Katagawa

"I've probably already walked around most of the town, but I do occasionally see things around here change. Mostly just the player run shops that pop up and then close down. I also spent quite a bit of time searching for the blacksmith, he's just right across the plaza though." Hokori pointed towards Lyle, not wanting to waste too much time. It would be good to let him learn on his own, but with how terrible she felt the menus in this game were it would be better to just point towards the location and let him walk there. There were things that should be left for people to learn and other things that needed to be taught if possible. She felt that time was of the essence, so she just taught them instead. "Once you turn that in, we can start working on the next quest. I should be able to help with the gathering portion of it this time, though I'm not sure. If not, I can still at least show you the ropes of combat."

@pureblade

Hokori stopped and listened to what Pure had to say. Though it was nice to be recognized for her assistance, she really hadn't done all that much to help his efforts for this part. "No no, I'll stay. Besides, the next quest is when things will get a little bit more interesting. Still just as random, but it will be interesting." She had just recently finished taking on these quests herself, and remembered how lucky she had gotten with them. Hopefully the game would smile down on them and give it to them just as quick, though now that she thought it, it was likely it would take quite a while. She was more powerful now though, and could go for longer without the need to rest. If there was the possibility of her getting what Pure would need while swinging her blade, than that would make things much easier. If not, she could probably just fight some of her own enemies while she let him take care of things. As much as she wanted him to learn on his own, she didn't want him to die to a boar.

@pureblade

Hokori follwoed Pure through the exit of the shop, once again letting him lead. She didn't see there being much if a point in small talk right now, so kept quiet for the time being. Pure seemed honed in on what he wanted to get accomplished, and she admired him for that. She had seen many people just drop out because they couldn't pick themselves up and get going to work on things. It was a rare sight, or so it felt at times, but a very nice one. Again, thoughts of getting to the front lines crept into Hokori's mind. She knew that they would be a ways away, but she didn't want to let that make her lose hope. She knew that if she pushed hard enough she could make it to the end. That's all that it would take. She only needed to make it to the end. But as much as she tried to make the matter seem trivial, she knew that she had an arduous journey ahead of her. There was little she could do to avert that, she had spent two years trying to.

@pureblade

Hokori stayed close to the exit of the shop, not wanting to interrupt any other players who were doing the quest as well. It seemed that there were a few that had finally gotten themselves gathered up and making their way forward in this game. Maybe it was just a lucky day, or perhaps there was a lot of NPCs that frequented the area. Regardless, the shop was certainly not just the two of them and the quest giver. Perhaps one day she would try and figure out what made these NPCs tick. She had always been looking for new progress in swarm technology, and large amounts of NPCs interacting properly was the gaming equivalent for that. The other guys she knew always thought she was such a girl for poring over these little details, but she just thought that it would be good to study what others may have stumbled across accidentally. The accidents were what usually led to huge progress in a field after all. Seeing that the boy was nearly done with his work, she stopped leaning against the wall, giving her equipment a quick check before they would need to head out for the next stop. She figured that it would be a good idea to help him out as much as she could, show him the ropes that she knew. One day she hoped the two of them could be on equal footing.

@pureblade

Hokori followed pure back towards the workshop, letting him lead the way so he could get more familiar with the layout of the place. She still remembered where the workshop was, but figured letting others learn for themselves would be better. She had always done much better in hands on experiences for classes, instead of letting someone just tell her what to do. Letting someone grow into their own place rather than having her trim them away from it would work better in the long run as well. Though she wasn't sure how fast she would be able to make up ground on the front liners, she hoped that maybe one day the two of them could both be there. It would be good to have people she knew from her old days come to the front with her. Though she knew not to be so intimidated by the people stuck in the same situation as her, she couldn't help but be so. It was frightening knowing that those players could easily end her in one hit.

@pureblade

Hokori quickly searched around for one more material to grab before the two made their way back towards the Town of Beginnings. She didn't know when she would next be out gathering, so it was best that she worked on these things now rather than later. "I don't know about you, but I always struggle with the names of real people. I don't seem to do as bad with fictional characters though. Maybe it's just because I always needed to know who a conversation was about when my friends started to talk video games. Haven't really figured out how that applies to a game like this. Everything is so real yet so fictional." Hokori trailed off a bit at the end of her thought, still trying to comprehend just how in sync she was with the game. As she had said, she couldn't help but feel this was a second layer to reality, but then there was still the issue of it all being a virtual one. It felt so strange to even consider things like this. She remembered seeing some movie about a digital world while in Europe, and she couldn't comprehend it any more than this.

@pureblade

Hokori listened carefully to Pure's response. It was certainly an interesting thought of just what the full dive tech could give you. Truly an experience like no other. She was still shocked that someone would lock players in a game this way, as people were usually in it for the money and this game would've been a huge hit. She finally managed to find herself another material before Seeing pure had gotten another one as well. "After I'm out of this game, I'm hoping that my school will take me back in and let me go for a master's degree. I don't know if they'll let me back in though. They're usually quite wary of people taking gap year's, and two years is quite a long time when you're not actively working in the field of your study. I just wish there was some way for me to work on my degree while in this game, though I doubt there is any such way. You get all the materials you need? Noticed you got one more."

@pureblade

As the two came closer to the crystal, Hokori grew wary of the fact they hadn't encountered any monsters while in the cave. She figured that there would be something they would need to face. She decided to take the lead, going for the crystals. Upon closer inspection, there was actually two crystals. "Seeing as there haven't been any mobs, I'm guessing there is a few possibilities here." She decided it would be best to give her theories before grabbing the crystals, as most of them had something happening after they were grabbed. "There may be nothing guarding it, in which case we take these and leave. There may be something that spawns behind us, in which case you'll be able to tank it. There could be something that spawns in front of us, in which case I can easily strike before they have the chance to and can probably take a returning hit if needed. The last possibility is one behind and one in front. If that is the case, we'll need to watch out for the flank. Let me know when you're ready and I'll grab the crystals. My guess is that whatever it is it will spawn soon after we grab them. As soon as I grab them I'll toss one to you before they bind to my inventory as the quest item." With that, Hokori got herself ready to grab the crystals in wait for Cosi's signal.

@Cosi

Still unable to find any more materials of her own, Hokori decided to focus more on trying to answer the question she was asked. "It would really depend. Though I know that this is more the work of a sadist than anything, I am really enjoying the experience. I think that if people actually invested into it, it could become an amazing source of entertainment. It will never be without any risk, there will always be something that will threaten your health even if it isn't implemented as a part of the game. But if there were no ways to outright kill me, and I could control how the full dive interacts with my real body, than I would be fine with doing it once again." It was an interesting thought, though Hokori was uncertain whether her view was completely solid. She had probably been less jolted by the announcement that they were trapped than others, but it was entirely possible that there were underlying effects she hadn't realized yet. "So, you going to try full dive again if the opportunity arises?"

"Katagawa, people seem to prefer to call me Kat." Though she knew everyone was stuck in this death game with her, Hokori was still not comfortable sharing her real name with others. She noticed the notification she got and quickly accepted the party invite, following Aden towards the Nepents. Once they came into view, he let her take the lead. not wanting to waste this chance to surprise the nepents, she quickly charged in with a couple of large, sweeping slashes from her blade. The nepents were quick though, and she ended up missing most of them. There was a shattering of pixels though as one of them was caught on the edge of her sword. "Careful, it seems these enemies are quite quick and very perceptive. I would suggest trying to flank them before we take them head on." She didn't know much about the game's inner workings, but she could tell that she should be able to work some advantage on these creatures. Hopefully they would stay on the initial aggressor, as she was fairly certain that she was much more tanky than Aden.

"No no, I should stop. I can ramble on about nearly anything. Get me going and I'll just keep talking about something whether I like it or not. It usually just devolves into speculation." She took some time to try and find some more materials as she debated about what she wanted her next question to be. She couldn't really think of one that would be informative as well as circumvent the risk of setting them off. She decided to go for one that was a little silly, though could still be useful instead. "So, was there anything that you were looking forward to doing in this game before the announcement." She tried to keep some of the stuff vague in hopes that it would be glossed over. It still ran the risk of triggering him, though she couldn't think of something relevant that wouldn't. The game had become their life, so it was hard not to talk about it.

@pureblade

Having just grabbed a quest from one of the many NPCs in the town of beginnings, Hokori made her way towards where she needed to go. As she was making her way there though, she noticed that someone else appeared to be going in the same direction. Letting her armor bang a little bit as she caught up with them, she quickly initiated a conversation with them. "Hello, you wouldn't happend to be doing the Secret Medicine of the Forest quest would you? You seem to be going the same way and figured we could party up if you were." She had a feeling that she would still be able to take on the quest by herself, but it was always better and usually more efficient to go at it with a friend. It was possible that the quest would scale to be a little bit harder, but it was likely not going to be noticeable to her.

@Merlin

Walking further down into the cave, Hokori's eyes did their best to adjust to the darkness. She could see the silhouette of Cosi in front of her, though that was about it. She could make out some sort of faint glow coming from an opening nearby. Hopefully that would be where the crystal was located. If not, it seemed that this cave was full of little things that were able to glow in here. She wished that this was real, as she would probably try and study iot to see how it worked. Granted, it may still be worth studying if the game allowed it. Many of the ideas that people had came from the heads of fiction writers and were implemented by engineers and the like. She doubted that anything here would be firmly rooted in science though. Making sure that she had her sword at the ready, Hokori decided to do some strategizing before the two of them reached the crystal. "Before you try to draw their attention, get out of the way so that I can get a clean swing at whatever pops up. I don't want to hit you with this, though I'm pretty sure that you'll be fine even if I do."

@Cosi

Quote

Consumed Safeguard Potion as it's only good for this quest

"It's not really a zweihander, but I can see the resemblance." Hokori followed Cosi into the cave, letting him take the lead. She felt that she was pretty tanky herself, though Cosi seemed to be a bit more focused on full tank rather than her who was going for a more bruiser style of play. She quickly chugged down the potion that they had gotten from the last quest, as it seemed that it would be expiring soon. It lfet a rather sweet taste in her mouth, and she was left feeling rather safe. It was odd to have such a feeling put on her, but she supposed that it had something to do with the potion's effect. Though the place was starting to get a little dark, Hokori wasn't too worried about missing. It was totally possible for her to do so, though in these close of quarters, it would be quite unlikely. She was more afraid of accidentally hitting Cosi.

@Cosi

"Haven't had the chance to give it too much thought. Each of the professions has their pros and cons but I can't really decide which would be best for me." Hokori continued to search as she thought about how specific she wanted to be with her answer. "Though some seem like they could be useful, I don't know how well their gear will be in the later game. I also don't know if I want to try and profit off of the crafting or just use it for my own good. Ideally, I could also help provide for the front lines with my profession, though it seems that it would mostly be covered for them. I doubt that they would be making the progress that they are if there wasn't anyone crafting consumables and items for them. That really just leaves with it coming down to personal choice, which I've always been terrible at." Hokori realized that she had begun to ramble on a bit. "Sorry about that, have a bad habit of going for a while on a single subject."

@pureblade

"Sounds like a plan." Hokori followed Cosi towards the edge of the town. She wasn't in much of a rush, especially while wearing a set of armor. She did want to get this quest done quickly though. SHe had learned while in college that efficiency was always the key. You didn't need to rely on speed, but you should always be efficient in what you do.  That was how you would get results that were both meaningful and get them quickly. If you went too fast, your results would be worthless. Too expensive, and it wasn't worth the reults you did get. What mattered was doing it well. And that was how she planned on tackling this game. She didn't care if she came close to death, she wanted to make this thing go well. The players of this game would need to band together to make sure that they could escape with as few deaths as possible.

@Cosi

Hokori continued to have as little luck as Pure in finding more materials. She wasn't so down about it, but she could tell it was beginning to frustrate him. "I just finished my Bachelor's in Nano-technical Engineering. I was about to begin work on my master's when I got stuck in this game. A shame I can't really use my skills that much in this game, but I guess it is what it is. You didn't really answer my question by the way, though I can see the confusion. I was wondering if you had considered your options for professions in the game. I know that there are player run shops and such, but I haven't really bothered to look at things to find out all the options. Just curious if you have done some research into it yet." She did want to get a second opinion, though it would probably be best if the new friends didn't pick the same one. It was always better to spread the skills around as equally as possible, rather than having one person become better at something than another.

@pureblade

Hokori debated about the answer to her question as she continued to come up dry in her search for more materials. Though she wasn't disappointed in her lack of findings, she was sad that Pure wasn't able to find what he needed for the quest. "I haven't really done anything that outlandish in video games. I don't even really play them too much. For the most part I play them so I can fit in with everyone at my college, and even then I don't really. I ended up in this game because I wanted a sneak peek at this game before it went overseas so I could have an advantage. Thought I was lucky, guess it was the other way around. To give you something of an answer, the most ridiculous thing I've probably done was managing to hold my own against one of the local pro gamers in a game for a little bit. Wasn't much, but I guess it's something. Hope that answers your question." Hokori paused, thinking about her own question. "You think about what kind of profession you wanted to go for yet?"

@pureblade

Once the two of them had arrived in the grove, Katagawa went to find the artisan. She couldn't quite remember the name of them, but was pretty sure it was Hannah. She eventually found them, the one character just lazing about in the grove. Once the dialogue was started, she immediately tuned it out and began to put on her armor. She navigated through the menu and eventually found the inventory section again. Though she guessed it made sense for a game that would've eventually gone international to involve mostly symbols for their menuing, it was incredibly frustrating to navigate and remember all of these symbols. With the inventory opened, Hokori quickly went and equipped her gear. She felt the now familiar weight of the armor cover her, stiffening her movements slightly though not much. It was well fitted, which was surprising considering that the blacksmith never had to take any measurements.

One of the many benefits of the game I guess.

As the NPC began to finish their drone, Hokori hoped that Cosi paid attention to some of the details, as she had completely missed it. There should still be some markers or other listed objectives though if neither of them had paid any attention.

@Cosi

"I guess that would be my question then." Hokori was glad to have lightened the mood a bit more, finally getting the topic to be much less gloomy. She figured that it might be best to try and stay on the topic that Pure went for, as those would be less likely to be so touchy for him. If that failed, she didn't know what she could do. "I'm not completely sure what I'm going for yet, though I definitely plan on not going for a pure DPS build as that is likely what most of the front line is composed of. I want to make sure that I can be of some use besides just adding a few extra numbers to the raid." Hokori rifled around a little bit to give a break before asking her own question so taht Pure could process the information and not feel like he was under any pressure for the moment. "Seeing as we're on the topic, what kind of build are you going for?"

@pureblade

Hokori continued to rummage in the same bush, letting Pure come closer to ask his question. Once he spoke, Hokori didn't need to give much thought to her answer. She spoke calmly, not wanting to come off as passive aggressive or sarcastic to him. "How could I be mad at you. Even though you may have been stuck in a pit of self-pity you pulled yourself out. That's no easy feat. If I hadn't been working on something this whole time, I would've been stuck in my own hole and likely wouldn't be out questing right now. Now, is that you're question or did you have something else in mind." She said the last part with a bit of an up-tilt in her voice, trying to bring some humor into the situation. She knew that it would be a bad idea to linger on such a sad memory, and wanted to let him get off of it however he wanted to. She had a feeling that the best way for that to happen would be for him to ask her another question. Though there was more she would like to know, that information could wait.

@pureblade

Hokori let Pure walk away a little bit, not wanting to force him to answer faster than he needed to. She didn't mind it so much, letting the silence take over for a time. Once he did give his answer, she didn't pressure him for another, staying in the same spot and looking for anything that either of them may have missed. She could tell that he was upset with how he had ended up not doing anything for all this time and didn't want to continue to pursue the sore topic. She instead decided to let her comforting silence be her response. She didn't have an experience to share and no reason to doubt his claim, so she instead let her company be the thing for him to rely on for now. She wasn't mad at him either, she couldn't blame anyone for collapsing and staying inside the safe zone for as long as they did. The important thing was that they have begun to make their way forward.

@pureblade

Hokori rummaged around for a bit, taking the time to think carefully about her answer. Realizing that there was no point hiding what she was up to, she decided not to tailor her words as much as she would in another game. They were all stuck in this game together, so it was unlikely that there would be people who would want to use the information to harm her. "I'm doing alright. I spent the last two years trying to find some way to break this game without any luck. It wasn't until recently that I decided it would be best to try and get myself to the front lines and push it as efficiently as I could. I know it isn't muich, but I do want to make sure that we can get out of here as fast as possible with as few people dying. Now that I've answered you're question I have one for you. What have you been doing these past years?"

@pureblade

As the two searched, they struck up a bit of idle chatter. with the objectives that this quest gave, there really wasn't much of anything that needed to be done. This was more busywork than anything. When Hokori was complimented, she blushed and turned away from Pure. She wasn't usually on the receiving ends of compliments while at her college, though there was certainly a fair amount of drunkards that wanted to get her number. "I don't mind, ask away. Haven't really gotten to know anyone in this game, though I have met a couple of other players." It seemed that Pure would make for a good friend for the days to come, and she did her best not to sound to overly formal as she continued to rummage from the bushes. She often had to keep a strict tone online, otherwise people would often criticize her for her gender.

@pureblade

Once pleasantries were exchanged, Hokori did her best to be informative. "There's nothing too crazy, just looking for some materials. It shouldn't take too long, but I do know that there are more quests and that might be where help would be appreciated. Don't know how familiar with games you are, but it might be I always think it's a good idea to take someone along with you if you can." HOkori began to look for some materials of her own, though she didn't have a profession yet, she figured it would be a good idea to get some materials of her own. It didn't take long, as she was able to get a couple of herbs that went into her inventory. They seemed to change into some sort of amorphous blob once there, and guessed that she could use them for just about anything rather than the purpose the exact material she gathered was for.

@pureblade