Zandra

The Tree of Winter had only just taken back what rightfully was his, not theirs, when the pinkhaired axewoman attacked him. He looked at her with shiny blue eyes. ‘’You will pay for…’’ he said and started to lift his arm towards the pinkette, but in same moment, he got distracted by another voice. A swordsman in red. ‘’What are you talking about?’’ he said readying to strike him when another player went in as well. ‘’Can you stop!’’ he said and slammed his arm against the male player named Life. He quickly turned towards the orange haired woman wielding a Warhammer as she called this stupid, and if he watched his siblings die. ‘’You are the ones that should have died!’’ he said and pierced her chest with his other arm, reducing her health to just a tiny pixel left.

After his attack, two more players went in a landed strikes on him. His eyes was starting to burn of annoyance. ‘’Insect’s you have choosen a terrible time to be heroes, now stop.’’ He said and let out a gust of wind over the players, making it even colder. Ice had started to grow over his newly made wounds as well.

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Players have 72 hours to reply from now

Zandra nodded. ‘’Mhm, I think you are correct in that.’’ She said as she as well left some coins. She wouldn’t really miss them anyway. After that she followed Shield out thru the front door.

As they pressed thru the desert, Zandra kept an eye on the surrondings, waiting for any sign of the enemy. Thou there was not a single sign yet. ‘’Zita.’’ She said and looked on the eagle that sat on her shoulder and nodded. The eagle looked back at her and a few seconds later she opened her wings went into the sky. There she quickly rose until she started to circle around them, like a vulture. But instead of them, she was looking for any mob nearby, and would alert them if she spotted anything. ‘’There, she will keep an eye on the surrondings and alert us if she spots anything.’’ Zandra sai while looking at Shield and giving a nod to her familiar. ‘’And yeah, this boss was pretty easy last time we fougth it. Don’t think it will be any trouble this time either.’’ She said with a grin.

As Mari accepted her apology, a true smile slowly grew on her lips as well as a feeling of relief. This was going way better then she had thougth it woul. Zandra would have thougth it would have been much tenser between them then this. But it felt like it already started to repair itself.

As Mari asked her if she wanted to buff up or anything, she gave her a slight shake of her head. ‘’No I will not take buffs or anything’’ she started. ‘’You will probably think this is stupid but.’’ She took a pause, should she tell it, would it be good or just make her sound that she was think she was to good or something. ‘’Nevermind. I wont buff myself this time. All my current potions and crystals Im stocking up for the floor boss fight or making to supply the guild.’’

She opened up her menues and red thru a quick note she had made before they met. As still scanning thru it she started. ‘’I don’t know how much you have looked into the boss. Not many people have fougth it, so I hvnt been able to find much information about it.’’

 @Mari

Zandra listened as Itzal was talking. And as he talked, her eyes started to ingite, she gritting her teeths and knitting her fists. What was he saying? Was he accusing her for being a terrible person. But yeah, he actually did called her that. Heartless and soulless. He had looked at her but now turned around again. She felt her anger wanting to burst out. Most of all she wanted to scream at him to go to hell. But that would accomplish anything except making him believe even more she is terrible person. So instead she closed her eyes and took ten deep breaths. As she opened her crimson eyes, she felt much calmer. ‘’Yes, it is like that.’’ She started in a pretty normal voice. ‘’I do think fighting on the frontlines is fun. Back outside of this world, I was what you should call a hardcore gamer. And I loved mmo’s. So being part of an mmo like this, it is like a dream come true. So yes, I enjoy playing. I know there is no replay or respawn thou, Im not stupid even if you think so.’’ She stopped before continuing. But now in with a faint tone of anger in her voice. ‘’But don’t you dare to say something like what you just said. Ofcourse I don’t forget the victims to the game. But if you think Im heartless just because I enjoy playing this game.’’ She shaked her head and gritted teeths. ‘’Then I don’t understand how you are thinking.’’

Zandras armor that had burned out it seemed, suddenly woke up again. The burning veins in her shoulderguards and axe start to shine bright with a fire like pulsing. Zandra that had calmed down, almost fully clear in her mind, got cracked. Here she was, killing shadowling after shadowling. The big, invulnerable boss still only went for Macradon or Hestia. Well, it wasnt that that made her lose her temper, it was the shadow himself. Because when she had focused her eyes on him, and asked him to hit her. But the shadow just sighed, shrugged and replied with a ''Nah.'' How could he? Treating her like she was just a piece of crap. She wasnt the one that bragged about her status very often, but getting that half-hearted answer. All her work. All those countless hours she had spent in her pharmacy, out in the wild grinding, clearing all those quests, all those times she had been close to dying. And now their enemy just ignores her, until she screams at him a challenge and then he just answers with a single word like that. She felt her heart rate increase as she grit her teeths. Her knuckles whitened as her grip about her axe hardened. It was good that the room was as dark as it was, because hopefully the others wouldnt see her eyes starting to shine as they turned wet. Her whole beeing was now focused on one thing in the room. She did herd Macradon asking for her to kill the shadowlings. But she had another target in sight now.

She charged up her explode catapult one moment before she shot forward towards the boss. ''Du din jävel, nu ska du dö.'' she mumbled to herself. But suddenly, four shadowlings blocked her path. ''What!'' she said as she got surprised and activated the attack earlier then intended. It didnt took long to kill three of them, she ignored the fourth that had been to far away from the other three to get hit. So she contiued forward. She saw the sword arts power draining away from her weapon. ''Goddamnit!'' she cursed. But she was to close now to stop. So anyway, with the momentum she still had left, she swung the axe against the boss. She knew he couldnt be damaged, but she couldnt let him run around like a kid in a candy store here.

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After Zandra slew the four shadowlings, Macradon had attacked and slayed some as well. This felt good, they was on a roll. She glanced at the healthbars and maybe they wasn’t at top, but they wasn’t in the danger zone just yet. Actually, half of the party was still at full health, including herself.

They could do this, totally. Or could they? In that moment, yet another dozen of shadowlings appeared. Zandra let out a deep sigh. Maybe she was at full health, but her energy dropped quickly. How long would she be able to help Macradon to hold back the shadowlings.

She woke up from her thoughts when she saw the shoadow striking Hestia again. The fire of Zandras armor had totally died and was no just that, a normal armor. Instead of fire, a black mist now surrounded her axe and a shadow fell over her face, only showing two shining rubies. Without a word, not even a warscream, she darted forward and swung her axe against one of the shadowlings, cleaving thru it and shattering it. A smile on her face as she followed up with a swing on another target, destroying it as the black mist flows into it. Next in line got a powerful strike, making a red line across it before it died and she finished of with totally destroying a fourth shadowling. ‘’Come on dude. Hit me!’’ she said when staring at the immortal object.

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As Mishiro picked up a branch from the pile that had spring theme, all three piles suddenly started to fade until there was nothing left. All that was left was the four branches that some of the players had picked up. Eveyone except the orange haired woman had picked from the tree of the spring remainings.

The wind had increased in strength more and more and the sun have been covered by a few clouds. All players could feel that the temperature was dropping and they could feel snowflakes on their bare skin. The surface of a nearby pond had started to freeze.

Suddenly, the ground shaked and a loud, deep sound was herd. Like slamming a log at the ground. And it didn’t took long until the adventurers saw the source of the sound. A huge creature made of wood was approaching. The bark of the tree was covered with a thin layer of frost. More boom’s was herd as it walked closer and closer. He lifted his right arm that was way to big, as long as he was tall. The hand fell and slammed the ground right infront of the adventurers.

‘’How dare you?’’ the wind was whispering in the players ears. ‘’First you kill my sister and brother, and then takes their remains. Why you do that, to keep as trophies? I wont allow that. Those are not yours to keep.’’ And with those words, the four branches shattered into a million pieces. ‘’You will pay for your disrespect.’’

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Players have 72 hours to reply from now

The tree of the summer just watched as two of the players tried to hit him, but they didn’t. He was just gonna laugh when he felt a pain. He looked at the woman that landed a strike on him, and as well tried to talk to him. ‘’No!’’ he said, telling that the woman was wrong. The speech was followed up by two strikes from two other players. The final strike with the hammer and the axe, reduced his health to zero. He let out a scream before he started to shine a few moments before shattering into a sea of blue and white crystals.

The three trees was now destroyed and the whole battlefield turned calm. Infront of the players laid three piles of branches. One pile, the branches had just a few leafs, the second pile had green big leafs and the third ones had red and brown leafs. The player could pick on branch each.

When the first player interacted with one of the piles, the temperature started to drop and the wind grew in strength. The sun was also hiding behind some thick clouds and the calmness turned into a heavy silence, only broken by the wind thru the leafs and the players voices.

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Players have 72 hours to reply from now

Three shadowlings had fallen by the berserk healers axe. At first, she had felt the rage and fury awaken in her, wanting to deliver death upon her enemy. But, why was she really there? Not only to kill, her duty was also to heal and support her comrades, and fighting by their side. But the others wasn’t fighting. Zandra had been to focused with the boss and totally forgot the surrondings. She stopped a bit and took a look. Then she saw that the others was doing something on the pillars. She was confused a bit for what she would do. Or no, she wasn’t. She had got clear orders, what the other was doing, she could get a better understanding of after the battle. Now she should focus on the shadowlings alone. Thou she saw the health of her party members. She let out: ‘’Baldur, Mac. It looks like you will stand up for a few more hits, but if you need healing, shout out to me. Untill then I focus on getting rid of the shadowlings.’’ She said before bursting firward. Her axe cleaving thru enemies. Fallen smoke, burn, poison, slashes, choppes. And after her delivered explode catapult, four shadowlings shattered and died.

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As Zandra listened to Itzals reply, she got a bit disapointed, or grumpy. Here she had given him an exampel for why they needed him back on the frontlines. But all he gave back was that it didnt mattered. He would, not! return to the frontlines. Didnt mattered what she said. At first she just looked at the back of one of her friends. Well, someone that was her friend. Thou this was nothing like she rembered. This must be someone else. So many players have abandoned the frontlines. Would Itzal turn and be one of them? But if that was his plan, and it sounded like he was determined to go thru with it, Zandra dont have any authoroty to tell him to do otherwise. ''So, you are not coming back? Then it was good I didnt went out searching for you since that would have been a waste of time. And if you have decided to not come back, Im not someone to tell you otherwise. It is your choice. Thou I am disapointed that you no longer want to figth side by side with us. It have been fun to have you with us.'' she said in a sad tone.

The tree of the summer watched the battle infront of him with his sad, elderly, wise eyes. This wasn’t going as the three treants had intended. Here, they wanted to spread the forest by getting rid of the building the humans had built. But as they lost Spring, Summer should have called for retreat. He was just going to let Fall know that this battle was lost when he saw the orange haired girl, slam her hammer into the tree. It have followed up from a well aimed strike from one of the swordsmen. The tree of the fall stopped and looked at his arms. The bark was full of cracks anda second later, it cracked. All bark on the tree shattered when his blue bar got reduced to zero. Thou just a few seconds later, his healthbar got reduced to zero as well and he shattered into a sea of blue and white crystals that flowed over the area.

The sadness in the tree of the summer’s eyes turned into rage. He let out a deep, loud scream of pain as he raised one of his arms and let it fall down on the woman that had killed his brother. He followed up by slamming the other in the ground, making tendrils erupt from the ground, slashing, stabbing, hacking the players legs. He turned towards the other swordsman that had striked him, but was to slow to deliver and attack on him.

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Players have 72 hours to reply from now

Zandra relaxed a bit as she herd Shield’s reply to her answer. She had thought that he maybe would be annoyed, emberresed or angry. But he seemed to understand. Shield did felt like a man that you can trust. But it was in that moment a thougth reminded her. Just because someone say something, it dosent have to be the truth. Shield had said a lot that Zandra wanted to believe. But it could all just be a big lie to trick her into something.

Zandra took a breath before she started talking. ‘’To start with, I have decided to trust you and believe what you have said today. But, it could all be a lie with a reason to trick me to do something. Same goes for me, Icould have made up all I have said today. We have not been the best of friends up til now if you say so. But as I said, Ive decided to believe you. I think this meeting have made our relationship to be able to change into friends. That I hope. And to start with it, I will do this.’’ She opened up her menu, pressed a few buttons and scrolled a bit until she sent a friend request to Shield. ‘’And as a start to prove I am honest with you, I suggest we do the Bloodstained land quest. This time, I will keep my word and give the scale to you. Sorry that I did what I did last time.’’ She said to the tank in an honest voice and sent him a party invite as well.

‘’Jump to conclusions? You cant just investigate every sing…’’ she started but then stopped. There was no point in saying that. Mari would only think she makes up excuses for her actions. ‘’Nevermind.’’ She said and dropped the topic.

Then she asked if Zandra thougth she would team up with the trees. ‘’If it was someone else, no. But after what I said in our last meeting, I wouldn’t blame you for ignoring a request from me. But Im glad you did decided to come.’’ She tried to put on a smile, but it turned out to be a weird grin instead.

‘’When we realize we’ve done something wrong, we sometimes try to put the blame on others. Also, not always does an apology being accepted.’’ Zandra started, kinda telling Mari that Zandra didn’t fully agreed on that. ‘’But today, I do apologise for my actions, and I will try to move forward. Thou it will take some time. But doing this scent of the wild quests should be a good start. I would like to come with you, and hopefully that adventure will continue together.’’

Mari had not more then greeted her when she mentioned something that made Zandras cheeks get a red tone. She asked if she had cheked the monument of life. Zandra couldn’t keep eye contact so looked to the side. ‘’Yeeah.’’ She started quietly. ‘’Lisona is still alive. When I talked to her she said that he was her brother. He do like to spread rumors about others. But he cant anymore because he isn’t here anymore.’’ She said quietly so Mari, if she wanted, could confirm that Zandra was telling the truth about following her request.

She followed up by mentioning the battle for the guild hall. Zandra let out an annoyed sigh. ‘’Yeah, don’t know why they did it. And the reperation costs from the damage they caused.’’ She shoke her head. ‘’Those wasn’t cheap.’’ She then finally moved her crimson eyes to Mari’s. ‘’I have to say thank you for coming. Even if you didn’t had any reason to. I guess you would have wanted to team up with the tree’s if there wasn’t other players there.’’ She gulped and knit her fists. ‘’There is nothing I can say for what I did back at the bear. If you want me to turn around and leave, just say it and I will.’’

 @Mari

Zandra sat on the edge of her doublebed, her elbows on her knees and her head in her open palms. She was sitting totally still, and that she have done for almost an hour now. She was terrified for what she was going to do in a few hours. Their first meeting have been going everything except good. The only good thing was that they didn’t killed eachothers. Or maybe, that would have been better. Then she haven’t had to live with these feelings of guilt. And Mari would have to bother that there is someone believing lies about her. She would probably forget Zandra after a week or two as well.

She threw herself backwards and stared at the roof. What would happen today? Would she get a new friend? A new enemy? Would she make someone else happy? Angry? Sad? Well, that answer she would get relatively soon. She sat up again. ‘’Zita! Its time to leave.’’ And as Zandra exited the estate, the eagle darted out as well and started circling above her.

Zandra warped to floor ten and started to head towards the quest location, always keeping an eye for Mari. It didn’t took long until she saw her. She walked up to the player killer. On the way here, she had got so many greeting phrases in her mind. But now they was all gone. So she just lifted her hand beside her head and did a small wave. Letting out a neutral ‘’Hi.’’ As well.

As Zandra herd Shields reply to her offer, he could see her already light skin tone become even paler as she froze on the spot. Her smile was gone and her eyes went wide. She suddenly rose and backed away a few steps. Her eyes was focused on the tanks as she gulped.

‘’Ma… Mari?’’ The female player killer. Zandras hand was shaking as she pointed at Shield. ‘’You. Guild with.’’ A few seconds pause before she finished off. ‘’Mari?’’ The first reaction was just like when she met her before killing the bear. But this time, she got herself together much quicker. The name Mari was still causing her fear, and it would take a while to change that. She moved her hand thru her hair to hide the faint shakes as she sat down again. She looked down on the table and mumbled a low, weak and emberrased ‘’sorry.’’ Then Shield said he and Baldur have met her. Zandra held both her hands under the table, knit tight together. She listened to what the tank had to say. She made sure to rember everything he said and went thru it after their meeting.

She slowly started raise her head as he mentioned ATP. And he mentioned it with a we. Have they talked about this? Her eyes went wide as she herd that they would donate a total of 600 materials to her guild. And he finished off with offering his hand back. Zandras crimson eyes was focused on the male hand infront of her. This was going to be a much harder decision then she expected. She grit her teeths as she slowly lifted a hand and placed it on the table.

‘’I… I see.’’ She started. ‘’That makes it much harder to decide. Before this meeting, I didn’t liked you. Partly because of misundertandings. Thou I have trusted you. I do still trust you but dosent dislike you anymore. I wouldn’t go into an alliance with Mari if it was her I was talking to right now. And you say there is others as well that have maybe not the best reputations. But as I said, I do trust you that they may work on changing. Specially when you say Baldur and Calrex is there too. Thou I don’t know what others think if a guild focused on helping mainly low leveled and profession ranked players suddenly starts working together with a guild made of player killers. Would seem suspicious. And thosemats may be seen as a bribe. Don’t take me wrong, I don’t mean I think these stuff. Just, when having the fate of the guild in my hands, I must watch on it from every perspective.’’ Zandras mind worked at full speed to give Shield a justified answer. After some thinking she had decided. She grabbed Shields hand with both of hers and closed his hand before pulling her own back. ‘’I wont agree on the alliance thing today. But in a few days, I will gather as many that can attend from ATP and have a guild meeting. I will share the information Ive gotten from you and then we will have vote. I think that is the best for everyone. That we decide it together like a guild, like a guild should do. So if you can write down all official information and sen it to me in a mail, I will return with an answer within a week. This is not a yes nor a no.’’ she finished off. Some colour had returned to her face and her voice was steady. She knew she didn’t mentioned Mari and how she had been judged by others. But that wasn’t something she would discuss with Shield. Not now at least.

As Shield started to talk, Zandra leaned back in her chair because she herd this would be long. And she was willing to listen. Today would probably be the turn of a relationship between two of the strongest players in the game. If they was enemies, that would be a very big loss to the frontlines.

She drank some of the tea as he mentioned Zandra did the right thing to be honest and do no sugar coating. He talked about how SAO was a game that favoritising dps players. Which Zandra nodded to in agreement. As well as how the rewards to be a tank is often dropped to the one dealing most damage or landing the final hit. Even if it is tank items, the dps players gets them. Her eyes went to his gear as he showed them and told how he had worked for them hard. Even thou he showed her all this and talked about tanks and dps in this way, he didn’t wanted sympathy from her, in which she nodded again. When he started talk about guilds her ears sharpened a bit extra and a faint shadow of a smile appeared on her lips.

When he seemed to have finished talking, Zandra was quite for a time. Both to think thru how to answer, but also to give him time to add something if there was something he forgot. It looked like that wasn’t the case. ‘’Well, I cant argue against you about the game’s focus on builds. Myself, I wanted to go the support path from the start. Thou there was no options for that except being an alchemist and make healing potions and crystals. Now, they have made it a little bit easier to go the support part. Thou still very limited. Heck, only one enchantment that increase the supportability and it is unique. I was lucky to get the santas cloak from that Christmas event.’’ She paused for a few seconds. ‘’Well yeah, you are totally right. If there wasn’t for the damage familiar, a weapon with three slots damage would be the best way for all dps to go. Choosing the dot build path here is just a joke. Those items are nice indeed. And even if you could get a better item as a boss drop, the feel to use something you have worked hard for feels satisfying in its own. Or that is maybe just me.’’

She had learned a lot about Shield today. Some things she knew, some things she guessed and some things she didn’t had a clue about. ‘’I must say, I am very glad you have decided to share all this with me. I agree with you in much. And well, not so much about some stuff. But this about guilds you mentioned in the end. Back in the real world, I was guild leader of a big, famous and gamewide guild. Plans was to do it in here to. I have started a guild not to long ago with a similar goal in mind. To help players in their crafts and grinds.’’ She took a breath. ‘’As a small step to unite the players of Aincrad, would you like to go into alliance with ATP, Aincrad Trading Post, and together work to get everyone safe out of this death-prison?’’ she asked and reached forward her hand. To agree in stuff in business, was a good step to start working together in private as well.

Zandra needed to get some buffs for her next farming days. She had runned out from the last ones. So, she decided to go to the grandmaster cook she knew about. He was the one that have taken up her fallen burn axe. She hoped it would have served him well.

Zandra entered the, from the outside looking, dirty shop. But inside it was the opposite, cleaned everywhere. And it reminded her of one of those restaurant she saw in American movies. When she saw the owner, she walked up to him. ‘’Hello Oscar. Hope everything is fine and that Teseleths fury is serving you well.’’ She started before she handed in her order. ‘’I would need this things cooked, if that can be fixed?’’

Bump

Upgrading Inferno: Heavy armour t3 with Flame aura x2 and Damage mitigation x1

To: Heavy armour t3 with Flame aura x2 and Damage mitigation x2

Using Eggs Bunny stamp

The two mighty tree’s looked at the pathetic humans that tried to stop them from tearing down the building infront of them. Tree of the Summer turned towards the player that had shouted out and told the players to attack his friend, tree of the fall. Tree of the Summer saw the players attack him. Fall was still so young. Had so much more to see. The summer aimed a strike towards the player that had let out the order. ‘’Don’t. Talk.’’ The tree said when he rose one of his log-like arms and let it fall on him. But he was to slow and all he striked was the earth. The Fall was getting close to die. ‘’No.’’ Summer said with his deep, wise voice as he rose and shoke his leaves. With that, the sun shined thru the clouds, surrinding both tree’s with a golden shine. Then an axe stroke the tree of the summer, not only damage the tree, but also shatter more of its bark.

While this happened to the tree of the summer, the tree of the fall got attacked from all sides. He had a hard time to really focus on the small creatures that had started to attack him. But they didn’t died when he summoned his branches. He turned to ask the tree of the spring what he should do. But there was no spring. He looked around in all directions, but saw nothing. Had they, had they really killed her. Tree of the Fall looked back on the players. Shattered bark raining down on them from the orange haired female’s attack. ‘’What. Have. You. Done.’’ Fall said in deep and sad voice to the players infront of him. He rose a hand and aimed for Macradon, but in his sorrow, he missed his target. He let out a sad cry that echoed thru the forest. Once again, like on an order from the cry, tendrils erupted around each player, slashing, piercing and whipping their legs before they retreated back into the earth.

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Zandra had herd of someone else that was closing in on one of her plans. So Zandra had to go out there and get herself some col. But for that she need to get something from an artisan first. Her old player to go to was no longer in business, but she found this other, NIGHT, was her name, to try out.

She stayed outside the shop for a minute, named the evening star. The blue exterior looked pretty nice, and it seemed to be several other player owned shops. Cook, tailor and merchant. ‘’So, yet another one that takes Anise’s customers.’’ She said with a sad sigh before entering the artisans shop. On the inside she got surprised of the amount of wooden shelfs. The way that the different items was marked with different colours gave her an idea. ‘’Smart, maybe I should do that to.’’ She said to herself. She looked around for a bit. At first answering ‘’Just looking.’’ To the females question that she guessed was NIGHT, but wasn’t sure. After a few minutes of looking she walked up to the woman again. ‘’Hi, Im looking for an item. An item that increase my accuracy and evasion.’’ She said and handed over a filled request.

Item Name: Crystal braclet
Profession: Artisan
Rank: - - -
Roll ID: - - -
Roll Result: - - -
Item Type: Trinket
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: 2 Accuracy, 1 Evasion
Description: A braclet made of transparant and lightblue crystals. Enhances your combat abilities. (change description if you want)
Post Link: - - -

3 Re-roll tickets to @Raidou as a thank you for all the eggs

From this post.

Total eggs gathered: 375

Items bought:

Eggs left: 0

Zandra smiled at Yuki when she said she would drop by to refill her stock. "Im looking forward to see you there." she said. And was just going to explain how she makes the special effects when a ping interrupted her. It was a mail. "Excuse me." she excused to Yuki as she opened it and quickly red thru it. Her eyes darting across it. A drop of sweat rolled down her forehead. "Ehm, Yuki. I am so, so sorry. But I have to go. A think happened that I need to take care of." she scrolled thru her inventory before two blue crystals appeared in her hand. She gave one to Yuki. "Her, so you dont need to walk all the way back." she said as she handed over the teleport crystal. "Yuki, I have been having a really great time today." she said with a stressed, happy and honest voice. "Lets meet again real soon and do some adventureing again. Bye." she waited to listen if Yuki replied before she crushed the crystal and disapeared in a flash.