Chapter 623: Dropping the curtain on the floor boss raid…

Seven stars, that’s not an SAO skill, it’s a skill Wu Yan created from his mindless grinding and inspiration.

Skills are very important in SAO, with sword skills, a player can quickly level up. It’s just way more efficient to use skills to level up whenever possible. Compared to that, using normal attacks will take way longer to kill the same monster.

Wu Yan noticed the light coming from skill activation somehow enhanced the attack of the players before they launched their attacks. The system then guided their bodies to execute the techniques which are all very basic in nature, e.g. a vertical slash or horizontal slash.

Then the thought dawned upon him, what if he used the skill activation but then he cancels it midway and then using the enhanced attack with his own techniques?

Soon after that, he created Seven Stars.

This technique was made to execute a seven-phased attack using the enhanced damage from skill activation. Currently, this is the skill that boasts the strongest damage output among all his other skills. Moreover, he can adjust the output of Seven Stars by choosing the appropriate sword skill to cancel on. (high-level skill enhances attack more than low-level skills)

More accurately, Seven Stars is a technique he synthesized from Eternal Arms Mastery and SAO’s sword skills system.

Without Eternal Arms Mastery, he wouldn’t be able to resist, much less, cancel the sword skill he’s activating when the SAO system forces the player to move according to the sword skill he activated. He couldn’t execute his own moves if his body moved according to the game system here.

While his body is virtual, in front of Eternal Arms Mastery, it’s a weapon that he can completely utilize with the soul, mind, and body unification effects of Eternal Arms Mastery. When the skill activates, he took control of his own body to move according to his own will rather than the system’s.

Seven Stars is just the start. In the original work, Kirito obtained his dual-wielding skill somewhere along with the progression of the story. With two swords, Kirito could unleash a stream of attacks that totals up to around 50 or so hits. Compared to Seven Stars, this was superior.

However, that’s in the late game. At this early game, Seven Stars is currently the strongest sword skill among all the players.

The stage clear notification hung in the air after the floor boss’s death. When the cheerful tune played, the players finally returned to reality.

“W-we did it!”

“Yeah! We cleared the first floor!”

“Yeaahhhh!!!”

The players cheered out loud after confirming this fact with each other. Their joyous roar echoed throughout the boss room.

They raised their arms in glee and they just wanted anyone around them to know that they are absolutely elated beyond words. They grabbed the neck of the next person to them with their arms while laughing out loud. Some of them also playfully punched their teammates on the arm or chest. In any case, everyone’s smiling.

“We… we cleared the first floor…”

Diavel sucked in a cold breath of air. Wu Yan let the data crystals rain down upon him as Diavel stared at him, a hint of jealousy flashed in his eyes.

Diavel wanted to land the last hit on the floor boss.

Anyone who scored the last hit would get an extra reward. Only Diavel and Kirito knew about this as it wasn’t in the novice manual. Naturally, he was gunning for the extra loot.

The person he’s staring at single-handedly destroyed his plan when Wu Yan went and solo-ed the boss, pulling off what should have been impossible.

Nobody expected a player to live after going toe-to-toe against the floor boss. Even in the closed Beta, nobody managed to clear the first floor boss on their own.

It’s a shame that he didn’t get the extra drop. However, he also remembered how the boss took out a freaking nodachi instead of a talwar as in the original closed beta.

If he rushed in back then, trying to land the last hit, then…

He shuddered at the thought of what would have happened. He dismissed his petty envy and instead, he was grateful Wu Yan interrupted his plan.

This player in front of him is destined to be the hope of all the players here. His existence told every player that this game is possible, clearing the game and living through this nightmare became something material, a dream they can see and touch.

He reckons that after news of this raid traveled throughout the player base, the raids after this would be a cinch…

“That guy, he’s strong…”

Kirito looked at Wu Yan with passionate eyes. He even looked like he wanted to try dueling him.

“Was he a beta tester? I’ve never heard of someone so skilled during the closed beta though? Or maybe…”

“He wasn’t even a beta tester in the first place?!”

He reassessed Wu Yan with analytic eyes.

“If that’s the case, this person is truly scary…”

Asuna also watched Wu Yan although she hid her face with her hood. Her eyes were shaking with complex emotions.

She recalled how she told him it wasn’t possible to kill the floor boss on his own. Asuna clasped her hands together.

“It’s possible, huh….”

Wu Yan didn’t know what the others thought. He was busy checking the drops from this raid victory. He also confirmed the Coat of Midnight he got from killing the floor boss. He sighed in annoyance.

“The attributes and stats are okay but the potential of this item is capped lower than my current gear. I can get a temporary boost but when I upgrade my current gear, this coat is going to be useless. Talk about useful junk.”

Equipment can be upgraded in this game. He just needs a good blacksmith to upgrade it for him. As long as he has the upgrade materials and money, it’s possible to make an infinity gear+1 out of his current equipment.

Presently, characters who specialized in their sub-jobs are very rare and they are all not skilled enough for gear upgrades. After clearing this floor, the specialists can focus on raising their skill levels, enabling further upgrade to his current equipment. With a capped potential, this coat isn’t useful to him because, in the long-run, his current equipment can perform better after upgrades.

At this point, he’s indifferent towards this Coat of Midnight.

If Diavel found out about Wu Yan dissing the coat he dreamed of, he would probably feel significantly less grateful towards Wu Yan.

He looked around and he saw a stone door that attracted his attention.

That’s the stairs leading up to the second floor….

He ignored the other players and he started making his way towards the stone door. The other players stopped celebrating as Kirito, Asuna, and Diavel panicked for a second.

When he was about to enter the teleport formation, Asuna ran over to Wu Yan.

“Wait…”

Wu Yan turned around with a smile. He crossed his arms as he waited for Asuna to come over to him.

Maybe it’s his lucky day. This would explain why Asuna keeps running back to me…

“Yeah?”

Asuna looked into his deep red eyes.

“Could you please tell me your name?”

Ah, yes, I remember this line…

Wu Yan laughed as he turned around.

“My name’s Wu Yan…”

He tossed a notebook to Asuna.

“This…”

“It’s a recipe book…”

Wu Yan chuckled.

“I think a girl would like to eat good food from time to time…”

Wu Yan entered the formation without stopping. When he stood in the formation, he gave her one last line.

“Oh, yeah, you should join a guild you trust, don’t turn out like me…”

“Wait…”

Wu Yan disappeared into the formation.

Asuna looked at the empty staircase and she tightened her grip on the recipe book in her hands.

“Wu Yan…”

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