Ichi

ID: 88571

BD: 1

MD: 2

Ichi: HP 58/60

Bear: HP 8/40

The more you berate him for his uselessness in this battle, the more he feels like his sadistic side wanting to get out from its own cell. Still gritting his teeth behind his shut lips, Ichi tries his best to tolerate the abuse as he, and the bear as well, charge each other at the same time, now both of them are trying to exchange blows against each other, but to both of their dismay, neither of them can hit each other, only their own weapons. Sword and claw respectively.

The bear roars as it becomes annoyed at Ichi parrying every attack. Meanwhile, the player knows that he will be berated by you after the fight, but at the very least, he is trying to buy you some time so you could finish it...or just injure it so Ichi can deliver the killing blow.

At some point in the clash, the claws and sword get involved in a shoving match, and Ichi grits his teeth harder as he tries to shove off the bear's paws. The animal tries to do the same as it growls deeply.

@Embers

Ichi nods as he pants heavily, feeling satisfied that he can move on to his quest even though he doesn't get any loot. Doesn't matter. At least he can try to find more mobs if he wants to. Keeping the sword into its sheath, he stands up straight like a statue and soon walks on, using the map as a guide to the dark elf. 

The terrain becomes sort of flat as he reaches one of the mountain's bases. It doesn't seem steep, and it has a trial of mushrooms for players to follow. Ichi looks at the map again to confirm his thoughts about the trial. Eeyup.

These mushrooms looks poisonous, judging by the strange patterns on the caps. Ichi wonders if these are suitable alchemic ingredients. Maybe they are, maybe they don't

ID: 88515

LD: 14 (Fail)

Nope. They definitely look poisonous as f**k. Best to leave them alone. He walks along the path, keeping his hand onto the handle of his sword.

@Saphira

ID: 88498

BD: 6

MD: 6

Ichi: HP 57/60

Mantis: HP 6/30

Guess the plan ain't gonna happen after all, as you end up missing the attack. No matter, the mantis is going to die anyway. As the mantis advances towards you, it raises up its spines, barely being aware of Ichi who is sprinting towards it and rams his sword into its buttocks. The mantis shrieks as Ichi keeps ramming it back and forth before making a cut at the side and retreating from the bug.

Great. 6 HP left and if he is lucky, maybe he can do the killing blow and get the loot. Briefly grinning at this thought, he almost daydreams as he feels a grazing blow at his armored chest, causing him to roll away.

Fuh, he sighs in relief. Better focus on this one, gotta save the strength for the dark elf even if he is fairly weak as described by the smith's wife.

He glances towards you as he gives you a nod, giving you a chance to backstab it, stab it in the eyes, whatever. Part of him hopes that you aren't the executioner, he will be.

@Saphira

Mizuki Komoura. Sounds nice, Ichi thinks to himself as he notices that you are looking for materials, which he thinks that it isn't really worth finding in the vast fields. Should be searching in certain locations like mines, forests or whatnot. Speaking of materials, Ichi feels that he needs to gather some as well, since he hasn't run his shop for a few days due to a lack of materials.

As Ichi keeps looking around for any sort of mob, he hears something running from a distance and turns around to see a boar snorting aggressively while charging its tusks towards him. Where in the world does he come from? S**t, he's close.

Drawing out his sword, Ichi focuses on the boar as he intends to use a Sword Art against it. Hopefully he succeeds on the first try, and if that really happens, he would allow you to finish it off, just to get the sense of killing.

ID: 88496

BD: 2

MD: 9

Ichi: HP 59/60

Boar: HP 13/13

Nope. The tusk gets him instead, hitting Ichi's pauldrons as he stumbles briefly before both he and the boar turn to face each other. Looks like you will get to fight it now instead of delivering the killing blow.

@DeadGhost37

Ichi looks around as he hears Saphira's voice, and smiles as he waves hello to her, knowing her as the player that seeked help from him regarding alchemy. Whatever she is doing or maybe studying in that profession, he hopes that you are doing okay so far.

Soon, he turns around to see Stryder, the group leader of this new guild, making an announcement that consists of his introduction, the purpose of this guild, and some encouragement. Not bad for someone who might not be a public speaker, and it is enough for Ichi to think that joining this guild is actually worth a try.

Questions huh? Let's see, there must be several he can ask about. Rank, equipment, lodging, etc. Problem is, he ain't sure if he can get a perfect answer from these questions.

Gulping, Ichi raises up his hand and asks Stryder as he looks at him, "W..what do we win at every success?"

ID: 88486

BD: 9

MD: 4

Energy: 1/6 (Used Vertical!)

Ichi: HP 58/60

Bear: HP 22/30

Hearing your words only triggers a memory of some girl that said the same thing to him when he was harassed by a group of students in school. This happened after she kicked their asses too, and Ichi could only appreciate the violence coming from her punches or kicks. Somehow, the girl alone prompted Ichi to take martial art classes, and since that day, he grew to be physically strong, especially for his legs.

The bear lands against the tree on its back as the force of your attack pushes him again. Quickly recovering himself, he is about to stand up when suddenly, he feels a sharp pain at his crotch. Looking down, he sees Ichi gritting his teeth as if he is trying to grin or to be angry, then he feels the player's sword slicing from here up to his throat.

As Ichi quickly steps back, the bear lets out a loud roar, the long, but messy cut causes him to bleed profusely, and he gets on all fours as he growls while rushing towards both of you and Ichi.

@Embers

ID: 88483

BD: 4

MD: 6

Ichi: HP 58/60

Mantis: HP 10/30

Agreeing to your statement, Ichi does not hesitate to take the next swing, but unfortunately the mantis's survival instincts kick in as it starts jumping towards the player and swings its spines around like a maniac. As best as he can, Ichi backs away and parries a few of the mantis's strikes with his sword, one of them managed to graze his breastplate. Ichi rolls backwards and keeps on exchanging blows with the mantis.

It must be tiring as hell if this keeps going, but eventually, both of them are exhausted, panting heavily while maintaining their defenses. Ichi stares at the mantis as he thinks of a plan. That plan requires a bit of distraction though, perhaps your next attack, if successful, would throw the bug's out of focus before he can execute it perfectly. 

Yeah, whatever he is planning, it sounds good and hopefully mortal.

@Saphira

ID: 88483

BD: 4

MD: 6

Ichi: HP 59/60

Embers: HP 99/100

Bear: HP 28/40

Looking at the way you fight, Ichi appreciates the violence coming from your strong attacks against the bear. Gripping the sword tightly, he sees that the bear is staggering and now advances towards him, trying to at least hit his arm, chest, or anything that would deal damage. As the bear stands back up, his reflexes quickly activate by themselves as he catches Ichi's incoming attack with his own jaw.

Shocked at the unexpected defensive move, Ichi freezes for a split second as the bear f**king grins and maybe even let out some kind of sick chuckle or something. As Ichi pulls his sword away from his mouth, the bear intentionally lets it go before pushing Ichi away and hits your amor with his paw. The bear becomes a little agile as he starts moving around, roaring and slamming his paws against each other to taunt you.

@Embers

ID: 88463

BD: 9

MD: 9

Energy: 1/6 (Used Snake Bite!)

Ichi: HP 59/60

Mantis: HP 16/30

(OOC: There is no such thing as no damage in SAO RPG. Even if your armor MIT exceeds the enemy's total damage, you will always receive 1 DMG unless the enemy misses. Edit your HP in your previous post now or it wont be eligible since you are breaking this small rule.)

The mantis staggers as your dagger slashes its body, retreating for a while as it scratches your arm in a puny way, barely delivering serious damage. At this point, Ichi lets his sword glow once more, this time feeling determined that he won't miss. With a grin, he launches his sword forward, performing the Snake Bite by slashing the head and abdomen ruthlessly in three successions, carving the skin open.

The mantis lets out a shriek as it wildly swings its front spines around, grazing Ichi's cheek since he is a little too close to itself. Oops. Stepping back a little to gain a safe distance, Ichi grips the sword tightly as he notices that he is almost there. 

Meanwhile, he looks at you as he hopes that you are okay, and glads that you are so. That dagger doesn't look so bad, and if you are to be an assassin, maybe the blade would instantly pierce the flesh like a sponge or something.

Hopefully it can do the same to this pest.

@Saphira

Hearing about a new guild forming in the fourth floor, Ichi decides to join because why not? Maybe he can get to join in a dungeon raid. Or fight together in the wild. Or interact with people. Or even better, duel with someone if he craves to fight against real people.

Donning his breastplate and pauldrons, and equipping his sword, Ichi steps out of an inn he rented for a couple days in the second floor, making his way to his destination based on the map he is viewing constantly. His shop is low on materials, and it is a pain in the ass to go around Aincrad looking for stupid herbs or whatnot. Ichi is getting a little sick of it. If only there is a shop that sells materials...at a low price that is. Or somebody can just buy his antidote or healing potion. Whatever.

The journey takes somewhere in an hour or so since he uses some short, safe routes to the snowy landscape. As his feet steps onto the pile of snow, Ichi begins to shiver, wishing that he brings a winter coat or something. This place is a heaven to anyone who feels hot in other floors, but it can be a freezing hell if staying in the wild for too long without any sort of warmth.

Frozen lake huh? That must be where the guild is meeting. Ichi reluctantly makes his way there until he finally reaches it. There, he could see two other players conversing with each other. One of them must be the leader. He decides to approach them right away.

@Stryder

\

"We are going to find a dark elf, kill him and loot a material that will be provided to the blacksmith so he can create your first armor," He says as he draws out his sword, keeping his walking pace steady while he looks around for any incoming threats.

Sure enough, no more than ten minutes later, Ichi hears the sounds of multiple legs stomping the grassy ground in an unfocused rhythm. Turning around, he is a bit surprised to see a large praying mantis advancing towards him, wondering where in the world does it come from. No time to think of such trivialities. This mantis is indeed large, having golden front spines that has little do to with its normal damage. What a show off. Even so, that damage can be quite dangerous for a low level player, especially for Ichi who only has a breastplate for armor, and maybe even you who are probably armor-less. 

Ichi's face becomes dead serious as he lets his sword glow to unleash a Sword Art against the mantis. The fight begins.

Enemy Stats

Mantis: HP 30/30; DMG 9; MIT; 0

ID: 88461

BD: 1

MD: 1

Energy: 4/6

Ichi: HP 60/60

Mantis: HP 30/30
 

Really? Both of them miss? Pathetic. Look at the way both of them swinging their weapons like idiots. Come on man, do better will ya?

@Saphira

Ichi nods with a serious look as he draws out his sword, walking alongside you towards the entrance which looks like some sort of arch with tree-like textures. Bizarre eh..? A plant like that being able to form as such, or somebody just messed around with them and build said arch.

At first glance, the arch seems unguarded. Which is good until when Ichi and you almost walk through the entrance, that is when he hears a low but ominious growl.

Stepping from the depths of the forest is a paw...with sharp claws, followed by a hind leg, then, Brother Bear himself let out a roar as he walks towards Ichi.

Yeah, I said walk because this bear walks on two f**king legs instead of four, and basically it can just slap the s**t out of people with just its paws. For good measure, its claws can potentially bleed its victims viciously. 

Gulping, but excited, Ichi grins as he immediately unleashes his Sword Art and advances forward as the bear starts to swing his arm.

Too bad. He almost slashes the bear's armpit,  but his blade only grazes his fur. The bear manages to land a hit onto his chestplate, which surprisingly aint much...but would have been hurtful if his claws landed on the metal surface.

ID: 88447

BD: 4

MD: 8

Ichi: HP 59/60

Bear: HP 40/40

Energy: 4/6

@Embers

"Sure," Ichi says as he knows that you will need those books so much that you are willing to keep it for a while. That is okay. He has memorized some of the recipes of potions and supposed lagoons anyway. Standing up, his face lights up with joy as he hears your offer to help him in his quest, and later becomes serious as he states that, "Your help is welcome. Speaking of helping, let's get right to that.

Donning his armor and his sword, Ichi gets out of his shop and walks alongside you while remembering the details of the quest. Find the dark elf, and get whatever he dropped and give that to the old man. Then the armor can be given to you since his armor is stronger in comparison. It doesnt take long for him and you to step outside the entrance of the settlement and reach the foreboding hills.

...this place is a little unsettling, especially when the weather is gloomy today. Ichi remains silent for the rest of the walk and keeps his hand onto the handle of his sword.

@Saphira

Ichi receives a notification system about you having finished forging his sword. Smiling brightly, he hurriedly finishes his lunch and heads towards the fouth floor, then to the blacksmith shop. Opening the door, he waves towards you and immediately notices his new weapon, ready to be picked up.

Caedas is damn nice in terms of looks and damage...for a low level player that is. Still, it is enough to help them defeat enemies, and with advanced Sword Arts and sword rank, eventually Caedas will be the weaponized man's best friend. The metal is strong and sharp, not a single blunt is noticeable on the surface. 

Picking up Caedas, Ichi begins swinging his sword around in the air, finding the weight satisfying to his arm. Since he has paid you the materials, he says, "Thank you so much," with a grin before leaving the store and discarding his darn starter sword.

"I'm Ichi," he replies with a smile as he hears your name and acknowledges it. Saphira...is that a reference to some kind of jewel? The name sounds familiar to his ears but whatever. 

He stands up briefly to get some good alchemic books out and places them onto the table, before returning to his seat. These books are good pals once an alchemist gets to understand them, but of course, trial and error is always a necessity to actually see if you can do this and that successfully.

Now hearing your request and your assistance in return, he simply stares at your face as he sits firmly onto his chair, leaning against its post while crossing his legs.

"Well, first I'll tell you about ingredients. Erm, you can get those from other alchemic shops, NPCs or find them yourself in the wild. Finding them isn't really easy. You have to go to certain places that have those materials like plants or organic material from living creatures. 

"And as for buying materials, keep in mind that you need bases. Buying is the only method of getting them. Without bases, your potion won't work at all. Follow the book's instructions to make sure that you are pouring the correct bases based on what type of potion you want to make. Then there are other materials like Zincblende, Orpiment, Pure Gold, and so on. Buy those too if you can afford them. At least one or two is fine since they are vital for stronger potions.

Not all materials are strong. Some are weak enough to eliminate the process of making a potion. But keep trying anyway. Eventually, your luck will be fulfilled.

You get what I'm saying so far?"

@Saphira

"Don't worry about that. I can help you should you need it," says Ichi as he smiles at the acceptance of his request for your service. Of course, that cannot simply just go away. Almost immediately after he replies to your statement, he sees a pop up appearing at his face, mentioning the invitation to your party. Without hesitation, he accepts it, now ready for an adventure with you. And he doesn't really need to ask about the quest since he knows anyway.

Walking out of the Starting City, Ichi begins walking around the field with you as he looks out for any boars that may suddenly ambush both of them. Those are nasty cretins in terms of surprise attacks, and sometimes stronger boars appear here too, though uncommon.

"So, what's your name? I'm Ichi Kakihara," he says, seeing that it ain't hurt to introduce himself to you. What other reason can he think of to be friendly anyway? He just wants to get along with people if he wants to, otherwise he would just leave them be.

@DeadGhost37

Walking towards the building where Zacharia is, he decides that he should just do a quest alone, at least he can get potions and if the game permits, maybe he can put some in his shop for sale. The building is quite recognizable with that large, alchemic logo with the letters ZACH below it. It is probably the first quest related area new players would go due to its relatively easy, yet rewarding job. 

Like you, he almost misses the building since the logo is beside the door, except it doesn't really stand out like a third dimensional object. As soon as he finds it, he is about to reach for the doorknob when the door itself is suddenly opened by someone else. You of course.

Initially surprised at your appearance, he looks at you as he thinks whether you had finished the quest or just received it. Finally, an opportunity to ask for your service. Gulping a little out of nervousness, he asks, "H..hello? Do you want me to help you with your quest? I want a fair share of these potions too."

@DeadGhost37

Meanwhile, Ichi is sitting in the middle of the square, drinking a glass, no, a glass bottle of iced green tea, which he bought from some Japanese restaurant somewhere in the Starting City. It has been a couple of weeks since he is stuck here, but that word is no longer appropriate for his current situation. He is home now. He enjoys this. Yet, there is no one to fight or kill, since...well, the population of Aincrad ain't as much as on Earth, and plus he will be marked as a killer, something he rather not do in order to stay in towns and maintaining his shop.

After finishing the tea as tapping his foot like a rabbit, Ichi decides to just walk around and maybe look for somebody he can help complete their own quest, as long as they are low levels. Standing up, he dons his armor briefly before looking and walking around the square like a roundabout.

@DeadGhost37

Crap, crap, and crap. Each time Ichi attempts to create lagoons, they all fail miserably. Meanwhile, whenever he makes a potion, it is sometimes successful. What the heck. Maybe lagoons aren't fit to be in Aincrad. Hell, they probably aren't created through alchemy. These rumors may be nothing more than false stories that are told out of entertainment...or do they?

If lagoons exist though, who would make it? An AI? A monster? Maybe...that developer himself? Either way, Ichi is still stumped that he can't even try to duplicate the acid that was given to him days ago. The acid...wonder what the alchemist used to make it. The effects felt real, as if he was teleported into another dimension. An europhia in heaven in other words.

Sighing, Ichi leans against the chair as he looks at his ingredients. Only very few left and...he would have to find them as quickly as possible. Maybe people can still visit the shop and drop their orders here. 

ID: 88426 CD: 6 (Crappy potion. Discarded) Gained 1 EXP

ID: 88427 CD: 5 (Goddamn crappy potions. When will it stop?!) Gained 1 EXP

Ichi smiles as he listens to you, and as soon as you finish speaking, he says, "Well, I'm the owner of this shop. I'm not a master alchemist, but maybe I can teach you and let you read some of the books I have. Come on in."

Opening the door, he lets himself and you into the shop, and shuts the door after that and sits onto the chair near his work table. The place is fairly clean, and the shelves still as tidy as ever. In the For Sale shelf, there is an antidote and a healing potion which he recently brewed, price ain't an expensive one too. In another shelf, there are the books he mentioned, most related to alchemy, some of them about monsters, and few are fiction. Not child friendly ones too...heh.

"Like this place? I thought the tree setting would be nicer," Ichi says as he arranges the equipment and the remaining ingredients in one place before turning back to you.

"So...what exactly do you want me to teach you? Remember, I'm...only an amateur, and nothing more."

@Saphira

Rapiers eh? Not a bad weapon skill at all, but must have been a pain in the ass to try not to slash with such swords. Ichi searches one more bush for an alchemic ingredient, and this time he fails at it. Sighing, he stands up as he sits down on the grassy ground, looking at you while hoping that you get to find at least one more herb. 

He is ready to leave anyway. There is a place that has herbs too, but he should expect bugs or on rare occasions, boars, according to a random NPC. The NPC also spoke that there is a chest that may or may not be a mimic, the contents remain unknown to adventurers and civilians alike. That is something Ichi can look forward to. 

"Erm, tell me when you are done, okay? I searched the last unchecked bush," Ichi says as he lies down onto the grass and looks up the blue sky. The clouds are moving like a river today...that is pleasant to watch unless they end up looking like a goddamn tsunami, which would make anyone s**t their pants upon seeing that. 

He starts to fidget his legs as he itches for a fight, since he hasn't done so in days or weeks.

@GreenBlade

ID: 88422 

LD: 5 (Fail) 

OOC: I made a new reply by mistake instead of editing this post. Terribly sorry. Ignore this post since it doesn't count as one.

As soon as the rock has a large hole on itself, Ichi thinks that he is done, and hears your question. He turns his head to look at you and smiles innocently as he says, "To strengthen my legs. Well...they are useful against people on Earth but, I still need this to use it as a finishing weapon or something. Or run at least..."

He shrugs his shoulders at that sentence, picking up his clothes and armor and wear them back altogether. After equipping his sword, he looks at the sky for a brief moment before bringing out the map of the first floor, which displays where the plant monsters are located. Without wasting any time, he keeps the map intact in front of him as he says, "Let's move."

The walk takes a few minutes for him and you to reach the forest since the entrance is conveniently nearby. Throughout the walk, he neither talks nor attempt to start a conversation, as he feels like there is nothing to talk about. It is awkward but...he is used to the silence in company. Sometimes he smiles a little, and sometimes he is stoic. 

Finally, he sees the forest ahead of him, and stops as he looks ahead, wondering if there is...anything that might be guarding the forest.

@Embers

Name: Ferus

ID: 88407

Roll: 10

Tier: 1

Type: Potion

Quality: Uncommon

Enhancement: Antidote (Reduce 1 turn on the next Paralysis, Bleed or Poison statuses)

Description: Looks like Flavor Aid except it doesn't poison you, instead it cures you of it. That ain't the only effect it can dispose of. When you are bleeding or feel paralyzed, this can save your life too. A must buy if you don't have one, or you don't have anything that helps in a similar degree to this baby

Post link: 

The next important potion besides HP recovery is antidotes. Very important for every adventurer no matter where they are. Health ain't a problem once they are equipped with armor and recovery items. But then there are status effects like poison and bleed, which ignores armor entirely and affects the player at the probability of 100%. Now this can't be avoided at all once they are hit with these nasty things, thus the importance of antidote.

Ichi had learned about this a day ago, and spent the whole time reading about antidote recipes. He has to make the first try a success thanks to the low supplies of materials he is having.  

Welp. Now that is done, he sits onto his chair, and begins his work, mixing and measuring ingredients in flasks, keeping watch on the changing colors of the liquid...and trying not to fall asleep too.

After mixing the potion, he places the flask onto the boiler, and boils it...and waits.

From green, to pink...hah, then...purple. And it remains so.

Ichi checks the book to see if he does it correctly. A smile spreads across his face as he finds himself successful again in making another potion.

...Some time later, he decides to try to create another potion or a lagoon, just to see if it works this time. Nope. Still the same.

ID: 88407 CD: 10 (Success! Created Uncommon potion) Gained 3 EXP

ID: 88408 CD: 4 (You fail! Lose 1 material) Gained 1 EXP