zero_lost04

The thoughts replaying in his head were distracting him a bit from what he needed to get done.  There were a lot of mechanics that he was trying to figure out in his head, allowing his time doing real world fishing to cloud his mind in regards to how fishing in game might work.  It was a lot more thought than he should have given it, especially since the old man who had given him the quest had told him that he would teach him the basics of the fishing profession so he should be able to learn the mechanics that way and didn't really need to bother himself with thoughts like that at this moment.  As he was lost in thought, there was no telling how many material gathering points he walked past and missed out on because he was too focused on his own thoughts to notice them right by his feet.  The thought didn't even cross his mind that he needed to focus on what was happening right in front of him right now rather than opine on things that he was actually going to learn shortly.  It would have taken even less time to learn it if only he had focused on the task at hand rather than letting his mind wander like it was.

Roll ID - 83644

Loot Dice - 3 (Failure)

Zero had stopped his whistling finally and was just walking along the path, looking for more fishing materials while thinking about a few different things for his, hopefully, soon to be profession.  How would baiting the hook work?  Would different fishing poles give you better odds at catching fish?  At that, would using different rods change the types of fish that you could catch in the same area?  Would the mechanics for fishing be the same if you were using a stick fishing pole, rod and reel or fly fishing rod? There were a lot of mechanical quests that were now popping into his mind about how this would work.  He was kind of hoping that, for the most part, it would work just like it did in real life, but he realized that that could, in theory, be a problem for other players that weren't used to fishing in the real world so there would like be some simplifacitions done to make the profession more accessible.  Then again, it was possible that the reason there were almost no fishermen was because they hadn't made fishing easier than what it was in the real world and the learning curve for it was too steep compared to other jobs.  There was a lot to think about and he did just that as he continued on down the path looking for more fishing supplies.

Roll ID - 83643

Loot Dice - 12 (Failure)

Zero stood waiting at the entrance to the main settlement on the third floor.  He hadn't actually spent much time on this floor at all.  Between all the quests he had taken on the first floor, the only other floor that he had really spent any significant amount of time on was the fifth floor.  As such, he didn't really understand much of the layout of this floor, how it was set up, what types of enemies there were and which quests actually were available here.  What had brought him this way however, was a chance call put out by another player.  A player by the name of @Itzal had put out a call, wanting to help players with a particular quest called "Worn Out Welcome".  Zero had never taken the quest before and figured it could be worth some decent experience, the quicker that he could grow and get his strength up, the safer he would be in this "death game".  He wasn't too sure exactly what this quest would entail or how it would work or even if Itzal would be the only one accompanying him on this quest.  While there were a lot of questions that he had in his mind, he wasn't too worried.  Maybe it was his new armor and weapon that was giving him a bit of an extra air of confidence, but he was sure that he could handle whatever this quest could throw at him, having someone to go along with him for the quest would make things even easier.

Items Equipped for RP

Obsidian Guard - +2 Mit, +1 Regan

Two Handed Sword of the Fallen - +2 Damage, +1 Acc

Gentlemen's Cuff Links - +1 Acc

5 Tier 1 Potions of Healing of Uncommon Quality

After all the time that he had spent wandering the wooded paths near the town of beginnings, weariness of the search was finally starting to settle in on Zero.  It had been quite some time since he had started his search for fishing supplies and while he had made some good progress, he was very interested in finally getting through the quest so that he could do some fishing for himself and get his own little shop set up.  His levels of annoyance quickly dropped back to near non-existence as he managed to find another gathering point that gained him some more materials for his fishing supplies.  He was nearing his self-imposed goal of five materials before heading back to the quest giver and getting started on the second part of the quest so that he could get his fishing license as he had affectionately taken to calling the end goal of this quest.  Just a bit more and he would be through with this quest and he could move on to getting his shop open and getting to fishing.

Roll ID - 83633

Loot Dice - 16 (Success - 4 Tier 1 Materials Found Total)

Zero wasn't even really aware that he had largely done a complete loop around the outskirts of the Town of Beginnings already as he continued his look for fishing supply materials.  It wasn't nearly as annoying to him as when he was looking for materials during the first beginning quest or when he was just killing time in the second one.  It was just a nice, peaceful day; the weather was just perfect today and it truly felt like a great day to go fishing in Aincrad, which just helped keep him in such high spirits.  He wondered what kinds of fish the game would have in it.  There was a good likelihood that there would be some typical Japanese fish and probably some created just for this game, but he couldn't help but wonder if there was some fish like Catfish, Spot, Chad, Brim; the types of fish he grew up fishing for would really make his day.  He was enjoying the search for fishing supplies and was really looking forward to finally being able to catch some fish.

Roll ID - 83631

Loot Dice - 7 (Failure)

On any other given fetch quest to find crafting materials, this would normally be the time where Zero would start getting really annoyed with the grind, especially without having all the much luck finding the items that he wanted very easily.  There was something different about this quest and this grind though, knowing what it was that he was working towards at the end of this quest made him extremely relaxed during a quest that so far had been nothing but a continuous grind for materials.  Fishing was always a bit off in pretty much every game that he had played that had it in it, but knowing that the game was intercepting and interpreting brain signals for movement gave Zero a lot of hope that fishing in the game would be extremely similar to how it was done in real life.  From what he had seen, there were a lot of shortcuts and simplification done for most of the jobs to make them easier and more manageable for all players, but in theory fishing should be the one job that should be almost identical to its real world counterpart.

Roll ID - 83630

Loot Dice - 1 (Failure)

To the outside observer, Zero had to look absolutely insane right now.  Still wearing all his normal gear for combat and walking down the dirt path while whistling the theme from the Andy Griffith show.  For being trapped in a virtual reality game that, supposedly, could kill him he was extremely relaxed and happy today, just the thoughts of being able to go fishing again had had put him in a really great mood and had allowed him to relax and forget about all the insanity in the world around him.  It really was just like the feelings that he would get in the real world when he was getting ready to go fishing and just let the rest of the world melt away around him.  After a little bit of walking, he found another material gathering spot and managed to get another material for his fishing supplies.  He figured that he was getting close to getting enough materials so that shouldn't be a problem soon for him and he could hopefully start fishing soon.

Roll ID - 83628

Loot Dice - 18 (Sucess - 3 Tier 1 Mats Total)

Zero wasn't having much luck finding materials to help him along with the quest.  There wasn't an amount specified for the quest, but he wanted to get at least five fishing materials so that when he completed the quest, hopefully he would have a little bit left over so that he could start fishing on his own and hopefully get some ranks up in the profession quickly.  Still, despite not having much luck, you wouldn't be able to tell any level of frustration or annoyance on his face.  For the first time since he had started seriously playing this game and moving through the ranks, he was available to just forget about everything else and get lost in the fact that he was getting ready to go fishing again and that thought just brightened up his mood and allowed him to completely forget about everything else that was going on in this crazy game around him.

Roll ID - 83626

Loot Dice - 7 (Failure)

There was just something about the relaxing search that just made Zero feel so happy.  In most games, grinding for materials in order to participate in whatever crafting system the game used tended to be laborious and boring. Maybe because of the full dive system of the nerve gear it didn't feel like that and really just reminded him of preparing to go fishing in the real world.  Grinding for stuff like this wasn't something that bothered him, he had played RPGs his entire life and was used to the grind, but there was something special about this.  Just taking his time and enjoying the moment, he managed to find another material that he could use for fishing.  There was a happiness in the simplicity of this right now that Zero was really enjoying and was really glad that he had decided to undertake this quest, fishing seemed like it was the perfect profession for him in this game.

Roll ID - 83570

Loot Dice - 19 (Success - 2 Tier 1 Materials Total)

Zero was just continuing to what he had been doing, simply walking down the dirt path whistling the theme song to "The Andy Griffith Show" over and over again while occasionally stopping to look at an area that looked promising for material gathering.  So far he hadn't had any luck, but there was a part of him that felt like a kid again while he was doing this.  While there were quite a few bait shops around where he grew up, many times he and his friends would need to get creative for bait when they wanted to go fishing and in a lot of ways this took him back to that feeling.  He thought about just how much fun it would be to just do this every day in the game and even how much more relaxing it would be if he could have done and still having the ability to log out of the game. While he wasn't having any luck finding anything right now, he was just enjoying himself and letting himself got lost in the simplicity of fishing.

Roll ID - 83566

Loot Dice - 11 (Failure)

Zero was just taking his time, looking around for any materials that looked like they could be used for fishing.  If this was the real world, he would find himself a rotting tree stump and dig up the soil around it and bust the stump open to get the bugs and worms that would make their home in this locations.  However, since this was a game, he was stuck looking around for areas where he could gather materials.  Considering that he was looking for fishing materials, he figured that it was appropriate for him to start whistling a little tune while he walked along and looked.  Before he knew it, he was whistling the theme song from the "Andy Griffith Show", though once he realized it and thought about the opening he realized just how appropriate the song was for what he was doing.  Continuing his whistling while he walked down the path looking for fishing supplies, he couldn't help but smile as this began to fell so much like the real world to him for a few moments.

Roll ID - 83564

Loot Dice - 8 (Failure)

Zero had figured that finding materials for his profession should be relatively easy.  With so few people having chosen to become a fisherman, the materials that he would need for his job should be more plentiful as players weren't hunting for them, at least that was his working theory.  The reality was proving to be quite different.  Materials in this game were extremely valuable, in a lot of ways they were far more valuable than Col, at the very least when it came to player interactions.  This seemed to indicate then that every material, regardless of which profession they were meant for, were highly sought after merely for the fact that they were so valuable as bartering chips between each other.  Zero sighed a little bit as this realization hit him, but in the end it didn't really matter to him.  He could take his time, search areas that were safe from monster attack and gather all the items he needed, regardless of how long it took.  Once he got everything he needed, he should be pretty well set to roll again and get to fishing, it would be a nice break in this death game.

Roll ID 83554

Loot Dice - 14 (Failure)

Lee agreed with allowing Zero to take the first strike, though after missing so remarkably he kind of wished that he hadn't taken the first strike at the creature.  He was pretty sure that Lee was aware that he wasn't too high of a level yet, but he didn't want to appear to be completely inept at how the game worked.  He had survived a good little bit, some on his own and some with others, and didn't want to come off looking like a complete noob.  He then heard a Howl erupt from Lee.  While he wasn't too familiar with the ability himself yet, he assumed it was a variance of the threaten ability in other MMOs, it would allow him to generate massive amounts of hate in a short period of time, allowing himself to become the target of the monster instead of Zero.

Nodding a thanks to Lee for the assist as the Scorpion attacks and misses the other player, Zero moves in to attack once again.  As he raises his blade up, he feels his footing become extremely unsteady on the shifting sands below his feet.  With his footing now unsteady, he isn't able to swing his blade with the accuracy that he would have liked and he brings down his blade into the sand near the Scorpion once again.  Muttering silent curses to himself,  Zero attempts to dig his feet into the ground to secure his footing for his next strike.

@Lee

Roll ID - 83552

BD - 2 + 2 = 4 (Miss)

I will be taking on this quest with @Itzal

The area's that he was searching through were pretty devoid of monsters, which is thankfully what he wanted right now.  While he was feeling pretty confident in himself with his new armor and weapon, he had other tasks on his mind right now and thought that it would be better to not fight anything at the moment, better to survive and get what he was calling his "Fishing License" today than to hit on the slightly more ridiculous side that could possibly get him killed while he was trying to fish.  While he definitely wasn't afraid of going after some things that were higher level than he should, he also didn't want to die while trying to complete the profession quest, if he was going to die he did want it to be at least slightly cooler than that.

Having wandered around a little bit, Zero managed to come across a material gathering point that hadn't been scooped up yet.  He was grateful that he was able to find some fishing supplies with relative ease so far.  He remembered some of the difficulty he had when he was scrounging around for materials during the beginner quest and he knew that finding materials was sometimes harder than it needed to be in this game.  Knowing that he still had a bit to go, he continued on his way looking for more materials.

Roll ID - 83545

LD - 20 (Success)

There were a lot of forests just in the outskirts of the Town of Beginnings.  Aside from the possibility of being attacked by boars, Zero also knew that this should be prime location for fishing basic fishing supplies, in particular bait.  Frogs, worms and other assorted tiny creatures should be easy enough to find in the area, though his only real question about that was whether or not he would be able to find spots where he could get things like that in order to help him move along in the quest for fish.  He was going to take his time and search over the areas as carefully as he could, especially since he wasn't sure what he was looking for just yet.  At the same time, he wanted to make sure that he wasn't ambushed by any monsters, while he should largely be ok, he knew better than to take any thing for granted in this game.  Additionally, there was a good chance that he might actually be fighting some fish later, so he didn't want to burn through any resources he might need later just in case.

Roll ID - 83543

Loot Dice - 11 (Failure)

Zero had been wandering around a bit aimlessly as of late.  He still hadn't gotten around to really starting up the next stage in the beginners quest, for the most part he had really been doing little more than visiting player shops and trying to get himself properly outfitted so that this game didn't have the possibility to kill him outright like it did on his first couple of quests.  He had been thinking about possibly starting the profession quest and opening up his own shop.  It was definitely something to consider, it would help him earn some more Col and possibily some more materials without having to wander the game for the items and nearly get himself killed, but he wasn't sure what he wanted too do.  He didn't want to be a blacksmith, he liked Teion and intended to go back to her for his blacksmithing needs, tailor didn't suit him, alchemy didn't seem like it would mesh well with him, performer was definitely out as was cook.  He was figuring it would probably be merchant but he knew that there were quite a few of those around and he didn't think it would help him stick out much.  As he was wandering through the town of beginnings near where all the profession quest givers were, Zero noticed an old man that seemed a little bit different. He approaches him and listens to the NPC's conversation.

"Hello there young man, do you think you could help me just a bit?  You see, I'm just an old fisherman, trying to catch a few prizes, but the fish are, umm, a bit tougher than one would expect and as you can see, I'm not the fisherman that I was in my prime.  If you could help me gather a few materials and then head out on the lake with me to help me subdue a few of the stronger fish, I'd happily teach you all the I know about being a fishermen."  A smile comes across Zero's face as he listens to the old man talk.  He loved fishing in the real world and had done a lot of different types of it in his life and this felt like it just clicked.  When the prompt came up on his screen, he quickly selected the accept option and then scrolled through his quest log.  He didn't really pay much attention to what the fisherman said after that as he read through the quest log.  Smiling to himself, Zero heads out of the safe zone so that he can start collecting a few supplies to start his fishing quest.

Zero does not hesitate when he receives that party invite from Lee, having expected that to come.  He accepts the invite and joins the party and he nods along in agreement with Lee when he talks about the reasons why he wanted to make an official party.  He could definitely understand the logic in though, a part of him had to think about how weird the red player rules could be sometimes, considering you could go orange in a quest from what he had heard from Hydra.  Still Zero liked the idea of an official party a lot more than just the two of them wandering around, there was safety in numbers and there was greater help to be in a party together.

This was actually Zero's first time heading out of the confines of the safe zone of the city.  While he had visited this floor before, it was also the first time, he hadn't ever been out into the vast desert that made up the majority of this floor. He had an idea of what he could expect to see, considering that most of the biomes on the floors appeared to be similar to what you would find in the real world, he figured that there would likely be snake and scorpion like monsters throughout the field.  Almost as he was thinking that, he and Lee stumbled across a Scorpion monster.  As Zero looked it over, he saw its name was "Sand Scorpion".  He grabs his Two Handed Sword of the Fallen by the hilt and removes it from his back before turning his head to Lee.

"I hope you don't mind if I get things started here?  I've been itching to try out my new sword for quite some time."  Zero says as he grasps the blade with both hands. He pulls his arms to his right side and allows the blade to follow behind him as he rushes the Scorpion monster.  As he nears, he steps and pivots on one foot and allows his momentum to slash the blade forward and towards the Scorpion.  Having never used this blade in combat yet, Zero wasn't quite used to the weight and length of this sword just yet and his attack barely misses connecting with the Scorpion.  He then brings his sword up in front of his chest in a variant of a cross guard, prepared just in case the Scorpion lashes out its attack towards him.

@Lee

Roll ID - 83525

BD - 2 + 2 = 4 (Miss)

"Well, I always use this handle for any game that I play, I know things aren't quite like they used to be when I first started playing MMOs, especially in this game, but I have a lot of fondness for it.  It is a pleasure to meet you Lee. As for joining you on a little venture...I think that I will do so.  I've been winging it since I decided to start making my way through this game as well, so it could be a lot of fun.  Where too?"  Zero responds to Lee, he was actually the first person to remark on the fact that he had what would truly be considered an online handle name that didn't even resemble a real name.  Lee then mentioned something about how he was really just winging it and asked if Zero would like to join him on a little outing.  At first, he thought about declining, but before he could even start to decline, he just had a sudden and quick change of heart and decided to go with him.  After all,  sometimes the best adventures were ones that weren't really planned and this game was pretty dangerous, he had nearly died a few times playing solo already so going with someone else should up his odds for survival.  Plus, maybe between the two of them they could find something really interesting around to do and might be able to turn this into a very lucrative outing for the both of them.

@Lee

After getting his new equipment, Zero was looking for a reason to go and test it out and see what all his new gear and recently increased level would allow him to do in the game.  He had decided to come back up to Floor 5 because he figured that the creatures here would be a tad bit stronger and should give some better loot for fighting them than down on the earlier floors.  Without having gotten any kind of vanity equipment now, Zero still liked the way that he looked, using the starter iron breastplate as a vanity item over his shirt and adding the Obsidian Guard on his shoulders for the actual armor he felt looked pretty good, though he hoped his clothing would be ready at the Tailor's by the time he finished roaming around up here.   With the Obsidian Guard he got from Teion and the Two Handed Sword of the Fallen that Macradon gave him, Zero was feeling pretty confident in himself, even though he had never really been up on this floor before.  As he was getting ready to head out of the town, he noticed a man in plate armor and holding a shield with two golden lions on it.  The player looked pretty cool and then he noticed the tiny boar that he was holding under his other arm.  He wondered if that was the thing that was referred to in this game as a "familiar".  Since he didn't really know much about this floor aside from the town, he decided that it didn't hurt him to ask the other player if he knew of any good places to adventure through around here.

"Excuse me,  I don't mean to interrupt but you looked like you knew your way around here a bit more than I did.  I was wondering if you knew of any good adventuring spots on this floor?  I only just managed to get to a point where I feel comfortable coming up to this level so I don't really know much about what is on this floor.  My handle is zero_lost04, it is a pleasure to meet you."  Zero came up to the other player and attempted to be as respectful as he could, while the player did have a green cursor, that didn't mean that he wasn't going to be as respectful as he could, the rules of this world were a bit different than the real world but common courtesy was something that was universal.

@Lee

The plainly dressed man smiled as a girl came up to him and offered to accept his offer and join his party.  While he knew that you couldn't judge a book by its cover, especially in this game, he got the impression that she was pretty much in the same boat as himself.  Newly getting started in the game and trying to get stronger as quickly as possible so that she could try to get out of this infernal game.  She introduced herself as Yuurei, but said that she could be called by Yuu or Ghost if he was having a difficult time pronouncing her name as is.  He could definitely see how it could be a difficult to name to pronounce, but he had always tried to refer to a person however they had asked to.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Yuurei, my handle in this game is zero_lost04, but pretty much everyone I've met so far has just called me Zero for short.  I would be more than happy to have you accompany me on this quest. The quest seems to be called "For The Bravest Of Beginners" but I have to admit that I don't really know much more about the quest outside of that."  Zero responds in kind, bowing his head slightly as he introduces himself to Yuurei in turn.  Having taken a few moments, he opens up his menu and sends Yuurei a party invite so that they could get started on the quest as soon as possible.

@Yuurei @Aoda

Zero enters into a Tailor Shop on the fourth floor. He had been travelling around a lot lately, deciding to take some time and get himself truly geared up and ready to go as best he could.  Having gotten the equipment that he wanted, he was now hoping to get something to make him look a good bit cooler.  Having looked around the shop for a few moments, looking at the different items for sale, he pulls out an order form and begins to jot a few things down while he tries to get the Tailor's attention.

"Excuse me, but is the Tailor in?  I have an order I was hoping to get filled if at all possible?  It isn't too much, I just needed a nice piece of vanity clothing if you wouldn't mind.  I've got the order form filled out."  Zero says as he finishes up the order form, making sure to include the details of what he wanted as best he could.

Zero looks around as Macradon motions to the different swords in the area for someone who fought with a Two Handed Straight Sword.  He felt a strange sense of kinship with this player, while he hadn't been active on the scene here for very long, he was noticing that very few players used this type of weapon and meeting another player that did seemed to be bit more than just simple coincidence.  The blacksmith excused himself for a moment, heading into the back looking for something to show Zero.  There was a moment where Zero did try to stop him, if there was something "special" back there that he didn't normally keep out for sale, it was very likely that it was far outside of his price range.  He wanted to be able to get it of course, if it was something like that then it was likely far and away better than what he had or had considered trying to buy, but he had realistic expectations in his mind, mostly just something to keep him safe until he could get a custom weapon made for himself.  

Macradon returned a few moments later, a sheathed blade in his hands. He called this sword the "Two Handed Sword of the Fallen".  Zero's ears perked up the mention of the name, that was a very impressive sounding name for a blade, even in a world where there were a lot of cool sounding names for weapons.  He looked at the craftsmanship on this blade and was stunned by it's beauty.  This was truly something special and while he was looking at it and checking out its stats, his heart sank because he knew there was no way that he would be able to afford a weapon this nice so early into the game for himself.  That was when Zero's jaw nearly hit the floor.  The player was offering to give him this sword for nothing, merely the promise that he would help "make the world know who strong us two handed sword users are."  Zero was having a hard time getting his words out, he started half a dozen sentences but never got more than a word or two out before he stopped.  Calming himself down for a moment, he accepted the trade and picked up the blade, holding it in his hands and feeling how nice the weapon felt in his hands.

"I have to say that I am beyond grateful to you for this.  I'm pretty sure that there is no way that I could have afforded a weapon this nice and while it does pain me to accept something that I don't feel like I've earned, it would be incredibly rude of me to turn down such a fine blade.  I am in your debt and if you ever need anything, please don't hestitate to contact me and I will be more than happy to help."  Zero says, having taken a few moments to collect his thoughts and calm his nerves.  He opens his menu and sends Macradon a friend request, knowing that he couldn't fully pay him back now, but hoping that maybe he could do so in the future.  After a few more moments, Zero heads out of the store, having getting a nice new blade and a new piece of armor, Zero decided that he should probably upgrade his clothing, he definitely needed something a lot cooler than what he was wearing if he was going to wield his new sword in style.

Zero looked over the armor that he had been given, "Obsidion Guard".  It was a beauitifully] crafted piece of shoulder gaurd armor that he immediately fell in love with.  He didn't even wait to get ouit of the store to go ahead and equip them and he was flabergasted by the stats that his character now had.  It felt like an almost phenemonal jump in what his character was capable of before and now.  Zero quickly turned back to the female blacksmith and lowered his head to her as he thanked her.

"Thank you so much for this, I can't even begin to express how pleased I am with your work.  I will definitely be back as soon as I am strong enough to get some higher tier equipment made.  Thank you so much, Teion was it.  Everybody calls me Zero.  I look forward to our next meeting"  Zero keeps his head bowed, only looking up in order to confirm her name and thank her for the equipment.  Feeling much better abouit exploring Aincrad by himself now, Zero headed out the door to the blacksmith shop and back down to floor one in order to finish the begginner quests.

[+ Obsidian Guardy]

[- 5 Tier 1 Mats]

Zero was snapped out of his little bit of wanderlust throughout the shop by a comment from the owner and blacksmith of the Shop.  The player introduced himself as Macradon and the shop as "The Blazing Typhoon."  There was a lot of cool stuff in here, but Zero wasn't seeing anything out for sale in the store that matched up with what he was looking for.  It seemed like Two Handed weapons that weren't Assualt Spears were pretty hard to come by.  Thinking on this for a moment, he figured that if worse came to worse he could always go out and hunt for some materials until he got enough to commission a new weapon.  He had almost forgotten that he hadn't said anything to the owner.

"It ia a pleasure to meet you Macradon.  My username is zero_lost04 but so far everyone I've met has just called me Zero for short.  I am very impressed with your shop, "The Blazing Typhoon" seems like an excellent blacksmith store.  Still, I do have to ask, I've been looking around the blacksmith shops for a while now and i haven't been able to find any two handed straight swords.  Is it unusual for a blacksmith to have many of those weapons or have I just been unlucky?  I've only recently started to make my way through the game so I don't have much money to spare for commissioning a weapon, though if you happen to have one I would be more than happy to try to buy one from you."  Zero says polietely, bowing his head slighlty to the oher player as he introduces himself.  He was starting to figure that it was unlikely that he would be able to find what he was looking for outright but he figured it was worth asking just in case he did happen to have something.

@Macradon