my slow journey to infinity

Chapter 23 Its real purpose is to make everyone grow taller

The area of ​​Aincrad's second floor is not much smaller than that of the first floor.

Outside the main city here [Urbas] is a huge savanna, which is slightly hotter than the grassland on the first level. There are also a large number of continuous low table-shaped rocky flat-topped mountains, combined with caves and underground structures. , creating a simple and empty terrain on the surface but extremely complex and unusual in reality.

Of course, the first thing to explore is the world on the surface.

The half-meter-long giant wasp rushed towards Sinon at high speed, and its sting with paralysis properties was quite tricky for a single player.

But Sinon is not an ordinary player on the surface. Her footwork and attacks are extremely rhythmic. Even if she does not use sword skills, she is safer and does considerable damage with normal attacks that hit weak points with every sword. She can fight for less than 1 Within minutes, her opponent fell to the ground.

No stings dropped...

The drop rate of [Wasp Stinger], which was not considered a rare drop, was much lower than she expected. At least the more than 40 wasps she personally defeated only dropped one stinger.

The good news is that wasps are plentiful, and here on the western prairie, you can find large wasp colonies just a short distance off the beaten path.

Poison needles are weapon strengthening materials that take into account both "sharpness" and "accuracy". Basically, all weapons use them to some extent, and the overall consumption is huge.So even though the monster is disgusting - it can fly and has paralysis effects, players will have to settle down and play with it themselves sooner or later.

Probably except for me, Shino thought to himself.

She jumped onto a rock lightly and looked at the hell scene 50 meters away.

It was a huge swarm of wasps, a large number of insects crowded together so densely that it made people feel physically uncomfortable.At such a close distance, Sinon still dared to appear near these aggressive monsters, mainly because these wasps were squirming on the ground.

Wasp swarms covered the ground, and they were trembling on the ground. There were [Paralysis] and [Poisoning] effects near the health bar, and damage numbers kept popping up.

As the experience bar surged forward visibly, Shino's body flashed with golden light, and she officially reached the unimaginable level fifteen. Just two days ago, she had just set foot on the second level. At that time, She is just over level eight.

Sinon moved her eyes to Wang Shui, who was lying on the ground in a corpse state not far ahead, feeling a little complicated.She couldn't understand why in a role-playing game where level was so important, there would be a weapon of mass destruction like [Pan-eating Grass Honey] targeting insects.

She also couldn't understand why this guy had so much inventory, but she knew that if this leveling secret was made public, it would be difficult for Honey's inventory to be restored.

The word "selfish" came to her mind but disappeared in a flash. Shino had no reason to be selfless.

If the information is disclosed, the production of honey will definitely be diluted by a large number of players. In fact, this leveling efficiency will become insignificant if it is diluted to tens of thousands of players.

Moreover, Sinon has no experience with selflessness. She has always been the poor and robbed party.

When he was distracted, this round of monster spawning was about to end. The giant wasp was an agile and high-attack monster, and its blood volume could not even withstand two rounds of poison.Aqua Regia's [Flying Sword] skill has also been perfected. He can now air-explode reagent bottles to achieve the effect of honey rain, and can spread medicine in the widest range to make the most of this monster spawning artifact.

Wasp corpses filled the field of view. Sinon looked through the drops she had picked up because she was a member of the team. In this wave of monsters, she had received 5 poisonous needles from natural drops alone.

Sinon resisted the discomfort of the swarm of insect corpses and approached Wang Shui, and gently kicked Wang Shui's head, which was pretending to be dead, with a calfskin boot.

"What kind of treasure are you playing with? Go and collect it quickly."

Faced with Xiao Shino's ruthless push, Wang Shui, who had released the effect of the [Fake Death] skill under the [Concealment] skill tree, was still lying on the grass, and he replied lazily:
"Ah, I'm so tired, so anxious, and so sad. What should I do if I don't want to work for more than 20 days every month~"

Shino found it a little funny that some social animal was speaking, but she couldn't say anything stronger. After all, the work of dismembering insect corpses made her scalp numb just by looking at it, and the boy of the same age at her feet had already been doing it in the past two days. Several thousand were processed.

Therefore, the number of wasps is really terrifying, much more than the main bovine monsters on the second level, and the refresh speed is also extremely fast.

Shino had no choice but to deal with Wang Shui who was being lazy and didn't want to work, and he had no intention of slaying the scattered monsters, so he simply sat next to Wang Shui with his back to the insect corpses, waiting for him to regain his energy.

"Shino, I feel like I'm such a failure." Wang Shui, who was lying on the ground, spoke in a very low voice.

Shino next to her didn't know what kind of illness he had, so she could only bear the breeze on the grassland with her face, waiting for him to talk with a smile.

"Although I entered this world with the mentality of escaping and dawdling, I am always a little unwilling to accept it. I always wonder if I can become stronger."

Wang Shui's nagging was obviously different from what Shino understood. Shino thought he was talking about the world of SAO.

"With your skills and level, this is not just messing around, right? As long as you think about it, you will be the main force of the strategy team."

Wang Shui was silent for a while before continuing:

"I just feel that I am doing useless work. No matter how powerful I become in SAO, I will still be ordinary and cowardly when I return to reality. Even if I am detached from reality, I may not change much. In this way, Years of wasted time make me very anxious.”

Shino subconsciously thought of academics and social life. She thought Wang Shui was worried that if he stayed in this world for too long, he would become a useless person after returning to society, making his life difficult.

"It's hard to persuade you. I am also trapped in this world, but I don't have this feeling of wasting... In fact, in the past month, I have not only gotten used to life and fighting here, but I have also fallen in love with it. ." Shino's answer was natural.

There is no real social hell here, no one knows about Shino's past, and no one can threaten or bully her anymore.

"Sorry, I can't understand your anxiety. I'm already enjoying this slow-paced life... My conflict is probably that I want to get rid of the control of the death game, but I also want to live in this fairy tale world where I only need to fight. .”

A world that only requires fighting is not a beautiful fairy tale.

The system core area of ​​Infinite World is always full of traces of war. Wang Shui has received news of the death of familiar people every day for half a year, and then continues to meet more people every day.

Wang Shui came here to avoid labor, hid in a long fantasy world, and then became anxious about his inability to become stronger. This kind of contradictory greed made Wang Shui himself feel hypocritical.

So he rolled over.

"Is it better? It should be better if you talk about it, right? Although I don't know much about psychology." Shino smiled.

"No, I still want to bully others to divert the pressure."

"Oh? Who are you trying to bully?" Shino glared at Wang Shui with a cute glare.

Wang Shui asked seriously: "Are you sure you won't be nauseated by firearms?"

Shino's heart suddenly trembled, and then she nodded solemnly and expectantly.

Aqua regia twisted around for a moment, and when he turned back, he handed something wrapped in black cotton that was twice larger than his palm to Shino.

Facing the black cloth was Shino's trembling hand. After she touched the solid shape through the black cloth, she felt her blood surge, her spirit was shaken and then a little erratic.Wang Shui handed the thing to Shino, but he did not let go. This was what Shino casually asked him to do after watching him play with wood carvings. He was still worried that Shino would have any accidents due to his mood swings.

Wang Shui's answer was Shino's excited ice-blue gaze, and Wang Shui let go.

The black cloth slowly slid off, and Shino's slender fingers tightly grasped the unfamiliar yet familiar handle. The real visual and tactile feedback made her feel that her brain was clear, her breathing became smoother, her thinking became agile, and her body even relaxed. Much more flexible.

It seems to be a super-sensory experience under the influence of adrenaline, which is completely different from the symptoms of PTSD!
Shino looked excitedly at Wang Shui, who was a little worried, and then rushed forward.

This level of hug didn't make Wang Shui feel any wonderful. He just felt like he was being hit by a dump truck again.In fact, Sinon, whose strength was quite high, did push Aqua Regia down on the grass and slid far away.

Hearing happy sobs, Wang Shui first patted Shino's head and then suddenly opened her up.

Tsk, you actually dared to make a sneak attack. If your reaction hadn't been half a beat too slow, you would have thrown her over your shoulder!
Seeing Shino crying with joy while holding a carved wooden pistol on the grass, Wang Shui really couldn't understand the feelings of a little girl who had been tortured by mental illness for several years, but he understood that mental torture was worse than physical pain. Nothing less.

"Okay, it's just a wooden sculpture. Are you satisfied?"

Wang Shui creatively comforted people with sarcasm while throwing another small thing to Shino.

"This is...paper shell fixed-loading ammunition?! You have made a real firearm!"

Shino is very active in fighting mental illness. If she wants to defeat the enemy, she must understand it and get used to it. Although she reacted when she saw pictures of firearms at first, she gradually adapted to the pictures and words, and then mastered them. A lot of firearms knowledge.

This is why she firmly believes that she can overcome psychological problems.

"It's far from it. This is just a trial work that lacks a lot of details. I just want to see how the system judges this kind of thing. After these few days of experiments, I found that the system will not even put the materials together manually. It is regarded as an object, it can be ignited, and it can be fired when stuck in a thin tube, but the damage judgment to monsters is extremely low, similar to throwing stones without the [Flying Sword] skill."

Shino nodded to show that he understood.

"After that, I mastered the [Handmade] skill." Wang Shui spoke slower this time, as if he was organizing his words.

"Wait a minute, is it the hidden skill that can increase all life skills in the information just released?"

"That's right, and I discovered this information. I earned 2000 koels. It was Argo who disclosed this information for free for the craftsmen players." Wang Shui gave a thumbs up to show that he had earned it.

"So the experiment you are talking about is..." Shino probably guessed it.

"That's right, with the [Handmade] skill, you can actively apply to the system to identify handmade products. The system will assign attributes after verification by the physics engine. If the craftsman feels that the attribute description is incorrect, he can also apply for a one-time deviation adjustment, and then it will be fine Record the production recipe under the [Handmade] skill."

Wang Shui said and took out another paper-cased fixed-loaded bullet of the same type and threw it to Sinon. Sinon found that the first bullet had no properties at all, just like a weed that was randomly pulled off, but the second bullet with the same appearance had no properties at all. There is a little white spot that can be opened.

----

【Paper Shell·Test05】

[Item Type: Consumables]

[Basic damage: 30-85 (distance attenuation)]

【Quantity: 1】

[Characteristics: Craftsman's product: It is physically recognized as an item that can fire a built-in lead bullet at high speed in a certain closed environment. The characteristic gives a basic damage effect determination. 】

[Explanation: No. 60 test work, the file is stored in the fifth part of the first group of documents in the GB classification, and the performance indicator completion degree is [-]%. 】

----

Shino's gaze seemed to penetrate Wang Shui's brain, and Wang Shui returned a look of contempt.

"Why are you excited? Even if you know the development trend of fixed-loading ammunition, many technical problems are difficult to solve. This thing only has propellant, not even a paper flash cap. It is still at the level of a flintlock gun. Besides, the firearms have not been developed yet. Well, there are so many problems.”

"Is this what you want to do even if you waste a skill grid to master [Handmade] and stop studying martial arts?"

Shino expressed her incomprehension. The Wang Shui she knew was a person with a bad personality but a strong purpose. He only dabbled in things that were not profitable but only out of interest.

"There is a secret that I need you to keep for me." Wang Shui looked serious and held Sinon's head with his right hand.

"If it's a secret, you don't need to tell me..." Shino held the wooden handgun in both hands, but he probably didn't have the ability to deflect Aoi Wang's reckless move.

"Then let's see you guessing all day long? Well, in the future you will see me learning and using various skills. Don't be surprised. I have a special piece of equipment that allows me to master more skills. Can be replaced at any time.”

Shino was surprised and asked in surprise: "There are no requirements or negative effects? Ah, I'm sorry, it's enough to know the front."

"Of course there are requirements. It's just troublesome to master skills. Moreover, people's energy is limited. If you just master a lot of low-proficiency skills, you won't be very strong."

"No, it's already very strong. If you can master all the combat auxiliary skills, the bonuses brought by those passive effects are still considerable."

Wang Shui smiled and ruffled Shino's hair, took his hand away before she got angry, and replied:

"Of course, I will master it in the future. Now I am more interested in handicrafts. As for combat effectiveness, I will wait until it is not enough."

"So you gave up studying martial arts?" Shino circled back.

"Of course - no, it's just that I have temporarily lost interest. It's an old problem. Martial arts research is temporarily stuck. Martial arts itself requires long-term hard work. It needs to be integrated into daily life and gradually improve. I have always been very wordy. boring."

Wang Shui is quite aware of his impulsive interest-based learning habit. Now that his interest has shifted, forcing himself to do things he doesn't want to do will only increase his worries and his output will be very inefficient.

Shino seemed to understand, then put away the wooden pistol and said:

"So, I feel like you are in a much better mood. Can we start work? The high price of wasp venom needles should last for a while. Are you really willing to refresh these corpses?"

Wang Shui's eyes darkened and he fell back into the grass and activated the [Fake Death] skill.

(End of this chapter)