Life

Cooling down in the shade really was a great a idea, while he considered her point about the heat he rubbed some sweat off his chest and put the top of his Yukata back on. "Well going from extreme cold on floor four to extreme heat on this one certainly wouldn't help the situation." Life pointed out. He pulled down his inventory menu and spawned in some regular bottles of water, throwing her one casually before drinking some of his own. He watched her closely as she began to mumble to herself, something that he was completely out of the loop on, though he drank his water and listened anyway not really sure how to respond.

That was until she mentioned Alkor. He wasn't really sure what to say on that front since he did run into him after Mari told him he was alive. He was almost the same as the day he left, he looked different.. but his personality was still true to himself. Perhaps It'd be better if Life just told her all she needed to her, or at least, what she wanted to hear. In both cases it was still true. "Yeah.. I ran into him killing a bunch of elves and we did treant rivalries. He's doing ok... definitely not a ghost like I had thought. Though what about you? Been up to anything exciting?" 

@Mari
 

Life raised his eyebrows as she began to retort his concern for her safety, it was good that she at least thought of a backup plan before taking on any kind of boss. Looks like shes got a head on her shoulders at least. Then she continued, adding that she wasn't a kid at all Wait, 22, there's no way. Life leaned forward and squinted, starting at her face and examining it closely. He leaned back and shrugged. "Hmm... Well on the bright side at least when you're fifty you'll look twenty five." 

*blip*

A message from Mari popped up on Yuki's screen. Mari, going to be a teacher? Life smiled, it felt like he had just drank some tea filled with honey and it was warming his whole body. He was happy for her, it really did sound like something that would be good for her. "I didn't realize you and Mari were so close." Maybe this complicated things a little.

@Zajcica

Oh yea continuing the quest would her would make sense wouldn't it. "Yeah of course. I think the next one should be within my level range to one shot, so you should be safe either way." Life quipped. "Also, being a tank is more than just being a punching bag. It's about protecting your party and throwing yourself right into danger to save them. That said, if the person in your party is fifteen levels higher than you and can handle themselves, you should probably consider your own safety first." Life rubbed the top of her head again before turning back towards the path leading out of the floor towards floor two. "So, Yuki. What's a kid like you doing in sword art online. I thought there was an age restriction on the game?" Life was genuinely curious. To be honest with himself, she did also seem kinda small to be a tank too, though in saying that he didn't mean to discourage her bravery. 

@Zajcica

Life was once again roaming the lower floors, looking for some inexperienced players that he could assist with getting stronger. It had become a habit for him these days as a way for him to repent for his past misdeeds, and also as a way to help players muster up the courage to make their way to the front lines. 

He turned the corner of the street near the silver horned Inn to discover a small gathering of players enjoying a chat. Lets see here... Life examined each of them closely, and none of them particularly seemed to be low level judging by their gear, except for maybe... ah the tall girl. The other two was what appeared to be a male in the same age range himself and a more mature fellow. He figured it was probably a fun idea to see what the ruckus was about and sus out the situation a bit more. As he drew nearer he couldn't help but overhear the fellow katana user asking for their names. No better time to introduce myself I suppose Life jested to himself.

"Life, pleasure to meet you all." He spoke with a friendly smile. He stood at 6"2, being the tallest in the group, resting his left hand on the modest hilt of his katana almost mirroring the Samurai in front of him. His katana didn't appear to be anything special, but that was because all the craftsmanship was in the blade hidden within the saya, the only other remarkable feature was the symbol for [Fate] inscribed on the bottom, paying homage to his original katana. 

Life wore an armored yukata with black leather bracing underneath the fabric which protected his vital areas and extremities. The material of the yukata's fabric was ebonweave, a fabric that appeared pure black in low-lit areas, but in areas with high visibility light it was possible to see the fabric was actually blue with a spiraling staircase pattern. His hair seemed to match this theme, appearing black unless exposed to the light in which a blue hue could be noticed. Life also wore a necklace, a silver angelic cross with a ruby at its center that sit comfortably on his chest. 

@Tsurei @Baldur @Lilik 

Life watched as she scrambled along the grass completely flushed once again. He wondered if she was beginning to crush on him, or something to that effect. Life stood back up and placed his hand back by his side on top of his katana since she didn't want to take his hand. She deflected his question about her username but wasn't all that interested in pursuing why, it was probably something embarrassing like someone else's name or a word in a different language for something. Once again she changed the topic to escape it making a comment on his damage. "Yea that's about all I'm good for though. It takes guts to want to be able to take hits like you though, I admire that." 

Life ran his fingers through his fringe and put it to one side, taking a better view over the open green landscape before them. He missed the simplistic fields of floor one, quaint and charming. Life watched his experience shoot up as the quest completed, another objective popping up in his screen. Hmm so there are more dragons to defeat, just like Mari said. "Well that was rather easy. Was there anything else you wanted to do while you've got me around?" Life wanted to be sure he just didn't up and leave her without offering further assistance, after all it was his goal to help inexperienced players grow stronger. 

@Zajcica

Yuki affirmed Life that she was strong too and not so helpless, though that wasn't what he had intended by his remarks he didn't blame her for wanting to prove her strength and worth. That's when the boss spawned, a tiny little baby green dragon. Life blinked as Yuki adamantly charged in to attack it, before getting completely embarrassed by the creature and put down. Life scratched the side of his face Oh dear.. guess I'll finish it. Life gripped the modest hilt of his katana and rushed forward letting his sword art San Ge explode from his saya. In just a few seconds the dragon had multiple cuts running across its small body, and as Life re-sheathed his katana's blade the boss exploded into a stream of data before Yuki's eyes. Life turned to face her, kneeling down and offering her his hand to help her up, repeating the same phrase he uttered when they first ran into each other. "Daijobu desu ka?" 

Life assisted her to her feet, and took notice of her username being different to how she introduced herself. "Hey, what's @Zajcica mean anyway?" Life smirked. It was a bit of a hard name to pronounce he preferred Yuki a lot better.

Life Roll ID: 137336 BD: 10 (+2 base damage) 
SA: San Ge [14+2=16*15=240 raw damage)

Party
Yuki: 160/180 Hate: 1 (52 - 27) + 5 = 20 DMG
Life: 500/500 Energy: 35/50(-15) Hate: 0

Enemy
Emerald: 0/125 (240-25=215 damage) 
 

Life kept his eyes on Mari as she floundered around in the heat, for someone so drained she did seem a lot more animated than usual. Though he wondered about her dislike for the floor he didn't wonder about what crevices its sands had gotten between. Surely not every crevice. He affirmed to himself. "It seems our hate for this floor is mutual then. I had already completed the majority of the quests here so far, just one or two left I think. The one with the sand shark is especially bad for getting sand stuck between everything, just a warning." 

He took notice of her second mention of her fireplace since they met on floor six. It was nice that she had a place of her own now, it made him feel better considering she used to be so vulnerable as a player killer. It was almost a relief to know she had someplace safe to go to. "That sounds nice.. I'm glad you've got somewhere to relax these days. Probably beats sleeping in a log like a jungle hermit. I know it can get hard with all the restrictions. Your house is on floor four right? I particularly like that floor, I've done avalanche about fifteen times each with different players. Sometimes when I get bored I just sit around in the snow and make snowmen. Maybe one day we should do avalanche just for the hell of it." Life rested his back on one of the pillars, taking in a deep breath. This was nice. "Thanks for the tip on the dragon anthology thing. I'll look into it. If they're easy enough so far I can probably take a few newbies down with me, bolster the player bases level total, It'd be nice to have stronger players around to help with the front lines." 

@Mari

Yuki's response was.. surprising to say the least. So Mari was in his exact situation of redemption, he hadn't realized that they had chosen to take the same path; it was like an inexplicable bond between them, no matter what happened they always ended up on the same road. Though as Yuki went on, his concern was shifted towards her. Her bright and excitable demeanor changing to one of sadness. Life, who stood about an entire foot taller than his companion, placed his hand on Yuki's head and ruffled her hair. "Hey, don't think about it too much. Once we beat this game we can all see our families again. We've all got something to fight for, right? One of the things I had to remind myself of was that everyone trapped in here has a past, a family, friends, connections. Our lives are very much all tied to one another, our success is very much tangible in the real world. Every time we make it through a battle without dying, save a comrade from certain death, progress towards a new floor. We're saving the people that we care about the most in the real world from certain heartbreak and distraught. While we still have a ways to go, don't forget the progress we've made. It's the very proof we need to affirm with ourselves that this game won't get the better of us. We'll conquer the tallest tower, and we'll send it crumbling to the ground." As life finished his little pep talk he gently *bonked* Yuki on the head trying to snap her out of her funk. But Mari.. Even though she didn't have anything to go back to. Her life was just as important to him as anyone elses. 

Life took a moment to gather his bearings, realizing that they had already arrived at the grassy plains in which the dragon was rumored to reside. 

@Zajcica

Life continued his self tour of the first ten floors, he was re-familiarizing himself with the rest of the world around him after having isolated himself on the eighth floor for two years. This floor itself wasn't particularly remarkable, just rocks and open plains as far as the eye could see, which usually was obscured by some kind of mountain range or large set of rocks. Blistering heat and freezing snow made for an interesting dynamic on other floors, but this, well this was just empty. The temperature didn't even feel like a temperature, it was dry, but it wasn't hot, an it wasn't cool either. It bothered him. He didn't even think there were any quests to do out here. How dull. He confirmed with himself.

Life continued walking aimlessly, not really expecting much of anything and almost ready to pack it up and head to another floor when suddenly; He spotted a dainty figure tumbling down the face of a mountain before reaching the bottom with a modest *thump* Whoever it was, didn't appear to be moving, but they didn't appear to be dying either. Life waltzed over toward the collapsed figure and leaned over them, allowing his black blue fringe to dangle in front of them and with comedic timing replied to their comment. "Well the first thing would be tumbling down a mountainside for some reason, when you should be getting stronger for the front lines?" 

 

Life thought for a moment, looking at the two options. Both of them were rather lackluster, just like the boss. It didn't really matter if either of them took it, the items weren't good enough for players their level. "I'm not that interested in them to be honest, and my inventory is almost full with useless junk already. Maybe you should take it, give it to an inexperienced player or something." Life thought on that suggestion for a moment, finding the image of a player killer waggling free items to newbies rather amusing. Though he'd keep that thought to himself. Life walked out from the center of the arena, to the more shaded part of the Colosseum created by the shadows cast off of its pillars, he really wasn't enjoying the heat at all. "Say, that dragon, I haven't fought a mob like that before. Should I mark it down for my next quest? Not sure where to head to now that we're done here." Life began to relax a bit more, it seemed she was finally easing up around him after all. 

@Mari

Life let a smirk escape him, the eagerness was very strong with this one. "It's fine, I don't mind discussing it these days. I had two years to reflect on my past and comes to terms with it. I'm in a much better place now mentally. Let's walk and talk. Feel free to take the lead if you'd like. The plains that hold the dragon and its emerald isn't too far from here." He signaled with his hand for them to get going as they made their way out of the town of beginnings.

"I was on the front lines during the battle to open up floor ten. Back then I was in the top five strongest players and apart of the strongest guild. The boss was a four headed hydra, and I personally took down two heads in total. When I took down its last remaining head however, it shifted into its second phase, killing two players who I was very close with. One of them however I just recently discovered survived, after spending two years lamenting my failure to protect him, can you imagine? The second was a young girl like you.. Anyway, I brought it's health down just enough for the top player at the time to finish it, and everyone seemed to move on just fine from that moment. But not me. That's why I'm not as strong as the front liners today, fourteen floors later." Life's face was solemn, sighing before tilting his head to the side letting his fringe hang toward Yuki. "Now days I'm just looking build my levels back up and help inexperienced players like you do the same. I had lost sight of what was really important and I'm doing my best to rectify that now." 

@Zajcica

After successfully staggering the cold blooded boss Mari literally charged in made a flurry of attacks making good use of the opening. Life watched as the bosses health rapidly dropped to what appeared to be zero, yet the boss didn't die. No.. there's a sliver of health left. Mari was indeed powerful, an attack like that was on par with anything he could dish out. His eyes fluttered over Mari's figure as she flipped back towards him, then his eyes were quickly back on the beast. It was clear that this boss wasn't done, and he had something to say about it. The croc enlarged, the entirety of its skin flushing red, and it looked angry and out for revenge. Life shook his head, this boss wasn't even close to enough for this party. "No mercy." Life uttered to himself dashing back in. He alternated the angle of his Katana, activating his most powerful ability <<San Ge>> disregarding any possible repercussions. Life once again slipped under the bosses defenses, allowing his blade to pierce into its abdomen before ripping it out and following up with multiple slices, concluding by slashing his blade right trough its abdomen and finishing behind it. He sheathed his blade, allowing the beast to succumb the multitude of cuts along its body before it faded away into a stream of data. 

Life turned back to Mari while stretching out his arms and yawning. "I'll be honest, with a warning like fight or die I was really expecting a bit more of a challenge." Life watched his exp shoot up again, for a much easier fight than Kumatetsu he was still getting a substantial amount of experience. It seemed his steady grind was going well enough. Life looked over towards Mari, noticing an item pop up in front of her. "What you got there Mari." 

Party:
Life -
Hp: 500/500 Energy: 21/50(-15)
Mari -
Hp: 1140/1140 Energy: 99/110

Enemy:
[DOMINUS MODE] Sando Satsu - {Attacks Life on LD 1-10 and Attacks Mari on LD 11-20}
HP: -152/350 (210-30=180 Damage) {Bleed 24 Damage 2/2 Turns}
[30 Mitigation, 150 Damage] 

Special Information: 

Life roll ID: 137332 BD: 4+2=6 ; Hit success: San Ge sword art 15*14= 210 Damage 
Sando Satsu Roll ID: he ded no roll 

@Mari

Life was pleasantly surprised by the excitement beaming for the girl in front of him, It was refreshing to say the least. "Well it looks like you're well on you're way then. It's good to be excited about getting stronger to beat this death trap, just don't let that excitement get you killed. I've seen it all too many times before..." Life spaced out, thinking of his friend Rue who died clearing the boss to open floor ten. She was a small girl, just like the player standing in front of him. A few moments passed before Life snapped back into the moment after hearing her introduce herself, and so formally at that. Life thought it'd probably be polite of him to reciprocate the gesture at least, even if he wasn't one for formalities. "Ore wa Life desu. Level 25. Ex-Frontline member, and Ex-Co-leader of the crimson inquisition." Life extended his hand to shake with the his new found acquaintance. "I don't think you'd know the guild, Mari took it down years ago. It's... a long story." It then occurred to him that she had mentioned Mari earlier. So that's what shes been getting up to these days huh. Life thought to himself. It made him happy that she was also finding solace in helping inexperienced players.

Life wasn't sure if would be a good idea to begin conversation about Mari, so he decided not to begin conversing about her on his own accord. Afterall he was here to help... "Yuki, right? Its a pleasure to make your acquaintance." 

@Zajcica

Life heard what she was saying, that she didn't mind him being happy, but he knew that It tore her up inside. Though maybe he had been treating her with too much sensitivity which confused him because he didn't know how else to tell her that he was willing to change and make things up to her. If she wanted things to just go on normally as if nothing had happened then he could probably manage that, but he didn't think that was right either. She continued telling him to just be himself, when really that's all he was doing, right? Being more sensitive towards someones feelings is in consideration to that person, and that consideration was apart of his own desire, it wasn't fake, it was empathy. Ugh I'm getting too into my own head right. 

Life shook his head before she turned to him then walked ahead in front of her as she said he was more than welcome to take the lead. As he passed her he poked her forehead, noticing that she was also getting into her own head. "Don't think too much. If you want things to just play out then let life do it's thing. I already promised you i'd be honest, right?" 

They continued through the desert until they arrived upon a large Colosseum type structure. Without a doubt this was the arena they were looking for. Making their way in Life took notice of the spears which surrounded the center. This indeed was a fight or die pit. As they drew near the center a notification popped up on their screens; <<Fight or Die>>. Life accepted, and from down below the boss shifted the sands beneath their feet as it arose to the surface. 

Life said he'd take the initiative, and so he wasn't going to miss his opportunity to get in while the iron was hot. Life lowered his stance, keeping balanced against the unsteady sands that shifted below. <<Sando Satsu>> Was an angry looking crocodillian warrior brandishing a glaive. Not something I'm familiar with, better take this carefully. Life gripped onto the modest hilt of his new blade <<Lunar Eclipse - Fate>> and charged his sword art, the blade that usually shimmered a silver blue saturated with the signature neon of his sword art. The boss let out a thundering roar threatening the two players before it, but Life had already made his move, darting right beneath it and releasing his blade from its scabbard exploding the cobalt steel across the bosses chest, the sheer force causing it to immediately stagger, creating the perfect opening for Mari to charge in with an attack of her own. "All you Mari." Life smirked.

Party:
Life -
Hp: 500/500 Energy: 36/50(-14)
Mari -
Hp: ???? Energy: ????

Enemy:
Sando Satsu - {Attacks Life on LD 1-10 and Attacks Mari on LD 11-20}
HP: 216/350(154-20=134 Damage] **STUNNED**
[20 Mitigation, 100 Damage] 

Special Information: 

Life roll ID: 137328 BD: 7+2= 9 Success On SA <<Iai>> 14*11 = 154 Damage and stuns.

Life had been wondering down at the town of beginnings again, he seemed to be there quite often these days, doing what he could to encourage low leveled players to make a rise to the front lines (eventually). He he already attempted to help three players recently and wondered who else he could assist. There was a quest line in particular that he hadn't started yet that was perfect for new players, initially at least. Perhaps as he made his way up to the more difficult quests he could call on some old friends of his. Though, Mari was still hurt and distant with him, and Alkor while alive still seemed like a phantom Man my circle of friends is really quite small these days now that I think about it. He wasn't familiar with the regular front liners these days, a lot had changed since his two year isolation. 

That's when Life noticed a rather short pink haired, what he assumed to be, kid, heading straight toward him. He stopped wondering if the player would notice him standing right in front of them until they completely walked right into his chest and stumbled right to the ground. Life simply blinked as they apologized. He noticed the Japanese, being half Japanese and half British himself. "Daijobu desu ka?" Life mused with a smirk. "Sorry couldn't help it. Don't stress its not like it caused any damage." Life noted as he pointed towards where her health bar should be.

"Say you're a low level player right? Would you like to come along with me on a quest? It's appropriate for your level." Life thought for a moment trying to remember it's name, tapping his finger against his chin. "Ah! That's right, Dragon hunter anthology. The little emerald dragon one. It'd be boring for me to take on my own so what do you say?" Life's accent was akin to aristocratic upper class British, though he usually preferred to stick to casual language rather than proper.

Player statistics:

@Zajcica

Life thought his positive output was refreshing and beneficial for the both of them, but she didn't seem to want any of it. Life sighed and closed his eyes before opening them back up to look at her. "Alright." Life dropped his smile and spoke bluntly, feeling slightly defeated, if she wanted someone light-hearted and easy going it couldn't be from him anyway. Life knew he only really had one objective and that was to beat this game. Of course he cared about Mari and did want to become better friends with her, but if it was going to get to that point it'd be better if he didn't pretend he was something he wasn't. Before he became a psychopath, and before he became the idiot that made the cave of love, this was who he was. Focused and disciplined. It wasn't like he was lying to her when he said he wanted to make things up to her, he wasn't being dishonest with his emotions either. He just always treated her differently then he did other people, good or bad, and he didn't know why. Life once stood as the strongest player in the most powerful guild in Aincrad at one point, he didn't get to that point by being a joke. "Things never used to be this complicated... Oh well. I let you deal with the <<Byakko>> last time because I wanted to see your strength, allow me go first this time around." Life would take the lead against the butcher of the sands and show her that he wasn't just goofing around. 

@Mari

Life smiled politely at the blushing womans reaction before turning to adress the blonde haired girl who had apparently taken an interesting interpretation to his username. "While I do get tired of the puns, no, it wasn't intended to be a troll name. But I suppose it has its irony considering the circumstances now. More than anything I suppose you could call me some kind of personification, sometimes a b*tch and sometimes a dream." Life smirked knowing that currently the b*tch side had been more prevelant, though he was working on that part of himself. He sent the two ladies a party request so that they would be able to do the quest together. "Well I suppose we can begin to get going now right. Where does the quest tell you to go now?" 

Life turned and made his way out of the store, holding the door open for the two to allow them to take the lead. While he was the most experienced his plan wasnt to take their experience away from the quest by interjecting. Hed allow them to figure the majority out on their own and help if they needed it. 

@Astralin @Ralacrest

Life thought it definitely was quite the coincidence that they kept bumping into each other, as if some divine power kept trying to put them together. But it was much more likely that they were both in a search for power after being isolated for so long, and so both looking for the same quest. "You're on the way to the butcher of the sands arena are you not? No stalking here, just business as usual."  Life walked with larger steps to catch up to her and kept pace a not so irritating distance. "Since we're doing the same thing, how about we party up again? That wen't rather well the last time, we work well as a team." Life jested, knowing full well that Mari had done pretty much all the work on their last encounter. He didn't mean to be too light-hearted, he knew she still didn't trust him and was hurt by him. He was trying harder to be friendlier, nicer, someone she wanted to be around, someone that she needed. Not the person he used to be.  

Life felt that the heat was beginning to get a bit irritating for him, so he freed himself of the sleeves allowing the top of his kimono to rest at his waist. The fabric waved behind him like a flag at the mast, exposing his body to the sunlight. "I hate this heat." Life muttered to himself.

@Mari

Life had some interesting memories on this floor, he remembered doing the traveler and bloodstained sands, but there was one quest that he forgot to do, butcher of the sands. He didn't mind the heat so long as it was dry, the grains of sands which drifted through the air grazed gracefully off his lean porcelain skin. The harsh weather wasn't much of a bother for him with his survival skill now equipped, it was more of an annoyance with his ability to see then anything else. Life made his way toward the NPC handing out the quest information, it warned him that this boss was extremely dangerous and had a mind of its own, attacking whoever it wanted and it was to the death. Situations like that always put life in a weary state, as he knew just how ruthless some bosses could be. Hopefully this one wasn't going to be too difficult. 

Life began to to head towards the arena as the sun beat heavily on his pale skin I'm bound to get a tan at this point right? He mused to himself. His current gear wasn't really designed to deal with heavy sands and buffeting winds either, in this kind of weather the loose material battered around frequently and pulled his weight in random directions. As Life peaked to the top of a tall sand dune he was able to see over a majority of the landscape before him, barely noticing a sweaty redhead travelling not too far from him. She blended in quite nicely with the environment, while Life stuck out like a sore thumb. "Oh hey Mari. Is that you?!" Life slid down the sand dune, closing a larger amount of distance between them. "Fancy seeing you here." 

Stats
Level: 25 | HP: 500 | Energy: 50 | Damage: 14 | Eva: 2 | LM: 2 | ACC: +2 | 

Inventory: 8x Hp potions (+50 hp per use)

@Mari

Life wondered the first floor, rekindling some memories. He hadn't really had a decent meal in a long time and he hated the fact that he still felt hungry despite the fact that he didn't actually need to eat. It was surprising to him the sheer amount of players that refused to take part in the game, preferring the safety of the walls of the town of beginnings. On his little hunt for decently tasting food, Life bumped into a player he hadn't seen before. He looked mature though he stood 6 inches below Life. Life blinked, looking at mans gear, all the starter gear only. "Ah, my apologies, are you ok?" Life spoke with a upper-class aristocratic British accent. Life was a deceptively dark figure, his hair was black, yukata was black, and sword were black, but in high visibility light, they all appeared blue. 

Life made his way over towards the battlefield, he had some killing to do for the treants. Life stood at the foot of the battlefield, the edge of the forest, looking out as the vast battlefield of lush green grass. Looking at the treants, you wouldn't guess that they'd be struggling, but it seems the Elves were stronger than they appeared. 

And the Life spotted him. 

Life couldn't believe his eyes, it was him just, with longer hair it seemed. Alkor? So what Mari said had to be true. Life took steps slowly towards him, hoping to get a better look at him. "Arrgh!" An elf vanished into a flurry of particles as the visage who resembled Alkor murdered it. Yep, that was him alright. "I'm either hallucinating, in an episode of paranormal, or you're a zombie. And I don't believe in ghosts or remember taking any shrooms. What in the hell happened to you!" Life's limbs were shaking in disbelief. He had spent two years in isolation under the assumption Alkor was dead, and here he was, still killing [censored]. Knowing Alkor wouldn't really be one for touching reunions Life thought a better idea to perhaps continue as though nothing happened. "So, you want to kill some knife ears for a quest?" Life said as he brandished his brand new katana, it was twice as strong as his old one. The hilt was modest as to not take away from the blades craftsmanship, a cobalt alloy with a silvery blue shimmer in high visibility. The blade matched the rest of him, his black-blue hair, and ebonweave armored yukata that only appeared blue in the light, pure black in low-light areas. 

@Alkor

Life continued his self tour on the lower floors, it was his way of re-familiarizing himself with his surroundings given he had isolated himself on floor eight for two years. He also was hunting for new quests to increase his experience so he could make his return to the front lines. He had already gone up a whole level from one quests after slaying <<Kumatetsu>> on his own. Floor three didn't seem so different to six or eight, just more jungle and more dense forest. except instead of being surrounded amazonian women he was surrounded by dainty elves. Never was a fan of Elves in video games Life thought to himself. Just minding his own business one of those elves ran up to his side with urgency, pulling at his sleeves. "Sir please! Can you help us?!" Life blinked and stared at the NPC that was pulling at him without permission. Not a good first impression. "What do you want, Elf." The NPC continued "We're at a war with the treants and we need the help of adventurers to break the stalemate and bring us victory!" Life raised an eyebrow at the Elf. "Thanks, you can let me go now, I got a treant to find." Life turned away, heading back toward the denser part of the forest. Its not like it was that big of a deal, they were just A.I and he didn't like being tugged at. 

Life would roam the forests until he found a treant to speak with "Excuse me tree sir, I understand you require help with a certain Elf problem?" The treant looked at him with pleasant confusion.. "Well, yes. They invaded our homes, used us for our wood... they're monsters." Life scoffed "Yea look I'm just here for the experience, quest accepted. Give me my objective." Life looked at the quest details, he had to slay six soldiers, the commander, and then the king. "Hmm well I never was one for monarchy." Life flashed back to killing the goblin king when he was just a newbie with Alkor and a small gang of others. He missed him and wondered where he was these days, if he really was actually alive. He found the idea hard to believe considering he literally watched him die. 

Stats:
Level 25 | 500 HP | 50 Energy | 14 Damage | 2 Evasion | 2 Accuracy | 2 Light Momentum | 8 Mitigation
 

@Alkor

Thank you kind sir I appreciate your generosity 

Life had already taken the liberty to start re-familiarizing himself with the lower floors after his isolation, however after discovering that since then the front liners had cleared the way up to floor 24.. there was a lot that he was missing out on. Life figured that part of the reason that he hadn't ventured further up until this point was because he was unable to move on from the battle that took the life of Alkor and Rue paving the way to this very floor. The two heads he had slain of the hydra mirrored by the two friends that died for him to be standing where he was right now, at the entrance of the tenth floor. Though, that was had Mari not told him that Alkor was actually alive after all this time. Maybe he would have shied away still under the assumption that he was gone, but not anymore. Life took a deep breath, and entered with his right foot forward. 

Floor ten was unlike anything that he had seen before in his life. He was so used to the rich forests, jungles, deserts, and snows, all natural environments for him. However this was quite literally out of his world; Life could already make out from the distances several different networks of caverns and he wasn't enjoying the thought of trying to traverse between any of them. There were large crystals to his left, and ginormous glowing mushrooms to his right, and there was no path laid out before him that told him which was the fastest route towards the nearest city. In fact he wasn't even sure if he could consider the damp squishy surface he stood on as land. Life needed to be careful here, or he may end up lost, or worse.

Ok Eric... stay focused here. We came here with a purpose. He reassured himself, of course he had a reason to be up here. It was the next quest he was given after slaying <<Kumatetsu>> on floor eight, and also a big step toward advancing and growing, not just as a player, but as a person. 

He had limited information on the floor itself, but at least he knew what he was looking for. Supposedly some kind of river filled with the blood of his enemies or something of the like. "So I just listen for the sound a river. Seems simple enough." 

hours later

Life found himself standing at the edge of a ravine, waterfalls crashing beneath it. He had followed the wrong sound of water, and he was now completely lost. Life looked around himself, there was little indication as to where he was, no notable landmarks, just more crystals, and more mushrooms. Life threw up his hands in frustration and put his fingers through his hair to massage his skull "It's official. This is where I die."

Player statistics:
 

@Lessa

Just as Life was about to leave and part ways Mari responded, opening up to him about her relationship with Alkor, one of Life's only other friends. He just lied to her? Faked his relationship? His feelings?.. Life heeded. It didn't sound like something Alkor would do, but, then again.. he was a solitary character. It was one of the defining characteristics that they shared and one of the reasons they got along with each other so well. Perhaps he would be able to procure a reason as to why Alkor did it when Life would find him. Perhaps he could get an answer for her. Life brushed his fringe to the side before rubbing the back of his head, puzzled as to how to approach the situation in the future. He obviously didn't want to just pop up one day and start talking about personal information and dig up forlorn emotions, but it wasn't like he was estranged to the practice considering the situation. Life muttered to himself "I'll have to see if I can get a hold of him.." 

"I'm...thankful you're alive too Life."  

Did she really just say that? Suddenly, Life didn't feel too cold anymore, completely forgetting that he was utterly drenched. He couldn't help but let out a boyish smile and looked back to see that she had already started walking away. His smile turned to a smirk and he continued down the opposite direction. He looked up at the sky as he walked before shouting "Stay safe!" 

@Mari