My slow journey to infinity

At nine o'clock in the evening, [Horuka Village] Bistro.

"Is the difficulty of the labyrinth area so high? Actually, more than a dozen masters have died... Kirito, your strategy is too fast, isn't it?"

While munching on the bacon pizza that Kirito ordered, Wang Shui lamented how courageous these guys were.

"Just looking at the level and ability value, players who have reached the outer edge of the maze area can definitely defeat the first-level BOSS, but along the way... you only have one life, and no one has the courage to take risks."

Me too.

Kirito mentally compensated for his timidity.

"There is nothing wrong with cherishing life. The game has just begun. It is an insult to the abilities of potential players to lose them in such a low-level maze."

Kirito nodded in agreement, but he also felt that he was not qualified to evaluate anyone. He was now talking to Wang Shui, talking about his experience and opinions on the front line, but in fact he was just a lone wolf player, and most of the front line players were Lone wolf, we don’t have much interaction with each other.

"The maze area is not clear yet, but the outer structure is very different from that in the closed beta. It may be because the map on the first floor has become ten times larger... Also, Tianshu, are you really not a closed beta player?"

"Do you think my fighting status looks like that of an experienced player?"

On the contrary, Kirito thought of Wang Shui's face-to-face fighting style again, which was just messing around!

However, he was saved by such a novice, and on the way back, he also learned that this reckless novice was the one who discovered the attribute training information.

What is this, preferential treatment for newbies?

"Fighting is easy to learn, but Tianshu's courage is rare. Thank you again for saving me."

"Who makes me a good person who is willing to help others, but I understand that fighting may not be easy to learn, but you, Kirito, haven't you mastered the [Concealment] skill? Why are you being chased so far by monsters?"

Aqua Regia finished the last pizza and started to taste the iced lemon black tea. The price is not low.

"It's useless. When the number of monsters increases, it's difficult to avoid their vision at the same time just by relying on the low-proficiency [Concealment] skill. Restoring the vision alternately will continue to replenish the hatred. Moreover, I also said it on the way, just when we encountered Not far to the north are the ruins of the ruins they guard."

"Hmm~ It's a super small ruins. According to the guide, there are clearly no traces of kobolds in the woods. The four hatred chain monsters are obviously for a small team to deal with."

Kirito could only nod helplessly and said:

"The shortcomings of a single player are obvious. It's best to find a team as soon as possible. Ah, I'm not saying there's something wrong with your skills. I just think you didn't choose the [Concealment] and [Enemy Search] skills. If you act alone, It would be extremely dangerous.”

Good boy, expose my scars, right? If I hadn’t really opened it, I would have eaten another piece of pizza from you today!

Wang Shui, who turned on the cheating mode, looked at the future [Cheater] (sealed beta cheating player) with a smile and said:

"After dinner, do you want to do some exercise, Mr. Kirito?"

"What, a night battle to spawn monsters? Even the low-level monsters nearby are too forced in the dark, right?"

"No, no, no, what I mean is," Wang Shui stood up, "let's go to the militia training ground to have a few moves."

"P...PK? Oh, it should be a duel, right?"

Wang Shui nodded, and walked out of the tavern without waiting for Kirito to refuse. If he continued to be verbose, Kirito might really shirk his character.

…

…

"Don't be so nervous. I know I have the courage to challenge you, and this is [inside the circle]. A half-blood duel will not be life-threatening."

As Wang Shui spoke, he put on the newly repaired [Sword of Tenacity], and at the same time took off the jewelry [Supernatural Instinct]. His strength increased by 7 points, and the sword in his hand became lighter.

"Okay... okay! Let this arrogant guy like you see what a closed beta player can do!"

The relaxed and cheerful conversational style that Wang Shui has always deliberately maintained has finally affected Kirito. From his eyes to his temperament, it can be seen that Kirito has put down his natural guard against social interactions. Wow, young people are too easy to understand.

But this is the right thing to do. Gamers with similar interests should have this aura of being each other’s father!

The two sides confirmed the duel request, and the large UI screen of the duel instantly illuminated the small militia training ground, and many players passing by nearby cast their eyes over.

"Hey, this light effect is too showy!" Kirito nervously lowered his voice and questioned Wang Shui.

Hey, Wang Shui suddenly smiled and sprinted out the moment the countdown reached zero! [Linear attack] is suitable for starting attacks, the preparation is more troublesome but extremely fast!

When faced with the ferocious close-quarters sword skills, Kirito Shekai, who was still a little panicked, raised his hand very quickly to complete the [horizontal slash] action, then tilted his body slightly back and swung forward to slash.

Ding! ——

The harsh metal clang erupted between two almost identical one-handed straight swords. Wang Shui stopped charging at his feet and swam around to follow up with his sword. Kirito was shocked by such a close attack method, but he quickly He adjusted and threw himself forward to the right facing the aqua regia. While passing the aqua regia, he already had a [Slant Slash] in his hand.

Kirito completed the sword skill judgment extremely skillfully, and there was only about half a second between the second sword skill [oblique slash] and the first [horizontal slash]!

[Diagonal Slash] has a large fan. Wang Shui did not have the space and time to use sword skills, so he could only dive with his whole body, throw forward to the right, and at the same time flip his body and land on his back.

The purpose of turning the body over is to thrust out a sword that stabs Kirito's left rib!

Red fragments rose up. Aqua Regia landed on his back and quickly stood up. Kirito's blood bar collapsed into a small piece, and a small red wound appeared under his left rib.

"What a quick judgment of sword skills, Kirito."

"The Heavenly Book seems to have mastered the swordsmanship specifically against humans?"

Wang Shui was speechless, "Except for this world, all swordsmanship is specifically for people, right?"

Right? Swordsmanship was originally developed to kill the same kind efficiently, and Kirito suddenly realized this.

"I don't know much, try to let me remember and use these swordsmanship skills as much as possible, Kirito."

Kirito said no more, just silently looking for opportunities in the confrontation with Wang Shui. A certain moment! He suddenly pulled back the sword in his hand, and then jumped forward suddenly. At this time, Wang Shui could only see the blue light group rushing in at high speed, and the sword blade falling from above.

【Sonic Impact】! The one-handed sword skills are quite difficult to use and require skill proficiency of over 100!

Although he was prepared for it, Kirito's special skill was so fast that Wang Shui felt his heart contract violently and the muscles in his body tensed.

Kirito flew through the air, and the sword slashed down heavily with blue light. Wang Shui also stepped forward and jumped forward, turning around in the same air, as if he was going to re-enact the first round of the fight.

The difference is that Kirito changed his sword skills, and when Wang Shui also jumped into the air, he used the sword skill [Diagonal Slash] while lying almost flat!

Ding! ——

After an extremely long impact, Kirito landed on his feet, turned around, and lowered his posture to brake. Before his body came to a complete stop, his short braking posture matched the position of his beloved sword in his hand and quickly passed the [Angry Stab] sword. Skill judgment.

Wow! The players who had gathered around unknowingly were surprised by Kirito's two consecutive charges of "[Sonic Impact] landed on the ground, turned around, and then slid to follow [Angry Stab]", and a burst of unconscious exclamation erupted from the crowd.

Kirito was not distracted. The tip of his sword and his mind were always locked on Aqua Regia, and his legs subconsciously cooperated with the sword skills to jump forward. At this time, the charge started, the surrounding scenery became blurred, and the target's figure gradually enlarged and became clear. Kirito felt that the whole world had slowed down at this moment, and he liked this feeling.

Whoosh! --Ding!

A ray of red light followed the sound of breaking wind, and a pebble turned into powder at the tip of Kirito's sword and flew away. At the same time, the sword skill light effect on Kirito's sword also dissipated.

The sword skill derived from the [Flying Sword] skill - [Single Shot], the incredibly accurate breaking move also made the crowd burst into amazement again.

The balance of Kirito's body was destroyed, and Aqua Regia also completed the preparation of [Angry Stab]. In the blink of an eye, the blue light sword blade was approaching Kirito. Kirito's eyes suddenly focused, and his body quickly straightened in an extremely unscientific way, and then in the dark light While wrapping his whole body, he moved strangely to the right, then swam up and condensed [Horizontal Slash] in his hand to cut towards the body that Aqua Regia passed by at high speed.

The blood bar suddenly dropped a lot, and a long red wound appeared under Aqua Regia's left rib. Inside the wide wound was a mesh-like structural line, and the pain was not intense.

[Horizontal Slash] was very powerful, but it only staggered Shui Wang. However, in the short time it took to regain balance, Kirito had already completed the second [Sonic Impact]...

The battle panel was quickly settled, and a huge word "WINNER" appeared in the middle of the field, with an arrow pointing to Kirito's head (displayed anonymously).

Wow——! The crowd burst into fierce cheers and applause. The winner, Kirito, was a little cautious. He lowered his head and stepped forward to pull up the aqua regia.

"Hmm~ As expected, you are still stronger. Sword skill judgment speed is not the same level at all." Wang Shui muttered, "I have made a dream come true for the majority of sword fans. By the way, your strength and agility training bonuses How many are there? Why do I feel that the attributes are so different, can you tell me? I’m just asking this time.”

"Well, for now, the strength bonus is 15 and the agility is 18. Okay, don't show such a surprised expression. Argo will add the specific information in the next update of the strategy manual. It's nothing more than wearing something that just reaches the combat load limit. For equipment, there is a grocery store where you can buy [practice straps] that can adjust the weight, just outside the maze..."

Kirito did not continue talking, meaning that it would be useless to talk about it now. He would be able to buy it when the Aqua Regia guide reaches the outside of the maze.

"Well, with your monster attributes, I'm very satisfied that you can fight to this level."

"You are the one. You are a completely different person compared to this afternoon, when you actually got close and chopped down a scimitar kobold in order to kill him..."

"Forget it, just ask how much it will cost to delete this memory!"

While the two were having a heated exchange, a tall swordsman suddenly walked over from the crowd that was about to disperse after the battle.

"Sorry to bother you, the guy in black just now, the last special displacement is the special sword skill [Phantom Sideways Movement] under the [Concealment] skill? Although it is a bit presumptuous, my friends and I are hesitating For the third skill, choose [Concealment] or [Reaction Avoidance].”

Kirito was a little embarrassed by the tall swordsman's initiative. Wang Shui patted Kirito on the shoulder and said:

"[Reaction Avoidance] also has a similar active activation escape skill [Side Step]. If you have a fixed team, you can learn [Reaction Avoidance] first to get an additional evasion bonus and a small amount of critical hit bonus. For It is very helpful to defeat monsters with higher difficulty. The evasion rate is a noble way to reduce critical damage. Skills like [Concealment] can also be learned in the later stage. Now it is more suitable for lone wolf players. Hey, am I right?"

As he spoke, Wang Shui patted Kirito again, indicating that he would also speak.

"Ah, yes, for a small team, core output attackers are indeed more suitable for [Reaction Avoidance], but for strategy considerations, it is recommended that vanguard players who use one-handed weapons learn the [Shield] skill, which is more powerful and effective than other skills. too much."

"Thank you very much, we will refer to it."

The tall swordsman thanked him and left. Kirito, who did not reveal his name, breathed a sigh of relief as if he had been punished. He helplessly said to Wang Shui: "Sure enough, I am still a little nervous when communicating with strangers."

"Really? I think your communication with me is very natural and lively?"

"It was between acquaintances," Kirito was also very surprised. "Or maybe Tianshu has a special affinity, which made me subconsciously regard you as an old friend. Chatting with you is really relaxing."

Here we go, this sentence again, friends plus one.

"Since you don't like communicating with strangers so much, then go farther away and go under the eaves over there, or simply go and rest first."

"Eh? Why, what are you going to do?!"

Amidst Kirito's low voice and surprised expression, Wang Shui walked toward less than half of the crowd. He jumped onto a large wooden barrel nearby and shouted to the crowd:

"Hey! - Is everyone leaving like this?! It's so rare to have so many frontline players gathered today. Everyone was equally excited when they saw our duel just now!"

Wang Shui's shout immediately stopped the crowd, and some people who had already left the scene heard it from a distance and came over again.

"We are all frontline players. Didn't you have itchy hands just now? Haven't you ever wondered how powerful you would be if you devoted yourself to high-intensity battles? To tell you the truth, the battle just now was my highest level performance so far. The duel is It’s so exciting and interesting, and it can effectively stimulate combat potential, you can understand it!”

"The [Flying Sword] skill just now is very cool, and your sword skills are also very beautiful!" Suddenly a dagger user (dagger) said in the crowd.

Wang Shui raised his hand and asked a friend to apply:

"My name is [Half Book of Heaven], you can call me [Book of Heaven]. In reality, I am just a fan of combat, and my skills in the game are average. Now, in this death game, there is a very good person Function - [Inside the circle] Half-blood duel, such a real and safe battle, wouldn’t everyone be excited!”

"I think everyone who can overcome their inner fears and conquer all the way here must have such courage and desire, so I solemnly extend an invitation. Does anyone want to become stronger! Does anyone want to fight with me! Also, Where's the dagger wielder just now? Do you want to play for a while? Huh? Your name is Lee Harvey?"

"Hey, hey, don't shout my name out loud!"

"Hahaha, I told you this name is weird!" The friends who seemed to be dagger users burst out laughing, "Go ahead, let this guy see how powerful our team's chief assassin is!"

Amidst the growing and enthusiastic heckling, a dagger named Lee Harvey finally sent Wang Shui an invitation to a duel.

The two stood about five meters apart in the open space in the middle of the militia training ground, posing and waiting for the countdown to end. The surrounding crowd also burst into cheers, even attracting many NPC militiamen and villagers.

Toot~

The countdown ended, the UI interface became larger and spread out, and a red light pierced the night sky at the moment when the duel pattern disappeared. Wang Shui made a sneak attack [Single Shot] and immediately entered the general thrust sword skill [Linear Attack] state.

Then he saw that the red line of the sneak attack instantly passed through the afterimage of the dagger wielder Lee Harvey!

The afterimage left in place was frozen at the last moment of the dagger's rotation. A dark human figure that could only be barely visible under the night light rushed out in a large circle from behind the afterimage. The dagger in Lee Harvey's hand turned flexibly. In order to maintain a positive grip, he ran in an arc while tensing his arms to accumulate strength, preparing for sword skills.

The afterimage effect is the sword skill [Phantom Sideward Movement]! It's the same sword skill that Kirito used just now under the [Concealment] skill tree!

The same sword skill used by the two of them not only has different sensory expressions, but also completely different power and speed.

Unable to lock onto the target, Aqua Regia stopped its unformed advance and could only watch as Lee Harvey cut along an arc. The more urgent the battle, the more it tests the combat quality. Wang Shui is not yet a master, but he has learned to trust himself in tense battles!

Controlling the sword and lowering his posture, when the distance between the two reached a certain critical point, Aqua Regia suddenly moved his center of gravity forward, jumped sideways, and then directly stepped forward, turned around and kicked from a high position!

A sweep of the head and a kick without any sword skill effect went straight to the door of Lee Harvey. The dagger user also reacted very quickly. He immediately leaned back nimbly and used his lower body to avoid the high kick. At the same time, he was still able to move forward flexibly with his feet!

But when the high sweep kicked over Lee Harvey, Wang Shui suddenly lowered his body, changed the line of the high sweep and turned down to hit!

Lee Harvey was surprised and was hit hard in the chest by a kick, and he lay directly on his back on the ground. After Wang Shui stood firm, he quickly held the sword with both hands and stabbed downward with the tip of the sword. No sword skills were displayed. This was an ordinary ground execution attack. The damage may not be high but the momentum was fierce.

The blood loss was not much, but the dagger wielder Lee Harvey was already a little panicked. He hurriedly rolled up and was caught up by Aqua Regia with a diagonal slash. His HP almost dropped to the half-health line.

The veteran veteran player at the elite level suddenly burst out with an unobservable momentum at the moment of crisis. After a short period of recovery from the diagonal slash of Wang Shui, Lee Harvey turned around and turned the dagger in his right hand like a poisonous snake twisting its head. Usually bite hard!

High-speed double-striking sword technique [Side Bite] with a dagger!

The two attacks hit Wang Shui's right arm and chest respectively. The dagger made Lee Harvey's movements similar to turning around and hammering, but the striking tool was not a fist, but a dagger held in front of him, including the bonus of sword skills. , these two consecutive hits were so powerful that Wang Shui's blood volume dropped by one point.

The dagger is a type of dagger. The sword skills it contains are extremely short and extremely fast in attack.

So after [Side Bite], Lee Harvey recovered before Aqua Regia. He continued to move forward, going around from the right side of Aqua Regia to his back. At the same time, he raised the dagger and stabbed hard, and the orange sword skill light lit up again. rise.

[Through Armor] can be used to rush into a single-shot heavy-hitting sword skill. It also has the effect of destroying the enemy's defense value. The starting action only requires a thrust. It is a very simple and powerful sword skill.

Aqua Regia's blood volume also dropped to near the half-health line in the blink of an eye. Lee Harvey's explosive output for about a second did not allow the audience to react. Just when he was about to quickly draw two swords to supplement the damage and end the battle, Wang Shui regained his balance and got rid of the stiffness, and at the same time quickly raised his leg and kicked to the side.

Kicking Lee Harvey away a little, Wang Shui followed up with his [Horizontal Slash], because if he advanced with the sword straight, it would be easy for the dexterous assassin to pass the sword and get close to stab him.

Lee Harvey subconsciously retreated, a dark light emerged from his body, and he was ready to use [Phantom Sideways Movement] again to create output space!

However, Wang Shui's weapon is a one-handed straight sword.

[Horizontal Slash] There is very little stiffness after the end, and it is the same as the feeling of drawing back the force after swinging a sword at high speed. Usually when holding the sword with one hand, the other hand will swing with the body movement to maintain balance, but this time aqua regia did not. His left hand has been placed on his right chest, holding a pebble between three fingers!

【Single shot】!

The red sword skill line fell on Lee Harvey's chest, and the force brought by the pebble almost knocked him down, but at this time the duel icon fell from the air and grew larger.

[Winner——Half Book of Heaven]

The name of the duel was not hidden. All the spectators saw the name of the winner, and the crowd immediately burst into applause and cheers.

"The explosive sword skill is very exciting. If your damage was higher, you might just kill me instantly."

Wang Shui stepped forward and pulled Lee Harvey up, praising him from the bottom of his heart.

"Don't mention it. The short sword has a great advantage when dealing with small and medium-sized creatures, especially humanoid creatures. Although your sword skills are average, you have many small moves, and you were able to trick them."

Let's talk, the two smiled and high-fived, and a simple friendship was formed.

After the dagger user returned to the crowd, he was also praised by pats on the head and shoulders, and of course, not to mention the father-like care from his friends. The fierce and ferocious battle not only did not frighten this group of people, but instead aroused their enthusiasm. Many people looked at Wang Shui with their eyes full of enthusiasm and fighting spirit.

"Okay friends, it's only after seven o'clock, it's still very early. Let's have some fun tonight, and don't keep staring at me. Do you have any acquaintances or friends or any new friends you want to make? Come on, Come up and spar together, the training ground is very big!”

Under the terrifying social ability of Aqua Regia, the following time turned into a carnival of social duels.

So players have another way to relieve combat stress.