Takao

Takao's low whistling slowly faded out when he'd noticed a player laying in the grass. A quick glance from his place on the path suggested the player was low leveled, or at the very least poorly geared. Being the curious person that he was, the brunet decided to leap over the small stone wall that separated him from the field. He approached him from behind and walked without much presence in his step; not intentionally, just out of habit. His presence was usually loud enough once he started talking anyways. Takao's eyes watched him as the opened his menu and retrieved a pair of consumable items, from the starter's kit undoubtedly. He didn't seem to particularly enjoy eating them either, which made Takao chuckle lightly.

"That stuff's pretty bad, huh?" His voice was warm as he spoke, and not too loud. His weight shifted from one foot to the other while glancing down at the seated male. Takao decided to join him, and plopped down onto the grass with a soft thud. He swiped his hand across the air to open his own menu, and after navigating through a series of different screens a wrapped sandwich appeared in his hand. "Here, I bet ya' might like this more." He held it out toward Ashtver with a friendly smile.

"I'm Takao, by the way."

Combat Sequence]

Takao

Ore Crab

Ore Crab

Holding his entire weight up with one hand as he dangled over what looked hundreds of meters worth of mountain was something Takao never envisioned himself doing in his lifetime. He held onto his sword tightly, knowing it was just as important as his life in this situation. He grunted and swung his body weight, then shifted his weight in the opposite direction. With one smooth motion, he swung his body back up onto the narrow path on the side of the cliff.  The crab was already in hot pursuit as he landed upside down, and a single-handed hand spring righted his position. His feet landed and slid along the dirt, his right arm poised to strike. When the disarmed Ore Crab was within range, he thrust forward, sinking his blade to the hilt before retreating to watch the explosion of glittery shards.

A menu appeared in his face as he panted, his heart beating rapidly not from exhaustion but adrenaline. He read it over, gave little mind to the experience he'd earned, and accepted the two crafting materials.

"Okay. Time to start a list of places to never fight at. Top of the list; Here!"

»ID: [23778]

»BD: [9] (+1 critical damage)

»MD(1): [10 - 3 = 7] (+2 critical damage)

«Takao»

» [[HP : 20/23]]

«Ore Crab 1»

» [[HP : 0/12]]

«Ore Crab 2»

» [[HP : 0/12]]

+2 Material

[Combat Sequence]

Takao

Ore Crab

Ore Crab

Strong wings blew in from the north, forcing Takao to root his stance in an attempt to prevent himself from losing balance. The crab seemed unaffected, though such was to be expected of a monster that inhabited the area. As Takao shielded his face, the crab moved to climb the sheer vertical surface of the wall on his right side. The wind faded into a gentle breeze, and the crab struck, using the opportunity presented to it by Takao's attempt at recovery. But, just like before, Takao displayed agility and athletic prowess superior to that of the bulky ore crab's. The crab's pincer smashed into the ground, nearly crunching the earth beneath it. With a new opportunity presented to Takao, he snapped his sword forward in a flash, and severed the limb that held the pincer.

"Excuse me, sir!" Takao said with a smile. "It would appear as though I have disarmed you! Haha!' His laughter was cut short by the crab who was clearly enraged by his sudden and undesired amputee status. It smashed into Takao, causing him to yelp loudly in pain and stumble back near the edge. He slipped and fell, but caught himself at the last second, his left hand grasping onto the edge of the cliff.

"Okay - Okay! Hoooooly crap! Not cool, man!" He yelled, his voice cracking  as it trembled with fear. He wasn't afraid of heights, per say, but falling to his death? Specifically the death part. Yeah, that was pretty scary.

»ID: [23768]

»BD: [10] (+2 critical damage)

»MD(1): [10 - 3 = 7] (+2 critical damage)

«Takao»

» [[HP : 20/23]]

«Ore Crab 1»

» [[HP : 4/12]]

«Ore Crab 2»

» [[HP : 0/12]]

[Combat Sequence]

Takao

Ore Crab

Ore Crab

The ore crab reared its large pincer back, holding it high in the air above Takao's crouching figure. As the claw came down he rolled forward, letting it smash into the ground where he once stood. His boots caught on the ground and he turned suddenly, stretching his left leg out to provide him some balance. He thrust his sword forward, stabbing deep into the monster. He pulled the blade out just as quickly as he'd thrust it forward and leapt back to provide distance from the crab as it retaliated, trying and failing to swipe at him, instead swinging at the thin mountainous air. A smile was working its way onto his face. The thought would likely jinx him, but the extra agility from his equipment was making this fight easy. He hadn't been hit once, and if he could help it, he'd keep it that way.

»ID: [23767]

»BD: [8]

»MD(1): [2 - 3 = -1]

«Takao»

» [[HP : 23/23]]

«Ore Crab 1»

» [[HP : 9/12]]

«Ore Crab 2»

» [[HP : 0/12]]

[Combat Sequence]

Takao

Ore Crab

Ore Crab

The ore crab swung its pincer around, aiming to slam into Takao's left side and send him off the side of the cliff no doubt, but he reacted too quickly. He jumped straight up and over the pincer, his blade raised and poised for another strike. Gravity brought him crashing down on top of the monster, his blade piercing straight through the shell and into it's very core. The damage dealt was enough to drop its health below zero, and it erupted into shimmering shards. Takao landed with a soft thud as his boots hit the ground. He narrowly ducked under the remaining crab's pincer as it tried to smash into him. His blade was poised again, this time glowing a pale green colour as he prepared a sword art.

»ID: [23751 + 23752]

»BD: [10] (+2 critical damage)

»MD(1): [4 - 3 = 1]

»MD(2): [2 - 3 = -1]

«Takao»

» [[HP : 23/23]]

«Ore Crab 1»

» [[HP : 12/12]]

«Ore Crab 2»

» [[HP : 0/12]]

[Combat Sequence]

Takao

Ore Crab

Ore Crab

The stone covered crab he'd struck just an instant ago had no time to react between strikes. Takao, who had landed behind the crab and nearly fallen off in the process, struck it again in the back. Two glowing digital-esque wounds decorated the anomaly now, and its health was low from the few strikes. "Alright, they're not crazy strong. This shouldn't be hard." His thoughts were quick as he assessed the situation before him. The crab that had been blocking his way prior to initiating combat was closing in, but was still far enough away that it wouldn't be an issue. He wagered he could take the second out before the first got close. The ore crab swung its pincer around, aiming to slam into Takao's left side and send him off the side of the cliff no doubt, but he reacted too quickly. He jumped straight up and over the pincer, his blade raised and poised for another strike.

»ID: [23727 + 23737]

»BD: [6]

»MD(1): [1 - 3 = -2]

»MD(2): [3 - 3 = 0]

«Takao»

» [[HP : 23/23]]

«Ore Crab 1»

» [[HP : 12/12]]

«Ore Crab 2»

» [[HP : 4/12]]

[Combat Sequence]

Takao

Ore Crab

Ore Crab

The item in his hand disappeared as the transfer was completed. He flexed his hands a few times upon feeling the slight weight suddenly disappear from his grasp, then looked over to the two. "I might have to take you up on that offer." He smiled warmly. Mari gestured for him to sit so he moved a bit closer, sitting near them with his legs crossed. Takao shook his head when she asked if she needed to explain, and chuckled lightly when she gave a light explanation regardless. "I've played a bunch of MMOs before this one, so I'm pretty good on the terminology. I just didn't realize what those icons meant until now." He nodded when she pointed out his lacking of a guild. The thought of joining one hadn't crossed his mind until now.

He made mental notes about Absolute Pin and the Azure Brigade. Although the information was one sided, neither was appearing too appealing yet. The idea of a council was appealing, but he didn't doubt the instability of a group lead by those who would disrespect their peers. Lowenthal captured his attention with his explanations next, to which Takao listened intently. More mental notes were made about Azure, and he remained silent in order to process the information he'd been getting. "I should start looking for a guild to join up with then."

A snort followed by a snicker escaped despite his attempts to hold them back. "Hah. Beat each other off." The words never left his head, though the light chuckling said enough. "I'd heard about that tournament. Some people were betting on it, I think? It seemed interesting to watch, but I hadn't had the opportunity to."

"Hrmh..." A low grumble of frustration escaped his throat as he continued walking while deep in thought. "I don't know anybody with a cooking profession. Maybe that could be of use?" As his mind wandered, he found his mouth watering at the ideas. He'd visited a player run restaurant on the fourth floor and enjoyed what he would wager was the best meal he's had in ages. Even the food he'd eaten in real life paled in comparison to the player's digital meals. Takao yawned and stretched his arms as he walked, idly looking around for more crafting materials while he thought. "Cooking definitely seems like a good idea."

My best idea would be to increase the maximum rank of two handed weapon skills, or maybe a similar sub-skill that has the same bonuses per rank. The benefit of using one handed weapons is that you can use a shield alongside them, but you need the block skill to do that, so at the highest ranks you end up spending 60 points in total (30 in the weapon skill and 30 in block). You could maybe do something similar with two handed weapons where the rank just keeps going up and you get a steady bonus from it, but they have to put forth the same amount of effort as other weapons to level the playing field.

Smaller weapons like daggers could also be given the opportunity to deal their damage twice if they rolled a certain number on a die. So say you roll something like an 8 or above on like the crafting dice or something, then you could deal twice the damage. Maybe at high ranks the die roll could go down or somethin, iunno. just my thoughts.

He was beginning to feel out of place while wandering around the High Fields of Crossing by his lonesome. Everybody seemed to be in pairs of twos, though some larger groups were scattered around; albeit scarcely. Takao had exchanged some friendly greetings with new faces he didn't expect to see again anytime soon, and noticed quite a few guild symbols hovering around them. "I wonder if I should join a guild." He thought to himself as he scratched his cheek, emerald hued eyes lazily scanning the area for anything of interest. "Lowenthal said he made his own guild... I think Mari mentioned being the leader of one too. One of them might be a good place to start looking."

»ID: [23536]

»LD: [4]

-

»ID: [23537]

»LD: [10]

-

»ID: [23538]

»LD: [1]

Takao knelt down beside a small collection of trees that sat on the far northern end of the mountain summit. The area of the garden he'd wandered to was an interesting one, it seemed mostly abandoned which gave him the impression that not many people wandered this far in. A small stream broke up the grassy landscape and stretched on into the collection of trees, too small for him to call a forest. The sounds were pleasant; the distant bird chirping wasn't loud enough to drown out the sounds of the brook. At the base of the trees was a small collection of plant life that caught Takao's eye, so he'd decided to inspect it closer. Sure enough, it was more of the small dandelion like plants he'd found earlier in the day. He picked enough to warrant a crafting material's worth and the resource node disappeared before his eyes. This was going fairly well so far.

»ID: [23528]

»LD: [3]

-

»ID: [23529]

»LD: [7]

-

»ID: [23530]

»LD: [20]

+1 Material

Keeping his attention on the task at hand was starting to become more difficult than the task at hand. Takao was not the type of person to be distracted easily, but he found himself becoming an avid admirer of Aincrad's expansive landscapes. It truly baffled him that somebody would put so much work into creating an unbelievably advanced technology and developing an amazing world, just to trap people inside of it. Maybe the developer just had some ridiculous god complex or something, Takao thought. It wasn't a particularly good reason, in fact he wagered that nothing would make for a good enough reason to do it. Takao shook his head and blinked the thoughts away until he was finally paying attention to his surroundings. It was rather uncharacteristic of him to zone out while in thought. Maybe it was just the calming atmosphere.

»ID: [23497]

»LD: [10]

-

»ID: [23498]

»LD: [3]

-

»ID: [23499]

»LD: [7]

-

»ID: [23500]

»LD: [7]

+1 Material

Even though their interaction together had been short, less than a day even, the snort had immediately caught Takao's attention. He looked over to see her suppressing laughter, which made it hard for him to hide his smile, though he hardly ever did hide a smile anyways. "I read something ages ago about how when you write, you should to just power through it to the end even if you think it's terrible. 'cause then when it's all down on paper, you can see all the errors and how to fix them." He wasn't sure where he'd heard it, possibly a blog or something similar. The statement barely held relevance to the conversation as it was, he just felt like throwing the fleeting thought out.

The winds that whipped against him were actually rather welcomed now. Even if they were blowing the dry heat and, more often than not, a fair bit of sand into his face, it was still better than the unfiltered heat he felt on the back of his neck. "It gives us an awesome edge for sure. 'n that makes two of us, really. Most athletic thing I did was HEMA, and even then that wasn't much. I can't really say that I'm strong though." Takao cast a lingering glance her way, examining the equipment she was carrying. His hand raised up to rub his chin as his gaze persisted. "Say, if you don't mind me asking, where'd you get your equipment? It looks pretty good, and I've been meaning to upgrade for a while since mine is just some low level stuff from monster drops."

A familiar plant had caught Takao's eye as he was strolling through the garden. He'd seen it ages ago, back on the first floor if he remembered correctly. The flower looked like a rose, but it was blue with white stripes. The stalk it grew from had broad leaves like a sunflower, but sized a bit more appropriately for the smaller plant. As the pulled the flower by the stem until it broke free, leaving only the useful part in Takao's hand, the remaining part disappeared in a fantastic display of lights. He remembered that this particular plant could be useful for alchemy, specifically healing items, which made it a useful material to find and hold on to. He even knew of somebody that could make better use of it than himself too.

»ID: [23474]

»LD: [1]

-

»ID: [23475]

»LD: [8]

-

»ID: [23476]

»LD: [19]

-

»ID: [23477]

»LD: [6]

+1 Material

If he was to describe the second floor in a word, he would call it pleasant. The High Fields of Crossing was a very serene location, especially at the summit. It was a vast garden filled with so many different plants that Takao's head began to ache just trying to quantify how many different kinds he'd already seen. Most of them he was familiar with by now, they weren't anything special. Just decoration, nothing less and nothing more, but they added to the serenity of the garden. He saw other players strewn around, usually in pairs, going about their own business. But Takao was a bit focused on other, more important things. Resource gathering, of course! The garden had plenty of interesting plants that he'd never seen, a plethora of flora that he'd yet to learn about. He found one in particular that prompted his menu to inform him of the item. It was a small flower, much like a dandelion, growing among others of the same kind. The small petals were a mixture of orange and red, making it look like a small fire had erupted on top of the plant. He picked it and placed it in his inventory, then stood and resumed his search.

»ID: [23468]

»LD: [12]

-

»ID: [23469]

»LD: [9]

-

»ID: [23470]

»LD: [17]

-

»ID: [23471]

»LD: [13]

Down time. That's all he seemed to have anymore. He couldn't bring himself to grind on monsters for more than a few hours at a time, which left a vast expanse of time where he just did... nothing. He sat in an inn until he felt restless, then he went out and wandered around the town. He'd introduce himself to some new faces, converse with players he'd seen before, but ultimately it boiled down to one simple fact. He wasn't really using his time wisely. It took his health ages to come back. He'd have to look into investing into skills that would increase his regenerative capabilities, or perhaps even items to facilitate his lack of natural regeneration. With his mind wandering, he remembered giving up a handful of materials to a new acquaintance - Mari. He'd given them to her in return for a potion that interested him. It didn't have any particular use for him personally, making it somewhat of an impulse buy. But that reminded him, he could probably trade materials to other crafters in return for items. That'd be a fairly good way to get decent gear, he thought, so his stroll through the town of Urbus had taken a detour for the wilds.

»ID: [23463]

»LD: [10]

-

»ID: [23464]

»LD: [15]

-

»ID: [23465]

»LD: [10]

-

»ID: [23466]

»LD: [6]

I'm not sure, I mean I've seen some fairly long journals but it could be a possibility. How about you try posting a thread with the blank template as a WIP journal to see if that could be the issue?