Chapter 96 [There Is Sword Art Online Before, but the Elden Ring]

Rock slowly opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was the familiar ones.

Including him, the Death, Fire and Sea trio, the beast-type Pokémon and Digimon. Hogwarts also has a salary thief.

And behind them is a Rock who has not woken up yet.

"Wait, don't wake him up yet, let him have a good rest." The salary thief Rock suggested.

Being able to fall asleep in the gray fog space, I'm afraid the other party's survival pressure in the world is very high.

There is no need for Rock to be too harsh on Rock.

Just let the other party rest quietly for a while.

Several Rocks looked at each other, then ran to the side to form a circle and chat about each other's recent experiences. Although they can know what the other party has done after sharing memories, before sharing memories, several Rocks can also talk to each other for a while and talk to each other. After all, such opportunities are rare.

"Are you already a sophomore at Hogwarts?"

"I'm still making slow progress in building a digital body with a digital core..."

"I just became Hokage recently, and I feel like there will be a lot of trouble."

"I'm still stealing wages."

The few people chatted, almost without connecting to each other, but they all understood what the other person was saying.

"You..." The newcomer Rock slept for a long time, finally woke up, and looked at everyone.

He felt that the group of people in front of him brought him an inexplicable sense of familiarity, which was the throbbing from the soul, and the feeling of wanting to merge with these people.

"Rock, everyone is Rock." Bulbasaur Rock wrapped his hand with vines.

In an instant, the Rocks were in tune with each other.

They also knew what kind of world the newcomers came from.

——

With the major breakthrough in human neural connection technology.

The helmet-type virtual device called "NERvGear" is also popular in the market.

Rock, who was reincarnated in this world, has lived here for 20 years. He was admitted to the University of Tokyo and lived an enviable life in his new life.

Everything was going so smoothly until Rock came across a full-dive game—a black technology that he had never encountered in his previous life, which allows people to completely immerse themselves in the virtual world and take risks.

This also successfully reminded him of an anime he had watched a long time ago, Sword Art Online.

There are many works of this type, but when it comes to the helmet-type virtual device "NERvGear", Rock can only think of Sword Art Online.

He vaguely remembered that after the game was launched, players could not log out or revive, and had to complete the game before returning to the real world.

Countless players were trapped in the game for real adventures.

‘Let’s avoid the death game called SAO. ’

Rock thought so. In this era, it is impossible to completely avoid virtual reality devices, just like modern life refuses to use mobile phones.

Even his future work environment will inevitably be forced to move closer to virtual devices, otherwise he will always be eliminated by the world.

But the puzzlement is that he has indeed never heard of any game called "Sword Art Online" on the market, only some full-dive versions of popular stand-alone games in his previous life.

This made Rock enjoy playing games in his free time. The only thing that made him dissatisfied was that his gaming talent seemed average.

To be honest, before crossing to this world, Rock felt that he was not so bad at playing games, but was actually quite good.

It was only after crossing to this world that this situation occurred. However, Rock quickly let it go, considering that it was a full stealth game after all, and he had never come into contact with it in his previous life.

Until 2022, the year when "SAO" in the original Sword Art Online was publicly tested, Rock did not see any internal testing news of "SAO", let alone hear about the genius Kayaba Akihiko.

On the contrary, the news that Hidetaka Miyazaki fell from the altar again was heard from time to time.

And a familiar annual game "Elden Ring" recently ended its short internal testing and started public testing.

Rock naturally wanted to try the gold content of the full stealth version of the annual game in his previous life.

So he resolutely entered this game.

Then.

Unable to log out.

…

People have been trapped in this game for the sixth day.

When I first came here, the golden tree shone brightly on the earth, and the oblique light dyed the vast grassland with a layer of gold. Even the sky in the distance reflected the glory of the law. Under the blue sky were golden clouds, as if everything was so beautiful, and the border area felt quite prosperous.

However, when people were really trapped here, they realized that under the dazzling gold was an unconcealable decline, the vast land was dull and colorless, and even the sky was cloudy. Even in the Airey Church, they could not resist the cold wind blowing from the Storm Hill.

The Airey Church where the player is now is an ancient building with a long history. It has fine stone carvings, semicircular arches, towering bell towers, and the fourth blessing point that the player urgently needs. In other games, it should be like a safe house at the end of the world.

However, in this death game today, the Airey Church has long been dilapidated.

Its walls, which were once full of vitality and sacredness, are now covered with black mold and signs of weathering. The beautiful arches and eaves have long collapsed, and the remaining bell tower is crumbling in the wind and rain. Only desolation, desolation and loneliness remain, and the wind that keeps blowing in is still whistling.

The cold wind seeping in through the broken wall continues to deprive people of their sense of security, making it difficult for players to fall asleep after dark.

Rock, who had just closed his eyes but had actually been resting in the gray mist space for a while, opened his eyes again.

Such a slight movement was keenly noticed by another player beside him.

"Are you awake? Can't you sleep?"

"Hmm...can't sleep."

After hearing what Rock said, the other party nodded. It was really not easy to fall asleep in this environment, because this game was really scary.

Aincrad in Sword Art Online still has a huge town for players to rest, and Elden's Ring, even the designated blessing point, is not really safe now.

Rock turned his head and looked at the huge golden knight outside the ruined Airey Church - the big tree guard.

The other party was standing outside the door of Airey Church, watching the players here.

The huge body and pupils with murderous intent made the player unconsciously press their back against the dilapidated wall.

The numerical values ​​​​in the game are a bit weird. It is not the electronic cricket fight of the previous life, which can beat the gods with twenty knights. Instead, it is closer to a fantasy-like reality. It is almost useless to pile up the numbers.

And this is the information that was tested with life - there is already a lot of blood at the feet of the big tree guard.

These dead players will not respawn like faded players, but will actually die.

Because this is a soul-based game that must be completed in one life.

——

On a quiet night, it is not the chirping of cicadas that accompanies people to sleep.

Instead, it was the screams and wails of the hanging dead.

They were hung on the mast like sails, adding another touch to the already weird night in Nimgofu.

"It's normal to not be able to sleep." The other party seemed to start chatting, "After all, the gap between this game and the closed beta is really big..."

"The gap is too big? What was it like during the closed beta?" Rock was a little confused.

"Eh? Aren't you a beta player?"

The other party was a little shocked. Most of the current players were still at the blessing point at the beginning of the guidance. Those who could muster the courage to step out of their comfort zone and reach the Airey Church were basically first-line players.

They are either closed beta players or people with extremely high natural qualities.

Because Ningmu Gefu is vaster than imagined, and it is completely different from the ideal situation where it can be reached within a short walk. From the beginning of the guide to Airey Church, the frontline players did not arrive here until the sixth day.

He observed Rock's behavior on the road and felt that Rock should be quite familiar with the Ring of Magic.

I thought he was a closed beta player like me...

‘Is it because the game feels intuitive? ’

It's like if you play the game too much, you will have this feeling. You think there is a treasure chest over there, but after you go there, you will find that there is actually a treasure chest.

This is intuitive, a collision between game design and player experience.

The other party did not continue to dwell on this point, but directly gave Rock a demonstration - he reached into Rock's backpack and generously took out the Roja Fruit from it.

Rock looked at the [Roa Fruit] that the other party took out - this is a material that can be easily obtained everywhere in the border area. It is not very precious. He picked it on the way.

"Look, the "stealing" is completed." He put the Roja fruit back into Rock's backpack with a solemn expression.

"It's your turn, come and try to lift my clothes."

Because Rock chose to start as a useless person, he did not have initial equipment.

The swordsman he chose still had the initial equipment on him, so he could only demonstrate it.

Rock glanced at the opponent, hesitated for a moment, not knowing where to start, and finally took off the cloth strip on the opponent's face, because the swordsman's equipment could be covered by lifting up his face. Rock kept I don’t know what the other person looks like.

After unwrapping the cloth, a handsome-looking boy appeared to be young.

A bit familiar, Rock looked at it carefully for a while.

Seems to be……

"My ID is roke, Roke." Roke stretched out his hand, wanting to know the other person's ID.

"Oh...my ID is Kirito, Kirito." It is the abbreviation of the Roman phonetic Kirigaya Kazuto, which is Kirigaya Kazuto.

As a social fear, Kirito subconsciously reported his ID, but then he hurriedly covered his face with his clothes.

"You see, just like reality, the clothes in other games are just templates, but here, the same clothes can even be worn in different ways." He said in a low voice.

"What's even scarier is that others are allowed to take off their clothes."

There is absolutely no protection system in this regard...

The little boy was in the church now, his eyes alert, as if he was wary of the presence of a priest around him.

"This doesn't just mean stealing equipment or simply robbing other people's belongings, but it also goes deeper..." He hinted that Rock should be careful.

In the first few days of the game, players still have some humanity to speak of, but later on, in this decaying and terrifying world, under huge pressure, it is possible for people to do anything.

"And this is a degree of freedom that is not available during the closed beta. The plot of the closed beta seems to have completely disappeared." He quietly lowered his voice: "During the closed beta, players will meet a witch named Melina, who will give the player the Holy Grail. bottle."

The Holy Grail bottle is the so-called red and blue medicine, which can replenish the blood volume and blue volume.

And they don't have the Holy Grail bottle now, maybe they need to get it themselves later.

"In the blessed land at the front of the next level, Melina will also give the player a spiritual horse named Torret." At this point, he hesitated.

To be honest, he wanted to be the first to reach the front of the level to see if the first player would get the reward.

But after thinking about it, the game intuition told him that there would be no reward.

This is not this type of game.

During the internal test period, each player was independent and played in their own world, but in the current life and death game, players are concentrated on a map, and both the degree of freedom and resources are very different from the internal test.

Even the upgrade, which should have been undertaken by Melina, is now done by the players themselves.

The players are completely independent, without any guidance, just like throwing people directly into a real world!

Even Kirito, who is used to being a lone wolf, is a little uneasy when facing the difference in intelligence.

After hearing what Kirito said, if it was Rock before, he might feel a little uncomfortable, because this is more like a real world, and it is difficult to guarantee that he can turn over with intelligence alone.

But now, Rock, who returned from the gray fog space, felt a little relieved.

Not only because his gaming talent has improved at this moment, but also because among all the Rocks in the gray fog space, there is a Digimon.

Because the rules of his world are very special, wandering between reality and data.

This leads to the fact that the improvement of Rocks in other worlds is not obvious. Only combat experience, skills, and talents have really helped him.

But he is different in the Digimon world. The help he gives is very exaggerated.

Rock called out his own panel.

"Useless person: Rock"

Level: 1

Vitality: 10

Concentration: 10

...

Rock's eight data, vitality, concentration, endurance, strength, dexterity, intelligence, faith, and induction, are all standard 10 points.

But this is not the key...

Rock called out the panel again, and the useless person's data panel suddenly reversed.

A strange talent table was revealed behind the data board.

"Pray to the God of Death": "Pray to another world, and only you can respond to yourself."

[Effect: Greatly increase the power of all prayers. 】

"The Birth of the Dark Lord": "With the blessing of the ancient wizards of Hogwarts, there are no taboos in magic."

[Effect: Greatly increases the power of all magic. 】

"The Pretentious Navy": "When I started to abstract, my vitality was comparable to that of Tom and Jerry."

[Effect: Greatly increases vitality, strength, and endurance. 】

"Detective? Police? Salary Thief!": "Go fishing, because work is meaningless."

[Effect: Greatly increases sensitivity, intelligence, and dexterity. 】

"The Vegetative Man's Rhetoric": "Learn to infuse damage from now on."

[Effect: Can greatly increase the attack power of combat skills. 】

...

After sharing with Digimon Rock, he and Digimon, who are both data bodies, have almost maximized the improvement between each other.

In a sense, he may be the only humanoid Digimon in the game world. Although he cannot modify the data of the game world, he can condense his own data as a Digimon.

Although the Digimon Rock's Digicore cannot be perfectly reproduced, Rock can transform each Digicore into his own talent under the rules of the world.

The bonus of the talent is actually based on the amulet system in the game.

Rock can only transform five talents at present, and the data of the other two beast types - the Digicore of Pokémon and Digimon itself, are somewhat difficult to transform.