A journey to another world starting from a sword

So she quickly changed the subject and shifted her attention, "Speaking of which... can that kind of thing be done in SAO?"

However, the moment I asked the question, I realized that I was asking what was on my mind.

"Aaaaaahhhhhh... I'm such a big idiot." She cried out in her heart.

"What is it?" Asuna hadn't reacted yet.

“It’s just…it’s just…” Mito didn’t know how to describe the scene of “the holy sword being drawn”, so he simply coughed twice, “The characters in SAO shouldn’t have any physiological reaction.”

"..." Asuna immediately realized what was happening, then tried to remain calm, "Can't I?"

"Well, and even if the players want to do something, SAO's ethics system should prevent it." While a nominal marriage in the game shouldn't affect intimate contact, Mito felt that neither of them could engage in any act that would produce pleasure.

She then looked at Dante to confirm.

Dante nodded, agreeing with Mitt's opinion.

“Normally it wouldn’t, but… do you know there’s a button called ‘Remove Ethical Restrictions’?”

Chapter 162: This is your bedroom!

Upon hearing this word, Asuna looked at Mito first. Mito looked back at Asuna, then shook his head. "No, I haven't heard of it."

However, judging from the literal meaning of the name, it seems to imply the ability to lift certain forbidden things in SAO.

She originally thought that all romances in SAO were platonic, and although that could bring satisfaction, she always felt that something was missing.

"The restrictions on reasoning have been lifted... But why were there restrictions in the first place?" Asuna was a little confused. "Since Kayaba Akihiko wanted to create a realistic world, then this can be considered realistic, right?"

"Hmm...maybe they're afraid of causing chaos," Mitt speculated.

Without restrictions, players would develop various physiological desires, which could potentially lead to the emergence of gray industries like "brothels." Kayaba Akihiko's desired real world is actually his ideal world, so he doesn't want such a filthy situation to occur.

Hearing Mito's explanation, Asuna nodded in understanding and said, "I see."

Then Mitt asked Dante with some curiosity, "Where exactly is that button?"

"Hmm... probably." Dante said, bringing up the main menu and switching it to a visual format.

Seeing this, Asuna and Mito crawled a step onto the carpet and sat on either side of him.

The nose is surrounded by two different scents, which is incredible. SAO shouldn't be able to collect the scent of players' hormones in real life. How are these two very different scents generated?

Asuna twitched her nose slightly and smelled a very refreshing scent, like a milder form of mint. She felt she now understood what a cat felt when it smelled catnip.

Dante then showed the location of the "Remove the Restriction of Reason" button. First, open the main menu, select Settings, and scroll down until you reach a place that "any player would actually notice." After clicking it, the button is hidden in a link within a large section of text.

The level of concealment is so high it's like searching for an Easter egg, and since we don't know what function it is, I doubt any player would actually press "Yes".

"So well hidden..." Asuna turned to look at Dante, a hint of disdain in her eyes. "Heh~ Hmph~ Where did you even know about this button?"

"..." Dante glanced sideways at Asuna, looking somewhat speechless, leaving her puzzled.

"This is not just a button that can only meet certain needs."

After Dante sighed, Asuna's eyes flashed with a "Isn't that right?" look, while Mito lowered his head and thought seriously.

After thinking for more than ten seconds, she tentatively asked, "Could it enhance the sense of touch?"

"Yes." Dante explained in detail to the two who were still confused and only had a vague understanding.

"NERvGear transmits the five senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch—to the player through brain signals, right?"

“I know,” Asuna replied matter-of-factly, after all, her family owned RECT, Japan’s largest electronics manufacturer.

“Hmm.” Mitt, as a hardcore gamer, was well aware of this.

"Although sight and hearing feel like they're separated by a thin membrane, once you get used to them, they're no different from reality. As for smell and taste, SAO has slightly simplified these senses to simplify the calculations, but they can still bring pleasure or satisfaction."

Asuna blushed slightly and nodded in agreement, while Mito also lowered his head gently.

"However, the tactile aspect is slightly less than satisfactory."

As he spoke, Dante stretched out his hands toward the two men.

"..." Asuna looked down for two seconds, realized what he meant, and then grasped his hand. Mito did the same.

"If it's active contact, it's fine; the feeling conveyed is very realistic. But contact when there's no physical contact, and in many other details, feels very awkward, like when couples are sleeping in each other's arms..."

As she was giving an example, Asuna's face suddenly turned a beautiful crimson. She felt that Dante was referring to something, so she leaned back slightly, not wanting the two of them to see her face at that moment.

Asuna breathed a sigh of relief when Mito's view was blocked by Dante's body, and Dante was looking down at their hands.

"Touch is not an independent sense; it also affects other senses. Therefore, if touch is enhanced, other senses will also be enhanced..."

The flow of wind, the texture of the ground beneath your feet, and other details that affect combat perception will be optimized. This improvement in perception may not have a significant impact on ordinary players, but it will make a world of difference for top players.

After listening, Asuna and Mite nodded to indicate that they understood.

"Let me look..." Asuna followed Dante's example, opening several sub-windows before finally selecting the "Remove the Restriction of Reason" button and clicking "Yes." "That should do it, right?"

She looked up, blinked, and then leaned her body slightly to the side—or rather, leaned against someone.

"what are you doing?"

"What? Didn't you just say that the feeling of physical contact would be enhanced?" Asuna puffed out her cheeks and argued confidently, "I'm trying to see how it's different from before."

"Before?" After pressing "Yes" like Asuna, Mito looked up and asked in confusion.

"N-nothing," Asuna stammered, waving her hands frantically.

"...Asuna, you could say this was a deliberate attempt to make contact, right?" Mito said speechlessly, ignoring Asuna's expression.

"Is that so?" Asuna realized that it seemed to be true.

"If you really want to experience it, the feeling should be more obvious when you're sleeping peacefully," Dante said, stroking his chin. When you're sleeping, your vision, which you rely on the most, is turned off, so you become more sensitive to your other four senses.

"That's perfect. The room I was assigned is too big for me to sleep in alone. Shall we sleep together tonight?"

"Huh?" "Huh?"

Looking at Asuna, Dante suddenly turned his head and stared at Mito. Then he silently took a step back. Asuna probably meant to be with Mito.

"The carpet is also very comfortable, so there's no need to worry about not having enough room to sleep in the bed."

"..." Dante silently shifted his gaze to the large bed that could easily accommodate two people, and only then did he realize that Asuna seemed to have included him as well.

“That works too,” Mitt suddenly said.

"It's pretty much the same as when we had the training camp," Asuna clapped her hands and said.

"A training camp?" Dante looked up and began to ponder whether the school's training camps involved boys and girls together.

"What's wrong? Didn't we sleep in the same tent when we were with Kizmel?" Asuna didn't finish her sentence; to be precise, they did sleep side by side on the carpet back then.

"And...have you been meditating a lot lately?" Asuna raised her slender finger almost to poke Dante's face.

"You guessed?" Dante asked in return.

"Your face looked completely different this morning," Asuna said with a straight face.

After all, it had been almost three months. Under her supervision, after several normal nights of sleep, he would have a sense of satisfaction on his face and a relaxed smile, a feeling that Asuna herself found very heartwarming.

However, when I meditate, when I see him again in the morning, he always exudes a cool and refreshing aura, which only warms up when he smiles and greets me.

However, Asuna always felt that keeping things too tense was not a good thing, and that she should sleep when it was time to sleep.

"Even if you're the supervisor, Mito and Asuna can sleep in the dormitory bed together, and I'll just sleep on the sofa... or the carpet."

Asuna straightened her back and shook her head vigorously. "No, this is your room."

“Then let’s sleep on the carpet.” Mite’s words were the final word, and her calm expression made it hard to guess what she was thinking.

"Remember to bring your own pillow."

Asuna looked at Dante, who could only give this answer, and a mischievous smile appeared on her face.

"Of course."

After Asuna and Mito returned with their pillows, the discussion turned to how the three of them should arrange themselves in bed. Dante suggested that he sleep in the middle, and neither Asuna nor Mito objected.

So it ended up like this: Dante was sleeping in the middle, Asuna was on his left, and Mito was sleeping on his right.

As for touch, it was no different for Dante than usual, but Asuna felt that the fluffy, soft carpet beneath her body was indeed much more real than before.

So she said aloud, "Hand."

"Ok?"

"Give me your hand. That way I can see the specific changes."

"Ah."

Asuna felt her body temperature rise noticeably after just a slight movement. She closed her eyes and slowly exhaled a long breath.

Although the space between them wasn't very close, I could still feel the scorching air on my arms, as well as the warmth from their intertwined fingers. But the thought that I might wake up in the morning in the same way I did last time, tightly hugging someone, made my face flush.

She used to think her sleeping posture was quite proper, but now she's a little less confident about it.

Asuna knew that SAO had rules to prevent inappropriate contact from causing sexual harassment, but it seemed that these rules had never been effective, and she had a guess as to why.

Even though her family manufactures NERvGears, a doubt arose in her mind: Are NERvGears really that intelligent?

"..."

Just as Asuna reached out to hold his hand, Mito's hand also tentatively crossed the invisible boundary.

With both hands being held, Dante thought that nothing particularly romantic would happen in the morning.

Hopefully, they'll sleep in a very quiet position.

Chapter 163: Beach and Sea

"Teams C and D, prepare to switch!"

Dante shouted, raising the "Solid Sword of the Elves" high in his right hand.

The torches burning on the walls illuminated the room, casting a shadow over the massive object in front.

"Understood!" "Oh!"

Aegir's C team, who were confronting a large monster ahead, shouted loudly.

Meanwhile, the newly formed Tank Team D was also responding nervously from the rear. Team D was the vice-captain of the Linde "Dragon Journey" guild. They were wearing matching blue undershirts, a color probably to commemorate the sacrificed Diabel.

The seventh floor of the floating city of Aincrad, and the twenty-fifth floor of the tower in the labyrinth area.

As the only passage to the next level, the maze area must be about 100 meters high. However, the number of internal levels depends on the design theme, but it usually has more than 20 levels.

After the second strategy meeting, more than a third of the players had already surpassed the expected level of 20. These players were mostly familiar faces, and they knew how difficult the Boss battles were, especially after many events, so they worked tirelessly to grind monsters and level up.

The others weren't lacking in effort either, they just lacked certain aspects, which should be made up for after this Boss battle.

The fire dragon Akira, a beautiful red dragon, immediately flapped its powerful wings after a sudden tail whip, and with a gust of wind sweeping through the narrow space, it flew into the air.

Yesterday's reconnaissance battle revealed part of the Boss's attack patterns. When the Boss flies into the air, its attack methods are nothing more than stomping and breathing.

After waiting a short while, no orange sparks came out of the Boss's mouth, so the next attack was a stomp attack.

"Team C, get ready! 3! 2, 1..."

The dragon's roar rang out at that moment, and then its massive body swooped down towards the players below.

"0!"

Facing the monster's approaching ferocious toes, Agil's two-handed axe emitted a yellow light to counterattack, while the other five also used single-hit sword techniques from power-based weapons in coordination.

A violent tremor and a storm of wings swept across the room again, causing the fire dragon's body to lean back sharply, and all six members of Team C were also knocked back.

The collision of powerful attacks will cause both sides to be knocked back, which is an important premise for the "exchange" tactic. Such a tactic can only be carried out when there is an opening in the battle where an exchange can take place.

If it's just two or three people, they can change positions in the instant after blocking or suppressing an attack, but a six-person team needs at least three seconds to do so.

As veterans who had participated in the raid since the first floor, Agil and his companions were already adept at creating this opening.

"Team D, advance!"

Before the storm hit, Dante gave the order loudly. As the fire dragon staggered backward, Team D had already passed through the stunned Team C members and rushed directly to the front.

Meanwhile, teams E, F, and G, who were the main attackers, maintained their previous rhythm, continuously attacking the dragon's wings and tail.

Because Team D kept applying the "Taunt" skill to the Boss, the other teams, which mostly consisted of lightly armed members, were not under much HP pressure, and they were successfully reducing the Boss's second HP bar.