237 -233- Gone?

Next, Rozen didn't head directly to level up or go to the town of beginnings. Instead, he went to different locations where chests were placed and began his treasure hunting journey.

Unfortunately, Rozen couldn't level up at the moment, nor could he go to a town.

This was because he had exhausted his supply of Throwing picks, and he didn't have any weapons on hand. Even if he wanted to level up, he couldn't do it unless he was willing to endure the extremely low efficiency of using small stones to kill monsters. Otherwise, he would have to go to the town to purchase weapons and start from scratch.

However, with the Rainbow Flower Butterfly by his side, the moment Rozen entered a town, he would immediately attract the attention of the tens of thousands of Sword Art Online (SAO) players.

Rozen had experienced this feeling during the closed beta and knew that if he were to reveal himself, it would be quite troublesome. The closed beta players would recognize his identity, new players would come to inquire about obtaining information and even offer money to buy from him, and female players who were attracted by the cute and beautiful appearance of the Rainbow Flower Butterfly would go to great lengths to pester him. It would be quite annoying.

As a result, Rozen couldn't go to the town either.

Given the situation, he could only head to other places.

Although the town of beginnings was the main city of Floor 1 in Aincrad, and it occupied the largest area on this floor, there were other towns besides the Starting Town. There were various villages a fair distance away from the town, and they were home to relatively high-level monsters and NPCs who offered high-reward, challenging quests.

"Certainly, the closed beta players must be aiming for these unexplored villages, right?"

Knowing the information about the methods of defeating high-level monsters, their spawning points, and quest completion details, the closed beta players would undoubtedly take full advantage of this knowledge to widen the gap in levels, equipment, and wealth between them and the new players.

Without a weapon, Rozen naturally couldn't consider these villages as his targets. He didn't want to compete with other closed beta players for resources. Therefore, while other players were immersed in their own gaming journeys, he embarked on a journey to find treasure chests.

Under these circumstances, although Rozen's level didn't increase and his experience points only remained at the level he gained from killing a dozen or so miscellaneous monsters with the Throwing pick, his inventory was constantly expanding. By opening untouched treasure chests one after another, Rozen obtained items such as money, materials, potions, and more, enriching his inventory.

While others were leveling up, Rozen was increasing his wealth, causing the available space in his inventory to become increasingly scarce.

"I suppose it won't be long before I can't carry any more weight, huh?"

Rozen checked his inventory while speaking like this.

Players could carry an unlimited number of items, but there was a weight limit. Once that limit was reached, they could no longer carry anything else.

The term "weight" here doesn't just refer to the items in the inventory, but also includes the weapons, armor, and materialized items carried on the body. Only by increasing their "str" (strength) can players increase their weight limit. Alternatively, they can learn various skills that reduce weight or increase the weight limit to carry more items.

As a result, Rozen, who was only at level 1, naturally couldn't have a very high weight limit. After obtaining various items from treasure chests and drops, his weight limit was already close to being full.

"After it's full, I'll go to the nearby village to acquire higher-performance weapons and then focus on leveling up."

Rozen had this plan in mind.

"Gu!"

The Rainbow Flower Butterfly continued to flutter by Rozen's side, sprinkling phosphorescent powder as it flew, making its entire body shine and giving it an exceptionally charming appearance.

"Although I've known this for a while, seeing it again still makes me think, no wonder those female players are so fond of you, little buddy."

Rozen playfully teased the Rainbow Flower Butterfly by his side.

"Wu?"

The Rainbow Flower Butterfly immediately tilted its head, looking like it almost understood but not quite, making it even cuter.

Not long after, the sky gradually darkened, allowing the setting sun to cast a reddish hue on the clouds.

Rozen stopped in the wilderness, gazing at this scene, feeling emotional.

"Would Mash be happy if she saw this sky?"

Though he said this, what Rozen was currently seeing wasn't the sky; it was actually the bottom of the floor above.

Aincrad was formed by stacking 100 floors to create the floating castle.

In other words, what was truly the sky was the exterior of the floating castle.

What Rozen was currently seeing was only the bottom of the second floor.

However, that bottom wasn't a dull gray expanse; there were clouds drifting about. Sunlight from the exterior of the floating castle shone in, refracting through the ceiling and the ground, giving the appearance of a genuine sky. It was truly magical.

"It's only in the world of VR that such incredible phenomena can be realized."

Rozen turned his head, looking towards another direction.

There stood a tower that extended high into the sky, directly connecting to the bottom of the upper floor.

"Labyrinth"

That was the staircase leading to the floor above, known as the "Labyrinth."

If players wanted to reach the upper floor, they had to enter the Labyrinth that existed on every floor. It housed monsters much stronger than those found in the wilderness training areas. To successfully conquer the floor, players needed to reach the highest level of the staircase, defeat the guardian boss in the boss room leading to the staircase to the upper floor, and then they could proceed to a higher floor, facing stronger monsters, better equipment, higher opportunities, and enhancing their own strength.

Furthermore, once they cleared the 1st floor and reached the 2nd floor, they could activate a transfer gate in a town on the 2nd floor.

Through the transfer gate, players no longer needed to move between floors using staircases. They only needed to call out the name of their desired destination, and they could transfer to any town with a transfer gate, even reaching any floor that had been successfully cleared.

"It's fascinating how high-level space transfer has become a means of transportation in this virtual world. If this were the world of Chaldea, the Mage's Association and its leading magus would surely criticize and curse this, right?"

Rozen could only chuckle at this thought, watching as the sun gradually sank. He stretched and yawned.

"Alright, let's log out and have dinner. I'll probably stay up all night later."

Having made this decision, Rozen brought up the main menu, clicked the bottom-right button, and was about to choose the logout option to leave the current world and return to his real-world bed.

However...

"Huh?"

A slightly bewildered voice came from Rozen's mouth.

The reason was simple.

"The logout command is gone?"

Yes.

The option to log out was no longer there.

The option to leave the game and return to the real world was now grayed out.

It meant that the option couldn't be selected or executed.

"This..."

Rozen furrowed his brow.

Within his heart, a faint sense of unease began to rise.