Chapter 668: Night-time
Wu Yan entered his kitchen the moment he got home. He started preparing the dishes meant for Asuna.
SAO’s cooking process is a simplified version of the cooking process in the real world. He made all 10 dishes in about 10 minutes’ time. Wu Yan intentionally made the culinary in such a way that their durability was maxed out. This way, the dishes can still be steaming-hot the next morning even when he didn’t take any extra measures to maintain freshness.
There are no fridges or wraps to keep food permanently edible. Equipment durabilities are reduced by usage but the durabilities of food diminish with time. The food will shatter into data fragments after their durabilities are used up.
Chefs don’t really cook a lot as a result of this. They only made food on-demand. Wu Yan would cook all the materials in his storage if food permanence was a thing. That would greatly help make his life easier.
Wu Yan sat down on the couch after he was done cooking. He opened his interface and he materialized sheets of papers out of thin air as the stacks of papers fell neatly onto his table.
He poured himself a cup of tea as he read the papers. He stopped drinking and reading when he saw something that caught his attention.
“Those players did it again, they cleared another floor again. Dang, the frontline raid members sure are giving it their all.”
Wu Yan’s expression is one of dissatisfaction.
The ones who cleared that floor are usually regarded as the MVP of that floor. In terms of Exp points, it’s enough to level Wu Yan up a few times. However, when divided up over a raid-group, the players don’t get much after accounting for factors like contribution and damage done. It would be way more efficient to grind in the labyrinth.
The rewards are secondary to Wu Yan. He is just displeased that the raid group found the floor boss’ room before him.
It’s easier to locate something if there are more eyes looking for the target. Wu Yan can be the most OP or game-breaking player in the game but it still wouldn’t mean anything if he couldn’t locate the boss’ room at the end of the day.
“Maybe Asuna felt good about clearing another floor today so that’s why she wanted to come and dine over at my place?”
Wu Yan reckoned that this theory held up better than the I-am-mad-because-you-didn’t-ask-me-first theory.
“She got hooked by the bait.”
Wu Yan bitterly laughed.
He placed the clearing news at the back of his mind and he gleaned the rest of the papers. There wasn’t any more useful information contained within the papers so he placed the papers back on the table.
“Looks like I have to put in more effort…”
The penalty quest only required all 100 floors in Aincrad to be cleared. It didn’t specify that Wu Yan must be the one who clears all 100 floors. In other words, if the players take down the floor boss of the 100th floor, Wu Yan would still pass his mission.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtIt’s only reasonable that the System allowed him this much leeway. He can be the strongest player in this game and he still wouldn’t be able to find and clear all 100 floors on his own. Quantity is a quality in itself. This was proven with the time required to find the Floor Boss room.
That is to say, even if Wu Yan sat on his butt and watched others clear floors, he would still be released from this penalty quest if other players beat all 100 floors.
It sure sounds good to wait for other players to clear this game for him. However, with Wu Yan’s personality, is sitting and watching really his thing?
Even if he could do so, Wu Yan would have to wait for a long time. In the meantime, what would he do without money to rent even a hotel room?
Wu Yan isn’t the type to watch as the world passes him by. Even if he couldn’t clear all the floors on his own, at least, he needed to give it his best or he would be wasting this opportunity given to him to explore a gaming world.
“It’s a shame that Hinagiku, Mikoto and the other ladies couldn’t come…”
Thud thud thud
A series of knocking sounds came, waking Wu Yan up from his stupor. Wu Yan stood up and he opened the door.
“You came at jus-…”
“Wu Yan-nii, I came to visit you!”
Wu Yan stopped talking when he saw the petite figure greeting him at his door. His eyes almost popped out with surprise.
“Silica!”
Wu Yan yelled in a slight shock.
“What brought you here?”
Silica scratched her cheek with a bashful expression.
“I heard Sachi-nee talking about how your place looked out of this world so I came to check it out…”
Silica continued sneaking peeks at Wu Yan while giving him the puppy eyes.
“Is that not good?…”
“Ahaha…”
Wu Yan sighed after chortling a bit.
“It’s fine. I was expecting a guest, I didn’t think you would turn up that’s why I am a bit surprised.”
“A guest?”
Silica’s twintails jolted. She tilted her head in puzzlement.
“You are having a guest over? But, Sachi-nee said you rarely invited anyone over…”
“Hmm, well, the story is quite long, I don’t think we have a lot of time to go into the details…”
Wu Yan allowed her entry.
“Well, since you’re here anyway, I don’t see any reason to turn you away. Come in, we can eat together later.”
Silica beamed widely and she quickly ran inside the home in a hurry. Wu Yan amused himself with her cute movements.
“Wu Yan-nii’s home is really very beautiful…”
Every person Wu Yan invited into his home got attracted by the door-like window that had a view that can charm anyone. Silica fell prey to its allure as well, her eyes were brimming with excitement as she plastered her face against the window.
“It’s almost as pretty as Floria on the 47th floor…”
“I think you like the 47th floor more, right?”
Wu Yan chuckled.
“Rather than lakes and trees, I think girls would prefer the romanticism of flowers, isn’t that so? Silica…”
Silica couldn’t help but recall how she held hands with Wu Yan during their time on the 47th floor. She immediately blushed like mad.
“N-no, I don’t think so!”
Silica hugged Pina as she stuttered.
“I like them b-both just as much…”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm“Oh, really?”
Wu Yan teased her.
“You don’t sound very honest though…”
“Wu Yan-nii!”
Silica got mad after her attempts failed her. She puffed her cheeks against Wu Yan who made fun of her. Any more and she would surely run away.
“Okay, I won’t tease you anymore…”
Wu Yan shrugged.
“Hmph…”
Silica turned her head the other way in a huff. Wu Yan laughed and he scanned her attire.
“Silica, you should go change, you don’t have to wear equipment inside this place.”
“Okay…”
Silica didn’t want to leave the window but she went to Wu Yan anyway. Wu Yan pointed her towards one of the rooms here.
“That’s a guest room, nobody lives there so you can go change inside there…”
Inside SAO, players don’t have to go to the toilet, eat, or drink. The players also don’t get dirty at all so bathrooms and toilets are redundant inside this game. Of course, with enough money, a bathroom aficionado can make a bathroom or toilet to enjoy the pleasure of bathing or some crap like that.
Wu Yan released a sigh of relief and he shook his head after Silica entered his guest room. He sat back on the sofa and he started drinking his tea again.
He looked at the dishes on the table and he mumbled.
“Asuna should be here soon, I think?”
Wu Yan scratched the back of his head.
“I wonder what she would look like if she saw Silica…”
“She’s not going to pull out her sword on me, right?”
Wu Yan suddenly had an ominous thought.
It seems entirely possible that he’s in a precarious situation.