Benjamin Bookworm

Ben sat himself down on the group, making sure his familiar was comfy and not slipping off as he grabbed one or two more materials for his pouch. as he pulled out a drink from his flask, letting the water trickle down his throat and the coolness soak into him. Some days he wished he knew more players who specialized in gathering- but that would mean he wouldn't have as many people to buy his own recipes if there were too many.

At least it was getting cooler around Aincrad. Or at least what felt like cooler, as it was hard to get a good frame of reference in the video game. Still, the calendar was heading into fall and soon winter, so it kinda of felt like it was getting colder, but it might have been just his imagination. At least he knew it was good enough weather here that it just took a few minutes of being off of his feet to be full of energy again.

Ben pursed his lips and nodded. It was the right call for the battle, and would get them through faster. It still left a bad taste in his mouth to hide behind someone else though. "OK. When it comes into sight, I'll let you get the first attack in then support you." he finally answered, following a step behind Shion as they moved forward, weapons at the ready as they passed by several rocky outcroppings.

He heard a growl off in the distance- playful mostly, but loud and deep enough to let them know it was from something dangerous. The echoes bouncing off the walls made it hard to pinpoint exactly how far away the dragon was, but the volume kept on getting louder and louder, until they found themselves by a curve in the mountain path. "I... I think this is it. It can't be much further once we get around this bend- so we both charge on 3 then?" he asked, ready to move out into battle. He hoped Shion was as good a fighter as she claimed.

@Azhoda

Bet let out a chuckle at Shion's change in attitude. Even if she wanted to hide it, she cared about keeping him safe. Seemed like he'd gotten lucky with finding her as a partner in questing. And with her along, they made some very good time in crossing the distance from town and towards the mountainous area they needed to find the dragon in.

He pulled open his menu as the began approaching the caves that the dragon was supposed to be at, looking ahead a bit nervously. "OK, last chance for any pre-battle boosts. I have healing potions at the ready, and a couple of the smaller damage boosters if you want them. But we shouldn't need it I don't think... not for this one anyway." he told them, psyching himself up as the reached the edge of the cave line, the green grasses of the plains giving way to hard, rocky terrain with small burn marks peppered along some of the walls. The dragon's lair was up ahead.

"Just tell me when you're ready and I'll start us out." he said as he readied a spear from his inventory. It wasn't enchanted like his other gear, but it would deal some damage anyways. 

@Azhoda

Ben was continuing his work, adding more and more flowers into his bag as he worked around the plot that he was in, picking up each of the materials and checking them over before he tossed the good ones into his bag and the bad ones away. The fatigue of the day was starting to slow him down a bit, so he only got a comparatively few number of useful items from his work, but the amount that he could extract from the quest was enough for him to make up for it.

He was hoping that he could get a bit of a lunch break soon, and rest up. But today he needed to push until he just couldn't any more today, before all of his buffs from the food he had ran out. It was tough enough to find a chef in business, let alone one that could get him perfect foods. He couldn't waste this opportunity that he had to refill all of his needed materials.

The bright flowers were still useful, even if he was having trouble picking them up after a while. If was hot and dirty work to pack more and more items into his pouch, and he was starting to feel it after the hours of work that he had already put into this quest. He took a quick pause to wipe the sweat from his brow and give his familiar another rub on his head as they worked, including one of the extra materials he picked up while he worked. The little guys deserved it- it was probably just as warm and uncomfortably stuffy out here for him as it was for Ben.

"Don't worry- it will cool down soon enough. Just let me get my work done and relax Sebastian." he told the little guy, letting him use his shoulder and the fluff of his scarf as Ben did his work. Even if it was not the fastest or best way to get the gathering done, it would get enough for him to work with.

Ben thought about what Shion said- while it was true, he didn't like it. Grabbing the last few bites of fish, he dashed his way out the door to catch up to Shion. He didn't know how to react to someone speaking so seriously. Or having such a sorrowful view of the world. He followed her along deep in thought for a while before looking forward where they were going.

"I'm going to survive this. While I haven't had a lot of experience, I'm tougher than I look. As long as you're out front, I can take care of myself." he said with a smile, trying to let her know things will be OK. "You saw how many tricks I have up my sleeve- and I can take a few good hits as well. I just don't have the offensive power most of you guys do. As long as you have the sword to take them down, I can work on protecting both of us." he said, looking confident. "We can take care of that dragon together and get us all one step closer to being out of this game!"

@Azhoda

Ben was a little unsure of why Dazia was being so quiet, but she probably just wanted to watch the scenery. It really was a nice floor. "I'll be glad to hear it any time- spending days at a time harvesting materials doesn't make the most interesting stories." he said as they walked along the road, crossing under several overhangs of colorful flowers and blooming vines, eventually reaching the outskirts of the city and the view of the huge trees covered in vibrant, blooming greenery. He gave a soft squeeze to Dazia as he took in the sight, happy to be spending the evening together as he glanced down the end of the road to see what's ahead, his fingers intertwining with hers as he kept himself close.

"Looks like we have two... no three places that serve salads. A generic burger stand... and a Waffle Hut. Huh, those things really are everywhere." he noted as they walked, kinda hoping for something more than that. Though Dazia seemed nervous enough that maybe it would be better for someplace ordinary... "Um, so... anything catch your eye hun?" he asked, suddenly a bit more nervous and fidgety.

@Dazia

Ben's plate was a lot smaller than what Shion had gotten, so it was easy enough for him to keep pace with the eye opening sight before him. "Japan... that's cool. I've never been myself and it sounds good and... I'm sorry but what on earth do you mean you'll just get people killed?" he said with worry creeping into in his voice. "Like... is someone after you? Or is there some sort of guild that has a vendetta against you?"

Ben picked at the last bits of his meal as he looked over the table, wondering why someone so cheery just... had that idea in her head. "I know I'm not a front liner or anything, but I have plenty of stuff to help protect people. That's kinda why I make them." He pushed his plate aside and hauled his backpack up onto the table, a serious look in his eyes as he popped open a flap to reveal densely packed rows of items, each with a handwritten piece of paper next to them showing what each one of them were. "So just tell me what you need protecting from.. um, after you clean your face off first I guess."

@Azhoda

Ben arched an eyebrow at Shion's order- even though you could eat anything you wanted to in game like that, you still got full. He guessed she just really like the food, but he probably shouldn't say anything. "Um, just... Ben would be fine. And as for my age I'm actually 19 already- I'm not a kid." he answered more gruffly than he meant to. Even if was a fact, it seemed being asked if he was young was a sore spot. "You're right about me not being from Japan though- I actually am one of the overseas players who got the system. Unless something on the outside changed drastically, my body's probably still in Chicago right now."

His eyes shifted downward as he remembered how he got here in the first place, and his fingers gave the table a few taps before he swallowed the memories and continued the conversation while he kept an eye on the NPCs getting their dishes ready. "I guess that means you're from Japan then? Does that mean... you have other friends playing with you too? People you know on the outside?"

@Azhoda

(First roll on the roller was made in error- I read the numbers wrong and turns out I actually didn't find a treasure chest, so have fixed that. New post is below.)

Ben moved on from his failed attempt at finding treasure to find himself someplace new to continue his search. His walking led him to a patch of flowers once again- this time bright red and with a small amount of water dripping off of the petals of some of the ones in bloom. It was a promising looking place to start his search- or continue it. And so he bent down to pluck one of the bright flowers up for inspection.

His display showed him this type of flower would be useful to him as a crafting material, and that the ones covered in dew would be of an even higher quality than the other ones. With this information, he quickly began to fill up his bag with any of the flowers that looked close to blooming- even if he had just come from a setback, he would still be able to make progress forward as long as he kept on working at it. Especially with flower patches as rich as this one.

Ben pushed his way through the last few bits of brush, looking around at what could be found in the places that were out of sight. He had hoped to find a good amount of materials in the often overlooked sections, but instead he found a plain looking wooden chest lying back there. It looked like his search had gotten him lucky once again, and found him some very useful treasure for his use.

With a gleeful twinkle in his eyes, Ben moved in to see what kinds of goods were waiting for him- unfortunately, as he approached the box, it turned out to be simply that. An old box that had been left out here. Or maybe it was a chest once and had been looted but not dissipated?  Either way, it wasn't anything useful to him, and he gave the box a kick in the side before adjusting his bag and moving on. No sense in wasting any more time moping about something he couldn't change anything about.

Ben was continuing on the bushes, though there were some problems with these ones he was working with. Just picking out the leaves and the few fruits wasn't getting him a lot from them, and he was taking time to check each one. The only thing that kept him going at a good pace was the fact that his gathering skills allowed him to find each of the good gathering points on the plants faster than anyone else could.

He also had to stop a few more times than he would like to brush bunches of twigs and debris off of his clothes- especially his scarf. Working within the confines of the thick brush was not the most pleasant of tasks some days. He let out a sigh as he looked at the path he had crudely shoved into the brush, realizing that it was still the one that he chose for himself, so he might as well make it work. Even if this patch wasn't getting him much of anything, he still had to try his best.

Benjamin follows Shion into the shop, glad hat she hadn't made any comments about his skills. He was a bit confused why she was smiling and talking so coldly, but didn't know how to broach that topic. So he just sat down at the table with her, not even glancing at the menu as he shrugged off his backpack and placed it on the chair next to him. "I'll just get the fish of the day- they all mostly taste the same to me, and that one's always the cheapest, but if you have a favorite " he stated as he felt his arm where she held it.

"I've gotten a few of the boosting foods too, but I prefer the stuff from shops that's just made to taste nice. I guess most cooks focus on either buffs or taste, because I haven't had anything that gets both done well before." Ben added with a nod. It would be nice to have something to settle his stomach for the quest ahead. And hopefully get to know the tank he would be working with.

@Azhoda

Ben hustled up to keep pace with Shion, scratching his head as he answered. "Well, I've been crafting since the game started- it was one of my first skills since I ventured out of town... more than two and a half years ago I guess. Man, it has been a while. Boss battles though... I don't have the levels yet for a floor boss, and I just keep missing the calls for event bosses. So... none. I've been in enough battles to know when to stay back and heal. Plus I got enough items on me to keep us going through the long haul." he admitted, but kept his head held high as he did so. Just because he hadn't been in a boss battle didn't mean he was helpless.  Still- if she was a knight who's job it was to protect people, he probably looked fairly green to her. Honestly, he figured it would be a bad sign if she wasn't a bit concerned. It's not like he should be worried about being a failure who hasn't actually accomplished anything... or looking a bit uncomfortable at the question.

"Well, we can see the roof of the food stall from here- it's that wooden building with the fishing nets hanging off the front awning. How about we grab a couple seats and I can show you what I have?"

@Azhoda

Ben continued on down the path, looking for another good place to start harvesting from. With him and his familiar Sebastian the only ones around, it was quite quiet here. And it gave them a long enough time to simply walk down the road and look at everything, figuring out what would make the best choice. Or it would if there wasn't so many different kinds of things to harvest that he wasn't sure of how god half the things he was looking at would be until he inspected them.

With those thoughts in mind, and a bit of delay, he decided the best bet was to just choose another bush with stuff hanging off of it- those usually had something on them, and they were easy enough to grab things off. He started searching the nearest patch of bushes, just past the previous bunch he had spotted earlier. They had a few bits of fruit and leaves on them, allowing the beginning of harvesting some more materials for later.

Ben gave his familiar a playful scratch under his chin as he looked around for the next place to gather from, walking along the relative safety of the garden paths as he went. Before deciding on a new area, however, he stopped at some of the bushes that dotted the path, examining them to see what they would hold.

"Huh... looks like these are something we can use." he said to nobody in particular as he closed up his menu. He had identified the leaves of the bushes as some sort of minty tea type of ingredient- something easy enough for him to use in potions as well- and began working on adding a few of them to his inventory as well. No sense in passing up a good discovery like this if he could use it.

After he stuffed as much as he could of the new kind of leaf into his pouch, he sealed it up and moved on to the next part of the garden he could harvest from.

Ben glanced over at Shion as they walked, about to answer her before she just changed out of her armor without warning. Her hair falling down over her golden armor as he looked on in surprise, just realizing she was a woman underneath all the thick plating. He tried to say what he was thinking, but the words died in his mouth. Huh. It always seems like I get paired up with the female players... who are all higher level and better at combat... he thought, wondering if he was really this far behind everyone.

"Well, um, glad to see you are feeling... um, good..." he managed to stammer out, still getting over his surprise while picking up his pace to catch back up. Apparently he stopped when he took a look, but quickly got moving again on the way to the food shop. "Um, well, the shop should be just a block or, uh, two ahead of us" he finished as he pulled his scarf up a bit, habitually hiding his embarrassment as they walked along. Hopefully she would be hungry enough to let him recompose himself while they walked.

@Azhoda

Ben picked through the last of the tubers in the patch, adding them item his bag as he dusted his hands off. He stood up and gave Sebastian a high five (which he kind of leaned into... which was close enough) before popping open his inventory window once more to count his progress.  He had enough for 12 full days of crafting so far- if he didn't make any crystals out of anything, which would halve that. Given that his own inventory could hold over a hundred items by now, he would need all of those. Especially if he ever set foot on one of the front line battles some day- which he still held out hope for.

He clicked his tongue as he put the menu away- it wouldn't do to keep looking at that, and would be much faster to just keep on moving forward as best as he could. He would one day be able to afford to buy the lower tier materials he needed from a store, but until then this was the only way that he would be able to be fully stocked up.

Ben gave Dazia a warm smile- she was still analyzing everything as before. It was cute, and as much fun as it would be to watch her try and take the lead, he thought he should get them going somewhere. "Well if you don't have any preferences, how about we start on the southern road? Most of the western part of town is where the player housing is, so we can just circle town until we find something we like. Myself, I'm hoping the chefs here use the veggie the market sells." he said with a bit of a laugh as he tried to break the ice again. He was still glancing back at her and the surroundings every so often, showing how much nervous energy he had bundled up for today- even if he hoped she wasn't able to notice it.

The road to the outside of town was nice- flowers and plants covering all of the lamp lights, and most of the windows in the local shops. Ben offered out his hand as he started moving, coaxing Dazia to follow him- it wasn't as if he had no idea what the floor looked like, just that he didn't go out to eat much. "We can enjoy some of the scenery as we walk, and catch up once we sit down. As much as I'm dying to hear all about what you've been up to, I know the sights around here are something to see!"

@Dazia

"Well, I do know..." he trailed off at the sound of a very hungry stomach made itself known, interrupting both of their thoughts. "Ah, yea, food to start out with would be nice. Usually I just grab something at the shop, but there's a pretty good seafood shop near where the beginning quests are found. They grill up and  sell a lot of the seafood that comes in from players practicing the skill- or just making enough from the local ponds to live off of." he continued "Though if you look well enough off some of the players who've never left the town might try and beg a meal off of you. Can't really stop that kinda thing I guess."

He hoped the shop wouldn't be too crowded- it wasn't quite lunch, but it was getting late enough there might be the local fishers heading in for a break, and he really wanted to get to questing quick- it wasn't a chance that he got to take very often. "Um, I can lead the way if you're OK with that kinda place, and we can talk while we eat. There's some inside sitting that should be quiet enough." And with that he began heading off, more energetic than before as he led the way this time.

@Azhoda

Even though he complained sometimes, the work he was doing wasn't as hard as he made it out to be. His skills allowed him to pick out the best places to start looking, and even if most of the tubers weren't of the right quality it was still a lot faster than when he was at the beginning of his career where he could only get a handful every attempt. Even if he had a long way to go until he was finished up tonight, this kind of pace would make it work for him. Even if it wasn't easy, he would get enough materials to keep his workshop stocked up for months.

And for his friends too... he had to make sure that he had enough items to keep everyone up to par on healing and buffs.Especially now that he had more players that he was interacting with, and would be able o help out. If he didn't have the items to help them out, he couldn't call himself much of an alchemist, now could he?

Ben kept on going through the spotted tubers, pulling them up and checking them one at a time. Each time he grabbed one, inspected it, and checked the item's stats to see if it was good- then more likely than not chucking it away- he felt how long it was taking to just get through this one patch.  Once again he felt like he wasn't making any progress at all.

"You know Sebastian, it might be better if you could help out a bit- you know, gather up a few of these for me?  Rather than adding them to your own stomach, that is." he added to the sounds of digging, the only voice breaking the silent garden they were in. Sebastian, of course, barely arose at this comment. He was much more focused on doing his own thing- mostly napping. Whatever kinds of materials he could dig up from these patches of dirt himself was all that he was going to get out of this quest- and it would have to do.

Ben looked forward down the path, moving ahead as he found someplace new in the garden to work- this time a field of what looked like planted tubers. He gingerly plucked a few of them out of the ground and took a look at them, his HUD using his advanced skills to quickly identify what he had. Apparently they were actually called spotted tubers- and he would need to grab the fully grown ones to be of any use, but not any that were too ripe. 

Ben let out a sigh- most of these materials had such specific requirements for him to make use of them. Even as he grabbed a few of them up at a time, only a few of them were the type that he could use, and he had to toss the others aside, letting them burst apart into a pile of pixels when they hit the ground. At least he wasn't filling up his bag with useless materials he couldn't craft with- he had a limit to what he could carry around after all.

Ben picked another piece of fruit off the branch he was balancing on and added it to his pouch, mentally keeping track of how much he had grabbed so far as he made sure to keep himself balanced. Reaching out his foot and looking around, he saw that he had finished picking anything that could be easily grabbed from this height by now, and would have to move on to another part of the garden. He carefully squatted down into a sitting position and dropped himself to the ground, landing with a thud, managing to avoid taking any damage.

He then headed over to where he left Sebastian before he moved out anywhere else, putting the half asleep familiar onto his shoulder and gave him a pat on the head for being nice and quiet, and at the very least out of his way for once. Maybe they were getting more used to each other- or maybe Sebastian was just getting better at following orders as he leveled up.

Hoping over to the farther reaches of the fruit trees, Ben's balance managed to hold out for as long as he hoped, and he gathered up enough materials to fill another one of his bags up as he continued working. Switching out bags would be trickier though, as it would shift his center of weight when he put his current haul into his inventory, so he braced himself as best that he could on the branch he was standing on. There wasn't any good hand holds unless he sidled all the way back to the trunk.

Though his balance faltered a bit, he stayed in place as he got a new empty bag in place and moved to the end of the next branch to begin filling it up. His pace was still quite fast, and he was soon going to be at the point where he had enough for a month of crafting, but with all the extra consumables and time that he had put into this trip that wouldn't be enough.