Zulas

Zulas stepped outside of town after being satisfied of traversing through the town of Urbus. It was time to step out into the fields and find out what it's like being on this floor. The open fields were different, although the dungeon to the next floor could be seen in the distance. That was the only constant in this world, no matter where you went, you could never escape the sight of it. It didn't matter to Zulas as he was exploring something new and different. He liked to explore new things, but he preferred to do it by himself, he felt it more pleasing that way.

He noticed that there were a lot of fields in the area, and that the monsters that inhabited it were also different and more numerous than the first floor. Zulas decided to find out how different the monsters were. He was sure that it would be silly to other players, but he thought that in order to grow he would have to go out and try new things. And sometimes one of those things would be to fight monsters. He knew that eventually he would have to interact with other players, but for now he concentrated on what was in front of him.

Once the light disappeared, the bustling sound of chatter greeted him as he stepped forward into the town of Urbus. People walked left and right in this small town. It was much smaller than the Town of Beginnings, Zulas noticed. But it still buzzed with adventurer activity, even though the frontlines were much more floors above this one. Zulas walked around taking in the sites, the first thing he noticed was the main street that traveled all the way from on end to the other of the town. It seemed to be the only main street in the whole town. Another thing that caught Zulas's attention was the music that could be hear in the town, it was completely different from the first floor. The one in the floor below was more inviting, more cheerful, but on the contrary, this one felt a bit more somber. However, this did nothing to change people'es opinion of the floor nor the towns.

Zulas walked around town, he examined the buildings and the stores that offered their wares but it only took him a couple of hours to do so. One thing he kept in mind was an inn that he found just in case he decided to stay on this floor for whatever reason. It seemed like it would be a good place to take a rest in between quests or exploration of the area. With that in mind, Zulas set out to explore the outside fields not knowing what would happen in the future.

Zulas walked into the this new blacksmith store that had opened up. He wasn't looking for a powerful weapon, but he was looking for some type of light armor in order to get rid of his starter one. He walked in, hearing the bell chime customary to stores all over the world. He looked at it and guessed that it was like that in video games as well. This made him half smile as he walked around the store and looked at the items the store had on display.

The store did not have much in terms of items, only a couple of weapons displayed on weapon racks to attract customers. The thing was that he didn't see any armor and wondered if this store crafted only weapons. He had an idea in mind that he wanted to convey to the blacksmith, so he walked up to the counter and rang a small bell that was sitting on top of it. He hoped that somebody was in, although he wasn't very comfortable in front of people. But he needed to talk to them about a light armor that he wanted to have crafted. "Well, here goes."

It had been decided a long time ago, his mind had been made up even before he had realized it. The only way out was up, and it was the only that lead to the outside world. But what waited for him on the outside? Zulas didn't know the answer to that question, but he would search for it inside of this game. This is my world now, he thought as he walked over to the teleport in the Town of Beginnings.

The second floor awaited him now. He knew that he hadn't done everything he could on this floor but he wanted explore the other floors. His level wasn't high enough to go close to the front lines, so he opted for taking his time and moving one step at a time. He stood in front of the teleport and said out loud, "Teleport, Urbus."

A light enveloped Zulas, which meant he was being transported to the location he had indicated. Even though he hadn't admitted it to himself, he was a bit nervous but at the same time excited for what was going to happen on this new floor. There had been only one time that he had felt like that, but it was a long time ago. As he thought about it, he felt his expression change as soon as the light that enveloped him vanished and left him at his destination, 'Urbus'. 

Zulas waited for a bit near the teleport before hearing the 'chime' sound of a new message. He opened to find out that it was from Raze and was glad that the other adventurer had accepted to accompany him on this quest. Zulas waited for Raze to appear and after about an hour, he saw the gray hair that was his soon to be adventuring companion. He heard the words Raze spoke and looked at him curiously. Lost... hmmm, well this city is quite big, though there's no reason to get lost,  he thought to himself.

"It's fine. Yea, I'm ready to go, but first." - Zulas and stood there for a moment. He made the menu appear in front of him and shifted through the options until he found the one that he was looking for. He ended up sending an party invite request to Raze.

"Just so you know, the quest is on the third floor though I've never been up there." - Zulas admitted to the fact. He didn't know if Raze had been to the third floor but hoped he did so that somebody was at least prepared for it. 

On this day, Zulas walked around Starting City, taking in the sites. He still hadn't been to any upper floor before so he thought it was time to start exploring. Some time ago, he had heard of a quest that could be taken from an NPC on the third floor that awarded some cool item rewards. Now, he has only taken a few quests and all of them have been on the first floor so he was a bit hesitant to just jump straight to the third floor. He assumed that going for it by himself would be a bit dangerous so he thought about doing something he hadn't done in a long time.

Zulas pulled down his menu and searched for somebody he had met during his time here. He had only gone adventuring with him once, but he felt that he wasn't that uncomfortable being with him. Actually, Zulas thought that Raze felt worse than he did around other people. Zulas took comfort in the fact that it could be possible that there somebody like him in this game, and that fate had allowed him to meet such a player. He quickly shook his head and the thought out of his mind, it's impossible but I wonder...

The player search menu lingered in front of him for a couple of minutes while Zulas decided what to do. Finally, he made up his mind and typed in Raze's name and sent him a message: 'Hey, uh-uhmm, it's me Zulas. I don't know if you're busy, but I got word of a cool quest that I want to try out. Umm... the thing is that it's on the third floor and I haven't been outside of the first one yet. Is it possible that you could accompany on such quest?'

Zulas didn't know how to end the message so he just sent it like that. Hopefully, he would get a response from him so he wouldn't have to go on this quest by himself. It wasn't much of a choice since Raze was the only person that Zulas knew in this game, and he knew that the list wasn't going to grow anytime soon. He sighed and sat down on the steps towards the Town Teleport as he waited for a reply that he didn't know if it would come.

@Raze 

One morning Zulas walked into the shop he had identified before a 'The Blazing Typhoon'. He had never walked into a store before, at least not one owned by another player. It was time to have his first weapon made. The he saw a white heard player leaving the store and waited to see if anybody else would come out of it, but was satisfied after waiting with no other activity being seen. He then stepped towards the store and walked in.

The store was different than what he expected. The ring of a bell made sounded the alert that a new customer had walked in and Zulas got a bit startled by it. This time he got a chance to look at all the items that the store had, both the weapons and the armors. All of them were neatly cleaned as well as polished, which made them look all shiny. He walked up to the counter, but nobody was there. The only thing that was there were papers that said were named as "Fill out forms". Zulas quickly read through the papers and understood what he had to do. He filled it out and put it inside a bag that he had brought himself. The bag contained the material "Hollow Crystal" that he had obtained on his travels. He quickly filled out the form, and left the bag with his name on it on top of the counter. After that, he left the store so that he wouldn't run into anybody cause he knew it would be uncomfortable. 

Transactions: -750 Col

The one that had caught Zulas's eye had a closed sign on it but there was a glass window that he could look through. There was nothing special about the store with weapons and pieces of armor lining the window stalls, but the insignia of the store caught his attention. On top of the door there was a symbol of what looked like a tornado and a name below it: 'Blazing Typhoon'. He couldn't quite see what was inside the store, but he knew that it was the one he was going to visit. The only thing he hoped for was that the person inside wouldn't think he was weird. It was going to be the first time he would have to interact with a craftsman inside the game, and it was obvious to Zulas that the person was most likely one with a lot of experience within the game. With his mind made up, he stepped away from the shop and headed towards the inn where he was spending his nights... with a  small grin on his face.

Materials gained in thread: 2

Summary:

Zulas 400 Col + 1 SP

Material Gathered: 2

Item used: -1 Bread

Zulas made the decision to look for a store now so that he had a destination to go to in the morning, when they would be open. He walked around the market and looked at the different shops and while most of them were NPC's, there were some that were run by players just like him. Even though he wasn't very comfortable around other players, he needed to go to them in order to get a good weapon. The NPCs could only craft a weapon until a certain extent, but he knew that players could make a better one for him. Since it was going to be his first weapon he wanted it to be made to his specifications. With that out of the way he kept looking for the store that would catch his eye. It took quite a bit of searching up and down the street and thankfully, there wasn't a lot of people around due to it being night, but he found the one that he had been looking for.

Materials gained in thread: 2

Zulas put the crystal back in his inventory as he got closer to Starting City. It was already night by the time he got back and he knew that no stores would be open at this time, only restaurants and cafes. There were still people milling about the city going about their business, but Zulas was only looking for a place to sit down and eat. He found a bench in the market square that had an empty bench. He wanted a place with few people as possible and he knew that this place was sort of empty because most stores were closed at this hour.

Zulas brought up his inventory in order to look for something to eat and found that the only thing he had was bread. He wasn't particularly fond of it but that was all he had right now. There was anything special about it, even the taste was bland but it did the job. It kept him without going hungry outside the city, where there were no restaurants or cafes. 

Materials gained in thread: 2

Used item in thread: Bread -1

It was still some time until Zulas would arrive at Starting City so he decided that he would look in his inventory once again. He took out one of the materials he had gathered while inside the cave. The item just had a name to it, nothing special about it, 'Hollow Crystal' the game called it. He looked at the info but there was nothing in particular about it. It just read: 'This crystal has proposed deemed to crafting. Its blue color comes from the mist that gathers in the cave at night during the months of winter.'

Zulas read it and started to laugh. He kept on walking towards Starting City and kept thinking about the crystal he had gathered. It did happen during winter, didn't it? It was then when my life changed forever, he thought as he kept walking while looking over the crystal in his hands.

Materials gained in thread: 2

The cave entrance came closer with each step, he kept running not looking back. After a couple of seconds, the sound of wings flapping became softer and softer. He didn't know how long he spent inside that cave but he guessed that it must have been a couple of hours at least. It was already dusk outside the mountain and the light blinded him for a couple of seconds. He stopped outside the cave entrance and looked back to find out that the cave bats had already turned back. They must have receded back into their lair, wherever that is, he thought. 

"Well, I think that went well?" - he said to the wind as he gasped for breath. His chest felt heavy and was surprised on how accurate the system was with their vitals. He sat down and rested against the side of the mountain, next to the cave entrance, until he caught his breath back. Then, he got up and started to head back to town. 

Materials gained in thread: 2

Zulas plan to escape were cut short by the quick movement of the Cave bats, they moved with incredible speed towards. Their mouths were inches from his neck, but he looked back just in time to step away from their bite. He saw their teeth up close, their mouths closed together at eye level of him as they tried to take a bit of his neck. Zulas turned around once again towards his destination, the cave entrance. It could be seen at the end of the tunnel, a white light that felt inviting with each and every step that Zulas took. He began to pant as he ran towards it again, although this time he made sure not to look back as it would make him delay his escape. He did not want to fight, he got the materials he needed in other to achieve his task. Zulas kept running and hoped that it would be enough to escape the evil creatures.

 ID# 68273 results:

 Battle: 9

 Craft: 10 (Escape Success!)

 Loot: 19

 MOB: 7

Materials gained in thread: 2

Zulas moved the wrong way, stumbled and fell to the ground face first. The mental fatigue kicked in as he had spent hours searching for materials. The monsters swooped with incredible speed, and bit both his neck and back. This time it felt to Zulas that they stayed attached to him for a while. He looked at his health and saw it decline steadily before stopping just before the halfway mark. After a couple of seconds, he could move again and decided that it was best time to move. This is not going to work. I'm way to exhausted, he thought as he got up using his weapon as support. He looked at his enemies and smiled, no matter how much you try to get better, there's always going to be another that's better than you. This thoughts helped him decide to turn around and start to run in order to try and escape his enemies. The monsters gave pursuit, but he was confident that he would get way, hopefully.

ID# 68230 results:

 Battle: 5

 Craft: 3 (No escape)

 Loot: 17

 MOB: 4 (Miss)

Materials gained in thread: 2

Zulas sped up towards both of his enemies and struck with an upward strike but his attack missed its mark. The Cave bats move at the last minute and were only caught in the wind created by the adventurer's Sword Art. In a counterattack, the monsters struck in rapid succession but Zulas managed to each attack by taking a quick step back. The cave bats hovered a few feet away from Zulas and then swooped in for a bite of his neck again. He looked at his health and it still safe for now so he wasn't going to give up just yet. He saw the monsters come in for the attack but he did not move, he waited for them to get a bit more close. Zulas concentrated as he readied his Ragin Spike stance and as soon as the monsters came into range, he leaped towards them with his sword following the automated attack.

 ID# 68229 results:

 Battle: 1 (Miss)

 Craft: 8

 Loot: 13

 MOB: 9 (DMG = 13 + 2 = 15)

Zulas: HP 48/80; Energy 0/8

Cave Bat #1: HP 4/4; DMG 3

Cave Bat#2: HP 4/4; DMG 10

Materials gained in thread: 2

The bats attacked in unison against Zulas, he felt their strong bit in his neck and shoulder although one of them hurt more than the other. They took a bit of his flesh with them and the pain made him drop to one knee using his sword for support. He felt a sharp pain, if only for a second but it did hurt him. This made him angry so he pulled his weapon out of the ground and dropped into his Sword Art stance to let it activate. Once the system recognized the where it was placed he moved with it. 

Zulas hadn't used the Rage Spike Sword Art often because he was only always fighting one monster at a time most of the time. This time he felt it necessary in order to achieve what he wanted. He moved in towards the monsters and performed the automated upward strike that, if it hit, would spread among both monsters.

 ID# 68211 results:

 Battle: 4 (Miss)

 Craft: 10

 Loot: 7

 MOB: 1 (Miss)

Zulas: HP 63/80; Energy 4/8

Cave Bat #1: HP 4/4; DMG 3

Cave Bat#2: HP 4/4; DMG 10

Materials gained in thread: 2

The cave bats were on him quickly which only gave Zulas time to react for a split second. The creatures flew closer to him until they were almost upon him. Zulas cursed himself for not paying attention and for daydreaming. Those thoughts will only get you killed here, he thought as he readied his weapon towards the bats. Both of the bats hovered for a few seconds before they swept in for the attack, but Zulas went after them at the same time. He didn't have to time to guide his attack so he swung wildly and hoped that his sword caught at least one of them.

One of the bats looked a bit different than the other, it looked like the first one he had encountered the first time. He didn't have time to deal with both of them, but he would try to deal with them. If there was a need to run he would take it, he wasn't ready to die... no, not yet.

 ID# 68210 results:

 Battle: 2 (Miss)

 Craft: 11

 Loot: 7

 MOB: 10 (DMG = 13 + 4 = 17)

Zulas: HP 63/80; Energy 8/8

Cave Bat #1: HP 4/4; DMG 3

Cave Bat#2: HP 4/4; DMG 10

Materials gained in thread: 2

Zulas found what he was looking for one last time, inspected it to make sure it was the same ore. The bluish glow and color were unmistakable so he proceeded to put it in his inventory. He debated for a while, thinking if he should head back or not. The moments passed and he decided that he had enough materials to make have his weapon made and maybe have some left over. He hadn't thought about it but the darkness made him feel sad for a moment. It was like that time... when I... almost died... and you..., he thought as he walked back.

Zulas's mind was full of old thoughts. He thought of his family, her family and all the friends that they both left behind. The way back seemed shorter and he could see the cave entrance. The light kept getting bigger and bigger each step he took towards it. It reminds me of that day... the day I lost you. The lights were bright just like that, but a lot faster. It only gave us a quick second... only a second; the thoughts passed through his mind loudly. They distracted him from what was around him and didn't hear what was getting closer by the second.

Materials gained in thread: 2

"Ok, that was a good try." - he said, putting the glowing rock in his inventory.

It was warm to the touch, and felt just right in his hands. The idea of having his new weapon made was appealing to Zulas, so that even he let out a quick side grin as the idea got into his mind. A couple more and then I'm good, he thought as he moved on to the next highlighted part of the cave. As he went deeper into the cave, the more his hope grew as he could see the glint of searchable areas in the distance. He couldn't see what was in front of him a few feet away, but the system allowed him to see the searchable areas more than a few feet away. He got in front of one of them and started to search, hoping he would find more of the materials.

 ID# 68200 results:

 Loot: 18 (material)

Materials gained in thread: 2

The search proved unfruitful, but he wasn't bogged down by it. The idea of finding another piece of material that is the same as he already had filled him with hope. Zulas continued a little bit deeper into the cave again, he believed it would give him a better chance to find it. While he searched for the materials, he started to think about what type of weapon he was going to get made. He didn't want anything flashy, he just wanted something that would represent who he was. It was going to be his weapon for some time while he was inside this game. He threw out some ideas back and forth as he searched once more for those materials deeper down the dark cave. There were certain spots that glowed in the darkness, the system's way of letting players know where to search for materials. With more determination in mind he searched in another spot he had found. 

 ID# 68189 results:

 Loot: 15 (1 material)

Materials gained in thread: 1

Zulas swiped his sword in the calculated attack helped by the system itself. The slashes hit the bat in the main body once and twice in the wings that kept him afloat. The creature let out a screech in pain and fell to the ground in a loud thud. The monster exploded into a hundred glowing pieces, but there was something strange in those glows. After the pieces disappeared, something shone where the cave bat fell. Zulas got closer to it and saw that it was a piece of rock that glowed. The rock was nothing more than a damp piece of rock so the glow was nothing that Zulas needed to pay attention to. It wasn't the material that Zulas was looking for since he entered the cave but he didn't want to battle monster if he didn't have to. He didn't like unnecessary fighting. He thought it was going to be the first material he had gotten and he felt proud of that but it wasn't to be. He let a smile escaped his lips as he set out to search for more rocks like the one he had found. 

 ID# 68188 results:

 Loot: 12

Zulas: HP 80/80; Energy 8/8 (+3 recovery post)

Yes, it does. I went over the Enhancement post, and I understood it for the Weapons and Armor, but it was a bit confusing for the other types of items lol.

But yeah, it does help. Thank you!

@Macradon

Taking this quest with Raze.

Does anyone know where can I find a list of General Goods Items listed by 'Good, Uncommon, Rare, etc'? Or is that something that I can make up on my own? I've been going through the forums but haven't found one as of yet. I believe it would just make it easier, at least for me. I'm asking because of the Loot dropped by monsters. Is a healing potion considered a Good item or an Uncommon one? If not, some examples would be really helpful too. Thank you in advance! 

Cheers,

Zulas Alter Ego

The bat came directly towards Zulas, the wings moving rhythmically to keep it hovering above ground. Zulas took out his weapon from its scabbard where it rested and readied it in front of him. He wasn't taking any chances because he still needed to search the cave for his materials. He gripped the weapon tight and lowered it to reflect his Snake Bite stance, but waited until the cave bat came closer. The monster did indeed come closer to him and that was when he moved his sword to the correct position in order to activate the automated sword art. The monster, unbeknownst to the adventurer's intentions moved ever closer to him and that's when Zulas jumped forward to unleash his 3-strike move. At the same time, the cave bat also sprung into action and dove towards Zulas at great speed. Both of them knew what was happening and decided to deal with it, albeit for different reasons. Zulas let out a yell that echoed throughout the whole cave as he moved in for the attack.

 ID# 68151 results:

 Battle: 8 (DMG = 3x2 = 6)

 Craft: 7

 Loot: 13 (Good item)

 MOB: 4

Zulas: HP 80/80; Energy 5/8

Cave bat: HP 0/4