Aereth

Aereth laughed at Domarus' comment. "Don't worry, I think it will be enough for us three."

Another grin showed at his face as Keres ordered some chocolate milk. As they finished their order, the bartender left to prepare the drinks and Domarus seemed to be scanning the area for something, so Aereth decided to take the chance to ask right away. "Everything ok? You seem to be a little bit nervous my friend." Now he got them, they were to obviously checking everything inside this bar. This had to had a reason, and Aereth was willing to put his time and effort into finding out what that would be.

Then Domarus asked what Aereth planed to do when he finally became a passable scout. Aereth smiled at Domarus and said. "Joining the frontlines and helping to beat the sh*t out of this stupid game. Like almost everybody in here. And maybe I'll join you in the DPS squad after my scout training." It was indeed the truth, but not the whole story. Nobody else knew what he really wanted to do. Not even his friend and teacher Itzal. Now the game had started, it was a give and take. Give some information to your enemy, and try to get more information back.

@Domarus

After Keres answer Aereth smiled back to her but didn't fail to notice that Domarus was slightly confused that he bowed to her first, and only then offered him his hand for a handshake. He then laughed at Domarus comment about being too formal. "I just think that have to greet a beautiful young lady in a proper way my friend." he explained to him. "Even if I didn't intend on doing so, it seems like I managed to irritate him a little bit. So I got that going for me which is nice."

As the made their way out of the village gate, Domarus shared his plan for the day with Aereth. "Yeah, I agree with you there. Fighting the mobs here would most likely get us all three killed. Yes collecting materials should be no problem, we just have to stay out of the hate range of the monsters."

Then he showed Aereth a song crystal made from Itzal. "I assume to rise the chances of getting an familiar?" He knew exactly about the crystal, since he was living together with Itzal, but didn't want to share too much information with the redhead and his maid.

@Domarus

Aereth noticed the sigh of the Healing Paladin and hoped that he didn't f*** up their first meeting. Then she told him that he heard about him form Itzal and that she hoped that he enjoys his stay here. Smiling at her he answered. "Hopefully just positive things. Haha. Thanks a lot. And don't worry I quite enjoy the athmosphere of the Celestial Ascendants. You are all awesome people, helping the lower levels getting stronger. That's an honorable thing." Then she said that she will take her leave now, since she didn't seem to know enough players here. He smiled at her last comment. "Haha. That was an awesome joke. I'd be happy if I ever reach half the level of skill your boyfriend has. But have no fear I'll be working hard to gain strength." He then waved for her goodbye as she turned around once again and sent him an friend request. Accepting the friend request, he also turned around and started to look for players he knew.

He saw Birdie, Arc and a blonde player who seemed to be in a very sad mood so Aereth decided not to join their conversation. "Must be very personal..." he thought. But then he spottet two familiar players, namely Keres and Domarus. They seemed to be talking to another player, correction, Domarus was talking to the player and Keres was, like almost every time, just observing the situation. "Let's have some fun with her." he thought as he made his way over to them.

Tapping her shoulder slightly to get her attention, he said with a slight bow of his head. "Hi Keres. Awesome to see you and Domarus here. How have you been?"

@Kasier, @Domarus

Aereth noticed the smile on Birdies face as he talked about the chickens from the zelda games. "Yeah, exactly. Better not piss them off. But thankfully we aren't playing Zelda right now." He said while still laughing. She then informed him that if he wasn't able to kill the chickens with one hit, that he should keep an eye on the other mobs to which Aereth nodded. Returning the smile the both switched their focus on the enemies.

As the went to open the wooden gate of the farmyard Birdie asked if he was ready to kill some mobs and that they were going to spend some time in here. "Yes, I'm more than ready." As she pulled the gate open, they saw a small blur charging at them. Aereth didn't even notice what Birdie was shouting at him as he changed into his battle mode. His expression changed to a dead serious one and he got in his battle stance. "Would like to do the ho.." she couldn't even finish her sentence as Aereth took of at his max speed to intercept the attacking chicken. He wouldn't let it attack his female friend if it could be avoided. He charged his <<Vertical Square>> Sword Art after he drew his Sword of Legions out of its sheath while running. Around him spawned three more chickens. Milliseconds before he and the first chicken met head on, he released his Sword Art and split the first chicken in half. As it scattered into little polygons, he continued to attack the other three chickens and also destroyed them in one hit. Retreating back to Birdie he took an defensive stance in front of her.

@Birdie

Arc told them that it would be better if they looked for the regular items, instead of the harder ones. @Arc "Yeah, I agree with you in this regard. If we just chop the lower level enemies into pieces, it would be much faster to gain the needed animal fats than to fight with the strong ones."

Then Birdie suggested that she and Aereth could go out and find the noble wood needed for the five seater in a seperate gathering session with only the two of them. @Birdie "This is a very good idea. For the two of us this should be no problem since we both are scouts. So, yeah I'm up for that." He said to her with a confident smile.

After this also Lessa introduced herself to Aereth. Though she seemed to survey him a little bit beforehand, which didn't bother him much since they met just a few moments ago. Additionally she didn't seem to have bad thoughts about Aereth. She also asked about what this whole quest was about so Aereth decided to explain it to her. @Lessa "Yes you are right. We are taking the quest where we have to get the materials for building a ship. These materials can be obtained in to ways. First: going into the forest and looking for <<Wood>> with the desired quality, and second, slaying mobs to get the required amount of <<Animal Fat>>, also in the desired quality. The thing with the different qualities is, that if you get higher quality materials you don't need as much of them as if you would gather the lower quality ones. But in order to get the better ones, you have to be good at finding stuff, or you have to slay higher leveled mobs. Also, all <<Animal Fats>> have to have the same quality and all the <<Wood>> has to have the same quality." he explained to her.

Jonathan talked about how Aereth will have it much harder to find room up in the front lines and that tanks and healers are desperately needed right now. Aereth sadly agreed with his friend. "Yes, now I know, but it's the way I have chosen, so there is no backing down. I know that it will be much harder for me to find my place up there, but this only means that I have to work harder to become useful for the frontlines." Aereth answered his friend in a confident tone.

As they continued walking through the forest the rustling of the leaves around them got louder and louder. And then after Jonathan warned Aereth that they were coming, the jumped out of the bushes and attacked the two friends.

There were four of them and they attacked them almost at the same time. Aereth pulled out his sword and tried his best to defend himself against the Nepents. He managed it do dodge every hit and was able to create some distance between them and the Nepents, but unfortunately he wasn't able to get a hit on them.

"Yeah, I'm going to give my best." He smiled at Jonathan after hearing that he will report if he does well in the fight.

@Morgenstern

As the maid and the two players entered the chosen bar, they took a seat and Aereth unequipped his his battle gear, pulled his gauntlets down and removed his scarf from his neck, which left him only with his black pants, and a short sleeveless shirt. He had a slim and muscular body, which he was surprised of, because he didn't think that the workout he was doing everyday would affect the looks of his virtual body. But seems like he was wrong in this regard. When he finished making himself comfortable the bartender asked the three of them what they wanted to drink. "Good evening. What may I serve all of you guys."

"For a start, a large glass of beer please." then he turned to Keres and Domarus. "You can order what you like, it's my treat. And Keres, you can also order any non alcoholic drink you like." He said to her with a smile. It was a shame that she refused to drink something stronger tonight. Right now she had herself under perfect control, but if alcohol would be involved things would be much more in Aereth's favor. 

@Domarus

Aereth just walked out of his teachers shop, which he used as a temporary home until he would get his own shop. He didn't think much about which profession he would be taking. At first he wanted to become a blacksmith, but then Jonathan told him how good tailors were desperately needed inside this game, so right now, he was tending more towards the tailor profession. Because: the less shops of a profession, the more customers you get. This principle applies in the real world, as well as inside of Sword Art Online. Dismissing his thoughts, he concentrated back on why he was leaving the house of his teacher in the first place. Domarus contacted him, if he had some spare time, in order to help him finding his familiar. Back when they first met, Domarus helped him finishing his <<Worn out Welcome>> quest, so Aereth offered him to help him with one of his quests in return. As he reached the big Teleport Crystal, Aereth opened the teleport menu and selected floor nine, Vulcan Village. His body got engulfed in light and was gone.

Out of seemingly nowhere, his body materialized again at the place he selected beforehand. "I won't let my guard down. I need to get more information about him and his maid." he thought as he started to look for the axe-wielding player with his maid. It didn't took him long to find the two players. He approached them and started his greeting. First he lowered his head in Keres direction and said. "Hi Keres, nice to see you again." Then he turned to Domarus and offered his hand. "Also a pleasure to see you again my friend."

@Domarus

"No problem. Since I've got some more HP, I really started to like fighting the lower leveled mobs." He answered her with a smile. Then she changed her rings and and readied herself for the combat that was yet to come. Aereth also opened his inventory and equipped his new black leather coat alongside his Sword of Legion.

After some walking in comfortable silence, the trees began to thin out, and a small clearing came into sight. "It's amazing how real everything looks inside here. To imagine that all of this is virtual seems so unreal..." Aereth stated as he gazed over the wooden bride to the abandoned farmyard. Then Birdie asked him if he ever fought a crazy chicken before which made Aereth laugh loudly. "Haha, have you ever fought a chicken in The Legend of Zelda? Because the chickens inside this game are pretty f***ed up."

He opened his menu once again and checked if all of the equipment he needed was equipped.

@Birdie

OOC: Do you want to play the mobs or should I?

Summary:

Both Players get 200Col

Domarus gets 1SP(or 2 if he also gets the quest SP)

Aereth gets 1 + 1(Quest) = 2SP, Black Leather Coat EVA+1

Itzal talked about how this quest was an intense and rather hard one. He was even close to failing it which Aereth made even more curious. But he decided not to ask him about the quest since he said that he will tell them about it when the right time has come. "If it's such an intense quest, you have to gain a lot from it guess, so I'm looking forward to doing it. Yes the schedule is there, now we just have to push hard to make it work." Aereth was looking forward to the training with Itzal and his partner Birdie. He thought that he could gain a lot of skills and strength from it, so he would give his very best every time the worked together.

Aereth chuckled at Itzal's last comment. He was a terrible singer according to his girlfriend, parents, friends, almost everyone. "Yeah man, I can do the background noise if you like." he said laughing. "But it would be awesome if we could get out some time to go camping. I loved camping back in the real world. Sitting around the campfire, singing, drinking. Having a good time." 

@Birdie

OOC: I could end the thread now, and we continue the drinking with another one if you like.

"Glad to hear that." They continued laughing for some time.

As they reached the blacksmith, Domarus and the NPC changed a few words before the smith started to work on Aereth's leather coat. After some minutes he came back to the front of the shop and gave Aereth his new coat. Equipping it instantly, he was pleased with the look of his new coat. "Thanks a lot smith." Then he turned to Domarus and Keres. "Same here. But I saw some bars and pubs as we walked out of the city. So I'm sure we will find a place to have a good time." he said to both of them while smiling.

Domarus was definitely up to something. As long as he didn't kill or hurt other players, Aereth would have no problem with him, but if he really was up to something like that, Aereth would have to find ways to stop or cut him down if need be. But one thing was painfully obvious. With the level and strength he had right now, he wouldn't stand a single chance against someone like Domarus. He needed to get stronger, much stronger, in order to protect the ones the couldn't protect themselves. 

@Domarus

"You're right with that. This quest is just like some brainless button smashing game. The only thing you need to complete this quest is determination. Perfect. I'll send you a message when I prepared everything."

Aereth noticed how Birdie was walking a few steps behind him, so he slowed his pace down a little bit as he answered. "Yeah, if we can keep up the speed of finding those items, we will soon have the amount we need." he smiled to her. Then she suggested to gather some animal fat from weak mobs. "Yes no problem for me. I also wanted to try the new sword I got from the guild treasury, so this is fine with me. And I think that the weaker mobs should be no problem for us, since we can fight together and support each other." She was completely right. They needed to gather a whole lot of animal fat in order to build their 5-seater in time, so slaying floor standard mobs would be the fastest way to get the required fat.

ID# 70107 results:

 Loot: 14

@Birdie

Aereth saw his new comrade grinning as he told him he would join him to help him get the familiar. He seemed to really need the familiar for his future plans, but as long as he didn't harm anybody, it would be ok for Aereth. "Yes, message me anytime. Though... Maybe not tomorrow morning." He said with a loud laugh, referring to the night and alcohol, which were yet to come and drink.

After he asked his question to the maid she turned to him with a smile and cocked her head as she gave her answer. "That's a healthy attitude you have there." then she gave of a quick giggle and turned away from Aereth. He couldn't read much out of her eyes, but one thing he saw clearly. She was longing for something. Aereth couldn't figure out what she was longing for though. But he sure as hell would take his sweet time to figure that thing out. "At least she gave away something." he thought and continued his way with his two "friends".

Then they finally reached the quest NPC and Aereth handed over the gathered quest items. "Like I said before, I want to have a dark brown/black-ish leather (OOC: same color as the rest of his outfit in sig and profile pic) coat with an +1 EVASION enhancement." The blacksmith and his wife nodded and left to the back of their shop. "Hey Domarus. Do you have a specific bar in mind for our little drink?" He asked as he leaned himself against one of the walls of the shop.

@Domarus

"Haha, more than enough." he chuckled at his friend. "Yeah, I'm looking forward to the training. I want to become much much better and stronger, than I am right now. I'm sick of being weak. After I mastered the scouting build, I will also join the DPS training. And don't worry. You will get an apprentice in no time." Smiling as he answered Jonathan.

Jonathan, shortly briefed Aereth about their tactics again and then looked around if there were any unwanted visitors or mobs nearby. "Yes, I got that. And again thanks, for tagging along with me. Alone it would take me so much more time to complete this quest. Also, doing stuff together is more fun as when you have to do it all alone. Yes you are right. Right now I don't have any searching skills, but I only need two more skill points until I reach level three on my one handed sword skill. After that I'm going to invest my points into S&D skills" Aereth answered Jonathan as they walked side by side.

@Morgenstern

OOC: do you want to play as the mobs or should I this time?

Aereth had to smile at Birdie's reaction as he told her he wanted to join the frontlines. "Yeah the first step on a very bumpy and f***ed up road. But I'm willing to take it on, and come out on top of. And again, don't worry too much. The ill-feelings will go away as we grow stronger together." he said in a warm but a little bit serious voice. He had to think at the past before he met Itzal. At times where he was desperate. He suffered, but it made him stronger, helped him finding the resolve to train harder every day.

Seeing Birdie smile made him happy again. "Don't be so hard on you. Everything will be fine." again offering her an encouraging smile.

"Yes, the task alone seems not to be so hard, but you can't use your weapon, so you do almost no damage at all, which means it takes a while to get through that stupid rock. But having you with me, would not only double the speed, but I would also really enjoy some company while literally beating the s*it out of this rock."

As they came to the four-way junction, Birdie asked which way they should take and Aereth started scanning the area for anything usable. On the right part, near a tree he indeed found an item they needed for their quest. He picked it up and stored it away. "Let's take this one since I already found some <<Noble Wood>> here." he said to his partner. 

@Birdie

"Nope, I haven't even heart about that quest until today." He said while scratching the back of his head and with a smile on his lips. "But looks like I didn't make a mistake in not doing it if you have something in mind for it. Care to tell us what exactly you have in mind, or is it a surprise?" He said grinning. 

Then Birdie asked Itzal how the training with his first apprentice had been. Even though Itzal was smiling, he could clearly see the sadness and the regret in his eyes. "Looks like she hit a sore spot there..." he thought as he listened to Itzals story about his first ever apprentice. So he decided to stay silent for now.

As he came to the point where he talked about never stepping back or giving up Aereth had to smile. Ha was so goddamned right. You don't gain anything if you let yourself drown in self pity. If you want to improve you got work hard for it. This is what Aereth learned as he started to dance competitively. And he took it to heart since then. He couldn't let himself down. Not for himself and also not for his girlfriend, his family and Adrian.

@Birdie

Domarus let out a heartily laugh as at Aereth's comment and said that anytime he needed somebody to drink he should call him. "Nothing's better than to go out for a drink after all the work is done. Especially when you share the time with a friend." He said.

And it was indeed true. Even back in the real world Aereth liked to go out for a drink with his friends when he was able to. Thankfully, Kayaba was so kind to add alcohol to the game. And today Aereth was out for fun. He wanted to play around with his new toys. And maybe get some intel on what they were plotting. But he wouldn't push anything. He now knew that at least Domarus was going to join his guild, so that means that he was in no hurry to get informations. Time was in his favour.

"Yeah sure. I think it would be fun to do that together, and maybe we can get to know each other bette, since we will be together in the same guild in some time." He said to Domarus.

Then he turned to Keres. He noticed that she wasn't speaking at all, except she was directly asked something. Her behaviour fit her maid look perfectly. But those eyes... "Are you always so quiet or could it be that you are a little bit uncomfortable around me?" He asked her never breaking eye contact with her. 

@Domarus

OOC: fast 3-4 hours huh ^^

As Aereth heard that Birdie was afraid of heights, he turned his head to her with an reassuring smile. "Don't worry you got this. Itzal will show you how to loose your fear. We all will support you."

Then Itzal suggested, that Aereth could use the time he was going to spend with Birdie training in order to get his level up. Nodding his head Aereth answered. "I was thinking the same thing. Maybe I could ask Jonathan to take me to the NPC that teaches you the different fighting styles, or I could go out questing and gathering."

He then announced the training plan. Aereth thought about the scheduling of the day for a few moments. "The schedule is well thought out. Workout and resting sessions are good distributed, and if I want I can get a few extra training sessions in before dawn, as well as in the evening." Then he nodded at his friend and said. "I'm fine with the schedule it looks well thought out. I think this will work."

@Birdie, @Itzal

As he shook Kasiers hand Aereth noticed that she was inspecting him. But it didn't bother him much, since he did the same thing with her before he decided to go over to her. As the girl revealed her name to Aereth something inside his head clicked. "Kasier... I got it. She must be Itzal's girlfriend as well as the Healer Paladin of our guild. Haha. That means, I only have one more paladin to meet. Then I know them all." From the outside she seemed to be a little bit distanced but he remembered what his other guild mates told him about her.

"If that's the case, it's also an honor to meet you. Itzal told me a little bit about you. But to cearify things for you: I'm Itzal's second apprentice right now and I joined the guild just a few days ago. Healer Paladin of the Celestial Ascendants, Kasier." he said and lowered his upper body for a slight bow.

Raising up again, he said to his fellow guild mate "More or less, I guess? I do know some people here, but they all seem to have found their groups and I felt rather out of place." he admitted to her with a smile.

@Kasier

"And I'll be doing my best and work hard to catch up to you as fast as possible." he smiled and gave his blueharied comrade a thumbs up. "I can only agree to Birdies last statement. I also think that training together will help us to get to know each other better, which in return will bring advantages when take on real guild missions together after we finished our training with you."

Itzal explained to them what a scout exactly does. "Tracking down other players..." he thought. As well as lock picking, some combat skills and parkour. Aereth knew that this wouldn't be an easy way to go. But if he wanted to archive his goals, he had to work hard for it. And he has no problem with hard work.

The answer to Itzal's last question was quite simple. "Yes of course. I'll follow your lead. And I trust you that you will  make us better and stronger." he said with a big smile.

@Itzal, @Birdie

After hearing about all the stuff this particular NPC can teach, Aereth couldn't hide the fact that he was impressed. So he answered his blonde friend. "That sounds awesome. Maybe you can take me with you if you go to train there sometime in the future."

"Yeah, I want to be at least a little bit useful for the guild, so I figured that I'd kill two birds with one stone. I can use this quest to get stronger and get some combat experience, and I'm able to give something back to the guild that did so much for me." Aereth said to Jonathan while he equipped his armor without his shield.

Then Aereth learned that Jonathan had reached tier two on the other day, and that he needed to grind for materials and money in order to get some new equipment. "Wow congratulations my friend. If you want I can help you later finding materials if you want." he said happily.

@Morgenstern

As the boss scattered into pieces, Aereth felt something hit his back. And as he turned around he saw a smiling Domarus congratulating him for defeating this rather weak boss. "Yeah. You were completely right man. I didn't even got to hit him twice." he shrugged with his shoulders and put a smile on his face. "But that also means more time for drinking. Haha." Aereth didn't know how much Domarus was able to drink without letting his guard down. This and the fact that he will also have an sober comrade for the whole evening gave him the clear advantage. He knew exactly that he had to be careful around this guy and his maid on this evening. But what Domarus didn't know was, that Aereth also had a high resistance to alcohol, due to the fact that he grew up in a country where you were able to buy beer at the age of 16 and harder things at the age of 18.

OOC: Do you want to get the drinks in this thread or should we make an extra one for it?

He then gestured to the town gate and said that the should head back to town to pick up the armor. Aereth answered Domarus' question about what type of armor he wanted with a smile. "Yes you are right. I'm going for a light armor with evasion enhancements. My speed is all I got, and to be honest it's far away from where I want it to be, so this will be a big grind until I get where I want to be. And if you want, I can help you with that quest if you like."

@Domarus

Aereth was a little bit taken aback, as Itzal explained  to them that his former apprentice just vanished. The assumed reason why made the whole deal a little bit clearer, but vanishing? "Wow that's some hard stuff to swallow. But love can hurt sometimes." he stated in a sad tone.

But the mood quickly changed back to normal as Itzal asked them if anyone else was in their party for the event quest. "Yes, actually. Two others are also with us. Arc and Lessa to be precise. They are really great people." he answered the question.

Next he asked, if they were up to a friendly rivalry and if they wanted to train together.  Aereth looked at Birdie for a moment and sent a grin in her direction. "That's a funny thing. We also talked about this topic, and we came to the conclusion, that such a little rivalry would be great. It would help us to push harder at training. But of course nothing serious, we're friends after all."

@Itzal, @Birdie

"Well, then I'm happy to hear that." He answered her as she said that she didn't thinks that Aereth drags her down. She then looked at a odd looking tree, maybe in hope to find some materials, but unfortunately, there wasn't anything.

After hearing Birdies description of Itzal's way of moving Aereth couldn't hold back a loud chuckle. "Yes, he's like the flash and spider man combined in one person." What Birdie then said about the monsters, confirmed what Aereth had assumed before. She doesn't like combat at all. But that was fine. She had a guild that had her back. So she didn't need to go into combat ever alone. "Yeah I know what you mean... Even these boars are mega scary if you meet them alone, but... I think I will need every combat experience I can get, if I want to join the frontlines one day." he said to Birdie. 

Now Aereth also look out for some materials that could be hiding anywhere around them. But it seemed like the close area around them was farmed empty.

After that she said how she was looking forward to see him running circles around monsters with the materials arts skill, which made Aereth smile again. "Don't worry. You are at least equally as brave as your friends. You also go outside and do your job while risking your life when you look for materials. You can be proud to be a scout. And as a scout you don't have to fight at all if you don't want to. And also do not worry about getting your comrades hurt. I belief that they all are able to hold their ground against that stupid monsters." he tried to assure her as he looked deep in her eyes with a smile. "And about the quest, I didn't think about it when I am going to do it, but I'd surely enjoy some company and another set of hands there."

@Birdie