My avatar is the heroine

……

Location: SAO, the world of swords.

The first batch of players logged in at 1 p.m. Japan time on October 31.

No one noticed that the 10000 game machines that were supposed to be snapped up actually became 9999, with one of them seemingly connected to another unidentified individual.

With a burst of intense light, Su Lin found himself standing in a huge square.

Countless lights and shadows appeared before his eyes, and excited shouts instantly filled his ears.

"This is……"

Su Lin looked at his hands, and there was indeed nothing wrong with them. Although he was now completely immersed in consciousness, it felt incredibly real, and he could easily experience a tangible sensation.

"But there are so many people."

Most of them use altered, fake appearances, or even men using female accounts, so be careful if you see a cute girl and think she's a pretty girl; she might actually be a creepy old man.

"Perfect timing, let's take advantage of this time and try our hand at combat."

I remember the storyline: the western area of ​​the first floor of SAO was a training ground for newbies. There were boars there, which were similar in status to slimes and could be killed by even beginners.

"A sword is the beginner's weapon? Not bad."

Su Lin was very satisfied after trying to open the inventory in the same way as in the game.

Virtual reality games are amazing.

He began to weave through the crowd, heading towards the destination he knew.

"This city is really big." The closer you get to the outskirts, the fewer people there are.

When he reached the edge of the huge town, he saw a massive city wall tens of meters high. Many people were already eager to leave the starting village and head to other places to fight and level up.

Of course, most of them didn't seem to realize that the game's logout button had completely disappeared, and everyone was destined to be trapped inside.

"Yes, there are indeed wild boars in the grasslands there."

Upon entering the unsafe zone and obtaining his weapon, Su Lin charged towards a monster that looked extremely ferocious but was not large, only half his height.

The wild boar didn't seem very aggressive, so he tried to do what Kirito did in the anime: he crouched down, picked up a stone, and threw it at the boar.

Boom!

The stone didn't seem to cause any harm; it simply angered the target.

"Sure enough, if you just flick it casually, the damage is negligible since no skill is activated."

In SAO, to skillfully use powerful skills, you need to perform basic preparatory actions.

The wild boar charged.

At that speed, even a child could easily dodge it, let alone someone as experienced in combat as Su Lin.

He lightly jumped to the side, then tried to make a waving motion with his hand in mid-air.

"As expected... I felt it."

A faint yellow light formed on the sword's edge.

He leaped forward lightly, and with a fierce slash, successfully killed him.

The wild boar died.

"The monsters in the beginner village die in one or two hits, just like at the beginning of the anime, there is no difficulty."

Of course, if you think this game is easy, you might be waiting to die. Even Kirito, the top player in the closed beta, will encounter amazing dangers later on.

Of course, in terms of pure combat experience, no one in this game can surpass Su Lin. On one hand, she has experienced far too many life-or-death battles and victories against overwhelming odds; on the other hand, Su Lin herself possesses an astonishing intuition.

Chapter 315 explains why.

"Experience points increased by 24, not bad."

The first combat test is complete, and I've learned how to use the skills. The next step is to apply my various techniques in actual combat.

However, Su Lin glanced at the SAO system and found that to use a skill, it must first be activated in the skill bar. Otherwise, while you could attempt the skill's actions, you wouldn't be able to use the corresponding effect. This suggests that the skills are more or less linked to the system.

"If you think of the skill in your mind and then make the initial movements, can you use it smoothly?"

It can be said to be very simple, but for ordinary players, it still requires their own skills to support it.

Because bosses are unpredictable, dodging and other maneuvers don't rely on quantifiable abilities, but rather entirely on the player's anticipation and actions, just like in real-world combat. Therefore, if you become flustered during a fight, unexpected events can easily occur.

After all, it's not as simple as just clicking a few buttons on the screen.

"At this rate, Kayaba Akihiko should take a long time to escape."

The logout button is long gone, so even for Su Lin, who's on vacation, he has to be careful in this world. While his clone isn't afraid of death, his main body needs to keep leveling up. The system didn't say anything about the main body dying and being okay; it wouldn't be good if he ended up like other players, dying in the game and getting his brain fried.

Preparing to level up.

She summoned a clone... Kasugano Sora.

In a beginner's area like this, it's definitely better to let the weakest characters level up.

As for Qiong Mei, she's barely able to fight; she doesn't even have the attributes to pick up heavy equipment.

"Let the main body help first."

Even stones can be used as weapons to activate skills and cause damage.

So the main body tried to attack with stones to taunt the monsters, and then Sora took the opportunity to launch a sneak attack.

swoosh~

Select the second wild boar, throw the stone, and successfully attack the target.

Qiong Mei then picked up the equipment that belonged to Su Lin.

Unfortunately, since the clone is a summoned character, it doesn't have any beginner equipment. To engage in combat, you can only rely on the swords and blades of your main body.

After several consecutive attacks, the boar's health dropped significantly. Taking advantage of the target being taunted by the main body, Qiong Mei raised her weapon, launched a sword skill, and successfully ambushed the target.

The second wild boar died.

"Another 24 experience points."

The initial skills of the main body and the clone are the same, which is just ordinary slashing, but the skills they can learn later should be different.

In order to gain an advantage in the later stages of the game, he seized the time and started leveling up by himself.

……

Before we knew it, dusk had fallen.

As the sky gradually darkened, with a few muffled chimes, Su Lin and Qiong Mei were teleported together to the central square of the starting town.

There was a huge crowd; clearly, he wasn't the only one who had been teleported there.

"What's going on? Why did we suddenly appear in this place?"

Just as Su Lin calmed down, she heard the girl next to her nervously grabbing a boy's arm.

"Hey, isn't that the one from the very beginning of the anime?"

Because everyone uses fake appearances these days, this cute brown-haired girl is actually a boy.

A man plays a female character and then seduces others by acting like a submissive woman.

"Phew, it's just like how you never know who the cute girl you're chatting with is on the other side of the computer."

Seemingly noticing Su Lin's gaze, the boy looked over unhappily: "What's wrong? You already have such a beautiful girlfriend, why are you staring at mine?"

"Sorry," Su Lin smiled awkwardly, "but just so you know, sometimes a girl who seems delicate and dependent on someone might actually be a boy."

The fake girl next to him immediately lowered her head shyly: "Don't joke like that."

"..."

“Yes, no matter how much a boy tries to fake it, he can’t possibly be this cute.” Her boyfriend nodded vigorously.

"Whatever you want."

Su Lin was too lazy to talk to them anymore; the truth would be exposed soon anyway.

After waiting for about half a minute, the entire square was suddenly surrounded by a transparent red protective shield with English writing on it. Then, crimson blood seeped down from above and gradually condensed in mid-air into a huge faceless man wearing a red robe.

Countless people watched this scene in shock.

"What is that? An administrator? Why doesn't it have a face?"

"How scary." The cute brown-haired girl hugged her boyfriend, trembling.

Just then, the masked man in red robes opened his arms and spoke:

"Welcome to my world, players. My name is Kayaba Akihiko, and I am currently the only human capable of controlling this world. As you may have noticed, the logout button on the main menu has disappeared. But please note that this is not a problem with the game; it is simply how SwordArtOnline is played."

A standard opening remark; Kayaba Akihiko must have been preparing for this day for a long time.

Unlike those present who were either expectant, shocked, or worried, he, who knew everything perfectly well, was very calm at this moment.

Sora turned around and found that many boys around her were not paying attention to Kayaba Akihiko, but instead giving her lecherous looks. She was a little annoyed by this, so she simply grabbed her main body's arm and gave a soft snort.

This makes them look like a couple, and the clone is a real woman, not some fake like the brown-haired girl.

At this moment, Kayaba Akihiko's words still echoed in the square: "From now on, you will not be able to log out of the game on your own, and outsiders will not be able to stop or deactivate NERvGear. If it is forcibly deactivated, the NERvGear's signal unit will emit high-power microwaves to damage your brains and stop your life activities."

"From now on, all resurrection methods in the game will be ineffective. The moment your HP reaches zero, your character will be gone forever, and your brain will be destroyed by the NERvGear. There is only one way for you to be freed, and that is to beat this game."

At this point, a 3D map appeared in the sky, showing the players' current location.

"You are now at the lowest level of Aincrad. Conquer the labyrinthine areas of each level, defeat the level-guarding boss to advance to the next level, and defeat the final boss on the 100th level to clear the game. Finally, there is a gift from me in your inventory. Please check it."

Su Lin immediately opened his inventory and saw an item called "Hand Mirror" appear on the previously empty menu.

"Great, a massive makeup removal session is about to begin."

Since I appear with my real appearance, I naturally don't need to worry about those issues.

However, he still took out the hand mirror.

The next second, streaks of white light suddenly appeared on the scene, and amidst various exclamations, the appearance of almost every player changed completely.

The game characters they created have become their real-life selves.

Naturally, many male characters who created female accounts and started dating were also exposed.

Not to mention that many couples are still snuggling together right now.

Chapter 316 Leveling Expert

"Damn it, my appearance... why is this happening?"

Many people at the scene had their own questions, and Su Lin and Qiong Mei's appearances were the only ones that hadn't changed, so they immediately attracted the attention of the people around them.

"Wait, why haven't you two changed?"

"Nonsense." Su Lin snorted. "We're confident in our looks, we don't need any ridiculous pretense."

"You're so confident? Your girlfriend is way prettier than you."

"..."

Amidst the clamor, Kayaba Akihiko, looking down at the crowd, continued, "You must all be wondering why? Why would the developers of SwordArtOnline and NERvGear do something like this? Well, I'll tell you, this is my purpose. I simply wanted to admire the world I created, and now... my purpose has been achieved. Ladies and gentlemen, I will now conclude the official SAO operation tutorial. Everything from now on is up to you. Good luck to all players."

After saying that, Kayaba Akihiko left the stage.

Time seemed to flow backward to the state before he appeared, but everything was different from before.

Someone let out a cry of alarm, and the scene quickly descended into chaos. The players were in a frenzy, some cursing, others bewildered, and even some of the closed beta testers found it difficult to remain calm.

Players who act first in such situations are more likely to emerge victorious in this life-or-death game.

"It's time to act."

Su Lin didn't want to waste time; he was prepared to fight according to his plan.

He immediately left the central square area and ran to an uninhabited area in the town, where he then summoned his clone.

The ten clones—Yukino Yukinoshita, Sora Kasugano, Mashiro Shiina, Kurisu Makise, Yuno Gasai, Kurome, Rikka Takanashi, Ayaki Kihara, Kanade Tachibana, and Nightingale—were assigned different tasks.

Among them, the bodies of Yukino Yukinoshita, Sora Kasugano, Mashiro Shiina, Kurisu Makise, and Yuno Gasai are of the daily type. Their main task is to team up with the original body and go to areas slightly away from the beginner area to level up as a team and quickly improve their strength. Once they have enough money to buy all five pieces of equipment, they can split into pairs and train in different areas to improve efficiency.

The combat power of the three bodies—Kuromitomo, Takanashi Rikka, and Tachibana Kanade—is relatively high, but their strength and level are completely disproportionate, so even if they were to improve, it wouldn't necessarily be of much use. Since their game skills are inherently weaker than their actual combat abilities, their current task is to determine the locations of key characters like Kirito, Silica, and Asuna, and to try and find suitable individuals to make contact with, laying the groundwork for future actions.

With the goal of obtaining game information and items, Kihara and Nightingale will level up alongside their five daily-type clones once the clones have become stronger.