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[F-11 and 9] [SP] <Nature's Treasure> Gearing Up


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Ben gathered up his supplies back at home.  He had been on a few different raids with his friends lately, but some days he just felt like working on his own.

Well, almost on his own.  His faithful familiar, Sebastian was draped over his shoulder, ready to head out on the long journey ahead. 

Or just lying there watching Ben work in the kitchen while waiting for something else to happen- he was a hungry caterpillar after all.

Right now though, he was working on one of the Ultra Luck Hot Dogs he had purchased, adding mustard and relish on top of it- it wouldn't be a true Chicago dog without it. "OK Sebastian, let's hurry up- we want to get as much done as we can today.  This buff will only last until nightfall, and I want to get it's worth." he told his silent companion as he finished up, chowing down on the finished product and watching for the buff icon to pop up.  Once it did, he grabbed his readied bag and raced out the door, ready to go.

[Used Ultra Lucky Hot Dog, used 'Filling' buff. +4 LD for thread]

Once he left his house on the 9th floor, Ben headed into town, taking in the view of the forest from his yard as he went.  It was a good choice to build here, and relaxing on his days off, but today wasn't one of those days.  Today he had work to do, and he breezed his way past the empty town square, not bothering to see who else was up this early in the day.  And once he hit the teleporter, he was gone in a flash.

The town of Taft was on floor 11- not in the front lines, and not low enough for new players to be hanging around.  Most days it only had a handful of hunters coming in and out for quests, and today wasn't much different, especially this early.  The sun had barely crested over the trees by now, so most people would still be in bed. 

Spoiler

Stats:

Level - 22           HP - 440             ENG - 44
DMG (Dagger) - 1 (1 base)
MIT - 9                      ACC - 0                    EVA - 3

Equipment:
[EQ] [T1 Uncommon Heavy Armor] Benjamin's Carapace - Mit (1)
[EQ] [T1 Perfect Charm] Finder's Feather - Loot Die (3)
[EQ] [T1 Perfect Charm] Green Leaf - Evasion (3)

Ready Items:
Teleport Crystal

Searching - +9 (+2 from search skill, +3 from Finder's Feather, +4 (3+1 from housing boost 'Filling')

Gatherer Skill -
CD 1: No bonus materials
CD 2-5: 1 bonus material
CD 6-9: 2 bonus materials
CD 10-12: 3 bonus materials

Quest - gain 1 material on 11-14, 2 on 15+

 

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As he walked through the town, Ben pulled up his quest log and popped open a quest he had done several times before, watching a new dot highlight on his map.  He had been to the garden this quest took him too several times before,  but the materials there respawned fast enough that it would still be full each time he got there.  And with that in mind, he made his way to the gates of town and down the road to where he was going. 

The walk to the 'garden' went smoothly- no monsters on the road, and no players in the area it seemed.  Just him and his familiar. 

He walked up to the gate of the area, taking in the sights.  It was a large field of flowers of many different colors, spread out in a section of the woods with very few tall trees around.  The ones that were looked like the kind you'd see in the suburbs- healthy and tame looking.  The whole place seemed just a lot safer. 

And even when he took the first few steps into the area, he already was able to spot a few loose herbs sitting by the entrance, which he quickly added to his pack.  Today was going to be good. 

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #136944

CD - 2
LD - 2+9=11

Found 2 materials

Total: 2 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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At the entrance to the field of flowers (or Blooming Garden as the quest log called it), Ben looked around to find the first area that he should search through. 

"Any preferences Sebastian?" he asked his very excited familiar.  The little guy was distracted by all the flavors of delicious foliage all around him, and Ben gave him a minute to look around and figure out which one looked the tastiest.  And picked a few more herbs from the entrance while that was happening- it wasn't the thickest patch of materials, but it was good enough to start out with.  Besides, his little worm familiar was happy enough to be out here, and he wasn't going to spoil his fun.  Sebastian always helped him out with crafting already, so he felt like doing something for him.

After packing his newest finds into his pack, he got up and gave Sebastian a scratch behind his antennae, listening to his happy chirps as he decided on what he wanted to chow down on first today. 

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #137015

CD - 1 (+0 mats)
LD - 12+9=21 (2 mats)

Found 2 materials 

Total: 4 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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After a bit more looking around and trying to decide, Sebastian finally settled down from his initial excitement and pointed (well, leaned his body in one direction) over towards a patch of purple, well, violets he thought.  All this time he had been working with his alchemy skill, and he still couldn't tell flowers apart very well. 

But, this was a video game, and he didn't need to tell them apart to gather them up.  So he headed over there, putting an excited familiar down onto the ground so that he could eat his fill on, hopefully, whatever wasn't able to be used for alchemy.  "OK bud, dig in while I work." he told Sebastian as he worked- this patch had enough good materials in it to start filling his bag with a gusto now, and he was going to take advantage of it as much as he could. 

At least until his familiar passed out from stuffing himself so much, and his bag was too full to carry any more. 

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #137015

CD - 8 (+2 mats)
LD - 12+9=21 (2 mats)

Found 4 materials 

Total: 8 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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Sebastian was quite happy with his new meal, and wasted no time in chowing down on anything that he could find.  Unfortunately, he kept on bumping into Benjamin as he was gathering up materials, and trying to steal some of the more useful ones.  "Sebastian... slow down.  You're gonna give yourself a stomach ache.  Not to mention eating everything I'm trying to grab.  You do remember why we're here, right?" he scolded the little guy, pulling a few of the remaining items away from his grip and back into his pouch.  And giving his familiar a disappointed frown as Sebastian protested, wanting to get back to eating indiscriminately, before settling back down. 

"We can both get a lot more done if you stick with eating the flowers, and I get the gathering materials.  You remember how much you enjoy helping out making those potions, right?" he asked, giving the pouting worm a bop on the head as he cheered back up.  They needed SOME limits if they were going to work together on this quest. 

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #137017

CD - 1 (+0 mats)
LD - 13+9=22 (2 mats)

Found 2 materials 

Total: 10 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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Sebastian put up the unhappy, pouting look for another few seconds before he crawled back over to the thicker flower packs, where the places Ben could pick materials from were not.  Which was good enough for them.  Ben let out a chuckle at his antics- he really was a good partner, even if he was a bit of a head strong pain sometimes. 

He finished picking through the current patch of flowers, a bit disappointed in how little there was in this patch.  But at least he got more out of here than he would usually get from his searches. 

"OK Sebastian, you finish up so we can move onto the next patch of flowers.  Unless you want to try something else?" he asked, getting an angry noise from Sebastian that told him his familiar really wanted more flowers.  "Well, you have yours tastes little guy.  Pick which patch you want us to go check out next, and we'll get to it." he answered with a smile, looking around for their next target. 

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #137019

CD - 5 (+1 mats)
LD - 5+9=14 (1 mats)

Found 2 materials 

Total: 12 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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Sebastian poked his head around, looking at each of the patches of flowers and trying to decide, though he had such an abundance of choice that he was having trouble.  Ben let out a light laugh at his antics.  "OK, how about we just head down one row at a time?  You can take as long as you would like with each patch as we move." he offered to the excitable little guy, who answered by stuffing another mouthful of the purple flowers into his mouth before crawling his way down the path. 

Of course, Ben picked his familiar up and carried him over to the next bunch of plants- a rocky outcropping with a bunch of daisies in front of it- before letting him down to eat his fill.  And grabbing a handful of the brightest ones for his own use- he was glad at how the gatherer skill highlighted the best ones to pick to add to his own supplies.  He was filling up his pack quickly at this rate. 

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #137115

CD - 9 (+2 mats)
LD - 13+9= 22 (2 mats)

Found 4 materials 

Total: 16 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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At the next patch of flowers, Sebastian jumped right in and started chowing down on the daisies, running around everywhere as Ben looked at him in disappointment.  "Didn't we just talk about this Sebastian?  I can't harvest anything while you're doing that." he scolded his familiar.  Unfortunately, it took him a few tries to actually pick him back up in his state of excitement, and in such a state trampled over most of the flowers in the patch.

"Well... looks like I'm getting nothing out of that patch of flowers.  Seriously..." he groaned.  "Well, now you lost the right to choose where we're going next.  I'm picking the next path."

Which was all well and good, but he couldn't help but give the destroyed flower patch one final longing look.  Even though he knew it would respawn in a few minutes- maybe longer- it was still sad to see good materials go to waste like that.  "Come on Sebastian- you're following my lead this time."

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #137286

CD - N/A
LD - 1+9= 10 (0 mats)

Found 0 materials 

Total: 16 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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  • 3 weeks later...

As he moved along to the next place to search, he took in the sights a bit more, making sure he was on the right path and not passing by any places while he was distracted corralling his familiar. 

"Looks like we have another patch to go through- maybe we behave this time?" he asked Sebastian as he approached a new patch.  Some sort of yellow petaled thing with orange spots that he couldn't recognize.  Maybe even something that didn't have a real world analogue, since they could put just about anything in the game they wanted. 

At least Sebastian behaved while he was searching this patch (if you called sitting on his shoulder and sulking behaving), and it was full of a goodly amount of crafting materials for him to use.  And at this rate, he would be able to fill his bag up quick enough for the next boss fight.  At least if Sebastian refrained from jumping around in the patches of flowers that he was trying to pick his way through. 

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #138488

CD - 3 (+1 mat)
LD - 15+9= 24 (2 mats)

Found 3 materials 

Total: 19 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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  • 5 months later...

 

Ben breathed a sigh of relief- it seemed like ages since he took a bit of a rest, and Sebastian was getting a bit restless with the delay. Maybe he would get a bit luckier now that he was better rested.

But those thoughts would not do anything unless he continued to grab what was at hand- in this case a group of the flowers that he had previously piled his bag full of. After all, he knew they were plentiful and useful, so why not grab as much as he could?

"Looks like we really did get a bunch from here. Hope it'll be a big hit with the front liners..." he said out loud, letting Sebastian listen in as he worked, pushing another bag full of alchemy materials into his inventory to make more room. The caterpillar just sat and watched as he worked, not really caring about things he wasn't allowed to eat. It must be such a simple life to worry about nothing else except for that, but Ben still had work to do.

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #167353

CD - 10 (+3 mat)
LD - 5+9=14  (1 mats)

Found 4 materials 

Total: 23 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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And as he went back to work- after giving his familiar Sebastian another scratch under the chin first of course- and continued to get a big haul as he finished off the current patch of flowers. He idly wondered exactly how fast they would be re-spawning, and quite glad he didn't have to worry about taking too many for the field to regrow. That was one of the benefits of everything here going by video game logic- though he would trade all of that to just be back home again in an instant.

"Well at least you're finally behaving there. See how much faster things go when you're not trying to chew on everything?" he asked, packing his bag up for the next section of flowers, hopping over one of the ledges in the garden area as he headed towards one of the groves of trees, the flowering vines that ran off of it looking like a good place for him to search next.  As long as they actually were useful in crafting at least.

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #167380

CD - 10 (+3 mat)
LD - 19+9=14  (2 mats)

Found 5 materials 

Total: 28 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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The hanging vines were the first thing he checked on the new grove that he arrived at, and he watched as his little familiar decided to crawl up one of them to reach the top of one of the tree branches, curling up on top of it and munching on the leaves growing out of the vine. 

Ben was fine with his familiar's choice- after all, it kept him out of the way while he reached up and picked one flower after another off to load up into his bag. He then checked the leaves that Sebastian was eating, bringing up their stats to see if they were useful at all- and finding nothing. Well, not true- you couldn't really tell with everything in this game, but there was always SOME way to get use out of an item. But for the recipes he was pursuing, there wasn't anything he needed at that moment for these items. Which for today's search was practically the same thing. Unless he wanted to carry bags of all sorts of useless items along with the useful materials he was gathering.

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #167448

CD - 4 (+1 mat)
LD - 10+9=19  (2 mats)

Found 3 materials 

Total: 31 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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Putting aside the random leaves that seemed to quell his familiar's appetite, he continued to pick the flowers from the hanging vines, filling up another bag to send to his inventory as he worked. It was hard work as usual, but at least this time he was reaching up instead of bending down, which probably helped his back. Or virtual back. Or whatever this game did- he was never clear on how exactly the hardware worked, and he wasn't in a position to find out now. All he could do was keep spitting out crafting items to help out the front lines as much as he could.

He got himself into a rhythm as he plucked one flower after another, careful not to destroy any of the petals as he worked- these items were a lot more delicate than he had thought, and it was slowing him down to work with each one of them. But that was why he carved out the full day to work on this- it was important enough he could take all the time he needed to get this done right.

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #167449

CD - 5 (+1 mat)
LD - 20+9=29  (2 mats)

Found 3 materials 

Total: 34 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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Even if he needed to do everything carefully, Ben still tried to find ways to make the work go faster. Picking a few flowers from the spot they attached to the vines, a few by cutting them off the vine, and just by grabbing and yanking. It seemed to work the best when he just grabbed the attachment part, with a few of the flowers bursting into a spray of polygons as he picked the wrong area, but most of them ending up inside of his pouch for use later.

Still, even after spending a couple hours here, he barely had enough to last him four days of crafting. Even less if he was going to be making expensive crystals out of them. He let out a sigh... this was always the case, but players still needed them. And he wasn't going to let them down by not filling his inventory up to the brim before going home would be letting the front liners down. Or at least letting down his own plans to help them. 

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #167470

CD - 9 (+2 mat)
LD - 19+9=28  (2 mats)

Found 4 materials 

Total: 38 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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As he started running out of vines to grab any more crafting materials, Ben took another look up at his familiar who was still sitting on one of the branches, happily munching away at all the leaves that he could reach. He wondered if he should just leave the little guy here while he scooped up what he could from the nearby flower patches and bushes. It would be quicker without the interruptions... but he felt if he didn't have anyone to talk to it would be a lot more boring. Just walking around with your own thoughts for hours at a time was not an idea that appealed to him.

"Come on Sebastian, lets hop over to the next patch." he called out, finished with the flowers and walking over to the branch his familiar was on before he moved on. Sebastian hopped onto Ben's shoulder once more, ready to grab a nap as they continued their work. Hopefully it would be with as much success as he had just had from here on out.

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #167498

CD - 2 (+1 mat)
LD - 17+9=26  (2 mats)

Found 3 materials 

Total: 41 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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Ben and Sebastian stepped past the grove of trees in the large garden to take a look at a patch of wildflowers growing in the shade nearby. The purple petals they had looked promising for the work he needed to do, so he grabbed one an inspected it. Luckily it was something he could use in healing potions- but unfortunately only the roots would be useful. And he had no idea of which ones would have good roots and which would not.

"That's why we have the gathering skill, right?" he asked to his familiar, who didn't answer as usual, and simply reached down and let the system's skill take over guiding his hand. More often than not, he plucked up something good that could be used in his craftings, attesting to the usefulness of the skills he had picked up. He tossed the ones he could use in his pouch and just left the rest on the ground to disappear into polygons soon enough. No reason to cram his inventory full of useless items if he didn't need to.

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #167521

CD - 8 (+2 mat)
LD - 4+9=13  (1 mats)

Found 3 materials 

Total: 44 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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Ben continued to toss materials into his pouch, but found that he was getting diminishing returns on as he kept poking his way through the patch he was working on right now. It seemed he had started to use up all of the useful materials he could harvest out of the flowers, leaving only the ones with shallow roots left. Even his gathering skill wasn't finding anything much more for him to pick up.

With a sigh, he tossed the last few of the picked flowers into his pouch and stood up to brush the rest of the dirt off of himself. He didn't even have to glance at the clock in his menu to know how early it still was, and how much longer he had to go until lunch. Or until the day was done. Still, it was for the front liners. To help everyone get out of this game faster- and to help make sure that everyone got out. No deaths if they could be avoided. Not as long as his healing items could help.

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #167686

CD - 1 (+0 mat)
LD - 16+9=25  (2 mats)

Found 2 materials 

Total: 46 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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Ben took a look around at where to go next, figuring which of the plots of flowers would have the best return on his time. The problem was he didn't really know much about any of the items that could be gathered from here, so he settled on simply picking out the most colorful ones nearby. After all, this was a gathering quest, so whichever route he picked should be workable from his view.

The patch of flowers that he chose to approach was a bright blue bunch, with their heads shaped like tulips in the real world. Actually, since tulips did come in blue, they might be exactly like the real world variants- he wouldn't have any way of knowing. The important part was the liquid inside of the flowers were considered a useful crafting material, so as long as he could pick up each of the flowers carefully, he could quickly fill up another pouch with little effort- or having to move from one spot to another to often.

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #167687

CD - 3 (+1 mat)
LD - 13+9=22  (2 mats)

Found 3 materials 

Total: 49 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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Ben continued the slow and painstaking process of picking each of the blue tulip flowers - well, blue mana bowls if you went by their in game description- one at a time, making sure to take his time so he did not accidentally spill anything as he added each one to his inventory. It wasn't as fast as some of the other materials he could grab from around here, but it had the benefit of getting him a constant stream on materials. Hopefully this rate kept up and he could get a few weeks of materials done in a day. Especially with having to use a fairly powerful search boosting item- he couldn't afford to let things like that go to waste. Quite frankly, he needed to save up all the Col he could since grinding it from monsters wasn't a choice for him. 

At least Sebastian had eaten his fill for a while, and was curled up quietly on his shoulder for now. How long that would last is anyone's guess, so he was taking advantage of it while he could.

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #167693

CD - 4 (+1 mat)
LD - 13+9=22  (2 mats)

Found 3 materials 

Total: 52 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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Of course the first time he pays attention to how quiet Sebastian is being is when he decides he is hungry again. It's like he has a sixth sense for just when he isn't needed sometimes.

"Hey, quit it!" was all he had time to call out before Sebastian slipped from his perch and grabbed a mouthful of flowers for himself to munch on, knocking most of the rest over and spilling the materials on the ground. "Sebastian... I was having good luck harvesting those.  Did you really have to dive in like that?" He let out another sigh as he watched his familiar take the next couple of minutes to chew his way through the rest of the flowers, too stunned to do anything but sit there and rest until Sebastian decided he was done and crawled up his torso and back onto his perch.

"Well then buddy, how about we go on to another patch. And this time you don't dive in head first?" he asked as he took one more look at the trampled flowers in front of him before he stood up and prepared to get moving.

Spoiler

Gathering Roll ID #167694

CD - 1 (+0 mat)
LD - 1+9=10  (0 mats)

Found 0 materials 

Total: 52 [T2] materials

 

Edited by Benjamin Bookworm
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