Chapter 12: Boss, Newbie Needs a Ride!

Kirito was right to be surprised, because since the game started, he’s been with Seiya the whole time, and there was no way Seiya could have completed any quests.

No... even if Seiya had secretly been grinding behind his back, there’s no possible mechanism in the first layer to earn so many coins in such a short time.

So simply put, this guy Seiya must be cheating!

“Hey, hey, hey, we’re on the same team! Accusing me of using cheat software is going too far.”

“Don’t you know there’s another way to earn money in the game as fast as possible?”

Kirito wasn’t stupid—in fact, his sharp mind immediately realized Seiya was referring to “pay-to-win,” so he quickly opened the so-called pay-to-win interface.

However, unfortunately, since Kirigaya Kazuto modified the program and cut off contact with the outside world, the pay-to-win features of SAO have been disabled.

Kirito had never even seen the pay-to-win interface, let alone thought about it.

Because the original SAO beta test never had a pay-to-win channel either.

After all, a “beta test” means a testing version not yet released to the public, so naturally it couldn’t have any pay-to-win functionality.

Seiya’s coins must have come from pay-to-win, but the pay-to-win channel is now shut down.

That means Seiya’s coins were all purchased right when the game first launched.

If Kirito remembered correctly, the game announcement mentioned the currency exchange rate: one yen equals one copper coin.

In other words, the pile of gold coins Seiya just pulled out was worth hundreds of thousands of yen!

This lunatic, who’d never played this game before, spent hundreds of thousands—or even over a million yen—on in-game currency right at launch!

“Games are all about having fun—earn money to create joy; if you’re broke, you can go screw yourself.”

“Turns out, that saying is absolutely spot-on.”

Kirito really wanted to retort, but the words on his tongue instantly changed to: “Big boss, can you lend me some money?”

Kirito wanted to be a proud player, but the real issue was that with sufficient funds now, they could level up much faster.

And by using these scarce resources others couldn’t yet access, they could leverage small investments for huge early returns.

“I’ll lend you money, but it’s not free—you’ll have to pay interest, and when you repay, I only accept real-world currency.”

Hearing Seiya’s words, Kirito’s face instantly darkened; at that moment, he even thought Seiya was more mercenary than Messi had just been.

But then he remembered that with startup capital, he could not only grow stronger quickly but also make a massive profit, so after some hesitation, he gritted his teeth and agreed to Seiya’s exploitation.

“Three percent interest per loan, one gold coin equals ten thousand yen; when we return to the real world, you just pay back thirteen thousand yen.”

Kirito, who had already braced himself for being ripped off, immediately cursed when he heard Seiya’s outrageous interest rate.

“Is this even interest? This is outright loan-sharking! We’ve been best friends since childhood!”

“Is this your so-called ‘discount for friends’?”

But Seiya just snapped back impatiently: “You think this interest is high? Do you believe me if I say right now, if I shouted out, there’d be plenty willing to pay two or even three times the amount?”

“If it weren’t for our close bond, I wouldn’t even be offering this deal to you.”

Hearing Seiya’s words, Kirito winced—but he had to admit, Seiya was absolutely right.

Right now, trapped in the game, real-world money was just useless paper to them.

But in this world’s currency, especially in this early stage with fierce resource competition, even a few hundred copper coins could mean the difference between life and death.

Not to mention one-to-two—even one-to-five or one-to-ten—if Seiya wanted to exchange, he’d have no shortage of buyers.

Of course, Seiya knew perfectly well that Kirito was broke, and as a student in the real world, he was even poorer.

Seiya proposed these terms simply to recruit Kirito into his scheme and use this early capital to make a huge profit.

After all, although Seiya had money, he lacked game knowledge, while Kirito was the exact opposite.

Seiya wanted to establish a guild in SAO, and he needed Kirito, the “cheat player,” to help with early funding and operations.

Soon, as they chatted, they reached the grassland area Messi had mentioned and found the so-called “Wolf Leader.”

The Wolf Leader is one of the first-layer wilderness bosses, possessing stats far beyond ordinary wolves and combat abilities far exceeding typical monsters.

Worse still, it can summon wolf packs from any direction, possessing the special ability “Calling.”

When attacking the Wolf Leader, Seiya and Kirito clearly divided their roles.

At first, they both attacked the Wolf Leader together.

Once the Wolf Leader used its “Calling” skill to summon wolf packs, one would distract the wolves while the other continued whittling down the Wolf Leader’s HP.

As for the exact division of labor, they didn’t plan anything specific, ultimately deciding the one closer to the Wolf Leader would handle the boss directly.

As Seiya slashed at the Wolf Leader’s flank, the boss’s HP dropped to half—and it let out a deafening howl.

“Howl——————!”

As the howl echoed, dozens of smaller wolves, significantly smaller than the Wolf Leader, burst forth from all around with flashes of light, snarling.

“As planned, I’ll handle these wolf pups—you take care of the Wolf Leader.”

Seeing the summoned wolves, Kirito swiftly slashed each one once and then bolted away.

Due to the aggro mechanics, the newly summoned wolves—all loyal followers—immediately locked onto Kirito and chased after him.

Watching the Wolf Leader now standing alone, Seiya grinned and charged forward with his sword again.

Although it was a wilderness boss, the Wolf Leader’s attack patterns seemed incredibly simple to Seiya.

As long as he avoided being surrounded by the summoned wolves, he’d be fine.

To Seiya, the Wolf Leader was nothing more than a wolf with longer HP and higher stats.

“Ding——————!”

Using the “Weapon Block” skill, Seiya blocked the Wolf Leader’s claw strike head-on.

As the Wolf Leader, bound by its skill mechanics, recoiled backward from the block, Seiya thrust his one-handed sword forward with full force!

“Bunjin Sword Style, Form Three—Shatter the Army!”

(End of Chapter)