Rebekah

It had been a while since someone had asked her for advice. Rebekah had to think about it for a few seconds. However, the skills and the skill order that one develop is dependent on what they want to do and what their role is. However, there are always some very good skills no matter the situation.

"I think there are a few skills that are universal in importance. For example, damage, battle healing and an armour skill is very important to have just for your own personal survival in this game. As I am not a tank, I know there are a few tank specific skills that will be very useful to have. However, at your level, I would put enough skill points into damage, just to be able to overpower and defeat anything you face in the early game." Rebekah explained.

That was a very important decision given that the early game is often the hardest. In the early game, players have no skills, no good items and no experience to know how to navigate around certain situations. As an experience player, Rebekah knows there are things that she could plan ahead to minimize the risk of danger. "If you can get those three skills, then I would start focusing on the other utility skills." Rebekah continued. She knew that each skill was not created equally, some are stronger than others given there is a restriction on the number of skill points available per level. It was simple economics, find the best skill with the highest benefit relative to the cost of skill points.

ID = 209022 | LD = 9 | CD = 7+1=8
Foraging-R3: 292/299 EXP (+3)
(failed) // Total: +3 Mat, +1,500 Col

After collecting the first apple and arrive at the river, it was now Rebekah's chance to begin foraging at their destination for today. This also would give her sometime to get set up and search the immediate surrounding areas for the rest of the morning before they had to return to the town of beginnings for Nicklaus to complete the quest. They had fulfilled all the requirements except talking to Lyle as they were taking the scenic route before returning. This would give Rebekah the chance of stocking up on materials and perhaps additional gold that she could find nearby.

Nicklaus, her older brother had asked a very important question. Rebekah responded by saying, "Well, it depends. I think the bare minimum to be eligible is to be near or at the current level cap of thirty two with a set of perfect equipment. You may be able to get a way with slightly less if you are a support player. That is because support players are not in the direct line but being at the minimum is very important given skill points are earned at every level."

That was one of the things that mattered a lot. There is a lack of skill points and the only way to gain more is to improve by leveling up. The level curve had gotten significantly harder lately, "I think you have to work twice as hard now to level." Rebekah commented to Nicklaus.

Rebekah was still setting up and therefore was unable to find any materials.

ID = 208991 | LD = 9 | CD = 1+1=2
Foraging-R3: 289/299 EXP (+3)
(failed) // Total: +3 Mat, +1,500 Col

Rebekah was not yet satisfied given that she had a sweet tooth. She needed to stock up and make more desserts today. She got out the chocolate and pastry and got back to work. She loved baking, it was an exact science. All the ratios have already been decided and she got to work right away making the same recipe from scratch. There were only so many variation in desserts. With actual food, a chef must always taste the food, and adjust on the fly given the situation and the time of the day. For baking, there was no adjustments required.

Date: 04-24-2022
Rank 8: 1,384/2,599 (+77) EXP
Custom Ambition Tool (+1 EXP)
Hestia’s Cauldron | +1 CD when crafting in one’s workshop.
Guild Hall: +2 EXP for each craft. +5 to salvage recovery LD's

Now that they had finish the requirements of the quest, Rebekah had agreed. It was time to go out for some foraging and fishing time before they were to return to Lyle to finish the quest. It had made a lot of sense as they could head towards the stone valley nearby where there is a river inside the forest. It was not too far from here, and they could head there first instead of returning back to town of beginning and heading back out today.

It was a perfect suggestion, as Rebekah lead Nicklaus and Snowball towards their destination. It was a slow moving river, perfect for Nicklaus to fish in while Rebekah can forage for materials on the banks of the river and the surrounding area. Snowball had flew ahead to their destination and returned letting her know there were no animals nearby. This was perfect, as she was not planning on fighting anymore today. In addition, her older brother needed this rest to recover his energy as he must be low from fighting multiple battles at once.

They were almost at their destination, when Rebekah spotted a fruit tree up ahead. Perhaps she could collect an apple or two that was ripe enough and about to fall to the ground. Rebekah walked up to the tree, and had picked up multiple apples and a small bag of col. She was off to a good start already.

ID = 208932 | LD = 12 | CD = 9+1=10
Foraging-R3: 286/299 EXP (+8)
+1 Mat + 2 Mat + 1,500 Col // Total: +3 Mat, +1,500 Col

Rebekah had failed collecting that plant that she had spotted in the grassy fields. Now, her focus was entirely on Nicklaus who was unable to hit the bigger mama boar that was attacking him. She wanted to go in and help him out but knew that he needed to be able to fight this battle by himself, so he can prove to himself that he has the ability to be a good player in Aincrad. It would not be a good idea for her to jump in as that would signal to him that he was not good enough.

In her opinion, everyone needed to work through some adversary to get better. You must overcome your own personal struggles. That was a fact and Rebekah knew that this was going to be important for Nicklaus' own personal development. All she could do is to watch on the sidelines and give you encouragement to succeed. She needed to let him work out his own issues with struggling with a simple boar.

Meanwhile, Snowball was still flying around. Luckily, there were no new animals coming towards them, which meant they could leave and head towards the river or lake after this battle was over.

It was this moment that Nicklaus had defeated all three boars which meant that her older brother had finally completed the minimum requirements to complete this quest. This meant that they could now head towards the lake where he can go fishing, and where Rebekah can continue to forage for materials.

It was at this moment, that Rebekah had saw a plant nearby, and decided to walk over to inspect the plant a lot closer. It had looked like it was a special plant, It had an unique shape and colour which made it stand out on the grassy plains on the first floor. Rebekah decided to take a chance to see if the plant was special enough to collect. Perhaps it was a rare plant which can be converted to a material. All Rebekah would have to do is to try to collect it. However, the plant was not special and did not register as anything other than a vanity item. That was disappointing.

It was also at this moment, she could see something approach Nicklaus, it was a bigger mama boar. It had approached right as she had remembered doing this quest for the first time. Hopefully, Nicklaus saw it as she was too preoccupied with something else at the moment.

ID = 208925 | LD = 3 | CD = 8+1=9
Foraging-R3: 278/299 EXP (+3)
(failed)

Rebekah had watched all of this play out in front of her. She was not getting into the battle since she knew that Nicklaus had to complete this all by himself. All she could do was watch from the sideline and cheer him on. It was not a surprise to her that he was only able to defeat two of the three animals in front of him. Even Rebekah had issues from time to time landing a clean strike against multiple targets, so that was to be expected.

Rebekah turned to her owl who had been perched up on her shoulder the entire time. "Snowball, you can go for a fly if you want. This might take a while for Nicklaus to resolve so you are free for a little bit of time." Rebekah said. The owl had understood immediately the words that she had spoken and began to fly in the air in a circle. Snowball still did not want to leave Rebekah's side in the wilderness today, so it was flying in a circle above them scanning for any monsters that may head their way. Luckily, none of the animals wanted to bother the pair as they could sense that Rebekah was a high level player who was very dangerous to them.

Rebekah had a reputation of slaughtering animals in the forest especially those that had gotten in her way, so animals have been known to avoid her if they do not want to have a confrontation at all. Rebekah never liked backing down and knew that she would have to show the animals that they were blocking her path.

Rebekah had finished munching on her avocado toast as Nicklaus had spoke with Lyle. Lyle was just as she had remembered, rude and direct, right to the point. He was not one to socialize and wanted players out of there in a hurry. Therefore, Rebekah now lead Nicklaus towards to the great plains where the boars can be found right outside of the city. This was going to be important as she was unable to assist Nicklaus in any manner with respect to killing the boars. Therefore, it would be up to him to deal with this situation. All she could do is watch.

At least, Nicklaus had tried an experience a few days ago, where he was able to strike the minotaur in the labyrinth. Therefore, she had seen him in battle and is confident in his abilities to succeed today against some weaker boars. The monsters that her older brother will fight are a lot weaker than last week, so it would not be as difficult for him. It did not take long for the pair to spot the three boarlets that Nicklaus needed to fight as part of this quest. All she hoped was that he would not have any difficulties today against these three animals.

She tried to tell him just as he loaded his sword art to use an area of effect attack instead, since he was facing against multiple monsters at once. Hopefully, Nicklaus was able to listen and activate that in time.

As soon as Rebekah made it to the teleportation gate on the first floor, Nicklaus was already as usual waiting for him. She walked over towards him with her owl. Both of them exchanged their standard greetings. Nicklaus and Snowball were not fighting for once. This was very strange and odd. Rebekah knew that this was the first time that this had happened. She decided to let Nicklaus take the lead for today, since it was him who had recommended that he should be taking on this quest.

The next important question was breakfast. Rebekah had not ate anything yet this morning and was starting to feel hungry. On the contrary, Nicklaus for once, had ate and showed up before she did. Rebekah had been spending time putting on makeup prior to their departure and finding the perfect outfit. That had caused the delays.

Therefore, Rebekah recommended that she will go pick up some food on their way towards Lyle's shop, who was the person responsible for administrating this quest towards the players. It had been sometime since her last visit to this blacksmith's shop. Rebekah knew where the shop was, and began walking with Nicklaus.

It did not take long for Rebekah to find a cafe for her to quickly purchase coffee and some breakfast. She decided to get some avocado toast, which she could eat while Nicklaus was speaking to Lyle about the requirement of the quest. It was not a hearty breakfast, but it would have to do given that they would be running late if they had a sit down meal.

Rebekah had just spent a lot of time with her older brother the last few weeks, trying to get him ready for some up and coming difficult quests. However, this had come as a surprised today, when she had received a message this morning. He had wanted her to join him and watch him take his second lesson quest.

The pink hair girl had nothing better to do and therefore decided it would be in her best interest to join. After all, Rebekah knew that Nicklaus wanted to show off his brand new skills since the last time they had done a quest together. Perhaps, this would allow the two of them to take the third and final part of this quest, which Rebekah had not attempted as of yet. This would be a very good idea. Rebekah also knew that she could also spend this time to aim for the next level of foraging given she was almost there.

She despised that the fact that she had lost to Nicklaus last time in first lessons in where he had easily beaten her to the magical number of five materials. She would have to show off her brand new skills today. Therefore, it would be important for them to ensure that everything was being done correctly.

Rebekah put on an outfit and decided to call Snowball today to join them. Her owl was happy that he was finally leaving the indoors and going on a quest with Rebekah. After all, Rebekah had left Snowball on the last two quests and her owl was very excited to get out of the apartment that she had rented up on the fourth floor. Rebekah also knew that one day, she would have to aim to upgrade into a better house. Right now, she had a decision to make, better house or better weapons. She was nowhere near either option at the moment.

It was finally time for Rebekah to make that decision. However, she knew the rules and she had already a set of the trinkets, so she told Larbook, "I will like to trade both of these for Hoya of a Minos." She then gave both of her trinkets to Larbook, and her reward had shown up in her inventory. She new these would come in handy as she did not know who but someone would be married soon in the future. This will be very helpful going forward.

It was at this moment, both of them received the quest completed notification and they said goodbye to Larbook. Nicklaus had left her the option to pick what they had wanted to eat today. This was a difficult decision since she had not visited this floor often enough but she was sure she could find a local restaurant to serve them some lunch. They had walked into the first restaurant she could find near the teleportation gate. She hoped that the local cuisine would be very tasty and delicious.

Thread Summary:

6,010 Words / 10 = 601

Rebekah:

601 x 5 x 70% = 2,103 EXP
2,103 x 15% = 315 Col
Hoya of Minos

Nicklaus:

601 x 70% = 420 + 500 (Quest) = 920 EXP
1 Page = 400 Col
Hoya of the West (T1 Perfect Trinket) ACC/ACC/Prosperity
Hoya of the East (T1 Perfect Trinket) EVA/EVA/Quality

They were finally back in the wilderness and out of the gloomy dark maze. Nicklaus was now asking for her thoughts on his performance for today. Rebekah knew that he would be hard on himself for that single miss, but she had thought he had done very well for a beginner.

"I think you did an amazing job for today. Yes, I know you had that fall, but it is something that everyone has to experience for the first time in combat. You had gotten back up on your feet and improved for the next time that you had faced the next boss. Although, I am reminded that you are not as strong as I thought you were. You still have a long way to go but hopefully, you can start to begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel." Rebekah spoke.

"Also, since this is your first time taking this quest, I highly recommend you keep the items that were dropped. I already have them and I no longer need a second pair, so I will trade them in this time." Rebekah explained.

As they continue talking, they could finally see the outline of Arruyt in front of them. They had finally returned home back to the safety of the settlement. Perhaps it was now time to grab some lunch soon in this town if Nicklaus was not opposed to the idea. It would be a reward for a well done quest.

As Nicklaus went to attack, Rebekah just realized he would not be strong enough to finish the boss that was in front of him. Therefore, she ran after him knowing that she would have to follow up regardless of what had transpired with Nicklaus' personal attack with his long straight sword. Therefore, this was something that Rebekah should have said something to begin with. However, it should be fine given Rebekah immediately sprinted at full speed towards the boss.

Nicklaus must have realized this after he had attacked as he had left out of the way, this gave Rebekah a clear path towards the boss that she needed to slay in this round. She knew if she had missed, then Nicklaus would take damage given that he had drawn the aggro as he was the only person who had struck the monster in front of them. This was going to be a problem, he knew that and would look for ways to mitigate that if she had missed. However, she was determined to finish the battle and return home after this, so Rebekah knew that she was not planning on missing.

Rebekah landed another clean stab at the minotaur and it as well had exploded into the blue pixels all around them. She then turned to Larbook, "Let's head out of here. Shall we." Rebekah then turned towards Nicklaus and told him, "Good job, brother. Let's head home now."

They were finally to challenge and take on the second boss in this maze. Rebekah was asked what the plan was. She looked directly into Nicklaus' eyes. She could tell her brother wanted to atone for his earlier mistake of falling in combat. What she never told him, was that she used to be the same and had done that a lot in the past. She did not want to relive those painful memories. Therefore, Rebekah knew that in order to succeed, she would have to give Nicklaus another opportunity to prove himself today.

Rebekah turned to her older brother, "We will do the same thing as the last battle. You will go first and I will follow up behind you, ready to defeat the monster if you miss. I believe you can do this." Rebekah said as she tried to give another piece of encouragement to her older brother.

She knew that he would not show his emotions but he is very glad for her encouragement pushing him onward. Rebekah got out her rapier just in case and got ready as he saw Nicklaus take off towards the final minotaur today. There was nothing she could do but watch. She had hoped that she was not needed since she wanted Nicklaus to prove to himself that he was able to rely on his own strengths and not on others to get the job done today.

Out of Combat 3/3

This follow up question did not come as a surprised to Rebekah. He was not the first player nor he would also not be the last to read the official guidebook published by Argo that is available to everyone free of charge. The information found on here was very important and would answer a lot of the basic questions that new players who are slowly gaining experience would have in the game.

"Have you read this guidebook from Argo?" Rebekah asked. "The first volume has a lot of useful information that can help you improve your chances of survival in this game. After all, having knowledge is very powerful. The more information you can obtain and process, the more prepared you are in this game. I know multiple players who had taken part in the experiment which was how we obtained the numbers. It had taken a lot of trial and error but they finally found the solution."

She knew that Nicklaus had a copy of the book somewhere in his inventory but had not spent anytime getting to know the information on there. As they were almost at their destination, she could recall the time was flying a lot faster this time. Perhaps this was the second time she had done this quest and everything had felt a lot simpler. Rebekah was also more at ease this time as her partner for this quest was now her older brother instead of a friend. She could trust Nicklaus with anything and this made all the difference in the world for her.

Searching for Govarron 4/5

Out of Combat 2/3

This had surprised Rebekah. Nobody had ever asked her for the secrets to being good at combat. Nicklaus was the first person to ask him. Rebekah thought about what to say before responding, "It is very important to practice. I have done this so many times so that this all comes natural to me. I think the first few times is the hardest since you have to get used to coordinating everything with your body." Rebekah explained.

Rebekah knew that Nicklaus had lacked the practice necessary to be good at combat. He just need to practice and get the necessary movement to reduce any unnecessary extra movements to conserve energy. There was something else Rebekah wanted to tell him.

"I am also wearing this silver necklace, and I also have the precision add-on as one of my skills. This gives me a massive boost to accuracy in combat. For example, the standard accuracy is about fifty percent. With both of these boosts, my accuracy has increased to ninety percent." Rebekah explained. "One of the rewards in this quest will help boost your accuracy by two, which equates to a twenty percent boost. This was why I wanted to do this quest with you today, since it will help you out a lot going forward with combat."

It was a lot of math to process and understand. But if anyone could understand this, it would be Nicklaus. After all, he was a genius and knew that he would trust what she had said.

Searching for Govarron 2/5

Out of Combat 1/3

As soon as Nicklaus heard it was time to go, he ran right at the minotaur. However, Rebekah was unable to warn him in time. She had been here before and knew that the floor in the boss room was not perfectly flat, and if you were not prepared, you could easily fall down. Splat.

This was exactly what had happened to her older brother. He was still too confident for his own good. Hopefully, this will teach him to be a bit more humble and not brag about knowing everything in this game. As evident by this fall, she knew he had a lot of things to learn, as moving your entire body is different from video games where only the hands moves and the brain thinks. Actually, combat in virtual reality require the movement of your body and hand eye coordination.

Rebekah quickly ran past him to attack the minotaur. She knew that she would have to strike it now in the hopes that the boss would not attack the defenseless Nicklaus who was now slowly getting back on to his feet. Rebekah lunged forward and struck the boss who was still paying attention to Nicklaus. It had died immediately and exploded into the familiar blue bubbles.

Rebekah then turned back to Nicklaus and helped him off the floor, "Next time, try to watch where you are going, so you do not fall again." Rebekah said.

They had finally arrived at the area where the maze opens up a little to allow for some extra space. This was where the first boss that there were facing would be located just around the corner. Rebekah had been thinking about the plan of attack and decided that it was now time to let Nicklaus know what was going to happen. He was going to attack first.

"As soon as I finish giving you the instructions, I want you to go attack the minotaur immediately. I will follow up after you in case you miss but I am confident in your abilities. Just act normal, and you should be fine." Rebekah gave some last minute instructions and pep talk to her older brother.

Rebekah had the tougher assignment, she had to make sure Nicklaus leaves this battle and labyrinth alive. She had spent so much time planning for this moment in the last two weeks. She cannot wait for this to finally happen and have Nicklaus kill his very first monster in Aincrad. It was a long time coming, as he was able to level up without fighting up to this point. Rebekah knew that combat experience is valuable and this was the perfect opportunity for him to practice and gain that much need experience before he should go out on his own.

Searching for Kantaras 5/5

The journey home coming downhill down the trail was a lot easier than the initial walk uphill earlier this morning. Both the Nympth and Rebekah was quickly walking down to the long path towards Athenaia. The Nympth had promised her to return her back to the town centre where the teleportation gate was.

This time, Rebekah decided not to make any detours along the way to pick up additional materials as she wanted to head into Athenaia to get some food. She was starving from expanding all this energy today and would love to have some local cuisine of Athenaia since she had not spent anytime in this settlement.

Within another fifteen minutes, Rebekah had finally returned back to the main settlement of the floor, and quickly said goodbye to her escort for today. She would miss the NPC but knew that maybe she would revisit Olympia. That was still a very long time in the future. Rebekah was proud that she had successfully completed a quest that she wanted to do today so she could go foraging in the snow tomorrow. She had a lot of things planned and the special gift from Demeter would make it go a lot smoother.

Rebekah than decided to enter the first restaurant she could fine and decided to order some local greek cuisine. She was craving some fresh fish.

Thread Summary:

4,681 Words / 10 = 468

Rebekah:

468 x 5 = 2,340 EXP + 500 EXP = 2,840 EXP
2,840 x 15% = 426 Col + 400 Col (1 Page) = 826 Col
4 Materials
Demeter’s Cornucopia | Crafting Tool | Bountiful: +1 CD when using Foraging skill.

Now that they had entered back into Demeter's quarters. Rebekah knew it was time to report the good news to Demeter. "Hello, goddess. We have found your ring." Rebekah said as she handed the ring back to Demeter.

Demeter quickly took the ring and put it back in her hand. "Thank you mortal for finding it today. As promised, for your reward, I have decided to gift you my cornucopia. It is an amazing item, and it will help you with all your future attempts at foraging." Demeter spoke.

With that, the quest notification had appeared in front of her letting Rebekah know that the quest had been successfully completed. Therefore, Rebekah did not want to spend any more time in Olympia than she wanted to. She said goodbye to Demeter and followed the Nympth out of the settlement. There was a short walk to the gates of Olympia where the same guard this morning was happy that she had finally left and there were no more players inside the settlement.

Truth be told, Rebekah did not enjoy the time in Olympia as much because everyone with power were gods and goddess. She felt like she was trapped as everyone was watching her every move, so she was relief to finally get out of there and return back to Athenaia where she knew she would feel a lot more at ease.

Rebekah had made a giant mess. Therefore, Rebekah decided to go and help clean up the mess that she had made as a result of diving head first into the haystack. There was a hay everywhere. Luckily, everyone nearby was also helping pitch in in cleaning up the hay and stacking it back into the neat pile. She had wondered how the ring had gotten lost in the haystack but thought otherwise of asking about it.

After about 10 minutes of cleaning up, it was now finally time to leave the field and head back towards where Demeter was staying. It would take a short walk to head back so Rebekah decided to use his opportunity to get to know the Nympth who had accompanied her on this journey today. "What is your role in Olympia?" Rebekah asked.

The Nympth then explained that she was one Demeter most trusted servants who was there to help her out with all of her needs. This included what she had done today which was leading Rebekah on the journey from Athenaia to Olympia for this quest. It was a long journey and Rebekah would soon be making the return trek home. It was going to be a long day for her as she would have to make the journey back and forth between the two settlements four times in a single day.

This maze was exactly as Rebekah had remembered it yesterday. It was dark and gloomy. Rebekah wished if this place could have a more friendly background. The giant grey walls made it a depressing place to stay here for long. At least they were making quick work of the maze due to Larbook's amazing navigation skills. If Rebekah was leading this party, they would have been lost many times over, and the siblings would have an argument already.

Rebekah turned to Nicklaus who was in front of him. He did not have his weapon out in the maze, and it had taken Rebekah this long to recognize this error. Rebekah told Nicklaus quickly to always have his weapon in his hand or ready in the scabbard at any moment's notice especially in the wilderness. The extra few seconds to tap a few buttons in your display could be the difference between staying alive and being dead. Therefore it was always important to have the weapon on hand. They were almost there, Rebekah knew that they had already walked 10 minutes in this maze already.

Nicklaus had looked ready for this moment, and he cannot wait to finally try out some combat in Aincrad. All Rebekah hoped was that Nicklaus would not fold under the pressure. She did not want to give him any pressure as it was all on her to be able to defeat the monster if he had missed.

Searching for Kantaras 3/5

There was a giant haystack next to this field of grass. Rebekah knew that hay was created by cutting, drying and bailing together long cut grass. The hay would then be used for a variety of uses including feeding it to livestock. This hay has a colour of modest yellow. Perhaps the golden ring was hidden inside of this haystack? Rebekah thought about diving into it to find the missing ring. After all, this is the craziest thing she could think of, but it would make sense. If the ring was hidden inside accidentally, then nobody nearby would notice the golden yellow colour of Demeter's ring.

Rebekah was not allergic to hay, so she took a deep breath before she dived into the haystack. The neatly packed pile of hay was quickly knocked over as Rebekah began searching inside She was looking for something tiny, in a circle. There was a lot of hay to wade through and search but she reached and had felt something in front of her. She decided to grab it with her hand. It was round.

Rebekah got back up and out of the haystack, and took a look at her hand. It was a golden ring. She turned to the Nympth who was guiding her this entire time, "Is this Demeter's ring?" Rebekah asked.

The Nympth smiled and nodded. Rebekah had finally found the missing object. It was now time to return it to the goddess who was frantically looking for this.

Now that they had arrived in the wheat field, Rebekah continue to search for the ring using the same method she had done in the other two fields. However, nothing shiny or golden was sticking out anywhere in this field. There were also a lot of farmers around, so Rebekah tried asking them if they had saw anything. However, nobody had seen anything.

This is strange, the goddess Demeter had lost something but nobody had seen the ring in this field. Therefore, it must be hidden somewhere and not out in the open. If it was that easy to spot, anyone would have seen it already. This meant Rebekah would have to physically work a lot harder to look for the missing object. This was getting difficult. Rebekah was starting to lose patience and knew that she would have to clear her head and use her brain once again.

She had already searched all these fields looking in places that were out in the open, but nothing had worked. Therefore, Rebekah would have to start looking for some common hiding spots that were in these fields. This was going to be tough, what is one area that she had not looked. Then, an idea had popped up in her head. Why did she not think about this a lot earlier. Perhaps, this could work, it sounds too crazy but it was the best idea that she had at the moment.