Morning sunlight streamed diagonally through the open bedroom window, casting four slightly distorted rectangles of light across the bed while the alarm clock rang insistently.
Riiing—!
Without even opening his eyes properly, Shindo grabbed a pillow and hurled it at the offending device, knocking it off the cabinet.
Unfortunately, even after being sent face-first to the floor, the alarm stubbornly continued its campaign against the peace and quiet of the morning.
After several moments of irritated grumbling, Shindo finally gave up and dragged himself out of bed.
The time was still a painfully civilized 06:38:12.
Back in the real world, if this had been a weekend morning after spending the entire night grinding games for clients, Shindo would still have been dead to the world at this hour.
Under normal circumstances, he would not have regained consciousness until the sun was already high in the sky.
He opened his status window while washing up.
After working tirelessly through the previous night, he had managed to reach Level 6.
The number by itself might not have sounded especially impressive, but compared with Kirito—the leveling maniac of the original timeline—Shindo was already ahead by at least half an EXP bar.
Once he finished getting ready, he left the room he had rented for eighty col a night and headed downstairs.
The modest dining area on the ground floor was completely empty apart from the elderly woman working in the kitchen.
Since nightfall yesterday, a handful of players had arrived in Horunka Village one after another, and every last one of them had been a former beta tester.
That was hardly surprising.
Horunka was hidden deep within the forest, reached by poorly marked trails after first crossing a vast expanse of grassland.
Even getting across those plains was difficult for a complete beginner, never mind surviving the forest beyond them.
If a beta tester carelessly ran into a Fruit-Bearing Little Nepent in those woods, the encounter could easily become fatal.
Not every beta tester had memorized the game inside and out, and certainly not all of them were players on the level of Shindo or Kirito.
Thinking about that made Shindo feel that his own level and attributes were still lacking.
He planned to finish breakfast quickly, then head out to complete more quests and continue grinding EXP.
“Oh my—an adventurer awake this early?
Now that is unusual!” The elderly cook, Grandma Mafa, looked genuinely surprised when she noticed Shindo coming down the stairs.
She was standing over a pot of thick potato soup, stirring it as steam curled into the air.
“I want to keep exploring today, so I got an early start.” Shindo glanced at the steaming pot in front of her.
“Grandma Mafa, I’ll have black bread and potato soup.” “Yes, yes, coming right up.” Mafa smiled kindly, turned toward the cupboard for a bowl and utensils, then filled the bowl nearly to the brim before handing it to him.
Someone entered the inn just as Shindo began eating.
The newcomer was wrapped in a cloak that fell past the knees, with the hood pulled low enough to conceal every identifiable feature.
Even with a careful look, there was almost nothing visible from the outside.
“Yo, Shindo!” Shindo paused halfway through a spoonful of soup and looked up.
“Argo?” He studied the cloaked figure for another moment.
“I thought you were one of those beta testers who arrived last night.” Argo did not immediately answer.
She simply pulled back her hood, revealing the unmistakable whisker-like markings on her cheeks, then took the seat across from him.
“Grandma Mafa’s potato soup is pretty good.
Want some?” Shindo took another spoonful and gestured toward the pot.
“If the beta testers from last night come downstairs soon, there might not be any left.” “The beta testers who came to Horunka last night…” Argo hesitated.
The words that followed seemed difficult for her to force out.
“Most of them are dead.
Only a few were lucky enough to survive.” Shindo’s wooden spoon stopped in midair.
For a while, neither of them said anything.
Eventually, he lowered it back into the bowl.
“I told them…
I told them the official release might have changed things from the beta.
I warned them the information we had might not all be reliable anymore.” Argo’s voice tightened.
“But even then…” “You don’t need to blame yourself for their deaths.” Shindo’s reply was quiet rather than forceful.
“It’s awful that they died, but you weren’t responsible for the choices they made, Argo.” Argo raised her head.
Her eyes were filled with tears, though she stubbornly refused to let any of them fall.
Sunlight streamed in from behind her, shining through her golden hair until it almost seemed translucent.
The same light softened the edges of her pale skin and silhouette, while the faint redness around her nose and cheeks from holding back her tears gave her the appearance of a figure in a painting.
Not one rendered in heavy oils, however.
The colors were too light for that, fading gently into one another with the delicate softness of watercolor.
“Unlike the new players who’ve started grouping together, beta testers tend to think they can go it alone and use their experience to stay ahead,” Shindo continued after a moment.
“And to be fair, they’re not entirely wrong.
Experience is an advantage.” He paused before adding, “But they’re also responsible for being overconfident.
This isn’t the beta anymore.
Even on the First Floor, there are things none of us are expecting.” Then he resumed eating.
Argo remained silent, leaning against the back of her chair without responding.
“Argo, want some information on hidden quests?” “…” Apparently, the sudden change of subject caught her completely off guard.
She stared at him without knowing how to answer, but Shindo was in no hurry.
At least, not until he finished breakfast.
By the time he set down his spoon, Argo finally gave the tiniest nod, barely moving her head by even a centimeter.
Normally Shindo would never have noticed something so subtle, but after the way this morning had begun, he was paying considerably more attention to her than usual.
“I’ll send it to you by message later.
You didn’t delete me from your friends list after the beta, did you?” It was a fairly clumsy attempt at teasing her back into a better mood, but comforting girls had never exactly been one of Shindo’s talents.
“Well…
Argo, you still owe me a lot of col, so don’t go dying on me that easily.
If you run into something you can’t handle, call me.
I’m pretty strong.” He reached across the table and gently ruffled her hair.
It was soft and smooth beneath his fingers, though it also seemed exceptionally easy to mess up.
“I’m not a little kid.” Argo slapped his hand away.
“And stop patting my head all the time!
I’ll never grow taller like this!” She fussed with her hair, her expression finally beginning to recover.
“Besides…
besides, it’s a pain to fix when you mess it up.
Now go finish your quests already.
I’m still waiting to make money off your strategy information!” “Yeah, yeah.” Seeing that she was no longer sinking into herself, Shindo quietly relaxed.
He fastened his sword at his side and headed toward the door, but stopped just before leaving.
He turned back with a smile.
“Argo, I’ll do my best.” Then he jogged away.
Only after the door had closed behind him and completely blocked their view of one another did Argo, who had been staring down at the table, quietly mutter, “Idiot…” …
Several days later, the owner of Horunka’s weapon shop seemed to have developed a problem.
Shindo had just finished restocking healing potions and energy crystals at the item shop when he noticed that a yellow exclamation mark had finally appeared over the weapon shop owner’s head.
“Excuse me, young man.
You’re an adventurer, aren’t you?” Because Shindo had raised his Affinity with every resident of Horunka ahead of schedule through Old Geese’s quest, the villagers had developed a habit of asking him for help whenever even the smallest problem arose.
Some of their requests had been painfully mundane—walking dogs, watering flowers, and similar errands that left Shindo wondering what had become of his grand adventure—but a quest from the owner of the weapon shop sounded considerably more promising.
“Yes.
Is there something I can help you with, Sander?
I happen to be free right now.” “That’s excellent.
I’ve been running short on materials for weapon enhancement lately.
If you’re willing, I’d like you to travel to the grasslands beyond the forest south of the village and collect a large number of high-quality stingers from Venomous Wasps.” “Sure.
Leave it to me.” Shindo accepted the quest immediately.
After checking the Durability of his equipment, he purchased an additional Bronze Straight Sword and set out.
His route took him past Geese’s cottage, so Shindo stopped by to pay the old hunter a visit.
Geese was already pleasantly drunk despite the early hour and asked him to deliver the Boar King hide to Gray, an elderly cobbler who lived on the western side of Horunka Village.
There was no yellow question mark above Geese’s head this time, which meant it was not an actual quest.
Still, Shindo considered Hunter’s Glory far too valuable a gift to refuse the old man such a simple favor, so he agreed.
After entering the narrow forest south of Horunka, Shindo encountered surprisingly few monsters.
The woodland was neither especially large nor broad, and its constricted shape probably prevented large numbers of MOBs from spawning there.
He dispatched the occasional solitary Little Nepent that wandered into his path and continued south.
After traveling for some time, he finally caught glimpses of light through the overlapping layers of trees.
A few dozen steps later, the forest abruptly opened before him.
A broad grassland stretched into the distance, scattered with enormous wind-eroded mushroom-shaped rock formations.
With nothing obstructing his view, Shindo quickly spotted the targets of his current quest.
Venomous Wasps.
At Level 7, Shindo was completely at home around the outer edge of the southern grasslands.
The only thing he had to watch carefully was the Venomous Wasps’ Poison Spray attack.
Most of the other monsters in the area were two or three levels below him, and he could dispatch them easily with ordinary One-Handed Straight Sword attacks without even relying on Sword Skills.
That gave him an idea.
Shindo began gathering monsters.
He deliberately moved close enough to trigger one Venomous Wasp’s Hate, then another, continuing until more than ten of them were chasing him.
Only then did he begin drawing in his “net.” To anyone watching from a distance, the situation would probably have looked suicidal.
In reality, Shindo was maintaining precise control over his distance from the pursuing wasps.
At most, only two could attack him at any given moment, while the rest remained strung out behind him just far enough away to keep following without being able to join the fight.
He repeated the same method several times.
Then he looked at the pathetic increase in his EXP bar, and his expression turned serious.
When the effort you put into something was no longer proportional to what you got back, it was time to stop and ask yourself what you were doing wrong.
After some painful reflection, Shindo decided to move deeper into the grasslands, toward areas where higher-level Venomous Wasps gathered.
That also meant changing his strategy; at the very least, gathering such a ridiculous number of monsters at once would no longer be sensible.
Beneath several enormous mushroom-shaped rock formations buzzed a huge swarm of Venomous Wasps.
Their levels varied considerably, and the strongest upper-tier MOB among them had reached Level 10.
Shindo learned that in advance using «Searching».
With that knowledge, he sensibly circled around to the edge farthest from the Level 10 elite.
Once he triggered the Hate of two or three wasps around his own level, he immediately withdrew.
Sometimes nearby wasps were pulled along as well, which meant he could still find himself fighting five or six high-level monsters at once.
The battles continued for several hours.
By the time his EXP bar finally filled completely, the rhythm of combat had begun to resemble his earlier “net-fishing” strategy again, though on a smaller and considerably more dangerous scale.
While Shindo remained absorbed in the long, tedious process of farming the quest drops, two cloaked figures appeared in the distance along the trail leading toward Horunka Village.
They noticed him almost immediately.
From where they stood, Shindo appeared to be surrounded by an entire swarm of Venomous Wasps.
The two figures began moving closer.
Watching what looked like an extraordinarily dangerous battle unfold ahead of them, Asuna instinctively reached for the rapier at her waist and prepared to rush forward.
“Asuna.” Mito caught her hand and shook her head.
“But…” Asuna could not bring herself to simply watch someone die when they might be able to help.
“No, Asuna.
Look carefully.” Mito gestured toward Shindo again.
Reluctantly, Asuna forced herself to wait and continued observing the battle.
“Do you notice it?” Mito asked.
“He’s surrounded by Venomous Wasps, but only a very small number of them can actually attack him at once.” Asuna clearly did not want to agree at first, but after watching Shindo move for several more moments, she reluctantly nodded.
“That’s because his control over distance is incredibly precise,” Mito explained.
“Whenever the wasps get too close because of their Hate, he either uses «Linear» to create space or moves into exactly the right position to separate them.” She continued watching intently.
“But whenever one of them is about to lose Hate and give up the chase, he pulls it back in.
He’s keeping the entire group focused on him while making sure that only a safe number of enemies remain inside attacking range.” “It’s true…” After observing for a little longer, Asuna finally saw the pattern herself and could not suppress her amazement.
More than a dozen monsters appeared to be swarming around Shindo, yet the spacing between them was being manipulated so carefully that only a few could threaten him at any one moment.
“And more importantly, Asuna, we’re nowhere near strong enough to help him right now.” Mito’s expression became serious.
“Every Venomous Wasp surrounding him is at least Level 6.
His own level must be one or two levels higher than that.” Her conclusion came without hesitation.
“That guy is strong.
He’s definitely a former beta tester, and not just any beta tester.
He must have been one of the players pushing the front line and fighting Floor Bosses during the beta, just like me.” Unfortunately, Shindo had no idea that he had acquired an audience.
By the time Asuna and Mito finished analyzing his battle, he was already preparing to stop.
He had collected so many items and drops that his carrying capacity had reached its limit.
His most immediate concern now was returning to Horunka Village and clearing out his inventory, even if most of what he had accumulated would not sell for much in such a small settlement.
“He’s probably heading back to Horunka to restock and unload his items,” Mito said.
“If we follow him, we’ll reach the village soon.” Shindo remained completely unaware that the two girls were following him.
While traveling, most of his attention was focused on detecting monsters that might appear around the route ahead, so he never noticed Mito and Asuna trailing him from so far behind that they were almost impossible to see.
It was only after he entered the safe zone and the trees no longer blocked his view that Shindo finally spotted the pair.
Based on the limited information available to him, he conservatively classified them as beta testers from the lower end of the progression group.
There were only a few realistic directions for players leaving the Town of Beginnings.
They could head northwest toward Horunka Village, northeast toward Medai Village, or, if they were feeling considerably more daring, push almost directly north toward Tolbana, the settlement closest to the First Floor Labyrinth.
It was essentially a multiple-choice question with only three answers.
The reason Shindo had chosen Horunka as his initial base was simple: its position on the map was exceptionally convenient.
To the southeast and south lay beginner regions populated mostly by low-level monsters.
The western forest contained rare materials required for hidden quests, while the northeast and northern regions were home to large concentrations of stronger MOBs.
From beginner grinding to higher-level progression, Horunka offered almost everything a player needed in one continuous route.
Medai Village was less attractive by comparison.
The surrounding swamps and lakes were full of high-level monsters, but there were relatively few hidden quests to trigger and almost no particularly valuable rare resources.
Only a reckless leveling fanatic whose sole concern was gaining levels as quickly as possible would choose to head there immediately after the game began.
Once beta testers left the safe zone of the Town of Beginnings, they would inevitably choose one of those routes and reach their destination as quickly as possible, just as Shindo and Kirito had done, along with the other former beta testers who had begun arriving at Horunka on the very first night of the official launch.
Anyone who knew the route but still did not reach Horunka until around noon several days later was usually a beta tester who had never properly learned the terrain and wasted an enormous amount of time getting there.
That conclusion was not entirely fair in Mito’s case.
Asuna had never played this kind of game before, and Mito had spent the past several days guiding her.
As a result, the two girls were still only around Level 3 to Level 4.
Calling them second-rate beta testers was therefore somewhat biased.
From Shindo’s perspective, however, it was also a perfectly understandable mistake.