As time went by, the sun gradually sank, dyeing the forest in the distance into a dim color.
"Woo!"
The Rainbow Butterfly sprinkled its phosphorescent powder as it flew toward the forest.
Of course, the one in front of it was Rozen, the owner.
So Rozen and Kirito ran as fast as they could on the grassland toward the forest.
"…"
Along the way, an indescribable silence filled the air between the two.
The two didn't even say a word, they just ran forward.
Since they wanted to improve their strength, then in this game world, there was only one way to do it.
Level up.
Only by leveling up can the character be strengthened. Not only can they increase their attributes and get skill slots, but they can also increase their hp limit to make themselves safer.
Rozen and Kirito planned to level up.
However, the area around the main street was a relatively safe training area. The monsters' levels were also very low. Although it could ensure the safety of players and prevent them from being instantly killed by low-level monsters, in the game, the risk was proportional to the reward. If one did not take the risk to hunt high-level monsters, the efficiency of gaining EXP would be relatively low, not to mention everything else.
Moreover, once the Players woke up from the reality of the death game, many Players like Rozen and Kirito who decided to take action would arrive here first, right?
After all, although the efficiency of gaining experience was relatively low, it was relatively safe. Players would definitely start exploring the area around the Town of Beginnings to improve themselves bit by bit.
However, in SAO, the monsters respawned at a certain time and a certain number of them would appear.
In other words, within a certain period of time, the number of monsters was fixed. Unless it was time to spawn again, or the conditions for spawning were met, the monsters would not spawn.
Under such circumstances, the safe training areas around the Town of Beginnings would definitely be occupied by a large number of Players, and the right to kill monsters would also cause various kinds of friction, leading to conflicts between Players.
Also, the number of treasure chests in the wild was also fixed, and some rare quests also had a limit on the number of times they could be accepted. These resources would become the goal of Players.
Whoever could obtain more resources would become more powerful.
That was why Kirito said that.
"We must monopolize all the resources that can make us stronger."
That was what he was referring to.
Of course, this was a thorny path.
Because of their experience during the closed beta period, most of the closed beta players would have such a plan. They wanted to widen the gap between them and ordinary players and surpass the top players in this world.
Naturally, normal players would be angry, lament, and even hate this situation.
Just because they were unlucky, they were not qualified to participate in closed beta testing. As a result, the closed beta testers took away the opportunity to become stronger and the right to obtain more resources. In the future, the average player would definitely reject and even hate the closed beta testers.
It was impossible for Kirito not to know this.
However, he still chose this path.
Because …
"I don't want to die …"
Kirito's unintentional murmur clearly entered Rozen's ears.
In this regard, Rozen did not say anything. He just kept running forward.
Although his starting point was different from Kirito's, Rozen also did not intend to give up the rare closed beta experience.
He selflessly shared his experience during the closed beta, shared the resources in the game with all the players, and grew stronger together, but Rozen wasn't that kind of person.
So, Rozen and Kirito were rushing to a place.
It was a small village called "Holuka" located northwest of the Town of Beginnings.
Compared to the Town of Beginnings that occupied the southern end of the first floor of Aincrad, Holuka was a very small village. However, not only did it have an inn, weapon shop, and item house, it was also in the safe zone, so it was not too bad to be used as a stronghold.
Of course, this was not the most important thing.
The most important thing was that there would not be too strong monsters in the surrounding forest, and the efficiency of gaining experience was also higher than the training area around the Town of Beginnings. In addition, other players certainly had not reached there yet, so Rozen and Kirito could monopolize the surrounding monsters, gain a lot of experience to level up, and at the same time, have a chance to better drop items and materials. There was no reason not to choose it.
In the first floor, there were actually several such villages.
But the reason why Rozen and Kirito chose this village was because they could receive a very popular closed beta quest.
The quest was called – "The Secret Medicine of the Forest".
The content of the quest was to obtain the ovule of a predatory plant monster in the forest for an NPC aunt in Holuka, and use it to refine the medicine that could cure her daughter's illness.
As long as this quest was completed, they could get a very good reward.
That reward, for Kirito, was something worth pursuing with all his might. For Rozen, it was also a very effective way to strengthen himself in the early stage.
So, Rozen and Kirito rushed into the forest as fast as they could, and while avoiding all the monsters, they followed a small path.
Not long after, Rozen and Kirito arrived at Holuka Village.
Just like during the closed beta, Holunka's area was very small. Even after adding up the number of shops and hotels, there were only a dozen or so buildings. The NPCs living here did not react to the sudden intrusion of the two teenagers. Instead, they went about their own business according to their own settings.
Rozen and Kirito stood at the entrance of the village.
Then …
"Qing … No, Rozen …"
Kirito finally spoke and wanted to say something to Rozen.
However, Rozen had already guessed what Kirito was going to say.
Therefore, Rozen answered first.
"Let's go to the weapon shop first." Rozen said straightforwardly: "Don't worry, I'm not going to go without a weapon. I'm just using my Tamed Monster with low hp and my Flying Sword skill."
After that, Rozen went in the direction of the weapon shop.
"Wait … Wait!"
Kirito quickly chased after Rozen.
About ten minutes later, Rozen and Kirito appeared again.
However, there were changes in both of them.
Kirito was wearing a brown leather open-collar jacket. His original cloth outfit was replaced with leather. Obviously, he bought new armor to improve his defense.
As for Rozen, his equipment didn't change, but there was an extra weapon on his waist.
It was a bronze one-handed sword.
In addition, Rozen and Kirito also had a lot of potions in their pockets. Rozen also had a lot of throwing items in his pocket.
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