Chapter 2: Chapter 2 Sword proficiency
Arthur's lips curved into a smile. Just as he had suspected, this was indeed the "golden finger" he had Transmigrated with. Level up skills!
"Upgrade!" To avoid being mistaken for a lunatic by the players around him, Arthur tried saying it in his mind.
"Upgrade successful. Current mastery level of sword: LV2. Next level requires proficiency 0/1000."
"Congratulations to the host for reaching LV2 in sword mastery. Obtained the low-level sword skill for single-handed swords: Sacred Sword Baptism."
Looking at the newly added sword skill in the skill menu, Arthur's eyes sparkled with excitement.
With this system, surviving in this death game would be a breeze, wouldn't it? Arthur's lips curled up, but he also felt a bit worried. After all, the biggest boss of this game was GM Kayaba. What if he noticed something unusual? Would the system be discovered?
With this in mind, Arthur glanced at the players around him who were still busy killing wild boars and quietly left.
The bustling players didn't notice this seemingly ordinary player.
Arthur walked alone to a small lake. As the lowest level of Aincrad, the first level undoubtedly had the largest area, and there were no traces of other players around the lake.
This was exactly what Arthur had planned. He drew the single-handed sword from his waist, ignoring the prompts from his mind, and simply watched the sword in his hand silently, murmuring to himself, "If drawing the sword can gain proficiency, then... swinging it naturally should work too."
With that, Arthur swung the sword forward sharply.
"Horizontal slash successfully executed, gaining 100 points of proficiency in sword."
Arthur's lips curled into a smile, and he swung the sword again.
"Vertical slash successfully executed, gaining 100 points of proficiency in sword."
"Diagonal slash successfully executed, gaining 100 points of proficiency in sword."
...
Although Arthur had never touched a sword before, he had naturally learned some basic techniques from movies and anime.
In no time, his proficiency reached its maximum level.
"Upgrade!"
"Upgrade successful. Current mastery level of sword: LV3. Next level requires proficiency 0/10000."
"Congratulations to the host for reaching LV3 in sword mastery. Obtained the low-level sword skill for single-handed swords: Sparkling Flame."
After the upgrade, Arthur could feel an extraordinary familiarity with the sword in his hand, as if he had been using it for years.
"Well then, let's continue!" Arthur exclaimed excitedly and swung the sword again.
When the mechanical, cold synthesized voice of the system sounded, Arthur's expression suddenly changed.
"Diagonal slash successfully executed, gaining 10 points of proficiency in sword."
What?! Arthur looked at the sword mastery.
Sword Mastery: 10/10000 (LV3)
What's going on? Wasn't it supposed to be 100 proficiency points? Arthur frowned, incredulously swung the sword again, but still only gained 10 experience points.
He had thought of asking the system if there was a problem, but then Arthur remembered that his system didn't have any artificial intelligence, so he gave up.
So, what was the problem? Arthur scratched his head, lost in thought. After all, this was crucial to his survival in this death game.
However, it's just 1000 slashes. Arthur planned to max out his proficiency before worrying about it.
However, an hour later, Arthur collapsed on the ground like a dead dog, exhausted. Although it seemed easy to achieve 1000 slashes, if the slashes weren't standard, they wouldn't be recognized by the system. In addition, SAO had stamina restrictions, and he could barely lift the single-handed sword with his hunger almost at zero.
He glanced at his proficiency, which was only 3540 after an hour. This meant that he had only performed 354 qualified slashes in this hour. The reason why there were only 354 slashes was because he wasted stamina on unqualified slashes, which made him realize how strict the system was.
There were still 646 slashes left. Arthur felt his hands sore.
He took out a piece of bread given to him for free and started to nibble on it.
"Ugh." Free things were indeed not good. Arthur forced himself to swallow the somewhat rotten taste of the bread. Damn you Kayaba, I will definitely drag you out and give you a beating! Gnawing on the hard bread distributed by capitalism, Arthur, the successor of communism taught personally by Zohn xina, harbored strong resentment towards the capitalist Kayaba.
But fortunately, the effect of the bread, which had been left for who knows how long, in alleviating hunger was quite good. As he watched his hunger gradually return, Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to be the first person to starve to death in SAO.
After his hunger, which was closely related to his stamina limit, returned, Arthur felt much better. At least he could stand up and swing the sword with some effort.
However, for safety reasons, Arthur did not continue training with the sword to increase his proficiency. He wasn't so foolish after seeing the terrifying stamina restrictions. After all, this was in the wilderness. If he was discovered by monsters, he might not even have his bone left.
...........
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Chapter 3: Chapter 3 Rest
Thinking of this, Arthur suddenly slapped his forehead. Was there a safer place than the Starting Town? There, he wouldn't have to worry about stamina restrictions.
After resting for a while and gradually recovering, Arthur got up and headed towards the Starting Town.
Although the people in the Starting Town at this time didn't seem as crowded as when they were forcibly recalled by GM Kayaba by GM privileges, there were still quite a few people left. After all, not everyone had the courage to face the death game. Faced with the threat of death, more people stood behind, indifferent, watching others fight on the front lines, self-pitying.
Arthur, who returned from outside the Starting Town, obviously wasn't one of them. He came to the square, drew the single-handed sword from his waist silently, and began to wield it.
Naturally, Arthur's persistence in sword training was seen by the people around the square. They surrounded him with curious minds.
Seeing Arthur swinging his sword unaffectedly, someone suddenly spoke up, "Kid, what's the use of randomly swinging your sword like this? Acting like a fool, thinking this is real life? Do you think swinging a sword can make you a master of swordsmanship? It's ridiculous."
Arthur heard this as soon as he swung his sword and turned to look at the person who spoke. A mocking smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "How about you let me do my work and go back to your house to handle your own damn responsibilities?."
"What?!" The man's face turned red with anger, but he didn't know how to refute. He was originally a cowardly person, intending to vent his dissatisfaction with reality in this game, but he didn't expect the game to become more dangerous than reality in the blink of an eye.
"What? Are you angry?" Arthur didn't bother to pay attention to him, not saying anything more, just continuing to swing his sword as usual, his eyes focused.
"Speaking so high and mighty, aren't you also staying in the Starting Town? What right do you have to criticize me?!" The man looked at Arthur, who was still swinging his sword, seeming to find a pretext, and angrily spoke up.
"Heh." Arthur turned his head back, a faint smile on his lips, Sacred Sword Baptism!
The man suddenly felt Arthur's single-handed sword emitting a dazzling light. Then, a white light appeared before his eyes, and Arthur's single-handed sword was already placed in front of his throat.
"What... what do you want?!" The man nervously looked at the single-handed sword in front of him, backing away continuously. Faced with the threat of death, he was no longer the sarcastic person he was before.
"Heh, this is the difference between you and me. So, shut up." Arthur looked at the man with contempt, retracting the single-handed sword in his hand. How foolish. Didn't he know that you couldn't harm players in the safe zone?
Seeing Arthur's back, still swinging his sword, the man clenched his fists tightly, his eyes full of resentment. It's the same in reality, and it's the same in the game! You guys, you all deserve to die!!!
Arthur naturally didn't expect that his actions today would sow the seeds of disaster for himself. But even if he knew, he wouldn't care. Because he despised those who were idle and mocked those who were striving.
When night fell, Arthur finally stopped swinging his sword.
In these few hours, he finally reached the maximum proficiency level to upgrade to LV4.
"Upgrade!" Looking at the proficiency, Arthur said in his mind. He already had some speculations about the sudden decrease in proficiency. Now, it was time to confirm that speculation.
"Upgrade successful. Current mastery level of sword: LV4. Next level requires proficiency 0/100000."
Was the proficiency required after each level up ten times higher? Arthur just glanced at it quickly.
Feeling more in tune with the single-handed sword in his hand, Arthur swung the single-handed sword forward sharply!
"Vertical slash successfully executed, gaining 1 point of proficiency in sword." Standing with his sword, the cold synthesized voice of the system followed.
As expected. Was it because the level was higher that these basic slashes couldn't provide high proficiency points? Did it bring with it a high success rate for basic slashes? Arthur wasn't surprised because he had already expected this result.
Then, what about sword skills? Arthur took up the starting stance for a thrust.
Sword skill, activate!
The sword skill judged by the SAO system program was successfully released, and Arthur's body, guided by the SAO system program, involuntarily thrust forward.
"No target, sword skill released successfully, but unable to gain proficiency."
What?! Arthur's eyes widened.
Successful execution but no proficiency gained?! And what does "no target" mean?! Do I have to kill monsters?
Thinking about it, Arthur was about to leave the city, but he found that it was already night.
Leaving the city at night was extremely unwise, so Arthur chose not to leave. After all, he didn't have a teleport crystal with him at this time. If something unexpected happened, it would be dangerous. And today's mental state was a bit low, so he needed to rest.
Holding the Koel given by the system, Arthur went to the cheapest room in the inn in the Starting Town. After all, the rooms in the inn had a recovery effect.
........
If you want? You get to read the next chapters before anyone else! Just go to pateron get chapters in advance : patreon.com/THE_TRANSLATOR498.
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