Chapter 313: -309- You actually came back?
After returning to Panareze, Rozen first went back to his residence and released Saichou and Hanachou from their familiar crystals, starting to implement his cultivation plan.
If he were a wealthy player, he might have purchased an empty house to turn it into a player home and live there. However, Rozen simply stayed at an inn in the town and didn't buy a house. The reason was that he had used all his money to strengthen his equipment and cultivate his familiars.
In terms of earning money by hunting monsters, Rozen was more capable than most players. He might even be the best at accumulating wealth within the entire Clearing Group. However, with high income came high expenses, and Rozen spent most of his earnings on familiar cultivation and equipment enhancement. He had a significant net worth, but his liquid cash wasn't substantial. Moreover, since they were currently only on the 24th floor, there might be better housing options on higher floors. Rozen didn't want to spend money on buying a house; he usually just rested at the inn or stayed in a room on the second floor of the guild headquarters.
In this scenario, Rozen returned to his inn and took out some rare items to feed to Hanachou. He also gave the promised "Dragon Scale Fragrance" to Saichou, prompting both butterflies to let out joyful sounds.
Afterward, Rozen continued his cultivation plan, bringing the two Rainbow Butterflies to the forefront of the 26th floor. They entered the area near the boss training grounds where the highest-level monsters resided, and began intense leveling.
This was to hone Hanachou's ability to follow orders on the battlefield, improve her skill proficiency, and gather experience points for her level-up.
Rozen had Hanachou fly around the monster area, luring them into groups while refining her skills. He himself would charge into groups of monsters afflicted by various abnormal statuses, using his highest-level sword skills to perform relentless slaughter.
By the way, Rozen's proficiency in the "One-Handed Sword" skill had already surpassed 600, and he was halfway to mastering it at 1000 proficiency. It would likely take almost half a year to achieve that.
Even so, with Rozen's current weapon skill proficiency, he could use far more sword skills than he could at the beginning.
Rozen wasn't stingy with his sword skills, repeatedly using the higher-level ones on monsters, allowing himself, Saichou, and Hanachou to accumulate a large amount of experience points.
Rozen even decided.
"Let's grind levels all night!"
Being a seasoned gaming enthusiast, this level of commitment was only natural.
Thus, Rozen maintained this high-intensity leveling efficiency until dawn.
By this time, Rozen had gained a level, reaching level 49, just one level away from the near-50 level of the boss. Saichou had reached level 46, and as for Hanachou, she had absorbed the most experience, going from level 1 to 22 in one go, unlocking several skills.
However, anyone would get exhausted from such high-intensity battles, and Rozen was no exception.
"Let's call it a day for now..."
Rozen, looking utterly fatigued, returned to his room at the 24th floor inn and immediately fell asleep.
"Gu..."
"...."
Both Saichou and Hanachou were similarly worn out. They stood on the bed, nodding off as well.
In this state, Rozen completely forgot that he had something very important to do today.
It wasn't until around 10:30 that Rozen received a bombardment of messages from guild members, waking him up from his slumber and reminding him of this crucial matter.
"Oh, right..."
Rozen slapped his forehead.
"We have the boss raid strategy meeting for the 26th floor today..."
The meeting was scheduled for 10:00.
In other words, at this moment, players from the clearing group on the 26th floor had been waiting for him for a whole half hour.
For a moment, Rozen entertained this thought.
"I could just let them wait."
Unfortunately, if he did that, he'd be kept awake by a barrage of messages and couldn't sleep at all.
"No other choice..."
Rozen had to wake up Saichou and Hanachou, and with the two rainbow butterflies sleepily perched on his shoulders, he reluctantly left his room in the inn, yawning as he did.
Most mornings, Rozen looked half-asleep because he would stay up grinding levels every night.
...
When Rozen returned to the guild headquarters, the members had already gathered.
"Leader!"
"Leader!"
"You finally made it, Leader!"
The guild members immediately breathed a sigh of relief, but their expressions turned bitter as they began calling out.
However, once the guild members saw the two rainbow butterflies on Rozen's shoulders, they started making a commotion again.
"Two... two of them!?"
"Why are there two...!?"
"Saichou... there's two of them!?"
The guild members were all stunned.
Rozen, ignoring everyone's reactions, looked directly at the single-handed sword user who was smiling wryly beside him.
"You actually came back?" Rozen blinked and then laughed, "I thought you were planning to stay there and get along with that girl named Sachi."
"What... what are you talking about?" Kirito said somewhat flustered, "Sachi and I aren't like that right now!"
"I know." Rozen spoke candidly, "But not now doesn't mean it won't be in the future, right?"
"It... it won't be like that in the future either!" Kirito hurriedly changed the subject, "Rather than that, why didn't you tell me about the raid meeting today? I wouldn't have known if I didn't receive the message in time!"
It was understandable that Kirito didn't know about the meeting yesterday since he wasn't at the guild headquarters.
However, Rozen showed no signs of remorse.
"I already informed the entire guild. If you didn't know, that's your problem."
With that sentence, Kirito could only be speechless.
"Alright." Rozen didn't waste any more time. While yawning, he said, "Since everyone is here, let's get started."
The most powerful guild, Crimson Wing, set off for the 26th floor.
...
Aincrad, 26th Floor.
This was a village some distance away from the 26th Floor labyrinth's training area, which all players would pass through.
The village was very rudimentary, with only a few shops and houses compared to the original Horunka from the 1st Floor.
And on a piece of wasteland here, a group of people had gathered.
They were all fully equipped, with levels at the pinnacle of what players of the current stage could achieve. They exuded an impressive aura.
Some were wearing uniforms, some were in crafted armor, and they were all grouped separately, representing different guilds.
Apart from that, only a few player groups didn't seem as united, and some solo players stood in corners, giving off an impression of disunity.
At this moment, Rozen, along with all the closed beta testers from Crimson Wing, arrived here.
"Good morning."
As if nothing had happened, Rozen continued to yawn and waved his hand in greeting to everyone.
His demeanor made most of the players present look rather displeased.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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