A whopping two years of game time whizzes by for Kirito as he pursues the art of swordsmanship with Eugeo. Rather than take us through their journey on the road, Alicization chooses to instead summarize the events through a quick conversation between Kirito and Eugeo. Not only have they flourished since leaving the village, they’ve won a tournament and joined the garrison! That’s not really too great an accomplishment for someone like Kirito, but for the “frightened on the spot” Eugeo from a few episodes ago, it’s pretty amazing.

We’re also introduced to some new characters such as Liena-senpai, an upperclassman at their swordsmanship academy. From the bits of dialogue between the three, it appears the academy has a mentor and student program between the upper and underclassmen. While Kirito’s is of course the impressive Liena, Eugeo’s is Gorgolosso. I’m curious as to how much Liena really had to teach Kirito, considering his vast amounts of practice from former games. It does appear that he has great respect for her, and is outclassed during their duels however. It’s likely attributed to how Kirito in the Soul Translator isn’t as smooth with a sword as Kirito in Alfheim, at least not yet.

Kirito also spills the beans on the mechanics of the world that he’s grown more accustomed to. Most of it is nothing new, simply revolving around the menu, the object control authority, and system control authority. However, we learn about how one’s mental state contributes to their authority score. He who believes in his own power will perform above and beyond his actual score, while the insecure fighter will unknowingly lower his. It’s quite an interesting system that could really only be implemented naturally in a world such as this, with artificial fluctlights. Kirito also mentions how someone could possibly rewrite the rules of the world if they believed in their own power enough, which is the strongest foreshadowing we’ve seen yet!

During a quick practice duel with Liena, their dialogue reveals a number of things. They aren’t simply master and student, but seem to be genuine friends. There’s always this aura of respect between the two, and their chemistry as swordsmen is undeniable. Liena is also quite the observer, able to clearly deduce that Kirito is hiding something from her. She swears she wishes to see it, but the dual wielding sakuga will no doubt blow her away, unless it turns out Kirito can’t do it in this world due to some stat restriction.

The most exciting thing for me personally, was Kirito’s new sword! An elegant black blade forged from a piece of the Gigas Cedar. Not only is it absolutely beautiful, it’s almost like a spiritual successor to Elucidator from Aincrad. Unfortunately for Kirito, his good luck from getting it for free is cancelled out when he gets caught by the number one swordsman in the school. Not only is he challenged to a duel with real swords, the match is decided on the first point!

The episode ends on that exciting point with Kirito accepting the conditions. Perhaps this is where he’ll show Liena of his true Aincrad swordsmanship, with the added bonus of using his new sword? Old me would definitely expect Kirito to whip out the dual wielding next episode and somehow get a point, but maybe Alicization will try something different. Either way, super hyped for the next episode!