Chapter 226

The main menu that popped up after the bell sound was divided into two parts.

On the left is a menu tab that can be clicked. Items, skills, system settings, etc. could be found there. Simply tap it to browse the desired option.

On the right, there was a character icon that showed equipment. Tapping on the part of the character, such as a hand, will allow the player to equip or remove items. Of course, the equipment was stored in the items section.

At present, Rozen only had the armor, which was the simple garment he was currently wearing, it provided low defense stat, and there was no additional effect, that made sense since it was the free equipment distributed to everyone in the early game.

As for the weapons, players had to go to the weapons store to purchase them first.

At the beginning of the game, each character got a certain amount of Cor which was the in-game currency.

Players could buy various items with the starting Cor they had and climbed their way up from there by killing monsters.

Of course, that included Rozen as well, and the amount of Cor all players received at the beginning of the game was the same.

If they wanted to earn more Cor, they could defeat monsters or clear quests. If they were lucky, they might even get it from a treasure box scattered throughout Aincrad, or sell the items dropped from monsters.

In SAO, there were only four parameters that could be upgraded, it was STR (strength), AGI (agility), Max Hp, and Skill Level.

In addition, whenever a player leveled up, they will get a certain number of free attribute points, which they could use to increase the value of STR and AGI. The allocation of these attribute points will determine the role of a player later in the game.

For example, Kazuto maxed out AGI for his character during closed beta, will he do the same this time?

On the contrary, Rozen was still not sure which role he planned to pick.

After all, none of the roles he knew suited him.

Without further ado, Rozen quickly added Kazuto as a friend because he had somewhere to go.

“I hope that thing is still there…”

Rozen hoped in his heart

In the next second a window popped up in front of Kazuto

“The player “Rozen” requests to be your friend. Do you accept it? ”

Below this window, the options for “yes” and “no” appear.

And Kazuto tapped “yes” without hesitation.

Then, a window popped up in front of Rozen.

“The player “Kirito” has become your friend.”

Looking at the name of the character displayed on this window, Rozen immediately said.

“Kirito? Are you still using the nick from the beta test? Come on you can do better than that.”

Kirito was just an abbreviation of Kirigaya Kazuto, which obviously lacked naming sense in Rozen’s eyes.

In response, Kazuto said.

“Didn’t you also use the same nick in the beta test? And what’s with that name Rozen anyway?”

Rozen wanted to say because it was his real name, but if did, then he’ll be in no position to patronize Kazuto saying that he had no naming sense, so he decided to keep quiet and closed the menu

“Well, I am going to that place next. If you wanted to party, just send me a message.” Rozen said

Kazuto nodded in response and immediately said

“Then I will go to the weapons store first, be sure not to forget your weapon, dying to a level 1 monster on the first day would be embarrassing after all, right Aoga?”

Hearing Kazuto’s joke, Rozen smiled slightly.

“Don’t call my real name in this world, just use my character name.”

Rozen suggested.

“Then, you do the same.”

And Kazuto… No, Kirito nodded and suggested the same.

“Got it.”

After closing their conversation with those words, Rozen waved his hand and once again flashed away with the speed that he’d never be able to imagine in the real world.

Looking at Rozen who gradually faded from his line of sight, there was slight jealousy in Kirito’s eyes.

“If I can have that, then it would be fine. ”

Too bad, Kirito couldn’t do what Rozen did.

“If only I could have that too.”

Kirito shook his head and then headed straight toward the weapons store.

During less than half an hour since the server started, most players were still in the town.

Only a few rushed to the weapons store and then head straight outside the safe zone to grind their levels, they were obviously either veteran in game or beta testers like Rozen and Kazuto

Of course, Rozen was a game veteran too, but he didn’t leave the safe zone for leveling.

“I hope ‘that thing’ is still…”

Rozen said those sentences over and over again, even after he reached the Town of Beginning’s gate.

After leaving the town of the beginning, Rozen saw vast grassland stretched out to as far as eyes could see.

There was a forest north to the grasslands, lakes in the south, walls of the Town of Beginning in the east, and vast skies clouds in the west.

Ain Grande was a floating castle consisted of 100 floors with a pyramid-like structure, which meant the higher floor it was, the smaller the area.

On the contrary, the Aincrad’s 1st floor was the biggest floor of all.

According to the data from the game’s publisher, Aincrad’s 1st floor was about 10 kilometers radius.

And Rozen’s current destination was the forest in the north of the Town of Beginnings.

To go there, he must travel through the several kilometers of grasslands in front of him.

If this was in the real world, Rozen wouldn’t be able to do it without using magic.

But in this world, it all depended on the player’s avatar.

If a player moved or did something that exceeded their current strength, the player’s stamina will quickly decrease, and once the stamina depleted, they will have “fatigued” status on their avatar.

In other words, as long as he didn’t run at a speed that exceeded his character’s current physical ability, Rozen should be able to reach the forest.

However, before that…

“Woo!”

Rozen heard a strange cry, which stopped him on his track.

Then, Rozen saw it.

A boar with blue fur and red eyes showed up near him.

The color cursor above that boar was red.

That creature was called Crazy Boar.

Needless to say, that was a monster.

Level 1 monster.

Looking at this boar who glared at him, Rozen hesitated for a while and decided.

“Let’s see if the combat method I picked up during the beta test will be useful after the open beta.”