Zicko

ID: 97234

BD: 6

Zicko: HP 57/60

Nepent 4: HP 0/7

Noticing the stubborn plant dodging Simba's attack and trying to escape, Zicko dashes forward and does something that would otherwise be impossible to re-enact in real life. He literally lobs his sword straight towards the plant, the blade successfully lands and stabs through its back, severing its heart and maybe some other minor organs. It drops dead in an instant.

Zicko calmly walks towards it and pulls his sword out of its vegetative body before it glows and explodes into pieces of digital date, pixels, whatever people want to call it. As he wipes the gooey green blood off the blade with the hem of his undershirt, which he wears underneath his hauberk, he hears a loud screech, and looks at the direction of said sound.

Nepent Variant is probably spawning now, and it sounds really pissed that its friends are murdered. Welp, time to deal with the final foe of the day. Zicko is hoping in his mind that the Variant really has the medicine that the NPC citizen desperately needs.

He looks at Simba for a second before running off into the woods.

@Simba

ID: 97231 -- CD: 5 -- LD: 14 (You fail, but get to keep metal. Gained 2 EXP)

ID: 97232 -- CD: 1 (You are a total failure! A disgrace! Gained 1 EXP)

ID: 97233 -- CD: 6 -- LD: 17 (You fail, but get to keep metal. Gained 2 EXP)

Fail. Another fail. And even another fail. Much to Zicko's disappointment as he had done such a great job on the day of the Master Sword's birth. Oh well. At least he managed to salvage some metal twice. 

Heading upstairs, he sits down behind the wooden counter, the rapier on his table as well as some weapon cleaning tools. He remains silent and still as he first wipes the slender blade with his cloth, then he uses water and a polishing liquid, rubbing the blade vigorously with the same cloth and makes sure that it is as shiny as a colonel's pair of boots. 

ID: 96972 -- CD: 8 (You fail, but metal is preserved. Gained 2 EXP)

ID: 96973 -- CD: 12 (MASTERPIECE! Gained 8 EXP)

A sword has come into Zicko's mind as he is polishing and cleaning his zweihander, his eyes focused on his work while his mind is working on an idea. What if he can make battle ready swords that are based on those that are portrayed in fictional media? By battle ready he doesn't mean real swords that are blunt. He perceives real as in they are literally swords that are sharp as hell and can be used as effectively and much as genuine, non theatrical medieval weapons.

The Hero Of Time's Master Sword is the first fictional sword to come into his mind. Immediately after giving final touches to the zweihander's blade and hanging it on the display walls, he quickly gets back downstairs to work on his forge.

Taking a strong, good looking metal ingot, he starts forging it while closely monitoring the temperature and whatnot, all while keeping the final image in his mind. 

First attempt almost rendered the ingot useless, and he was just getting to shaping the tip of the blade too. Luckily, it is salvageable, and he resumes working, reminding himself in his heart to not rush and just relax throughout his job.

After some sweet time of painstaking work, it's finally done.

The moment when he quenches the finished blade into water, and withdraws it from the liquid, smoke emits from the hot metal before they gradually fade, and the blade glows and takes shape into exactly what Zicko wants to forge today.

There it is. The real Master Sword, with realistic proportions and parts. No oversized pommel or hilt, less 'wings', and a blade which part of it isn't too slender near the hilt.

Now anybody can be Link. Zicko actually smiles for the first time in years, though only briefly, and gets up and sits behind the counter as he starts polishing and cleaning the weapon right away. This is one of his favorite parts of his work as a blacksmith. It is relaxing and quiet..almost as if it is an interactive ASMR.

Morning. Close to 9 o clock. The inn, dubbed "Zum Hirsch", is fairly lit and warm as the NPC cooks, waiters and bartenders are already getting to work. Today, unlike normal times, the inn is nearly devoid of customers as soon as the clock almost struck this hour. Many players, especially the higher ups, were eager to go to the advanced floors and just left hurriedly after paying their bills. The low leveled ones? They were stoked to either accompany the beaters or go out to start their own mortal adventure.

Except Zicko, who is sitting alone in the corner of the inn, facing the window as his back is also facing the rest of the inn's interior. He munches on roasted lamb and chicken soup, followed by a cup of spring water. He has nothing to think about but a certain quest that he accepted last night. Some NPC wearing a robe, with cleanly shaved hair, casually approached him and asked if he ever heard of a Martriarch's Stinger, to which Zicko shakes his head in response.

Stinger is said to have a poison that can damage the tissues of living beings like a strong acid. It can also be applied onto a weapon to be used against an opponent. There is one problem of getting that poison: a Queen wasp somewhere in this floor is guarding it fiercely.

Right after the explanation, a window popped up in front of Zicko, asking if he accepts the quest or not.

He tapped his finger onto the green button. Sounds like fun.

@Hakai

ID: 96868

BD: 8

Zicko: HP 47/60

Mimic: HP 0/30

Seeing it gradually losing its breath is a pleasant sight to Zicko, who walks slowly towards it. That is the perfect form of revenge for deceiving him this morning, and the mimic is now regretting it. Maybe it should have ran away earlier after its twister attack was stopped by his sword. Or maybe it should try to grab Zicko himself instead of his sword.

Perhaps its constant mindset to quickly win and getting over this fight is what made it reckless and in return, destroying itself. 

Zicko stands over the chest head of the mimic as it gasps for breath. Glaring at him for one last time, it decides to at least deliver a final blow by...whatever it has left within itself. Maybe its fists or its jaw. 

But it is too late for that. Zicko has already plunged his sword into its mouth, immediately rendering itself dead and gone.

ID: 96872 -- LD: 4 (No loot...)

Obtained 90 COL as standard loot

Well, that's a letdown. Only 90 COL after all the effort of fighting this thing. Oh well, at least his morning is peaceful again. Zicko takes a deep breath with his eyes closed, then slowly opening them, he looks at the sunny horizon as he now craves for more rest in the main settlement's taverns and delicious BBQ venison ribs.

THREAD COMPLETE

OBTAINED 1 SP!

OBTAINED 580 COL! (400 + 180 OF TOTAL COL LOOT)

OBTAINED 2 METAL ORES

ID: 96861

BD: 10

MD: 6

Zicko: HP 47/60

Mimic: HP 2/30

Now that the mimic's crotch is severed to the point where it can no longer moves its legs easily, it goes berserk, starting by letting out a high pitched scream while leaping forward and grabbing Zicko's sword, initiating a tug of war. 

However, Zicko already has a plan that would work if he isn't making himself too obvious. He 'struggles' to pull his sword away from the mimic's grasp as it pulls close to him with all of its strength. It wails as it opens its jaws wide, preparing to consume him once and for all. But before it can even do anything, Zicko lets go of his sword and gives its injured crotch a harsh kick.

Feeling more pain at the area, the mimic yells as it drops the sword by accident after receiving a second kick, it is too much to bear. Zicko quickly picks up his and unleashes a dozen of fury slashes towards its abdomen, and then slicing just below its neck, causing a decent amount of blood to spurt out. 

The mimic chokes for oxygen as it falls onto the ground.

ID: 96858

BD: 7

MD: 2

Zicko: HP 50/60

Mimic: HP 9/30

Both Zicko and the mimic step forwards to each other in the same manner as a cowboy and an outlaw would in a duel under the high noon sun. Zicko's sword is slowly lifted up, the blade point to legs. The mimic is preparing to use its hand to grab him as swiftly as it can.

As soon as their are only a few inches away from each other, they stop. Both are now statues, eyes targeting at opposing systems to be terminated in immediate effect. The natural breeze returns, only this time, the cloud gradually moves away from the sun's view. Its rays slowly reflecting towards the mimic, as if it is some kind of holy figure.

Then suddenly, Zicko takes action, thrusting his blade into an area that the mimic do not expect at all: its crotch region.

It wails inhumanely as Zicko drags the sharp blade up to its abdomen, and carves out part of its flesh before stepping away quickly.

ID: 96846

BD: 3

MD: 4

Zicko: HP 50/60

Mimic: HP 14/30

For a split second, it lifts up its leg and kick away Zicko's sword, causing his hand to bounce away. Thankfully he still manages to hold onto his weapon, and he steps back as the mimic gets onto its feet, hissing and giggling as it glances at him with its non-existent eyes. 

The two of them have reached to a point where this fight is now a stalemate, and attacking constantly doesn't seem to work very well. Both of them glare at each other as they remain static in their current combat positions, anxiously waiting for one of them to make a sudden next move.

Zicko holds onto his sword as he scans the mimic entirely, trying to find whatever weak point it might harbor on itself. Meanwhile, the mimic is probably doing the same, licking the lid of the chest with its own big tongue as if it is really hungry.

ID: 96836

BD: 10

MD: 8

Zicko: HP 50/60 -- Energy 0/6

Mimic: HP 14/30

At this point, the mimic is pretty much the Tasmanian Tiger with an anorexic body and a chest for its head. Its twister ability becomes faster as Zicko makes a run for it, cutting through whatever plantation that is on its way, like bushes or whatnot. In fact, the twister is so fast that Zicko could feel a breeze, albeit an unpleasant one, producing from the makeshift wind of the mimic. 

As soon as he reaches yet another exit to the plains, he turns around to see it surprisingly advancing faster to him, and here he has no other choice but to retaliate. At the cost of being slapped by its hand, Zicko quickly thrusts his sword towards it, the blade effectively hitting its flesh as it abruptly stops and falls onto the ground, panting. Zicko rubs the bruise on his cheek before taking another swing.

The mimic gets up to see this and quickly reacts to Zicko's incoming attack.

ID: 96827

BD: 8

MD: 3

Zicko: HP 57/60

Nepent 4: HP 2/7

Witnessing the death of its last comrade is enough to demoralize the fourth nepent, who is on the verge of retreat. No sooner after it turns tail, it hears Zicko's legs stomping the soil rapidly as he rushes towards him. In a panicked state, it turns back around to face him and instantly extends and launches its vines towards him, only to miss as he ducks down while still running.

The nepent lets out a fearful shriek as Zicko thrusts his sword through its abdomen, running in circles while cutting in that same motion until he completes one loop. He drags his sword all the way to the left as he severs the nepent in half, rendering it legless. 

Dropping to the ground with a heavy thud, the nepent wheezes(?) as the vines begin to lose its strength, almost as if they are wilting like normal plants. Zicko just glares at the dying creature with his thousand yard gaze, then in a few seconds, he looks back at Simba.

@Simba

ID: 96687

BD: 5

MD: 9

Zicko: HP 57/60

Nepent 3: HP 2/7

A slap to the face doesn't make Zicko flinch as he keeps on attacking the nepent, slapping away its incoming vines at one point and rushing forward to its head. Just as he is about to leap, he suddenly feels vines wrapped around his legs, and lets out a silent 'tch' in his mind before being thrown away against a tree. 

He is hit in the rear end though, so the damage isn't much. Still, it does chip away one unit of his health, and this attack is nothing but a nuisance to him. He glances at Simba who finally got the chance to cut the nepent, and somehow thinking that he would be the one to finish it off this time, though this isn't 100% plausible due to the frequent misses.

He notices the last nepent attempting to sneak up to Simba, and to make sure that he isn't harmed, Zicko rushes in and swings his sword wildly to it. It dodges the attack and quickly backs away, before glaring at the now injured nepent.

@Simba

ID: 96674

BD: 8

Zicko: HP 59/60

Nepent 2: HP 0/7

Rushing towards the injured nepent with the sword's blade being pointed towards it, Zicko proceeds to launch his weapon forward and stabs through where its neck should be, before slicing off its head and watching it drop dead onto the soil. He quickly turns around with bewildered eyes, noticing one living nepent hesitating to attack, and another dodging Simba's rapier. How in the world does he miss in this entire fight? Zicko doesn't complain though. That ain't his character.

Deciding to jump in to help him, he quickly punches away the attacking nepent's vine that was heading straight for his companion, and engages himself into a battle with it that consists of parrying here and there. He puts all of his focus to the plant as he awaits for Simba to try another attack, hoping that this time, he would succeed.

The nepent hisses as it tries to coil its vines around onto Zicko's sword, but always misses as he would pull away swiftly every time he notices the appendage forming into some sort of loop.

@Simba

ID: 96669 -- CD: 10 (Forged uncommon item! Gained 3 EXP)

ID: 96670 -- CD: 11 (Forged rare item! Gained 5 EXP)

Zicko, after reading more manuals about blacksmithing, weapons and armor, has his spirits perked up within himself as he calmly heads downstairs to his basement, relighting the forge with the help of pine charcoal. Taking another steel ingot, he puts it into the fire and waits for it to turn orange, before retrieving it with a pair of tongs and uses his hammer to work on the ingot.

Keeping his close eye to the ingot, reheating and cooling, more banging and eventually shaping are all that would take to make him succeed for the first time. After spending some hours of work, he looks at the shaped ingot glowing brightly before the system transforms it into....a rapier. Nicely done. 

Zicko picks up the new weapon, his first craft, looking at the beautiful, slender blade as he admires the shiny textures as well as the appealing design of its hilt. All that is left is to give it a cleanup. But first he takes another ingot and gets back to work.

Turns out that when a rough shape of the desired equipment is formed, and if all going well according to correct smithing procedures, it will successfully turn into the complete design. Keeping this in mind, Zicko puts all of his focus to the ingot, and after around two or three hours of work (with a bit of rest), he successfully crafted another weapon. This time it is a two hander, a zweihander to be exact. Historically used by people like landschneckts, German mercenaries in late 15th-16th century Europe.

ID: 96666

BD: 9

MD: 8

Zicko: HP 53/60 -- Energy 1/6 (Used Snake Bite!)

Mimic: HP 21/30

Immediately the mimic attempts to swing its leg again, but before the foot can even reach for Zicko's face, it wails in pain as it feels its legs being brutally slashed by his Snake Bite. All three cuts had more or less sever some of the muscles of the legs, deriving them of their original strength and thus, enraging the mimic. In retaliation, it slaps Zicko away, who manages to get onto his feet before he hits himself with a tree, sliding along the soil.

He wastes no seconds as he rushes forward and starts swinging his sword aggressively, surprising the mimic as it parries most of his attacks. Still, it tries to kick again and again, and it is not until a few minutes later then it decides to stop kicking altogether, and just do some sort of tornado spin to Zicko. 

Zicko gets behind trees, rolling away whenever the now twisting mimic spins against his cover, shredding them to barks.

ID: 96636

BD: 2

MD: 2

Zicko: HP 56/60 -- Energy 4/6

Mimic: HP 30/30

Neither of them hit each other as they swing their respective weapons at all directions, only to have their attacks dodged or parried. What is worrying the mimic is that it has strong legs, as evidenced by its attempt to kick Zicko, which it misses and only gets to kick trees. The impact of the kicks is strong enough to leave quite a dent there. If this happens to Zicko's head, it would be like being hit by a Turkish mace that has a shiny, blunt tip. No spikes, no flanged surfaces, nothing. Just a smooth, empty surface.

The mimic stops attacking as Zicko is noticeably backing away from it, not due to cowardice, but for the sake of being safe from its long limbs. It lets out another giggle as it rushes towards him and launches its leg forward, which Zicko dodges by rolling sideways.

He takes a giant leap towards the mimic's legs.

ID: 96633

BD: 8

MD: 10

Zicko: HP 59/60

Nepent 2: HP 2/7

Seeing Simba missing is a bit of a pity to look at, and Zicko wishes deep within his heart that he has a bigger blade to swing. Maybe a proper longsword, or even a bastard sword will might do to hurt the nepent with even the slightest success. Back to another nepent he is currently facing, he quickly jumps away as soon as its vines burst out of the soil, only managing to hit a bit of his unarmored leg, which doesn't do much to hurt him.

In retaliation, Zicko takes one leap forward and swiftly cuts the vines in two, causing the nepent to shriek painfully as greenish blood spurts out of the stumps of its arms. Just for good measure, he clenches his left fist and rushes towards the injured nepent, launching a strong punch against its head. The impact is enough to stumble and causes it to hit its head against a nearby tree.

@Simba

ID: 96632 -- LD: 2 (Mimic spawned!)

MD: 9

Zicko: HP 56/60 -- Energy 6/6 -- DMG 5 -- MIT 9

Mimic: HP 30/30 -- DMG 12 -- MIT 0

If Zicko didn't let his curiosity get the best of himself, he would have noticed that the lid of the chest was slightly moving up and down, as if the thing itself was breathing. No sooner after he opens the chest, a large jaw with sharp, long teeth suddenly takes over the shape of the lid. Long limbs grow out of the chest's sides.

The mimic holds onto Zicko as it produces out a long, slender tongue from the chest's inside, intending to swallow its prey whole. Zicko, who is now shocked by the unexpected attack, quickly pulls himself out of the mimic's grasp, but at the cost of being slapped in the face by its hand. He quickly draws out his sword, his eyes widen as the creature stands up with its long legs. It lets out an annoying, high pitched giggle as it tries to kick Zicko like a football, much to its failure as Zicko dodges that too.

As the fire slowly dies down, both men slowly closes their eyes and fall into a deep, restful sleep. The cold breeze blows through for a good amount of time before rain starts to fall. Again. 

But they weren't awaken throughout the rain, as they were busy minding their own business in their respective dream worlds. As morning finally arrives with the rising morning sun, the NPC was the first to wake up. Still remembering his companion, he looks at Zicko briefly before smiling and getting up to take his leave.

Two more hours passed since the man left, and Zicko is finally back to reality. Opening his eyes wide, he gets up and slowly looks around to find the campfire long extinguished, and himself being alone once more. He lets out a sigh through his nostrils. At least he managed to sleep through the night without any disturbance.

Standing up, he is about to leave when he notices something hiding behind the tree...or is it not? He slowly creeps up to the unknown object.

ID: 96631 -- LD: 20 (Found a treasure chest!)

Perhaps the night was so dark that he didn't even notice a treasure chest casually sitting just beside a large, old tree and a few meters away from the campsite. Surprised by this newfound discovery, he quickly attempts to open it.

"....did you finish the trip?" Zicko asks as his eyes are kept locked towards the man, who looks back at him and just smiles, albeit in a forlorn manner.

"Yeah..we did it...survived on berries and luckily...a calf reindeer..." he answered. "When we reached the place and one of the forts, we told the guy in charge what happened, and he was pretty shocked. He tried to contact our boss so he could give an explanation of why he sent us to that damn route. As far as I knew, he came a few days later, and soon he was demoted and punished for sending us to death despite the given warnings....

And that is it. Story ends here. Fur trade was later gone, and now the animals ain't gonna worry about being hunted by us anymore.

...yay I guess."

The NPC lies onto his back as he looks at the starts, and asks, "So, I'm glad you listened. At least I have somebody to talk to tonight. Thank you."

"...you are welcome," is Zicko's reply as he finishes what is left of the meat in his hand and lies down, closing his eyes. As both men remain silent for a few minutes, Zicko finally speaks again.

"...I was in the military....seen dozens of s**t there....lost count how many people I killed.."

"I see," says the hooded man.

The man sighs heavily, noticing that the flames of the campfire start to shrink a little. Nevertheless, he moves on.

"Long story short...we used the route...but there were several mishaps that we encountered. Two of the seven of us died frozen in their sleeps. We had to take shelter in an open cave due to a blizzard. There wasn't any other option than that. Then we arrived at what appeared to be an abandoned cabin near a small lake. Just...at least two more days of walking and we would be close to our destination. But no.

Blizzard struck again, and it won't completely stop for days. We were getting hungry until three of them had gone mad. They were attacking each other and...crikey...I couldn't bear to describe what happened in the cabin...

You know the term "you are what you eat, right?" Well, that phrase was applied to that certain situation...in a literal sense. Me and the last member of the party busted ourselves out of here. Ironically the blizzard was almost over by the time the three tried to kill each other."

"There were long but safe routes you can travel on, but all of them pass the frozen wasteland, which was said to be harbor some of the most difficult terrains to travel onto if you aren't prepared. Regardless, there weren't any accidents, save for minor mishaps. We had guides and signs that lead people to the new place safely.

The day before our trip, one of the party members got some notes from this person named Don, who was promoting his new route, claiming that it was faster than other available routes and would take no more than three days. Most of us were stoked until we found out where the route exactly was. Me and one of the boys were concerned as it passed a very steep mountain and a barren, frozen wasteland too despite the presence of signs...or so Don claimed.

The rest wouldn't change their mind. Even our boss told us to use that route, all for the sake of going to paradise for a short amount of time."

Zicko keeps glancing at the man, having a gut feeling that this story will not end well.

ID: 96627

BD: 9

Zicko: HP 60/60 -- Energy 0/6 (Used Rage Spike!)

Nepent 1: 0/7

While the nepent is swinging its vine towards Simba, Zicko quickly charges up one of his sword arts, his weapon change its entire color into a hint of green. As soon as his partner leaps backwards to dodge the attack, he charges forward and launches his blade towards the nepent like a spear, stabbing it in the mouth and severs its gums in four direction, beheading it in the process. 

The nepent immediately drops dead as Zicko glares at the other three, slowly approaching them while they hesitate. This feeling soon fades out as they quickly surround him in a makeshift circle, hissing and waving their vines here and there. Zicko just stands still, looking at each of them every five seconds, his hand tightly grips the sword's handle as he gives Simba one glance, waiting for him to strike.

One of the nepents suddenly penetrates the soil with its vines, and cracks begin to rapidly appear and advance towards Zicko.

@Simba

"Equipment that are more badass and powerful are for special hunters. Yeah, special as in they were the real deal for hunting monster skins. You got mercenaries, knights, a few heroes, basically the fighting experts. Unlike us, they only served the companies for a set period of time. Pay was as big as a mountain. Maybe they got a couple of chicks, wine or some s**t too. What the hell.

I'm getting off track here. So, I made a living as a hunter. I was...well let's just say I wasn't too bad. I could handle a few large animals like bears and moose. They were a pain in the ass to take down, but overall, they were easy to fight if you weren't so reckless and knew what you were dealing with."

The NPC munches a big chunk of the meat, which Zicko does the same as he now glares at the man with his gaze, remaining silent while eating.

"Mm, tasty. So, everything was okay so far. I give them good skins, and they pay me good money. Everybody got their share in the end. 

It was in the final year of the booming fur trade before it was gradually diminished thanks to an increase of better, more beautiful materials like silk and wool. I was assigned to a party, a total of seven guys including myself. There was this new place where people started to migrate to. It was damn nice, in fact so nice that in the wilderness over there, the amount of game increased. Maybe the animal families moved in like us. Maybe the males got to find new pretty females to mate with. A few of the fur companies also built some new forts there, and one of em was where we were headed to."