Benjamin Bookworm

"OK Sebastian, so if you aren't able to tell me what to do and help out, maybe I should just let you look at the ingredients? Would you be willing to try that out for me?" Ben asked, thinking of new ways of training he could go over with his little caterpillar.  He pulled a few different leaves out of his pouch and help them up near Sebastian, who immediately reached over and tried to take a bite out of them. "No, just sniffing them.  No eating this time.  Do you hear me- no eating." he scolded. 

Sebastian seemed to be confused by this information.  Leaves were for eating- why wasn't Ben letting him just dig in?  It didn't make sense.  Or at least he seemed to think that as he looked up at the snacks sadly, pouting that he wasn't being fed even more, and trying to get Ben to change his mind by giving him the sad caterpillar eyes.

Sebastian scooched his way across the crafting table, once more looking at the ingredients once more.  Benjamin watched with wide eyes as he grabbed one of them... then another, and another... "You're just eating all the ingredients again, aren't you?" Ben asked, to which Sebastian just stared back at him while he continued to chew on the leaves in front of him, not caring at all that his partner was disappointed in the complete lack of any effort he was making.

"OK, so you're still hungry, but those are materials that I need to make things.  So I can sell them and buy both of us stuff.  You can't just eat them whenever you want partner, you understand that right?" he scolded the little worm, pulling away all the materials that hadn't already disappeared down his stomach yet and glaring down.  He'd have to try something a little bit different this time and hoped the new methods would do the trick.

"OK, that's enough now. Time to get back to work."  Ben said as he picked a distraught Sebastian back up and put him in the crafting area again.  His familiar took a minute of fussing, where he tried to wiggle back at his food bowl, but finally settled down and got himself set back up at the table.  "Now I'm going to put all the materials back out once again- but this time I need you to just pick out what you think we should use to craft.  Can you do that buddy- just what we need?" he pleaded to his familiar, hoping that this time it would work better.

Sebastian waffled back and forth, trying to see what he needed to do before looking back up at Benjamin, who gave him a nod of encouragement and waited for the caterpillar to make his move and begin to do whatever it was this familiar would do to be more helpful.

Ben bent over where Sebastian was sitting, getting face to face with his familiar. "OK, so now comes the part where we see what you can do." he said to his caterpillar, waiting to see his response.  "Any time now... just start nibbling on things again." It took a bit more prodding- and some patience- to get Sebastian to start moving, but he eventually began crawling over to the pile and grabbing one ingredient.  Then another.  And another.  And eventually just started taking a bite or two out of everything there was.

Ben sighed- "Maybe you were just hungry.  Is that it?" and picked Sebastian up, looking at his unreadable familiar. Then putting him down by the food bowl he kept and let him have a few bites of whatever food usually spawned in there.  It just sort of came with the item, so Ben hadn't looked too deeply into it. 

"OK, just a little today.  We don't want you too full to work today, do we?"

Ben held out his hand to Ceres, accepting the help in getting over the log and away from the water.  "Yea, I didn't bring any snacks for the road, so I don't want to stay out too late.  Plus I have to finish up making some of these mats into their finished goods." he said with a smile before he brushed one of the big spots of mud off Cere's hair.

"Glad to hear your shop is getting some good foot traffic- it always seems to come in waves for me, so hopefully you'll see a bit more the next time another high level group heads out for something else." he commented, though he was not looking forward to having to rearrange his shop's inventory once again.  "Any new plans once you get back home to your shop?  Besides finding a nice hot bath I mean."  He flashed a smile and a bit of a laugh at that, happy to have something new to look forward to.

@Ceres

"So, now that we have everything laid out for you, just do what feels naturally." Ben told his familiar.  Hopefully this was going to work- after all, the familiars in the game are just some minor bits of code, with a little bit of AI in them to help. So they should be able to figure out how to help on their own- unless they were programmed to not do so unless certain conditions were met.

At least that was the theory he had heard- nobody really knew how the NPCs in SAO worked, at least not for sure.  So he was just taking stabs in the dark and seeing how things worked.  At least this time the consequences weren't life and death- just if he got better work done when he was making potions and crystals for the front liners... who were in life or death situations.  It seems to always come back around to that, doesn't it?

Benjamin gave his familiar a big hug after that, happy that his training methods were starting to work. "That's a good boy Sebastian.  Yes it is... you're my good boy!  You're going to be the best little alchemist helper in the world." he cooed over his caterpillar, happily heaping praise on to his familiar.

"Now, the next thing we have to do is... I don't really know yet." he said as he placed Sebastian back down onto his alchemy cart.  "Maybe try another recipe I know?  No... how about we try putting out a bunch of ingredients and seeing which recipe you want me to try?  I think that's as good a plan as any to start with." Ben than started grabbing out all the usual ingredients that he worked with, and laying them out on the top of his cart one at a time until he had a nice line of things for Sebastian to try and work with.  Or work on, whatever the case was.

Sebastian looked back and forth at the materials Ben had placed in front, tilting his head quizzically at each one in turn, before crawling over to a second one to grab.  Ben let the little guy do his thing, even if it did take a while, and soon enough Sebastian had started chewing on every material laid out that didn't need to be added to the mix.

"All right, that's a good boy! We're off to a great start so far!" he cheered on, happy to have some sort of mark of progress.  "Now we just have to figure out how to use that nose of yours to find things I didn't know before.  Maybe even some new recipes if I'm lucky." he told his familiar with a a hopeful smile. He'd be happy with anything his familiar could do, but if it helped him work on helping the other players beat the game faster and safer, he would jump at the chance. 

Ben sloshed around in the water as well, coming up empty once more. He began moving towards land and stepping up on he shore, shaking some of the water off of himself. "An overnight trip? I haven't been outside of town at night, well, ever.  That actually would be nice though- getting enough supplies to craft for several weeks at once." he said with a smile on his face. "Though I'd feel bad if you would up paying for most of the supplies for the expedition yourself.  Is there anything that I could bring along as well to help out?" he asked.

"Right now, I'm up to 21 materials.  Not my best haul by far either- I guess we're not finding any good spots yet.  But I'd rather have this time to relax with you than get a whole bunch of extra materials- it's been good to do something other than work on the game for once.  And I want to do it again for sure!"

@Ceres

"That's... actually a good point.  Maybe I should have asked you to go on a gathering quest instead, so we wouldn't have the chances of something like that happening..." Ben said as he realized he didn't really know how often a monster would get fished up. "I have a little skill with my dagger, but mostly just rely on it's buffs to defend myself.  It'd take forever for the two of us to beat anything without damage buffs."

"Even if I'm a bit closer to tier 2 myself, it just means I get stronger monster spawns than before.  I haven't really trained my combat skills at all yet." he said as he pulled another handful of seaweed from the seabed into his pack.

He had been getting used to the constant boops and pokes, but seeing Ceres just dive down into the water like that was a little surprising.  "Are you OK with being wet like that? I didn't bring anything to dry off with."

@Ceres

Sebastian, after some thought, crawled on over towards the ingredients that Ben held out, and reached out to the extra batch of moss. He then bit into it, pulled it towards him, and started eating the moss. 

Ben just stared at him as he slowly ate it up, wondering if this was the right way of going about things, but Sebastian just munched away for a while longer before swallowing. "Um... is that it?  Do I not use that then?" he asked, trying to figure out if he was on the right track here. "Maybe I just feed you different things for you to get the taste of them then?  I guess it's worth a shot- not like I have any better ideas at any rate."

He pulled out another few batches of materials and put them out on the table, seeing which ones his familiar would be most interested in. And hopefully which would help train him the most. 

The next thing he did was to grab the first ingredient he usually used in his potions, a hand full of herbs that he had found in the wild, and held it up in front of his mixing bowl. "Ok, I'll just start as usual then... unless you have some helpful tips?" he asked his familiar, showing him what ingredients he had in multiple different orders with no response.

He then grabbed a second dose of herbs and hovered them over the mixing bowl, looking for any sort of reactions at all.

"Look Sebastian,  you have to at least try at this." he told the silent caterpillar. "Just, I don't know, poke one of them. Maybe give me a hint at what kind of help you can give." Even if the advice he got was completely off base, he wanted to at least get a reaction more than confused curiosity. At least something to show that Sebastian was listening.

With a sigh, Ben put his companion down onto his alchemy cart and switched the sign on it from 'Alchemist is in' to 'Alchemist is busy'.  The quest description was pretty vague on what he needed to do, so it was probably up to the familiar on how they learn. But what exactly do you teach a giant caterpillar?

"OK, so you're supposed to try and help me out with crafting things then-" he told Sebastian as he materialized several materials in front of himself. "So I'm going to put out the things we need for a normal healing potion, and you're going to help. So just do whatever it is that your wormy instincts are telling you to help out."

And with that he began sorting out just what he needed to start, holding the ingredients up to Sebastian one at a time and hoping for a reaction, which he still got none. Yet, at least.

Ben's shop on the first floor had been quiet for a while- it seemed sales were slowing down lately.  Which was the best time to check out a new quest that he had seen since the newest update. 

The quest was some sort of training one for improving his familiar, which he was definitely up for.  It's just... he looked down at the caterpillar he had chosen as a familiar.  The two foot long worm was a good sidekick to talk to, and would sit in his shop to keep track of sales.  It's just he couldn't really see how the little guy would really be able to help with his crafting.

"OK Sebastian, it's time for us to start working on... on what you do." he said as he picked his partner up into the air. "So, you're going to help me get better at mixing and crafting.  Think you're up for it old friend?"

Sebastian just stares back without a word. 

Skill(s) Being Dropped: Dagger (Weapon Skill)
Mod(s) Being Dropped: None
SP Refunded: 5
Cost: 5000

It was kind of weird that even small rivers like this could hold things as big as treasure chests. "Hopefully it also doesn't have monsters down there... or mimics." he said with a shiver, watching the water much closer for now.

He was interrupted once again by Ceres fixing his glasses, blushing at the close proximity again.  She was doing this on purpose, she had to be. "Ah, um, well I'm pretty much on my own most days too.  Most of my online friends didn't want to join in so early, thankfully, so it's mostly been customers and some of the front liners I've talked to a lot.  And a lot of newbies who needed help with the first few quests- that's something I can never say no to helping with." he let out a smile with that one- some of the younger players were fun to hang out with, even if they never got very far or high level, at least they would be here still. 

"Maybe we could check again for any chests- you think there would be any good fishing here?"

@Ceres

Racing ahead of Ceres, Ben splashed down into the river, tripping over some of the mud and stumbling up to his waist into the water as he did.  Her reaction at getting her socks wet just pushed things over the top though, and he was overcome with a fit of giggles, doubling over for nearly a minute as they both wound up wet in the river.

"That was, that was fun.  Wet socks and shoes or not.  They might even add to the ridiculousness of things like this." he said between giggles, reaching down to pull something off his leg. "Huh, I guess there's even stuff to harvest in the rivers.  That's something to keep in mind for next time, though I don't think I'll be drudging up rivers too often."

"So let me ask, do you have these kind of crazy adventures with all your friends, or just the ones who help gather materials with you?" he teasingly asked, hoping to learn a bit more about his new friend. 

@Ceres

As he felt Ceres' hand around his arm, he felt some of the unease that he had been carrying around feel a little lighter.  "Thanks. It's a new feeling for me to do that- usually I'm all about the speed runs and finding the best way to min-max my stats, rather than just taking in the sights like this."

"Honestly, what I want hasn't really been clear as much to me.  When I first walked out of the town, I wanted to be a hero.  To get to the front lines and save everyone with how awesome I was." he forced a laugh at that. "But I met others who were trying to survive, to get stronger... and maybe that's not what I wanted any more." he confessed.

"Right now... how about we head down to that river?  I haven't splashed around is water like that before.  I'll race ya!" he called out as he broke away running ahead, completely forgetting to check the ground for any materials as he ran.  He'd have to ask Ceres how she stayed so positive like this- after he won the race of course. 

@Ceres

Ben chuckled a bit, realizing that the Benji nickname was probably going to be something that stayed around for a while.  He didn't really have any clear goals, but he did have one thing he wanted. "Honestly, I just want to help out everyone in getting ourselves home. Being trapped in here, away from our families and lives... it's just suffocating." His voice wavered a little as he talked.

"I put my cart on the first floor, just a little ways away from the monument of life.  Seeing those names- all the people who are never going to be going home to their families.  This... this isn't supposed to be how games work.  They're a diversion, a place where you can be yourself away from the pressures of life." he said sadly. "A home for people who didn't have a place they fit in.  And I can't just stand by while people are being hurt by something so good."

He focused on picking at some of the flowers in the forest as he talked, adding a few more items to his pouch and wondering why he was being so candid right now.  He hadn't really talked to anyone like this before... mostly because nobody had asked.

@Ceres

Ben shifted around uncomfortably at that statement. "Yea... but I don't have the build to use combat skills like that to fight anything close to my level.  So my crafts are all I have to make much col from, and not very much from that as it is." he paused, remembering something else he had talked about recently.  "You know, even if you don't need the col, you could just give them to some of our support merchants for junk sale anyways.  They make a lot of their col from their shops too, and the XP from using their skills is a bit harder to find."

"I guess I'm a little biased when I talk about supporting our crafters though- I know you have a lot of things to do near the front, especially compared to me." he said as he continued to scan around for the quest monster they were looking for without luck.  It was a big forest- or jungle more accurately- and they had a lot of ground to cover. 

@Oscar

"Yea... We do, don't we?  Sometimes it's easy to forget about that when you spend most of your days searching high and low for crafting ingredients, only to have to work just as hard to convince everyone else what you made is worth paying for." he let out a sigh as he grabbed some of the roadside flowers as well. "But it feels better to have someone to talk to about it when things start to get really frustrating." he gave Ceres a smile as he readjusted his scarf, loosening it now that they'd walked enough to heat up a bit. 

"I know I at least have the ability to give items to the front liners for boss battles though- I'm guessing it's a bit harder for merchants to deal with things when sales are slow though, are they?"  He would have to make a note of seeing what other merchant services he might need- even while he complained about lack of customers, he really didn't visit others shops as often as he should either.  He should change that.

@Ceres

Benjamin nodded, though he shifted around a bit while he did so. "Well... if you ever want any I have plenty.  The uncommon class of items never really sell, so I always wind up with a store full of them until it's time to dump them off at a merchant.  Might as well use them when there's a chance, right?" he asked as he looped a few of them into his potion belt, ready for use if they were called upon, and tucked his emergency teleport crystal in front for if there's an emergency they couldn't deal with.  Oscar was a good friend, but he wouldn't ask him to risk himself defending a low level player if they had to make a hasty retreat.

"I wish I had some more crystals that were low tier that I could use, but for now I can only use lower tier ones.  Maybe we'll get enough XP here to change that?" he quipped as he loaded the route for the quest onto his map and started walking down the path.  Hopefully they'd get the boss done with enough time left over to do some treasure hunting too!

@Oscar

Ben saw Ceres' face fall, and a pang of guilt went through him. "I'm sorry, I didn't even think about that. I guess I'm still used to hanging out with my gaming group so often I forget other people don't really feel the same rush like that. And it's changed for me too, ever since the game changed to... well, what it is." he still looked a little scared as he talked, but sounded more decisive too. "But I have to at least go out there and try. I've played enough games to know what I'm doing, and can help get everyone out of here faster. Especially the ones who can't fight."

He glanced over at Ceres, surprised by even himself that he said all of that, and tried, without luck, to go back to gathering as much as he could. "I won't bring it up though if it makes you feel uncomfortable.  Because... I like this too.  I haven't had a friend to just talk with in a long time." he admitted, patting Ceres on the shoulder and giving her a smile.

@Ceres

Ben shook his head as he followed behind Ceres, a little confused. "Er, I think I must have explained that wrong- I was talking about an enhancement that items can have on them, not that consumables can have." he said as he hoped he didn't give the wrong impression. "A piece of light armor or something like that would have it, and it winds up so expensive because there's only a few that have ever been dropped, and lots of people want the buff since it works for combat focused builds and support builds."

He kept his eyes on the trail as he walked, picking up a few sets of herbs as he went and adding them to his bag- it had been a good day for it so far. "As for the consumables in the chest, well, they cost enough to identify that I usually can't justify it.  In most shops you can get a  consumable made for less than that, and it's not like there's a chance of the ones in the field being better than what they have." he sighed as he finished filling his pack and came up next to his new friend. "If I could farm col from monsters better, that would be a different story, but I usually just sell off the unidentified ones I grab to merchants, so it's like I cut out one of the steps if you just take 'em. They'll help you out more anyways."

@Ceres

"No, not like that kind of thing-" Ben said as he lowered Ceres into the chest. "It's an enhancement you use that boosts whatever healing abilities and items you use. I figure if I can get something like that I can become a healing force to be reckoned with soon enough. Problem is I've only ever seen one of them, and it went for more than a small house would, so it's just a dream right now.  Or a very lucky find in a chest." he answered as Ceres came back up out of the hole.

He was sure she was messing with him as he blushed at her playing with his glasses, staring back at her and swallowing before pointing where he thought his map was pointing, forgetting to check around for materials very hard. "Oh, um, we should be safe if we keep going this way. Maybe even get some more good finds like that as we go- there's plenty of nice spots to check out before we have to start looping around.  And if you want to keep the consumables, that's fine by me.  I make enough of them anyways."

@Ceres