In early September 2024, forty-seven people from the strategy team vigorously challenged the flying BOSS Flash Winged One-Horned Demon on the 70th floor. This battle was passed without any injuries even when Le Yuan exposed his skill "Two Sword Style". As the second unique skill known to SAO, Le Yuan was suddenly pushed to the forefront.
In addition to the old friends Klein, Agil, and Dilbert of the strategy team who want to know relevant information, even Argo, who has always cooperated very well, is trying to get it from Le Yuan like a magic trick. Get first-hand information.
Le Yuan originally wanted to remain silent, but this craze for star chasing not only did not improve with the passage of time, but on the contrary, as the days passed, the voices calling Le Yuan the savior became louder and louder. Le Yuan felt something strange, and even an Argo who was questioning Le Yuan began to change his tone and asked Le Yuan to hide.
The unnatural popularity in the game made Le Yuan's first reaction be that the mastermind behind the scenes, Kayaba Akihiko, was trying to pull some tricks. Le Yuan, whose level has surpassed all players and reached the incredible level 92, temporarily left the strategy team and went to the front line, wandering in the middle and lower levels of Aincrad, chatting with NPCs every day, and his life was quite different. The flavor and spiritual relaxation allowed him to unknowingly touch the threshold of breaking through the limits of the game.
On the morning of September 11, the fifth day of wandering, just after Le Yuan came out of the hotel on the 35th floor, as if on purpose, an NPC murmured to himself in front of Le Yuan: "White Ghost" , the white ghost of the lost forest..."
"Lost in the Forest, mission?" Le Yuan muttered this familiar name. It was in this place that Le Yuan experienced his first life-and-death battle in SAO, and the only time he singled out a floor BOSS-level monster.
With the idea that idleness is also idle, Le Yuan came to the Lost Forest to the north of the thirty-fifth floor. Although this is also a good place for leveling, few people come to this place, not for anything else. The word "lost".
The Lost Forest can be said to be a very special map. Dense and tall trees are arranged side by side, making the entire forest look like a chessboard. The forest is divided into hundreds of large and small areas. Once you enter one of the areas, then After a minute, its front, back, left, and right connections were completely changed. It was an extremely troublesome map.
Less than a year has passed since my last visit. Compared with the Lost Forest in December, the Lost Forest in September is less lonely and more energetic. The sun shines through the leaves on the treetops and leaves mottled patches on the ground. If light and shadow weren't a little less popular, Le Yuan would be in a better mood.
"This place is really troublesome!" After walking in the Lost Forest for more than ten minutes, if it weren't for the map showing his location, Le Yuan would have been lost countless times. His location was in the forest for a while. After a while, he moved forward, but was suddenly teleported to the rear. In this case, let alone finding the so-called white ghost, it was even a question of whether he could walk out of the forest.
When he passed through an area again, there was a sudden sound of very light footsteps in the forest where there was only the rustling of leaves.
"Who?" Le Yuan immediately activated the enemy search skill to detect possible players or monsters, but there was no response, whether it was the green light arrow representing the player, the red arrow representing the monster, or even the yellow arrow representing the NPC. None, as if the sound Le Yuan heard just now was an illusion.
"Cha—" At this time, Le Yuan had already drawn the sword behind him. After calming down his heartbeat, Le Yuan walked towards the direction where the sound came from just now.
"Crack-" After crossing the trees, Le Yuan came to the place where the strange noise came from. Unfortunately, when he looked around, he found no trace of anyone's presence.
But when Le Yuan stepped forward and saw a broken branch, he realized that it had been stepped on and broken, and it should have happened not long ago.
"Instigation -" Suddenly there was a sound of leaves shaking from the direction of the trees coming from Le Yuan.
Le Yuan turned around and pointed his sword directly at the bushes, fully alert to what was about to appear. The sword in his hand glowed red, and the strongest single-target attack "Dead Strike" was ready to go, no matter what appeared. All monsters can kill it immediately.
Suddenly a white shadow jumped out from the bushes. The moment Le Yuan saw it, he thought it was really the ghost that the NPC said had appeared. He almost struck it with his sword.
But after seeing the white shadow that appeared clearly the next second, the red light on the sword dissipated the next second. The so-called Bai Ying was just a girl whose height was just around Le Yuan's waist, about eight years old. She had long hair that reached her waist and wore a simple white dress. If you didn't look carefully, she looked like a ghost.
I saw the girl looking at Le Yuan with blank eyes, walking toward Le Yuan step by step, her mouth slightly opened but not uttering a word. When she walked two meters in front of Le Yuan, she suddenly bent her left foot and her whole body. They all fell down.
"Be careful—" Looking at the fallen girl, could Le Yuan still ignore her? He took three steps and two steps at a time to reach the girl's side and put a hand on her shoulder to support her fallen body.
The girl's eyes with long eyelashes were closed tightly, and her arms hung helplessly beside her. Except for the slight rise and fall of the chest, which indicated that the girl was breathing, Le Yuan would have thought that this person was dead.
But the next second Le Yuan realized who the girl in front of him was. After calming down, his enemy-seeking skill was still activated, but it failed to react on the girl at all, and the indicator arrow did not show any indication at all. There is only one girl who can do this - SAO's consulting AI responsible for maintaining players' mental health, an artificial intelligence named Yui.
Looking at the girl in front of him, Le Yuan felt a headache. It would be impossible to say that he had no intentions towards Yui. Of course, this was not an attempt to control lolita, but to collect information about Mao through the system authority in Yui's hands. Evidence that Field Jingyan transformed into Heathcliff.
But the problem is that Yui, the adopted daughter of "Asuna and Kiriko" in the original plot, ran in front of him for no reason. This is a bit abnormal no matter how you look at it.
In order to take care of Yui who fainted, Le Yuan set up a temporary tent in the Lost Forest and began to take care of Yui.
The sleeping girl did not make any movement until Le Yuan started cooking breakfast the next day. Just when Le Yuan thought that this kind of life would continue, suddenly the curtain of the tent was opened from the inside out, and a little head came out of the tent. He poked his head out and looked around confusedly. When he saw Le Yuan's face, his eyes were filled with divine light. He opened the curtain and rushed towards Le Yuan.
"Pa—" Yui rushed into Le Yuan's arms, put her head on Le Yuan's chest and murmured: "Dad, Dad..."
"Dad?" Looking at this girl who was more bold than the original plot and called her daddy, Le Yuan's head got bigger. He pulled Yui up from his arms, pointed to himself in a soft voice and said: "I, Le Yuan." Then he pointed at her and said, "What is your name?"
Yui thought for a while and then pointed at herself and stammered: "Yue, Yui, my name is Yui. Le Yuan..."
Seeing Yui slurring his name, Le Yuan compromised: "Well, follow me and say it again, Le Yuan, Le Yuan, how about calling me brother?"
It's a pity that Yui pouted when she heard this word. No matter how Le Yuan guided her, she just wouldn't call her "brother." Helpless Le Yuan said: "Then, just choose a name you like."
"Dad!" Yui shouted to Le Yuan with a joyful smile, and everything was back to where it started.
Le Yuan brought the chicken rolls he had made in front of her and said to her: "Here, this is today's breakfast." Yui was a little overwhelmed when she picked up the chicken rolls. Le Yuan smiled and picked up one and put it in her mouth. Said: "This is so delicious!"
I saw Yui imitating Le Yuan and biting into the chicken roll. After chewing it, he swallowed it and said with a big smile: "It's delicious!" Then he ate quietly alone.
Le Yuan looked at Yui having breakfast and couldn't help but asked: "Yui, do you remember what happened before?" Yui stopped, seeming to be trying hard to recall, but in the end she shook her head and said nothing. Did not say.
"Have you lost your memory?" Looking at Yui's performance, Le Yuan understood that she had completely lost her past memory. She might be able to recall it, but everything depends on God's will, or finding something that can stimulate her memory recovery. something.
Patting her belly, Yui looked at Le Yuan with an expression as if she couldn't eat anymore. Le Yuan took her hand and asked: "Yui, can you tell me why you call me daddy? We seem to It’s the first time we’ve met.”
I saw Yui raising her head and looking at Le Yuan with her watery eyes, and then said in half-baked words: "Well, look, I see dad, very familiar, Yui, An Xin..."
Although it sounds awkward, it means the same thing in general. Although I don’t know the specific reason, Yui will feel very relieved when she sees him, just like the attachment of a young bird after seeing an adult bird. , it’s hard to explain, but it does exist, as if it’s engraved in Yui’s mind.
An unexpected relaxing trip found Yui, and Le Yuan's solo trip came to an end for the time being. With Yui by his side, Le Yuan no longer wanted to roam freely in the maze alone, so he took Yui and Le Yuan back to his home on the twenty-fourth floor.
The arrival of Yui brought about earth-shaking changes in Le Yuan's life. This extra daughter made Le Yuan feel the responsibility of the family for the first time. At the same time, every time he was around Yui, he felt the liberation of his heart. He also understood that he was not far away from mastering the most important mental skill against Kayaba Akihiko.
On September 18, Tongzi's visit broke the peace of Le Yuan's life, and Le Yuan had to join the battle of the strategy team again.