Sotarou

The boar looked squarely at Ruri with menacing eyes! This... thing!... had done severe damage to it! And it wasn't going to tolerate that any longer! It charged straight for Ruri, tusks long and rather intimidating to anyone not used to such a sight... and what power they held! ... well, at least to a level 1 player. For Ruri, 2 damage was a joke! But... 2 damage was still 2 damage.

Sakuri - 17/17

Eléssar - 14/15

Nova - 10/10

Kanya - 54/54

Ruri - 57/59

Boar - 15/25

There was fighting going on up the other side of that hill, and he wasn't about to be done in again! He ran up that hill to get a look at what it was... this time, a gigantic boar! Much bigger than the last one! This wasn't going to end well... for the boar, that is! He pushed himself off as fast as he could go, dashing forward towards the Dire Boar and aiming his blade straight for its hide! But he misjudged his aim and went a little too far to the creature's left! This just wasn't turning out to be a good day for Sotarou...

Sotarou blinked a bit as Ruri explained what needed to happen! "It... it's really just that simple? Why... in the world... did I not think of that?!" He facepalmed... "But now my only problem is... getting ahold of a Curved Blade. And getting the skill to use it. I don't imagine it's all that hard to get the skill for it, just wait until I have the Skill Points to spend on it, then find a Curved Blade... like a Shamshir. I saw one for sale in the Town of Beginnings, so..." He shrugged. He then looked around a bit as well... "Yeah, it seems there's not really all that much in the way of enemies anymore... it's like they all up and vanished..." He got a nervous look about him. "I don't like this..."

Sotarou groans as the Boar goes down to the... Katana? As the rush of battle finally fled him, he looked incredulously at Ruri! "H-how did you- How do you have a Katana? How are you able to wield it? I have been asking everywhere in the Town of Beginnings, and noone seems to know anything about it!" He seemed a bit upset about it, as well as envious! He wanted nothing more than to use a Katana! "I mean, the Guidebook doesn't even mention it as a usable Skill!" He would be staying apace of Ruri, trying to get as much info about this as possible! "I mean, are there hidden requirements you have to meet, a certain enemy you have to kill, anything! Whatever I have to do, I'll do it!"

Sotarou was DETERMINED now to make at least ONE hit on this thing! Everyone else had gotten a hit, and it was his duty to help spread the weight! And that's what he was going to do! ... at least, he had hoped so. Again, swing and a miss! "I swear, the Devs just hate me!"

Sotarou grimaces that Ruri was the first to get a hit out of all of them! Not wanting to be outdone, he attempted to get a good hit into the Boar, aiming for the gash that Ruri had left from her hit! But yet, even that wasn't enough as his blade missed the boar! "Come on! It's like the Devs are playing around with our attacks!"

With the Boar having stopped so close to him, he decided now was as good a chance as any to land a hit! If the stupid Game Devs would allow such a thing... the sadists they are...

And as much sadism as they enjoy, Sotarou once again missed the boar! This just was NOT a good day for any of them at all!

The boar turned to face Ruri, as it had been the last to attack it! Grinding a hoof into the ground, it began its charge into her, pointed tusks looking quite menacing! Though... probably not to a high level like her.

It misjudged the charge, however. It instead went right past Ruri and stopped near Sotarou!

Sota took his opportunity, as he saw it with the Boar fixated on Ruri. Making a dash forward with his Longsword, a blade that felt a little more right to him. At least, much better than the crappy Shortsword he'd been given at the start! However, the Boar seemed to be a bit more agile than him... that, and he was out of practice. Two months without so much as swinging the sword around, he really needed to get more practice in!

Attack: MISS

Ruri - 59/59

Ele - 15/15

Sakuri - 17/17

Sotarou - 7/7

Boar - 11/11

Sotarou looked at everyone gearing up for the fight... ohh man... what was he getting himself into now? Grouping together with two beast tamers and... whatever Sakuri was... he wasn't exactly sure. But... too late to think about it now... in fact, he didn't even think about it. Since when DOES he think about it? Never, that's when! He drew his simple little Longsword, prepared for the oncoming battle that would soon engulf them... "Hope I don't disappoint all of you!" He waited for Ruri to move ahead, since this was her go-around, and would just hang in the back and wait for an opening to strike at anything coming near them.

So... while it is quite hard to do so with the rules, I think that a Blacksmith starting out in the game wouldn't really have the necessary skill to craft a weapon of quality that a level 30 would use in the front lines right off the bat... so my proposal is thus: The perfect category is different for each level of Crafter. A Novice Blacksmith's Perfect could constitute a blade having like... +1 BD and/or +2 DMG. While a Grandmaster's Perfect would be something like... '+2 BD, +1 DMG, on BD (die, not including any bonuses from weapon or other items) of 8 or greater, Blinds target for 3 posts. Blindness gives opponent -2 BD and negates bonuses from items. Special skills that grant extra BD are not affected.' Something like that, a Novice shouldn't be able to make something that powerful, even if they got the highest craft check right off the bat. So... scaling crafting. Yea or nay?

((OOC: No problem. It happens.))

Sotarou turned as another player showed up, this time with a Familiar pet. He nodded to the newest arrival and smiled back. Any trace of his being nervous about Ruri was long gone now. Apparently, he was a bit quick to forgive... "Nice to meet you. The name's Sotarou."

He then looks at Sakuri, nodding as well. "Thanks for that. I'll definitely remember that." He also laughs nervously a bit. "Well... you're better than I am, at least... so... I'll still just defer to you. At least until we reach Floor 5... then I've gotta do that quest on my own."

He then looked at Ruri... still off-put by the orange crystal floating above her head... he was probably going to regret this... but then again, he wanted to see the good in this. So that's what he was going to do for now. "What... kind of battles are we going to be doing? The last battle I got in was a couple of months ago against a few pigs. Since then, I've just been hiding out to avoid Sleep PKers so I wouldn't pass out in the middle of the day." He laughed a bit nervously at that... and in his mind, all he could think was 'Smooth move, Kisuke... mentioning PKing in front of someone who has PKed someone else...' Nevertheless, he accepted the Party Invite, seeing only Ruri in there so far.

As Sotarou looked around a bit more, then there was conversation that included his character name. He turned to see two other players looking right at him... at HIM! A very pretty-looking girl in blue with... an... orange marker? A PKer?! He got a VERY worried look on his face! But... as this girl... she introduced herself as Ruri, held out her hand and smiled at him, he... couldn't help but feel that this character wasn't a typical PKer... that maybe there was some sort of circumstance that made her a PKer... he'd ask about it for sure, but for now... he accepts the hand and gives a slightly nervous smile back to her... "Hi... uhm... how do you know my name? I thought I turned off my global view..." He shrugs. "Then again, probably not... can't really see for myself." He chuckles a bit.

He then turns to the second character there, a male this time. Announced as Sakuri. "Hi. I'm Sotarou. Or... you probably knew that..." He laughs nervously again, rubbing the back of his head. He then turns his attention back to Ruri. "So... uhh... you were saying something about me challenging myself in battles? I... I don't know if I would really be all that good in a fight. I'm only level 2, and all I have is this Longsword and a Katana that I can't even use... I just haven't had much luck in the loot department lately." He looks a little disheartened. "It's like since the game gave me a Katana, I'm not allowed to have anything else good..." He looked at both the other two. "But... I take it the pair of you are really high levels, since you're decked out in high-level gear." As he continued to talk with the two, his nervousness about Ruri was slowly but surely dissipating.

"Okay, thanks anyway..."

Sotarou had come to the last Inn he could find in the Town of Beginnings, not having had any luck in finding out just what was up with the Katana that now hid in his inventory... it had been a few months, and he hadn't left Floor 1... hell, he'd not even left the safety of the Town of Beginnings! Some hero he was... but even so, it seemed that he was just fine right here...

*PING*

"Huh?" Bringing down his HUD, he found he'd gotten a message, with the title 'Learning the Swords.' "What in the..." He opened the message, reading it through a bit. "An invite?" He shrugs. "Maybe they'll know what's up with the Katana..." The message said to meet at the Teleport Gate. He wasn't far from there already, so he decided to just hoof it there. He just sincerely hoped that he'd get his answers and finally be able to leave this Floor...

He'd finally arrived to the Teleport Gate about 10 minutes after receiving the message. He was still in the starting Swordsman gear, tinted blue, and had a Longsword on his hip. Either bought or won off of a mob outside... so he had some battle experience, at least... if the latter proved to be the truth, that is... his face was ordinarily supposed to look much different than he actually did, but it wasn't exactly doing him any good once Kayaba changed the rules. He stood a bit on the short-ish side, about 5 1/2 feet. His face was scruffy, beard not fully settling in but still noticeable. It's possible his body outside was still growing it, but he didn't know for sure... either way, it hadn't grown at all since he was here, and it looked pretty unkempt. As he approached the Teleport Gate, he looked around, with his sharp hazel eyes, for the one who had sent him the message.

As Sotarou returned to town, he headed straight for the Inn and a good night's rest... though before he did, he checked his inventory once again... and as he thought, the Katana was still there. He rezzed it out and took a closer, more detailed look at it... it definitely looked well-forged... but at the same time, it looked like it could be a whole lot better... and he definitely was going to make it better. No matter what. But for now, he paid what little Col he had from selling his Short Sword to the Innkeeper and took a room for the night... little did he know, because he'd not even checked, that the battle with those three pigs leveled him up... tomorrow, he'd be a level 2 SAO player... he was starting to get the hang of it! And soon, he'd be swinging the Katana around like it was his own arm.

~-- OOC Below --~

Okay, so we have Sotarou having gotten his first level, his first tough-esque fight, and his first look at a goal! I think that'd be all of it for now... so...

Getting ready again and nursing his left hand, his right hand was still good to go to fight with... and that's all he'd need for now... he instead decided to let the pig come for him this time! This pig seemed intent on the kill, but he wasn't going to give him that satisfaction! As the boar charged, he side-stepped and attempted not to decap this time, just to land a hit! Any hit! Please...

~-- Will edit after Battle Roll --~

And by some sort of GM miracle, he managed to hit it! It ran past him and stopped for a second, then exploded once more in death. A small jingle of combat victory rang in his ears as he sighed in relief! Then another ping of loot acquired. "Cool... two pieces of loot... let's see what they are, then..." Pulling up the HUD, he checked his acquired loot... he blinked in disbelief... The first piece of loot he'd acquired was a Longsword, shown equippable... then... the second item... was a Katana! Shown to not be equippable at present... he'd have to learn more about that! There were Katanas in this game! Something he felt more at home with! And he wasn't going to stop until he learned how he could wield it. But for now, he switched out the Shortsword he'd been using all this time and now equipped the Longsword. But... the moment he had it equipped, he decided that he was going to head back to town! This was too much for him to deal with right now...

More heavy breathing, he was going to end this pig's existence! No matter what it took! Looking around the battlefield, he made sure there was nothing he'd step in this time, and once again charged the boar! "I... HATE... PIGS!"

~-- Will edit after Battle Roll --~

But... he just slipped again! And on the same pig dung pile! "OH COME ON!" And once again, here came the boar. He tried to roll away again, but the pig was a little quicker, stomping down on Sotarou's hand! It wasn't a crit, thankfully... but he was still at 1 HP left... this was getting to be a bad situation for him. He had to end this fight and quickly... now he didn't care about the loot, he just wanted to win! He wasn't about to run, he was about to win!

Breathing heavily, Sotarou stared at this pig... it wasn't going to best him... not like this... he was going to end this battle, and this boar was going to die! With an almighty yell and a charge, he aimed once more for another decapitation, the rush of battle pounding through his heart!

~-- Will edit after Battle Roll --~

In his hasty charge, he failed to notice a pile of pig dung on the ground, his foot catching in it as he slipped to the ground! "Okay... maybe this game's a little TOO realistic..." Suddenly, the last boar charged him instead! But... thankfully, Sotarou had enough wits about him to roll out of the way and let the pig just end up a few feet away before it stopped fully. Sotarou quickly stood up... he had to be careful... that charge could have done some serious damage... and he wasn't about to endure that!

Sotarou - 2/5

Pig 1 - 0/2 (Dead)

Pig 2 - 0/2 (Dead)

Pig 3 - 1/2

Sotarou took their momentary moment to attack one of the stunned pigs to end its existence and garner another chance for some loot... if he was going to fight out here, there was no way he'd feel better unless he had a Longsword... so either Col or a Longsword itself would work just fine! Though he'd prefer a Katana, he was pretty sure those didn't exist... nevertheless, he took aim and struck towards the boar!

~-- Will edit after Battle Roll --~

The blade was quick and true this time around, as the boar just stood there in its dazed stupor! One quick slice, and the boar's head was cleanly snipped from its body, before the whole thing just exploded in the telltale shards of a foe dying... and then, a ping! What was it, what was it, what was it... he'd check after the battle, as the last Boar attempted to hit him... and hit him he did! Hard! A critical hit that definitely knocked the wind out of Sotarou! He was still standing, but he definitely didn't want to take one more of those hits...

Sotarou - 2/5

Pig 1 - 0/2 (Dead)

Pig 2 - 0/2 (Dead)

Pig 3 - 1/2

Sotarou took the opportunity of both of those pigs getting tangled up in each other to finish off the pig he had started on! A single sword swipe would do the trick, but he didn't want to be caught in the middle of two opposing rock walls that would crush him... so running towards the injured boar, he aimed a sword slash at it!

~-- Will edit after Battle Rolls --~

The blade dug deep into the previously made wound, causing the Pig to shatter in death. "One down, two of you dumb pigs to go! What was I running for? You guys are a joke!" He waited for a ping of loot, but none came. "Damn... your friend didn't give any loot... how about you two?" Their response was a coordinated effort to attack Sotarou, however he just backed away from the spot and let them hit each other... a bit hard... they each took a point of damage from it! "Like I said, dumb pigs!"

Sotarou - 4/5

Pig 1 - 0/2 (Dead)

Pig 2 - 1/2

Pig 3 - 1/2

The next morning saw Sotarou headed out onto the fields of Floor 1 once more to endure more pig abuse... he really hated this. He was fighting with a Shortsword, a weapon that didn't feel at ALL right in his hand... he seriously wanted to upgrade, but for that he'd have to fight enough Frenzy Boars to get enough Col to get possibly a longsword. It wouldn't feel right either, but it'd feel much better than attacking with a short little short sword. Almost felt like a knife in his hands... he, who had forged his own blade at one point... "Wow, I'm starting to think like my old man..." He did his best impersonation of him. "'A blade won't suit you until you craft it with your bare hands... then you know that you've crafted your own arm.' Pffft... yeah, great advice dad... not gonna help me much in here!" He shouted to the sky... which was probably a bad idea, since a few nearby Frenzy Boars heard him and all began charging him! He ran like the little wimpy fighter he was! Then... his brain switched over! 'What am I doing? I can take these things! They're only level 1! I've had plenty of practice now, I can take these things easy!' It's then he stops and spins himself around, preparing for battle. 'Okay, there's three of them... each at 2 health. This should be easy!' With that, he'd make the first strike.

~-- Edit after Battle Roll --~

The blade hit true enough, as he dashed forward towards the pigs and dragged his blade through the side of one of them... it didn't kill it, but it seemed badly hurt by the attack. They all then decided to charge him... but the injured one stumbled, bumbling into a second boar, which caused the pair of them to trip over themselves and not do any real damage... however, the third boar did get a hit in. Only one HP, but it felt like getting gut-checked by his old man! He slid back a few feet from the force of the blow, but he stood his ground! "Heh... gonna have to do better than that!"

Sotarou - 4/5

Pig 1 - 1/2

Pig 2 - 2/2

Pig 3 - 2/2

After much searching, he found out that there was a quest giver on Floor 5 that would be able to help him with all that... and that made his day. But... at the same time, it also disheartened him... he knew that the first 9 levels, the bosses had been cleared, but at the same time he'd have to level up enough to be able to survive the fights he'd get into on upper floors... but before any of that, he'd have to get some sleep so he could recover his lost hit points. Thankfully, the starting Inn was extremely cheap in the Col department... not like it mattered, it still drained Sotarou's Col amount to... precisely zero. All that Junk that he sold, it helped him to get just enough Col to sleep safely... so... that's what he did for the time being.

A few hours of fighting Pig monsters and gaining experience, as well as a ton of trash loot hardly even worth a Col, he felt a little winded. "Wow... I'll say this about the guy... Kayaba's made this game pretty realistic... I actually feel like I'm tired from all of this combat I've done... well... guess that's that... I'd better make my way back to town." And with that, he'd head into town to find out more about Professions and such. He wanted to learn how to do so... and noone was going to stop him from enjoying himself while he was in here anyway. Besides, those pigs brought him down to 2 HP left... he was foolhardy, but he wasn't going to go into another fight that'd potentially kill him in one shot...

Armed with a small shortsword that didn't seem to fit him at all, he ventured forth and looked for any weak creatures he could kill in one hit... maybe with enough of them, he could actually level up and climb higher in the tower... in fact... he HAD to climb higher in the tower... for his own sake... he wasn't going to die in this forsaken, pitiful excuse for what would most likely be his... entire... life... oh, who was he kidding? There was no way he was going to pull this off! ... but no... he HAD to pull this off. He HAD to succeed. He had to win. That was his drive now. Before, he had gotten this game to get away from family... now... he had a new purpose... to survive! To win! To push forward and know that everything that comes after this... will be the next foot forward! The journey would be long... but the destination clear! Floor 100! Even if he couldn't be on the front lines, he'd work hard and maybe he could just make their weapons! If even one of his weapons turned out to help defeat the final boss, he'd feel like he accomplished something! So... that was his goal! But first... he had to get good enough to fend off the monsters in this place... because if he couldn't even defeat a small pig, there was no way he was going to survive the game. And that was not acceptable.

No Logout button... Kayaba's holding us hostage... and all I can do is think 'Why am I here?'

Kisuke- I mean, Sotarou, sat there in the courtyard just after the announcement had gone off... he had been looking everywhere in the <> for how to get a profession. He was about to get his answer from another player when the teleport happened... then the announcement from Kayaba... he was frantic with worry at the beginning of it... but soon, he began to feel less worry and more anger... anger at Kayaba for trapping him in this deathtrap; anger at his father for driving him to this game; and anger at himself... for looking towards games to run from something he shouldn't have been running from in the first place... and once again, all he could think was 'Why am I here?'