Under Xia Yan's urging, Klein scurried to each room, rousing everyone from their sleep.
In the early stages of SAO, players didn't have any gourmet food to satisfy their appetites, so breakfast was simply a matter of consuming some dry bread to quell their hunger pangs.
Actually, in SAO, even if players didn't eat, their characters wouldn't lose health or gain detrimental status effects.
However, SAO was a game that simulated reality.
In the real world, normal humans needed to eat daily to replenish their energy.
Therefore, SAO also incorporated similar simulated functions.
While players wouldn't receive negative status effects on their characters for not eating, the emptiness in their stomachs would torment their minds, constantly reminding them of their hunger and making it impossible for them to truly focus on the game.
Similarly, sleep, another unavoidable human desire, was an essential element in the game.
Players wouldn't acquire detrimental status effects if they didn't replenish their spirits through sleep, but they would be afflicted by drowsiness.
These two basic desires were essential for players to enjoy the game properly.
Fortunately, these two fundamental desires were easily addressed in SAO.
Soon, everyone rose, gathered on the first floor of the inn, ate some simple dry bread on the way, and then headed towards their designated leveling location.
After grinding monsters at the leveling spot for a while, everyone quickly fell into a rhythm, mastering the pace of monster hunting.
"Although a multi-player team's monster-killing efficiency is significantly higher than that of a single player, the experience points are split evenly, which is barely enough."
Xia Yan shook his head as he looked at the slowly increasing experience bar.
He had leveled up again last night while completing the "Tempered Sword" quest.
Therefore, monsters that yielded abundant experience for others were not particularly appealing to him.
Seeing Klein and the others proficiently grinding monsters, having grasped the rhythm of monster hunting,
After a period of team grinding, Xia Yan and Kirito exchanged greetings with Klein and his group, before heading to a map with higher-level monsters to level up.
After taking care of Klein's group for almost a day, Xia Yan felt he had done enough.
Just like Kirito's initial thought, SAO had become a game of resource acquisition.
Ordinary leveling monsters would constantly respawn, but some special monsters, treasure chests, and other similar items did not respawn.
These things were documented in the beta testing materials purchased by the Suzuki family, and Xia Yan was certainly not going to miss them.
More importantly, large-scale team grinding offered negligible improvement to Xia Yan's swordsmanship, as teammates would try their best to fill in any gaps, preventing him from quickly identifying his weaknesses. He could only mechanically swing his sword at monsters.
However, for Xia Yan, he had already moved beyond the stage of relying on mechanical sword swings to improve his swordsmanship.
Unless a sudden epiphany or similar event occurred, improving swordsmanship purely through mechanical sword swings was generally a slim chance.
Facing monsters alone with his own swordsmanship, navigating through numerous monsters, wielding his blade, and compensating for his shortcomings, was the fastest way to enhance his understanding of swordsmanship.
One of Xia Yan's motivations for playing SAO was to improve his swordsmanship through this game.
The two first went to a new town to enhance the "Tempered Sword" they had obtained yesterday.
Then, they arrived at an area where high-level monsters gathered. Kirito and Xia Yan tacitly separated, each choosing a zone to begin leveling up.
As evening approached, Xia Yan felt fatigued and stopped grinding monsters.
While solo grinding yielded more experience and allowed for better swordsmanship training, it also had its drawbacks: it could be monotonous.
After reuniting with Kirito, the two quickly returned to the main group and met up with Klein and the others.
After a day of leveling, everyone in the group had surpassed level five.
"Let's head back to "Horuka" to rest, and then you guys take on the "Tempered Sword" quest. You're all at the level to accept it now."
Hearing Xia Yan's words, everyone perked up.
Despite being exhausted from a day of grinding monsters, the thought of acquiring a new weapon soon filled them with renewed energy, alleviating most of their fatigue.
The group first returned to the village of "Horuka" to rest, then headed to the "Tempered Sword" quest forest.
The "Tempered Sword" was a solo quest, meaning it couldn't be completed as a team. They had to disband and then grind for quest items.
However, Klein and the others' strength was nowhere near that of Xia Yan and Kirito.
Although they met the level requirement, they couldn't complete the quest independently, as it was a time-limited task.
Even Asuna, who had significantly better growth potential than Klein and the others, still couldn't match Xia Yan and Kirito.
Therefore, if they wanted to finish the quest within the time limit, they would need to help one person at a time and then rotate.
While everyone was grinding monsters in the forest, Xia Yan took a stroll through the forest and found the Moonlight Swift Weasel from yesterday.
The little monster was lying on a patch of moonlit ground, eyes closed in slumber.
After the lesson from last night, Xia Yan didn't approach this time. Instead, he turned back and found Klein.
"Klein, your initial skill is Invisibility, right?"
Xia Yan inquired.
"Yeah."
Klein nodded.
"Do me a favor."
With Klein's consent, Xia Yan quickly brought him to the area where the Moonlight Swift Weasel was resting.
"A special monster?"
Seeing the white weasel basking in the moonlight, Klein's eyes lit up. A monster with such a unique appearance was surely extraordinary.
"I stumbled upon it by chance. Kirito said it might be a special monster that could be tamed as a pet, but I can't get close to it."
Xia Yan didn't hide the truth.
Knowing the plot, Klein was trustworthy.
"Damn life winner, even your luck in games is so good."
Klein immediately complained with envy: "What do I need to do?"
"Use your Invisibility skill to get close to it. See if you can approach it."
Xia Yan explained.
"No problem."
After agreeing, Kra immediately used his Invisibility skill, disappearing from sight.
Invisibility was actually a stealth skill, but it had a time limit. It would become visible again after three seconds.
Kra trod on the grass, moving towards the Moonlight Swift Weasel.
However, to Xia Yan's disappointment, just like before, when Kra got within three meters of the Moonlight Swift Weasel, the creature immediately became alert, rose to its feet, and fled swiftly.
"Don't run!"
Klein immediately went to chase after it.
"Don't chase it, you can't catch it."
Xia Yan stopped Klein.
"Damn, this monster is too fast, right?"
Klein complained, the white weasel disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye.
"Yeah, it's too fast. Players can't catch it with their speed."
Xia Yan shrugged helplessly.
"Are we just going to let it go? Even if it can't be tamed as a pet, this special monster must drop rare items."
Klein was also reluctant to give up.
"Let's see if we can find any information about it later."
Xia Yan said, then returned to the spot where everyone was grinding monsters with Klein.
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