Breathing Techniques in SAO

They arrived at the source of the sound—the East Square of Talan Village—and saw a carpet laid out with iron weapons, an anvil, and a portable forge.

A sign reading "NeZha's Smith Shop" hung above, and a short-statured blacksmith was sitting on a chair, intently swinging his hammer.

This blacksmith was none other than "NeZha," a member of the "Legendary Heroes," one of the earliest blacksmith players in SAO, and the "enhancement scammer" they had uncovered.

They hid around the corner of a street bend, watching NeZha's direction.

The square ahead was gradually wrapped in the night's darkness, and the number of passing players began to dwindle.

They could see a person walking straight across the square toward NeZha.

He was clad in shining, obviously very sturdy metal armor, with the signature blue clothing beneath—the mark of a top-tier member of Lind's team among the frontline players.

He reached NeZha, took his weapon from his waist, and handed it to him.

Although the darkening sky made it hard to clearly identify the weapon, as experienced players, the three of them could still roughly determine its type.

It appeared to be a "broadsword," a subclass of the straight sword category.

Judging by its appearance, it looked like a "Thick-Bladed Sword," roughly two tiers lower in rarity than the "Anneal Blade."

"That should be enough to be a target for a switch…"

Hearing Asuna's mutter, Akimi and Kirito both nodded.

"Well then… now we'll see whether it's going to be an enhancement or just maintenance."

Due to the distance, they couldn't hear the conversation between NeZha and the man.

Akimi examined the Lind team member and filtered through his memory before saying, "That guy—isn't he Shivata from the Lind team?"

"Yeah… that's him."

"Right, I remember him too."

Kirito and Asuna both confirmed it.

While they were verifying Shivata's identity, Shivata had already finished negotiating with Nezha, who began his preparations.

Instead of placing the sword on the nearby grindstone, Nezha reached toward one of the leather pouches laid out on the rug—it was likely the bag containing enhancement materials.

"It's an enhancement!" Asuna whispered in a low voice.

"His left hand—watch his left hand," Akimi reminded them.

Nezha held the "Thick-Bladed Sword" in his left hand while his right hand busily worked in front of the furnace.

At the very least, it didn't look like he had the opportunity to switch the weapon.

After a while, a red glow emanated from the furnace, indicating a "weight" enhancement.

At the same moment the light appeared, the three of them sensed something strange happening with Nezha's left hand.

The furnace's glow made it hard for them to see clearly, but the Thick-Bladed Sword in Nezha's hand didn't seem to have changed at all.

Using his right hand, Nezha drew the Thick-Bladed Sword from its sheath and placed it into the furnace.

Soon, the blade began to glow.

After placing the sword onto the anvil, he picked up a hammer with his right hand and started striking the Thick-Bladed Sword.

Three strikes… five strikes…

By the tenth strike, the Thick-Bladed Sword shattered on impact.

Although they had anticipated this outcome, the three of them still fell silent.

"…What should we do?" Asuna asked quietly, her voice restrained.

Emotionally, they wanted to help Shivata, who didn't blame Nezha harshly and instead left quietly.

But if they simply retrieved the weapon for Shivata without thinking things through, it would definitely lead to trouble.

Shivata would no doubt return to the plaza, sternly question Nezha, and retaliate in some way.

Akimi and the others couldn't be sure just how far Shivata would go.

If, after disciplining Nezha, Shivata publicly exposed Nezha's actions, then in this world without legal restrictions, people might resort to some terrifying measures—like putting Nezha on trial and killing him, or punishing him excessively once he left the town's safe zone.

While they were still hesitating, the time reached 8 PM. Nezha began packing up his stall, preparing to leave.

"Why… why would Nezha… or rather, the 'Legendary Heroes' do enhancement scams?"

Asuna said, finding it hard to accept.

"Maybe… they've just given up on doing things the right way," Akimi said with a bitter smile.

He quickly added, "In SAO, if your character isn't strong enough, there's a chance you'll die. As long as you keep getting stronger, you can protect yourself."

"They probably weren't familiar with SAO at the start, so they fell behind us frontline players early on. Then, like the Matthew Effect, the gap just kept growing bigger and bigger."

"Maybe that made them feel insecure, so they came up with an unethical method like 'enhancement fraud' to quickly power themselves up while also slowing down the progress of top players."

"Maybe getting caught doing this could put their lives at risk, but as long as they become strong enough to crush any danger, there wouldn't be anything to fear, right?"

Akimi's reasoning sent a chill down Asuna and Kirito's spines.

If such a thing were truly happening, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"By the way, what exactly is Nezha's method of scamming?"

"Could it be that he's using that carpet somehow?"

Asuna looked at Nezha's carpet, which was swallowing items one by one, and voiced her suspicion.

Kirito immediately shook his head and said, "That's probably not possible. The carpet's storage has to be activated through the menu, and once it starts, it swallows all the items at once. It shouldn't be capable of selectively replacing just one sword…"

As he spoke, Kirito suddenly realized there was another possibility.

"What if he used his own inventory instead?"

Akimi quietly voiced another potential method.

Kirito immediately sat cross-legged on the ground, imitating Nezha's actions.

He moved his character menu to hover just above the ground on his left side, and when he lowered his left hand, the menu was positioned right beneath it.

He pulled out the Thick-Bladed Sword, gripped it in the same manner as Nezha had, and said to Akimi, "Watch me closely—help me time it."

"Three, two, one, go!"

As the countdown ended, Kirito placed the sword above the menu.

The moment it touched the menu, the sword turned into particles of light and disappeared, then reappeared in Kirito's inventory.

Kirito quickly tapped the sword in the inventory with his left hand, selected "materialize," and grabbed the reappeared sword with his left hand.

"Well? How was that?" Kirito asked excitedly.

Akimi shook his head and said, "The action looks similar, but it was a lot slower. It took over a second."

"Also, the obvious particle effects—those can't be hidden by the enhancement material's glow. It's too flashy."

"I... I see..." Kirito said, frustrated.

"I really thought this was how he did it, since the weapons on the carpet could be used to block the menu."

Asuna said helplessly, "Since we can't figure out the method behind the scam, then I guess we have no choice but to tell Shivata the truth first…"

"But if we do that, all the blame will fall solely on Nezha, and we won't be able to expose the rest of the 'Legendary Heroes.' Besides… it doesn't really seem like Nezha is doing this of his own free will."

Akimi said, stroking his chin.

Asuna nodded. "When we found him earlier, he just hesitantly asked, 'Is it shopping or maintenance?'—almost like he didn't want to mention enhancement at all."

"And when you said you wanted to enhance something, he looked really troubled."

"If we expose this, and the 'Legendary Heroes' step in to protect Nezha and say we're slandering him, that wouldn't be the worst-case scenario… But if they abandon him instead…"

Kirito continued, "That's very possible—because all the other 'Legendary Heroes' have names based on famous heroes, while Nezha seems like he was left out."

After a long moment of contemplation, Akimi shook his head and replied, "No, Nezha's name also comes from a hero—it's just that his companions don't know that."

He smiled and said, "I think… I might have figured out how he's pulling it off."

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