Cinder

"So I think we should've found this out before... What kind of fighters are you two? I mean style or skill wise. I'm working to be a katana user myself."

Cinder was hesitant with the question at first. He wasn't one to just openly announce his abilities, but then again, he wasn't in a party much either. After some careful thought on whether to reveal himself or not, he decided that it'd be better to allow them a taste, then to leave them in blind mystery. That way, they're not alone in a battle, with no idea of what he's capable of.

"I'm a dagger user myself, I prefer that speed and avoidance over heavy hitting and damage taking."

Cinder didn't reveal that his dagger was on his chest under his jacket, there was no reason to. At least now they knew that he wasn't going to be trying to tank anything anytime soon.

Cinder listened to Miaki tell his tale of how he was nearly killed, taking in a drag of his <>. After he was finished, it was safe to assume it was his turn to tell his tale. Mineaswell, I can't say it'd be as exciting as his, he thought to himself as he took in a deep drag, the shaft burning brightly as it shrank slowly, smoke rolling off the tip. Exhaling from his nose, digital smoke flowed out heavily, an imaginary signal being pumped into his brain that nicotine was truely involved. He felt slightly better as his body relaxed.

"Well, I was walking through the third floor, looking for the solution to the quest <>, I figured it'd give me some extra perks than just being a fighter, but I can't say it's been too helpful thus far. But essentially I came across a sleeping dog, and as I approached him, the quest giving NPC appeared out of thin air, asking if I wanted to accept the quest, so I did, mineaswell."

Cinder took another drag, exhaling the smoke from his mouth into the sky as he looked up, the light grey cloud filling the air above him before disappearing into nothing.

"Essentially the guy wanted me to find the owner, and let him know that his dog was here, lying in the street, so I searched this abandoned town, not a soul around. It wasn't until I arrived up onto the square that a single man was playing a lute against the fountain ledge. So I approached him, but as I did, the music got louder and louder, and my vision got fuzzy and dark. Personally, I thought I was a dead man. I vowed silently to never let my guard down again like that, but it turned out not so bad, because then I suddenly woke up surrounded by various colored lanterns, and hundreds of people shouting. From there, the <> play menu showed up, and as long as I pressed the corresponding strings to the song, music played. After a bit of fun, I finally woke back up in the square, alone on the ground. The guy was gone, and I thought my hopes of clearing the quest were over, but as I came back to check up on the dog, there was the Lute Artist. So, after playing a little tune he taught me to wake the dog up, I was given the profession <>. Its not very high, and I can't play any powerful music yet, so don't get any ideas. I can just wake sleeping characters, thats all."

Cinder wrapped his story up with another heavy drag, the tip flaring again before he flicked off the fake ashes into the thin air, the small particles bursting into shiny ones as that part of the item was destroyed.

"What about you Clarence, how are the frontlines fairing?"

Cinder continued quietly behind them, looking around as they walked. He always kept a third eye on the landscape and scenery. One was to help locate any threats, and the other was to just observe the beauty of the world he lived in now. I mean, it was remarkable that such a place existed, and to be frank, he didn't mind living here. He wanted to beat the game not to free himself into the real world, but to just show that he cannot be controlled.

"So since we are just going to be walking with each other in this complete silence why not talk about something. Any cool stories from you guys? The most I can think of is of clearing floor 7."

Cinder looked over at Clarence as he began speaking again, and then back into the scenery, only glancing towards him.

"Well one of the most exciting things for me was fighting the <> quest boss solo. That turned into a rather intense fight in the end. Aside from that, not too many exciting things have happened to me. What about you Cinder?"

Cinder took his eyes off the horizon and looked at Miaki, pulling out one of his <> items before putting it in his mouth, and lighting it with the matchbox, the tip flaring as he waved the match box away into thin air; returning it into his inventory.

"Let's see... one of the craziest adventures I've had would have to be getting my <>. That was an adventure in and of itself. I want to say drugs were involved somehow, but I can't tell where they came from. If you're ever looking to be a Lute Artist, thats definitely a good time."

Nice to meet you! I'm fairly new, but I'm open to answer any questions I can if you have any!

Nice to meet you! I'm Cinder. If you need anything, hit me up. :)

"Take a picture Cinder, it lasts longer. I can see you eyeing me and I can understand your wariness on this quest with the difficulty of this. But I'm not trying to hurt you, if I am then put a sword right through me and it'll be the end of it."

Cinder looked up at him and then smirked, looking back at him, "Don't worry, you can just never be too careful. I'm on your side unless you're not on mine." What a wonderful way to start off a quest, at least everyone's on edge now. If we got too comfortable, it could be the death of us, he thought to himself as he followed calmly behind them.

"Here, this crystal increases your stats momentarily for quests compliments of my shop on Floor 3, they get deactivate when fighting a boss/ a player. Use these to get into <> now you don't have to follow me and if you want, can ditch me entirely if you don't trust me."

Cinder took the crystal and pocketed it, just in case. He didn't want to put it into his inventory. The last thing he wanted to have to do was cycle through the items menu to find it in the heat of battle. Taking a look at Clarence afterwards, he nodded. "Thank you." Sorry mate, I just can't trust anyone yet, he thought silently.

It's freaking amazeballs *0* most dubs are so c-r-a-p-p-y and stuff XD

that is true, I've listened to some Dubs, and just wish they left it alone and kept the original. Haha.

Uh... HELL YES~~!!!!!!

Hmm, its hard to say. I personally feel there is a lot more emotion in the Japanese Dub versions, but we can all agree its easier to watch an anime in Japanese dub; but lets be honest, I bet all of us are fairly used to reading subtitles and watching an anime, and wouldn't be bothered by either or.

So in the end, I'm going to have to say Japanese Dub for emotion, but there is certainly nothing wrong with English Dub.

I thought that the special was well done (hats off to making chapter 16.5 practically official). I think the IRL stuff was good cause it added to some details of the real world.

I agreed. It really showed the relationship between the survivors, and their outlook on VRMMORPG gaming, and I'm glad PTSD didn't win the battle in the end. I guess it wouldn't have much more to offer if it had.

Quite naturally, sometimes cliche is the most boring and a good plot twist really stirs up the emotions.

When I first watched this episode in Japanese last year, the fight scene at the end between the first organized assault team and the Kolbolt King was what made me realize I wasn't going to get any sleep and would watch the entire show til it was done. The stakes were first shown here as we realized, to quote Shinji from Fate?Stay Night: "PEOPLE DIE WHEN THEY ARE KILLED!"

Far as the English dubbing goes, I think this one was very well done.

Believe it or not, I have yet to see the English Dubbed version, and personally, I'd have to check it out, any idea on how far along it is?

"I'm ready to head out. I'll lead the way to <>, now another warning, the bay attracts a lot of high level attention, the only way to find it is to track a monster into it, and the mob that walks into the area can only be tracked my high level trackers, or high level fighters. So we are in for a lot."

Miaki followed first, and Cinder moved up beside him as they followed Clarence. He didn't know much about the two, but he was certain that the region itself wasn't going to be the issue. If this place was as dangerous as Clarence made it out to be, it wouldn't surprise him if more dangerous players were involved. High level tracking required? That's just asking for a bad day, Cinder thought to himself as he cautiously looked over Clarence.

Whether or not the man had good intentions, its better to be safe than sorry. He'd have to keep an eye out on him, Miaki, and everything else around them. The last thing he'd want to do was be caught off guard, not in this game.

Was it just me, or did Episode 4 suck?

Cinder, not to kiss you a** or anything, but I agree. She has been given knowledge no one else has >.<

Oh, no as kissing there, I just feel like maybe we should gang up on her and get this knowledge she soo blindly hides from us!

Eh, Some people are different. Oh well, Glad I watched the show anyways.

Well of course, despite all the gaming terms and systems, the storyline in and of itself was outstanding.

"All these schoolgirls want to party up with me." -- If thats how you wanna roll mate. Hahaha.

I DONT DO FUNNY I DO CHEESY KAY? MKAY XDDD

Haine, sometimes... you worry me about how excited you are about everything. I feel like you know something about this world that we don't... >_>

Eh, Some people are different. Oh well, Glad I watched the show anyways.

Exactly, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I sorta wish I could live in such an experience, the whole death game included. I mean, it'd be dangerous, but the amount of fun I'd have up until the game ended would be exhilarating. It'd be a shame after the game was completed though. Everything else would just become sooooo boring.

Yeah, there were some extremely epic scenes. You could almost say this series if Bipolar; It has some awesome scenes, then some really boring ones, with little in between the two.

I could easily agree with you. Several scenes left me in a bore, but later one, they concluded with some epic that just kept me hooked into the series. A whole day of watching Sword Art Online, thats how I know they did a good job.

Yeah, 9 times out of 10, that is just how RPGs are, which makes them a bit unfair and not all that fun. I hoesntly stopped trying to play RPGs not too long ago, But I will try out ELO and see just how that goes since it is JUST coming out of Beta.

ELO? You mean ESO?

Heh, same dude. However, just a warning, we better get back on topic before an admin notices and deletes these >.<, so such sadness, much cry, wow etc.

Yeah, I agree. I don't feel like losing any posts, just no fun there. But yeah, I felt like complete [censored] when Sachi died and she left that brutal message for Kirito, that was so sad! And what Kirito did to Klein! Rejected... again!

I cannot find it >.< Damn, I'll pm you it as to not keep spamming this post and get yelled at.

Haha, alright. Getting yelled at would just not be any fun! Besides, I think it's just you and me really that even talk about the episodes. Everyone else is too worked up into their own stories to even share the experiences they had watching the show that started all of it!

xD Cinder, that would've been fantastic. Just his little sister going pyschopathic and killing off Asuna because of her "Intense Love" for her brother. Though also would've been like a classic horror or Drama film...

Omg. That'd have been intense. Sugu just loses it and when Kirito finally arrives, she's leaned over her bed with Asuna's throat slit. She just looks at him and goes, "Kazuto... I- I couldn't share your love..." or something f***ing psychotic.

Eh, some or kinda. I think Code Geass is a story worth watching over and over again. Because each time you watch it, you understand the story and plot behind the whole show a little better. Amazing series, you should look it up.

My brother actually started watching that, and I've only heard great things about it. I think I'll check it out right meow.