Chapter 2 Sword proficiency

Arthur's lips curved into a smile. Just as he had suspected, this was indeed the "golden finger" he had Transmigrated with. Level up skills!

"Upgrade!" To avoid being mistaken for a lunatic by the players around him, Arthur tried saying it in his mind.

"Upgrade successful. Current mastery level of sword: LV2. Next level requires proficiency 0/1000."

"Congratulations to the host for reaching LV2 in sword mastery. Obtained the low-level sword skill for single-handed swords: Sacred Sword Baptism."

Looking at the newly added sword skill in the skill menu, Arthur's eyes sparkled with excitement.

With this system, surviving in this death game would be a breeze, wouldn't it? Arthur's lips curled up, but he also felt a bit worried. After all, the biggest boss of this game was GM Kayaba. What if he noticed something unusual? Would the system be discovered?

With this in mind, Arthur glanced at the players around him who were still busy killing wild boars and quietly left.

The bustling players didn't notice this seemingly ordinary player.

Arthur walked alone to a small lake. As the lowest level of Aincrad, the first level undoubtedly had the largest area, and there were no traces of other players around the lake.

This was exactly what Arthur had planned. He drew the single-handed sword from his waist, ignoring the prompts from his mind, and simply watched the sword in his hand silently, murmuring to himself, "If drawing the sword can gain proficiency, then... swinging it naturally should work too."

With that, Arthur swung the sword forward sharply.

"Horizontal slash successfully executed, gaining 100 points of proficiency in sword."

Arthur's lips curled into a smile, and he swung the sword again.

"Vertical slash successfully executed, gaining 100 points of proficiency in sword."

"Diagonal slash successfully executed, gaining 100 points of proficiency in sword."

...

Although Arthur had never touched a sword before, he had naturally learned some basic techniques from movies and anime.

In no time, his proficiency reached its maximum level.

"Upgrade!"

"Upgrade successful. Current mastery level of sword: LV3. Next level requires proficiency 0/10000."

"Congratulations to the host for reaching LV3 in sword mastery. Obtained the low-level sword skill for single-handed swords: Sparkling Flame."

After the upgrade, Arthur could feel an extraordinary familiarity with the sword in his hand, as if he had been using it for years.

"Well then, let's continue!" Arthur exclaimed excitedly and swung the sword again.

When the mechanical, cold synthesized voice of the system sounded, Arthur's expression suddenly changed.

"Diagonal slash successfully executed, gaining 10 points of proficiency in sword."

What?! Arthur looked at the sword mastery.

Sword Mastery: 10/10000 (LV3)

What's going on? Wasn't it supposed to be 100 proficiency points? Arthur frowned, incredulously swung the sword again, but still only gained 10 experience points.

He had thought of asking the system if there was a problem, but then Arthur remembered that his system didn't have any artificial intelligence, so he gave up.

So, what was the problem? Arthur scratched his head, lost in thought. After all, this was crucial to his survival in this death game.

However, it's just 1000 slashes. Arthur planned to max out his proficiency before worrying about it.

However, an hour later, Arthur collapsed on the ground like a dead dog, exhausted. Although it seemed easy to achieve 1000 slashes, if the slashes weren't standard, they wouldn't be recognized by the system. In addition, SAO had stamina restrictions, and he could barely lift the single-handed sword with his hunger almost at zero.

He glanced at his proficiency, which was only 3540 after an hour. This meant that he had only performed 354 qualified slashes in this hour. The reason why there were only 354 slashes was because he wasted stamina on unqualified slashes, which made him realize how strict the system was.

There were still 646 slashes left. Arthur felt his hands sore.

He took out a piece of bread given to him for free and started to nibble on it.

"Ugh." Free things were indeed not good. Arthur forced himself to swallow the somewhat rotten taste of the bread. Damn you Kayaba, I will definitely drag you out and give you a beating! Gnawing on the hard bread distributed by capitalism, Arthur, the successor of communism taught personally by Zohn xina, harbored strong resentment towards the capitalist Kayaba.

But fortunately, the effect of the bread, which had been left for who knows how long, in alleviating hunger was quite good. As he watched his hunger gradually return, Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to be the first person to starve to death in SAO.

After his hunger, which was closely related to his stamina limit, returned, Arthur felt much better. At least he could stand up and swing the sword with some effort.

However, for safety reasons, Arthur did not continue training with the sword to increase his proficiency. He wasn't so foolish after seeing the terrifying stamina restrictions. After all, this was in the wilderness. If he was discovered by monsters, he might not even have his bone left.

...........

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