The moment Kirito nodded in agreement, Kuro immediately felt as if Kirito was extending his hand to him.
Kuro's consciousness also responded, reaching out to grasp his opponent.
With just a light pull, he felt almost a third of his magical power get consumed, and the magic circle beneath his feet also began fluctuating wildly.
Realizing the huge loss of magical power, Kuro used all his strength to pull hard.
Suddenly, strong winds blew and thunder rumbled in the sky.
As if some invisible being was giving Kuro a warning, telling him to immediately stop this action.
Then the magic circle disappeared, and the sounds of wind and thunder also subsided.
Kuro, who'd been standing in front of the church door with his eyes closed this whole time, finally opened his eyes.
"So this is what you call another world?!"
Kuro (Kirito) looked around curiously, and after a while realized this wasn't his original body.
"Huh? This doesn't seem to be my body!"
Even though his accent hadn't changed, it was clearly audible that the one speaking wasn't the original Kuro.
"Right, this is my body." Kuro's voice echoed in Kirito's head: "Summoning your complete self requires magical power beyond my current capabilities, and with the magical power and control I have now, I can only maintain this for a very short time, about ten-something minutes."
Maybe because only consciousness or soul crossed dimensions, or maybe because of this world's rejection of other worlds, Kuro could feel a strong pulling force from Kirito's body.
Kuro was currently continuously consuming magical power to maintain Kirito's existence.
When the fantastic experience of crossing worlds really happened to him, Kirito happily clenched his fist, and after noticing the black sword behind him, he took it.
After skillfully doing sword spins to adjust to the feel, Kirito quickly swung four slashes forward... in an instant, four sword flashes like physical objects extended from four different angles.
Horizontal Square!
This was one of the sword techniques Kirito had mastered most.
He could already perform it skillfully without needing skill guidance.
"Hmm, very interesting."
Even though for Kirito it was just a casual strike, game skills like that couldn't be done at will in the real world.
This was the first time he'd used it in the real world, feeling wind resistance and sword weight.
All of this made Kirito feel very fresh.
Like the first time he entered SAO, he was full of curiosity about everything before him.
Kirito lightly pinched himself, even though the pain he felt was like being pinched by tweezers.
This clear pain couldn't be compared at all to the pain system simulated in virtual networks.
Kirito understood the urgency of the problem, knowing his opponent had crossed worlds to ask for help. he must be facing big trouble.
He waved one hand, sheathing his sword.
"Alright, can you let me return now?"
"Phew!"
Kirito heard a relieved sigh, then felt the sensation of losing gravity.
When he came to, he found he'd already returned to his original body the previous experience seemed like just a dream.
However, the voice coming from his heart proved the truth of it all.
"I just learned this magic, so I'm not skilled enough at controlling it yet."
Even though Kuro's magical power could still last a few more moments, this was his first time using it... the continuous tense feeling was indeed somewhat hard to adapt to.
"Haha, if I could really go adventuring in your world in the future, that'd be so much fun."
After confirming this wasn't a hallucination and that he could return, Kirito felt relieved, but then came joy that filled his heart.
The reason he felt relieved was. fortunately, this other world didn't take away his path back.
Even though he couldn't predict whether he'd be able to travel worlds like his opponent in the future, that world's culture and knowledge were clearly very valuable.
This valuable culture and knowledge would help him rise in the current world.
Kirito didn't particularly want wealth and power. his old dream was just becoming a game developer. However, he understood Asuna's situation better than anyone.
What Asuna would face when going home during winter break, Kirito knew very clearly, but he was powerless... after all, he was just a seventeen-year-old high school student.
After returning from her hometown, the worry in Asuna's eyes that almost overflowed pierced Kirito's heart at every moment.
Because of this, he'd been studying electronics wholeheartedly, hoping to start a business after becoming an adult and gain recognition from Asuna's family.
In Japan, a place that highly values lineage and class freezing, all this felt very difficult.
The Sugou Nobuyuki incident had just happened, but almost no one really paid attention to it.
Even though Kirito was like a fish in water in ALO, with almost everyone knowing him.
But in the real world, he was still just an ordinary person, couldn't even be called extraordinary.
All these problems became different after he experienced cross-dimensional travel once. As long as he could make good use of this opportunity, his goals could be easily achieved.
Kuro didn't realize how important he was to Kirito... he felt very happy after successfully summoning Kirito and getting his promise of help.
"Mr. Kirigaya Kazuto, the world where I am is actually full of danger. I hope you could teach me some combat techniques. In return, if you need anything, I'll do my best to fulfill it."
"Just call me Kirito." The heavy burden on Kirito's head was finally lifted. right now he felt much lighter: "My family used to run a dojo, so I can teach you some kendo techniques. If you don't mind, could you tell me about your situation in detail? I'll do my best to help."
Fate really was so amazing... without realizing it, both felt they'd gained huge benefits.
And feeling somewhat indebted to their opponent, they wanted to give compensation as much as possible.
Because of this, while his magical power still remained, Kuro briefly introduced Orario, the dungeon, and the three major commission problems to Kirito.
The two agreed that tomorrow they'd experience the dungeon deeply, fight monsters, and discuss future training plans.
This first cross-world communication ended perfectly in a harmonious atmosphere.
Seeing the sparkling light in Kuro's eyes, Hestia understood that the results of this communication must have been very good. That night, both slept very soundly.
On the dungeon's ninth floor, to ensure smooth magic casting, Kuro completely cleared out the surrounding monsters and destroyed the nearby terrain to prevent monsters from respawning quickly.
"Distant Call·Kirito!"
Thanks to yesterday's experience, this summoning process was clearly smoother, and the magical power consumed was also much less.
"Good morning, Kirito."
"Morning!" Opening his eyes, briefly greeting Kuro in his head: "So this is the dungeon you mentioned yesterday?"
"Welcome to the dungeon's ninth floor. On the floors ahead, monster numbers will increase significantly. Even though your strength is extraordinary, Kirito, considering this is your first time exploring, let's adapt to the environment here first."
The ninth floor was the level where Kuro could ensure his own safety.
If he entered the tenth floor, once the magic cut off, he'd immediately face monster attacks.
Kuro didn't have enough confidence to break through during black flame loss-of-sanity incidents.
After all, in dungeons, accidents were normal.
"That's enough. Even though for me this is just an experience, for you this place is clearly full of crises, danger could lurk at any time."
The moment Kirito opened his eyes, he instinctively sensed the faint killing aura around him.
"I just didn't expect you're also skilled with dual swords."
Kirito took the dual swords from behind him, while moving forward carefully and joking casually.
"Uhm... I'm imitating you, including my name too."
"Ah, I see!" Even though Kirito knew his opponent was his fan, his opponent's imitation of him made him somewhat embarrassed: "It feels like you're very familiar with my affairs."
Squeak! Squeak!
Kuro's explanations kept echoing in Kirito's head, involving various dungeon mechanisms and the attribute conditions needed for each upper floor.
Just as Kuro started explaining attributes and skills, light sounds came from ahead.