Long Live Money in Anime Crossover

Momo gripped Asuna's free hand tightly with both of his, and Asuna, as if grasping at a lifeline, intertwined her fingers with Momo's, showing no intention of letting go for a moment.

Feeling Asuna's hands gradually stop trembling, Mo Mo smiled gently and said, "She just needs a little time."

028 The sky was clear and the air was crisp, perfect for striking up a conversation.

"Really? I think she's completely terrified. How can she possibly go out and conquer people looking like this?"

Reimu Hakurei's suspicions were quite reasonable, since Asuna now looked no different from any other terrified ordinary player.

Her question wasn't one of doubt, but genuine curiosity. After all, the girl before her was undoubtedly Asuna, the future Asuna of Light, the strongest female player known as the "Conqueror Demon."

"Yes, I was really terrified. Right now, she's no different from the other players who are silently crying. I never thought she would stand up immediately, catch up with me and Kirito, and become a powerful force."

Silently recalling the original story, she said, "According to the original plot, Asuna already possessed considerable strength when she participated in the first level of the challenge. Therefore, although she wasn't among the first to leave the Starting Street, it wouldn't take her more than a few days."

"Within a week, she will pick up her sword, leave this place, and begin to learn how to fight monsters without any guidance, growing rapidly."

Momo gently rubbed Asuna's hand, his tone becoming increasingly tender, and said, "So, in the next few days, all I need to do is wait quietly."

Reimu Hakurei pouted, looking at the two people's tightly clasped hands with some displeasure, and said, "Are you planning to take advantage of her during this opportunity? It's time to go and rest. After all, she can stay in the inn, but you still need to fight monsters and level up."

Momo nodded, took Asuna's hand in his, and said softly, "Asuna, get some rest. This is an inn, a completely safe place."

Asuna shuddered, but quickly swallowed the last bite of bread, and used her free hand to grab Momo's sleeve.

"No... I don't want to be alone... Please stay with me, okay?"

Mo Mo thought for a moment, nodded and smiled, and said, "Okay, but please follow my arrangements."

"Um……"

Asuna nodded almost inaudibly. At this moment, she had completely lost her rationality and ability to think, and could only rely on Momo in front of her.

Momo reached out and picked Asuna up, but Asuna still didn't react to this intimate gesture.

"I don't think she can ever become that Asuna."

"Then we'll just have to wait and see."

Momo placed Asuna on the bed, tidied her bedding, and then sat down beside her. Throughout the entire process, Asuna held Momo's hand tightly, unwilling to let go.

The next day, Asuna opened her eyes in a daze and instinctively reached for the bedside table to check the time on the digital clock, only to find it empty.

Wait, where's the clock? My alarm didn't go off today either! Oh no, I'm going to be late for school!

In a panic, Asuna got up, but suddenly realized something and opened her eyes wide, all sleepiness gone.

There was absolutely no trace of her room here!

where is this?

This is... Aincrad... within the Death Game...

No one answered Asuna, but the memories in her mind quickly resurfaced, fear surged up again, and her body trembled uncontrollably.

"Don't be afraid, I'm here!"

The gentle tone made Asuna turn around, and she saw Momo's somewhat tired face, but with a smile on it.

……

"Yes, it's another beautiful day!"

Momo stepped out of the hotel and stretched towards the distant sun. Reimu Hakurei couldn't help but complain, "It's always sunny here, isn't it..."

"Besides, Asuna doesn't seem to have changed at all! She's still trembling with fear. If you weren't there with her, she probably would have burst into tears!"

"Right now, they only dare to hide in the hotel and seem to have no intention of coming out at all."

Reimu Hakurei was full of complaints, but Momo smiled and said, "She's much stronger now. At least she's regained her thinking and rationality, and didn't she even slap me?"

"That's a really energetic performance!"

As she spoke, Mo Mo pointed to the red handprint on her face, her smile growing even brighter.

"Utterly shameless! Someone slapped you across the face, and you're still so happy! They probably thought you were a pervert sneaking into their room, okay?"

"Hitting is a sign of affection, scolding is a sign of love! Asuna apologized to me afterwards, didn't she? If you weren't there, as an outsider, maybe Asuna, filled with shame, would have given me a sweet hug instead?"

"Pah, instead of wasting time talking nonsense, you should think about what to do today. At this rate of spending between you and Asuna, your Cole won't last long, will it?"

Mo Mo stroked his chin and said, "That's true. But we're in the early stages of the game right now, so there's no way we can find any good sources of income."

"As a game, Kirito is right. Resources in the game are limited. Take Cole for example. All Cole is actually acquired by players, whether by doing quests or killing monsters to sell resources. Cole is accumulated and grows little by little. Even if I have a box of artifacts now, I'll only get 100 Cole per item at most."

"Hmph, you seem to know quite a bit, huh? Come on, let's see what this so-called businessman is going to do!"

"Hmph, then just watch, as the most talented businessman, I will demonstrate my exceptional abilities!"

"What's your plan?"

"Cheating!"

Mo Mo spoke with righteous indignation, while Reimu Hakurei remained silent, covering her face and saying, "I knew it!"

Mo Mo laughed loudly, and amidst the stares of countless players huddled on the roadside looking at him as if he were crazy, he approached an NPC selling fruit and said, "Hi, esteemed lady, how about I buy an apple from you for 20 Coles?"

"Are you stupid? Even if you buy it directly, it's only 1 Cole per apple, and you still want to use your trading power!"

Reimu Hakurei had no reason not to be shocked, because Momo actually bought an apple from an NPC for twenty times the price, and even used her trading powers!

"Are you complaining that you're using your trading powers too often, or do you think you have too much of your Cole to use up?"

Reimu wanted to stop Momo, but Momo shook his finger and said, "Little Reimu, just tell me the result of the transaction."

"Needless to say, even an idiot would agree to the deal, and the result would definitely be... wait?"

Reimu Hakurei checked the results of the transaction and was stunned. The transaction was not a success as she had imagined.

"If I'm not mistaken, the transaction neither succeeded nor failed, right?"

Reimu Hakurei looked at Momo in shock and said, "How did you know? The information returned by the trading power is... Please select a trading partner, but the trading partner is standing right in front of us!"

The NPC selling fruit, with a formulaic smile, asked, "Would you like to buy some apples? They're freshly picked today!"

"So that's how it is. So they don't recognize NPCs as trading partners. I originally thought that trading would violate the principle of voluntariness among the three principles."

Reimu Hakurei felt her head spinning and asked, "What's going on?!"

"It's very simple! The trading partner must be able to rationally and emotionally recognize the price of the item being traded and complete the transaction with me through rational judgment. This is the principle of voluntariness and fairness. However, these two principles have a prerequisite: that the trading partner possesses both rationality and emotion."

"I originally thought that NPCs only had data logic judgment and could achieve a kind of virtual rationality. They could probably only judge whether a transaction complies with the system rules, but could not set prices or approve them independently, which would only lead to the failure of the transaction."

"However, it seems that the trading authority does not recognize the NPC in front of it as a trading object at all. She is probably just a piece of data."

The female NPC selling apples tilted her head, revealing a human-like look of confusion. She seemed not to understand why the two people in front of her were talking incessantly in words she couldn't understand.

Seeing this performance, many people might think that these NPCs possess AI, but the trading authority does not recognize her and does not consider her to be an intelligent life form.

"I think I understand. So these NPCs aren't human, right? Well, that puts you in trouble, Mo Mo. Your trading ability is completely useless in the game! But wait, at least for now, players don't have any items worth trading, so your trading ability is temporarily useless, isn't it?"

Momo shook his finger again and said, "Kayaba Akihiko said that this is not an ordinary game. Considering the individual Yui that will appear later, and the development of the world afterward, the NPCs in SAO currently only have ordinary AI, but this AI will grow."

"When AI becomes complex enough to handle all situations and completely simulate a person's personality and temperament, will she be considered a human or an NPC?"

"That's for the future. You should be thinking about the present."

“That’s right, but Reimu, the key question is whether there are any exceptions! The NPC in front of us is just a passerby, so there can’t be any special circumstances. But since Yui exists, are there any other NPCs with highly developed AI right now?”

Reimu Hakurei blinked, then suddenly realized, and said, "You mean there are NPCs like Yui? This..."

Reimu Hakurei initially thought it was impossible, but upon closer inspection, it was indeed very possible!

The existence of Yui suggests that Kayaba Akihiko had put a lot of effort into artificial intelligence, but the results may not have been successful. That's why he continued to collect experience and improve the AI ​​during the SAO public beta.

So, did Kayaba Akihiko only create one Yui? Obviously, for an experiment, there should be quite a few NPCs like that!

"Okay, that concludes the explanation. Now our task is quite simple!"

Mo Mo straightened his back, strode away from the apple-selling NPC stall, and went to the next stall. He said to the young and beautiful NPC lady, "Hi, beautiful and kind NPC lady, how about we make a very good deal? I'll offer 20 Coles, how about you sell me a carrot?"

Reimu Hakurei grinned, suddenly realizing what Momo was about to do.

He's trying to strike up a conversation with everyone on the starting street!

029 Dark Elf Blacksmithing Skill

Aincrad, First Floor, Tolbana, the Starting Street.

The next day was also the first day that the players officially began their death game. However, since it was still morning, they had not yet spent 24 hours in the game.

However, this amount of time is enough to cause despair.

No one logged out of the game.

SAO's developer, Akihiko Kayaba, announced that it was a death game, where anyone who died in the game would die in real life. Although most people didn't believe this absurd premise, no one dared to take the risk.

Those who dared to take the risk have had their names displayed on the black iron monument, with a line drawn across them. The cause of death was a fall from a height.

With such an adventurer, no one dared to do the same thing as him anymore, and instead all chose to wait.

Waiting seems to be the best option right now.

Just by thinking about it, one can imagine that in reality, there would be complete chaos, with tens of thousands of players unable to log out of the game. Although it hasn't been 24 hours yet, this can already be considered a shocking case of kidnapping tens of thousands of people.

It's believed that this incident has already become known worldwide, and the entire Japanese government must be in a state of panic. All the experts and scholars must have gathered together to try to crack the NERvGear that everyone is wearing on their heads.

It seems that it's only a matter of time before everyone is rescued!

Everyone subconsciously overlooked Kayaba Akihiko's talent, thinking that no matter how talented Kayaba Akihiko was, he was still just one person, forgetting that Kayaba Akihiko alone drove the progress of the times.

It could even be said that this era hampered his intelligence, forcing him to resort to such extreme measures to open the door to a second world for humanity—the door to the virtual world.

With this in mind, almost everyone waited. A significant number of people checked into hotels, but many more huddled in corners, gathering in groups of three or five, or shivering alone in the sunlight.

Those who dare to step out of the starting street, fight monsters, and risk their lives to level up are few and far between.

However, in this atmosphere, a freakish character emerged.

This person was someone everyone knew. At the start of the commotion, he strangely calmed everyone down with the question, "Do you know me?", preventing the players from becoming confused.

Afterwards, a family reunion event was held, and many people found acquaintances. Even those who didn't know anyone formed teams for various reasons, such as being the same age, living nearby, finding each other pleasing to the eye, or being gay.

At least most people have companions around them; having someone to accompany you is always better than being alone and lonely.