I, the little cat, am a substitute for others who are starving and thin

Asuna didn't pay much attention to the affairs of the middle level. Apart from the news about the criminal guild headed by Laughing Coffin, there was nothing worth her concern about the rumors among the middle and lower levels. Kirito knew about Bugnpc as a bonus when he bought the information about the Hand of the Titan from the information dealer.

"Strange auntie!"

"Blame Auntie? Me?"

Asuna pointed at herself and blinked.

She was preparing for the high school entrance exam before being trapped in this game, and now she's only a freshman. She must be calling him that because she can't see his face clearly under the cloak... No, what is she arguing with the NPC AI for?

These are not the main points. Why would an NPC in the safe zone show its health bar?

Asuna gripped the hilt of her sword. "I'm not some weird auntie. I'm giving you my lunch box, which cost me precious ingredients!"

No, it's actually just a B-grade ingredient, one level lower than what Klein just wasted, but it's still valuable. She made it thinking she could exchange it for S-grade ingredients!

Because Yimi was just a child and seemed to be the type who could communicate, and the location was a safe zone, Asuna did not immediately show any tendency to confront her.

Yimi folded her arms around her shoulders and held her head high: "Zhijiu said we can't eat strangers' things."

"You were the one who came over here because you were greedy! Now you're pretending to be a good kid again?"

Asuna checked the mission, but it still hadn't disappeared.

She took a deep breath and said, "I see. You just said you were full, right? You'll eat when you're hungry again, right?"

The lunchbox will probably last until the evening.

"Don't eat weird aunt's food."

Just now the kitten wanted to eat but you didn’t give it anything. Now you want the kitten to eat, but it’s too late!

Resisting her craving, Yimi rolled her eyes like she had seen in cartoons.

Then the health bar next to her head disappeared, and under Asuna's confused gaze, she trotted over to her and opened her inventory as her expression gradually turned into shock.

The cat used that block to run here, and almost everyone has that block, so it just needs to take another one and run back.

Before she could identify the transfer crystal from the pile of unfamiliar characters, Asuna grabbed her collar and moved her aside.

"Thief?!"

Although she felt it was novel, she only thought it was a characteristic of the thief NPC that was unique to the 55th floor and above. After all, no one knew what would be on the floors above, and during the internal test, the floors covered were less than 10 floors.

This should be recorded in the guide so that everyone can be on guard.

"I'm not a thief!"

Yimi was very dissatisfied with this name and pointed at her: "Looking through Aunt Weird's things is a good cat."

"Place……"

"what are you doing here?"

A calm voice sounded beside Asuna, stopping her from retorting to the weird aunt.

"Captain."

Asuna greeted the newcomer.

Heathcliff, a tall, thin man with a stern expression, looked to be around twenty-five. His seemingly serious appearance revealed a calmness, as reflected in his tone just now, as if unaffected by any external factors. Although he was clad in armor, his temperament made it easier for people to think of him as a scholar.

This is the leader of the most powerful guild, the Blood Alliance Knights, and he is also currently recognized as the strongest player.

Because of the only unique skill in the entire game, 'Holy Sword', no one has seen his health bar reach the yellow line until now. The strategy team's ability to minimize sacrifices is closely related to him.

Asuna quickly released her grip on Imi's collar and said, "Actually, I found a strange NPC."

I didn't have the nerve to say that she was pestering the NPC for S-level ingredients.

"A strange NPC? Come to think of it, there are indeed such rumors."

Heathcliff looked at Yimi thoughtfully. "An NPC with a bug appeared on the 35th floor. It looks like a little girl dressed as a witch. Someone is exploiting her bug to create the illusion that the safe zone is no longer safe."

"Witch? Miko?"

Asuna looked down at Yimi in confusion, and saw her reaching out her claws towards her again.

She quickly took two steps back.

Aren't these two words the same thing? And the obvious feature of cat ears is not mentioned at all.

"But I heard that the quests she assigns are simple and the rewards are exceptionally generous. A well-known mid-level beast tamer obtained an item through her that allows him to level up regardless of experience. However, since her, others have tried to find this NPC but have returned empty-handed."

"Ignore experience and level up??"

Asuna, who was already level 70, knew how difficult it was for high-level players to level up, so she was quite shocked when she found out that Kirito was four levels higher than her.

"How's the battle with the jungle boss going?"

Heathcliff suddenly turned the subject here without warning.

"Still haven't been able to take it..."

Asuna was so ashamed that her voice hushed, even though the failures of the past two days had nothing to do with her.

Heathcliff nodded: "Really? It seems that you are under too much pressure. I will give you two days off for the time being."

"Captain?"

"I simply thought you needed to relax. Staying tense all the time will wear you out. There are still 45 floors to conquer, and I don't want my excellent lieutenant to become overly fatigued."

Heathcliff turned around and glanced at Imi, who kept reaching out to Asuna but was constantly blocked.

"If doing nothing makes you feel even more uneasy, you can use this opportunity to research how to exploit her bug. Perhaps you can significantly increase the Clearers' combat power."

After saying this, he turned the topic back to business: "What tactics have you adopted these past two days?"

He seemed to be ready to hand over his work, but he did not attend the meeting because he was busy relocating the headquarters of the Blood Alliance Knights.

Asuna was a little embarrassed. "Use A-grade meat ingredients to try to lure the boss into revealing a flaw..."

A stupid plan.

"Really? If you cook it yourself, maybe it will be successful. After all, your cooking skills are considered the best among the senior management."

Heathcliff made a rare joke, then gave Immie a final look and turned away.

"Well?"

Yimi tilted her head and glanced at Asuna: "You are the best, chef?"

"That's true for high-level chefs, but low-level chefs don't have the opportunity to use high-quality ingredients. Perhaps my level will increase faster than that of a professional chef."

Asuna shook the lunch box in her hand. "How about it? Want to eat? If I had handled the S-rank ingredients just now, it would definitely taste better."

There is absolutely no sign of any bug with this NPC. Asuna is more inclined to believe that the captain made a mistake. There is a big difference between a witch and a shrine maiden. After all, the captain is not a game developer, so how could he know the program so clearly?

Yimi put her hands on her hips and said, "If you beg me, I will eat it."

It was the first time he begged for food so arrogantly and completely ignored Xunzi and Zhijiu's instructions.

Asuna glanced around, making sure no one was around before clasping her hands together and leaning forward. "I beg you, please, give me a taste!"

"Well, you've already begged me, so if I don't eat, I won't be able to do it."

After finding a way out, Yimi opened the lunch box and ignored the chopsticks to grab a meatball and put it in her mouth.

The quality of the food in SAO is a genuine improvement in taste. I don't know if it's a result of self-creation that feeds back into the taste perception or if this taste already exists in reality, but in any case, it's one of the few things in the game that can be truly enjoyed.

It’s delicious, much better than the food that the cat cooks himself.

"how?"

"is acceptable."

Stubborn cat.

"That's good. I was worried it wouldn't suit your taste."

Asuna clasped her hands together again and rubbed them together. "Well, do you have anything for me?"

She saw that the taskbar showed that the task was completed.

"thing?"

"That's the S-grade ingredient from earlier. If I were to cook it, it would definitely be even more delicious, right?"

Asuna tried to proactively trigger the subsequent quest.

Yimi shook his ears: "That is the last piece of meat."

Asuna's smile gradually froze. "Haha, how could it be the last piece of meat? Stop it, just make it appear instantly."

Stop kidding, the quest NPC is running out of stock?

"That……"

Yimi rummaged through her storage space, found the extra pot that Natsuki Subaru had copied earlier, and handed it to her: "This is for you."

Things that just take up space in storage space.

Asuna took it stiffly.

Props: @@'s pot.

Can make sewer-level exclusive dish: rat stewed in red wine.

12

Chapter 12 Blackmail.

Rat stewed in red wine: Made with Grade A or above red wine and rat meat of any quality. The finished product can be recognized as rat soup at a glance.

"..."

Who wants this kind of thing!

For Asuna, who was afraid even of frogs, there could be no deeper malice than this.

Her S-rank dish... passed right by her nose. She could already sense Kayaba Akihiko's damn malicious intent, which made her work in vain.

"Ah woo~"

It's not all in vain.

Putting the S-rank dish aside for now, he calmly considered what the leader had just said. Although he had immediately assumed the leader had made a mistake because the witch and miko hadn't met, this little creature's various behaviors were somewhat different from those of a normal NPC.

Ordinary NPCs will definitely not show their health bars, nor will they directly open the player's inventory to steal things. The names in the task bar are still confusing garbled characters.

“Ahhhhhh~”

Moreover, under normal circumstances, NPCs will never enter the player's base, even if it is just a temporary rented residence.

Asuna sat in a chair, staring at Yimi's face thoughtfully. The NPC, who had been about to leave after giving her the reward, followed her home after she offered her food as a lure, making her seem like she really blamed her aunt.

The exclusive snack of this village is white steamed buns. They are not real steamed buns but white spherical pastries. There are nine of them in a small square box. Yimi grabs one in each hand. As soon as she bites a hole in the one in her left hand, she starts to bite the one in her right hand.

He ate so much after the fish soup and fried meatballs, even though a long time had passed. However, whether the NPC had a sense of fullness was not her topic to study.

It can enter the player's base and will be attracted by delicious food, which means it can be kept in the base of the Blood Alliance Knights.

However, it is not certain that she can leave the 56th floor. The Blood Alliance Knights have just moved, and moving again suddenly is somewhat disturbing to the team members' mentality.

Furthermore, this NPC hadn't yet shown any value worthy of the Blood Knights surrounding her and gathering on the nondescript 56th floor. No new quests had appeared since Asuna completed the feeding quest, and the quest reward that had originally been listed as 'None' in the quest column had been replaced by the pot.

Seeing Asuna staring at him, Yimi thought she was feeling sorry for the snacks, so he grabbed one and handed it to Asuna: "Here you go."

"..."

Ordinary NPCs certainly won’t have such strong interactivity.

Asuna reached out and gently pinched her cheek, feeling the smoothness and softness.

Yimi shook her head in resistance, stuffed the remaining snack in her hand into her mouth, and chewed it with a puffy face.

"If a girl eats in such a rude way at my house, she will definitely be punished."

This sentence is more of an exclamation.

Because she had no right to say that. The biggest advantage of this game was that she didn't have to face strict tutoring, and she had eaten without restraint more than once.

"I didn't, smack my lips."

Yimi retorted.

"But if you eat like this, you'll get crumbs all over your body, right? Ah... just forget I said that."