Chapter 108: Floor cleared
*Congratulations for landing the last hit, you obtained [Coat of Midnight!](https://swordartonline.fandom.com/wiki/Coat_of_Midnight)*
The moment he killed Illfang the Kobold Lord, the Cardinal System rewarded him for killing the boss.
"Oh!!!"
The other players cheered in tandem. This marked the first step for the players as they move forward in this game.
"That coordination was superb. If we can move and fight like them, we can do great things. Today was a great learning experience for me..."
"Yeah, the members from the Wings of Freedom are so good with their swords. They pulled big moves while also chaining it to by-pass the Post-Motion. If only I have their skills..."
"You're right, we still have more to learn. They probably trained like crazy to achieve that level of sword proficiency, I reckon their teamwork came from the same hardcore training. If they can do it, so can we, isn't that right, guys?"
"Nn, that might be so, however, I shudder when I think about the stringent training they must have gone through to perform like that. I need to treat this game seriously and train myself accordingly."
"..."
The players started revealing smiles of the hopeful. With one floor down, they only needed to repeat the same thing 99 more times to reach the door of hope. Feng Yu Chen, Saeko, and Inori also taught the players the importance of teamwork and compatible skillsets. A solo player is limited by his abilities in a boss fight. That can be compensated by everyone pitching in to take down an otherwise impossible boss.
Kirito was taken by surprise when he saw easily Feng Yu Chen handled the boss's sudden change in attack patterns. He was expecting Feng Yu Chen to get seriously hurt. Instead, Feng Yu Chen pulled a reverse card on the boss by unleashing his own serious attacks that culminated in the lethal blow that blew a hole right through the boss. It's like he's not bound by the Cardinal System's restriction. He followed up his attacks with skills after skills like he has infinite ammo cheat on. This concept blew his mind.
*1st Floor cleared, tallying results for Unlimited quests
Basic Quest:Blue players: Clear 10 floors solo or in a group.Red Players: Kill 1 Infinite Player and 100 SAO players.
Title Quest:Blue Players: Kill 10 bosses to get [Boss Hunter], kill 30 bosses to get [Boss Ruler], kill 50 bosses to get [The ender of Bosses], kill 100 bosses to get [Sovereign of Boss Extermination]Red Players: Kill 10 Infinite players or 100 SAO players to get [Starlight Slaughterer], kill 20 Infinite players or 300 SAO players to get [Moonlit Slaughterer], Kill 30 Infinite players or 800 SAO players to get [Sunlit Slaughterer], kill 50 Infinite players or 2000 SAO players to get the [King of Carnage].
Ranking Quest: You are one of the 100 players sent into this world, where there are humans, there are conflicts, rise to the top to bring a character inside this Anime back to reality with you.
Current Ranking:
No. 1: Player 007No. 2: Player 005No. 3: Player 055
...
The Infinite System's notification rang in everyone's mind. This is just the beginning, Feng Yu Chen can feel a storm of blood brewing. The basic quest looked rather easy. However, he doubts the other Infinite players would quit when this world still has so much to offer.
In Feng Yu Chen's era, there is no full-dive VR experience. At most, you've got your desktop games, the console titles of PSP, and the likes. There was no advanced technology that can tap and manipulate someone's brainwaves to render a nigh-perfect mimicry of the real world. Although Feng Yu Chen & co got teleported into this game in their physical bodies, there is a sense of adventure in fighting against monsters in a beautiful world like Aincrad.
Given the choice, Infinity Players would probably choose to stay as long as possible in this world. This isn't a messed up world like [Highschool of the Dead], or a world going down the path of destruction like the last one. In contrast, SAO is infinitely more beautiful.
Then, you have the ridiculous title quest. The blue players have it rather chill. As for the red players, they need to kill 50 players or 2000 SAO players to get the title of [King of Carnage]. What is that like?
There are a total of 100 Infinity Players in this game. To get that title, a red player would need to kill at least half of the players in this game. Meanwhile, there are about 10,000 players stuck in this game, killing 2000 SAO players would be equivalent to killing off 20% of the player base. Anyone who achieves that would be well on their way to becoming a demon in human skin.
Feng Yu Chen consciously chose not to become a red player. He feels like his personality would be distorted beyond repair if he killed that many humans. Reaching a stage where one is numb to murder is the hallmark sign of a psychopath or murderous maniac.
There are other Infinity Players who received the same notifications. They vigilantly looked around to see if there are red players lurking around here. They already confirmed but there's no harm in checking again.
Pat pat pat
Feng Yu Chen dusted his hands.
"Alright, we took down the first floor's boss. With this, the Wings of Freedom took a leap forward. Let's continue onto the second floor. After locating the boss, we will start another strategy meeting. Of course, if there are players who feel like they are competent enough to join our guild, the Wings of Freedom."
"Ooohhh!"
The others cheered. With the first step done, they feel like they can continue this momentum and take the second step forward.
The second floor is a savanna realm with boulders and plains scattered across the floor. There are also caves with underground rivers coming from within.
Urbus is the main settlement on the 2nd floor. It's a town roughly 300-meters in diameter. The town is also situated inside a crater with the outer rim forming the gates and city walls.
After going through the first-floor ascension portal, Feng Yu Chen & co arrived on the second floor. Feng Yu Chen & co know from experience that after clearing each floor, players can freely teleport between floors in Aincrad.
This is a feature that helped greatly, players who aren't comfortable with fighting can stay away from the battlefield but they can still get access to higher floors as more and more floors are conquered. They can forget about getting hurt or planning how to grind and fight monsters. There is a minority of players who plan to ride the game out as they sit back and watch the frontliners take care of the floors ahead.
Evidently, there are weaklings in this world. They are either too afraid or unwilling to fight and get hurt. They chose to run away from their problems instead of tackling them head-on. They only wanted to sit back and chill while elite players clear dangerous labyrinths for them. The only problem they needed to solve is how to kill their boredom.
Most players played their part by directly or indirectly contributing to the clearing progress. Firstly, the first floor was rather easy. As they ascend the floors, it's not hard to imagine more and more players tapping out due to difficulty escalation where monsters get more and more dangerous. Staying in their safe zones is the safest bet they can make. They need only wait for their saviors to clear the game for them.
The second floor can be divided into the northern area with more space to move around in compared to the cramp southern area. West is the plains where a lot of bull-like monsters made the place relatively dangerous for bumbling players. Diving deeper into the western region, players will find desolate areas with stronger monsters. The labyrinth is situated inside the deeper parts of the western region.
After Feng Yu Chen & co rested for a day, they made their ways into the desolate areas to increase their levels. They can fight with such high levels of coordination that they easily wiped the floor with the monsters here. Given enough time, the players will eventually catch up, by which time, Feng Yu Chen & co will proceed into areas with stronger monsters.