Sword Art Online: Another Reality

Monday 23rd 2022.

Afternoon.

After resting for a while, Sharia got up and prepared to leave this area. After all, his level was now much higher than the killer mantis that spawned in this area.

If he lingers here any longer, the experience points gained would be too meagre, resulting in a waste of time.

Now that his proficiency level of [Sword Skill: Direct Thrust] has increased to level three.

The killer mantis that originally required two to three hits of his sword skill were now easily done with one [direct thrust].

Sometimes, he got lucky and killed two killer mantises in a single straight line that just happened to be there.

Just like this, Sharia, who wasted a whole day trying to level up his proficiency, had caught up with those fighting the frenzied boars, heck, even surpassing them.

However, before he left, Sharia glanced at the person who had been watching him all morning.

At one point, the person had taken up their dagger and had begun battling the killer mantis like him.

"Wow, their sure doing their best."

Seeing this. Sharia complemented in his heart genuinely. After all, he couldn't help but be amazed by their skills.

Their once clumsy way of holding a dagger has now changed. They had become more proficient in it.

Coupled with their excellent reaction speed, they would always land a critical hit on the killer mantis at the most opportune time.

Sharia himself couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy. Afterall, this kind of innate talent cannot be learned, though he wasn't depressed about it.

Reaching level 4 in sword mastery was an accomplishment.

His damage output had also increased; if they were to fight, one thrust from Sharia could put the hooded person's HP into the red zone.

That was how strong he had become.

Seeing that the hooded person was working hard, he also made plans to leave for the Town of Beginnings.

If he remembered correctly, the northeast gate of the Town of Beginnings leads to a village, and further down is a dwelling for higher-level monsters.

The higher the level, the more proficiency you gain. Hence, he has to prepare and get the necessary supplies.

[Sharia]

[Level 5—Level 7]

[Sword Skills]:

[Vertical Slash Proficiency (Lv 3): 4,593/10,000]

[Horizontal Slash Proficiency (Lv 3): 5,130/10,000]

[Cross Arc Proficiency (Lv 1): 0/100]

[Direct Thrust Proficiency (Lv 3): 10/10,000]

[Sword Mastery Proficiency (Lv 4): 1,012/100,000]

[Cols: 17,253]

Seeing his proficiency rise was oddly satisfying. His other sword skills had leveled up to three, except for [Cross Arc].

Hmm. I should be able to level up Cross Arc to three if I can now. But let's save that for tomorrow.

While it was tempting to start hunting the killer mantis again, he decided against it.

For now, getting the needed proficiency to where it is now was okay for today. Now that a way has been opened, there is no need to rush and tire himself out.

He would be hunting higher-level monsters tomorrow, so it is wiser for him to make preparations for that now.

Since hunting higher-level monsters would give him more merit than continuing here.

Hence, he needed supplies like recovery crystals and crystals that cure abnormal status effects since the forest had many monsters that could cause such effects, those too were highly needed.

From just today's hunt, he had earned over fifteen thousand cols, which should be enough for those supplies.

But in the end, it depends on how much each crystal costs, and hopefully, they aren't too expensive. Plus, if possible, he would like to get another one-handed sword.

Though he didn't think he could get everything today, he jotted them down in [Write messages] on his main menu.

Speaking of which, the main menu is as follow:

[Main Menu]

[Sharia] [Level 7]:

⦿ [Profile]

‣ [Items] ‣ [Skills]

‣ [Equipment] :: - [Weapons] - [Equipped] - [Accessory]

⦿ [Party]:

‣ [Invite] ‣ [Create Party] ‣ [Dissolve Party]

‣ [Friend]

⦿ [Messages]

‣ [Write Message] ‣ [Mails] ‣ [Mails]

⦿ [Location | Map]

After adding everything to the [Write Message] menu, he exited the [Main Menu] and continued on his way back to the Town of Beginnings.

Looking at the other newbie players still battling with the frenzied boar, Sharia sighed.

Most of the newbie players were hovering around [Lv 2] or so.

While they were here, most beta testers would have already progressed further, somewhere around [Lv 6] to [Lv 7] or even higher.

This was mainly because they were more familiar with the game. While it seemed unfair, it was also understandable. After all, this is a death game.

What good would it do if one didn't monopolize their experience for themselves?

Haah. Best stop thinking about depressing stuff like this.

Once again, Sharia took his mind off the depressing facts about this game as he continued to the gates of the Town of Beginning.

Town of Beginnings.

Immediately after getting back to town, he went to the crystal shops first, buying as much as he could afford.

[Item: Recovery Crystals x4]: [Restores HP to full health]

[Item: Curing Crystals x10]: [Cures the user of Status debuffs]

[Cost: 9,320 cols]

Luckily for him, the crystals didn't cost much, so he only bought a few for now.

He also needed to buy other supplies such as bread and mayonnaise, as his anime knowledge suggested that mayonnaise complements hard bread really well.

Besides that, he would also have to check out some weapons, if he could afford any.

[Item: Bread x10]

[Item: Bottle of Mayo x1]

[Cost: 2,950 cols]

Everything totaled up to [12,270 cols], leaving him with around [4,983 cols].

"Hmm, [2,000 cols] should be enough for a night, so should I check out a blacksmith shop first?"

Standing in front of an NPC shop, Sharia mused, tilting his head as he calculated what he had spent his cols on in his mind.

After some deliberation: "Hmm, let's just go."

Better to be safe than sorry.

He wouldn't want his [one-handed iron longsword] to suddenly break in the middle of a fight. Having one or two more wouldn't hurt.

With that in mind, Sharia scurried around the Town of Beginnings until he found a blacksmith shop.

And after some dealings.

[Weapon: Steel Sword x1]

[Weapon: Balanced Steel x1]

[Cost: 2,120 cols]

Though it was a little over his budget, he decided to negotiate with the inn's NPC since the negotiation function was available.

[Daily skill: Negotiation has been acquired]

[Negotiation Proficiency (Lv 1): +100]

[Negotiation Proficiency has leveled up.]

[Required Proficiency for the next level (Lv 2): 0/1,000]

"Ah... So things like this do happen, huh? Well, it's not like I'll really use this in the first place."