Katagawa

Hokori had to resist snickering at the coment about the game being made by a sadist, though she couldn't help herself making a witty comment. "You're in a video game where your life is on the line, I think it's safe to assume it was made by a sadist. But if you want to be hitting more often, you need to go after them instead of letting them come to you. If they are charging at you, you will constatnly be on the back foot. If you go after them, they won't have as much room to maneuver. They are boars, they can't go backwards that fast." She hoped he was actually trying to listen to that, even if he did seem to be constantly retreating in circles around the boars. He wanted to get counter attacks, which was a good idea, but in the end it wasn't going to work out that well. The boars could keep going and going. He wasn't going to die, but it was still going to be a hard time before they were able to finish off what they needed to do. Definitely not fair that the drop was random, but it was what it was.

@pureblade

Hokori walked into the telleporter not too far behind Baldur. He seemed to be quite enamored by the floor itself, but she was quite indifferent. Then again, a lot of her amazement at mountains had died down after being in Europe and wanting to go hiking a lot. "Just my second time here actually. Been spending more time on the first floor than I would like."  She fiddled a bit with her sword, wanting the weight to kind of just disappear. It waasn't the most comfortable weapon to have, but it was the one she was stuck with for the time being. When the time wouldcome she'd try to find herself her own weapon though.

"I've only done one of the quests up here currently. Taking down the queen bee. Don't remember who I did it with, but it honestly feels like that was so long ago already. I can only imagine how far back it seems for you." She was warming up to the samurai, though she wasn't sure if that was necessarily a good thing. For all she knew it could be an elaborate scheme to trap her. SHe hoped this was earnest effort though.

@Baldur

As the group was approaching the place where the beast lay, they were coming up with some last minute strategies. "I can kite around him for a little while. I won't be able to take more than a couple of hits, but I should be able to avoid it for long enough that it won't matter if I take a hit." She watched as Dustin quickly struck a nearby skull with a bone. She knew what was coming next. The beast roared as it entered the area. Dustin sadly didn't connect his hit, but she was anticipating that possibility. Launching herself forward, she quickly made sure that the beast was down for a bit. With four strikes going around it in the shape of a diamond, it was locked into place with the paralysis of her weapon. She stood in front of it, purposefully gaining its attention and hate to make sure she was the one it went after. "Let's finish this quickly, shall we?"

[H: 0] Dustin: 400/400 HP | 38/40 EN | 10 DMG | 14 MIT | 2 EVA | 1 ACC
[H: 0] @tricolor_mina: ?
[H: 2] Katagawa: 280/280 HP | 21/28 EN | 7 DMG | 8 MIT | 3 EVA | 9-10 PLZ | 2 BH | 5 VMP(D)

Snow Beast: 214/250 HP | 160 DMG

Hokori could tell that the boy was starting to get a little bit stressed over what was happening right now. Sadly, there was no way she could really help. She might be able to whittle down their health a little bit, but it was too risky and better to let him take them down on his own. "Remember, developers focus the most on the beginning of the game. That means this is the most solid AI you will probably face. Don't let simplicity make you complacent. It is simple to teach you a lesson. You have to learn it and then exploit it. Otherwise you may as well be on autopilot. This may be a game, but this is not something you just play." She really needed to lay off of the sayings. But still, it would hopefully help him get better at doing what he is doing. At least that was her hope at the very least. For all she knew, this was going to be information overload for him.

@pureblade

Hokori wanted to step in so badly, scratch that fighting itch she had. Probably something the guys at her university kinda drilled into her. That constant want to fight. It was not the healthiest of mind habits, but it was something. "The accuracy doesn't mean you'll always hit. What it does mean is it helps guide you. Even the strongest weapon is useless in the hands of someone who doesn't know how to wield it." Mentally ticking all the cliche boxes she has been hitting, she looked around to make sure there wasn't any other threats to be had nearby. At least it seemed that these boars were just alone. Perhaps the mothers had gone for a girls night out and she had just killed the babysitter. Or whatever the boar equivalent of that would be, she didn't know. It was weird thinking that these boars had some level of intelligence. It was certainly more so than just the boars that one would encounter in the real world.

@pureblade

"When it comes to these boars, there isn't too much to do with them. Their AI is really simple which makes it easy to predict, but it i so simple there is little you can do with it. Most enemies have a pattern that lets you dodge away and then get a counter-hit in. The boars don't have much of a counter-hit window so you have to focus on hitting them as the prepare their attack. As for the sword art, that is what I was using." Hokori picks up a pebble from the ground. "It is all about finding the place to start it then letting the game take control. From there, you are only guiding it towards the right placement. The game will do he heavy lifting per se. Almost literally in my case." She gestures towards her large sword she has now sheathed behind her back horizontally. "Settle into the motions, " he arm draws back, "find where it begins, " the rock glows as the faintest of sounds can be heard from her, "and then, release!" her arm snaps forward as the pebble soars towards one of the boar pups and disintegrates it on sight. "Huh, guess that one was a bit more powerful than your regular pebble."

@pureblade

Hokori let the boy try to figure things out a bit and not just have everything spoon fed to him. However, she did need to make sure to correct him on his mistakes so he didn't go down poorly optimized paths. "You don't want to be going at the enemy randomly. You still need to go in with a plan and know what you're doing, but letting them come to you is the same as going in without a plan. It means that the opponent knows what will happen better than you will. And though it might feel like a bit of a slog at the moment, it is worth to be saving what you have for now. Make sure to be using sword arts if you can to speed up the process a bit more. If you get in trouble I'll be here to help, but remember you won't get any rewards if I'm the one to kill them." She really wished she could speed people through this quest a bit better, and it would've been even better if he had some decent gear on hand. A lot of people offered it to them pretty cheap, but she knew not a lot of players were ready to go talk to player merchants about getting new gear from the get go.

@pureblade

Hokori watched as pure quickly finished off the boar. He was doing well, but it was going to take more for him to actually be getting to the front lines. Assuming that was his goal of course. But regardless, it would be nice if he could keep going with his progress and make his way much like she was working on slowly. "Not too bad. You're equipment is almost certainly going to need an upgrade, but your technique is coming along nicely. You need to make sure that you don't just react to their attacks, it puts you on the defensive. You have to be constantly pushing forward if you want to win in a tougher fight." She relayed things as best as she could, mostly just stating things that were logical. She really didn't have that much experience in this game or in fighting in general, but she did know how to deal with a general flow of combat. As much as movies got wrong, there was usually something she could find that made logical sense in them and seemed to carry over to the real world. Or well, Aincrad in this case.

@pureblade

Hokori watched with a disguised emotion of being impressed. The boy was picking things up quickly. It was a good sign he could make it further than normal here. At least that was what she had hoped. She had already tried to hep out many players and watched them disappear on her after one or two quests that she took them on. Sometimes she even managed to lose them in the middle of a quest. It was honesty quite strange, but it was no big deal in the end. She did her best to make sure that there was no one that she left behind, but sometimes others left her behind. That wasn't what she was here for today though. Today she was here for one person in particular. "You're doing good. but it takes more than a charge attack to take down an enemy. You have to be able to fight it even when you don't start far away from it."

@pureblade

There was little for them to talkabout it seemed, mostly just a discussion of events that were happening. But it was nice to have someone to talk to for once. There was a few that she had been able to casually talk with, but it never felt like she could just be herself around them. There was always that pressure to either be the girly girl or have to basically be a man. She couldn't just be herself around most people. Always expectations.

"I heard about that event, but figured I was going to be too low of a level in order to actually do well in it. Besides, I didn't have any of my better gear at the moment. Thought it was best to leave it to those who were higher leveled. And I'm glad to hear that they're still out there. At least it means they might not be gone for good."

Hearing that Baldur was already ready to head up to the next part of the quest, Hokori decided it would be best if she just let there be nothing to stop them from moving on. "Nope, I'm good to get going whenevvver you are."

Thread Summary:

@Baldur

"I had a feeling there was issues with burning out. If there was no burnout though, then I'd be suspicious if others were actually human. I know a lot of people up at the front would be your hardcore gamers, but even they had to take a break when gaming was their living. Nowadays there's no rest for the weary it seems."

Katagawa pondered a bit after Baldur asked his own question. She hadn't really stuck with any particular group. She had received a seemingly random invite from someone else though and felt that it would probably be nice to have a guild. She had also noticed it came with a few buffs along with that guild. "I don't know too many. The couple that I have met that seemed to want to get to the front have gone rather quiet recently. If you track them down their names are Black and Cosi. Black I think was going for some form of tanking, and I'm not sure where Cosi was going with his build. As for other front liners I've met, Zandra picked me up in a guild she made. Probably because they knew I wasn't an evil player and needed some more people to fill it out to found it in the first place. Probably just trying to get that guild hall if you ask me. Would be nice to have an actual group, though I would want to be a bit more presentable before I did that. And for the players I've tutored? I don't hear much of anything from them once I do a quest or two with them. Either vanish off my friends list or are just making their own path. None of them are crossed off the monument of life, but still I worry."

@Baldur

There was little left for the two of them to doo here. To be honest, she was still a little surprised Baldur had yet to do something he was able to take out so easily. Unless he was lying, which didn't seem likely, he would've been able to handily take that dragon out in one hit. "If it isn't scaling that much, I wouldn't be surprised if the next one is on the second floor."

Before they had reached the Town of Beginnings, Baldur seemed to be quite curious about her story. She didn't mind saying what she had been doing here in the game, but was hoping he didn't try to dig into her life in the real world. As much as they were all in common ground of being trapped, she still wanted to keep that wall of anonymity being in an online game allowed. "I've mostly just been helping out other players while I can. Still be getting some reasonabl experience from the mobs on this floor. Sadly, I think I recently leveled out of that so I actually need to get going. I spent the last few years though trying to find some exploit to get through the game quicker or maybe even instantaneously. Seems the devs were a little too good with their code though. So now that I've effectively wasted 2 years of effort, I'm finally making my way up. Lucked out with the unique armor as I said and have the chance to be getting there a little bit faster. Hopefully I'm going to be able to find myself some players aroudn my level and be able to fight sooner than later. Last news I heard was clearing to the 24th floor, so I'm hoping to get up before we hit 30. I don't know how fast the front liners clear, so no telling how accurate my estimate is."

@Baldur

After doing barely anything to the creature, Hokori was ready for Baldur to take the lead. Thankfully he quickly struck the beast and finished it off. With the done, she brought up her menu to also claim the key from the quest. "I'm not sure how far up I'll be able to go, but at least this is a start."

After viewing Baldur finish his little ritual of putting his gear away, she also sheathed her sword back across her back. It was bulky, and she didn't particularly like it, but it was still something to have to fight off monsters on this floor and a couple ones higher. Sadly, it seemed that it was going to be quite some time before she was able to switch the weapon of choice she wanted. For now, she needed to focus more on shoring up her defenses and making sure she could lead for a fight rather than have to stay behind like she waas right now.

"Sounds like that would be a good idea. I won't be of much help, but perhaps I can be a bit of a lookout for anything else that might come our way. I should be able to avoid attacks while you finish off any threats. If you're fine to continue on, so am I."

@Baldur

The two were walking along, and the air between them seemed to get a bit more relaxed. Honestly, it was nice just to have another person to be around that she could enjoy the company of.

"I'm not planning on sacrificing survivability for damage. If anything, I want to sacrifice damage for survivability. As I said I want to take the monster's attention, but I find it better to not get hit and instead of just reducing the damage that I take. As for a solo versus a group build, I'm trying to make it work for a group build, but I haven't worked out all of the kinks yet. I think the enchantment on my armor currently will help, though it hasn't gotten a field test yet."

The two of them came up to where the dragon was waiting for their fight. It wasn't long before Baldur had already made his way to stun up the creature. Though she understood the sentiment of seeing where she was at, she was a little miffed at the low efficiency of the fight. With the dragon hatchling stunned, Hokori quickly made her way over and released a spinning attack. It didn't seem to do anything, but as she pulled back, a line of red seemed to draw from the creature over to her. It didn't do anything, but that was the cue for when she would've regained some health.

"Was hoping that would activate a little bit later, but I guess it means this armor is working."

Katagawa's Stats:

Roll ID: #112346
BD: 7 - hit (7 * 4 = 28 - 25 = 3 damage; -4 EN)
CD: 11 - Vampiric Proc (Regain 48 health)

[H1] @Baldur - the Azure Samurai HP: 1190/1190 EN: 116/116 MIT: 79 ACC: 4 EVA: 3 DMG: 13 BH: 47
[H1] Katagawa - The Aincrad Trading Post HP: 240/240 EN: 20/24 MIT: 8 ACC: 0 EVA: 3 DMG: 6 Vampiric: 48 BH: 2
[Stunned 0/1] Rhaegal - the Emerald Hatchling  HP: 39/125 - MIT: 25 - ACC: 0 - EVA: 0 - DMG: 50

((The dragon will be going for me because I hit it last))

((Start combat whenever you're ready))

"We're still low enough and I don't think I'll be of much use in these first few fights even if I took every buff under this virtual sun, so I'm good to go. And if you're taking them out in one hit I don't mind." She listeened to the conversation going back and forth for a bit.

"I still have the healing potions from the beginning equipment packages so those should last me for a bit. If worse comes to worst I'll sit in a corner of the fight and drink as quickly as possible."

Katagawa noted that Baldur had some sort of boko with him, likely some compilation of information that had been found in the game. She knew that she would want to get one of her own soon enough, but that didn't matter as much while she was still pretty bound to the loewr floors. Once they were making their way out, Hokori drew her blade once out of the boundaries of the Town of Beginnings.

"I'm still figuring out my own build. I recently switched myself over to light armor and it feels much mroe comfortable. I'm thinking of trying to find a way that lets me take a monsters aggro while reducing the attacks I take. Currently thinking of high evasion with a mid-level of mitigation. As for my weapon, I still need to find something that works for me. My two-handed sword is nice, but I don't think it quite works. I would really like it if I could find something that was a bit more stun oriented."

@Baldur

HOkori listened to Mina as she spoke about her experience with the boss. It was saddening to hear that players were doing so poorly,. though at least the game had a moment of mercy and kept them alive. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. And for the record, you're never useless. Even if you feel like you're doing nothing, you could've still been needed for a last stand. Had you not been there and everyone else died, the fight would be over. Even if it is a few more numbers, that can make the difference between winning and losing."

She had never liked giving out motivational speeches, always thinking they sounded hollow. But this time she made an exception, and wanted to make sure no one was down about themselves going into what would likely be a hard won fight. And though she disagreed with the dust-haired boy's ideals, she couldn't argue that there was no point in waiting for life to pass you by. Best to go through with things now. 'Let's head out then. We shouldn't keep your story waiting to write its next chapter." And she walked out the door of the tavern.

@tricolor_mina

As Baldur was talking about the possibility of mentoring her further, she could tell he was analyzing her own ability. There wasn't much there, but she knew that she had the potential to make it to the front. She just needed a little bit more work on her build and she should have something put together.

"I've heard of the quest, but been avoiding it as I know it is part of a line of quests. Wasn't sure if that would make it abnormally difficult for the first floor or not. But with a party member, I see no harm in trying it."

Seeing the extended hand, Hokori took it and shook on the deal. "I do hope I can live up to your expectations."

Even if they weren't going to be able to power level her, she knew that having someone to teach her would be an effective strategy in moving forward towards the front lines. She wanted to stay down here to help others for the time being, butbettering herself would also be an effective, and likely more sustainable and controllable, way to finish clearing this castle.

@Baldur

It definitely seemed more and more that Baldur was here for something besides showing off, and her suspicions were confirmed when he finally spoke of his motive. She stood for a moment to think about it. An opportunity to climb quickly to the front linnes would be nice, though she wasn't sure what this person's standing their might be. They seemed like the type that would be a godo mentor at the very least. Even if there was some tension between him and the others it should be solvable. To prevent the tension from grwoing too large, Hokori broke the silence. "Well, I'm not that powerful currently, though I have been working on it bit by bit. Was recently lucky enough to get some unique gear as well, or at least so I've been told. If you're willing to give me a ladder to the front lines though, I will climb it." She was hoping her more casual tone was carrying across, in some attempt to set the gaijin at ease. But she had a feeling he would be quite stubbornly sticking to the formalities he learned about their own culture.

@Baldur

Satisfied with the answer that she had for now, Hokori quickly went over to get herself another quick drink from the bar. It still wasn't that much in terms of strength, but the placebo effect was strong enough to let her loosen up that little bit. Turning towards the other girl that had voiced interest, she spoke with a smooth but firm voice. "Sad I missed the fight, was it any good? Hear a couple players practically died there." She didn't know what had happened at the fight, but was curious to find out. Even if she had shown up, it probably would've been too much for her all things considered. Maybe now with her new gear she could be of some use, but that was still left to be seen. It may have still been able to take her out in a single hit. Sipping away at the small drink she had gotten herself, she waited for her response and for the party to depart for the quest itself.

Should be fun, so long as none of us get killed going for it.

@tricolor_mina

HOkori had been walking around some of the other floors. There were a few other people she had met, but none that were very interesting. Finding herself almost randomly on the fourth floor, she decided to head out to get a bit of a drink. While in Germany, she had developed quite the liking to beer, though the game never gave the same taste. All it knew how to mimic well was sake. Everything else just left a bitter and sour taste burning down your throat. As she was about to walk into the bar, she got her sword caught in the wooden beams. The darn thing was so long it wasn't comfortable to have it sheathed vertically, but it wasn't that useful to have sideways either. After unequipping the sword, she found her way into the tavern and got herself a drink. It was thankfully only a few col for a quick drink. There was some player ranting on about wanting to take on a quest on this floor. It probably would be a bit above her level, though the player seemed powerful enough even if they were a bit eccentric. "I'll join you. but I'm taking whatever this thing has to drop. If it isn't a challenge for you, I doubt that its rewards are worth your while." It was an honest statement, but she didn't want to have to play the odds with this person.

@Dustin (If we want to pad up posts before combat go ahead and post)
@tricolor_mina

As Hokori waited for the response from the man, she could tell he was sizing her up as well. Until he spoke, she wasn't certain if it was a statement of his disliking her or an honest evaluation. She knew she didn't have much of an air about her, as she was still quite the low level. But that didn't mean she couldn't try to put an arrogant fool in their place. As they gave their response though, she began to relax. Even if it was just a backpedal of a power act, they at least weren't just trying to boast to all the players on this floor who were clearly a lower level than him.

"Katagawa, pleasure to meet you Baldur." He had bowed in such a way that made him seem a little bit uncomfortable being in a place so dominated by Japanese players. Instead of bowing in return, she just extended a hand. It would probably be better to set him at comfort with his own standards of greeting than try to enforce her own. Not to mention she hadn't been bowing to people since she started university in Germany. She would probably mess something up and be the one even more embarrassed from it. "What causes someone so clearly at a higher level to be waiting about the plaza on the first floor?"

@Baldur

Hokori had been walking about in the Town of Beginnings for quite some time now. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy going to the higher floors, nor was she afraid of them. There just wasn't much of use to be done there. She knew thaat at her current level it was still decently effective to help others thrugh the beginning quests whille farming some on the side. A lot of those players have either made their way higher without her or seemed to jusst have fallen back into their own sorrows It was strange really, not being able to catch up with those players. But in the end, it was still useful. Even if only one or two of the players she taught ended up making their way past her, it would be worth it. It was all an investment of time, and she just shoped it would pay off in the end.

She fond herself once moree in the central plaza. There wasn't mch for her to do here, but it would hopoefully lead her to seeing other players to help out. The sight she did end up seeing was quite strange though. There seemed to be someone standing tall above most of the crowd. Not only standing tall, but also standing out. Their gear looked both polished and battle-worn at the same time. Likely a front liner by the way they were standing. A front liner or someone who overestimated their skills by somme large margin. Deciding it wouldn't hurt to try and make some new allies, HOkori decided it was besst to make her way towards them.

Her close-cropped, silver hair bobbed behind her as she approache. Though the leather of her new armor was stilll unfamiliar, she wore it comfortably. It was still a very low leveled piece of gear, but there seemed to be something about it that sapped the life out of the air and towards her. Her large sword was strapped horizontally across her back, forcing many players to weave around it much as they were the tall player. It was useful when she needed to split a crowd, though the weight was still quite uncomfortable to her. As she approached the player, she realized she was almost a foot shorter than him. Looking up, she could feel the chain of her feather necklace to brush up againsst her skin. The charm seemed to be granting her some strange grace, as if she would be able to react quickly to anything that did come towards her.

"You seem as though you're quite the person of power?" She was a bit bolder with her statement than she normally would be. Even though this game forced people to show their true bodies, their was still enough anonymity granted by their usernames for her to not fear much in terms of retaliation. The question in and of itself was rather innocent, but did carry thhe slight undertone of figruing ouot if this was simply an air being put on, or that they weren't trying to overreach their power. Regardless of that result though, the aura emanating from one of his weapons was enough to tell Hokori that she would not be able to win a fight against this person without a heavy ammount of luck.

@Baldur

Skill(s) Being Dropped: Heavy Armor Rank 1
Mod(s) Being Dropped: N/A
SP Refunded: 5
Cost: 5,000

It seemed that the enjoyment of the music was mutual, and Hokori was looking forward to the two of them working together. "It would be nice. Not sure how well our styles would mix, but it could be interesting." There was certainly little in common with their music styles. Ryo's was much more acoustic and slower, whereas her own was very synthesized and more upbeat. It was possible they could adapt to each other, but it would be difficult. Though it was hopefully likely she could replicate her feat, it was quite possible she wouldn't be able to get that fancy with her synthesized music. It was a little lucky she did get something to use in the end at all. Taking her reward from the quest, Hokori turned back towards Ryoko, "Let me know when you want to do something together, always open to heading out. Mostly just been hanging out on the lower floors for the time being though. Help out a lot of players finally getting their bearings in this world."

Thread Summary:

Hokori klslitened as Ryoko performed her song. It was quite nice, and there was definitely a quality to her voice. IT could just be the game, but she hoped that there was still some of her own training behind it. Taking a look at the crystal playing the recording, Hokori noticed the little indents that told it what sounds to play. Realizing that there was some noticable patterns to it, she quickly headed over to her bench and tried to replicate it as best as she could. Once she had done so, she switched out the crystal, which had been playing the song on loop while everyone waited on her. "Hopefully this works." Out of the speaker's came a song that was a little bit rough, but was certainly not bad for a first time trying to do this. By mimicing the grooves on the crystal, she was able to make her own songs that were much more synthesized than just recording something.

Crafting:

Song: