-231- That is who I am

Speaking of which, Rozen's luck was truly exceptional.

During the closed beta, when everyone else rushed to weapon shops, armor shops, item shops, or the wild to level up, find quest NPCs, and discover the locations of treasure chests, Rozen, on the other hand, wandered around outside the Starting Town just to enjoy the feeling of running with a virtual body.

Eventually, he arrived at this forest.

Upon entering this forest, Rozen stumbled upon the Rainbow Flower Butterfly by chance.

At that time, players weren't aware of Familiars in SAO.

Thinking of the Rainbow Flower Butterfly as a rare reward monster, similar to those appearing rarely in other RPG games, Rozen attempted to kill it, hoping for a substantial reward.

However, Rozen, like his current self, didn't immediately buy weapons and armor when he entered the game. He only had the blade throwing skill and used small stones from the roadside to ambush the butterfly.

Unfortunately, the power of a single throw using a small stone was naturally quite feeble, and Rozen couldn't manage to kill the Rainbow Flower Butterfly.

Afterward, Rozen made two discoveries:

1. The Rainbow Flower Butterfly had very low HP. Any attack other than a single throw with a small stone could kill it in one hit.

2. This creature had peculiar characteristics different from ordinary monsters.

Utilizing these findings and going through a series of trials, Rozen eventually managed to tame this lovely and beautiful butterfly, turning it into his Familiar. This achievement earned Rozen a considerable reputation during SAO's closed beta, making him a renowned player.

Later on, Rozen learned that there were only seven of these super-rare monsters across all of SAO. Their appearances were extremely unpredictable and unstable, and they didn't appear on the same floor.

Regarding their level, they were all level 1. However, once attacked, they could only survive attacks of pitifully low power. Attacks by a level 1 player using the Flying Sword skill with zero proficiency or the lowest-level throwing items (such as small roadside stones) were the only ones that had a chance of sparing them. Otherwise, even a newbie could easily defeat them and receive rich rewards.

In conclusion, the Rainbow Flower Butterfly was indeed an extremely rare monster. Its purpose was to provide generous rewards to players lucky enough to encounter it.

However, if one refrained from killing the Rainbow Flower Butterfly, there was an extremely low probability of taming it and making it their Familiar.

There were three conditions for taming it:

1. Never having killed any butterfly-type monsters.

2. Never having equipped any weapons.

3. Meeting the above two conditions, and simply performing one action would make taming possible.

Only two individuals were privy to this information.

One was the fortunate Rozen who managed to encounter it.

The other was Kirito, to whom Rozen had mentioned it, prompting the game fanatic to give it a try. However, the second Rainbow Flower Butterfly never appeared on any floor below Floor 10 of Aincrad. Kirito had already killed butterfly-type monsters and switched weapons rapidly, making it impossible for him to fulfill any of the conditions. He had no choice but to give up.

It was because of this that Rozen entered the wilderness without equipping any weapons and made his way here.

Observing the butterfly dancing elegantly beneath the tree, showering the area with pollen-like phosphorescence, Rozen whispered to himself:

"This is just my first step in SAO."

Starting from the day he obtained the Rainbow Flower Butterfly during the closed beta, Rozen's path was clear.

In this game, every player had their role: some were attackers, some defenders, some were vanguards, and some were tanks. There were ax-wielders and spear-users, all following a structured system of skills.

Kirito planned to use a single-handed sword as his main weapon and main skill, specializing in speed—a one-handed sword user.

Rozen, on the other hand, intended to focus on developing Familiars as his goal.

"I'm already skilled at commanding and controlling. Even in this game world, I can execute sword skills with the assistance of the system. But my talent in this area remains quite high."

Hence, Rozen didn't believe he could only possess one Familiar.

"In the future, I will acquire more Familiars, using them as my combat force."

"Whether it's in the real world or the game world."

"This, is who I am."

With this determination in mind, Rozen stepped out of the bushes.

"Shuffle."

The sound of rustling leaves immediately resonated.

"!"

The Rainbow Flower Butterfly, gracefully dancing beneath the large tree, became alert and turned its head toward Rozen's direction.

"----!"

A melodious and elongated cry emerged from the butterfly's mouth.

Then, surprisingly, the Rainbow Flower Butterfly didn't enter a combat state; it spun around and prepared to flee.

But before that, the effect of a sword skill illuminated the forest.

"Whoosh!"

In the next second, a small stone shot through the air like a bullet, landed heavily on the butterfly's wings, and produced a dull thud upon impact.

Beside the red marker that indicated its state, the originally green HP bar of the Rainbow Flower Butterfly fluctuated suddenly, decreasing into the red zone from full health.

Whether for players or monsters, HP bars appeared green, turned yellow when reduced by half, and changed to red when close to death. It would reach zero upon death in the game.

Yet, after being hit by Rozen's weak single shot from a thrown object (a small stone), the Rainbow Flower Butterfly's HP quickly shifted from green to yellow, then red. It stopped only when it had a tiny sliver of health left.

"Wu!"

The beautiful butterfly emitted a mournful cry and collapsed to the ground.

Only then did Rozen approach the fallen Rainbow Flower Butterfly.

"Wu! Wu!"

The butterfly immediately cried out, its wailing voice oddly poignant. It struggled to rise but failed.

In theory, in this world, as long as HP wasn't zero and there were no abnormal status effects, monsters could stand back up and fight at full strength despite the magnitude of the damage sustained.

However, the Rainbow Flower Butterfly couldn't do this. It appeared genuinely injured, just like in reality, looking both realistic and pitiful.

But this was the hint the game was providing Rozen.

Anomalies are signs of something amiss. Rozen noticed this anomaly back when he was in beta test, which is why he didn't deliver the final blow back then.

Rozen squatted in front of the Rainbow Flower Butterfly, stretched out his hand, and gently turned the butterfly over from its position on the ground.

"Wu!"

The butterfly immediately cried out in alarm.

But Rozen wasn't looking at it anymore.

At this moment, Rozen's attention was on something around the butterfly's neck.

A chain.