[SP-F2] Solitude <<Breaking the Unbreakable>>

[Teion 0]

• ID#: 86617
  • BD: 6 + (2 ACC) = 8 - Success!
    • Boulder: 12/50 HP

The thought alone caused the butterflies to flutter around in her stomach. Sure, she'd had a boyfriend before. She had been on dates. Was she as nervous and embarrassed in situations like that in the real world as well? No, she didn't think so. A frustrated huff of breath escaped through Teion's lips as Cardinal held the end of her braid in place with a small yellow ribbon the woman had pulled from her inventory. She got back to the task at hand once her hair was secured by the ribbon, a long braid now resting over her shoulder. It swayed lightly as her arms extended one after another to strike the boulder. Steadily, its health began to wane. Hours had passed, and for it Teion could show a health bar in the yellow and what would have normally been a week's worth of reflection. Her mind was starting to feel tired.

[Teion 0]

• ID#: 86619
  • BD: 7 + (2 ACC) = 9 - Success!
    • Boulder: 11/50 HP

She didn't even need to look up to the sky to feel the sun's rays still shining down on her. 'Maybe I should take a nap when I get back to the shop.' She thought lazily. Here she was training to obtain a new skill, and sleep was the thing on her mind. 'I wonder how much longer I'll spend living in the actual desert...' The woman shifted her focus. She had set up her blacksmith shop in Fortaleza what felt like ages ago, and her dedication to the craft had wavered on and off. As she found herself outside more often, hunting monsters and going after experience from quests and dungeons, she found less time to pour herself over her smithing creations. A new floor had just been unlocked, which meant new gear and new materials, but the hype seemed to have passed Teion by. But regardless of whether or not she should focus her efforts back to her profession or continue trying to hone her combat skills, the location of her shop and home was still beginning to feel uninspiring.

[Teion 0]

• ID#: 88796
  • BD: 10 - Critical Success!
    • Boulder: 8/50 HP

Teion thought back to her conversation with Beatbox--when she had asked him about his favorite floor, and which lower level would make for a good home. The thought of a massive treehouse still stuck fresh in her mind, a small smile crawling across her lips at the thought of the impressive eighth-floor canopies. The last time she was on the floor herself, she was battling a field boss with the brunette martial artist, Husky. Teion often felt like pieces of her mind was degrading, and she often didn't find the will to commit most of the players she encountered to memory. Still, there were a select few that she had run into more often than others that stuck with her. The warrior with the scar over his eye was one of those few--he was kind, but reserved, which meant she could be around him without the pressure for the idle chatter that just wasn't her strong suit.

[Teion 0]

• ID#: 86620
  • BD: 1 + (2 ACC) = 1 - Critical Fail!
    • Boulder: 8/50 HP

On the note of tall, brown-haired men with characteristic facial scars, 'I haven't heard from Shield in a while.' She thought plainly. What had their last excursion entailed again? Unless she was missing something, it was fighting the banshee on the tenth floor. She frowned as the memories came back to her, shaking her head to get the thought of the pitch-black passages out of her mind. Despite some of the more unfavorable quests, Shield was one person she honestly preferred to have with her. Similarly to the martial arts-user Husky, he was more reserved by nature, meaning her mind was left free to focus on the objectives at hand rather than needing to contribute to conversation. Not only that, but the man's combat build was unique--she didn't see many players focused on tanking, and although he lacked damage it meant that Teion was able to give the fight her all without worrying about her own lack of defense.

[Teion 0]

• ID#: 86621
  • BD: 7 + (2 ACC) = 9 - Success!
    • Boulder: 7/50 HP

'Maybe I should do more solo quests and hunting.' Teion thought with a frown. There were a handful of players she could reach out to for assistance with getting experience--Beatbox being the first to come to mind--but she felt an odd discomfort at the thought of the blonde swordsman carrying her through quests. Then again, she was sure to get to a point where the monsters would be designed to be taken down with a party, meaning there probably wasn't a lot of content she could comfortably solo. A short sigh escaped her. "Ah, we still need to do those dragon hunting quests..." The thought left her aloud. She recalled first meeting Beatbox on the first floor, both of them drawn to a quest chain that involved slaying a specific dragon hatchling on each floor. She'd only seen two of the monsters so far, but she could tell they were each going to have features unique to the floor they were located on. 'So if the next one is on Floor Three...' She started to envision the city of Delilah and the wilderness outside of its safezone.

[Teion 0]

• ID#: 88792
  • BD: 10 - Critical Success!
    • Boulder: 4/50 HP

'Yeah... Maybe I'll message him after this and we can start the next one soon.' Teion thought idly. The woman was taking another break, having put some distance between herself and the boulder. She took a seat on the raised wooden patio that led back to the quest-giver's house. Propping her elbows on her knees, the woman placed her chin in her hands, staring back blankly at her handiwork. The boulder was in the red now, displaying several cracks along its surface as it got closer to breaking apart. Another glance up at the sky--it was a bit darker, with a growing orange tint to indicate that sunset was probably less than an hour away. Teion frowned--she refused to leave before she had completed the quest, but should she head back to her shop after it gets too late? She'd still have to make the walk from Armadillo to Fortaleza, and besides the unfavorable night conditions of the desert, she didn't like fighting at night.

[Teion 0]

• ID#: 88793
  • BD: 1 - Critical Failure!
    • Boulder: 4/50 HP

If there would be more monsters lurking around than normal, she was tempted to stay the night at an inn in Urbus. Shrugging it off, the violet-haired blacksmith decided to deal with that situation as it would come. Leaning her head to one side, she absent-mindedly twirled her braid around in her free hand. 'What would happen if I ever got out of here?' She calmly wondered, staring up at the clouds that were painted with a mixture of late-afternoon colors. Would she try to contact Beatbox--or rather, James? Probably, depending on how things went between them in the meantime. She didn't even know where he lived in the real world. 'I can't wait to see Chii... And my parents.' She let out another sigh, getting homesick again. She hadn't experienced the feeling in some time now. It came in waves, with more and more time in between after each had passed.

[Teion 0]

• ID#: 88794
  • BD: 10 - Critical Success!
    • Boulder: 1/50 HP

She wondered if it was even possible to readjust to her old life. She would probably have to find a new job, and who knew how much could have changed in the world during the time she and so many others had been lost in Aincrad. Her expression remained blank, as it often was, while she continued to stare up at the sky. Minutes had passed, and before much longer her gaze drifted back down to her quest objective--the massive boulder sitting in the middle of the courtyard, taunting her with its red-hued health bar. Teion let out an exasperated breath, pushing against her knees to get back to her feet. She walked back to her target with purpose, determined to remain patient and finish the job. Grinding in video games was tough for Thea; her mind often wasn't able to stay focused on repetitive tasks, and she found herself abandoning an avatar after the tedious gameplay outweighed the effort she had put into building the character.

[Teion 0]

• ID#: 88795
  • BD: 8 + (2 ACC) = 10 - Success!
    • Boulder: 0/50 HP - Dead

This was one 'game' she wasn't allowed to get bored with, however. It was either work to earn her own strength here, or sit in her shop and wait for someone else to take her place while the guilt of her lazy cowardice grew heavier. She knew at some point, probably a while ago now, that she had become a warrior. She would dedicate herself to becoming 'strong', in whatever form that manifested. As always, she didn't want to rely on anyone but herself. With the very few relationships she had, thin and deep-rooted alike, she had staved off loneliness. Perhaps once she was even stronger--once she had the right to join other players on the frontlines--she would feel satisfied.

With another strike, the boulder's health inched closer and closer to zero. If Cardinal didn't process pain dampeners her knuckles would probably be aching at this point. Instead, a light tingling sensation dancing over her hands, leaving her with just mild discomfort.

[Teion 0]

'I've got to go back to that jungle on the sixth floor.' A new thought crossed her mind. 'Should I ask Beatbox to come with me again? Or try to find them on my own and surprise him? I wonder...' She was mulling over the thought of hunting for the pixies that they had stumbled across in the wilds outside of Amazon. 'Feeding the Enemy' was the name of the quest that she had sought out, and her girlish fascination had the idea of a little pixie as a familiar--despite their prominent bug-like traits leaving them less visually appealing to some--stuck in the revolving door of her thoughts.

Her chin tilted up towards the sky to see an orange hue taking over the sky above. The woman frowned at the sight before looking back to the health bar that hovered beside her target. 'Just one more...' She thought, widening her stance. She pulled back before releasing a straight, solid blow that landed in the epicenter of the web of small cracks that had decorated the boulder's surface. As the last sliver of red disappeared, the boulder split evenly in two before crumbling to the ground. Its rocky remains were soon translated into shards of white light, and Teion was finally rewarded with a notification that read 'Quest Complete'.

Thread Complete!

• Teion: +3 SP, +800 col, +<<Martial Arts>> skill unlocked