Ariel - The Crowned Lion

A few others joined the gathering and the blonde was delighted to notice that her favourite Irishman also made his way here. It was good to see more dependable individuals joining the frey though she wished more would come. Hopefully they just skipped today's meeting and she would see more of her old acquaintances at the actual raid. After their host finished explaining and Ariel received Night's card, she stared at it for a while. Then took one of the markers available and started scribbling on the planning paper: The diagram cemented the elemental system theory they had.

First floor, where it all began on that wretched day. The question of 'why would people organize meetings here?' kept popping in Ariel's head every time she was summoned to this place; be it for business or pleasure. She continued to watch over the meeting place from an opposite rooftop. (u can skip this spoiler, it's just some tangent writing practice) 'I'm off now, message me if u need something!' she said with a wave before dropping down next to the shop entrance. She dusted off her blue themed kimono with koi patern and after a quick glance at her reflection on a nearby window, en

As she saw Raidou, with his hand on his weapon ready to slay the king, she too walked behind him ready to assist him as she shared the same feeling. Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to act and decided to spare? in the same time guilt tripping the others. She let out a long sigh as she slightly shook her head. Her blade, even though worn out throughout this boss fight and still yearning for more action, syncing once more with its owner's desires. Was now taking a momentary rest in its saya. She drew closer to Raidou, his was one of the few opinions she bothered mulling over, alon

With a downcast gaze, she would let out a short sigh under her breath as she would hear people chatting up the boss. The topic has long since lost it's meaning to the blonde, she would see no other use than offering the frontlines a small reprieve in the fight. She would use that time to look around and take a mental note for the future, of the few members of her team that preferred actions over talk. Dashing towards the pillar from an off-angle, via a more indirect route, she hoped to entertain the blue neon light show with a backstab while it entertained the rest with words. At the very

The area attack caught the blonde on the wrong foot, literally making her lose her balance and almost fell, as she was about to dash once more towards their target. The red cape she wore responded to the unexpected fall of her health, instantly gaining a green hue that enveloped the blonde as the [Holy Blessing] from the spartan commander's armor and her native battle healing kicked in and restores some of her orange HP bar. She looked at the party's status: "That hit us hard..." she muttered, now particularly concerned about Lessa's situation. With a thought, she materialized a small green cr

Without hesitation (or knocking) the blonde enters the premises of the « Lion's Share », one of the annexes in the form of a alchemy shop on the Shirajishi-ryū Valley grounds. Seeing two new member addition to the party, entered with a smile, taking a second to look around. " Definitely an improvement from your last place. " she claimed, resting her eyes on the shop owner in formal black themed attire below his lab coat. Almost in complete contrast with the white theme interior of the shop. A low growl came as a reply from Dracul who frowned at her. " Good morning miss Ariel, miss Millicent! "

The change in the boss' form did not come as a surprise, it was to be expected after all. With the initial lackluster NPC appearance now gone, the blonde couldn't help but smile at the new form. A small glance to the raid health bars confirmed they were still on the green and the fast work of the Firm Anima maidens removed, at least for the moment, one of her immediate concerns. Ariel squinted her eyes at the new tittle in the boss' name. The extra HP bars adding fuel to her determination to strike it down. She felt a slight tingle in the palm of her right hand and looked to her side, the

Buying the following items: 7x Spyglass(x3) Total: 800 * 7 = 5,600col

A new dawn starts shinning over the tranquil valley of the lion. As per usual, the early sun rays find the master of the domain with her sword in hand, honing her skills against an imaginary foe materialized over a training dummy. Undisturbed, Ariel executes her enemy with one last horizontal slash that threatened to decapitate the dummy if it wasn't for it's extremely high and seemingly unending HP bar. A soft ping alerted her a while back that someone entered her territory. As she opened her eyes at the end of the mock battle, she motioned for that person to approach. When she first jo

A frown took over her features as, what seemed to be the boss? gave the raid party what looked like a concerned warning. The glitter in the air certainly didn't help improve her mood as the 'king' seemed to command it and the scathers with a wave of his hand. She then took a better look at his attire and something clicked. She didn't get to present it at the meeting but based on the intel the Shirajishi-ryū gathered, she had an idea who the floor boss might be this time. None the less, the moment the NPC attacked Shield and Raidou, she gritted her teeth then looked at the remainder of her

Despite having an improvised scented mask the blonde would still hold her hand over her nose and mouth, trying to breath the minimum possible while walking past the sewers section where the scouting party found the floor boss entrance. Walking through the massive steel covered doors, the air seemed more agreeable as she got closer to the group of players forming at the entrance. It seems she was between the last to show up as she could already distinguish the different groups that were going to step forward. "Here we go again." she muttered as she tossed her mask to the side. She'd stop next

Skill(s) Being Dropped: Curved Swords rank 1 Mod(s)/Addon(s) Being Dropped: none SP Incurred Towards Limit: 4 SP Refunded: 4 Cost: 4000

"I got this!" replied the blonde with a smile as she was in the middle of preparing her next attack. The two moving next to each other gave the blonde the opening she needed as the mimic focused its attention on them and has seemed to forget about her. " Big mistake. " she muttered as after piercing the mob from behind, her dark blade poking through what seemed like it's chest. A dark flame flickered from her weapon's tip then enveloped the mob entirely. The pixelated death animation was replaced by one in which her target was flailing while burning alive before vanishing completely. The curse

She barely had time to brush over the loot they received when the second mob was sent back to its source (code) by her jaded companion. "Nice one" she added as the wal started crumbling. It was only later that she realized that was because it was coming to life, she could only stare at it in mild amazement as the mob took form. "EH?" she claimed as she recovered as soon as she noticed Freyd going for the kill. "Beats me!" she then replied as she prepared for an attack herself. "For now let's turn it back to rubble before it collapses this place on us." probably the least of their worries but t

If at first you can't successes, try to cut them again. And that is exactly what Ariel did as she brushed off the earlier failure and went for a second attempt at the failed miners. She took some comfort in knowing that she wasn't alone in having missed their chance to attack from the shadows. Blade in hand, their taunts fell on deaf ears as she once again engaged the two humanoid mobs. Dead set in finishing one of them. "You won't need treasure where you're going." replied the blonde, after finishing off the more bossier of the two. The other one grabbed tightly onto its pickaxe but one

@personal rant intro One by one, more players arrived at the designated location. Ariel would do her best to welcome them with a smile and direct them towards the interior, making a conscious effort to ignoring the fact that the majority didn't take their shoes off at the entrance. She blamed herself for not instructing her students to remind their guests of this specific custom beforehand. She eyed Maugre from the 'welcoming committee', who looked at her with a worried expression as if he read her mind. He experience first hand the blonde's wrath when he first entered the dojo with his mudd

Before the blonde could even raise the question of passing by the mobs, they disappeared in a flash of sword arts lights. She discarded the though and nodded at the two gentlemen that cleared the way for her. "I'll take you up on that offer!" she replied to Freyd a little enthusiastically. She had researched about the various ways to obtain the new crafting consumables and by far the easiest way, in her opinion, was to acquire them via trade. She took lead while the two were recovering from the post-action delay and scouted ahead. Raising her palm first then two fingers vertically so they coul

With a few nodes and a 'mm-hm!' as a positive reply, she took their words at face value and continued forward in their, so far, uneventful trek to through the dungeon. A slight hum confirmed that she now had full energy once more, the blonde let out a crisp '"Ready!" before anything else. When confronted with Freyd's gratitude, she lightly wave her hand dismissively in front of her with a somewhat troubled expression while not rejecting it entirely. "I for one can't wait to get my hands on some of the new drops, I've only caught gleaming scales but I need to other one too in order to get some

To Hirru's question, the blonde crossed her hands and closed her eyes as her brows furrowed in thought. She remembered farming a few of them before the update and... purchasing the rest? or at least that was the faint memory she managed to pull. Walking inside someone's shop for the usual consumables then noticing maps on display as well. "I think I bought it from another player? she asked herself more than anyone in particular. I remember getting drops on floor 10 but since they're all the same now I can't tell you for sure." she added, her posture changing again as she looked around. S

With her right hand slightly raised, she lightly shock it: "Unfortunately, they're not for sale. I have plans on using them sometime soon but you're welcome to tag along when I do, if you want." The dungeons that the maps lead to were, in her vision, controlled environment where she could practice using her custom skill. Some entrances were located in the residence's valley, literally in her backyard. A quick glance at the team's status made it painfully obvious what the cost of of her newfound skill was. Her energy bar already at half while the rest we're well enough to start a second fight.

' one, two... seven ' Ariel watched them find a place to settle before the meeting would start. Pleasantly surprised that there were more people than she originally estimated, most of them players that she already had worked before or at least interacted in some way or another. From her seated position, she clapped twice hoping to get everyone's attention. The same action signalling the two students of her school that brought their guests to the dojo to start preparation. As she talked, they would try their best to inconspicuously place a tray in front of each person. The tray contained a smal

The sudden stillness of their resident tank took the blonde by surprise. Thinking that it was some new kind of attack, she instinctively was about to activate her parry skill but discarded the thought before her body started moving to that goal. She watched Freyd remove a significant chunk of the king's hp bar alongside it's 'physical' body via his flesh-eating? weapon. From her perspective it looked more like it tore through the boss rather than the traditional way of cutting off its limb. Nonetheless she heard the call and quickly glanced at her status bar to confirm the tools at her d

In a blink of an eye their group managed to gray out one of the three red HP bars that this boss had. From the lab boss fight she already knew that the two were capable players but it was a relief to see that even after a significant time that the blonde hadn't a actively participated in 'endgame' content. Her blade hadn't dulled as much as she thought and she could still keep up with top players. Internally, being the weakest link was one of her fears derived from her lifestyles both inside this game and in real life. Her relief was visible as she watched the two take action while she prepare

She looked at the offering wrapped in leather and tapped to see what buff it gave. In her eyes one could see it wasn't anything out of the ordinary or something that she didn't had already but Ariel didn't want to refuse, so she took a small cup of the burned cream and enjoyed the sweet taste of it with a smile. She listened to the brief summary of their fight-to-come and nodded at his remark, her finger unconsciously tracing the golden etchings on her saya. "With the update, I had to either pick a tank build or to min-max my dps. A hybrid one like before wasn't a real option anymore, not with