Bold: Dramatic impressions
Italic: thoughts, flashbacks, and foreign words.
[The System]
«The System»
『Skills』
(A/N: Author's Note)
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--- Kirito's POV ---
After looking at the players of Akihito's victims by his webs, I decided to help them since they just looked miserable.
Their HPs are all in the yellow zones, and some of them are even in the red zones.
Afterward, I spoke to Diabel...
"Diabel-san, I understood where you're coming from... But I just need to make sure, are you a beta tester?"
I could already guess the answer when I saw his shocked face.
"I... Am aware of it already. I am aware of how much beta testers are going to be treated. I just thought that... If I am able to get everyone together and only reveal my identity afterward then..."
In this kind of situation, one is bound to be stressed by everything, it can be anything.
In the process, they resent their hatred of anything simply because they couldn't find any other objects to vent their stress on.
Which then leads to those who are considered superior to themselves.
After all... Humans are creatures that feel better after they see lower creatures than themselves.
They only feel like tolerating themselves after seeing someone worse than them.
"Diabel-san... I don't know if anyone else would listen to what Akihito was saying but..."
If what Akihito at that time was true then---!
"Tonight, let's go meet Akihito" I told him thus.
"---I challenged hidden bosses 10 levels above me. All that pain and suffering I gained from soloing a boss with three HP bars bloomed into something that no one else could've imagined."
Challenged hidden bosses 10 levels above his, eh...? If what he said was true then we might be able to clear the first floor easily.
Then after everyone was given the opportunity to get back home, this whole wildfire of beta testers' discrimination can be calmed down by a little.
Night time...
We were at the same place as today. As expected, not that much of players are present.
Akihito's obviously waiting here. Then there's me, Asuna, Diabel and... A bald guy with a tall build named Agil.
In the end, even though I wanted to ask why he called us here, I'd let him explain it first...
But after recklessly saying "So anyway, we're gonna raid the boss." I asked him if he has any plans.
To my question he...
"When the boss of this floor, llfang, dropped their HP down to the red zone, what would you think will happen?"
Diabel answered, "Uhm... He will throw away his axe and shield and switch to a weapon named the Talwar..."
"Then I'd say... He'd use a Nodachi instead of a Talwar."
Nodachi???
No... How did he end up with that conclusion?
And why is he so confident about it?
"Well whatever, it's faster to show you instead."
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(A bit later...)
"Yeah, so anyway... An NPC once told me that---"
"STOP MUMBLING BY YOURSELVES AND HELP US!!!"
Currently, I am having the worst times in my life.
Akihito would frequently deal 20% damage to the boss in a single slash now and then. But for some reason, he keeps asking me for a Switch and mumbling all by himself in the rear.
Agil-san, and Diavel-san were acting as tanks. While Asuna and I took the role of a damage dealer, Akihito should've been the one who carried us, but this bastard keeps on going back to the rear and cleaning off the small fries by himself.
And in just 15 minutes...
*Slash*
[Congratulations]
The boss finally turned into white particles and I got the last hit, somehow...
*clap* *clap* *clap* "great job~!" (Akihito)
There I panted heavily...
"It's about time... *Pant* you... *Pant* explain to us... Right?"
I was talking about everything he said until now.
How could a player reach level 50 in just a month? It doesn't make any sense.
I looked at his grinning bare face.
He already took off his mask and is now looking at us...
"Well... How do I know? Isn't that what you're all asking?"
That's right...
How did he know of how the Nodachi replaced the boss's weapon in the Berserk phase?
How did he find at least 15 hidden bosses of level 30 in a month?
With a flat face, I asked him about those words he stated yesterday
"Huh? Hidden bosses? Ah, I lied about that." Akihito, with a carefree attitude, and a smile resembling a cat, said thus.
"HUH!???" (Kirito)
"I just said that since it fits the moment. Only then those noobs would stop complaining about beta testers."
[The Serpent Of Loneliness is strictly dumbfounded]
[The Avatar Of Solitude cannot believe what UserId: BallsDeep69 just said]
No no no... I shouldn't retort.
In this kind of situation... If I retort, I'll lose to that huge smugness on his face right now...
"Uhm... I'm sorry but... Does that mean you actually did monopolize hunting grounds?" (Diabel)
That's not what you're supposed to be retorting right now...
"No. I abuse stupid game mechanics to my advantage, in other words... Bugs"
"Bugs?" This time, everyone repeated those words...
Huh? Bugs? You mean bugs- bugs? Those kinds of bugs?
What is he---
"So it turns out you can't have everyone else log out if you hunt the damn thing solo. Then I abuse it by killing it 15 more times."
Now that I remembered... The "Grim Wolf" only has 3 HP bars. It was great practice to kill a boss with 4 HP bars like llfang.
But he is saying he is killing llfang 15 times by now and you cannot log out if you're not killing the boss with a party?
Does that make any sense?
I saw no notification other than the rewards distribution so what the hell...
If he killed the boss then the condition to get out is...
*Ding*
[A meeting has been adjourned by the administrators]
[Aincrad will now be readjusted]
[Due to the experience points exploits with the first floor, floor clearance will now allow solo clearance.]
[Due to Constellations strictly complaining about the predictable outcome of the next floors, the third floor and above may be changed depending on the production team]
[And due to the lack of players highlights, new features will be added in the update]
A bizarre notification...
"Akihito-san, I meant to ask this before but... Is the real world alright?" These are Asuna's voices.
"Now that you brought that up... Wasn't that Kayaba said that 'dungeons' appear in the real world?" (Diabel)
To which Akihito responded, "Not too bad, they're not that much of a threat that we think they would. But... I can't say that now I guess..."
"Eh?"
What?
Hm?
[As the first floor has been cleared, all players are allowed to advance to the next floor.]
Even though it sounded neutral, for a second I feel like the system that spits out those notifications wasn't a simple AI.
[The tutorial has ended.]
From that point on...
[Now... The real nightmare will begin.]
It must have one of those administrators.
[We wish you good luck]
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To be continued.