My slow journey to infinity

Chapter 8 I'm so stupid, really...

5:30 pm, starting town, "Lemon and Salt" bar.

When Wang Shui entered the bar, he never thought it would be so lively inside.

Now that the sky has just turned dark, many players who had the courage to go out to kill monsters the next day returned to the town and came to the bar to relax their tired body and mind.

Cigarettes and alcohol are cheap and effective ways for adults to relieve stress, but there seems to be no cigarettes in SAO.

It didn't take much time for Wang Shui to spot the small figure in front of the bar.

With golden brown curly hair, you can vaguely see the three whiskers on her face. The tan cloak almost completely covered her body, leaving only a smiling face.

Wang Shui walked to her side in a few steps and said straight to the point:

"Important information."

"Wow~wow!"

Hearing the words "important information", Argo, the information dealer known as "The Rat", jumped down from the wooden high chair.

"This little brother, what kind of information do you want to sell? There are quiet seats behind the bar..."

"It's an urgent matter. Send a message to everyone first. All the guys you can contact who are working hard to level up! Tell them not to use the three free attribute points gained from upgrading!"

Aqua Regia's low voice was a bit hoarse, and although the damaging effect on the upper part of the throat had disappeared, it still stung a bit.

Argo was stunned for a moment, then looked at Wang Shui's serious expression and opened the email system without much hesitation.

After all, just keeping the points first will not cause any loss.

"Well, okay, we have sent out the mass message. Do we need to communicate information covertly?"

The more serious the exchange, the more interesting Argo the Rat's special nasal voice becomes.

"No, I hope this information can be disclosed through you. Three minutes ago, I learned from the NPC..."

Wang Shui briefly described the fact that four-dimensional attributes can be exercised, and the impact of free attributes on wearing high-end equipment.

It can be said that before encountering an exercise bottleneck, every attribute point invested is an irreparable loss.

Mouse Argo's always smiling face turned serious. She was keenly aware of the importance of this information and asked seriously:

"Can the authenticity of the information be guaranteed?"

"I can take you to find the NPC who told me the news. Although I have not gained attributes through exercise, the probability of success will not be low. Didn't Argonaut notice it? The NPC after official operation is frighteningly intelligent. "

Argo nodded as if he felt the same, opened the email system again, wrote a lot of text very seriously, and then breathed a sigh of relief after sending it to the group.

"Huh~ I have told them seriously, and the news is also spreading to other people who are leveling up through them, but this is not enough. It seems that the strategy manual will be put on the shelves in advance."

"Is the strategy manual released on the third day? The official operating environment is much different from the internal testing environment. Have you collected enough information?"

Argo jumped on the high chair, lay on the bar a little weakly, and said wilfully:

"You know quite a bit about it. In fact, the guide information is very limited. Only a few people have verified a small number of tasks. Fortunately, the attributes of monsters in the wild on the first level have basically not changed. This is also very important information, and your intelligence is worthy of the manual. Released in advance, oh, I haven’t thanked you yet..."

Wang Shui directly sent a friend request.

"It's so refreshing, eh, Half Book of Heaven? What a strange Chinese character name. Today is really thanks to you, Brother Half Book. If the loss is too big, it's hard to imagine what those game geeks will do."

Wang Shui helplessly raised his forehead: "Please call me "Heavenly Book", it is preceded by a quantifier and not a surname! Regarding intelligence, you have to be grateful that you happen to be in the same starting town as me, otherwise I wouldn't be able to go to the other five towns to find you. "

"Yes, yes, it's such a rare fate. So, Brother Tianshu, how many koels do you plan to charge for this information?"

Wang Shui was a little surprised:

"A guy like you would actually take the initiative to pay!"

"Wow, how can you say this to a girl? Integrity management is the purpose of our store. Don't worry, I will recover the cost from the elite hamsters (Liver Emperor)."

Even so, Wang Shui could still feel Argo's gratitude.

"Then, let's charge one hundred thousand kel."

"Ten...one hundred thousand kel! You are no longer an ordinary delusional guy. After the modification of monster drops, even the frontline players will not have more than 5,000 in their current deposits, right?!"

Drop modification? !

"What's going on with the drop modification?" Wang Shui asked.

"Huh? Now that you know my existence and you can find me directly in the tavern, Brother Tianshu is also a test player, right? Haven't you noticed that the amount of Kel dropped by monsters has been reduced by 90%?"

"Well, you misunderstood, I am not a player in the closed beta."

And I haven't killed any monster yet.

"Not really?! Then how do you know me?"

"Argo of "Mouse", your name has been mentioned in many posts on the strategy forum. Of course, the content is not very friendly. "

"Ah, ha, ha, ha, that's it. I was checking the guide in a targeted manner and didn't notice it."

The two exchanged awkward yet polite smiles.

"Due to the drop modification, the total amount of Kol currently accumulated by players is not much. Many materials that were directly discarded during the internal beta will now be brought back to the towns to be sold." Argo spread his hands and described this. .

"Reducing output, this low-level means of extending the life of the game, is it to cope with the huge player base?"

Aqua regia murmured to himself, not asking Argo a question.

"This kind of thing cannot be changed. Remuneration is indispensable for Brother Tianshu's important information. Well, now I can give you 2,000 kels. Can you accept it?"

The penniless Wang Shui nodded, and then immediately received the transaction request.

After receiving 2,000 kels, at least my recent diet has been settled.

"Okay, the deal is over. The NPC I got the information from is the [One-handed Straight Sword] skill instructor in the back street. You can go to him to confirm. The other party thinks that this kind of thing is common sense and should not hide it. So goodbye , I still have to level up."

"Fighting at night? The danger will be much higher. By the way, Brother Tianshu actually needs to find a swordsmanship instructor. Your [One-Handed Straight Sword] skill reached 50 proficiency on the second day?"

"If you want to know this information, it's 500 kel."

Argo, who was robbed of his iconic lines, was stunned at first, and then became a little angry, turning from a mouse into a hamster.

Wang Shui waved his hand and left.

Night fight? Playing "Manic Boar" under the lights near the town should not be considered a night battle.

Argo seriously overestimated the level of Aqua Regia and thought he would go to a distant village to do a mission.

Returning to the northern grassland of the starting town again, the lights on the city wall illuminated a large outdoor area. The brightness was not high, but fortunately the area was open enough.

The blue-furred wild boar with scarlet eyes is slightly smaller than the real wild boar.

Its only skill is collision, and its HP is around 300, which will fluctuate according to its size and level (levels 1 to 3). It is a monster prepared for new players in this world.

However, the attack power is not low.

Wang Shui locked his eyes on the nearest one. Because the target was an inactive monster, Wang Shui slowly moved to a place three or four meters away from the back of the wild boar, recalling his charging distance.

Short stature, holding a sword flat.

On the shadowy plain, there was a sudden flash of blue light.

The manic wild boar staggered and screamed in pain. Wang Shui kicked the wild boar in the back, and then raised his sword to slash.

Although the game world is much more realistic, the monster fighting is not overly realistic.

The long wound made by the [Small Sword] showed a red grid-like special effect, with no blood splattering.

The wild boar's head exploded with [-62! ], "-4", and "-11" three numbers.

The first number is larger and more conspicuous, and the font is also red with gold. This is the special effect of a critical strike.

The sword skill damage plus critical hit bonus creates a large damage value.

Wang Shui wanted to keep replenishing the damage, but Boar hurriedly stood up and ran forward a few steps, then quickly turned around to face him, assuming a charging posture.

In reality, many people would probably feel weak in the legs if faced with a large wild boar charging towards them.

Wang Shui is different. He has seen battlefields where mechas hug each other. He has also been tied up as a coolie by a large arms company. He has seen a lot!

So his legs are not particularly weak.

The wild boar rushed over at a normal running speed. Wang Shui took a step back in embarrassment before remembering to hide to the side.

Facing the wild boar head-on was even more stressful than confronting the skill instructor Qi Ge.

Because he knew that Seventh Brother would not kill him, and he knew that at most he would be beaten. Moreover, Seventh Brother took action too quickly, and he had no time to be afraid.

With his heart beating wildly, Aqua Regia's body began to become lighter and lighter.

This virtual game character's body very realistically showed the physical condition under the influence of adrenaline. To be honest, Wang Shui did not believe that Kayaba Akihiko had such technical ability. Most of the changes were caused by the alienation label.

In the excitement, Wang Shui approached the wild boar in two steps, slashed with his sword, and then quickly circled to the side.

"-13"

Not adjusting the posture of the one-handed sword gracefully, Wang Shui stopped to stand firm, exerted his strength as standard as possible, and gathered his concentration to swing the sword blade.

【-81! 】

Basic one-handed straight sword skill: [Oblique Slash], and I was very lucky to get a critical hit.

When the wild boar was in pain, he immediately turned around and raised his head. His stubby fangs scratched across Wang Shui's calf, and a small bright red spot instantly appeared on the coarse cloth leg.

The red grid-shaped special effect was the same as the monster's injury. The pain was not as obvious as Wang Shui imagined. At least it was much lighter than when Brother Qi beat him.

Although there was no blood, the wounds on his body appeared in his field of vision, and Wang Shui still felt empty as if something had been lost from his body.

It's like seeing someone else's open and bleeding wound, and you'll get chills down your spine, feeling like you're also bleeding.

Empty, disgusting.

Wang Shui gritted his teeth and quickened his pace, and began to run around the manic boar at high speed. The sword in his hand kept flicking, and a large number of single-digit damage appeared intensively.

In the end, the wild boar naturally fell to the ground and dissipated upwards like blue glass shards.

A system pop-up window appeared in front of Wang Shui, who was breathing heavily and slumped to the ground. The first line of purple text read 50 experience points, which made his experience bar move a little.

But Wang Shui didn't care about the harvest, his eyes were a little dull.

Sure enough, I am not the decisive protagonist in some infinite novel.

Wang Shui couldn't remember how many times he had confirmed his own mediocrity. Before, he had some delusions like "Maybe I'm just a late bloomer."

Only 3 kel of gold dropped, allowing Wang Shui to confirm that he had only killed a novice monster like a slime in other games, rather than defeating the first maze boss.

Fear? No, the panic faded away after the fight, along with the lightness of adrenaline.

Happy? No, there is no sense of accomplishment in a victory of this magnitude.

On the contrary, the embarrassing process made him a little confused.

Wang Shui no longer questioned himself or asked why he was not born strong.

When there is no feedback on something, Wang Shui is the kind of person who will give up and will not stay in a certain negative emotion.

He just stood up silently, then covered himself with the glory of sword skills and rushed towards the next monster.

…

…

The sunlight was blocked by the second layer of "Aincrad", and only a ray leaked through it.

It was already past nine in the morning, and the transition zone between grassland and dense forest was still drowsy.

The small campfire swayed with difficulty, the weak tongue of flame licked the meat on the branches, and a drop of melted fat dripped on the wood, making a pleasant sizzling sound.

Aqua regia was as listless as his flame, and he chewed the roasted meat without salt with an expressionless expression and full of tears.

SAO's sense of reality, enhanced by the Infinite World Key, showed itself crazily at this moment.

The slightly burnt but delicious-looking barbecue was releasing a wild, fishy smell in Shui Wang's mouth. Fortunately, he couldn't vomit, just like he didn't have to go to the toilet.

Don't get me wrong, Wang Shui was not forced to look for food in the wild like a knight after leveling up all night.

He returned to the city around one o'clock in the morning last night and made preparations to go out for leveling this morning.

He bought two [Bronze Swords] as spares. The durability of the initial weapon [Small Sword] was almost gone, and its attributes and shape made him unwilling to repair it.

After spending all the remaining savings on small recovery potions (10 bottles), some idiot found that he didn't even have money for food.

In fact, he still had single digits of kel left at that time, and even buying a piece of bread would last him a long time.

But the idiot and self-righteous guy suddenly had a whim after seeing the prop called flint - he wanted to eat barbecue!

Directly cut branches are very wet and cannot be used to make fire. You need to use the [Gathering] skill on shrubs or the [Logging] skill on trees to obtain dry firewood.

Without skill blessing, the output will be much less.

A lot of time was wasted in setting up a small bonfire, and aqua regia, which had poor fire protection skills, put it out several times.

In the end, Aqua Regia ended up with a juicy roast that looked charred-edged and then spit it out quickly after taking the first bite.

It turns out that without salt and seasonings, wild boar meat can be so unpalatable... so unpalatable that it is physiologically unacceptable.

Moreover, open-fire barbecue is a very technical task. It looks scorched on the outside, but still raw on the inside.

Now Wang Shui can swallow the meat skewers with an expressionless expression, not because he got the spices, but because he has the [Hunger] Debuff (negative status).

The icon of a shriveled stomach told him that if he didn’t eat, he would starve to death.

From his current location, it would take more than an hour to walk back to the starting town. There was no village information on the large virtual map covered with shadows. There was no telling what would happen if he didn't eat.

A waste of time, a waste of money (meat), a waste of life.

But these are not enough to make Wang Shui show such a "dead heart" expression. What really makes him so depressed is that his only skill bar has been occupied by a skill called [Collect].

Wang Shui tried to remove the skill and was reminded that it required ten thousand kels, and to get the next skill column, he needed to reach level five.

I'm so stupid, really, I just know that I have a cheating talent, which will seriously affect the rhythm of mastering skills; I didn't know that I can also get skills...

Wang Shui has been scolding himself for nearly an hour, but all he can do now is to reach level five by relying only on the [One-Handed Straight Sword] skill.

I originally thought that I had mastered the key points of learning skills, but I didn't expect that I would be tricked by this ridiculous ability.

After the painful breakfast, Wang Shui started the third day of the game. For him, it was only the second round of spawning monsters and clearing up wasteland.

Speaking of monster spawning, even though Wang Shui was very embarrassed at the beginning last night, he didn't gain enlightenment from killing a few monsters, and gained powerful combat qualities out of thin air.

But there were still some gains. At least he gradually became familiar with the feeling of swinging a sword at a living target.

This is a completely different feeling from piercing the air or piercing the target. Without using sword skills to cause exaggerated wounds, ordinary attacks will get extremely realistic physical feedback when hitting the target.

The tough fur, tight muscles, hard bones and teeth, as well as the different angles of contact between different parts and the sword blade exert reaction forces on the sword-wielding hand.

Almost every sword has a different tactile feel, and the feedback force sometimes makes the sword bounce upward, and sometimes makes the blade tumble.

If you don't control the sword carefully and guide and conceive the next sword with your heart, the weapon in your hand will soon turn into a fire stick.

It was this experience of attacking living targets that made Wang Shui gradually focus on controlling the sword, and he became less panicked and less afraid of death.

Maybe those strong people are born with this ability.

One after another, the manic boar fell under the Wang Shui sword, and there were also monsters named [Wolf] spawning among them.

Wang Shui had been hiding before and quietly left when he saw a wolf.

And this morning, Wang Shui, who was in a state of "dead heart" and had an extremely clear mind, began to try to challenge the wolf.

The results were unexpected on every level.

The aggressiveness and flexibility of a creature like a wolf was beyond his expectation, and the simplicity of the battle was also beyond his expectation.

It is true that the wolf pounces and bites very quickly, but the attack distance is very short and the judgment point is small, making it very easy to avoid.

The sway of the wolf's movement is indeed very short, and its ability to recover its posture after the movement is very strong. The attacks appear compact and intensive, making it difficult to parry. This is the main reason why it is difficult to kill the wolf.

But Wang Shui accidentally discovered that monsters like wolves are very susceptible to Debuff (negative status).

The first time he noticed it was when Shui Wang was being attacked continuously, he kicked the wolf's head violently out of desperation. As a result, the rather small wolf staggered and remained dazed for a while.

If you want to create a negative state, in addition to using sword skills with corresponding effects, you can also rely on direct strikes to special parts.

The final scene of the battle was when Shui Wang found an opportunity to stun the giant wolf with a "football kick", then quickly lowered himself into a running posture, with the sword in his right hand tucked away at his side.

After taking the first step, blue sword skill light enveloped Wang Shui's body, and he turned into blue light and penetrated the giant wolf.

The one-handed sword rushes into the sword skill, [Angry Stab].

A three-digit damage was done, an upgrade prompt popped up, and Wang Shui looked at the dense forest not far away with unfulfilled interest.

It's the third day, do you want to try it?