The two gates were identical in shape; the only difference lay in the marble reliefs beside them.
Next to the left gate was a carving of a noble-looking man.
He stood tall with his head held high and chest puffed out, his gaze carrying a hint of superiority.
In his hand, he held a large, slightly tilted wine glass, and he was dressed in luxurious clothing.
Next to the right gate was a carving of a ragged beggar.
He was hunched over, clutching a broken wooden stick, his clothes tattered, his face filled with sorrow—as if braving the wind and rain.
Behind the two gates were roads stretching off in different directions.
The road to the right led into a dense forest, while the one to the left extended across a vast, flat grassland.
These two reliefs seemed to represent the contrasting paths ahead.
And in fact, they did.
The right path, known as the "Headwind Path," was filled with monsters and treacherous terrain.
Beyond the forest lay an arid, uneven hilly region.
On the other hand, the left path, the "Tailwind Path," had few monsters and remained flat throughout, ending at a town called "Voluptia," which was two to three times larger than Lecuxio.
However, the prosperous Voluptia was far from a paradise—it was, in fact, a nightmare for many beta testers.
That town housed a massive casino, one that could rival even Las Vegas or Macau in the real world.
Out of the thousand beta testers, 80% chose the left path and headed for that town.
Most of them ended up addicted to gambling.
However, fewer than one in ten came out winners.
The majority lost everything and were eliminated on the seventh floor.
Even Kirito nearly fell there—his col, items, all gone—only a single sword remained.
"Also, on the southern edge of Voluptia, there's a beach," Akimi said to Asuna after finishing the intel.
"Although it's just a lakeside beach, it's quite large, and there are even some coconut trees."
Asuna looked puzzled. "A beach? Why mention the beach specifically?"
"Uh… no reason. Just thought I'd bring it up,"
Akimi awkwardly scratched his nose—no way was he going to admit it was because he wanted to see Asuna in a swimsuit.
Saying that out loud would definitely earn him a beating.
Asuna clearly didn't buy his half-hearted explanation and gave him a suspicious look.
Still, she did seem quite interested in the beach.
"Is that beach free to enter?"
Akimi was briefly stunned, then replied, "In a way… yes, it's technically free. The thing is, the beach actually belongs to the casino. As long as you hold more than 300 chips in the casino, you can access the beach."
"How much is one chip worth in Col?"
"During the beta test, it was 100 Col per chip. Not sure if that's changed now."
Asuna raised an eyebrow and instinctively raised her voice: "How much?!"
Startled, Akimi stammered in confusion, "O-One hundred Col per chip… is that a problem?"
"Of course it's a problem!" Asuna said seriously.
"Three hundred chips means 30,000 Col! From the first floor until now, I've only saved about 100,000 Col total!"
After calming down a bit, Asuna asked again, with a hint of hope in her voice, "Can those chips be exchanged back into Col?"
After all, if they could, it'd basically be a freebie.
But Akimi's response of "They can't" instantly made her abandon the idea of visiting the beach.
"Well, it's not like you have to buy all the chips with Col," Akimi said, waving his hand.
"You just need to have 300 chips. Chips won through gambling count too."
"That's not so bad…" Asuna said reflexively, but then she quickly realized and looked at him warily.
"Wait… you're not thinking of gambling, are you? I'm warning you—if you really go and gamble, and end up losing everything, I won't bail you out… No, actually, you're not allowed to go at all."
But after thinking for a moment, she added, "If you must go… then I'm coming with you. I'll supervise you—make sure you don't get carried away and start chasing your losses."
Akimi raised both hands in mock surrender.
Looking at Asuna's serious expression, he said with a helpless smile, "Don't worry, I get it. I know my limits. I'm not even good at gambling, so I won't get addicted."
After some deliberation, Tomioka Akimi and Asuna decided to take the Tailwind Path.
The grassland that the Tailwind Path passed through was called the Verdia Prairie, so many of the monsters there were also named accordingly—for example, the half-meter-long Verdian Lancer Beetle, and the Verdian Poisonous Wasp, whose stinger was clearly visible to the naked eye.
These monsters weren't particularly powerful, but they were still up to seventh-floor standard, so defeating them took a fair amount of effort.
Fortunately, the monster spawn rate on the Tailwind Path was relatively low; on average, they encountered one monster every three to five minutes.
However, something felt a little off to Akimi—it was strange that such a vast grassland only had insect-type monsters and not a single large beast-type enemy.
When he voiced this thought, Asuna replied:
"Do you really want this prairie to be filled with monsters like the Minotaurs from the second floor?"
Fair point—back then, Asuna had almost developed PTSD from those shirtless, leather-strapped Minotaurs.
After the second floor was cleared, she swore she never wanted to see one of those again for the rest of her life.
It took about an hour for Akimi and Asuna to cross the Verdia Prairie.
By a little past 4 p.m., they arrived at the town of Voluptia.
To be fair, Voluptia was arguably the most beautiful town they had seen so far.
Upon entering the town, they were greeted by a gently sloping street lined with densely packed shops.
The buildings were all painted white, with roofs in a deep blue hue.
At the top of the sloping street, one could look down and see a white beach and a vast, emerald-green lake.
Beside the lake stood an octagonal mansion with cobalt-blue rooftops, flanked by two tower-like structures with cone-shaped roofs—Voluptia Grand Casino, the place that many beta testers preferred not to remember.
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