<h4>Chapter 637: One year, the fae swordsman</h4>
It’s now been about a year since someone cleared the 2nd floor of Aincrad .
A year is a duration that’s not short or too long . For the yers inside SAO, however, they felt like the yearsted longer than a typical year in the real world .
A lot of things happened during the span of one year . In the real world, a lot of changes happened, these were unknown to the yers because they were all still stuck in the game . Inside SAO, because it is a gaming world, information traveled very fast throughout the yer base .
The most popr topic everyone followed is the clearing progress of the frontliners in Aincrad .
Things sped up after someone cleared the first floor . There hasn’t been a single case of being stuck on a floor for more than a month . The things the yers saw when they were still living on the 1st and 2nd floor convinced them that it is entirely possible to beat this death game .
It really lifted their hopes when someone went and cleared the 2nd floor in one day . The other yers picked up the ck and they threw themselves into a furor, training and beating monsters just to speed up the clearing speed if only a little . They didn’t wait around hoping for someone to beat it for them .
With so many yers in hardcore mode, the clearing speed basically took off .
They used 1 month to clear the first floor . Someone then beat the 2nd floor in one day . In just a short year, the yers are already on the 55th floor with the cooperation of all yers and the sharing of information . The yers are now more than halfway done with Aincrad .
The frontliners never stopped to pat themselves on the back . They continued working with each other, guilds, squads, individual yers, they helped each other to reach this point with the top floor of Aincrad as their ultimate goal .
Frontliners are few in number, there are only about a hundred or so hardcore frontliners out of tens of thousands of yers in SAO . They can be distinguished from average yers by their abnormally high levels, and their advanced equipment . The frontliners did most of the floor conquest in Aincrad .
The frontliners can be generally divided into 5 factions .
Firstly, The Fuurinkazan, a clearing guild led by Klein . They are a rtively normal guild who didn’t use underhanded tactics like hoarding hunting grounds, they eschewed bullying average yers, and other unsightly behavior . Hence, they are very well-respected among the generalmunity . Even so, they still managed to market themselves as highly capable frontliners .
The second faction: those associated with the Divine Dragons Alliance, these yers are notorious for being willing to do anything to be the strongest guild . They are not below harming a yer (not to the extent of death), turning themselves into orange status (potentially harmful yer) if they can get their hands on rare items or mobs . They are very secretive although it is known that the leadership changes frequently, probably because its members would do anything for more power .
The third faction: the Knights of Blood Oath, arguably the strongest guild in all of SAO, led by Heathcliff, they are publicly known as the strongest clearing guild . They are not as numerous as otherrge guilds but all their members are talented elites . Asuna is the vice-leader, by the way . With two very capable yers, including Heathcliff, KoB is evidently very strongpared to other guilds .
The fourth faction is one no one expected, this guild was originally an ill-fated guild that is third-rated at best in the original work . Unlike the original work, Moonlit ck Cats appeared among the top-ranking guilds in SAO .
Moonlit ck Cats are led by Souta .
In one year’s time, a certain benefactor indirectly motivated them to try harder at training and farming resources . They started as a small guild of 6 members, they let capable yers join and now they are among the top 5 guilds in SAO .
The ck Cats are also very salient for being the only yers in a raid group topletely outss other yers in equipment and gears . They are easily the guild with the least members in the top 5 guilds but they are people who can fight on par with Divine Dragons Alliance and Fuurinkazan just by relying on their superior gears .
The main reason why the ck Cats are always the biggest whales with the best equipment in the raid group could be attributed to a certain bug-like yer who defiedmon gaming logic for breakfast .
The fifth and weakest faction would be the solo or individual frontliners .
There are only 2 yers that appear frequently in raids . One of them Agil, looks like a shrewd businessman who managed a shophouse . In actual fact, he is a big-time MVP who devoted his resources to raising mid-level yers, he’s someone who never left his friends orrades behind during raids or grinding sessions . Even without joining any guild, he somehow found the time to train himself into a raid-group-level yer .
Meanwhile, Kirito is the remaining solo raid frontline member .
Due to a certain someone’s ster performance, Kirito didn’t get isted from other yers during the 1st-floor boss raid like in the original work . He also didn’t enter into an ill-fated rtionship with the Moonlit ck Cats, he didn’t get a psychological trauma like in the original work . But, he seems to like moving alone rather than with a group . He has more friends than his counterpart in the original work . However, he rarely partied up with anyone . His ability, on the other hand, is not to be questioned . He is known as the ck Swordsman among the yers .
There was another faction that boasted thergest number of guild members . The Aincrad Liberation Force, formerly known as the Aincrad Liberation Squad, or The Army, as it is moremonly known, got decimated during a raid on the 25th Floor Boss . Up until that point, they were thergest guild and strongest guild in SAO . After suffering major losses during that fight, the Army bowed out of further clearing raids . They also started cking on training and furthering frontline objectives . They are still notable but not as active as before .
These factions disyed amazing effort and cooperation to take down about 66% of the 55 cleared floors . They are idols who yers held in high esteem for risking so much, sometimes even their lives, to clear this death game where others are hesitant to do so .
Meanwhile, a certain person is responsible for the remaining 34% of cleared floors .
Yes, it’s just a yer . He’s none other than Wu Yan!
If the frontliners who regrly conducted raids on floor bosses are heroes and idols then Wu Yan is like a god in the minds of other yers .
He used his own power and skills to contribute about 34% of all the floor clears in Aincrad . Who else could pull off something like this?
Even the most influential guild can’tpare to him in terms of achievements .
He never appeared in front of the yers so they can only specte about his movements . Even the best information brokers can’t trace him without spending a lot of time and effort tracking him . It’s rumored that he always dived straight into the nextbyrinth after a floor is cleared and he never farmed out in the fields . On the rare asions that he’s spotted on the fields, it’s usually because he’s dealing with a field boss .
Only during the early days of a floor clear will the yers get a chance to catch a glimpse of this legendary yer . There are dubious reports about Wu Yan sightings in the town but credible reports are usually buried underneath false positive and lots of fakers who dressed like Wu Yan .
Already a godlike existence among the yers, p a bit of mystery on him and you get a yer who is ranked the most eligible yer in SAO, 99 out of 100 wants to date him . The remaining 1% is probably being tsundere, lying, or just jealous .
What else do you call a yer who can clear floors solo while other yers had to band together in raid groups to clear floors? For yers who wanted this death game to end as soon as possible, he’s god .
A year ago, he had the qualities to be the strongest yer in SAO . Now, he’s the strongest yer, hands down .
Every yer who is lucky enough to gaze upon Wu Yan saw a fairy on his shoulder so they gave him another epithet...
The fae swordsman