my slow journey to infinity

Chapter 14: The down-to-earth and sincere old father and his silly son who also paid for the cheats

Meeting Wang Shui outside the village, Kirito looked at Wang Shui who was yawning profusely with a strange expression.

"Did you really fight them all night last night?"

"Uh~uh~~"

Wang Shui slowly stretched before answering.

"Ah? No, I left before eleven o'clock, and there were all the newcomers playing behind me. I was just so sleepy because I read the information too late last night, and got up too early today. I woke up slowly on the way. , let’s go.”

It's only about six o'clock now, the sky is still dark, and no one of the players goes out to level up at this time.

"Well, it's quite far from here to the town of [Tolbana]. Fortunately, you don't need to take a detour to get to yesterday's ruins."

Without much nonsense, the two people who had agreed yesterday to carry the small ruins together briefly checked the supplies and left the village.

Wang Shui would take the initiative to stir up some topics along the way, but the main thing was to hurry on. The road in the dense forest was not that easy.

Soon the two came to an open space with rich meadows and boulders everywhere. In the middle of the open space was a barely identifiable building made of boulders. The gray and white stones on top were seriously damaged.

"Is this here? The giant ax kobold was refreshed yesterday. It seems that it is not a special terrain that is a one-time reward. What is in this temple-like building?"

Wang Shui asked while counting the monsters outside.

"The space inside is not big. There is something like a treasure box in the middle. It is similar to the treasure box in the maze area. The person guarding the treasure box seems to be an elite monster. But yesterday, before I had time to get close, I was chained by other monsters while dealing with the monsters outside. Hatred.”

"Default hatred chain? Or are there any conditions?" Wang Shui suddenly interrupted.

"No, SAO didn't have any design for monster groups to have chain hatred during the internal beta. Yesterday, I accidentally moved next to other monsters, so they were locked together." Kirito said seriously, pointing to the giant axe-dog head. human position.

"The giant axe monster will trigger the hatred of at least 3 other monsters a few meters behind it."

"Okay, do you see the open space on the right? We're going to attack monsters there. There are a total of 9 monsters outside. We'll go in after we've cleared them all."

The process of clearing the ruins of kobolds is fast and safe, and the efficiency of two-person combat is more than twice that of a single person.

The upper limit of player team size is 6 people. For [BOSS Raiders Team], or large teams that players are accustomed to call [RAID Team], [Expedition Team], etc., the upper limit is 8 full teams, which is 48 people.

The more people there are, the lower the benefits (not efficiency), but the safety will be improved accordingly.

In addition, there will be no additional drops when forming a team. Experience and money are equally divided. Materials can be set to captain distribution, random distribution, and average distribution. Materials that drop less than the average will enter the auction state.

Aqua regia and Kirito are average types. When a small amount of materials are taken by aqua regia, the regional strategy has come to an end.

The ruins look tattered on the surface, but they are complete inside, with no light leaking anywhere.

In the internal space that is not particularly wide, a dark red hill is rising and falling with the rhythm of breathing. This is a huge monster, but it should not be a BOSS in a place like this.

"I'll try to draw him out and fight. If I can't deal with it, I'll run away first and you can find a chance to use [Concealment]."

Wang Shui quickly handed over the task, Kirito also nodded seriously, and the two came to the door of the ruins.

The red [Single Shot] sword skill light flew into the ruins of the ruins, and soon there was an angry roar inside, and a gust of wind burst out from between the stone doors. The air flow and almost substantial pressure blew the bodies of the death-seeking duo. hair.

Kirito was very calm because he had fought a more terrifying BOSS during the closed beta.

Aqua regia is also very calm because he can run first.

The three-meter-plus crimson elite monster barely squeezed out of the stone door. Unlike ordinary kobolds, it was not only more than three meters tall, but its fur was more bright and shiny than ordinary kobolds (dark red can also be bright).

The most important thing is that there are two health bars on its buoy. Below the blood bar is written the unique name that only elite monsters and above can possess - [Man-Eating Dog Ken].

And its weapon is a long sword dragged on the ground.

"I'll try my move first, be careful when switching."

After leading the elite monsters out of a distance, Kirito simply explained and began to prepare for sonic super speed, oh no, it's [Sonic Impact].

The little figure instantly rose into the sky and headed straight for the monster!

The elite monster also swung the sword very quickly, the red sword skill light effect lit up, and the action was a diagonal slash from bottom to top. Wang Shui thought this should be called [Tickling Slash].

According to the information on the guide website and Wang Shui's own personal experience, the color of the sword skill is not particularly fixed, but the brightness and purity will change slightly depending on the completion status.

Kirito didn't seem to see the huge blade swinging towards him, or in other words, he didn't have any means to deal with it in mid-air. At most, he could offset his sword skills with the monster.

Normally, this is a very dangerous behavior, but today is different. Kirito has teammates today!
Another red ray of light flew past Kirito's body, and Kirito could even see the rectangular iron block wrapped in red light charging with him.

Ding--

In the long and harsh sound of metal clashing, the elite kobold's sword skills shattered.The iron tip of the long sword that hit it was also cut off, and Kirito had already stepped on its shoulder and slashed it with his sword!
[-221! 】

As expected of Mr. Tong, the damage can be so high when it hits an elite monster.

call out--

"-82"

Another red light flashed, dealing not a small amount of damage, but the damage was just in vain.

[Flying Sword] Skill Single-shot Sword Skill [Full Projection], combined with the rectangular iron block (chamfered) specially customized by Wang Shui from the blacksmith NPC, it was a very effective blow to the enemy!What was originally a small stagger turned into physical imbalance.

Taking advantage of its unsteady stance, Kirito kicked the elite monster's shoulder, jumped back slightly, and fired a [vertical slash] from top to bottom. His own weight plus the sword skill bonus allowed Kirito to hit the elite monster. There was a huge wound on his body!

[-485! 】

no?Has your boy opened it too?Although the wound is large, it is neither a vital point nor a weakness. Why is your critical hit rate so high!
After landing, Kirito didn't have any awareness of the damage he had done. He just quickly started the classic strategy for dealing with large enemies - pedicure and leg shaving.

There is no other way but to get here. Although sword skills can make people fly, the flaws in aerial combat are too great.

Players currently have few sword skills, and their own attributes are also poor. If they jump too high, they can easily be beaten like tennis balls by large monsters.

At this time, Wang Shui was not too far away, throwing iron ammunition with his left hand to add some damage, and holding a sword in his right hand, ready to switch support at any time.

Due to the imperfect strength and posture of his left hand, the damage will be lower, but he now has enough ammunition, so the most important thing is to ensure that he can switch at any time.

When Kirito was in the mood for a pedicure, the elite monster finally stood firm after twisting for a while, and drew the sword flatly to slash it with a blood-red light.

【Floating Boat】? 【tsujifeng】? [Fei Fan]?
Wang Shui hurriedly threw an iron bullet at the far end, and then moved forward, ready to rush and switch at any time.

While he was still trying to compare the movements of the elite monsters with the sword skill descriptions in the strategy book, Kirito had already quickly used [Vertical Slash].

This sword skill is the standard solution. [Vertical Slash] can stagger the slashing angle of elite monsters on the one hand, and it is also convenient for exerting force on the other hand. In sword skill confrontation, the power judgment of vertical slash is also high.

Wang Shui's hurried [Single Shot] and Kirito's [Vertical Slash] quickly blocked the elite monster's horizontal slash, but the elite kobold actually fought back at a very unscientific speed. It quickly pulled from the right side of the body. He turned back the blade, and then performed the sword skill Tease and Slash.

No!This is a two-combination fencing skill in one!

Kirito was struck in the chest by a knife and flew backwards, and his health bar dropped by [-]% in an instant.Just when the elite monster was preparing to pursue, Wang Shui's [Rage Stab] had already caught up. Even if the hatred was not completely transferred to him for a while, the monster would tend to deal with the target in front of it. This was the benefit of having teammates.

"It's very proficient in sword skills! It's an advanced sword skill [Huan Yue], don't resist!"

Kirito quickly and briefly announced the information loudly, and then took out a recovery potion to replenish HP. On the other hand, Wang Shui did not have the ability to release sword skills calmly and quickly like Kirito, but his sword skills were more flexible. He liked to expose his body. Induce the monster to use more normal attacks, and then pull away to attract it to move. If the distance is further away, use the rush sword skill to rush back.

With his left hand throwing iron bullets from time to time to supplement damage, Aqua Regia's output efficiency is also very low, but now he just wants to walk the monsters safely. As long as Kirito launches an attack, everything will be fine.

"Don't move for 5 seconds, then stand and explode!"

Wang Shui gave a quick explanation, took a step sideways and then withdrew, completing the switch with Kirito who was coming. At the same time, he handed the sword to his left hand and took out an iron bullet from his leather pocket with his right hand.

Twist your body, mobilize all your strength, and concentrate on locking the target.

After nearly five seconds of preparation, Wang Shui suddenly threw out his right arm, and his fingers made a crisp "pop" sound in the air!
The thick dark red line went straight to the center of the elite monster's eyebrows, and the iron bullet also made a heavy "bang" sound when it hit!A bunch of messages immediately popped up on the elite monster's head:
【-214! ], [Dizziness], [Imbalance]

Kirito took the opportunity to jump up and launch the sword skill [Sonic Impact] vertically from the ground up, and the sword blade went straight to the monster's head.

After Wang Shui used [Full Power Projection] seriously, his arm went numb for a while, but luckily he only lost a bit of health and did not suffer from the negative state of [Part Destruction] like when he saved Kirito before.

The monster was fainted, and Aqua regia did not prepare to switch from behind. He also ran over and joined in the pedicure work to improve the output efficiency.

Kirito once again fell from the sky with the light of his sword skill, and once again caused a deep wound to the elite monster. As soon as the two technicians met, they began to stand and swing the sword skill.

It's a pity that the elite monster's abnormal resistance is very high, and the blow caused by Aqua Regia can only be controlled for less than five seconds.

Some people may compare this Negative Time with other tabletop adventure RPGs, but SAO is really different. The control effects in SAO are very real. Dizziness is a real dizziness. The state gradually reduces. If you fall, you really need to climb. stand up.

Therefore, if a player takes one of this long-term control effect, it is almost equivalent to death without the assistance of teammates.

The elite monster who woke up seemed dissatisfied with the service of the two technicians. His body suddenly jumped back a small step and used his sword skills horizontally.

"It's [Ukifune]! I'm coming!"

While Kirito was speaking, he concentrated on [Vertical Slash] and rushed forward. Wang Shui quickly stood firm, took out an iron bullet and started to charge up the power with his newly recovered right hand.

When there was a heavy collision of sword blades, Wang Shui didn't see clearly how Kirito used sword skills to counteract it. He didn't even look at Kirito. His eyes were always fixed on the point where he wanted to attack.

Whoosh - a red light flashed, and a high damage icon popped up along with a new stun icon. Kirito had already started to get a pedicure at a close distance, and Wang Shui quickly changed his sword and sprinted.

The offensive rhythm has been formed, and the elite monsters do not have any strange abilities such as rampage, small universe, zone, seed, super race, virtualization, immortal mode, backup hidden energy, etc., and finally fell down after less than 10 minutes.

Kirito put away his sword and leaned against a boulder smashed by an elite monster to rest and check the fall. Aoi simply lay down on the ground.

It's very simple to describe. The blood volume of the two people has not dropped below half, but a battle of this intensity is very draining of energy.

Sword skills require spirit, observation requires spirit, and response requires spirit.

It was the first time for Wang Shui to defeat an elite monster. He was still a little nervous, but now it turned into exhaustion, but soon, he jumped up from the ground. The corpse, the huge mountain-like corpse did not disappear. !

Elite monsters can be collected!
Wang Shui excitedly ran over with his sword in hand, and then, in Kirito's eyes that gradually became horrified, he began to dismember the elite kobold's huge body very skillfully.

Perhaps because the [Collection] skill was being judged, Wang Shui felt that the [Sword of Tenacity] in his hand became extremely sharp.He just advanced the blade along the muscle lines and tissue gaps. The originally tough flesh was now as soft as cake under his sword.

This is not a battle, and the cuts caused by aqua regia are not just perfunctory red strips of light, but real flesh and blood.

Aqua Regia carefully avoided the blood vessels and then separated the bones and muscles, and peeled off part of the fur, so that when the [Collection] skill was judged, it would probably be peeled off for him. Well, I speak from experience.

In the steaming mountain of muscles that were still trembling, Wang Shui looked around, and then looked at the still trembling heart.

"Hey, Kirito, have you ever seen kobold blood?"

"Huh? What?"

Looking at Kirito's stunned look, Wang Shui felt that he didn't know, but something he hadn't seen or heard before didn't necessarily exist.

"Bold assumptions, careful verification" is the thinking mode recognized by Wang Shui, but Wang Shui made a small self-transformation when putting it into practice.

Make bold assumptions and verify boldly!
With a swing of the sword, the kobold's huge heart fell down, and bright red blood spurted out from the wound like a high-pressure water pump. The aqua regia below was caught off guard and sprayed bloody (physics).

Kirito watched as Aqua regia materialized a clean towel from the inventory very skillfully, and then slowly wiped away the thick blood on his face. Suddenly, a chill came from his tail bone and climbed up the back of his head.

"Oh, don't be afraid. In reality, I am a butcher who specializes in killing cattle. Look at how professional I am in trimming the fur when skinning it. This is not the case for humans... Hey, why are your legs shaking? I’m kidding you.”

As Wang Shui looked at the ground full of minced meat and complete skeletons to confirm that the collection was over, a long list of harvests filled the screen of his battle report interface.

[Collection completed!Obtaining materials...]

[Fragments of the bone-crushing blade of "Cannibal Ken": 1]

[Meat of "Cannibal Ken": 30 (1kg/portion)]

[Pure white bones: 7]

[Heart of "Cannibal Ken": 1]

[Essence blood: 42 (500ml/bottle)]

[Tough beast sinew: 3]

[Skin of "Cannibal Ken": 1]

wow~
There are a lot of special items with names, and the basic materials look very high-end. But for some reason, the meat produced this time does not have a [Cooking Material] label on it, only materials and consumables.

The lack of a label does not mean that it cannot be eaten. The lack of a label means that the [Cooking] skill provided by SAO does not have a recipe that directly consumes this material, so players cannot automatically make it into food.

Before, Shui Wang had to cook the roasted wolf meat himself.

Looking at Kirito who was breaking out in a cold sweat, Wang Shui sent the battle report list to this coward to prove that he was really collecting it.

But it wasn't until Wang Shui wiped off the blood on his body and threw away the towel that Kirito dared to come over.

"Didn't you use great force when you cut? Those wounds must have gone deep into the internal organs."

"The combat status is not so realistic!"

"Well, this is the so-called "gentleman cooking far away from home". Look, eating meat is very enjoyable, but killing animals is invisible. Don't worry, this kind of thing has a selfless person like me to carry the burden. You only need to spend money to buy the finished product. Enough. "

Wang Shui patted Kirito on the shoulder and motioned for him to walk into the ruins together.

Kirito has mastered the [Enemy Search] skill. This skill tree has abilities such as [Trap Sense], [Area Search], and [Special Item Sense], but his proficiency is too low and he only knows the lowest level. [Search for enemies] to expand the range of sensing creatures.

Fortunately, there are no crazy traps in the world on the first level. The only insurance for this treasure chest is the giant kobold that was decomposed just now.

Wang Shui, who had been feeling guilty about cheating recently, asked Kirito to open the treasure chest. Under the dull golden light, a silver ring appeared, with a gemstone of either white crystal or diamond embedded in it.

----

[Special Equipment·Violent Execution]

[Equipment Type: Ring]

[Level requirement: 10]

[Power: +15]

[Physique: +20]

[Special effect: Against enemies with blood volume below 10%, damage increased by 10%]

[Explanation: "In the name of the kingdom's executioner, perform pure violence!"]

----

WOC!What an exaggerated attribute!
Whether it's the special effects or the terrifying basic attribute bonuses, one can feel its power with just one glance.

20 points of constitution!That's 2000 points of health!
Aqua Regia's current constitution is 12, and he only has 1550 blood.As for the strength attribute, Aqua Regia's current strength attribute is only 16 points!
"This...this is a strength that you can't even see on the ninth floor!"

Kirito's voice was a little trembling. He honestly gave the perspective of an experienced closed beta player. At the same time, he quickly got rid of the temptation of equipment, and then looked at Wang Shui.

There was unconcealed worry in his eyes, and his body was shaking a little due to nervousness. He prayed, prayed that he would not see that look again.

It's a pity that Wang Shui didn't pay attention to Kirito's worries, nor did he show the greed that Kirito was worried about. His expression was a little... painful.

By the way... In the original novel, Kirito often grabs the final blow of the BOSS. Could it be because of this thing? The author never mentioned it!

It's a lie to say that you can't be tempted. If Kirito wasn't next to you, Wang Shui would have set off to clear up his reputation by now. As for Kirito worrying that Shui Wang would show an ugly greedy face, he was really thinking too much. Shui Wang was doing dirty things. Nothing is ever said about him.

When Wang Shui noticed Kirito's complex expression that relaxed due to relief and then became a little tangled, he became speechless.

You are so shy that you are so tangled up, your hang-up is here (part of it)!
"It's a gift for you, I won't take a dime." Wang Shui suddenly said in a serious tone of voice.

"Ah?! God..."

Kirito, who didn't know how wonderful his expression was, almost dropped his jaw in shock, but his stammering speech was stopped by Wang Shui's hand.

"You also know that this is impossible, so what are you waiting for? Take off your clothes quickly, ah no, hand over all the money and materials you have!"

Wang Shui looked like a bandit, which made Kirito smile in relief.

He understood the meaning of this new player who he had just met, with average skills but rapid growth. That guy with strong social skills must have seen his desire.

He is a funny and very kind guy!
Kirito was immersed in the dual joy of making a kind friend and getting rare and powerful equipment. He was so dizzy that he was wiped out by Wang Shui.

"You have a lot of materials, you killed a lot of monsters, and your deposit is actually [-] kels! I also took the strengthening materials. You can go do it yourself in the future."

This is the capital accumulated by the pioneers of the closed beta in the first week. Kirito felt funny in his heart, but he said:

"Actually, the value of these things is not even half of this ring, Mr. Tianshu..."

"Okay, okay, it's just gaming equipment, don't underestimate my noble soul." While sorting the things on the floor and stuffing the aqua regia into the bag, he bothered to comfort Kirito.

"If you feel guilty, just live a good life and clear this bullshit game for me. As for me, I can just paddle behind with peace of mind and wait to enjoy the fruits of victory. Hey, hey, hey, don't show that determination. Looks of determination! I reiterate what I said last night, we will go our separate ways when we arrive at the town of [Torbana] in front of the maze area. I don’t want to team up with someone with lone wolf skills, let alone work on the front line!”

In the midst of Wang Shui's nonsense, Kirito finally nodded to his old father with a smile in his eyes like a daughter who was about to get married.

The old father, whose backpack was almost overloaded, pushed Kirito with a painful look on his face, and the atmosphere gradually returned to normal.

Regarding equipment, Wang Shui gave up. He wanted to keep Kirito consistent with the original plot and try not to affect his decision, so he would not team up with Kirito.

And there is no such rush for rare and powerful equipment, this is only the first level.

There is some truth in the nonsense just now. Wang Shui really doesn't want to squeeze into the offensive strategy team. He wants to improve himself in a relatively safe position so that he can maintain the strength of the first echelon and be always ready to [switch] with the people in front of him. , to prevent the plot from going crazy.

In this way, Wang Shui, who was worried and loaded to the limit, and Kirito, who was cured and had an empty backpack, quickly set off towards the north.

(End of this chapter)