Cr0wnS

August let out a sigh, he had been walking all day looking for a hunting spot he had heard about. It apparently had a fairly abundant rate of monsters that weren't too high level, so they could easily be solo'd or taken down by a small party of low level players. August wasn't exactly the most sociable of people so there really wasn't anyone he could message to come with him, he was really just hoping that there might be people there already that he could party up with. The normal route that he walked was conveniently along the way to the hunting ground, so he had some semblance of direction and didn't feel quite as lost as he normally would. It wasn't until he reached the crossroads that signaled the end of his normal route where he got slightly confused. Normally it was at this point he took a left and continued on, however, from what he had heard, you were supposed to go right and go into the forest. In his absentmindedness he had completely forgotten this instruction. Luckily enough however, he walked to the right and continued into the forest. It was a nice enough day, as was the usual for this season in Aincrad, the sun was out in full shine and the temperature was pretty moderate, August couldn't complain about the conditions, as recently the weather had made it fairly enjoyable to leave the walls of The Town of Beginnings. 

Reaching a little clearing, everything was beginning to make sense and it started to sound a bit like the place that had been described to him by many people in recent times. He sat down to rest for a bit and think about what he was going to do. Since there didn't appear to be anyone around, he would have to fight the mobs on his own, until someone showed up to help him.

@Ennakai

It was over and August had barely done anything, however it had died so fast. The military man hadn't missed a singe attack and had taken away the majority of its health bar with just one attack, and in all honesty August had felt quite useless. However he was very glad that he had someone more experienced here to help him, otherwise the likelihood of death was almost 100%. Now that the battle was over he sat down on the ground and let out a large sigh of relief. "Sorry, I feel like I was a bit useless during that, but you just did so much damage." August admitted to Black. "Not to be rude but, what is someone at such a high level doing on the second floor. Most of the people I've encountered have been around level 1 to 5. I'm glad you were here though." Although it was his first visit to the second floor, he had spent copious amounts of time exploring the many shops and streets on the first floor, which meant he had encountered many people from those floors. Not many of them had been a level of any significance, which meant that they were most likely all beginners like August. Black however was evidently very experienced, "Are you a part of the clearing group? Despite where I am now, that's kind of where I want to end up eventually, its going to take a lot of grinding though." His aims were probably not achievable in his current state, as he was still scared of almost everything around him, but he would get there eventually. "Oh, also we should probably head back to town before it gets too late, would rather not be out here at night."

@Black

August's mood had drastically improved, this hunt was almost over and he could return to the overexcited man to being the next stage of the quest. He once again opened up the quest text to see what he would have to do, however it didn't say anything beyond what he already knew. He figured that it would reveal itself after he collected the five materials. August sat at the base of the tree and let out a sigh. The game didn't allow him to feel fatigue however he felt like he would need a second to rest his feet and plan his next move, since he was now much more lost than he was before. The map on his HUD didn't really give him much indication of where he was relative to where he began but he was confident that he could at least find his way back if need be. Scanning around the forest, there wasn't really much that he could see that would help him on his quest, so he resigned to sit at the base of the tree and plan his next move.

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ID# 108186

• Loot: 11

 

Despite being lost he wasn't all that phased, there was a map that he had on his HUD that could direct him back towards sanctuary. However it was starting to get late, it seemed like he had only been walking for a bit but in actual fact it had been several hours. He started at midday so if he kept going for a bit then he would eventually hit sundown, which was very dangerous as his field of vision would become limited, leaving him vulnerable to surprise attacks from mobs. Something caught his eye and brought him out of this train of thought, it was the familiar glow of a material that he needed. However, it was high up in a tree, so it would take some effort to retrieve. Approaching the tree it seemed to be taller than he thought, it now appeared to be about four or five times his height, which would mean he'd have to be careful about climbing, least he fall and take a significant amount of damage. 

After 20 minutes of careful climbing he made it to the glowing material, clutching it in his hand it disappeared into his inventory, one step closer to finishing this quest. "Alright, one more to go", he announced to himself. Climbing down was slightly faster than climbing up however it was still an arduous process. Once he reached the ground he was off again on his search.

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ID# 108158

• Loot: 20

Materials found: 4/5

August took a deep breath, this was a game, the system was designed to work in a certain way, if they just followed a strict strategy then August would be perfectly safe. Monitoring hate was fairly simple as it only went up when you were using basic attacks, and thus far, if August had been paying attention, then Black would be the main target and he would probably not have generated any hate. He listened to blacks words and exhaled the air he had been holding in. This was a strategy he used when he was younger that calmed him down every time, and now was a time when he needed it most. August redrew his sword and looked at the boss, he would attack the creature and be added to its loot table, otherwise he probably wouldn't have credit towards the quest. Positioning his sword, it glowed the familiar blue of the particular sword he was using, as he charged towards the giant wasp and performed a jab towards its lower abdomen the sword pierced the monster and left a red hole where he had struck. In fear of being hit by it, he dashed back to where he was standing previously where it was safe. "I did it! I hit it!" He proudly proclaimed to Black, who was no doubt not in awe in the slightest by his minor feat.

@Black

DAMAGE DEALT: 3

WASP QUEEN HEALTH: 17

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ID# 108157

• Battle: 8

"Well hopefully I don't come on the receiving end of one of those swords." He laughed to match her evil grin, not realising that she might not have been joking. "Well, I suppose you're right...That's kind of why I want to join the front lines, although I'm weak now I can improve a lot, and fast. The players on the front lines are such a high level, although if I try hard enough I reckon I can catch up." He lay down on his back and stared up at the giant stone ceiling above him. "I do get scared though. When this game first started me and a friend joined together, although once it was revealed what happened we did what most players did and stayed in the town of beginnings," He sighed, "Eventually we ventured out however, and we made it kinda far, although we ran into a very powerful mob and well..." August didn't finish his sentence, he quickly sat up flustered, "Ahh, but I reckon I could overcome it if it meant clearing the game faster. I've even started fighting low level mobs! Baby steps I guess." August looked at Kirbs properly for the first time, she seemed about his age, maybe a bit younger, however she was shorter than him. Most of the people he had run into in the game had been roughly around his age.

August had heard rumors of younger children being in the game, however he hadn't seen any as of yet. "Did you know there are kids in this game? Like, I know we're kids, but I mean young kids. I spent a bunch of time in the Town of Beginnings and its amazing what you can hear from the random strangers walking around. I wouldn't call it eavesdropping, talking loudly in a public space doesn't really provide you much privacy. There aren't many, but apparently the majority of them are still in the Town of Beginnings. I can't imagine being much younger than I am now and being trapped in here. That would be traumatic." He hadn't intended the conversation to take such a dark tone, however he quickly realised how he had dampened the mood, "Hopefully we clear the game soon for their sake ey! I'm sure they're being taken care of by someone." He tiled his head so that he could see out the side of the castle, into the giant blue abyss. "So what was life like for you before you came into the game? Haven't really asked too many personal questions, but you seem fun so, might like to get to know you better, I guess." August turned a deep shade of crimson and looked away, he had never really been that forthcoming, so this was a pretty big step for him. 

@Kirbs

It was finally August's time to attack. The giant wasp was now at half health, and soon it would be over, a lot quicker than he had anticipated. It was quite lucky that he had run into Black, since he seemed to be way over leveled for this floor, and he was well ahead of August in terms of both gear and <<Skills>>, however he wasn't complaining as this monster would have been way more than he could have handled on his own. After this battle he would have to ask the man about his presence on the floor, and perhaps about his generosity but for now that would have to wait. "Okay! I'll go in!" He yelled at Black as he prepared his sword, however, he stared at the wasp, and it seemed to notice his presence and turned its head towards him, meaning he was now engaged in the battle. It wouldn't attack him but he still had to be careful. It noticed him, but it didn't move, and neither could August, he was petrified in place, unable to move. "I...I can't" His legs were frozen in place in terror. This was the first time he had been faced with the actual threat of death, nothing else in the game had really come close since that day. "I'm sorry" he managed to mumble out, sweat now pouring down his face.

@Black

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ID# 108042 

• Battle: 3 [4 (3+1)] MISS

STATS: 

• HP: 20
• DMG: 3
• ACC: 1
• Energy: 0/2 (-2)

August looked solemn for a brief moment, "Yeah I'm sure he'd like that..." However he quickly snapped out of it. "As much as I appreciate eating healthy, I don't think I could become a vegetarian, no offence of course, but meat is probably the most tasty thing. When its not processed and full of oil and surrounded by a bunch of fake cheese and stale buns. I can't really call myself a chef but I tend to prefer cooking my own meals to eating at McDonalds." He let out an embarrassed little chuckle, "unfortunately I'm also lazy, so I tend to just lie in bed and pig out on chips." August put a wide smile on his face, although this was not something to exactly be proud of. Kirbs was right, and August couldn't deny it that life was much easier in here, "Hm, funny about that. I think beyond it being easier, its a completely different experience. Like, in real life I would probably never pick up a sword, and I certainly wouldn't use it in the way that I've been using it in here." He wasn't exactly an "outdoorsy" kid, and most of the things he enjoyed doing, could be done from the comfort of his desk or bed. However, he also couldn't deny that he missed life outside of this castle. "How long do you think we'll be stuck in here?" This was probably a question many people asked themselves, and one that August asked himself very often, although he had never asked another person before. Perhaps it would be considered rude and put a damper on the conversation, "aah, personally, I don't think we'll be in here too much longer. The clearing group will get stronger and we'll start steamrolling through floors."

@Kirbs

"You'll have to tell me about some of them sometime then!" Truth be told, the extent to August's retro video game knowledge was surface level for the most part. He had specific knowledge about a few games but not any as a whole. He was immediately embarrassed that his country was known for the fast food industry, "Well, I suppose you could count those as American, but I suppose they're so widespread at this point that it can hardly be called anything. But okay wow, deep fried Oreos does not sound appealing in the slightest. You know, I heard this story once of a woman who deep fried a stick of butter. I don't know how, or why, but she just had this deep fried gooey mess. It almost made me puke just watching the video." Recalling back to it, the memory almost made him puke as well. "One of my friends was really into drawing before we came into this game, and he was really good at it too! He did fan art and stuff and I think he even managed to sell some of it for a few dollars here and there. I think you two would get along." August didn't want to make it clear that he was talking about his dead best friend, and he didn't particularly want to elaborate on it further than that, however he was certain there would be follow up questions that he would have to answer. "Hm, interesting. I have to say though, it's a bit of a deep dive to say the least. Nothing like anything I've ever played before. Not even other MMOs. Despite the obvious downsides, I kinda hope that you enjoy it. MMOs are a ton of fun, and I'm sure that this game would have been too, had it not been the way it is." August was sure that after the game was cleared, someone on the internet would manage to recreate it in a different form, without the obvious threat of death.

@Kirbs

After he had calmed down, the girls responded to his frustration, realising that they had seen his outburst, he turned a bright shade of red. Another thing that caught his attention was the strange way that the two talked, they seemed to be the same person, finishing each others sentences. It slightly creeped him out but he didn't say anything about it, everyone was different in their own way and had their own quirks. He sighed, letting all the frustration leave his body along with his breath. It was a technique he had taught himself long ago to let all of his frustration and anger go. If nothing else, it was the one thing he had learnt from his mother, who taught him that being frustrated and angry, while it felt good, resolved nothing in the end. "Yeah I suppose. Sorry, been a long week I guess." He let out a strange little laugh and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

He continued on looking through the shrubbery below him, hoping desperately to find something, however, luck was still not in his favour. Nothing was in the shrub except for disappointment. A light breezed blew past him, which caused him to look out through a clearing to the sprawling landscape of the first floor. The environment around him and the good weather changed his mood from bad to a pleasant one. It was a nice day and he was out somewhere he would never normally go.

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ID# 107934

• Loot: 8

@Ulaan All good! Sorry this is taking so long, I feel really bad D:

"Fair enough, its been a while since I've played them, so I can't exactly say I remember the games pixel for pixel." August joined her laugh, "There isn't exactly anything like that in this game, they're completely different entities, and on a completely different scale. But, I think they both have their appeal, and some people will like older handhelds and some people will like the virtual reality games that will probably already have come out, well..." After he said this, he realised that perhaps the negative publicity from SAO would kill the market for the NerveGear and thereby the market for virtual reality games. August could tell that Kirbs was clearly from the UK, it was probably one of the most recognisable accents, despite there being many of them. "If you asked me what kind of food the UK was known for, I think crumpets is all I could tell you about", he laughed and continued, "although to be fair, I think the US is mainly just a combination of a bunch of different kinds of foods that aren't originally from there. Unless you're counting all the disgusting creations that people make. Ew." The amount of deep-fried, oil filled foods that he had seen at some of the more popular fast food chains made his stomach churn. "Oh cool as! What kind of art? I did some scribbles as a kid but that's about it." August thought about it for a second, but it baffled him completely that every player that was still alive in the game was a completely different individual with their own lives and interests back in the real world. Say...What made you want to play SAO anyway?" August had always had an interest in MMOs and video games in general, they provided him with a way of socialising that he would be unable to do outside of them.

@Kirbs

He still had to stay put, this was perfectly fine with him. However he felt like he was slightly taking advantage of Black, the giant wasp was down a third of its health already and he hadn't even gone near it, let alone tried to attack it. "Alright! I'll stand by and watch to see if anything is coming. Players or otherwise." Beyond the monsters, the players in this game were a very real threat, since the first floor was cleared and up until now, there have been many reports of players and even entire guilds becoming <<PKers>> or as they're more formally known, player killers. These people were worse than scum in August's eyes, they scared lower level players and kept many in the towns and out of areas that would keep them leveling up. In essence, they were hindering the progress of the game, and killing people in the process.

August didn't exactly have a deathwish, so he didn't move. Part of it was his body being locked up by fear, and the other part was following Black's instructions. However, Black seemed to have this whole situation under control, as the mob hadn't even managed to lay a finger on him yet. He wanted to yell out some encouragement but it would probably distract him more than anything else.

@Black

August looked away slightly, "Sorry! I didn't mean to say the name wasn't good! I like Kirby, its just, thats kind of the main mechanic of the old games." August wasn't quite sure what part of his comment might have offended her but he wanted to play it safe. "I quite like food too! Although I haven't actually had anything in this game that tastes anything like my favourite foods. The basic bread you can buy from NPCs doesn't taste good, and there isn't much else you can buy around here. I should get cooking but instead I think I'm going to get blacksmithing. Maybe if I can find someone who gets cooking I'd have to pay them to make me delicious meals." August laughed at the prospect, it was a bit stupid to consider enjoying things in this game like the taste of food, but while they were here, he thought that he might as well try to enjoy the simpler aspects of the system. "So what else do you enjoy doing? I obviously haven't seen you around before, so what have ya been spending your time doing? I've hung around in the town of beginnings for the better part of a year, or however long its been, I've kinda lost track of time." August stared off into space as he said this, his mind yet again wandering off as he lost his train of thought.

@Kirbs

The battle had begun and August was starting to get more and more stressed. Black didn't seemed phased at all by the monster and instead charged in headstrong to fight it. His orders were for August to stay back and wait for his signal to attack, which August was prepared to follow religiously given that he didn't want to die. Black stormed the giant bee and struck it with a force that August could only hope to reach, and the beast squealed and screeched as a large red line appeared up its abdomen. The creature appeared to be stunned, so it didn't offer any resistance as Black lined up for his next attack. August, however, still couldn't attack, because if he crit the monster then he would be its primary target. Any hit would kill him so he would rather it die slower than him be at risk of dying. "Just let me know when to attack! Rather be safe than sorry!" August yelled across the heat of battle. Surprisingly, for a semi-boss battle, it was fairly quiet. There wasn't music, or loud noises from the surrounding areas, it was eerily quiet, and it disturbed August slightly. However he re-focussed and drew his sword, ready for when it was his turn to attack.

@Black

"Yeah something like that, eh." Truth be told, August had left the Town of Beginnings before now, however when he did, his only friend died at the hands of one of the many kinds of monsters that inhabited this game world. Since then he had been stuck walking around the many shops and visiting all the NPCs that he could. It was only recently that he had emerged from the town and discovered all the wonders of the castle outside of the starting town. To August's amazement, this game was not something to exclusively be scared of, there were many amazing things to experience that he would normally never get to experience in real life. Similarly to him, the man named <<Black>> came from the US, "Oh nice, what state? I'm from Minnesota, nothing too interesting." It was clear that the man was much older than him, or at least it appeared that way to August. After giving a little speech a little screen appeared in front of him, a party invite. He thought about it for a second, this quest could ultimately mean his doom, however, these thoughts were quickly dispelled and he clicked the button, accepting Black's party invite.

The plan was to play it safe, August figured that Black knew how hate worked so he would be able to manipulate it to make sure August never got hit. It was a pretty full-proof strategy, the only thing that could go wrong was it August got a critical strike, then he would either be on par or above Black's hate, meaning that he would become the primary target for the very pissed off bug. "Roger that, ahh, so far all I have is damage and accuracy enhancements." August made a feeble attempt not to sound stressed out by the looming battle, however he trusted the man's instincts. He brought up his stats screen, setting it on <<visible by party>> and turning it so the both of them could see. 

Quote

STATS: 

• HP: 20
• DMG: 3
• ACC: 1

"I've only just started so my stats are a little low, but I reckon beating this mob will bring me up a few levels." Setting off the two reached a more dense part of the forest that signified the lair of the <<Queen Bee>> monster that they would be fighting. "Well, here we are, whats the plan?"

@Black

Quote

OOC: Sorry for late reply, been a bit busy!

August had stood there for what felt like a couple of hours before he gave up on his endeavor, "Fine I'll do it myself", August proudly announced to himself, as no one around him was listening. He set off from the main town on the second floor, out into the wilderness of the second floor. The terrain here was noticeably different from the first floor. Where the first floor had rolling hills and luscious forests, the second floor was more arid and covered in mountain ranges. They both had their appeal of course, however the first floor felt more like home, as the majority of the time that he had spent in the game had been on the floor. The general layout of the second floor expanded out from the main city of <<Urbus>>, which was located in the middle of a giant crater, meaning that he would have to do some serious hiking in order to reach the quest location, however it would give him time on planning how not to die. The mob, from what he could gather, did exactly his health bar in damage, so if he got hit then he was done for. Which is entirely the reason he was looking for someone to help him in the first place, however, he guessed most of the people who were able to help him were not on the second floor, and even those that were probably had better things to be doing than helping some low level player.

Coming up to a stream, he decided that he would take a break, as he had been on his feet for most of the day at this point. He heard the familiar sound of flowing water so he headed in that direction to take a break. However, as he approached he heard the sound of another player. Being cautious, he approached slowly with his hand on his sword. Not that it would do very much, considering how weak he was, but he didn't wan to take any chances. As he got closer, he saw a man and a ethereal familiar, not one that he recognised anyway. August decided that the best course of action would probably be to introduce himself and at least make himself seem presentable. "Hi there, haven't seen you around before. Nice to meet you, names <<CrownS>>. Cute pet you got there." The facade he put up was probably only slightly convincing at best and totally see through at worst, but he couldn't show weakness in front of another player, especially a stranger. "Actually, you seem strong, could you help me with a quest?" August brought up his menu and set it to publicly view-able, opening the quest text that was hidden behind several options. "I'm a bit weak, but I wanted to try and complete it anyway. If you're not busy then would you mind giving me a hand?" He turned the menu around and positioned it so that the man would be able to read what was on it. Pointing to a spot on the map he continued, "It's not far from here, probably only about 10 minutes, it will only take a short while to finish it too." 

@Black

August sighed, the nostalgic sound of his sword entering its sheath filled his ears. He opened his inventory and unequipped it, since it would only get in his way while he wasn't using it. In the heat of the moment however, this could be his downfall, as if a mob appeared and surprise attacked him, he would be dead in the water. August felt confident that he would be safe for the rest of the day, as long as he didn't stay out until it got dark. Since the boar was now dead, August decided that it would be prudent to move on before the sounds of battle attracted any other boars in the surrounding area. His main goal was still to collect the five materials for the quest, however, as the day dragged on this seemed like a less and less likely goal. The only saving grace of this whole venture was that the environment around him was superb, and the weather was nice, so its not like he could complain about that. Walking through the forest, he thought that something shiny caught his eye so he walked towards it, leaving the trail. However once he reached the location, all that was there were simple plant models. The only problem now, was that August was hopelessly lost, and he couldn't see the path that he just came from.

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ID# 107589

• Loot: 8

August felt bad for laughing, he realised that she was obviously embarrassed so he decided to control himself a bit more. "Yeah I always found buying old handhelds and restoring them to be fascinating. I have no idea how they work but I love taking them a part and then replacing old parts or putting in upgrades. I had one of those old gameboys and I put a backlit screen into it from videos online." He was proud of his work however he must have sounded like a massive nerd, getting all excited about the inner workings of a video game console. He let out an awkward cough and continued on with his little spiel, "I can understand that, I never really used my phone for much, social media wasn't really my thing before coming here I guess, still isn't." He stared off into space, his mind wandering slightly from the conversation. The first floor had a wall around it, however this wall was only a few dozen metres high, so a lot of the light from outside shone into the landscape. August stared out at the empty void, from here all he could see was the blue and white of the sky and clouds outside of the giant floating castle. Keying back into the conversation, he found her observation a little odd, "I wouldn't call it original to be honest, I'm sure there are hundreds of people in this game that have some variation of the word <<Crown>>, plus I think Kirbs is a nice name, it's nostalgic." He sighed and smiled,  "Although to be honest the thing that I remember most about the games is that Kirby just ate and ate and ate, but I'm sure that's not what you were going for." 

@Kirbs

This was it, his first battle in months was coming to a close. While it was only a basic, level one mob, August still felt a sense of accomplishment at actually making some progress towards reaching a higher level. For the rest of the day however, August conceded that he wanted to take things slow and he would just collect his materials through gathering and ignoring other mobs. This would not only be safer but would also most likely be faster and more efficient, as not all mobs are guaranteed to drop materials. In fact, this boar might not even drop a material. August prepared his sword as it once again shone with a blue glow. He charged at the mob, a clean, concise stab piercing the mob's hide before it could even react. With a squeal the mob shivered before exploding into dozens of diamond shaped polygons, typical of any object that was destroyed in this world.

A small screen appeared before him reading

<<Congratulations!>>

You receive: 30 Col

August stared blankly at the screen, he had not actually received anything of note from the mob. Letting out a soft sigh, he relented that it was only a low level mob and maybe if he fought something slightly stronger then it would yield better results. However, it was back to gathering for him.

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ID# 107540 

• Battle: 5 (6, 5+1 because of ACC. Therefor successful hit)
• Mob: 9

ID# 107541

• Loot: 1

August let out a hearty laugh, he had never met someone as...Interesting? As this girl appeared to be. It was clear to him that she was nervous, however he was unsure why she was. It seemed as though she was talking to herself rather than him, which made him raise his eyebrow slightly, "Yeah definitely a squirrel" he said, trying to sooth her discomfort by going along with her story. However he couldn't stifle his laugh, and felt slightly bad, as she could take ti as him making fun of her. With an awkward cough, he moved on, "I thought so! I used to love those games as a kid, well I'm still a kid I guess but when I was really young I used to play those games on the old handheld Nintendo consoles." The memories of these games brought back a wave of feelings that he hadn't felt since he was a young child. His parents bought him a Nintendo Gameboy Advance and one of the games that came with it was one of the old Kirby games. "I can't say my name is based on anything in particular. I chose it when I was young because it sounded cool. Now that I think about it, people have made fun of me for it. But it kinda just stuck so, its my name on everything." It was true that his name was chosen at random, however he liked the name and he used it in every other game he played, so perhaps he would run into someone who recognised him eventually.

August only needed one more attack before the boar would go down, as its HP bar was now in the red, this was also clear from the digital animal's demeanour. It was clearly exhausted as it struggled to stand straight and was wobbling slightly, forcing it to correct its footing every slight movement it made. August was not in the clear either however, as he had also received a hit from the boar. The difference being however that due to the way the game was coded, August didn't feel the pain from the hit he had received. This gave him a slight advantage over the AI coded boar. He stared the boar down and charged again, his sword lighting up a powerful sky coloured blue, he was just about to reach the mob when his foot caught one of the outstanding roots, stumbling into the horns of the boar he was fighting. They dug into his abdomen, revealing big red gashes as exit holes where the horns had punctured his side. Rolling away he got up again, and noticed that the bar at the top of his screen went down again, now it was about a quarter empty. This is getting bad August thought to himself as he drew his sword again, ready to attack.

MOB STATS:

• HP: 2
• Damage: 3

CrownS STATS:

• HP: 14
• Damage: 3

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ID# 107507

• Battle: 3
• Mob: 7

The girl seemed about as socially adept as August was, and she probably felt the same surprise and reservation that he did. What do I do now? August thought to himself as he sat down. D...Did she say her name twice? He caught himself thinking, maybe he had just heard her wrong and she didn't, either way he laid back and resumed staring at the stone ceiling above him. "Yeah I normally stay inside the town of beginnings, but every now and then I come out to here. There aren't any mob spawns around here so I usually don't get interrupted. I haven't seen any players pass through here either, so that would make you the first." It was a stroke of lucky that someone had come by just as he was feeling lonely. However the view was a little disappointing, "I kinda wish we could see the actual sky, instead of this stone one" he accidentally blurted out without realising, August's thoughts had drifted off as per usual. He turned his head towards the girl, even though asking about real names was considered rude, he wasn't sure about the stigma in regards to usernames, "So you said your username was Kirbs, right? Has that got anything to do with the video game character?" Without thinking about it, one could see how this could be considered as rude.

@Kirbs

Lying down on his back and staring up at the roof of the floor above him, August was about to drift off to sleep, however he heard the familiar sounds of a player approaching and quickly got up and reached for his blade. The player that approached was a female about his age however she was slightly shorter than he was. Seeing this he relaxed the grip on his sword slightly, however he still kept his hand on his sword as it wasn't someone he knew and they were outside of the safe zone. Upon second glance August couldn't help but notice the cuteness of the girl that was approaching him. In all his time on this hill he had never actually encountered another player, so perhaps she had followed him. No that wouldn't make any sense, otherwise she would have caught up with him ages ago, or at least he might have noticed it. He was acting weird so she was certain to get suspicious of him, therefor, the best course of action was to at the very least introduce himself. "Hi there, nice to finally see someone else out here." August didn't want to spook her, so he thought maybe a natural introduction would be best. "My username is <<CrownS>>, I don't think I've seen you around before, nice to meet you. I'm kinda just sitting here so, if you want to join me feel free." He gestured to where he was previously sitting, inviting her to sit.

There weren't many places outside of the Town of Beginnings that August enjoyed relaxing in, besides the ever-present threat of death, all of the terrain outside of the starting town just blended together for the most part. There was one spot however that August had discovered one day while walking back from an exploration. It was the top of a hill roughly twenty minutes hike from the town entrance. The thing special about this hill was that it was a fair ways away from any areas that had mob spawning so he was safe to nap here. However, the threat of other players still loomed over his head so he had to be careful. One other appealing factor about this hill was that it was fairly high up so it had possible one of the most captivating views of the entire first floor. The many scattered forests and plains that covered the surface of the giant green circle. He had been coming here fairly regularly for at least a few weeks at this point, however had hadn't encountered anyone else. In August's eyes this was a blessing, he could come here to be alone as well as to relax, however he could concede that this did make him feel lonely at times, as he was sure that Jack would have loved this spot as much as he did. Now was not the time to be thinking about those kinds of things however. As well as Jack enjoying this spot as much as he did, August was sure that Jack would have wanted August to enjoy it as well, which meant getting his head out of depressing thoughts.

It was one of those days where you didn't do much of anything, and August planned to keep it that way. A day where he didn't go collect any materials or go out fighting mobs. You know what would make this extra grand! A picnic! August thought to himself. However he didn't have any food or any company. Actually, company would have been quite nice on this fine afternoon, however August didn't know of anyone to invite at this given time, so he guessed that he would have to wait for someone to come along

@Kirbs

August had never been to the second floor, however it had been cleared a long while before. The main town was bustling with many low level players and NPCs who were visiting the second floor for travelling and trading. August was here for a different reason, he was here to complete a quest he had heard about. Despite his eagerness for the quest, it was one he had to be cautious of. From talking with people on the first floor, he had heard about a certain mob that spawns on the second floor that was a part of a quest, and this mob dropped an item that would boost his weak attack power. However, this mob did 20 base damage on its attacks, and if he fought this beast and got hit, then he was dead. The secondary reason he had come to the second floor was to find someone to help him with the quest. August knew how the hate system worked in this game, commonly called <<Threat>> in other games, if a tank class was attacking a mob then they would generate <<Hate>> and the mob would attack them instead of the damage dealers. If he could utilize this system, then he wouldn't be hit at all, however there was some chance to it. If he got a critical strike then he would catch up to the person helping him. The prospect terrified him, however, he was more than willing to do anything to get beyond the trap of being a beginner.

He approached a piece of parchment on the notice board of the town that had a large golden [ ! ] floating above it, and brought his finger up to it, giving it a tap to begin the quest. He pressed the small blue circle that would signify the acceptance of the quest. "Alright great, step one complete." He now had to basically stand here and wait for someone else to approach and ask for their help, although he was well aware that people might not be that charitable

@Black