How about I go ahead and start...

Wang Shui threw a pebble, drawing the attention of an insect resembling a giant mantis, then quickly retreated.

By the time the mantis monster locked onto him, Wang Shui had already slipped beside an especially thick tree. He ducked behind it, focused his mind, and relaxed his body.

It came naturally, in a flash of inspiration.

Dark gray light instantly enveloped Wang Shui. His entire figure blurred, and then he vaguely felt a thin thread snap somewhere on his body.

He opened his skill list again. Sure enough, a new skill had filled the third slot: [Hide].

What Wang Shui had just activated was the basic ability of [Hide], which shared the skill's name. It cleared some aggro while he was out of the enemy's sight. Once aggro dropped below zero, he would leave combat entirely, completely breaking the monster's lock-on.

This was a skill every lone-wolf player had to master, and a very important means of staying alive.

Monsters in SAO could pursue players over considerable distances, making it very difficult to reduce aggro by breaking line of sight. Trying to clear aggro over a long distance also made it easy to attract other aggressive monsters in the environment.

[Hide] was a powerful support skill that included aggro clearing, concealment through misdirection, sneak attack bonuses, and more.

Judging by its effects, even if it could not make someone "invisible," it was magical enough.

Wang Shui vaguely remembered that magic existed in SAO's setting, but could not be used in the current floating castle, "Aincrad." He had forgotten the exact reason, or perhaps he was remembering it wrong.

Finally obtaining the skill he wanted made Wang Shui breathe a deep sigh of relief. The earlier mishap had really frightened him.

Learning [One-Handed Straight Sword] had made him think he understood the key to learning skills. He had never expected to unlock [Gathering] just by snapping off some branches. It had caught him completely off guard and cost him dearly.

Knowing that his innate ability still had assessment criteria he did not understand, and having thrown pebbles constantly lately, he could practically feel himself on the verge of mastering [Flying Sword]. That was why he had been so anxious to obtain [Hide] and fill the slot.

Even that last pull had required a pebble to maintain his distance. Just now, he had not even dared focus on his hand.

[Flying Sword] was a skill Wang Shui liked very much and found easy to use. Unfortunately, it was too weak, had too little growth potential, and consumed items. Crucially, those items were limited in number, so sustained use was impossible. He could only reluctantly give it up.

It was getting late, and Wang Shui still had not found any other villages. He could only return to [Horunka Village], where the Nepenthes quest was.

Naturally, he would not retrace his steps. He would travel east for a while before heading south, revealing a little more of the map.

Only a few minutes after Wang Shui set off, faint sounds of clashing steel and snapping underbrush reached his ears.

There shouldn't be any monsters that use weapons in this dense forest... Players PKing?

Wang Shui hesitated for a while. He did not want to interfere in player PK. For one thing, he was only an ordinary player now. His only advantages were his level of six and his two [Anneal Blades].

But the sounds came from the high-level area to the north. Players who could explore there definitely would not be below level five. With one fewer combat skill, Wang Shui's combat power was actually far below those elite players'.

He told himself to mind his own business, but his feet did not move. His attention remained fixed on the increasingly close clashes.

"Safety first, safety first," Wang Shui muttered. He put away his sword and quickly climbed a relatively short tree nearby, settling into a quiet crouch on a branch three meters above the ground. He activated the [Hide] skill he had only recently learned. Surely there was nothing wrong with watching the show while keeping himself safe...

The snapping of branches grew distinct, and several dark humanoid figures entered Wang Shui's view.

Four against one? No, someone's being attacked by four monsters!

They were four red-skinned monsters with canine heads and humanoid bodies, varying greatly in height. They wore only crude pieces of leather armor, and their weapons were rough, heavy greataxes, straight swords, and scimitars.

[Ruin Kobold]

The monsters' name surfaced in Wang Shui's mind. They were the main monsters in the first floor's labyrinth and its outskirts, with vast numbers and widely varying combat strength.

But this place was at least thirty or forty kilometers from the labyrinth. That was no small distance!

Wang Shui glanced at the player being pursued. His heart gave two heavy thumps, and he drew his sword without hesitation.

The player wore simple leather armor similar to Wang Shui's and likewise carried an [Anneal Blade]. His short black hair was somewhat messy. Beneath slightly long bangs was the face of a cute boy with somewhat feminine features.

Kirito, Lord Kirito, does our first meeting really have to be this exciting?

Wang Shui did not overthink it. He would save him first. If they could not win, the two of them could always run south together. Two people would have a better chance of surviving.

Below Wang Shui was a fairly open junction in a forest clearing. Kirito rushed straight beneath his tree without stopping. He did not dare linger in such an open space.

Just then, Wang Shui suddenly jumped from the tree and activated a sword skill.

[Slant]!

With gravity behind him, Wang Shui steadied the sword in both hands and traced a bright red path through the air, crashing down upon the smallest kobold at the rear with thunderous force!

[-398!]

A terrifying critical damage number burst above the little kobold's head. Wang Shui's sword cleaved down from its right shoulder, slicing diagonally halfway through its body!

[Stun], [Intimidation], [Slow], [Bleeding], [Fracture]...

A row of debuffs instantly filled the space beneath the little kobold's HP bar, while a cluster of bleeding damage numbers burst out as well.

"Switch!"

After landing his slash, Wang Shui hopped backward and began using the trees to evade the other monsters, shouting a warning to Kirito.

Switch was a common term players used in parties, meaning to take turns resisting the enemy's attacks.

That shout of "Switch" stopped Kirito in his tracks. The words "player," "help," and "cover" sprang into his mind, and he saw the sword skill descending from above. Instinctively, Kirito charged toward the nearest greataxe kobold in a glow of blue sword-skill light. The monster stood a full two meters tall.

The other three kobolds actually still had their aggro on Kirito. Wang Shui activated [Rage Spike], stabbing a scimitar kobold in the rear and pulling it away, while Kirito fought a retreat toward the open clearing with the other two. Fighting was different from fleeing. Now he needed room to maneuver.

The scimitar kobold whose aggro Wang Shui had drawn barked loudly on the spot, and a dark pink glow appeared on its blade.

[Crescent Moon Slash]? Or [Reaver], the one with a charge?

Facing a sword-skill attack for the first time, Wang Shui's thoughts raced. He only knew the basic sword skills under the scimitar-or rather, [Scimitar]-skill. In actual combat, he could not yet distinguish them from their opening motions.

If I can't identify it, I won't try to counter it!

Wang Shui simply hurled himself to the right, getting out of the attack's direct path.

A streak of red cut straight toward where Wang Shui had just stood. His diving leap barely avoided the lightning-fast charge.

Meanwhile, Kirito was using [Horizontal] (Horizontal Slash) to deflect the greataxe kobold's downward sword skill. Then he repositioned smoothly, using its massive body to block the other straight-sword kobold's angle of attack. He did not appear to be in any immediate danger.

It's up to me to break the deadlock... Wang Shui thought. He immediately lowered himself and rushed forward, preparing to activate [Rage Spike], but the scimitar kobold facing him ran straight at him with its blade raised, snot and drool flying.

With both his distance and movements disrupted, Wang Shui barely managed to execute the sword skill, but its completion and power were poor. The scimitar kobold merely staggered two steps before closing in and bringing its blade down.

Wang Shui hurriedly retreated diagonally backward to avoid the ordinary slash. He wanted to attack while the kobold recovered its blade, but he had backed away too far and was not positioned to counterattack.

Having spent his time bullying boars, wolves, and Nepenthes, Wang Shui now looked particularly clumsy.

Wang Shui immediately recognized his weakness-a lack of combat experience.

He had countless sword moves in his head, plenty of game knowledge, and many combat techniques. He could spot his opponent's weaknesses and had time to think. Even his fear in battle, the thing that held him back most, had eased considerably. Yet he was still performing this poorly.

Right now, he was "Wang Yuyan," with nothing but a head full of knowledge and keen observation. He needed vast amounts of combat experience to evolve to the level of "Murong Fu"...'s household servants.

But there was no time for that now. Closing and opening his eyes would not grant him enlightenment and turn him into an expert. Yet in the blink of an eye, Wang Shui found his own way to break the deadlock!

He pressed his whole body forward, closing in on the kobold and trading blows with it at extremely close range. The kobold could not adjust its posture to execute sword skills, and neither could Wang Shui. But Wang Shui found a moment to equip the special item [Supernatural Instinct]!

They hacked at each other without any finesse, scimitar against sword. Neither lost much HP, and now the HP-regenerating jewel came into play.

By sacrificing some damage to block a few more attacks, Wang Shui could even maintain full HP. But things looked less optimistic on Kirito's side. He was still keeping his opponents occupied, but his HP was about to drop below half.

I have to finish this quickly!

The jewel [Supernatural Instinct] wiped out his equipment's strength and agility bonuses. The straight sword in Wang Shui's hands now felt unusually heavy, but fortunately, trading blows required little fine control. He only had to grip the hilt in both hands and swing.

Wang Shui finished off his kobold and hurriedly took out a bottle of pale pink [Healing Potion], downing it in one gulp. His HP began rapidly filling.

But when he turned his attention toward Kirito, he saw him preparing to meet the greataxe kobold's heavy strike. Meanwhile, in a corner where Kirito had poor visibility, the straight-sword kobold's crude longsword also began glowing with blue sword-skill light!

It's over.

Kirito noticed too, but he could no longer stop his movements. Wang Shui's heart sank because he realized he was too far away to charge in. Both of them suddenly felt a stifling pressure.

In an instant, Wang Shui's brain performed countless calculations. Before he could arrive at the correct answer, his body had already chosen the option with the highest probability.

When his right hand rose, a pebble was already pinched between his fingers. Before Wang Shui himself realized it, the pebble shot out wrapped in a dark red streak of light. He only had time to hear the sharp crack of his right hand whipping through the air before his entire arm and hand lost all sensation.

The red ray almost grazed Kirito's chin before striking the straight-sword kobold preparing its sneak attack square between the eyes!

[-132!], [Stun], [Intimidation], [Knockdown].

Kirito instinctively completed his exchange with the greataxe kobold. As he took a small step back to prepare for the straight-sword kobold, he saw it falling backward, a stun icon appearing above its head.

"Kill the big one first!"

Wang Shui rushed over, his right arm dangling like a noodle as he charged with his sword in his left hand.

Kirito first made room for him to attack. After Wang Shui finished [Rage Spike] and dodged aside, he followed up with [Vertical].

"My entire right arm is unusable now, and I can only use thrusting sword skills with my left hand. You'll have to hold out for a few more attacks."

"Okay!"

The pace began to slow, and Wang Shui finally had time to speak. Meanwhile, Kirito, whose HP was below half, was now brimming with confidence.

Then Wang Shui got to witness Lord Kirito's combat technique.

It had to be said that even with Wang Shui's half-baked knowledge of martial arts and swordsmanship, he could tell that Kirito knew absolutely nothing about swordsmanship or sword techniques. He had never undergone combat training, and there was not even a trace of modern unarmed or weapons combat techniques.

Although he consciously lowered his center of gravity, he only considered what made attacking comfortable. His movements were fast and fierce, but catered solely to SAO's sword skills.

Yet he was simply strong, simply fluid, his relentless attacks leaving the monsters no chance to defend themselves.

Kirito used normal attacks too, but his normal attacks were more spontaneous. As long as an enemy lay in his sword's path, he would land a couple of incidental hits while adjusting his stance for a sword skill.

The swordsmanship Wang Shui understood incorporated ingenious [moves] into every swing of the sword and every movement.

Kirito's [Aincrad-Style Swordsmanship], however, used nimble body movements and extremely fast reflexes to seek opportunities to use [Sword Skills]. All his sword movements and footwork were constant attempts to use sword skills while guarding against the enemy.

In a game, Kirito's kind of "swordsmanship" was certainly effective. He executed sword skills efficiently, dealt high damage, and produced dazzling visual effects. But Wang Shui kept finding it somewhat... somewhat uncomfortable.

While Wang Shui observed, the greataxe kobold went down after four or five rounds of switching and did not rise again. The stunned straight-sword kobold nearby had actually recovered some time ago, but the [Intimidation] debuff above its head persisted, making it stagger around and preventing it from attacking effectively.

In the end, the straight-sword kobold and the straight-sword-wielding Kirito both fell to the ground. There was no need for misunderstanding-Kirito had merely collapsed from exhaustion. His HP was still around half,

Only then did Wang Shui, who had full HP, settle down. Honestly, this battle had not been as nerve-racking as his first encounter with a Frenzy Boar, but afterward, his body felt floaty. His entire right arm had the numbness of having slept on it all night, swinging about like a rope.

Planting his sword in the ground with his left hand, Wang Shui approached Kirito. Seeing him resting with his eyes closed and regulating his breathing, he offered his left hand and said:

"You okay? Want to top off your HP first?"

Kirito slowly opened his eyes. Seeing Wang Shui's exhaustion and dangling right arm, his face twisted into an expression mixing guilt and other complicated feelings.

"Thank you so much... How's your arm?" Kirito took Wang Shui's left hand and stood, then retrieved a healing potion from a carrying clasp on his leather belt and used it.

"Nothing major. My right arm has the [Body Part Destruction] status for two hours, but I'll be relying on you to get back to [Horunka Village]."

"Of course. Leave the rest to me."

With his expression and gaze back to normal, Kirito regained his usual composure and bumped fists with Wang Shui. He was about to suggest they leave together when he suddenly exclaimed in surprise:

"What's going on? These kobolds' corpses haven't despawned!" He immediately began nervously checking the combat log.

"Relax. That's the effect of [Gathering]. By default, it automatically preserves corpses until they're harvested."

As he spoke, Wang Shui looted the bodies one by one. His left hand made dismem- ahem, processing the corpses inconvenient, so he simply kicked the monsters' weapons aside. In the end, he only gathered [Kobold Greataxe Fragments] from the greataxe kobold.

"[Gathering] actually has that effect? It didn't before... Wait, um... swordsman, you equipped [Gathering]? And you used [Flying Sword] earlier! Does that mean you haven't learned any support combat skills?!"

Kirito's shock left Wang Shui with particularly mixed feelings. Then he raised his hand and sent a friend request.

"All right, all right, is it really that shocking? I don't plan on going solo forever. Besides, who calls someone 'swordsman'? Just call me 'Heavenly Book.'"

Casually making up an excuse, Wang Shui also took advantage of his angle facing Kirito to pretend to check his inventory while actually opening his skill list.

[One-Handed Straight Sword], [Gathering], [Hide]... [Flying Sword]

Three skill slots. Four skills.

[Flying Sword] had not appeared in the locked fourth slot. Instead, it sat alone on a new row. The skill icon was now embedded in what had originally been a blank area of the page, looking like a texture error.

This was no bug. Wang Shui immediately thought of the second-to-last part of his innate ability.

[Learning ability is unrestricted]

This is the real bug, isn't it?