As mentioned before, level 1 players only had 2 skill slots, the next one will be unlocked once they reached level 6.
Rozen was no exception, one of his skill slots was already occupied with Blade Throwing, he intended to fill the other slot after he tamed the Rainbow Butterfly, since he has decided to use one-handed sword, he placed the one-handed sword skill on the skill slot.
So both of his skill slots were Sword Skills, which was a rare combination.
Most players would’ve placed one Sword Skill plus one other skill like support skill or crafting skill.
The same applied to Kirito.
Beside one-handed sword Sword Skill, he placed Searching on the other skill slot
As the name implied, this was the skill used to detect enemies.
Equipping this skill could improve the players’ detection range. Not only could they detect enemies easier, but they could also gain abilities such as night vision, provided that the proficiency of the skill was met.
This skill allowed Kirito to detect enemies easier than the average player. And the impact was immediately shown, because Kirito could see the red cursor around the forest, they could easily avoid running into unnecessary monsters.
However, even without Searching skill, Rozen won’t run into any monsters.
The reason was simple.
“Woo! Gooo!”
The Rainbow Butterfly flew around Rozen while frequently cried out to detect nearby enemy.
In other words, Rainbow Butterfly could warn Rozen in case there was an enemy nearby.
Under such circumstances, even if he knew that SAO had become a death game, Kirito could not help but see Rozen with envious eyes.
“Having tamed beast sure is convenient, huh? You don’t even have to waste a skill slot to gain the same effect.” Kirito said jealously.
Unfortunately…
“I can only detect whether there are enemies nearby or not. I can’t see the monster’s cursor like you, and I don’t know where their exact location is.”
Rozen answered this way while drawing his Bronze Sword.
Because…
“Then, I’ll check the enemy’s skills for you.”
Kirito pointed to the front.
“There are monsters over there, and they are our quest’s objective. The cursor is slightly redder.”
Although all monster’s cursors were red, based on how red it was, the players could also roughly judge how strong the enemy was.
If the monster’s level was higher than the player, depending on the gap, the color cursor of the monster would be much darker.
If the level is much lower than the player to the point where the player barely get any exp, the cursor will be light pink or even white.
Kirito refers to the former.
The monsters they were after this time had a higher level than them. As Rozen got closer, he finally could see the monster himself
“Little Nepenthes.”
That was the official name of the monster.
Despite being called Little Nepenthes, there was nothing little about this predatory plant as it was a meter and a half tall. Its lower body consisted mostly of countless roots that were used to move around. It had two arm-like vines with pointed leaves attached to either side of its body, just above the roots. The center of its head held a wide red mouth with viscous liquids dribbling out of it as it opened and closed.
The Little Nepenthes was level 3, so it went without saying that the color cursor was dark red in Rozen and Kirito’s eyes.
If Rozen and Kirito wanted to play it safe, they should’ve avoided this monster. However, as Rozen said, that monster was their quest’s objective
Rozen immediately checked at the monster’s head.
The quest’s objective was an item called Little Nepenthes’ ovule.
Only Little Nepenthes that had flowers on their head will drop that item.
Rozen stared at the monster in front of him, but Kirito who had Searching skills beat him to it.
“Not the one we’re looking for.”
He briefly said.
“This won’t be that easy.”
Rozen shrugged.
From Kirito’s experience during the closed beta when he took this quest, he assumed the spawn rate of the Little Nepenthes who had flower on their head was lower than 1%. Well, considering the reward of the quest was pretty good, of course, it won’t be that easy.
Some players even spent three days finding that item but to no avail, and they finally gave up.
Despite knowing how hard it was, Kirito still took this quest.
“We can boost the chance of encountering the Little Nepenthes with flower by constantly defeating the regular Little Nepenthes.”
“And these monsters are at level 3, we can keep killing this monster while finding the quest objective. If things are going smoothly, we’ll be able to reach level 5 by dawn.”
The recommended level for Players on the 1st floor was 10.
Players won’t get as much exp once they reached above that level.
Therefore, during the beta period, the players formed a large-scale raid, consisted of multiple parties of 5-7 level players to defeat the floor boss. After several tries, they finally managed to reach the boss, granting access to the second floor.
If Rozen and Kirito could reach level 5 by dawn, they’ll be in an advantage obviously.
“Well, no pain, no gain, right?” Rozen was not intimidated at all.
“The monster level here is higher than ours, and in addition to the normal Little Nepenthes and the one with a red flower on their head as our quest objective, there is one more type, right? The Little Nepenthes with red fruit on their head, if we accidentally attack it, the fruit will exude an odor that would attract other Little Nepenthes to it, right?”
Being a level 1 player, if they were surrounded by these level 3 monsters, it goes without saying that they’ll die.
Since Rozen was already aware of that, Kirito didn’t have to remind him about this.
But he couldn’t help but blurt out.
“If you die, Mom, Suguha, and I will not forgive you.”
Kirito rushed forward after saying those words.
Rozen just looked at Kirito, who rushed toward the monster without saying a word.
“Goo!”
The Rainbow Butterfly suddenly warned Rozen.
Rozen saw that one of the Little Nepenthes approached him slowly.
Rozen sighed and held the bronze one-handed sword firmly.
“Come!”
Rozen stood his ground as the Little Nepenthes charged straight at him.
