"...!"
While Rozen was sighing, he skillfully placed his hand on Leafa's head, gently stroking it, causing Leafa's face to turn crimson.
However, Leafa did not reject Rozen's hand. Instead, as if she was feeling the touch of Rozen, who had come to this world, she just stood there quietly, even though her face was red and her head was lowered.
In this situation, Rozen kept stroking Leafa's head, looking at the beautiful Sylph girl before him, a slight smile on his lips, and his eyes filled with warmth.
Leafa accidentally caught a glimpse of Rozen's gaze, and that one glance almost melted her heart.
"Ao..."
Leafa unconsciously tried to say something.
But at this moment, a bit of commotion arose around them.
"Isn't that Leafa?"
"Why is Leafa letting that man pat her head?"
"Who is that guy?"
"My gosh..."
Similar voices echoed from all around.
Only then did Rozen and Leafa notice that many Sylphs were staring at them in shock, whispering and pointing.
This made Leafa finally react.
"I-I-I... Let's go tour Swilvane now...!"
Leafa jumped back like a rubber ball, immediately putting distance between herself and Rozen.
Her wings had already spread open behind her, allowing Leafa to fly up into the sky.
It seemed that, in order to distance herself from Rozen, Leafa had directly taken flight.
Leafa's face was now as red as a tomato, and she even shot a glare at the Sylphs around her, causing them to flinch in fear and scatter quickly.
Seeing this, Rozen understood something.
"It seems Leafa has quite the reputation among the Sylphs."
As a player who has been playing since the early stages of the game, she must be pretty strong, right?
Even though this game isn't level-based, it focuses on player skills. Novices definitely couldn't last long here. Only skilled players could stand out, which made sense.
In fact, watching Leafa's flight just now, Rozen already noticed that this girl wasn't simple.
Hadn't Rozen mentioned this before?
"If you don't have any skills, you wouldn't even know how to use your wings. Beginners mostly rely on the joystick to fly. Only skilled players can fly with just a thought, and there are even professional fliers who can perform all sorts of acrobatics."
This is what flight is like in ALfheim Online (ALO).
And just now, Leafa had flown with just a thought, reaching incredible speed in an instant, which showed that this girl's skills were far from ordinary.
Unaware of Rozen's thoughts, Leafa blushed as she glanced back at him.
"Are you coming or not?"
Leafa asked, slightly annoyed.
Rozen found the situation quite amusing.
"Of course I'm coming," Rozen said. "But first, I want to try that."
Rozen pointed in Leafa's direction.
More precisely, he pointed at the wings on Leafa's back as she hovered in mid-air.
Leafa was stunned for a moment, then realized what he meant.
"You mean, you want to try flying?"
Leafa instantly understood Rozen's intention.
"Exactly," Rozen shrugged and said, "In this game, flying is pretty important, right?"
Since there were no teleportation items in this world, flying was the primary mode of transportation for players.
If you didn't know how to fly, you couldn't even leave the immediate area to travel to distant locations for quests.
Even if you could take on quests, not being able to fly would put you at a huge disadvantage.
The highlight of this world was flying, and it was the main attraction for players. Mastery of flight greatly determined a player's strength. Since everyone could fly, aerial combat skills became the deciding factor in a player's power. Those who couldn't fly would be at a massive disadvantage when facing opponents who controlled the skies.
The mobility and agility of flight far exceeded what could be achieved on the ground. In ALO, players who could fly had a significant advantage over those who couldn't. And when players with flight capabilities faced off, those with superior flying skills had an overwhelming edge.
Rozen, being an experienced aerial combatant, knew very well how great an advantage flight gave, and he had mastered numerous flying techniques. Not trying it out would be a waste.
However...
"You're a new player. Learning 'Free Flight' isn't that easy, you know?"
Leafa reminded him.
The term 'Free Flight' referred to the ability of players to fly without relying on the joystick for assistance.
In ALO, players who could master 'Free Flight' were considered high-level players. Even those with high technical skill but without Free Flight weren't taken seriously.
As mentioned earlier, humans couldn't naturally fly. Even in this world, controlling wings to fly was a difficult task.
So, globally, no more than 30% of players had mastered Free Flight. Most players still relied on the joystick to fly.
From Leafa's perspective, even if Rozen was a gaming expert, learning to fly would still take time.
"First, use the joystick to try flying. I'll teach you how to..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Leafa was dumbfounded.
"Boom!"
With a sound like an explosion, a figure shot up into the sky like a rocket, soaring toward the heavens.
"Ahhhh...!"
The surrounding Sylphs screamed in shock at the sudden movement and the gust of wind that followed.
"Whoa...!"
Leafa was also blown backward by the wind, raising a hand to shield her face.
Meanwhile, the figure that had shot toward the sky, like a comet, soared upward at incredible speed. Then, leaving behind a long trail of light, it suddenly changed course, flying at impossible angles and drawing countless crisscrossing lines in the sky.
"This..."
Leafa's eyes widened in disbelief at what she was witnessing.
But this was the reality.
"So this is how you fly in this world."
As these words were spoken, the figure descended rapidly, creating a gust of wind, and stopped right in front of Leafa.
"That was pretty fun."
Rozen spread his wings, which were glowing faintly with phosphorescence, making him look like a real fairy. He stretched his body and smiled.
"You... you..."
Leafa, staring at Rozen, who was smiling nonchalantly, was deeply shaken.
"Scared you?"
Rozen grinned mischievously, like a child who had just pulled off a successful prank.
Scared her?
Of course, she was scared.
Leafa had seen plenty of skilled players master Free Flight soon after entering the game.
But no matter how skilled they were, none had entered the game and instantly mastered Free Flight, let alone demonstrated such extraordinary flying techniques.
Impossible.
So, Leafa was genuinely frightened.
But that wasn't even the most surprising thing.