At this moment, Xia Yan was standing in a vast plaza.
It was paved with wide stone slabs, surrounded by rows of trees lining the streets, and the streets were filled with medieval architectural styles.
In the distance, there was a huge palace emitting a black glow.
Through the closed beta information, Xia Yan naturally knew that it was a palace called 'Black Iron Palace'.
During the closed beta, in the world of SAO, if players died, they would resurrect in the 'Black Iron Palace'.
The plaza where Xia Yan was located was the starting point of the game - the Starting Town.
“They're all speed demons!”
Xia Yan scanned the plaza, letting out a sigh.
Besides him, there were already many people standing in the plaza.
They were all players who had entered the game as soon as it opened.
It was only 1:02 PM now, and there were already so many players. It was evident how fast these players were.
At the same time, data-like flashes of light appeared on the plaza.
These flashes turned into figures, all players who had entered SAO.
Xia Yan glanced over these players, each of them had clear eyes and delicate features, wearing the initial equipment given by the game system.
These outfits were varied, and the players' hairstyles and hair colors were all different. The only commonality was that all these players had high looks.
Regardless of gender, they could be considered school beauties and heartthrobs in the outside world.
Of course, these were not their real appearances.
Like other games, they were all virtual images.
However, Xia Yan was too lazy to create a character model, knowing it was a waste of time. He entered the game with his original image.
“Is this the world of SAO?”
“Wow! It's so real! It was worth queuing for three days to buy this public beta qualification!”
“Oh no, I'm so moved, I'm going to fly.”
In the plaza, players cheered and exclaimed excitedly, making the plaza extremely lively.
Of course, many players were still experiencing their virtual bodies, while others had begun to disperse in all directions, experiencing the feeling of a town like the Starting Town, completely different from reality.
“I'll go buy a weapon first.”
Xia Yan glanced at the wooden sword in his hand with disgust.
This was also a novice equipment given by the game system. Whether it was durability, attack power, or the feel of holding it, it was all incredibly trash.
Taking a step forward, Xia Yan left the plaza and quickly sprinted through the streets of the Starting Town.
“Although my physical fitness is not as good as my real-life level, it's still above average, very light and agile.”
Feeling the speed, Xia Yan silently compared it to his real-life level in his mind, adjusting his feeling in this world, making himself more accustomed to the rhythm of this virtual body.
On the street, there were shops and buildings everywhere, with occasional calls from shopkeepers, discussions from pedestrians, and even sounds of hammering and collisions.
Passing by Xia Yan were not only players but also NPCs almost indistinguishable from real people.
These NPCs seemed no different from real people, but their actions and conversations were fixed. Unless they triggered a quest or found a question they were programmed to answer, they would all refuse or not respond.
Xia Yan found a weapon shop on the street, bought a basic iron sword, and then left the town as fast as he could.
Beyond the gates of the Starting Town, Xia Yan was met with a vast expanse of emerald green grassland stretching out in all directions.
This was the wilderness area, a good place for novice players to level up at the beginning.
“Ugh!”
A strange cry reached Xia Yan's ears. Following the sound, he saw a wild boar with blue fur and red eyes in the distance to his left rear.
This boar had a red floating tag, and its name was - Raging Mountain Boar.
“Perfect, time to try out my skills.”
Xia Yan gripped the iron sword in his hand, charged forward, and landed a strike on the boar.
The boar's health bar dropped a small notch.
“The damage is a bit low. At this rate, it would take about five hits to kill a level one monster.”
Xia Yan glanced at the progress of the boar's health bar, understanding his current damage output.
The boar, in pain, glared at Xia Yan with its red eyes.
Letting out a comical yet furious squeal, the boar charged at Xia Yan with a movement like a wild bull, kicking its back legs a few times, kicking up dust, and then charging towards Xia Yan.
It wasn't particularly fast, and Xia Yan easily dodged to the side.
Following the information collected from the internal beta, Xia Yan assumed a posture. This was a special attack method in SAO.
By assuming a specific posture, one could activate the sword skill corresponding to that posture.
“Whoosh—!”
The next second, with the assistance of the SAO system's guidance, Xia Yan's body shot forward from where he stood, the blade landing once again on the boar.
“Sshhh!”
A very realistic sound of flesh tearing rang out, the blade carving a long gash in the boar's body, with simulated blood splattering out in red fragments.
The boar's health bar dropped rapidly, finally reaching zero.
It let out a mournful cry, its whole body stiffened and fell to the ground, finally dissolving into a pink cloud of fragments and disappearing.
With the boar's death, a series of information appeared before Xia Yan's eyes, all rewards for killing the boar.
“The sword skill feels a bit clunky.”
Xia Yan swung the iron sword.
Sword skills in SAO were designed to be as close to reality as possible.
Kayaba Akihiko had poured his heart and soul into this game, and he had also brought in real-life sword masters to design the sword skills.
However, the way these sword skills were used was determined by the game system, making Xia Yan, who had some swordsmanship, feel a bit uncomfortable.
“This feeling of chopping down real things is much more enjoyable than just randomly waving a sword to practice.”
After testing it once, Xia Yan confirmed that the world of SAO could be used to practice his skills in the real world.
Although his physical body was still asleep in the outside world, as long as he trained hard enough in SAO and formed muscle memory-like reactions.
When he logged out of SAO, his virtual attributes would disappear, but his memories and experience would remain in his mind.
With just a little training, he could re-develop the experience gained in SAO and use it in the real world.
..........
Looking for flowers, looking for comments, please trouble the readers who are passing by.