Glow

((Hehe, all good! I've been quite slow to post recently, and probably for a while what with all my exams, but I'll try to get on when I can.))

[ID: 45159]

Glow gave a quick noise of confirmation to Teion, which quickly rose in volume as he had to suddenly dodge yet another of their foe's frenzied attacks. Rather than instantly throw an attack, the teen took a second to consider the creature's attention; currently, it was placed on Teion, but he wasn't sure how many more attacks they'd allow from him for free before they decided on the easier target. "Hey, uh, Teion? Is it even worth me attacking anymore, or should I just save up some energy too?" He questioned, slowly circling back around towards her to attempt blocking the rats from her if needed.

[Teion: 37/40] [3/10]

[Glow: 16/16] [1/4]

[#2: 10/20]

[#3: 11/20]

[#4: 11/20]

[Hate: Teion (3), Glow (3)]

[ID: 42736]

[Battle: 6-1 = 5 (darkness) = failure]

Quickly making another lunging strike at the closer enemies, Glow grunts as his attacks once again swing wide from his opponents. It was bad enough that he couldn't even do much damage; now he simply can't get a hit in one way or another! "Damn, I'm having horrible luck today. How much longer do you need? I should be able to hold them off a little longer." The teen called to Teion, watching as the dull forms of the rats seemed to be remaining at a small distance away, attempting to stay far back enough to avoid his inaccurate swings of his Wild Dance.

[OOC: You missed one of my Sword Art turns. They've taken 1 more damage each than you're putting on your posts.]

[ID: 42787]

[Battle: 3 (fail)]

Glow briefly turned towards Teion, listening to her speech before nodding. "Sounds like a pla-" He starts, but is quickly interrupted as his eyes widen and he has to throw himself downwards to avoid a vicious biting attack from one of their opponents. The teen attempts to swipe at the foe as he rolls to the side, but misses completely in the darkness, cursing as he stumbles to his feet. "...like a plan. I'll, uh, try to cover you?" He murmurs, not sounding extremely sure of himself or his combat abilities.

[Teion: 37/40] [1/10]

[Glow: 16/16] [0/0]

[#2: 10/20]

[#3: 11/20]

[#4: 11/20]

[Hate: Teion (3), Glow (3)]

[ID: 42581]

[Battle: 8 - 1 = 7]

Having to deal with attacks flying his way as well, Glow slowly backed off from the closest rat, swiping his claws to keep the creature at a distance. Spotting a chance, he lunged forwards, cleaving the blades forwards against the opponent's flank. Knowing that the damage dealt would be minimal, he quickly leaped backwards, pushing off the rat with his feet to knock it away from him and to get some distance. Looking at the health bar of the opponent, he grimanced. One damage again.

[Teion: 40/40] [0/10]

[Glow: 16/16] [0/0]

[#2: 10/20 (-1)]

[#3: 11/20]

[#4: 11/20]

[Hate: Teion (3), Glow (3)]

Snorting at the rather abrupt reaction to Seul's statement by the strange NPC, Glow watched the scene with amused interest as the man simply motioned for them to follow him around to the over side of the small house. Looking over to the other player and shrugging slightly, Glow went to follow after him around the edge of the house. "So, uh..." He started, looking back briefly to make sure the other person was following before continuing onwards. "That was a rather interesting... uh, interaction there, huh?" Glow stated awkwardly, trying to start up a somewhat positive conversation. Social stuff was never his strong point, though, but he'd prefer a quiet conversation to silence, especially considering the only other person around was what he only assumed could be a slightly senile old man.

[ID: 42362]

[Battle: 6 - 1 = 5(fail)]

Glow winced slightly at the somewhat amusing attempt gone wrong - at least the enemy was finished from the passive. "S-sorry!" He shouted to Teion, before turning back towards the rats that had fallen earlier. The teen briefly went onto all fours, claws digging into the surface below him before leaping towards one of them, trying to deal something except one damage with a stronger attack.

He succeeded, in that he completely missed due to the darkness and nearly went face-first into a wall, only narrowly dodging out of the way of it and rolling to minimize the backlash of the action, cursing repeatedly as he had to dodge one of the rats attempting to leap onto him in turn.

[Teion: 40/40] [0/10]

[Glow: 16/16] [0/4]

[Lurker Rats: 0]

[#2: 11/20]

[#3: 11/20]

[#4: 11/20]

[Hate: Teion(3), Glow(2)]

[ID: 42066]

[BD: 8 - 1 (darkness) = 7: SUCCESS]

"Well... I, uh, guess I'll just keep poking them a bit..." Glow murmured quietly, somewhat downput at the minimal damage he was outputting but continuing nonetheless. Performing the motion once again, he cut through the panicking rats as they tried to leap away from Teion, managing to prevent their escape despite the little movement of their HP. A grin quickly replaced their previous expression. "Yo, Teion! Batter up!" He shouted, as one of the large creatures fell through the air towards her.

[Teion: 40/40] [1/10]

[Glow: 16/16] [0/4 (2/4 - 2)]

[Lurker Rats: 1*1 - 5 = 1]

[#1: 1/20 (BLEED 2)]

[#2: 11/20]

[#3: 11/20]

[#4: 11/20]

[Hate: Teion(3), Glow(2)]

[ID: 41964]

[Battle: 7]

[Sword Art activated: Primal Burst (1x1)]

Watching the beady eyes assemble into an unsteady formation before Teion, Glow remained behind the other player for the first strike. 'These ones seem stronger than the rats I had to face before...' He pondered dubiously, but nevertheless waited for Teion's axe to come striking across the foes, cutting their health down dramatically. Weaving through the panicked creatures, he slashed his arms out in a breaststroke-like pattern, clawing at all the rats around him with an eerie red glow slashing through them all. Turning around with the momentum gained from the movement, he let out a disappointed sound as it did... well, practically nothing.

[Teion: 40/40] [4/10]

[Glow: 16/16] [2/4]

[Lurker Rats: 2*1 - 5 = 1]

[#1 = 13 - 1 = 12/20]

[#2 = 13 - 1 = 12/20]

[#3 = 13 - 1 = 12/20]

[#4 = 13 - 1 = 12/20]

[ID: 41826]

[Loot: 17]

Following Teion into the darkness, Glow gave a brief look around the blackened room, squinting slightly to attempt to gain a glimpse of his surroundings but not really gaining any information - it was just too dark. Hearing the other member of the party withdraw her weapon, the teen quickly followed suit, flicking his hands down to unsheathe the claws with a slightly eerie ringing noise, the tri-bladed gauntlets giving him some sense of comfort. A small shimmer glints in the corner of his eye, and he snatches out his hand towards it, before drawing it back in from the nearby crate, examining the object in his hand; it appeared to be another one of those recording crystals that he had to gather before. 'Nice.'

A small scuffle rings from somewhere in the inky blackness within the cellar, and Glow's head snaps to staring at its origin, frozen in place as he tries to listen out for any further noises.

Frowning briefly at the lack of returned name from the other player, but accepting the information with a quickly followed smile nonetheless, Glow gave a nod. "Seems to be a good setup, if a little low on crowd control." He stated, running through a short number of different scenarios in his head. Outside of the game, well - it'd be nothing but stupid. But within Sword Art Online, everything was bound by the game's rules - daggers had practically the same accuracy as any other weapon despite their shorter blade. Then again, his Wild Dance was stupidly energy efficient once he had this martial arts skill, which would be nice. Maybe he could finally use a sword art that isn't just his normal attack in an area! Taking a look up at the pathway ahead, the teen's eyes narrowed slightly as he noticed a small house up ahead. "But either way, looks like we're nearing the location for the start of the quest, at any rate." 

Smile picking up a bit at Teion's own one in response to his joke, Glow pushed the hatch a bit higher to make some extra space. Seeing a slight hesitance from the woman, he winced; maybe he should have gone first and made sure the ladder was stable and all that? It was silly, considering he had far less HP and defensive capabilities in comparison to the more experienced player, but...

Shaking his head quickly, he tried to rid the thoughts from his mind; he was overthinking this. Pushing the trapdoor fully open (he'd rather not get hit in the face by it when returning, this time), he clasped his hands around the wooden rungs and made his own way down the ladder. With the question from Teion reaching him as he jumped off the last few rungs and hit the floor, he pondered over the question for a moment before shaking his head. Realizing that she would be unable to see the gesture in the light, he berated himself quietly in muttered words before starting up. "No; at least, I don't think so. This space was reasonably safe before, only a few weaker enemies. The entrance was somewhere around here, into a network of tunnels, although I'm not sure if those were just corridors or the actual dungeon." He stated, eyes blinking to try and acclimatize to the darker light. That was one annoying thing about the game; his sensitive eyesight still applied to harsh sunlight, but of course he loses his above-average night vision and needs to actually train it.

That was just unfair.

Turning towards the vague shadow of the other figure, he continued. "So, uh... should we just have a look around for now?" He questioned the other player.

Smiling at the confident sentiments, Glow nodded in answer, before following Teion into the shop. Seeing her move to the side, he briefly paused before slinking through the gap offered, waving at the shopkeeper. "Hey, old man. Just gonna look around the basement for a bit; that cool with you?" The NPC looked over briefly, before waving the pair off towards said cellar. "Thanks!" The teen replied, before making his way through the familiar shop to the back room, past the grizzled musician and towards a sturdy wooden trapdoor. Turning around to Teion, Glow struggled with his own social reluctance and need to try and make things entertaining before deciding on the latter, holding the hatch open with one hand before making an exaggerated bowing gesture with the other. "We have arrived at your destination, madam. Hope you enjoyed your trip with Glow airlines." As soon as he finished the statement, he visibly cringed at his own terrible humour. Well, at least that's one thing that definitely didn't change between his old life and his new one in Sword Art Online; he was still horrendous at anything resembling comedy, except being a joke himself. He frowned at his own negative thoughts, before mentally shrugging it off, and trying to manage a grin but creating a twisted abomination of an expression than made him look more confused than anything else. 'Bleh. Social activity.'

Tapping a beat onto the tough surface, Glow hummed quietly to himself as he waited for Teion to arrive. Hearing footsteps approaching, he briefly tensed up, before turning towards it and relaxing as he saw the visage of the person; she'd arrived. Giving a smile at the friendly greeting, he waved back, nodding as she questioned him about his new profession. "Yup; all done and finished now. Haven't made my shop or started development yet, but got the guitar to mess around on so that's good enough for me." The teen stated, pushing himself off the wall. "And as you read, I found something a little... interesting while doing the quest. Wanna go take a look within?"

Leaning slightly to the side as Seul speeded in front of him, Glow had to restrain a small laugh. He knew it wasn't in any kind of bursting excitement, but it did appear like it, and it just completely clashed with the character he'd seen so far from the person. The slightly raised mood was quickly slain by the person's question, with the teen flinching. "There were..." He started, before letting out a deeper breath and running his hand through his hair. "There were a lot of reasons for it. Guess the simplest would be I did martial arts a lot back in the non-virtual world, so it just seemed like something that would blend well." He stated, avoiding use of the term 'real' - while not officially flesh and bone in Sword Art Online, he felt that saying something like that just sounded wrong after experiencing it for himself.

Thinking about what to continue with, he gave a small grin to himself as an idea popped into his head. "For the others, well - we just met, you're gonna have to earn that info." Glow cheekily says, before continuing with a slightly more mysterious tone. "But either way... you're asking the wrong person for the other reasons." He seemed to end his explanation there, returning to his more upbeat state. "Anyways, I'm Glow. Nice to meet'cha."

Arriving at the shop, Glow hummed a tune quietly as he took a brief glance around the shop; no one appeared to be here quite yet. Guess it was time to wait for a bit. Making his way over to the wall of the shop, the teen turned around before leaning against the solid wall, closing his eyes and relaxing as he listened out for anyone approaching, while tapping the beat to his hummed song with one of his hands. He had only recently sent the message to Teion; he shouldn't expect her to be here quite yet. Of course he'd get to the music shop first. 'Stop being paranoid, brain.'

Giving a light laugh, Glow gave a small shrug of his own in reply to the statement. "Ah, still gets you some experience though, right?" Putting a smile on his face, he took a brief look at the buckler, curiously glancing over its form. "So, you use a shield, huh? Haven't seen many of them around..." He murmured curiously, looking back up as Seul continued explaining about the downsides of the equipment. "And yea, I'm here for the quest. What with all the sword arts for these..." Glow replied, briefly going through his inventory and equipping his Wild Dance claws, "get some boosts from the skill. Thought it'd be better to pick it up sooner than later, what with the XP it should gather me." The young man finished, before withdrawing the weapons back into his inventory and stretching his arms out. Noticing that his conversation partner made no move towards the bridge, he gave a mental sigh; if he knew something about the bridge, he wasn't going to say it apparently. From the look of the player, he had presumed the person was more experienced than himself, especially with the casual gait and more advanced-looking equipment, so he was hoping they'd show him the way if there was an alternate one or something.

Guess not.

Finishing the brief stretch of his arms, with a few satisfying clicks, he flopped back into his lazy stance and headed towards the bridge, starting to hum the low tune as he waited for the other person to choose a topic for conversation; that is, if they wanted to talk. Glow was terrible at coming up with them, so he'd leave it to them.

Quietly making his way down the twisting alleyways of the familiar city, Glow hummed a tune as he checked the message he had sent to Teion. 

From: Glow

To: Teion

Heyo Teion! Just writing this because I found something odd within the area where I was going through one of my quests - specifically <<Earning a Living>>. Seems there's some kind of mini-dungeon within the shop I went to, and the mobs there seem to be tougher than the ones normally on this floor. It appeared quite desolate, so might be a new find; up for a bit of dungeon crawling? If you wanna tag team it up again, I guess I'll meet you by the Strummed Harmony music shop; it's near the alley we went down when I met you! See you there if you wanna come along, I guess!

Whether Teion came down or not, he was planning on making a quick excursion down into the tunnels to see what they were like, and what to expect further within the rat-infested area. However, if he had some assistance with the combat, then the party might be able to fully clean the area out; after all, it was only a Floor 1 dungeon, despite some of the mobs there being stronger than usual. Hopefully there would be some sweet loot to top it off, but that was wishful thinking in the game. Better to have it as an afterthought than an expectation. Flicking the GUI away from his vision, he took a look down the street, and a smile briefly crossed his face as he noticed the familiar store.

Pausing for a moment at the rickety bridge that had appeared before him, Glow scratched the back of his head. Would this remain stable? He imagined there wouldn't be any kind of trap outside of a dungeon, and if so many people have done this quest then it should be fine, but-

A voice cut through the otherwise quiet landscape, and he froze up for a few moments as the expression on his face seemed to twist oddly. Damn, how didn't he notice another person so close to him? One who didn't appear to have used any kind of stealth at that... Quickly trying to fit into his mask again, he turned around, a slightly forced smile now on his face. "Oh, hayo. S-sure thing, I guess?" He replied hesitantly, the awkward expression slowly easing into a more natural-looking one. "Safety in numbers and all that, right?" Glow stated, before turning back towards the bridge, and then to the player again. 'This guy looks experienced. I guess if he just walks across it it's all good to cross.' "So, what brings you around here? That boulder quest that everyone's raving about?" He questioned, trying to get himself into his own persona with a cheeky grin forming.

Continuing to make his way up the rocky path, Glow absently flicked through the skills and items within his inventory, trying to plan out what skills would be the best to acquire. 'Armour seems to be a good first pick... obviously weapons after... but I need to maximise efficiency as much as I can. Maybe athletics and max damage sword? Would that be better than maxing accuracy?' Keeping himself amused with the various mental calculations, the teen gave a look around the area briefly, making sure he wasn't walking too close to the edge - while he wasn't sure if there was 'fall damage' or not in Sword Art Online... he wasn't going to test the theory on the side of a mountain. Considering how the rest of the game has been so far, he wouldn't doubt it.

A small scuffling sound seems to come from somewhere nearby, and Glow tiredly glanced around, before shrugging to himself. Supposedly the mountain had minimal enemies on it; probably just some ambient sounds or some kind of passive mob put there for 'character'. Giving a quiet sigh, he kept going with the journey up and around the mountain. It'd be worth it in the end; it would supposedly buff his Wild Dance up to new heights when he unlocked the higher level sword arts, which he was anxious to do. Just needed some more energy so he could actually cast some! The early level Wild Dance arts were stupidly high energy in comparison to what he'd heard from other weapons.

With his new levels, and the value continuing to rapidly increase, Glow had decided it was time to diversify his skillset a little. Hearing a lot about the quest <<Breaking the Unbreakable>>, and the fact that it offered a skill as a reward - martial arts, no less - finally got him to shift gears and actually bother to leave the first floor. The second floor was admittedly a lot harder, due to his current lack of defensive stats, but nonetheless he had made it over to the base of the imposing spire. The change in environment from the first floor was a pleasant, but not totally unexpected surprise, considering all the information that trickled down through the different levels over time. Still, it was a nice change of scenery; the plains did get a little boring after a while, and he was completely sick of the starter city by now. However, he was wishing a bit that he was still back on the first floor.

This mountain looked like a pain to climb in the first place, not even counting the apparently bothersome quest up ahead. Destroying a rock with your bare hands? That sounded stupid, but Glow could believe about having to defeat some kind of strong enemy up there in exchange for the skill. Sighing quietly, he tightened the new set of light armour around him, and started his way up the twisting path that lead around the peak. While the teen normally valued his privacy above anything, even he wouldn't be opposed to some kind of company for this journey. It was going to take a while, after all.

Taking the quest with Seul!

Edit: Seul's helping out.

Making his way once again across the grassy plains of Floor 1, Glow glanced across the rolling hills, trying to spot the starting point of the quest's objectives. He'd taken up the quest from an apothecary within the Starter City, and he apparently had to take out some kind of flower mob to gain the required ingredients for a medicine. While he'd normally be a bit more cautious about taking up a quest solo, he'd gained a lot of levels recently, and didn't want to continuously be bothering someone whenever he wanted to do something; Teion was probably getting tired of his constant requests by now. 'Maybe I can ask her to help with that dungeon area later...' He muses, before shrugging to himself. Doesn't matter for now, he supposes. Then again, if he came across anyone on his journey he wouldn't refuse help; better safe than sorry.

Scratching the back of his head as he slowly approached the quest's marker on his map, he flicked open his inventory, taking a look at the progress he'd made so far. With four skill points, he nearly had enough to acquire another skill; probably an armor one, just to give him some actual defense. Would let him properly solo quests until a higher level too, where he'd have to be a little more cautious. Maybe he'd join a guild at that point - but that kind of binds you down, so you always have to be wary about things like that. Either way... he needed to seriously get farming for the things. He didn't doubt that people were far higher leveled than him by this point in the game, considering what floor had been reached already. Four was no where near where he needed to be. Giving a quiet sigh at the negative thoughts, Glow continued to scroll through his inventory, the frown turning into a smile as he notices the new tool for his Performer Profession. He'd need to set up shop somewhere soon; perhaps he could make his home near Teion's own business on Floor Four.

I'll be accepting the quest, along with @Ace9.

Giving a final quiet thanks to the friendly shopkeeper, Glow walked out of the shop, guitar in a case over his shoulder. Despite being able to store it within his inventory, he wanted to hold on to its physical form for a while; keep it close, y'know? Just something comforting to have for a while. The case was apparently compensation for being smacked in the face and launched down a ladder. Despite all the ups and downs in the shop, Glow figured that it all came out pretty well in the end.

[THREAD COMPLETE]

[REWARDS:]

[420 col]

[1 (page) +1 (quest) skill points]

[6 materials]

[Light Armor common piece: Rat Leather Cuirass]

[Title: Musico Primo + can open shops]

[Extra materials (to be rolled)]