Thanks to A Passing Chuunibyou for the 10-point vote. This was today's third chapter, to make up for yesterday's unexplained hiatus.
You could be afraid, but you could not retreat.
Wang Yang did not remember where he had seen those words, but at this moment, he deeply understood the meaning they were meant to convey.
Sometimes, fear alone stopped you from taking that step forward, even when all that lay before you was a narrow gap less than half a meter wide. Yet once you took that step, you would realize that it was nothing much after all—not nearly as frightening as you had imagined.
By the time Wang Yang killed the first Monster in the labyrinth area with only minor injuries, his fear had long since vanished. Like most Players entering the labyrinth for the first time, he discovered that it was not as terrifying as he had imagined.
After killing a Monster called a Goblin Spearman, Wang Yang immediately struck gold, obtaining a level 10 steel cuirass. Its defense was twice that of the level 5 leather armor he wore, and it also granted 5 points of Strength. However, after putting it on, Wang Yang felt that his agility had been somewhat restricted. Normally, simply raising his hand took no effort at all, but after donning the steel armor, he felt slightly cumbersome.
This was the limitation of equipment types. Unlike other online games, SAO did not have strict equipment restrictions by class; there were only attribute and level requirements. Thus, as long as a rapier user met the Strength requirement, they could equip heavy armor. However, if a rapier user whose primary attribute was Agility wore heavy armor, the consequences would be a severe restriction on their mobility. This restriction was not calculated in flat numerical