was called the Beginner's Strategy Guide. It was a simple volume made of parchment. On its cover was a round ear, with three whiskers drawn on either side. Beneath the picture was an exaggerated line: "Don't worry, this is Argo's Strategy Guide!"
At the very bottom, it also specifically noted: Provided by a Beta Tester.
In the anime, the Strategy Guide didn't have this line. But under Wang Yang's influence, Argo had decided to add it.
The players paid little attention to the cover and opened to the first page. The book listed monster traits, skills, and situations to watch out for, as well as detailed quest walkthroughs and instructions on how and where to learn skills and how to use them. It was the most detailed beginner's guide imaginable.
After discovering the free Beginner's Strategy Guide, the players eagerly rushed out of the item shop to spread the news. At the same time, copies began appearing in the item shops at the Village Strongholds across the First Floor.
When Wang Yang left the inn, he heard players talking about the Beginner's Strategy Guide and couldn't help smiling. Argo really had spent three days bringing it to market.
However, the guide had appeared early thanks to his funding. He had no idea what effect that might have on the story, but he didn't regret it at all.
After a moment's thought, he headed for the item shop. Fortunately, he'd left the inn at noon, and most players had already bought the Beginner's Strategy Guide, so the shop wasn't crowded when he arrived.
After easily picking up a copy, Wang Yang went to a secluded set of steps in the Central Plaza and began reading with interest.
He skimmed the monster descriptions, then found the section on quest walkthroughs. It turned out there were quite a few quests available in the Town of Beginnings. Their rewards were meager, but they were safe. The only drawback was that quests had a cooldown—and the cooldown applied to all players, not just the individual.
For example, one simple quest involved delivering a flower. Players could accept it on West Street, then take the flower to a designated NPC on East Street to complete it, earning 50 Kael and a paltry 50 Experience Points. But once someone accepted and completed the quest, the yellow-glowing Exclamation Mark above the quest-giver's head would disappear. It wouldn't reappear until the cooldown ended, and only then could another player accept the quest. Of course, the quest also had a time limit: the length of time it took for one round of the quest to become available again.
That setup was downright ridiculous. Why not just limit each person to completing it once a day? That would be fair and make everyone happy. At least there were plenty of these simple quests, though even if there had been fewer, the players had neither the standing nor the power to complain.
The more he thought about it, the more he figured this was SAO's way of controlling resources, forcing players to fight. So a month later, even players who were too afraid to enter battle would ultimately be forced to fight monsters.
The underlying reason, of course, was that the army had taken over all quest sources, using its moral high ground to gather every resource and distribute them as it saw fit.
By then, the Spawn Points around the Town of Beginnings would have been hunted for so long that they no longer dropped items. With nowhere else to turn, players would have no choice but to join the army, obey its basic commands, and earn the Kael or food they needed to survive. But that was a month away.
Wang Yang only glanced at the quests with their meager rewards before moving on to the next section.
Skills... It wouldn't be wrong to call them the most important requirement for surviving in SAO. No matter how high a player's stats were, they might still be better off learning a good skill.
At this section, Wang Yang began to pay close attention. Of all the things about SAO, skills were probably what he knew least about.
He studied the material for two hours before he began to digest the information.
First came Basic Skills, such as One-Handed Straight Sword. As proficiency increased, the skill's level would rise, reducing Attack Time and Stiff Time. Once proficiency reached a certain level, sword skills would appear in the Skill Bar for players to choose from, with a chance for a Special Skill to appear.
Each player could choose only one Combat Skill. If a player wanted to respec, they had to give up the Basic Skill they had chosen before.
The guide was undeniably thorough, explaining the effects of every skill currently available. But what interested Wang Yang most was where the Guard Skill came from. The book had no information about it, so he could only compare it to Kirito's unique Dual Blades skill.
As for Special Skills, Wang Yang hadn't considered them, since they required a Basic Skill to develop.
The last section, after the Combat Skills, covered Weapon Enhancement. In SAO, weapons could be enhanced in five ways: weight, speed, sharpness, accuracy, and durability. The quality of each piece of equipment determined how many times it could be enhanced; the better the equipment, the more enhancements it could receive. Once its Enhancement Count was used up, it could no longer be enhanced, and there was also a chance of failure.
At this point, Wang Yang opened his equipment menu and checked the Enhancement Count for Boar's Repentance and Wind Flower Sword. Boar's Repentance had nine enhancements remaining, while Wind Flower Sword had only eight.
He still had around thirty thousand Kael, so he could consider enhancing his equipment to improve his Survival Ability.
Just then, the system notified Wang Yang that he had a message. When he opened it, he read: "You can really get engrossed in reading a Beginner's Strategy Guide?"
Looking at the message, Wang Yang's mouth twitched.
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