Chapter 4

Once, the earth maintained the balance of all things under the protection of two "Holy Great Trees," black and white.

The Dark Elf race, which worshipped the "Black Holy Great Tree," established the "Rulid Kingdom," and the Forest Elves, who worshipped the "White Holy Great Tree," established the "Calesio Kingdom."

Relying on the protection of the Holy Great Trees and powerful magic, the kingdoms were prosperous. Besides these two countries, there was also the "Nine United Kingdoms" established by humans.

But one day, the Elf race wanted to obtain a body that would not be injured, so they planned to cut the Holy Trees and obtain the Holy Trees' sap.

War broke out as a result, and when the mages of the two kingdoms wanted to release the largest-scale attack magic, an anomaly occurred.

A light ring with a diameter of ten kilometers enclosed the wilderness that had turned into a battlefield, cutting it off from the earth and floating it in the air.

The kingdoms' capitals and major cities were all cut off from the earth by the light ring, and numerous elves, humans, and dwarves were sent up into the high sky, with the discs stacked vertically.

Since then, this event has been called the "Earth Severance," and thus Aincrad was born.

This is the game background of SAO, and after entering the game, Shengzai, wearing hemp clothes, appeared in the Town of Beginnings on the first floor of Aincrad.

And accompanied by flashes of blue light around their bodies, figures one after another, just like him, wearing novice outfits, also constantly appeared around him.

This game has a face-pinching function, and even allows for gender selection.

So quite a few people spent a considerable amount of time when creating their characters.

Shengzai, on the other hand, didn't waste time because he knew long ago that he would be revealed, and he even used his real name for the game name, so he was one of the first few people to enter the game.

The Town of Beginnings on the first floor of Aincrad is very large, but with ten thousand people squeezed together, it is not easy to find someone.

In the friend search dialog box, Shengzai directly entered the word "Kirito," and while searching for the other party, he directly sent a friend request.

And not long after that, Shengzai soon received a notification that the friend request had been accepted, and Kirito also replied with a message to him.

"Shengzai, why did you enter the game using your real name?"

His own game character name is Kirito; Kazuto Kirigaya had told Shengzai about this long ago.

And the name "Kirito" is also his game ID that he has always used, which hasn't changed for many years.

"Because I think it's troublesome to think of a fake name; is it not allowed to use my real name?"

Seeing Shengzai's message reply, Kirito also showed a speechless look, and then edited a message: "It's not that it's not allowed, it's just... wait, you entered the game so quickly, you didn't even pinch your character's face, did you?"

"Pinch face? What do you mean?"

"It means modifying the facial module, for example, making yourself look more handsome or something..."

"There seemed to be such a segment before, but I think my face is already handsome enough.

So, being already very satisfied, I skipped all those segments directly."

Seeing the message pop up in the dialog box, Kirito was speechless again.

Originally, he wanted to tease Shengzai for being a game idiot, but for some reason, he suddenly felt a bit stung at this moment.

Because he suddenly discovered that the face he had spent a considerable amount of time meticulously pinching was not as handsome as Shengzai's original face!

He, who had used technology and hard work, was actually silently mocked in reverse by the other party.

"You really are a game novice; like playing this kind of full-dive game, slightly modifying your name and appearance is almost common sense, right?

You not only used your real name, but you didn't even modify your appearance; what if you offend someone in the game, or want to be a keyboard warrior?

You'll be doxxed very quickly!"

Facing the game novice Shengzai, Kirito, as a big shot, earnestly popularized some game common sense for Shengzai.

And while popularizing, Kirito couldn't help but secretly rejoice.

Judging from Shengzai's operations, his best friend is undoubtedly a true "novice," not that kind of level-60 big shot wearing a novice skin.

Previously, Kirito was still worried about whether he could use sword techniques to hang and beat Shengzai in this kind of full-dive game.

But now he is no longer worried at all; Shengzai doesn't even have the basic common sense of the game.

This is clearly a proper novice; if he can't even win against a Shengzai of this level, then what qualifications does he, Kirito, have to be called a hardcore player? He might as well be cremated on the spot.

And while helping Shengzai popularize some game common sense, Kirito was also secretly pleased.

The feeling of a big shot leading a novice—whoever leads knows.

In the real world, Shengzai belongs to that kind of proper big shot, but now in this game world, he, the "Kirito-kun," is the true big shot.

Because the square of the Town of Beginnings is too large, and the number of players entering the game is also increasing.

Out of care for a novice player like Shengzai, Kirito also indicated that Shengzai should wait in place and not run around, and that he would find Shengzai by relying on the team's search function.

Seeing Kirito being so attentive, Shengzai also silently closed the map unfolded in front of him, deciding to be a pure novice and wait for the big shot to find him.

The waiting time was undoubtedly boring; due to the large number of players with naming difficulties and those obsessed with world-shaking beauty who hadn't officially entered the game yet, the big boss Akihiko Kayaba hadn't appeared yet.

And while waiting for Kirito, the bored Shengzai also opened various game interfaces and began to understand this game in detail.

SAO is a role-playing adventure game with swords as the mainstream; the game has various skills, but among them, sword-type skills occupy almost half of all skills.

And what is even more eye-catching about this game is that players can also create unique skills in the game through their own operations.

As long as the moves used are certified by the system, one can create their own skills and have the right to name the skills.

"Is this... a pay-to-win interface?"

When exploring the game SAO, besides the skill mechanism, sub-profession mechanism, back, and other interfaces, Shengzai soon discovered the recharge interface in the game!

Yes, SAO also has a recharge interface; after all, developers making games don't want to not make money.

Regardless of the games that claim to be zero-pay, they all eventually fail to escape the "true fragrance" law; if there is no salary, how can one create happiness, and how can one maintain the game environment?

Because Akihiko Kayaba hasn't appeared yet, the programs and codes haven't been modified; the current SAO is still just an ordinary game and possesses a pay-to-win function.

And Shengzai, looking at the pay-to-win interface in front of him, only hesitated for less than half a minute before soon entering his account and password in the information box.

(End of chapter)