Inside the labyrinth.
A deafening rumble echoed through the long corridor, growing louder as it approached. The source was a long line of monsters charging forward, chasing the player sprinting ahead of them at full speed.
That player quickly reached the designated staircase.
Taking two steps at a time, Lillian easily leapt onto the stairs. He turned around, casually shaking out his legs.
"Come on up and get beaten."
Thud thud thud!
Seven or eight monsters he had lured over swarmed onto the staircase. But waiting for them at the final step was Lillian's mighty Kick. Not a single one made it up—every last one was sent flying, all aimed straight at the sharp rock below.
"This is great, really great," Lillian muttered casually as he kicked them down one by one, waiting for them to climb back up.
Bang—
Amid his muttering, the beastmen shattered into fragments. Light flashed over Lillian's body as his level rose to 9.
"Time to go."
After distributing his stat points, he checked the quest timer—there were still twenty hours left. He'd already spent over a full day inside the labyrinth. He had finished mining all the iron ore long ago; the remaining time had been spent entirely on farming monsters and leveling.
Even so, he'd only gained two levels in a whole day, which clearly showed just how difficult leveling in SAO really was. The experience requirements were absurdly high.
It was worth mentioning that Lillian had wanted to mine extra iron ore to take with him, but his iron pickaxe lost all durability and broke the moment he mined the twentieth piece, becoming unusable. That left him extremely annoyed. He hadn't expected the system to be this stingy—if he'd known, he would've bought an extra pickaxe.
Following the same path back out of the labyrinth, Lillian stretched lazily, exhaustion evident. He had rested for barely an hour that entire day, since the labyrinth's safe rooms only remained safe for one hour—after that, monsters could enter.
After staying inside so long, even the sunlight outside felt blinding. As he walked, Lillian reviewed his gains.
First, his level had increased by two—from 7 to 9. Don't underestimate those two levels. Starting from level 6, the experience required multiplied drastically. The EXP needed for levels 8 to 9 alone was three to four times that of levels 7 to 8. And now, going from 9 to 10 would require an enormous amount.
This was also likely because he had been farming the lowest-level monsters in the labyrinth. He had barely explored any other branches, staying almost exclusively on the right-hand path to lure and farm monsters.
The reason was simple—his poison resistance buff had expired after just one hour. Those beastmen didn't use poison attacks, making them safer targets. As for other monsters, Lillian couldn't be sure whether they used poison, so he didn't provoke them. There was no need to abandon stable experience for unnecessary risk.
Next time he came back, he would definitely explore other routes. And at this point, his wallet was bulging with col.
Having a farming spot all to yourself really was amazing—no competition at all. In a single day, he had killed over a hundred monsters, earning a total of 12,000 col. He'd also collected around twenty pieces of [Beastman Teeth] material. He didn't know what they were for yet, but they'd surely be useful.
As a solo player, earning this much in one day was impressive. Of course, he was exploiting his own "bug," but even then, his efficiency was only roughly equal to ten beta testers—not outrageously higher. It still couldn't compare to large guilds.
No wonder many guilds later monopolized entire floors—or even multiple floors—of labyrinths, forbidding outsiders from farming. The profits were simply too great.
That said, there was no need to worry about that yet. Guilds wouldn't truly start forming until the third floor. The first two floors were still mostly handled by small parties.
Besides levels and col, Lillian had also upgraded two pieces of equipment—a leather armor and a pair of shoes. Both were normal-grade drops from minor monsters. The stats were average, but still better than beginner gear. After equipping them, his appearance changed noticeably—he no longer looked like a newbie.
Passing through the forest, he returned to Tolbana. Without lingering, he ate something at a restaurant to recover some stamina, then headed straight back toward the Town of Beginnings.
While on the road, he received a message from Argo.
{Lillian, did you finish the quest?}
{It's done.}
{Told you my intel was right~}
{It was. Thanks—that helped a lot.}
{You're pretty impressive. Even though you weren't a beta tester in SAO, you must be a top-tier player in other games, right? Hehe. If you ever need more information, feel free to message me anytime. You've probably earned quite a bit of col by now, haven't you? I'll give you a special friends-only price~}
{…You're already eyeing the col I earned from farming monsters?}
{What? No! I'm just reminding you, that's all. Geez—anyway, I'm off to make money!}
The communication ended. Lillian shook his head. He did indeed have quite a bit of col now, but there was no way he could afford to spend it recklessly. Sprinting the entire way, it took him four hours to finally return to the Town of Beginnings.
Compared to when he had left, the place looked completely different. Players were now forming parties, and monster hunting had become far more active. Two days had passed, and many players had begun to come to terms with the situation—though nearly half still hadn't.
These players refused to believe the rescue conditions laid out by Kayaba. They clung to the hope of external rescue, believing that scientists in the real world would eventually solve the headset issue and free them.
Such players contributed nothing to the others effort. This was the fundamental reason why high-level players later developed hostility toward low-level ones. It also led to many advanced players deliberately stealing monsters, preventing these idle players from earning col. In the end, those players were forced to join the so-called "Army," where resources were distributed evenly.
From Lillian's perspective, he didn't particularly like these people either. From a purely pragmatic standpoint, he wanted this game cleared as quickly as possible. The more players actively participating in combat, the faster the task would progress. If all ten thousand players had joined the effort, the game likely wouldn't have taken two full years to reach Floor 75 like in the original timeline.
That said, he didn't comment on it. It was their choice, and he had no right to interfere.
When he arrived at the blacksmith's shop, the blacksmith was sitting on a chair resting. Seeing Lillian enter, the man stood up with a grin.
"You're back. Did you bring the ore?"
"I did."
Lillian opened his inventory and handed over twenty iron ores. The blacksmith immediately nodded in satisfaction.
"Not bad! I knew I didn't misjudge you!"
Lillian watched him eagerly, waiting for the reward. Since it was unknown, he had no idea what to expect.
"You really helped me out, kid." The blacksmith stroked his rough chin and pondered for a moment in a very human-like manner. "How about this—tell me what weapon you want, and I'll forge one for you."
Forge a weapon?
Lillian's heart leapt with joy. A high-attack weapon was exactly what he lacked. He was still using a beginner hammer, which severely limited his farming efficiency.
As soon as the blacksmith finished speaking, a selection menu appeared before Lillian.
[Please select the weapon you wish to forge]
Refined Steel Scimitar
Refined Steel Long Blade
Refined Steel One-Handed Sword
Refined Steel Rapier
Refined Steel Greatsword
Refined Steel One-Handed Hammer
Refined Steel Battle Axe
Refined Steel Spear
"That's a lot…"
Lillian felt his head hurt just looking at the list. All of them were refined steel weapons, so their base stats were likely similar. Still—he needed to eliminate options based on compatibility.
First, the spear and battle axe were out. The spear didn't suit his preferred smashing and cleaving combat style, while the battle axe's short handle required a shield for optimal use—and he disliked shields. Those two were immediately discarded.
Next were the rapier and scimitar. The scimitar was eliminated for the same reason as the battle axe. As for the rapier, its defining trait was speed bonus—but Lillian didn't need that at all. He was confident enough to say that even Asuna, the strongest rapier user, wasn't faster than him. Choosing a rapier would waste its core trait.
That left the long blade, one-handed sword, greatsword, and one-handed hammer.
He didn't rush. Instead, he carefully checked their stats.
All four were Good-quality weapons, superior to normal-grade gear. In terms of sharpness (attack power), from highest to lowest, the ranking was: one-handed hammer, greatsword, long blade, one-handed sword. However, the difference between the highest and lowest was less than fifteen points.
With attack power being similar, other stats and traits became more important.
In SAO, weapon stats included: sharpness (attack), attack speed, accuracy (critical rate), weight, and durability.
The fastest attack speed belonged to the one-handed sword. The long blade had the highest accuracy. The greatsword was the heaviest. The one-handed hammer had well-balanced stats across the board.
As for special traits:
One-handed sword: Sword Skill bonus (increased sharpness when using sword skills)
Long blade: Bleed (small chance to inflict bleeding)
One-handed hammer: Knockback (small chance to knock enemies away)
Greatsword: Poise Break (easier to stagger enemies)
After several minutes of consideration, Lillian ultimately selected the Refined Steel Greatsword.
"Sir, please forge me a greatsword."
While the four weapons' sharpness values were close, their weights differed significantly. The greatsword weighed 45, while the one-handed hammer weighed only 25. That difference in handling was huge. Lillian had always felt the hammer was too light—it sometimes felt like it might slip out of his hand. Against small monsters, that wasn't a big issue. But during a boss fight, losing grip under pressure would be disastrous.
As for traits, he much preferred poise break. Knockback was meaningless to him—if he wanted distance, his speed alone was enough. Staggering enemies was far more useful.
The bleed trait of the long blade was also appealing, but the "small chance" aspect made him abandon it. He hated relying on luck. Life was already hard enough for the unlucky.
"Got it—greatsword it is. I'll have it ready in no time!" the blacksmith said, heading toward the forge. Lillian followed, anticipation written all over his face.