Early morning.

The rising sun shines on the earth, the morning dew on the grassland reflects the starlight, and the breeze blows the waves in layers of brilliant waves.

The three Asuna girls in their sleep were awakened by a familiar smell of rice, and when they got dressed and walked out of the tent, they found Luo Jie squatting in front of the fire not far away cooking a pot of fragrant rice porridge.

The tents of the other teams were still silent, and even the fires on the periphery to drive away the beasts had been extinguished, and several players who had been chosen to be the Night's Watch sat against the trees with their weapons propped up, and the snoring was already loud.

"Dire-kun, wake up so early?"

Fortunately, he was embarrassed to say hello to Luo Jie.

Regardless of the relationship, girls who care about their own image are unwilling to let others see their sloppy appearance when they just got up.

"Well, morning, let's go wash up and drink porridge."

After the three girls came back from washing, they found that Luo Jie had already placed a row of wooden bowls on the ground, and looking at the rough workmanship, it was obviously temporarily cut.

Asuna picked up the bowl and took a sip, and found that there were still pieces of crystal clear fish floating on the white rice grains, and couldn't help but be surprised: "This is fish fillet porridge?" Where did the fish come from? ”

"Last night when I was hunting, I found a small stream in the woods, and there were a lot of fish in it, so I went again in the morning...... Do you guys want sashimi? However, without the sauce, it may be difficult to eat. Luo Jie said regretfully with a bowl of porridge.

Xing carefully blew the rising heat from the bowl, and said with envy: "I suddenly want to come to you, there is a Dire-king, what kind of food and sleeping are you here, you are simply here to camp...... I guess Klein: They'll be going to have to nibble on dry food when they get up later. ”

After speaking, he proudly handed Asuna and Gui Yanye a look that only the three of them could understand.

- No man will be willing to give for a girl without asking for anything.

- I guess he must like one of you.

Thinking of what Yuki said last night again, Asuna and Gui Yanye's cheeks were inexplicably hot, their chests were pounding like a little rabbit, and their breathing was slightly disordered.

Can...... Who is Dire-kun's favorite person?

Asuna subconsciously looked at Gui Yanye beside her, Gui Yanye also made the same move and looked at Asuna, the two met their eyes, and they both suddenly realized something, and hurriedly lowered their heads in a panic and pretended to drink porridge.

……

After a night of eating and sleeping in the open, the morale of the traverser brigade was a little low.

After all, before the crossing, these people were already accustomed to the conveniences brought by modern society, and suddenly they were thrown into this other world where the level of technology was only medieval, even if they did not consider the fatigue caused by the battle, the inconveniences of life alone were extremely draining people's will.

Some people retreated, and there was a fierce argument with their teammates about whether to return to the royal capital, but in the end, no one left.

It wasn't that someone persuaded them to stay, but that no one dared to leave the group and go it alone—the two new graves not far away didn't even have grass growing.

According to modern timing algorithms, at about nine o'clock in the morning, the traverser brigade again pulled out the camp and headed for the woods.

This time, everyone was cautious, and there was no longer the scattered formation like yesterday.

The man with a long weapon such as a spear was cutting the grass in front of him, the man with a shield and sword was carefully protected, and the others in the rear were ready to increase their strength at any time, and the person who replaced the forward position every once in a while finally had a little bit of a sense of cooperation.

The terrain in the woods is significantly more complex than the sweeping grasslands. Dense bushes and trees obscure most of the view, making it difficult for the travelers to spot the enemy in the first place, and often once they spot the monster girl group, it is a face-to-face encounter.

There are many types of monster girls, and not every one of them is a carnivorous system that will actively attack humans.

In fact, the vast majority of monster girls in the forest are still rabbit girls, deer girls, slimes and other herbivores, this kind of monster girls rarely take the initiative to attack humans during the non-estrus period, and most of them will avoid humans when they see them.

However, how could the traversers who were eager to improve their strength let go of these walking experience points, so all kinds of herbivore-based monster mothers fell in front of the traverser's spear steel knife one after another.

Occasionally, the counterattack of some small carnivorous monsters such as fox girls and Itachi Niang will cause some damage to the traverser team, but they are quickly suppressed under the absolute numerical superiority, and there are no serious casualties like yesterday when they encountered the wild boar girl.

Luo Jie's three were also arranged to be forwards a few times, and they encountered several contact battles with average intensity.

Although the strength of those monster girls seemed to Luo Jie as if they were here to give away people's heads, for ordinary girls like Asuna and Gui Yanye who had never experienced a battle, just waving the sword in their hands at those monster girls required considerable courage and determination.

"Asuna, don't care about their human form, and look at their beastly features when you can't make up your mind! They won't stop attacking you because of your kindness! ”

"Yan Ye, since the knife has been released, don't hesitate halfway! I know it's hard to chop a living body for the first time, so you do your best to cut it out so that you can't stop halfway! ”

During the battle, Luo Jie's attention was basically on Asuna and Gui Yanye, constantly correcting all kinds of mistakes made by the two women, and once they encountered mortal danger, they would rescue them as soon as possible.

Of course, some small injuries that will not be fatal and disabled, he will still let the two girls bear it themselves, and it is difficult for the seedlings in the greenhouse to grow into towering trees, and the appropriate pain can help them grow faster.

When this carpet sweep was about to approach the middle of the woods, suddenly a faint light lit up on the bodies of many people in the traverser team, and the large and small wounds left by the battle with the monster mother healed and disappeared at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Upgraded! I'm upgrading! Haha——! ”

Cheers of similar content resounded in the ranks of the traversers.

Upgrading is not an exclusive benefit for traversers, but an inherent law of this SAO world.

Legend has it that this is a blessing given by the goddess of the world "Reliantia" to all the humans in the floating city "Ayngrant" in order to protect the humans who are about to perish under the threat of the monster lady.

The legend is no longer verifiable, but the ability improvement brought by the upgrade is really felt, and even seen.

Luo Jie took out a small mirror-like thing from his bag.

In the Seven Shields Alliance, this is a very common magic item, and its only function is to visualize its own data after upgrading.