Chapter 104: Wings of Freedom
Feng Yu Chen wasn’t familiar with the battle flow at first, he wasn’t used to taking up a stance (pre-motion) to fire a skill.
Given enough to familiarize himself with the battles in here, Feng Yu Chen started to make his own unique sword skills. Driven by his desire to surpass Saeko in sword mastery, he studied under his father to sharpen his sword skills.
Coincidentally, a Wu-Tang Sect practitioner passed by and heard about Feng Yu Chen’s eager desire to master the art of the sword. Hence, this practitioner taught him the Extreme Mysterious Sword Art. It’s a sublime skill indeed unlike the supernatural sword qi attacks that were blown out of proportion in Wuxia novels.
Wu Tang’s existence in ancient China is undoubted, sword arts are famous legacies left by them. Extreme Mysterious Sword Art is one of its more famous legacies. In a way, it’s second only to Tai Chi when measuring its fame. They also only taught worthy disciples so there aren’t a lot of practitioners nowadays.
Guess what the practitioner said to Feng Yu Chen when he examined Feng Yu Chen? Yeap…
“Hello, younger brother, your meridians and bones are very pure and robust…”
Then, the practitioner taught everything he knew to Feng Yu Chen and he soaked it up like a sponge. For an average human, the lessons would have only culminated in slightly better health. However, Feng Yu Chen augmented his skills with Infinity Energy, unlocking the essence hidden within his sword strikes, he discovered illusory images when he swung his sword.
Infinity Energy substituted as the magic energy or qi or mana frequently touted in novels. With this supernatural energy, he sculpted the Extreme Mysterious Sword Art into a sword skill that is out of this world. He also unlocked his energy parameter. Using his newfound sword skills, he managed to force Saeko into a steady retreat in their regular duels.
What a terrifying power, an ancient sword art strengthened by Infinity Energy.
Inside SAO, he can still use his newly found Energy, this also meant he can use skills like Sharingan. Being able to use skills that didn’t exist in this virtual realm, he slaughtered his way through monsters like a reaper on a battlefield. In just a few dozen days, he already cleared his way up to the labyrinth housing the floor boss.
Feng Yu Chen & co isn’t afraid to beat anyone who wanted to stir up trouble. More like, trouble found them because they were hogging good training spots. They were schooled in duels and sent packing back home while Feng Yu Chen & co grew in fame.
Wings of Freedom started becoming a buzz word in the early stages of the game.
Led by Feng Yu Chen, Inori, Saeko, Haruna, Zi Yue Ling, and Xiao Han Yue became salient players who were as strong as they were charming.
The more they grew in power, the more people wanted to join them. Feng Yu Chen’s entry requirement turned away many hopeful applicants.
Herein are the requirements before they are even considered for entry:
Condition 1: Must be younger than 25 years old
Condition 2: Perceive herself/himself as a hot lady or beefcake.
Condition 3: Take on 3 monsters at the same time and come out without any injury
Condition 4: Survive 3 attacks from an elite member, Busujima Saeko.
Exception 1: Sub-jobs main players must be of Grandmaster or higher
Exception 2: Cute lolis are welcomed.
Exception 2 was made by Zi Yue Ling’s emergency memo. Clearly, she pegged Feng Yu Chen as a rorikon.
To spread the fame of his guild further, Feng Yu Chen initiated the first boss fight strategy meeting. Anyone who thinks they can stand the boss fights were encouraged to participate. In the dozens of days that came, few dared to actually venture into the labyrinth. Because he convened the meeting in the center of the plaza of the Town of Beginnings, players came in droves to witness the Wings of Freedom.
Feng Yu Chen began when enough players gathered.
“Alright, we are not beta players as some of you might think. Now, we are this good because we are all trained swordsmen of a certain sword school. We are also more familiar with fights than your average youngster.
I believe most of you felt Saeko’s prowess and know I am speaking the truth. Admittedly, she’s inhumanly good with her sword. She’s also the general of our sword division.
We are not trying to pull anything here. It would be outrageous to ask you guys to participate in boss fights when you don’t know anything about the participants and the risk involved. It’s going to be tough and we would feel very remorseful if you guys die soon after joining the fight.
We plan to take the forward position as the main attackers. While we rest, support fighters are expected to hold the ground before we resume our assault. Prudence is the keyword here, anything less than that and you are playing with fire.
Once we succeed, everyone will be able to enter the second floor. Those with quick wits will quickly recognize this as being beneficial for everyone. More maps and places to train means we can all level up faster and generally clear the game faster.
Gold will be evenly shared between participants. Equipment will not be shared as we are the ones taking the most risk, it’s only fair we get the good loot, right?
Or, don’t join. We will still send you the news of clearing the boss after we arrive on the second floor. Our mission statement is to allow everyone to freely soar into the sky. This game cannot stop us, if we band together and try our best, we will definitely be able to win in the end. We will all bust our way out of this death game.
Even a caged bird has a pair of wings that can fly it to liberty. Flap your wings and struggle for your freedom. Now, raise your hands if you want to join, I will note down your names.”
Feng Yu Chen rallied the players around him. He also dispelled rumors about being a beta tester (Beater). He was upfront about the fight. He also promised to come back and teach everyone how he beat the floor.
He also had an idealistic mission statement for his Wings of Freedom guild. Wings of Freedom sounded extremely pleasant on the ears of people who are imprisoned in this game.
Players wanted to join this guild but Feng Yu Chen decided that this was a guild for elite players only. There aren’t a lot of players who can live up to Wings of Freedom’s stringent requirement. Zi Yue Ling’s 2nd Exemption clause also gave the guild a second name, the Lolicon guild. Lolis were allowed entry no question asked…
Feng Yu Chen wanted to take it back but Zi Yue Ling already spread the news far and wide.
Finally, only a little more than a dozen people dared to brave the danger of trying their hands at the first Floor Boss. They wanted to rely on Feng Yu Chen & co to clear the floor and then come back to them with good news.
There were a lot of familiar faces among the volunteers. Kirito, Asuna, Agil, Diavel, Kibaou…
There were a bunch of Infinite players mixed in this batch. They can distinguish them from the native players by the color indicators on top of their heads. Blue is for blue players and red is for red players. This made it a lot easier to distinguish between allies and foes. They didn’t see any red players here, only blue players. He didn’t think a red player would be dumb enough to appear in such a public space, that would be equivalent to asking for summary execution by all the blue players here. Not to mention, they aren’t ready to take on a foe like Feng Yu Chen.
Like in the original work, Asuna disguised herself in a red cloak. He identified her almost immediately on sight. The Infinite male player volunteers probably wanted to get to know Asuna as well. Female Infinite Players are probably different. They can probably keep private affairs separate from business.
Feng Yu Chen didn’t want to simp on Asuna like a fanboy. That would be stupid, he gave everyone a curt nod as he noted down their fighting styles.
“Alright, let’s gather 3 days from now, same place, same time, use the remaining time to grind up your levels and reach your peak form, you’re gonna need it in the upcoming boss fight. Dismiss!”