Chapter 84: First Arrival in the Sword Art World

In an uninhabited meadow, a silver vortex suddenly appeared, and a young man walked out from within; it was Lingyun, who had crossed over. The vortex behind him slowly vanished, and Lingyun first surveyed the surrounding environment.

This was a vibrant meadow, and in the distance, there was a forest with no end in sight. Overhead, there was an azure sky.

"Hm? No, this sky is a bit abnormal!" Lingyun quickly discovered the oddity; the sky was simply too blue, not at all like the sky of the real world. "Perhaps such an azure sky only appears in a game world."

After carefully scouting the surroundings and finding no danger, Lingyun waved his right hand, and a spatial gate appeared before him. Luo Yexi, Busujima Saeko, Alice, and Lingqi walked out from the spatial gate.

"Is this world the Sword Art world you spoke of, Master?" Luo Yexi asked, looking around.

"That's right. The place we are in is not the real world, but a game world. This game is a death game that uses an aerial castle named 'Aincrad Castle' as its stage. And we are currently, I believe, on the first floor of this game world," Lingyun explained.

"Is this world really a game world? The things here are too vivid." Busujima Saeko crouched down and plucked a blade of grass. A gust of wind blew, and the blade of grass flew from her hand, drifting into the distance with the wind.

"This world was indeed a game originally, but now, for certain reasons, it has become a semi-plane," Lingyun explained.

"You mean to say, this world already shows signs of becoming a real world?" Lingqi said with some confusion.

"Yes. One of the tasks for our arrival here is to crush the power of the Underworld King of the End that is lurking in this world. Another is to investigate this world and find a way to prevent it from colliding with the Main World," Lingyun explained their mission.

"Ling-jun, is there anything we need to be careful about in this world?" Busujima Saeko asked.

"This world is built on a game template of defeating monsters to level up. You can improve your strength by defeating monsters, which is quite important for Alice," Lingyun said. "Additionally, there is one thing you must all pay attention to. We are different from those game players; we have entered this world in our true bodies. In this world, we will grow weak when injured, we will die if we bleed without timely treatment, and we will also die if hit in a vital spot. Most importantly, this world has no resurrection mechanism, so you must be careful!"

"Brother, do you mean we should treat this world as a real world, not a virtual one?" Alice asked.

"Yes. Of course, we will also possess some player abilities in this world. For example, attribute panels, inventories, and so on." Lingyun summoned a virtual panel in front of him.

"Ruoxi, what time is it now?" While the others were looking around the world with interest, Lingyun contacted Ruoxi in the Cloud Realm.

"Brother, it is currently one day before the game is set to launch, and also one day before this world becomes a true semi-plane," Ruoxi replied.

"Is that so? Understood." Lingyun nodded slightly.

"Master, what should we do now?" Luo Yexi asked.

"We will first go to the Starting Town; that is where the story begins. The power of the Underworld King of the End wants to destroy this world, so it will definitely set its sights on the protagonist of this world. We can also start from the protagonist to find the power of the Underworld King of the End." After pondering for a moment, Lingyun made his decision. "Ruoxi, help me find out where the Starting Town is."

Ruoxi was fast, and before long, she pointed out the direction for Lingyun.

Lingyun identified the direction and led Luo Yexi and the others toward the Starting Town.

It did not take long before they arrived at the legendary Starting Town, the so-called newbie village of SAO.

Although it was called a town, it was actually a massive city. In this city, both the streets and the houses revealed a thick architectural style of medieval Europe.

"Ling-jun, what should we do now?" Busujima Saeko looked at the city before her and asked softly.

"The outside players have not yet entered this world, so let's split up and scout for information about this world," Lingyun said to the others. "Moreover, since the game has not yet begun, this Starting Town is still quite safe. We will meet here in two hours."

"Mm, okay." Busujima Saeko turned back to Alice and said, "Alice, come with me."

"Okay." Alice nodded.

"Then, Master, I will also go look around," Luo Yexi said to Lingyun and left first.

"Lingyun, I will also go look around." Lingqi gave Lingyun a faint smile and also left.

With the others gone, Lingyun simply found a bench on the street, sat down, and closed his eyes. When the residents of the town saw this group of outsiders appear, they cast curious glances at them, but seeing that apart from their clothing being different, there was nothing else unusual about them, they withdrew their curious gazes and went back to their own business.

Lingyun appeared to be resting, but in reality, he was channeling the power of the Cloud Realm into himself, releasing his Divine Sense to investigate the laws of this world while attempting to find traces of the power of the Underworld King of the End. Soon, Lingyun felt an inexplicable force connecting with him from the void; that force felt extremely intimate, as if it wanted to return to his side.

However, at this moment, another powerful force appeared. This force was incomparably cold and carried a thick aura of death, seemingly wanting to invade Lingyun's Divine Sense. But as soon as this force made a move, it was intercepted by the aforementioned force. The two forces engaged in a fierce battle in the Void, and for a time, neither could gain the upper hand.

While the two forces were locked in combat, several other distinct forces suddenly appeared from the Void, assisting the force that had appeared first to suppress the death force. A violent fluctuation erupted from the Void, and the power of the Underworld King of the End was suppressed.

"Ugh—" Lingyun frowned, a trace of blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, and the chair beneath him shuddered violently. His Divine Sense had been shaken during the collision of the many forces; fortunately, the Cloud Realm had borne most of the pressure, leaving him with only minor injuries.

Lingyun opened his eyes, and a flash of inscrutable light passed through them. His Divine Sense had retreated in time, so he had not suffered major damage, but the scene of multiple forces clashing in the Void made him frown. His gaze turned toward the sky; that was the hundredth floor of this world, the place where the various forces had been battling.

"It seems I must go to the hundredth floor to understand what is happening there. Moreover, the power of the Underworld King of the End in this world is much stronger than I imagined; I fear I will have to unite those inexplicable forces to completely eradicate it," Lingyun muttered to himself.

Lingyun stood up and walked toward the plaza. Not long after he left, the chair he had been sitting on developed countless cracks, then crumbled into a pile of fragments.

After interacting with the residents here, Lingyun was quite surprised to discover that the people here were no longer the so-called NPCs of a game, but flesh-and-blood people, not cold, intelligent programs.

At this moment, Lingyun could not help but start to wonder: was this truly the ability of the Fantasy Creation he had crafted? Or was there some other power unknown to him influencing this world?