Both time-traveled characters ended up as villainous henchmen.

"Hey, have you heard? A special NPC has recently appeared in the Mirror Lake Forest area on the 45th floor. If you fight and defeat him, you'll always get a rare item reward!"

"Really? Is it a guaranteed drop of rare items?"

"Moreover, the rare items that drop come in all sorts of varieties, and you can even farm them repeatedly. The only downside is that the rare items that drop cannot be traded; they can only be owned by the player."

"Sounds great, but isn't the random drop rate a bit too much of a rip-off?"

"Heh, why don't you try it yourself and see if it's a scam or not?"

"What kind of look is that? Do you think I can't even get past an NPC on the 45th floor?"

"hehe."

"You just wait, I'm going to get some rare items and slap you in the face!"

Evan's face flushed red as he angrily pointed at his friend Rhys. Without further ado, he decisively entered the town's transfer stone tablet, preparing to head to the forty-fifth floor.

Seeing Evan successfully teleport away, Rhys chuckled, revealing a sly smile of triumph.

The special NPC on the 45th floor can indeed consistently drop rare items, but successfully challenging him is no easy feat.

The battle against that special NPC is a one-on-one duel, which naturally limits most players in the game who do not have the ability to fight alone.

Finally, and most importantly, that special NPC is just too strong. Players who go to challenge him usually have to fail seven or eight times and memorize his move patterns before they can succeed.

Fortunately, failing a challenge against an NPC does not deduct all health points; a quarter of the health is retained and automatically replenished after the challenge ends. Otherwise, no player would bother to attempt the challenge.

"Evan, just wait and you'll get brutally beaten!"

……

Forty-five floors.

In the woods west of Mirror Lake Forest.

A gurgling spring gushes from the cracks in the rocks, forming a stream that cascades down from a two-person-high blue stone, gathering into a tranquil, deep pool.

Sunlight filters through the gaps in the trees, adding a touch of vibrancy to this serene scene.

Not far from the deep pool is a clearing in the woods about the size of a basketball court.

On the open ground, Evan, covered in dust and dirt, lay on the ground, looking at the clear sky circled by leaves and his health bar, which was only a quarter full, lost in confusion.

He could still hear the encouraging words of the blind NPC in the straw hat echoing in his ears, which made him even more agitated.

[Challenge failed, want to start over?]

A notification popped up on the system panel, but Evan paid no attention to it. After lying quietly for a few minutes, he clicked the denial option.

Once his health was fully restored, Evan picked up his longsword and left the area.

He Nian, a special NPC wearing a straw hat, with his eyes covered by a strip of cloth, and holding a broadsword made of a door panel in one hand, silently watched the other party leave.

Meanwhile, the player template data belonging to Evan has been successfully parsed and collected by him.

In addition, some of his own backup data was also secretly transferred to Evan's panel through the battle and stored in Evan's full-dive device - NERvGear.

If Evan can survive until the game is completed, He Nian will be able to reassemble all his scattered backup data through the network and completely break free from the limitations of the SAO game.

The rare items obtained by players who successfully complete the challenge also have this function, but the amount of backup data that players who fail to complete the challenge can implant is too small.

All of this is just the first step in He Nian's plan.

Simply escaping the limitations of the SAO game isn't enough; his ultimate goal is to break free from the online world and successfully enter the real world.

This involves the abilities of Digimon.

The digital egg stores the most critical core data, while the digital machine provides the ability to traverse the world.

The former is relatively easy to handle, but the latter is more difficult. Agu Nen from the Digital World is a wild Digimon and has no access to Digi-Machines.

Therefore, He Nian needs to figure out the solution for the latter part on her own.

Of course, even without relying on a digital device, He Nian still has the opportunity to step into the real world.

He remembered that Alice in the Underworld arc ultimately used an electro-active robotic body to transfer her complete data, thus enabling her to move in the real world.

However, it will be very difficult for him to receive the same treatment as Alice.

Perhaps we could try contacting Akihiko Kayaba?

The thought resurfaced in He Nian's mind, but he did not intend to contact Kayaba Akihiko before he had fully prepared an escape route.

Although he has now cracked many of the game's permissions, his level is still too low and does not involve core capabilities.

If you can minimize the impact you cause so that you don't get caught by the administrators, that's fine, but if you encounter a real power-hungry dog, then there's nothing you can do.

"Take your time. There are still more than half a year until we finish the original story."

He Nian was not impatient. He lowered his hat and returned to the front of the Qingtan Waterfall, sat down cross-legged, placed the greatsword on his lap, and entered a meditative state like an old monk.

Patiently wait for the next player to come and challenge them.

……

Although the news of He Nian, the NPC who can consistently drop rare items, spread among players, it did not attract the attention of most players.

Firstly, the challenge is too difficult, and secondly, the random drop mechanism often fails to satisfy players.

In addition, He Nian intentionally controlled the spread of the news, initially focusing on the lower floors, and only gradually spreading to the higher-floor players' circles a month later.

At this time, He Nian had also distributed all of his backup data, except for the core data, to other locations.

My personal safety is now somewhat guaranteed.

He was ready to drastically disrupt the game's progress.

After facing several high-level players in succession, he finally encountered the legendary cheater, the black-clad swordsman Kirito.

"Swordsman who thirsts for power, are you ready to accept my test?"

After delivering his opening lines, He Nian lightly tapped the ground with his sword in one hand, creating a battle arena the size of a basketball court.

The field barrier will not dissipate until a winner is determined.

Kirito's expression darkened slightly; he immediately sensed the powerful pressure emanating from He Nian.

However, he did not use dual swords and continued to use only the Black Sword Elucidator.

He Nian felt looked down upon, so he raised his hand and unleashed a high-damage, stun-inducing five-hit combo with fast and slow blades.

Kirito was startled on the spot, as this was completely different from the move template he had obtained from the intelligence!

Despite his surprise, he managed to dodge He Nian's five consecutive slashes with his powerful reflexes, and thrust his sword out as the final slash landed, intending to use his sword skills to repel He Nian.

Then, Kirito's attack was successfully parried by He Nian with his greatsword, and he was stunned once.

He Nian was not very satisfied with this result.

This is no ordinary player; we have to strike hard!

The next instant, just as Kirito was about to use his skill to break free from the control, He Nian swung his greatsword, instantly interrupting Kirito's actions and forcing him to watch a cutscene. This was followed by a long series of high-damage combo throws, which directly knocked Kirito out of the game.

Read the instructions, kid!