Chapter 244

When Rozen and Kirito returned to NPC’s house, the symbol above her head has turned into a golden exclamation mark, meaning the quest was in progress.

Kirito and Rozen then took Little Nepenthes’ Ovule out from his storage and gave it to the NPC. The missus thanked them, went to her room, and returned with a long sword with a red scabbard.

Although it looked like an old sword, but it was one fine sword.

That was Anneal Blade, the reward for the Secret Medicine quest that they took.

With that, Kirito secured himself the strongest weapon available in that floor and got some exp and Cor in addition.

Rozen also got the Anneal Blade and breathed a sigh of relief since Bronze Sword was so flimsy. Its durability was easily worn out, and he couldn’t afford to keep repairing it.

And just like Kirito, Rozen also got a lot of experience.

“Zheng!”

His avatar was shrouded in golden light, signaling that he has reached level 4.

Once again, Rozen allocated 2 points of strength and 1 point of agility to his stats.

Afterward, they left the house together.

Kirito suddenly asked Rozen.

“What are you planning to do next?”

After completing the Secret Medicine quest, they pretty much already pulled ahead of the rest of the players in terms of the weapon and level. Saying that they were currently the strongest player may not be an exaggeration.

Among the 10,000 players, more than 90% of them were still at the Town of Beginnings. They still couldn’t accept the reality. Meanwhile less than 10% have made their move, Rozen and kirito was among them, and since they made their move faster than the rest, they managed to pull ahead.

However, it was not impossible for other players to steal this lead they built.

“Our level is still too low at the moment, if we want to reach level 5 before dawn, we should hunt level 5 monsters. Now that we got Anneal Blade, it shouldn’t be a problem.”Kirito suggested.

But…

“Go on ahead.” Rozen replied: “I want to enhance my weapon first.”

“Enhance the weapon?” Kirito was surprised: “You have the materials?”

“Yeah.” Rozen nodded and said: “I found several treasure chests earlier, I got a lot of materials for enhancement. If it goes well, it should be enough to strengthen the Anneal Blade to +2.”

In SAO, it was possible to enhance Player’s weapons, and it was fairly simple.

Players can only choose one of the parameters to enhance when strengthening weapons.

There were five enhancement parameters for weapons…

Sharpness/Bluntness enhancement to increase weapon damage.

Quickness enhancement to improve speed of regular and Sword Skill attacks.

Accuracy enhancement to improve critical rate.

Heaviness enhancement to reduce the weapon’s weight, so Players with weight limit problem had an easier time.

Durability enhancement to increase the weapon’s ability to withstand damage.

By asking an NPC or player who had Blacksmith Skill to enchance the weapon, prepared sufficient materials to enhance the weapon, and paid the appropriate amount of Cor any player will be able to enhance their weapon, but there will be a certain failure rate.

And after a weapon was successfully enhanced, there will be suffix in the weapon’s name such as +1, +2, +3 etc. But that didn’t necessarily mean the weapon was stronger than a non-enhanced weapon because it all depended on what parameter the player enhanced.

For example, a +3 dagger which was enhanced in heaviness. That was simply a waste because a dagger was not that heavy to begin with.

Therefore, players had to think thoroughly which enhancement that suited their weapons.

If a weapon was enhanced in multiple parameters, for example a +4 weapon with +2 sharpness enhancement, +1 accuracy enhancement, and +1 durability enhancement will be abbreviated by 2S1A1D by players as it became too tedious to mention the full name.

S represented the sharpness, A represented the accuracy, D represented durability, H represented the heaviness, and Q represented the quickness.

However, all items that can be enhanced have a trait called “maximum enhancement attempts”. This trait regulated how many enhancement attempts, whether successful or not, could be carried out on the same item. Once this limit was reached, the item becomes an «end product», meaning that it could no longer be enhanced, even if the item’s enhancement level did not match the maximum attempts number. If a blacksmith attempted to enhance an end product, the item would shatter.

For example, the maximum enhancement attempt of Anneal Blade was eight, meaning, it could only be enhanced for eight times. In the eight enhancement, whether it was successful or not, it will become an end-product, thus could no longer be enhanced.

And as mentioned earlier, players had to collect various materials in order to enhance their equipment.

Rozen already got a lot of enhancement material when he found the treasure chests earlier.

Using those materials, if all attempt was a success, his Anneal Blade would reach +2.

However…

“There are no blacksmith NPC around this part, I’ll look for one in main settlement.”

Rozen said to Kirito.

“You should go ahead, there’s no need to wait for me.” Rozen said calmly: “I’ve registered in your friend list anyway, feel free to contact me anytime if you need anything.”

This will be the first time Rozen and Kirito parted ways since SAO became a death game.

“……Are you sure?”

Kirito suddenly became silent.

Rozen also sighed deep down.

Of course, he knew how much pressure that a normal human like Kirito must bear to stay alive in this death game alone.

But he knew that was the road that Kirito chose.

That boy was destined to become a solo player the moment he sprinted out of the Town of Beginnings to obtain the resource before everyone else.

He didn’t mind sharing the resources with Rozen because Rozen was his brother, but he should be able to obtain more resources if he was alone.

If Rozen forced Kirito to come with him, that would be a waste of time. So he figured out it might be better if Kirito went ahead.

That was not selfish, but a choice that has to be made in order to survive.

And of course, that applied to the other way around. Rozen also had his own plan, and there he couldn’t accompany Kirito all the time.

Therefore, even if they acted together for the moment, that didn’t mean they could stay together at all times, this was bound to happen sooner or later.

But…

“You’re in more serious trouble than you thought.”

Kirito said in response.