Mina

Yatsu's losing concentration. The male was striking at obvious locations, with the gorilla easily anticipating his moves and batting them away, even though it was clearly incapacitated from Mina's previous hit. The sun was setting way quicker than she thought it would, and it wouldn't do good if one of them loses focus. "Yatsu!" She shouted, trying to make him focus on his task of killing this beast, before she charged in again.

Going into the opening of their locking battle, Mina jumped up when she was within inches of the beast, her sword going downwards with the blade slashing against the creature's face. "Your target is me, piece of sh*t." With that one strike, the gorilla roared in pain, its eyes locking onto her, fist going forward. Bracing herself, she tried to block the punch with her sword, but it was too fast, and the resulting impact blasting her backwards. That's it. "Come at me!"

"Yeah, I'm only level 3, which is pretty low. Exactly why I was cautious when you came over. If I were to die, at least I'd die fighting." Hah, such big words. Everyone was afraid of death, even Mina, but you had to overlook that fear in order to survive here. Murder was simple here, there were no consequences, and if they indeed made it out alive, who was going to find out the cause of death of the thousands of players here? Already a few thousand died, and she was certain there'll be more deaths in future.

"Really? From what I know, I need to travel to this <Horunka> place, which is what I'm doing now. Maybe they changed the quest line for it to be undertaken anywhere." Mina sighed. They were halfway there now, and if she had known, she'll probably be fighting the Nepents the male was talking about. Man-eating plants. Yuck. Judging from his tone, the Nepents were not to be messed with. 

 @Stryder

The gorilla's strength proved far too much for Yatsu, judging by how she simply swung his sword away. This was going to be a tough fight, night was about to fall, and if they didn't manage to kill it before the sunlight goes, they'll most likely be killing themselves here. Both of them are now stuck in another shoving match, which created an opening for Mina. Gripping her hilt tightly, she struck the beast on its thigh, making it fall onto its knee, the gorilla's flailing arms easily evaded by her, and its the HP bar instantly turning yellow. We're halfway there, just a few more hits, and I'll be able to go back to the town for a good rest.

Glancing at the top left corner of her visual field, she could see that her party member was still in tip top condition, which meant that they won't be in danger any time soon. 

"I guess. If you were on the death side of it, I'd be dead in an instant." Mina chuckled lightly, knowing very well that it was true. MMORPG's are based on a unfair system, the higher the level you are, the better the chance of surviving you have. In this world, numbers were invincible. Heck, a max level player could take a damage from a dragon and not have his/her HP decrease if the battle healing skill level is high enough. In order to survive and clear the game, you have to level up and be that kind of player.

Looking at the male, who seemed to be lost in his thoughts, she wondered what level he was. He looked strong, and maybe he'll know of the quest that she was about to take. "Hey Stryder, do you happen to know of this quest called <<Secret Medicine of the Forest>>? "

 @Stryder

Flying back from the hit, Thank god my armor had mitigation stats, Mina landed perfectly back on her feet, before dashing in towards the enemy again. The larger gorilla was now focused onto Yatsu, headbutting his helmet, causing him to stumble but not giving him any pain. "Your opponent is me, big boy." She shouted, drawing her sword and focused on the same sword art. "Or girl, whichever you are." 

The sword sparkled bright red once more, but before she could activate it, the gorilla, as if knowing what will happen, caused a tremor on the floor by stomping hard. Mina lost her balance, her sword art cancelled, as she drove the blade onto the ground to keep herself from falling. A huge fist aimed right at the center of her face, but she dodged it nimbly, keeping herself face to face with the creature. She didn't have anymore energy to deal sword arts, which meant that they had to be on their toes for this battle, as it was going to be a long one. 

OOC: The MD will only be counted on my roll, because we're in a party. 2 hits for us = 1 hit for the mob

"So... any profession you have in mind? You look like you'll make a good blacksmith!" Mina spoke, trying to break the silence. Yatsu seemed to have a lot on his mind, which couldn't be helped since they were trapped in this death game. People rarely smiled these days, afraid of what will happen to them , or what already happened. The first floor seemed in despair even with the huge population there, and it was partly the reason why she came up onto the second floor. Sadness will only bring about sadness, and it will only serve to pull down her ambition. Having high hopes ever since the start, she believed the front liners will be able to clear the game, with her among their ranks next time. That was her goal, and that was what she lived for. Numbers made you invincible here, she had to start training and fighting more monsters, in order to level up.

Just then, there was a sudden roar, and then appeared a gorilla, larger than the one they fought before. "Sh*t, is that his mom!?" Mina's blade glowed a bright red, the system assisting her in the Sword Art casted: three quick slashes to the monster, but the cooldown afterwards made her vulnerable to attacks, and the gorilla scored a direct hit to her chest. "YATSU! BE CAREFUL!"

"Sure thing, I'm actually kind of interested in doing this quest as well." Nodding her head, Mina accepted the invite from the blonde, with her name and hp bar appearing below Mina's own. It seemed that Pinball knew a thing or two about the quest related to the rumors on the first floor, and with him in the party, the quest was certainly going to be a breeze. Both of them looked experienced as well, compared to her, judging from the time they spent doing the Halloween quest on the tenth floor. A tenth floor player compared to a first floor player like her? It was a huge gap. Hopefully I won't become a burden.

Doing some kind of exaggerated stretching, trying to lighten the mood, she leaned in closer towards the other two players, grinning. "Damn it, I missed out on the halloween party thing because I was busy grinding the beginner lessons quests. But still, I hope I'll be able to fit in with you guys. I can be strong too!"
 

 @Pinball @Krysta

"Doing in the Dora, huh. Man, it's been a long time since I've watched that. I wonder if there's any televisions around here in this game." Mina sheathed her sword back into its scabbard, and leaned against a nearby tree. Looking at the player, she swiped on the screen which appeared in front of her, sending him a party invite. "Since we're here, might as well team up for a bit, aite? I'm Mina." She looked closely at him, staring at the name above his head, <Yatsu> then looking at his face, the wound given by the gorilla slightly fading. "Yatsu, eh. Thank goodness the wounds sustained in here heals easily."

The sun was beginning to set, the evening sky looking straight like something out of a painting. "Beautiful, ain't it?" She was actually talking a lot more than she would normally, the satisfication of defeating a monster pushing her social boundaries. But the evening sky signaled one thing: they should go back into the safe zone before it gets any darker.

The gorilla certainly surprised Mina with its nimble movements, catching the male's sword in his jaw, preventing the killing blow onto itself. The grinding noises from both calcium and teeth screeched through the entire forest, with her wincing at the sharp noise. Taking a glance at the male to see if he was okay, he certainly is, is he crazy or what, laughing in this entire situation, Mina grasped the hilt of her sword, jumping and thrusting the blade back into the wound on its chest. Finally realising what happened, the gorilla let out a painful cry, releasing the male's sword from his mouth, before shattering into crystallized pixels. Picking up the loot that the beast dropped, "100 col drop and a potion, that's not too bad." Turning towards the male, she slung his arm around her shoulder and helped him back up. "What are you doing out here alone anyway? Oh, and I'll pass you the col once we get back into the safe zone." 

Mina brandished her sword, walking no more than a few meters before she felt a presence inching towards her. Instinctively, she raised her guard, holding the blade towards the intruder whom she realized was the male with the white hood, looking at her before. Being a distance away from her, and greeting Mina with a smile, she realized that this man wasn’t out to harm her at all, or was he. PK’ers were scary, and a low level like her could be easily one-shotted if she wasn’t careful enough. For now, Mina put down her sword, apologizing to the male. “Sorry, I was just being cautious. Hope you’re not offended or anything. And yeah sure, I don’t mind.”

Walking forward but with a distance between them, Mina looked around to see if she was on the right track. Things were getting a little awkward, she wasn’t good with company around, but in a death game like this, she had to try socializing at some point in time in order to build up connections and friendships to survive. “Hey,” she turned towards the male, “I’m Mina.”

@Stryder

The battle was almost over now. The gorilla had obviously made a wrong choice, facing against two opponents at once, without knowing the situation it got itself into. Mina smirked at the sight of it, feeling the rush of ecstasy in her brain. With the gorilla and the iron-clad male both missing each other in their hits, locking up in a grueling, shoving fight, she dashed in, blocking the gorilla's hit with her sword, then bending down and slashing at the open wound on it's chest she had done before. The gorilla roared and stumbled back, seemingly in pain, with it's HP dropping down to the red bar. Stepping back and patting the male on his back, "You okay mate?" she kept her focus, preparing herself for a hit by the gorilla, and at the same time signalling the male to strike it with his sword. One last attack, make it or break it.

@Yatsu

Thread summary
Traveled to Zackariah's place and accepted the quest, <<The First Few Lessons Are Free>>
Went out of town to gather 5 materials through non-combat gathering.
After doing so, went back to Zackariah's place to pass him the materials.
Helped him out with crafting 1 potion.
Took his package and traveled to Lyle's workshop.
Handed over the package.

Rewards gained
1 SP & 400 Cor for a completed thread
Quest rewards: - 5 Tier One Health Potions of Uncommon Quality (+40HP)
- 1 Tier One Damage Potion. (+1 Damage)
-1 Tier One Over-Health Potion (+50 Temp. HP)
2 Additional SP

Total rewards: 3 SP & 400 Cor, 5 Tier One Health Potions of Uncommon Quality, 1 Tier One Damage Potion. 1 Tier One Over-Health Potion

Faint rays pierced through the clouds as the sun was almost up, with Mina catching the beautiful sunrise just right outside the gates of the town; the city walls didn't block off the amazing view in front of her eyes. It was times like this where she wished that there was a screenshot function in the game, Why didn't he implement that function. Maybe further up on the higher floors, there'll be a rare item which would allow her to do exactly that. 

Getting up, she made her way to a nearby inn, getting herself a room where she needed to take a good long rest. Changing into her vanity dress, she brushed her hair with a fingers, her long tresses somehow smooth and shiny even though she did a lot of work earlier on. Players here didn't need to go to bathroom nor bathe, but all she wanted was to take a long hot shower and relax. Swearing to make enough money to buy her own house later in the game, she made sure the door was locked, before tucking herself into bed. The quest can wait.

It was mid afternoon when Mina finally woke up. Players were gathering at the ground floor of the inn, some eating, some chit-chatting, feeling accustomed to the life in game. Getting herself a beverage, she gulped it down, the cool liquid satisfying herself, but not her real life self, which was probably lying in a hospital somewhere. Thanking the inn owner, she stepped out towards the streets, following the navigation to Lyle Tealeaf's workshop.

It was quite a long walk, around 15 minutes or so, stopping right in front of a dilapidated wooden house right around the corner. Knocking on the door and stepping in, she met eyes with a white balding man with a huge beard, somehow looking like the cheap version of Santa Claus. There was a quest marker on top of him, which meant that she had found the right person. Taking the package out of the inventory, she tapped on the male's shoulder, delivering it to him, and getting a scripted dialogue out. "Thank you so much, young lady!" Her first quest, <<The First Few Lessons Are Free>>, was complete, with the rewards appearing in her inventory.

The old man lead Mina to his crafting table, the one she saw earlier when she first entered his house. Holding up the materials and some bottles, he instructed her on what to do, with Mina following his instructions, from tapping the materials and selecting the crafting equipment. "Hey, this is easy." If only making items were this simple in real life... Will cooking be the same in SAO too, just tapping the ingredients and selecting the oven?

Finishing up the last step, where she poured a solution into the grounded up <Red Herb> sitting in a potion bottle, there came a sizzle, with the solution transforming into a red liquid. Brushing her fingers on the crafted item, she saw that it was a <Perfect> quality HP potion, which meant that her first time crafting was a success. A <Perfect> success. Not even Uncommon nor Rare, but Perfect. "Well done, miss. You're a natural. Thank you for your hard work." Even Zackariah couldn't help it but to praise her, and the smile on Mina's face stretched from one end to another. "Thank you too!"

Taking the crafted potion from her, he handed over a package, with a note written on it. "If you don't mind, could you help me deliver this to Lyle Tealeaf? His workshop is right around the corner, a few hundred meters away." Then appeared the unaccepted quest marker, which changed as Mina agreed to his request without hesitation. Placing the package in her inventory. Mina bowed towards him, thanking him for his hard work, before stepping out into the streets once more. "I'll see you around, old man." 

Watching the male's futile attempt to hit the gorilla, So close, Mina edged closer, gripping her hilt tightly to look for an opening. Even with that heavy chainmail of his, he was able to dodge the gorilla's attacks, which impressed her a little. Just then, she caught sight of the male's signal towards her, indicating that she should attack the monster now with it being distracted. "Alright." she mouthed, dashing in and slashing at the gorilla's chest, scoring a direct hit. Roaring in pain, the gorilla stumbled, it's hp dropping to the yellow bar. It had less than half of it's HP left. Just two more hits, and it'll be a goner. The gorilla spun around, its eyes locking onto her, and began chasing, with Mina dashing around nimbly, staying out of reach from its arms. "Your turn!" She shouted across to the other male, wondering if her words could get through that thick helmet of his. 

Entering the house, Mina took out the 5 <Red Herb> materials gathered for Zackariah, whose eyes sparkled and instantly became refreshed at the sight. He lit up a lamp, brightening up the whole place before taking the materials out of her hand, the herbs disappearing into crystals upon contact. Then came a pop-up right in front of her eyes, stating that the first part of the quest was complete. Wait, only the first part?

The familiar unaccepted quest marker reappeared on his head again, with him looking straight at her and speaking his scripted dialogue. "Thank you. May I request for your kind soul to help me out in crafting a potion?" Sighing, Mina nodded her head and mumbled a "Sure," agreeing to the next portion of the quest. If she dropped out now, she will not be able to obtain the completed quest rewards, and all her hard work digging for the herbs will go to a waste.

Listening to his words intently, she found his words trailing off until she realised that she hadn't introduced herself to the owner. "Mina. I'm Mina. Oh, let me have some time to think." Putting a hand to her chin and contemplating on her payment method, she decided that paying it in cor would be the best, judging from how hard monsters drop materials. Heck, the first quest where she had to do non-combat gathering took a long time already; she wasn't going to lose these materials. Besides, monsters have a confirmed cor drop, so it's easier to earn back her money spent.

Tapping on the payment window, she chose the transaction in Cor, paying for the item that Domarus had just crafted, "Thanks a bunch!" hanging around to see if Domarus had anymore to offer.

OOC: I've transferred 800 Cor to you! @Domarus

The gorilla turned on towards Mina, which was expected from that critical hit of hers, but it was a wrong decision as the man before it cuts it down hard, bringing it's HP to almost half. This battle was about to be over soon. Turning towards Mina, he spoke in a hushed "Hello," whereby she simply reciprocated his greeting with a simple nod. Greetings could be done later, the priority now was this gorilla, and they had to kill it before it kills them permanently. 

Bending lower, she thrusted forward with the system assist, only to find out that it missed the gorilla completely. "Shi-" Mina still wasn't good with battling in this game, but she was improving day by day. Amongst all the tension, Mina could hear the laughter of the male, who was obviously enjoying their plight, and she couldn't help but to smile in this dangerous situation. Were battles always this fun?

Word has it that the second floor was teeming with life, monsters which could drop material and cor alike, so Mina decided to take a trip down there to face higher leveled monsters, and to mentally train herself from intimidation of stronger mobs. So when she stepped out of the safe zone in Urbus, the second floor's main settlement, all she could see were wildlife, who looked almost similar to the boars faced on the first floor. In fact, the boars looked like they'd actually fit among all the other monsters out here. 

Ignoring the other monsters, Mina went deeper, edging herself towards the base of a small mountain. Just then, she heard a rumble and instantaneously, she turned around, spotting a man clad in heavy armor being kicked by a gorilla, and then standing up, trying to get a few hits on his own while avoiding the gorilla's flailing arms. Brandishing her sword, she dashed towards the aggressive animal, jumping and stabbing the monster on its back, landing a critical hit. "Thank me later!"

Combat stats:
 

Giving a smile to one of the gatekeepers and she passed through the gates, "Why did I smile at them for, they're just NPCs..." Mina took a deep breath of the air in the starting city. "Ahh... I'd never thought that I'd miss this place so much." It was relatively quiet, there were only one or two players walking about except for her, and all the NPCs would have probably retreated back into their houses. Even the NPCs had somewhere to stay, instead of being a simple immovable character in other MMORPG games. They all functioned to make the game as "real" as possible, but with the change of events, Mina had no choice but to admit that this was the "real" life now. 

Making her way back the old man's house (she was good at directions and she knew it), Mina stopped right outside his door and peeked in, wondering if he was asleep like the other NPCs. However, the house was pitch black, and she decided to rap on his door lightly instead. Once, twice, thrice, waiting a few minutes each time before he finally opened the door, his face looking dull and quite annoyed at the guest in wee hours of the morning. "Sorry to interrupt your sleep, but I'm done," she smiled meekly.

Mina stepped back, raising her eyebrows in shock and amusement as the new male spoke rather loudly and obnoxiously. But apparently, the girl she had been talking to knew him, and Mina was able to catch his name in the middle of their conversation. Pinball huh... Turning back to the blonde,  she answered her questions truthfully. "Nope... I've completely no idea. However..." Pointing at the male, she directed her next words at him, chuckling softly. "Maybe he knows. He even knows about this 'Jabberwock' thing which we both don't know about. Say, is it a boss monster?" Realising that she had forgotten to introduce herself, she put her hand out, stating her name. "I'm Mina." To survive in this game, what one needed were trusty friends to support each other, especially at higher floors like now. Ignoring her distrustful nature for once (which was why she did quests solo), she continued on. "It's nice to meet you, Mr Pinball and Miss..."

@Krysta @Pinball

"Come on... Just one more!!"

The current time was 4am, which meant that daybreak wasn't too far away only slightly more than 2 hours left. Searching the one final bush in this area, Mina finally found a <Red Herb> perfect down to its leaves and stalk. "Please please please..." she prayed hard, digging into the soil and gently pulling it out. Holding the <Red Herb> in her hand for a few seconds, and realising that it wasn't going to disappear on her, she placed it into her inventory and pumped a fist into the air. "Yes!" 

Finding an relatively safe area amongst all the bushes, out of sight from friends and foe alike, Mina laid down on the grass, the soft and carpeted feeling embracing her. The view of the sky was simply perfect, with little light pollution, she could see the bright moon and the artificial stars in the virtual sky. It's so beautiful, and yet, deadly at the same time. Staying this way for a good half an hour or so, and trying to keep herself from falling asleep, she checked her quest log, confirming whether she had completed the task, which she did. Swearing to check in at an inn after she got back to the old man's house, she got up, carefully avoiding the boars and making her way back to the gate of the main settlement.

Bowing and smiling to the owner who came out, Mina took at glance at his name before he went to the back.<Domarus> had a similar looking emblem as seen in the front of the shop right beside his name. "So that's his guild huh..." 
Within minutes, Domarus appeared again from the back of his store, my order completed and in his hands. As expected from a rank 7 artisan, but Mina was still shocked at the speed he crafted it. The ring was really detailed too.

Expressing amazement, Mina came up to him and shook his hands. "That's really quick... How much do I pay you?" 

Bowing once again at Hei, Mina transferred the ownership of the armor to her, equipping it straightaway. It fitted her perfectly from head to toe, the armor both sturdy and light. "I'll advertise this store as much as I can!" That was the least she could do, after receiving such a useful armor from Hei. "I'm good already," Mina responded to Hei's further enquiry, but she scrolled through her friends list and added the tailor in front of her. "If I need anything else, I'll be sure to drop you a text!"

Keeping her hopes high with only 1 more <Red Herb> to go, Mina crouched low, starting on another search. Her hands, soiled from all the dirt around, were surprisingly not painful at all, considering the amount of work she had put into gathering. "Thank goodness the pain signals from my brain were not replicated in this game." If the game actually sent proper pain signals and not reduced ones, dying or getting cuts will hurt a lot more and make the game nearly impossible to clear. "At least the creator had some sort of heart." 

Finally finding another <Red Herb> amongst the leaves, Mina prayed to herself that this would be the success, and that she didn't have to search for another. "Here goes nothing," she mumbled, holding the herb by the leaves and slowly tugging it, exposing the roots into the fresh night breeze.

Crystals shone brightly against the moonlight, with the item shattering. "Not again!"