Breathing Techniques in SAO

Perhaps it was due to the experience gained from the first floor, but players progressed through the second floor at an especially fast pace.

In just four days, most of the second floor had already been cleared.

On December 8th, the two who had been leading the charge on the second floor—Akimi and Asuna—decided to return to the largest town on the second floor, Urbas, to take a well-deserved rest.

Half an hour later, they arrived at a forest not far from Urbas.

"Ugh~ mm~ ahh~"

Akimi stretched lazily.

Even though SAO didn't cause physical soreness, mental fatigue still made one feel sluggish.

"Hey, Asuna, I know a shop in Urbas that sells cakes that are super super super delicious. Want to give it a try?" Akimi asked, hands resting behind his head.

"Huh? Is it really that good? You used three 'supers,'" Asuna questioned.

"Well, I haven't actually tried it myself—Kirito told me about it. That was his exact wording," Akimi said with a shrug.

"But according to him, it's also really expensive. Supposedly one cake costs 1,000 Cor."

"Hmm, I see..."

Then, all of a sudden, Asuna took off running, quickly getting more than ten meters ahead of Akimi.

As she ran, she called out, "Whoever gets to the town last has to treat!"

Before Akimi could even react, Asuna's figure was already nearly out of sight.

Akimi chuckled and shook his head, then picked up his pace to chase after her.

Thanks to his passive skill Water Breathing, his agility stat wasn't much lower than Asuna's, who had mainly focused on agility.

But there was still a slight difference between them.

Seeing Asuna pulling farther and farther ahead, Akimi took a deep breath and activated the first active effect of Water Breathing, unlocked at 50 experience points—Enhanced Breathing, which increased both Strength and Agility by 10 points for ten minutes.

With the boost from Enhanced Breathing, Akimi quickly overtook Asuna.

Amid her surprised cry, he left her in the dust.

Ten minutes later, in Urbas, Akimi looked helplessly at the puffed-up Asuna, who was glaring at him in frustration.

The race didn't end with a clear winner, because Akimi stopped at the town gate and waited for Asuna.

Once she caught up, they entered the town together.

However, due to what Asuna considered a nearly cheating method on Akimi's part, she was quite upset.

"Hmph!"

That was the first thing Asuna said upon entering the town.

"Yare yare, alright, alright. Asuna, I'm sorry, okay? Don't be mad," Akimi said gently as he patted her head.

"Hmph!"

Asuna's face turned red.

She brushed his hand away and let out another annoyed "hmph."

"Hmm… I'll treat you to cake, how about that?" Akimi said with a sheepish smile.

"I also heard there's a large bathhouse in town, too."

Asuna's eyes lit up when she heard that, and the corners of her lips curled up.

In a somewhat tsundere tone, she said, "Then I'll reluctantly forgive you."

Akimi let out a helpless smile.

Urbas was the largest town on the second floor, built inside a 300-meter-wide, flat-topped, round mesa that had been hollowed out.

The first impression it gave was one of awe—it looked like a city standing inside a volcanic crater.

In a secluded alley within Urbas, Asuna looked suspiciously at the shop rumored to sell delicious cakes.

Although the faint aroma coming from inside was indeed tempting, the shop's shabby, rundown exterior made it hard to trust.

"Let's go in and check it out first," Akimi said, also a bit doubtful.

He muttered to himself, Could Kirito have been messing with me?

The two stepped into the shop and ordered salads and other main dishes from the menu.

Then, their eyes landed on the most expensive item—the supposedly amazing dessert called the "Wobbly Cream Strawberry Cake."

Akimi clicked his tongue slightly.

After all, the 1,000 Cor price was absurd.

But after glancing at the system description, he started to understand why it cost that much.

According to the system description, the cream used in this cake was made from large amounts of milk from a Trembling Cow, hence the name "Wobbly Cream Strawberry Cake."

Trembling Cows were unique monsters found only on the second floor.

They spawned within Trembling Bull herds and had only a 1% chance of appearing.

Compared to the more commonly seen Trembling Bulls, the Trembling Cow was already as strong as a small boss.

Just to give perspective, a Trembling Bull stood 2.5 meters tall at the shoulder, so it was easy to imagine just how massive a Trembling Cow—double that size—would be.

After finishing their main courses, the cake was brought to their table by an NPC.

"So... so big," Akimi said in shock.

The Wobbly Cream Strawberry Cake was truly enormous.

It looked like it had been sliced from a large cylindrical block—imagine a cake many layers thicker than a pizza.

Its radius was approximately 18 cm, its height 8 cm, and the slice had a 60-degree angle.

This meant the volume of the slice was a whopping 1356 cubic centimeters.

The middle of the cake had two thick layers of cream filled with red fruit bits, and the top was piled high with fruit that closely resembled strawberries.

The combination of white and red was visually appetizing.

"Waa~"

That was Asuna's voice.

Her face was overflowing with excitement and joy.

She couldn't wait to cut off a piece of the cake and, using the small silver spoon provided by the restaurant, scooped up a bit and placed it into her rosy little mouth.

"Mm~~"

Asuna's expression was like someone tasting a glowing gourmet dish—the happiness she radiated was so strong that even Akimi beside her could feel it.

"Is it really that good? That's a bit much," Akimi said skeptically.

Asuna glanced at him, seemed to think for a moment, then scooped out roughly one-third of the large cake and offered it to Akimi.

"Why don't you just try it for yourself?" Asuna said.

Taking the cake, Akimi didn't hesitate.

He scooped up a big bite with the spoon and stuffed it into his mouth.

The moment it entered, the rich aroma of cream exploded in his mouth, followed closely by the refreshing fragrance of fruit, which perfectly balanced out the slight heaviness of the cream.

The flavors blended together seamlessly, with no jarring contrasts at all.

The cream melted instantly, unlike the artificial cream in the real world that tended to be thick and cloying.

It was as if he had caught a cow on a vast grassland and taken a direct sip—retaining both the smooth, dense texture of cream and the fresh, milky aroma of just-squeezed milk.

It was simply indescribable.

The fruit that resembled strawberries tasted quite similar as well.

But Tomioka felt that even the premium strawberries he had eaten in the real world paled in comparison.

The rich yet subtle strawberry fragrance of this fruit was even more "strawberry-like" than strawberry essence—but unlike artificial flavoring, it wasn't harsh or overpowering.

Instead, it was natural and gentle.

All his thoughts could be summed up in just one words—delicious.

Akimi searched through every word in his brain, but only one words could describe it—delicious.

Phrases like "gourmet delicacy" felt too hollow and pretentious for this cake.

Now he understood why Asuna had made that kind of expression.

It was hard to believe this flavor was merely simulated by the "Taste Reproduction" system.

"Stunning," Akimi commented.

"Right? Hehe…" Asuna giggled.

"Mmh, and it's not just delicious…"

Akimi glanced at his HP bar and noticed a four-leaf clover icon appearing below it—that was the buff [Lucky Blessing].

"Eating this cake gives a 15-minute [Lucky Blessing] buff," Akimi said.

"Ah, luck is such a vague, intangible thing—it's hard to believe it really makes a difference," Asuna said with a laugh.

"True. After all, even a 99% success rate basically feels like 1% when it really matters."

After finishing the cake, the two of them chatted casually as they walked out of the little shop.

But just as they reached the main street, a sudden shout interrupted their conversation.

"Don't... don't joke around like that!"

The voice was hoarse and filled with a deep sense of helplessness.

Akimi and Asuna turned their heads toward the sound.

It was coming from a plaza crowded with people.

"Give it... give it back! Change it back!"

"It used to be +4..."

"At least... at least restore it to how it was..."

The voice sounded again, even more helpless this time.

It seemed to be a dispute among players.

However, Akimi wasn't worried at all because inside the town's [Crime Prevention Command Effective Zone], players couldn't harm each other.

Akimi squeezed through the crowd with Asuna and walked to the spot closest to the incident.

"What... what are we supposed to do now?! The stats dropped so much!"

Akimi didn't recognize the shouting man, but judging by his full set of metal armor and the helmet with three large horns, his level was clearly not low.

The man was wildly swinging the one-handed sword in his hand.

Even though Akimi knew no one would get hurt, it still looked intimidating.

"What do you mean four consecutive big failures?!"

"How could it drop to +0? If that's the case, I might as well go to an NPC!"

"Take responsibility for this! You damn blacksmith!"

The "damn blacksmith" he was yelling at was a young boy wearing a tea-brown apron.

After enduring all the harsh scolding for so long, the boy's face only showed confusion and embarrassment.

Next to the boy was a gray carpet crowded with chairs, an anvil, display racks, and other items.

That carpet was a special item called the "Vendor Carpet," and it wasn't cheap.

As long as you spread it on the ground, you could open a simple shop — a must-have for merchant players.

Actually, you could just put items directly on the ground to run a shop, but items placed on the floor would continuously lose durability, and there was no way to prevent thieves.

While everyone was busy eagerly watching the drama, Akimi spotted someone in the outskirts OBSERVER (OB) mode — Kirito.

Kirito had already changed out of his Midnight Coat.

He now wore a yellow-green headband, seemingly trying to hide his identity — after all, the nickname "Beater" wasn't very popular.

Akimi and Asuna walked over to him and said,

"Yo yo yo, isn't this Kirito? Haven't seen you for a few days, and you look this worn out?"

Kirito seemed startled but relaxed with a sigh of relief when he saw Akimi.

"Tsk, you scared me again. So annoying," Kirito said with a pout.

"Hehe," Akimi chuckled without explaining, then asked, "So, what happened here?"

"Hmm, it looks like that guy with the three-pointed helmet handed his weapon to a blacksmith player for enhancement, but it failed four times in a row."

"Ah, wow, that's just brutal."

"Yeah, the guy with the three-pointed helmet probably saw that the blacksmith was using the [Steel Hammer], which is better than the NPC's, so he entrusted his weapon to him for enhancement — that blacksmith seems to be the only player blacksmith in SAO right now."

"It's also because the success rate for player enhancements is higher than that of NPCs," Akimi added.

"Four failures in a row… if the failure rate is 30%, then the chance of failing four times consecutively is less than one percent," Kirito sighed.

"Indeed… that's really unlucky," Akimi agreed wholeheartedly.

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