Aereth

Aereth just received a message from his blue-haired rival that the ring he asked her to make was already finished. So he immediately made his way to the Bluebird Shop on floor one.

After some minutes he found the shop and entered it. Birdie was standing behind the counter and Aereth greeted her with a wave. "Hi Birdie. How have you been?" He then approached her and said. "You are really fast. I didn't expect the item in such a short time. And thanks that you made the item for me. I've been missing hits non stop lately so this will help me out a whole lot." It was true, in the last few days he wasn't able to get many hits on the monsters he and his guildmates were fighting. But that would change now. With this item his hit rate would be 30% higher than before.

"Oh let me give you the payment for your awesome work." With that said he opened his menu and transferred 5 materials to Birdie.

Aereth: -5 Materials (transferred to Birdie)

Jonathan was doing his best do defend against the two skeletons as Aereth took a deep breath. He was angry that that he wasn't able to get one clean hit on the NPC monsters. He was so angry that he started channeling small amounts of his bottled up hate into his next attack. His face became empty of all emotions, as he sped at his absolute max speed at the Skeleton Bandit while charging his strongest Sword Art the <<Star Quint Prominence>>. In the blink of an eye, he reached the Skeleton Bandit and released his Sword Art, doing a solid amount of damage to the NPC monster. He even managed to cut of the head of the monster. "Now we will see if you can reattach this." he thought while he retreated back to Jonathan's side. 

As he reached his blonde friend, he managed to suppress all the hate he channeled before and smiled to him "Yes, finally a hit! Now let's see if they can reattach also their heads." He said the last part with a small chuckle. This was the ability he gained after the loss of his best friend. Full control over his hate. It took him a very long time until he was able to gain this control it. But now every time he needed a little boost in combat, he started to channel small amounts of this hate into his attacks.

@Morgenstern

Aereth chuckled at Keres comment about how he was able to stay sane right now. After the mental breakdown he went through after Adrians death, something like a relationship seemed like nothing at all for him. To have a working relationship is a lot of work, of course, and it's sometimes nerve-wracking, but in comparison to what he experienced in here it was nothing. Aereth even wondered sometimes how he was able to get his whole sh*t together again, and if he truly was sane at all after this incident. But it didn't matter right now. He had a goal and he would reach it at all costs. "Haha, thanks Keres, but it wasn't that bad."

After that Domarus talked about how it was just reading patterns and practice to understand both women and man. "There might be truth in your statement, but if you find somebody on the same level as you are, things tend to get more and more unpredictable. It's always easy to read simple people. Just observing and remembering. But when you find somebody who is really on the same level in speaking, thinking understanding, or other areas, you'll always have a hard time to predict these persons." And this applied to Aereth's girlfriend. He would even say that she was on a much higher level than him in some of this points. But that were some of many reasons why he loved her so much. Aereth would never take anything that wasn't at least on the same level than him.

After that Keres said how she would also like something like a familiar, but she'd prefer something more to her tastes. He knew that he would regret his following question but it was just to tempting. "And that would be?" he asked her with a mischievous grin.

Then she brought up a topic to which even Domarus had cock an eyebrow. "No it's not only that. After my experiences in the past, I much more enjoy living alone. And if I'm really going to do something like starting a war with all the PKers, something like a maid would only make me vulnerable. And I can't afford to be that." There was no reason to hide the truth from both of them now. They knew about his backstory and about his plans for the future, so it didn't matter if they also got to know why he preferred to work alone when it wasn't necessary to party up with others.

@Domarus

Aereth listened to Domarus as he explained to him that he really wasn't doing anything else than training, helping others and sleeping, and that he would spend more time in his shop if he had enough materials to run it properly. "Hmmm. About the problem with the materials: Keres, how did you spend your first free skill points? Because if you didn't use them up until now, you could grab yourself the Search and Detect skill to get your hands on materials more easily." 

Then he answered Domarus' question about his routine when he wasn't out training or questing. "Right now there isn't much time for something else outside of these two things. But when I find the time to relax a little bit, I usually go out into the city, find myself a bar or something like that and spend the time drinking and relaxing. Other than that, I just enjoy walking and traveling around Aincrad. And while doing this I'm also able to get some nice amounts of materials. I even want to pick up the <<Survival>> skill in the near future. But I don't know if this does count for training or not." he chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. Even if he did like traveling around very much, the search for the Survival skill was only to get closer to his final goal.

@Domarus

Domarus pretty much exactly repeated what Aereth told him before. He knew that this tactic would only work on the first floors, but that didn't matter, because most PK attempts would be made on these floors. At least he would do something like this if he was a crazy PKer that only wants to kill for his crazy joy... "Yeah, I know that, but I figured it would at least work on the first few floors, so I got that going for me."

Then Domarus explained to him why he wanted a familiar related to fire. Symbolism and for intimidating his opponents. Intimidation.... But of course only the players who threatened his friends, followers, etc. Sure. He chuckled and replied to him. "That also are some good reasons to find out what familiar would be the best. You are right. The last reason is indeed strange. But who truly understands women? No offense Keres. It's just my experience of six years relationship with my girlfriend talking right now." Then an idea came into his head. Maybe there was more between this Esther girl and Domarus... Even if both of them didn't know it right now. Somehow the two of them shared a deeper connection than just friends... Dismissing his thoughts and saving them for later Aereth spoke to Keres. "How about you? Do you also want to get a familiar? Maybe one that can help you searching for materials? If something like this exists."

@Domarus

Birdie explained to Aereth that they almost had all the needed items for the quest and asked him if he wanted to split up to go around the farm looking for some lone chickens. "Thanks for the praise. And yes, we could do it this way. No problem on my side."

Then Aereth felt a rumbling from behind them. He saw the huge cow and just as he wanted to push Birdie out of the line of danger, she had charged up a sword art that she release immediately afterwards, killing the cow with an amazing grace. "W-wow. That was awesome. You are incredible fast. And I'm fine, thanks to you." he told his blue haired partner. Then she said that she got a bonus drop from the cow and that the had all the materials the needed for a five-seater. "Nah. If you want we can wrap it up right now. I trust you that you counted right. And it seems that the animals get stronger with every second."

With that the two of them made their way out of the barn, back to the <<Town of Beginnings>>. He looked once again if they might have missed out on some materials, but wasn't able to find anything. "That was an awesome day. I had great fun. And it's a pleasure to do things with you." He said to his partner with a smile. "I have a feeling that we will be working great together."

@Birdie

OOC: I also found 2 Noble wood on my traveler quest if we missed out on something.
 

Summary:

Aereth gets: 2 SP, 400 Col, 4 Materials, 2 <<Noble Wood>> and the <<Survival>> skill

"Finally." he thought as he saw the gates of Armadillo. It had been one and a half days since he left this f*cking city in oder to get the lost cargo for the old lady. Just as he was about to enter the city he found another material laying in the sand. He picked it quickly up and stored it away into his inventory. "Now I just have to find this old hag again to get my f*cking skill." he mumbled into his scarf.

Half an hour later he found the old lady, gave her the goods and received his rewards. "Thank's and goodbye." he waved to the old lady and left into the direction of the teleport gate. "Floor three, Prairie" he said and left without a trace.

As he arrived at floor three he immediately went to Itzal's shop to get a shower and after that he would get something proper to eat.

Another two hours passed by as Aereth was walking through the sand alone. According to his map data, he wasn't very far away from his destination, and with that, the competition of his quest. But unfortunately he had about a hour to walk until he reached the city, and the temperatures were almost unbearable. On the other hand, the sandstorm had nearly vanished and Aereth was able to pull down his scarf in order to breath more easily. Taking out another bottle of water, he studied his map data once again.

As he walked his last steps before he reached the city he found a material hidden in the sand beneath a cactus. He picked it up quickly and stored it into his inventory. It was a good quest. He was able to find some materials as well as two quest items for the Rovian Wars quest. And he would also get Col, Skill Points and his desired extra skill.

After all he needed a familiar that would be able to help him getting an edge on his opponents, and also a stealthy one in order to get his information gathering done properly. But that's something for another day. Right now he needed to get back to Armadillo in order to get his survival skill in time. Looking again at his menu time it was about 8 o'clock now and the quest would expire if he didn't speed up his pace a little bit.

After he finished this quest he most probably would rest for one day and then continue his training with Itzal and Birdie. He would also have to make plans for the gathering of the next skill he would need for his plans. The Material Arts skill. It was a hard chunk of work to get this skill but he would really need this skill in the future, since it is required for the strongest sword art of the one handed straight sword. The Meteor Break.

Before he helft the abandoned house, he searched every room of it for materials or other useful things but wasn't able to find anything in there. "It isn't abandoned for no reason after all." he said to him as he continued walking through the dessert. At least the sandstorm seemed to weaken a bit, and if the sandstorm continued to weaken at this rate, it would be gone when he reached Armadillo again.

When Aereth was helping to find Domarus' familiar he was thinking about what kind of familiar he would be hunting when he needed one. Back then he came to the conclusion that a wolf would fit him the best. He could use it as a distraction on the lower level floors where normally also mob wolves would spawn, and he somehow wanted to have a dog since he was a boy. Enhancement wise he thought about evasion and accuracy but wasn't quite sure what would be possible for familiars.

About two hours passed without something interesting happening around Aereth. He just walked. Step after step. Right now he was on his way back to Armadillo but he wasn't taking the same route the he took to get to the cave where he spent the night in. He decided to take a different path, because he was eager to find more materials on this travel. Heck, he even found two quest items for the Rovian Wars quest, so the must be more things hidden in the sand. But this time however, he wasn't able to find anything besides sand. Sand everywhere.

Some countless steps later he found some kind of abandoned house in the dessert. Just one single house. Nothing else. Entering the house through the rotten door, he found out that the house was indeed... abandoned. But Aereth used the opportunity, and took another water bottle out of his inventory. He emptied immediately, and continued his travel.

With a swipe of his hand he opened his menu again and looked at the time. It was about four o' clock in the morning. He had decided not to sleep tonight, since he was alone out in the wild. Mobs or other players could attack at any time and due to being alone he had to play guard for himself the whole night. It didn't bother him much though. Back in the real world he often had to study through the night in order to get his work for the university done in time. And additionally he had enough to think about.

Picking himself up and putting back on his scarf and Leather coat, he made his way out of the cave. It seemed like the sandstorm got even stronger in the night. He decided to head back to Armadillo in order to complete his quest and get his Survival skill. 

After some minutes of walking he passed an old dead tree and found two <<Noble Wood>> items beneath it. "Wow, it seems like these quest items are spawning everywhere.."

"Thank you!" he shouted as the stupid chicken was finally split into half by Birdies attack. "I guess you are right there, but it must have looked hilarious."  He said to his blue haired rival with a laugh. 

She then suggested to go to the other side of the farm to see if there were any other low leveled mobs for gathering more <<Animal Fat>>. "Yes let's go. And I hope you are right with that. This stupid chicken from before was an a**." With that being said the two scouts made their way around the barn and indeed saw some chickens roaming around. "I agree with you. We should head back soon, since the sun is slowly beginning to set. This time I'll go in first. I count on you having my back." He told her with a smile.

Then he entered the hate range of four chickens and charged his AoE sword art. As the first chicken attacked him, he took a deep breath and was gone in the blink of an eye. As he appeared again in front of  Birdie, all the chickens burst into little polygons. "Aaaaahhhh. That felt good."

@Birdie

As Aereth retreated back to Jonathan's side, his blonde tank friend dashed towards one skeleton and cut his leg clean off. Unfortunately like Jonathan said before, the leg reattached itself again and the skeleton was able to stand again. 

Like Jonathan said, Aereth used the oppertunity to get behind the skeletons to attack them from behind. But unfortunately the skeletons were able to react in time to avoid the hits he was about to dish out. Frustrated and pissed off by the system, he retreated back behind Jonathan. "If I can't even get a hit on this stupit skeletons, then I'll never be able to reach my goals. F*ck this system, and f*ck Kayaba...." he thought while new flames arised inside of him. The next hit wouldn't be a miss. He concentrated, and focused on the battle again.

@Morgenstern

Domarus asked Aereth, why he wanted a common mob as his familiar. Aereth sighed and answered. "As far as I know, it does not matter which familiar you get. And I choose a common mob wolf because on the lower level floors where wolves are spawning, I could disguise it as a simple mob and use this as a distraction, if I wanted to attack somebody. Other than that, yeah I like dogs, and I prefer having a wolf over having a boar." Aereth had to chuckle about his last sentence. How f*cked up would it look if he would be wandering around with a f*cking boar. Bot the other reason was true. He did however not know how to use a familiar the right way, but when he would finally get one for himself he would get into that matter.

"How about you? Why do you want a familiar which is related to fire? Just for the style? Or is there also a reason behind it?" He asked him.

@Domarus

Aereth joined Domarus in his chuckling as he continued to talk about Ivory. As he got to Esther again he stopped however. This time Aereth was able to read something in Domarus' expression. It was pure worry. And by the looks of it, it seemed like he was worrying about her for a long time now. But Aereth didn't push the matter. He knew that he would get the information about this girl sooner or later.

After giving his answer to Domarus' question about happiness, it was his turn to tell Aereth what made him happy. Somehow he felt that this wasn't the whole truth about his sources of happiness. He was sure that there were some things lingering in the dark, regarding this matter. And he would also get behind this when the time had come but again, he wouldn't push right now. It would do him no good. "So what are you doing when you don't go out for training or when you don't help other players?"

@Domarus

Slowly also Aereth got uncomfortable with the ever increasing amount of animals around them. He nodded at Birdies comment and kept his ready stance.

Suddenly a lone chicken approached Birdie and she showed hesitation. She then talked about the puppy dog eyes of the chicken, and Aereth sighed. "Hey never turn your ba..." he couldn't even finish his sentence because the chicken then started to charge at Birdie while she was still facing Aereth. The chicken saw the opportunity and acted. It tackled Birdies feet and she lost her balance. But the naughty little chicken didn't stop there. As it noticed Aereths surprise about Birdies fall it choose to continue the charge and also managed to tackle away Aereths feet.

Aereth picked himself up and whispered several curses into his scarf. As both of them were standing again, Aereth answered. "Yes, let's shred them into pieces." in a tone full of vengeance, but also had to chuckle. It must have looked amazing how a simple chicken was able to knock the two scouts from their feet.

@Birdie

Aereth finished his meal which consisted of two sandwiches and a bottle of water, and the hours passed by while he was lost in his thoughts about his guildmates. He needed a plan to vanish from Aincrand for the one or two months he needed, to let the matter of him leaving the guild settle. Domarus told him that he could stay at his place if he needed to dissapear for some time. But knowing Itzal and the other guildmates, they would for sure also look at Domarus' place for him. The other option however was, getting a shop somewhere hidden on his own when he had left the guild. Or to get a shop, while still being in the guild. But he would have to hide the whereabouts of the shop, as well as his identity when using the shop. The last option, and probably the safest one was to stay at different inns every night...

As two sandwiches and a bottle of water appeared in Aereth's hands, he began with his meal. Taking his first bite off his sandwich, and started to think about his guildmates. He really got along well with all of them, except the two DPS units of the Celestial Ascendants. But the principles of their guild was awesome. To help lower level players growing in strength and skill, by tutoring them through the lower levels. He remembered his initiation with Itzal a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately he had to lie to his friend back then about his real reasons for becoming strong. But he would never find out about his reasoning, because as soon as his training would be finished and his debts to Itzal and the guild were payed back he would leave without a trace, so that no connections between him and the Celestial Ascendants would remain. They protected the lower leveled players in their way and Aereth would protect them in his way. Even though they might not see it like that.

Darkness... To accomplish his goals, he needed to work within the shadows and the darkness. He would have to find a way to gain full control over this darkness so that it wouldn't consume him entirely. He managed to control his hate, so he was positive that he would also gain full control over the darkness.

Step after step, he made his way through the dessert. It was slowly getting darker, so he would have to find some place to stay the night since he didn't want to travel in the night. The risk of encountering monsters while not seeing much was too high. Then he found something like a stone cave, and decided to use it as a shelter for the night. It was also time to eat something for the fist time today. Pretty exhausted Aereth reached the cave and walked into it, until he the winds and the sand couldn't reach him anymore. Then he sat down, resting his back against the wall behind him and started to take his food and water out of his inventory.

Aereth nodded at Doamrus' encouraging words. Maybe he would be working together with im in the future who knows, but as for now, he would only concentrate on his scout training, and on his combat training. The first two things he needed were the <<Survival Skill>> and the <<Material Arts>> skill. These two skills were obtainable through extra quests, and he was sure that he would get the two skills in the near future. With his regular skill points he would now level his S&D skill to level three, then max out damage followed by maxing out S&D and after that he would go for the Sneak & Hide skill.

Then Domarus wanted to know how long Aereth would help him with his search for his familiar, as well as if he wanted to get one for himself in the future. "Same here. I said that I will assist you with your search. And this means until you found your desired familiar. And I don't really know what kind of familiar I will be going for. Maybe a wolf or something like that. And it would need either an evasion or an accuracy enhancement." Aereth also didn't quite know what kind of enhancements were available for familiars, but if he really wanted to get one he would talk with Itzal about it since he used to have one in the past.

@Domarus

As Jonathan smiled at is question and explained that he was just thinking about some nonsense that he wasn't happy about Aereth smiled back to him and nodded. "Better not push the matter. If he wants to tell me some time he will. And I also don't want to drop the mood before a battle." He thought.

He then talked about reattaching limbs and that this ability of the skelletons hit Birdie by surprise. "Yep, got that." he said to his blonde friend. "I'm curious if they are also able to reattach a cut off head..." he thought and chuckled inwardly.

After Jonathan use his <<Howl>> skill, Aereth dashed at the Skeleton Bandit and engaged it with his sword in close combat. Somehow the Bandit was able to block every hit from Aereth. He tried his hardest to get only one hit on the goddamned skeleton, but was unable to hit. The skeleton almost even hit him in return if it wasn't for his fast reaction. Aereth dodged the hit and rolled back, retreating to Jonathans side. "These guys are really tough... And sorry, I again wasn't able to do anything to these f*cking skeletons..." he cursed.

@Morgenstern

"I don't wanna take any chances. He might really get a little bit upset. But I think we should be able to finish this treasure hunt in no time." he said confidently to is partner.

Then Birdie read over the message a couple of times, and concluded that the quest would lead the two of them to the fourth floor. "Yes, this much is clear, but the rest of the riddle... I can't really put something together in my mind right now..." He said to Birdie and thought hard about the first three paragraphs of the riddle. He then looked around the tree if there were any other hints or materials, but wasn't able to find anything.

Suddenly more and more animals began to spawn around the two scouts, and Birdie asked him if he wanted to continue the treasure hunt now or on a later point of time. "You are right, they really begin to get more aggressive. I think it would be better if we at first finished the task we came here in the first place, and then continue the treasure hunt on another day."

With that said, he pulled out his sword again and took his battle stance. "If you want, you can start this time with defeating the animals. I'll watch your back and attack as soon as the opportunity arises."

@Birdie

Hate... It was one of his main sources of energy and power right now. It took him a long time until he was able to channel his unbelievable amount of hate into something productive. He remembered the first days after Adrians death. This was by far the hardest time of his whole life. He spent most of his time in bars in order to drown the pain that grew in intensity with each day. When he then finally was out of Col he slept most of the time on the streets of the <<Town of Beginnings>>. At the thought of this harsh time Aereth clenched his hands to fists and cursed into the scarf he pulled up over his nose in order to protect his face from the sand. He would never be like this again. And he would never tell anybody about this time. Maybe not even his girlfriend in the real world would get to know this side of him if he made it back.

As he was walking through the dessert, totally lost in thoughts, he saw something black, shining through the sand. He picked it up and store it into his inventory.