zero_lost04

The swordfish managed to make it back into the water, but it had yet to free itself from the shiny hook that had embedded itself in it's mouth.  So still the fish struggled and fought, trying to get away from the fisherman with all its might while the old man did his best to pull the fish up out of the water.  It was a battle of attrition, neither the old man nor the fish were seemingly gaining or giving any ground, the only thing shifting the contest was the Player that stood on the shoreline.  He was the true target of the fish when it broke the water for it was only due to his interference that the contest was still going on between the old man and himself.  There was another powerful tug and this time the fish swam with the pull, breaching with water and soaring fairly high into the air.  As it went into the air, the Player was close enough that it body checked the player, scoring yet another solid hit as the fish went up into the air, having pushed off the player in such a way that the fish would fall back to earth in such as way that it would land in the water once again.

Zero tried to keep his focus on the flailing fish, ready to take it out and hopefully score the final, decisive blow and finish the swordfish off once and for all.  He had been having some good luck so far in keeping time with the fish's movements, bobbing his head along in rhythm with the swordfish, watching for what felt like the perfect moment to strike.  He held to this so far tried and true method of wait, attack, hit, repeat and kept his eye's focused on his target.  However, his focus was broken when the fish suddenly lunged at him with its sword like mouth, jabbing at him with lightning fast speed like a rapier.  It was sudden, abrupt and powerful, causing Zero to stumble backwards slightly and as he did, his attack swung harmlessly over the swordfish and missed the creature completely.  Silently cursing himself, he tried to move after the swordfish, but it had already managed to land back in the water and away from his blade.  He looked over to the old man and saw that he was still fighting the fish, so he readies his stance and prepares to attack once the fish comes out of the water once more.

The swordfish was once again rebuffed from its progress and wasn't able to return to the river, forced back once again by the blow from the player.  Still, even with its HP now dangerously low, the fish's programming didn't change, it was still only programmed with the most basic of survival instincts and it had been running on that this whole time.  There was little more that the fish could do other than attack and try to pull away from the fisherman and hopefully break the line so it could return to its life in the river.  As it came flopping back towards the player once again, this time the swordfish turned its head and jutted out the sword like protrusion on its face like a rapier and in a flash scoring a critical hit to the player.  The fish was "aware" that the hit had ultimately only done the minimum amount of damage possible to the player, but it wasn't programmed to recognize that fact in any way.  Instead, when the fish scored the blow and the player was knocked back by the attack, the swordfish would try to pull as hard as it could to get away from the dry land and return to the water.

Zero was visibly stunned and taken aback from having a fish smack him in the face with its tail.  While he had never fought a fish with a sword in real life, all the times he had gone fishing he had never had one smack him in the face with its tail.  It was a bizarre feeling to experience and he wasn't exactly sure how to react.  It was because of that that he just stared at the fish dumbfounded for a few moments.  After a few moments, he shakes his head pretty hard and gets his mind back focused on the task at hand, the sooner he could finish this up, the quicker he would be finished with the quest and he could finally start doing some fishing on his own.

The fish was fighting and pulling against the fisherman, but with it still being on dry land it made it's movements fairly predictable.  It would flop around while trying to move its body back in the direction of the water so that it could get free.  Zero readied his Straight Sword skill once again kept his eyes trained on the fish, waiting for just the right moment.  When the fish bounced up a little bit higher than usual, he quickly lashed out and swung his blade hard, once again delivering a solid attack to the fish and doing a good amount of damage to it.  The attack once again pushed the fish backwards and away from himself and the flowing river.  From what he could tell from the fish's life bar, it appeared that it was on it's last legs and wouldn't last much longer.

The fight was going, probably the way to put it would be average, at least in Zero's estimation.  Both of them weren't having a lot of luck with landing blows, though when they were able to do so, they were scoring some pretty significant damage, either through Zero's outright damage or Lee's abilities.  The battleground that they were on was what Zero was attributing most of their difficulties too, the shifting sands made it hard to stand and keep your balance when you attacked, between Zero's heavy blade and Lee's plate armor, the two of them probably weren't the most properly equipped for a battle in the desert.  

Zero bends his knees slightly and gets ready to attack again, ready to slash into the Scorpion once more and hopefully clock some pretty solid damage against the Scorpion.  Just as he beings to swing his sword, he hear's Lee shout out in anger and annoyance.  As Zero looks up from his attack to check on Lee with a bewildered look, his attack goes sailing over the head of the Sand Scorpion and misses the creature entirely.  Zero let's out a dejected sigh, this was definitely turning into a little bit of a comedy of errors, but he was grateful at least that he felt like they had done enough damage to the Scorpion that in a worst case scenario it would die to Lee's "Thorns" ability long before it could really harm either of them significantly.

@Lee

Zero listened to Itzal give a quick run down of his thoughts on the "Boss" of the quest.  He nodded along in agreement with him as he talked about the possibility of some Accuracy and Evasion buffs that the Dark Elf might have, simply from the fact that it was an elf.  The logic was good and from what he had seen, regular field mobs could spawn based more on the player who spawned them, so while a quest boss could be more set, having a party with such a high average level could potentially cause the boss to spawn either scaled more to challenge the party or with some added abilities that it normally didn't have to add an extra layer of challenge to the fight.  He also understood what Itzal was saying about the reward from this quest, it was dramatically less useful than what Teion had made for him and wouldn't really be worth much to him on its own.  Still with so few items to his name, Zero felt that holding on to what he could and potentially getting them appraised couldn't hurt right now.  He also heard Kasier speak up, while she did make some assumptions, he couldn't fault her logic and how she had arrived at her conclusion.  If the truth was too be told, if Itzal had never mentioned helping someone with this quest, Zero would have done it on his own and possibly would have never ended up in too many parties unless the quest he wanted to do required it.

"I don't mind hunting some monsters while we head to the Dark Elf to finish him off, I've gotten a good bit of combat experience on my own so I'm slowly figuring out how to use this over-sized blade on my back.  Plus, if this boss doesn't scale, it will be a pretty boring adventure with it dying off so fast.  Plus right now materials aren't really of much use to me other than as bartering chips with other players, but if either of you two need them, I will be more than happy to help you search as a thank you for helping me get through this quest in as quick a time as possible."  Zero takes time to bow his head to each of them individual as he speaks, thanking them for helping him with this quest so they can get through it as quickly as possible.  It was only at the moment that he raised his head that he noticed that Kasier was already on the move.  Smiling a little bit because he was getting the feeling that he would really like this party, he quickly followed after her so they could get things started.

@Itzal

It was a look of shock to both Lee and Zero as they both looked at their weapon's almost confused.  Zero attempts to shake off that feeling as quickly as he can, after all, this game was based on control through mind so while there were still clearly some more random elements remaining to balance the game, there had to still be a good bit of it based on the actions your brain told your virtual body.  While it was true that once your numbers got high enough, you were virtually untouchable, a great strategy and solid execution could also overcome a lot as well.  It was an interesting balance that could be struck in this game, it was something that could definitely extend the life cycle of the game, well aside from that whole trapped in the death thing it had going on right now.

Zero again focused and took in a deep breath, looking straight at the scorpion as it was locked in place due to it paralysis.  He held his blade up and let it begin glowing as the Sword Art began to activate.  He waited for the right moment, waiting to feel the sword art begin to start fully activating.  When he felt that the moment was just right, he stepped forward and swung the blade hard side to side and scores a solid hit against the Sand Scorpion.   It left the signature trail of red code as the attack blasted through the scorpion and dealt his damage.

@Lee

The swordfish's programming wasn't sure what to do as it flopped around on the ground, attempting to get back to the water and away from the person that was attacking it.  The player scored another powerful hit on the fish and knocked it backwards while it was flopping in the air.  When the player's blow connected however, the fish lashed out its large tail and smacked the player right in the face, causing the player to stumble back a few steps himself.  There was no pleasure or happiness in this strike for the swordfish, it wasn't programmed for anything like that.  It was merely doing what it needed to do to complete its programming; defeat the player, break the line, return to the water and start swimming.  Pulling on the hook in it's mouth, the fish continued to fight back towards the water, pulling on the line with all its might while it tried to get away from the fisherman and go right through the player if need be to return to the water.

Roll ID - 84163

MD - 7 (Hit)

Zero - 99/100 HP | 7/10 EP | 21 MIT | 2 ACC | 9 RGN | 6 DMG (Regan activated on next turn)

Swordfish - 22/50 HP | 15 DMG

Zero barely paid any attention to the blow that the Swordfish dealt to him this time.  Just like before, his mitigation had made it so that nothing more than a single point of damage was done to him, even with how solid the blow had actually been.  After a few seconds, the healing ability of his armor kicked in again, healing up the damage that had been done to him once again.  Ultimately, Zero knew now that this was nothing more than a war of attrition, if he took his time and picked his attacks carefully, there was no way that the fish could survive this fight with him.  It was literally only a matter of time before he was finally able to kill the fish and finish up the quest.

Zero readied his blade almost like a baseball bat, focusing his attention on the fish and even bobbing his head up and down in time with the swordfish as he flopped around on the ground and tried to get back into the water and away from the player for a moment.  Watching carefully and focusing on his timing, he activates his Straight Sword Art ability and swings the blade exactly like a baseball bat and catches the swordfish with a powerful blow the knocks the fish back slightly as it was trying to return to the water.

Roll ID - 84162

BD - 9 (+1 Crit)

6 (base) + 1 (Crit) = 7 x 2 - 14

Zero - 100/100 HP | 7/10 EP | 21 MIT | 2 ACC | 9 RGN | 6 DMG

Swordfish - 22/50 HP | 15 DMG

The swordfish followed its programming, tugging on the line trying to get free until the fisherman pulls hard on the line and pulls him up on to the surface so that they could attack.  The player that the fish was focusing on took a large swing against the fish and spun around him, missing the fish with his strike but moving between himself and the water.  As the player was spinning around, the fish lashed out with it's tail, slamming into the shoulder of the player and delivering another strong blow to the player.  The fish wasn't programmed to be smart enough to notice the glowing, shimmering effect the the shoulder guards were exhibiting every time he struck the player, all the swordfish was focused on was attacking and getting free from its hook and returning to the river to swim.  The swim flops on the ground, unable to move much on land.  It was attempting to move back to the water so that it could follow its programmed pattern, but this time the player stood in his way.

Roll ID - 84161

Mob Dice - 9 (+1 Crit)

Zero - 99/100 HP | 8/10 EP | 21 MIT | 2 ACC | 9 RGN | 6 DMG (Regan activated on next turn)

Swordfish - 36/50 HP | 15 DMG

Zero winced as the swordfish caught him with an attack, noting the "Critical" symbol that appeared, signifying that the attack would do more damage than normal.  He looks over to his life bar to examine it and see the damage that was done and was shocked to see that the damage was a single point of damage.  Looking up to the sky, he lets out a hearty laugh, he had almost forgotten that he had upgraded his equipment and was a good bit stronger now, the damage the the swordfish was capable of doing to him wasn't enough to get through his Mitigation abilities now.  His laughter roars up once again as his Obsidian Guard glows and the single point of damage that he had taken earlier was recovered.  He had to make sure to thank Teion for the armor the next time he saw her, it had made it so that even if this mob hit him, it was literally impossible for it to kill him.

Zero waited patiently for a few moments until the fisherman tugged on the line again and pulled the swordfish to the surface.  He knew that when the fish came to the surface, it would target him again since he had generated the hate on the mob.  With any luck, he might be able to spin out of the the way and force the creature to stay on land which should make it a lot easier for him to attack it.  His plan seemed to be successful, though only about half as much as he would have liked.  When the fish surfaced and flopped over towards him, Zero's attack missed, but with his footwork he managed to get between the fish and the river, making it unlikely that the fish would be able to get back to the water with any ease.

Roll ID - 84159

BD - 3 + 2 = 5 (Miss)

Zero - 100/100 HP | 8/10 EP | 21 MIT | 2 ACC | 9 RGN | 6 DMG 

Swordfish - 36/50 HP | 15 DMG

Zero was a bit surprised at how quickly the Tailor had gotten to his request and got it done.  He was sure that a vanity item would have been pretty low on his priorities list, but yet it was still done very quickly.  Opening up his menu to take a look at the clothing, he was extremely pleased with the work that was done, it had turned out exactly how he had wanted it to and to him it just looked absolutely perfect. He didn't put the clothing on right away, he wanted to take a bit of time before he did that, but he loved the way that it looked and was extremely pleased with how everything had turned out.  Scrolling through his menu, Zero moves to send Aereth his payment, but instead of 100 Col, he selected 130 to give to the other player.

"I am extremely happy with it, it is perfect.  Thank you so much for your work, I know that vanity items can't be all that enjoyable to work on. While I'm not sure if you really need it, I wanted to give you a little extra Col as a thank you for the work you have done.  If you ever need anything, feel free to drop me a line, I'll be opening up my own shop in the pretty near future and I might be able to help you out a little bit more with that."  Zero thanks Aereth and bows low to him before gathering up the clothing that he had just gotten and heading out back into town.

+1 "Seeker's Clothing" (T1 Vanity)

-130 Col

The swordfish was just minding its own business, swimming along it's pre-programmed route in the river.  There wasn't much more that it was programmed to do, it was meant to just swim in this lake until the fisherman cast his line into the river.  As the swordfish was swimming around in the river, a shiny sparkle in the water caught its eye.  It's programming kicked in and it swam up to the shiny item and followed through on its basic programming like a real fish and bit into the hook.  Suddenly there was a tug on its body and the swordfish fought hard to stay in the water as it was being dragged to the surface.  Soon, it breached the water and saw the fisherman pulling on the line.  Just as it was about to attack the old man and attempt to free itself, a large blade slashed into the fish and diverted its attention.  A man wearing black pants and armor and holding the blade was now its new target.

Pushing with all its might and flinging itself through the air, the swordfish struck a mighty blow against the man who had attacked it.  The fish's attention was now fully focused on this player and it would fight to the very end to defeat him.  After landing the attack, the swordfish manages to fight his way back into the water but he was still hooked on the rod and couldn't get but so far.  Waiting for another big tug, the swordfish waited so that it could attack again once it was pulled up out of the water.

Roll ID - 84150

Mob Dice - 9

15 (base) + 1 (crit) = 16 - 21 (Mit) = 1 (minimum damage)

Zero - 99/100 HP | 8/10 EP | 21 MIT | 2 ACC | 9 RGN | 6 DMG (Regan Activated +9 at start of next turn)

Swordfish - 36/50 HP | 15 DMG

Zero listened to @Itzal and Kasier very intently.  Itzal seemed to think that any player over level 5 should be able to take care of the boss for the quest very easily.  He also mentioned that the reward was pretty much useless to him which made Zero even more grateful for the fact that he had gotten fully geared up not too long ago.  Kasier then mentioned that should the boss even touch her, then it would immediately fall.  While he thought there was a possibility that she might be talking metaphorically, he figured that the most likely scenario that was talking about was that she had a lot of Thorns type damage that would reflect back on the boss.  Zero's face was a little bit dejected when he heard her mention that from the information she had gathered the boss only had 20 HP.  That was a lot lower than he was expecting and if its HP was that low, its damage output would probably be pretty low too.

"Well Kasier, that is a bit disappointing to hear about the boss, if its HP is that low, then I think I could take it out in two attacks on my own and if its damage output is comparable to its HP, then I'm pretty sure it couldn't hurt me either.  In that sense, this should be an Skill Point grab for all of us. I suppose I could use the reward myself, while I'm pretty happy with the armor I've got right now, you never know what a merchant may be able to unlock on it and since I can only use Tier 1 stuff, more options is always a nice bonus.  Who knows, maybe if we are lucky we can find a rare monster spawn or maybe even locate a sub dungeon.  I probably wouldn't be much help against mobs that are scaled more for either of your two levels, but for my level I can do some decent damage, so I should be able to take care of myself.  Now, I'm not really sure of anything on this floor, I haven't done much travelling outside the main town settlements, so if you two are ready, I'm more than ready to get out there and get this thing rolling."  Zero says with a smile and a nod at the end.  Overall, this would probably be a pretty easy run for them, it didn't sound like the quest boss would give them any kind of trouble.  Plus, you never knew how adventures would turn out, they might find something far more interesting during their adventure that could make things a lot more fun than just the quest itself.  On the same note, Zero was quite happy to be making some friends in this world.  He had always played MMOs pretty solo and usually get himself in way over his head because of it, and that would be extremely deadly here, possibly for real as well, it was nice to actually have some company on a few quests.

Zero could see that Lee was getting quite a bit of fun out of this.  The monster, despite its relative strength, didn't really seem like it could do much against the two of them.    Granted if they both started missing a lot of hits and the scorpion started blasting them with powerful strikes, that could turn around pretty quickly, but that seemed unlikely.  Even on a normal hit, Zero was doing a pretty substantial amount of damage and he was pretty confident that while Lee didn't seem to do a lot of outright damage, that he probably had some abilities on either his weapon, armor, shield or all of the above that would allow him to take care creatures as well.  That seemed to be confirmed when he noticed a bleeding effect appear to follow the red slash of code that the game generated on a hit.  That seemed to indicate that at the very least, Lee's weapon had a bleed effect that would sometimes proc on hit.  

Zero moves in to strike again, bringing his blade up and driving it down, mostly allowing the force of gravity to the work and generate the power behind the attack for him, however just as his attack was about to hit, the Scorpion moved back slightly and took up a defensive position after scoring an attack on Lee.  Due to this sudden change in movement from the Scorpion, Zero's attack would miss by only inches, barely avoiding making contact with creature and doing damage.  Still, he didn't let it bother him too much, if his assumption about the bleed ability was right, then it was only a matter of time before the Scorpion fell to their combined assault.

@Lee

Zero smirked as his attack finally connected and he was getting a feel for not only fighting with this blade, but also for fighting in this location.  The sword he had gotten from Macradon was definitely different than the starter one he had from the beginning of the game and the loose sand all around him made fighting more difficult than normal as well.  Still, in a game that used physics that were so close to real life and had an unparalleled freedom of motion through the nerve gear system, any challenge or difficulty could be over come with enough focus and strategy, it was all a matter of making it work.  He heard Lee call out to him and even in the heat of battle, Zero couldn't help but respond to him.

"Well, I have to make the most out of every hit I get.  Without any kind of thorns ability or damage over time abilities like bleed, I have to take on monsters the old fashioned way, slowly beating them to death."  Zero shouts as he see's Lee deliver his own blow to the creature.  He couldn't really tell how much damage that attack did or if it had some other effect that might proc on hit, but in the end that didn't really change how Zero was going to approach this fight anyway.  Gripping the hilt of his blade tightly and pulling it in close to his side, he lunges forward and slashes from side to side with his Straight Sword Art again, once again leaving a red code-like trail on the scorpion's body as his attack connected and hit for its damage.  Since the focus was on Lee, Zero wasn't too focused on getting out of range of the Scorpion's attack, instead he moved more to make sure that he was in good position for his next strike.

@Lee

"Sadly, I wish there was a deeper meaning to the username, but unfortunately it is not so.  This is merely a username I started using a very long time ago, but when things on the internet weren't quite as, umm, let's say inventive as they are now.  There may have been some good reason I had for putting it all together when I first started using it, though in truth it was probably because "Zero" was taken as a username and I needed to come up with something a bit more unique."  Zero says, remaining pretty stoic throughout the first part of his explanation, but then chuckling a little bit towards the end.  Zero watched as the tiny purple dragon first stared intently, then left Itzal's shoulder and flew around before landing on Kasier head, along with Itzal mentioning something about ice cream for the small dragon later.  It was interesting to see the bonds player's made with their familiars, he had never gotten a familiar or tamed any creature in the other MMOs that he had ever played, but he had seen a lot of strong bonds developed between the two in this game, though Sword Art Online was definitely anything but a normal MMO.

"I believe the quest that we were going to undertake was called "Worn Out Welcome". I haven't spent much time on this floor so I don't really know much about the specifics of the quest and what goes on with it or even what the rewards are.  If I am to be completely honest, I'm really just most interested in getting some extra Skill Points so that I can get my levels up a bit more and maybe rank up my weapon again."   Zero talked as much as he could about the quest they were going on, but since he had never spend any time on this floor other than just wandering around the main town, he was largely at a loss and couldn't really say much more than just what the quest was.  He also didn't feel like there was any need to hide his real feelings on the quest either.  All he was really interested in, for the most part, was just being able to get his levels up a bit more and to grow stronger so that he could go out to stronger places and grow even more.  Still it was nice to have the company and he couldn't help but smile at the interactions between Itzal, Kasier and Velnia, it was nice to see things like that despite the situation that they all found themselves in in this world.  

@Itzal

Zero steadied himself and focused his gaze squarely on the scorpion that had still turned away from him.  He barely heard Lee's reassurance that they still had this, though he does not his nod in a reaction to his words, grasping it on some level as his conscious was focused entirely on the creature right in front of him.  His breathing slowed a bit as he heard another thunderous howl erupt from Lee, further grabbing the scorpions attention and causing the creature to focus solely on Lee alone.  The sand did make keeping his footing and scoring a meaningful attack more difficult with the weapon that he was using, but he could compensate for that, he just needed to make absolute sure of what he was doing as he attacked.

His movements were slightly slower this time as he moved towards the Scorpion as it lashed out at his fellow party member.  His footing was sure, shifting his weight with the shifting of the sands as he stepped to keep himself on point to his target.   He draws his blade back close to his side and with a flick of his wrists as he rotates his body, Zero brings his blade around in a wide, sweeping slash from right to left in front of his body.  The blade connects solidly, scoring a critical hit on the Scorpion and dealing a pretty substantial amount of damage, at least for his level anyway.  He brings his blade back up in front of his chest and readies for the moment his attack cool down is done and he can launch his next strike.

@Lee

Zero arrives back into the Town of Beginnings, it didn't take too long after he began moving a bit more quickly after fulfilling his self-imposed quota of 5 fishing supply materials.  It should be more than enough for him to complete the quest and still have a good little bit left over.  That was what he wanted after all, as soon as he finished this quest, he wanted to go buy a new fishing rod that would hopefully improve his odds of catching fish, then start fishing and relax.  Having moved quickly through the town, he made his way back to the NPC who started the quest.

"Ah, good to see that you've made it back.  I see you've gotten a hold of a few supplies, that is wonderful.  I have some materials myself, so you can hold on to those for the time being in case I need them.  We will be heading to the river behind my shop.  There is a pretty tough swordfish that lives in there that I've been trying to catch for years, but I'm just not as capable as I used to be.  Once I hook it, it will start attacking, I will need you to fight back for me so that I can reel it in."  The old man responded to Zero and started the next part of the quest, though he was a bit surprised that the old man allowed him to keep all the materials right now.  Maybe the quest was designed so that you collected some materials first so that when you finished and started your shop you had a nice base of materials to work with right from the start.

It wasn't long before the two of them were in the new instance and the old man started fishing.  It took almost no time before the sword fish was hooked and was jumping out of the water and attacking, trying to get free from the old man's fishing rod.  Zero needed to focus and time his attack just right, slashing out with his Straight Sword Art and dealing a significant amount of damage when he hit.  That drew the swordfish's ire and it began to attack him instead of the old man, which was what Zero wanted all along.

Roll ID - 83793

Battle Dice - 9 + 2 = 11 (Critical Hit +1 DMG)

6 DMG + 1 Crit = 7 DMG X 2 = 14 DMG Total

Zero - 100/100 HP | 8/10 EP | 21 MIT | 2 ACC | 9 RGN | 6 DMG

Swordfish - 36/50 HP | 15 DMG

Zero was starting to close in on the town of beginnings, it wouldn't be much longer until he arrived at the town gates and his opportunity to find any more materials would come to a crashing halt.  Still, he wasn't really upset about that at this point.  He could have stopped at any time and just gone on back to help out the old man and finish up the quest after he found the first material, that was all the quest log was saying that he needed to proceed with the quest.  It was only because he wanted to be prepared for after the quest that he had proceeded in doing what he had done so far.  Still there were other ways that he could get materials and if things worked out, he might even to able to make his fishery a bit more self-sufficient on materials if things went well for him.  It was as he was nearing the gates of the town that he just happened to almost literally trip over another material gathering point.  With a big smile on his face, Zero gathered the last of the materials he needed for his self imposed completion requirement before heading back much more quickly into the town than he was moving before.

Roll ID - 83780

Loot Dice - 16 (Success - 5 T1 Materials Found Total)

After walking around for a bit more, Zero comes to a complete stop and sighs deeply.  There would be some opportunities to search some more as he made his way back to town, but he had just decided to give up for right now.  There must be a skill or something in this game that could make this search go by a lot easier and once he got back into town and finished up this quest he would definitely be looking into that.  Surely there had to be a way to speed this process up, otherwise he couldn't comprehend how so many players had been able to level up their profession ranks so quickly.  Feeling a tiny bit defeated, Zero turns on his heels and beginnings heading back to the Town of Beginnings.  He was going to keep his eyes open as he made his way back to town, but he wasn't really feeling all the confident that he would find anything and had just decided to settle for what he had and be happy with it and finish this quest on up.  He could always gather more materials at some other time, but right now he really wanted to go fishing.

Roll ID - 83779

Loot Dice - 10 (Failure)

Zero kept a look out for the player that was going to join him on the quest.  He wasn't familiar with this floor and didn't know much about it, so it was a rather abrupt shock to him when a player essentially leaped out of a tree and landed just outside the gate to the settlement.  It took him a few moments to react when the player walked up to him and asked if he was the player that had wanted up on this quest.  The suddenness of the other player's arrival and the small purple dragon like creature that had landed on the other player's shoulder and temporarily left him speechless.  Gathering his wits, Zero decided to introduce himself.

"Yes, I am, thank you for agreeing to help me with this quest. I don't really know much about this floor and while I hadn't originally planned on taking this quest just yet, when I saw your message about it, I figured why not.  My handle in this game is zero_lost04, but you can call me whatever you like."  Zero says, respectfully lowering his head in a simple nod to the other player when he introduces himself.  It was about that time that another player walked up to them and began a conversation of her own.  It actually annoyed Zero a little bit to she her just point at him and ask he who he was, he thought it was a little rude since he was standing right there, but from her tone of voice, he was pretty sure that that was not how she meant for it to be taken.  Deciding to take a bit of initiative in regards to that himself, he took a step forward.

"It is a pleasure to meet you miss.  My handle in this game is zero_lost04, I'll take you two must be friends.  He had agreed to help me with a quest on this floor, I don't really know much about the requirements for this quest, but if you would like to join us I would be more than happy to have another player in party with us."  Zero says as he steps forward and once again bows his head in a respectful nod as he introduces himself to the newly arrived female player.

@Itzal

Zero was beginning to really curse himself for his lack of awareness earlier.  If he had just been paying attention and doing a more adequate job of searching for material gathering spots, this portion of the quest would probably be done already and he would be almost completely through with this quest and almost be ready to get his fishing license for Aincrad and enjoy some nice down time.  Instead, he was still wandering the woods, looking for another piece of material that he could use as a fishing supply and wasting time.  Granted he didn't really have a quota that he needed to fill to move on with the quest, but he wanted to make sure that he had enough materials so that when he was able to start fishing on his own, he wouldn't have to go off and collect more materials instead of using the time for actually fishing.  Still, he wasn't going to keep going for this much longer, he had a lot of patience because what he was doing was setting him up so that he could get some good fishing done, but he was ready to go fishing and if he had to go out and search for more materials later he would, or if all else failed he would go see if he could buy some from a merchant. 

Roll ID - 83648

Loot Dice - 13 (Failure)

It had taken him significantly longer than it should have for him to realize that he was wandering around aimlessly, thinking about things that would be easily explained to him and that would likely be even more completely explained in his help menu once he had unlocked the profession.  Trying to shake himself out of his aimless wandering and rambling, Zero knew that he really needed to focus on the task at hand and get finished with this part of the quest so that he could move along and get to the next part.  He wondered briefly if he had missed any material gathering points while he wasn't paying attention but he quickly shook himself out of that funk.  There was no point in dwelling on what had happened and what he had missed, in the real world he would just call it a sunk cost and move on and that was what he was deciding to do right now.  Maybe by focusing a little bit more and keeping his situational awareness a bit higher, he would be able to find what he needed soon enough.

Roll ID - 83648

Loot Dice - 13 (Failure)

He was starting to make some headway in his head about how he was thinking the mechanics would work for the game.  Much like cooking, the task of baiting the hook would probably require little more than a button press in the menu or tapping something on the fishing rod that he would be using, much in the same way he saw that cooks only had to touch a knife to the ingredients once in order to have them all chopped perfectly.  Beyond that though, he wasn't sure how the mechanics of the fishing mini game would completely work.  Ultimately he had settled on the idea that once a fish had taken the bait, it would cause the rod to bend and feel a pull as the fish tried to swim away with the bait, once that happened he would need to set the hook and get the fish in, which would probably vary slightly depending on what type of fishing rod you were using.  He could see a possibility for several small variations to the fishing mini game being programmed in and the way that it would work would vary slightly, along with depending on whether or not had some weights or bobbers on the line as well.  It was an interesting thing to think about but once again there was no telling how many material gathering points he passed and missed out on while he was locked in deep thought.

Roll ID - 83645

Loot Dice - 9 (Failure)