Miaki

Shout out to one of our podcast hosts. I vote <>.

Miaki watched as MacGrath charged his sword skill and attacked the rushing boar. Miaki's eyes widened as MacGrath dealt a critical attack. "Nicely done!" Miaki yelled. "Switch!" Miaki leaped forward, hoping to deal the finishing blow.

Boar: 2/5

Battle Dice

0-2 Miss

3-5 Boar dodges

6-8 Hit (1 damage)

9-10 critical (2 damage) (Killing it)

Miaki, having dealt the first blow on Zelrius got a little excited and his eyes widened. "HA! I'm not scared" He jumped in to make a follow up attack. Miaki knew that this battle wasn't to the death but never the less he would fight as if it was.

As he jumped in with his follow up attack, Miaki miss calculated and missed his second attack.

Zelrius 18/20

Miaki 20/20

(RULES! Each player will get 20 health, You must bring the other Player's health to 0 by 50 posts [3 and a half pages] IF the time limit runs out, then the one with the most health wins.]

Battle System:

C = Critical = 1+Level/5 (ex, Level 20 would be a +5 Crit Damage)

Damage = D = Ex Say Attacker rolls 6, And Defender rolls a 3, The attacker does 2 damage If you roll 1-2 higher it is 1 damage, If you rolls 3-6 it is 2 damage, 7-9 higher is 3 damage

Attacker: Battle die is the only that counts, a 10 is automatically C + D Ex, If attacker rolls a 10 and Defend rolls a 9, That is 4 damage.

Defender: If you roll a Higher battle die, You can dodge, If you roll a higher Battle AND loot, You can Counter.

Standing in the center of the small colosseum the two players Zelrius and Miaki stood a short distance away, facing each other. Miaki had asked Zelrius to give him some tips on how to battle properly and so the two decided to duel one another. Finding a small battle arena in the Black Iron Castle the two faced one another preparing to fight. The dirt covered cobble floor underneath their feet provided an idea dueling environment. Miaki knew all too well that he would likely be defeated in this match but that wasn't the point. The point was to improve himself in battle.

Waving opening his menu, Miaki equipped his starter leather padded armor which was worn under a light-brown leather jacket. He put away the matching fedora then adjusted the glasses on his face. He loosened his neck and joints then brought up the combat menu. Highlighting <> then <> ensuring that no players would die from the duel, Miaki sent the battle request then drew his <> from his back.

"Alright Zelrius." He said, twirling his blade around to finish warming up. He finished by gripping his sword and prepared to battle. "Let's go!"

"Hey is there room for someone else?"

Miaki turned around and saw the approaching player wearing a black fedora. "Certainly! Why not?" He extended his right hand to greet the approaching player. "I'm Miaki and this here is Cinder. I was just seeing about finding the shop and getting started. You're more than welcome to party up with us."

Meh....I could really go for an burger. I can taste it melting in my mouth. Just eating a nice burger with tea on a nice grass field on a beautiful day like this....gosh

"Dude, I so go for something to eat! Know a good place around here? I just have eaten at the tavern so far."

"I was curious myself. What has you down here on the first floor? I saw you running into this area just now." Pointing toward where Kirito had come in from. "What's up with that?"

Walking for about 30 minutes or so, Miaki was out of the forest which he woke up in and was now on a road leading to the <>. He could see the city now. The massive city spanning 7 miles was from what he knew, one of the largest cities in SAO. It'd have to be seeing as it would have to house almost 10,000 players. Miaki realized then that he too would have to make this place his new home. At least until he made it to the next floor and found somewhere there.

-THUMP THUNK TWING- Miaki swung with pure-filled rage at the tree which started popping up alerts reading <>. He ignored these pop ups and kept swinging. With each swing a new alert appeared and nothing changed in the tree's appearance. Clearly the system wouldn't allow a player to use a sword on a tree but Miaki didnt care. He was too angry to care.

After swinging furiously for no idea how long, he stopped with extreme exhaustion. And leaned on his sword. Panting heavily. He slowly dragged his feet forward and began walking again toward the city.

Nice to meet you! I hope you have a great time here and make lots of friends! I'll see you around! Oh, one more thing, *Throws Pokeball*

^ Dang it! I was gonna catch him!

A pleasure to meet you Alciel! Looking forward to having you around. I've been here for a couple days and can safely say that this places is fairly active. Especially when you get to some of the other floors from what I've been told. Great to have you on board.

Miaki thought about what Kirito said on how it wasn't about levels but about the will of the person.

"More about the will and drive? Hmmmm. Never thought of it like that. I think it would be safe to say I have the determination. I've had a bit of a slow start, but I'm working my way up. I'll definitely have to take that to heart."

As he walked, Miaki thought of everything that transpired yesterday. From his last moment in the real world to chaos of the announcement that they were trapped. He missed his family. By now they probably knew what had happened to him and were no doubt in despair. To think that he wanted to bring his friends into this game. He kind of still did. Atleast then he would have someone to help him through this. What was he to do!? He yelled in anger and frustration over this ordeal and kicked a rock he was crossing then swung his sword as hard as he could against a nearby tree. Rage started to flow through his body, replacing the fear and depression.

The player, who Miaki learned was Kane shook hands with Kirito after the two shook Miaki stepped forward firmly shaking hands with the Black Swordsman Kirito.

"The name is Miaki." Nodding at Kane briefly as he said that. "A pleasure to meet you Kirito. I've heard of your actions on the front lines in clearing floors. It's rather inspiring, considering I'm working to get myself strong enough to reach the higher levels. And to be honest, I didn't even notice the marker until just now."

He looked Kirito over, now being able to have a face to match with the name. Miaki had heard men talk in the tavern about players working on the front lines, clearing the game. Miaki hoped he wasn't sounding like every other person who met Kirito. He assumed those kind of people acted like they met a pop idol or something. But this player was different. To Miaki, he was an inspiration. Someone who made Miaki strive for the top.

Miaki laughed at how amusing the inventory system was in SAO. Thinking about it, this guy was right. With the pressing of a few buttons we can alter our appearance and conjure items out of seemingly thin-air. Miaki then looked in the direction that this player was facing and saw someone dressed in black running into the area. Miaki thought he had seen this guy before... Somewhere. The fact that this guy had an orange gem floating over him hadn't registered in Miaki's head yet.

Miaki distanced himself from the boar. Satisfied that he made contact he smiled.

He heard Haine start cheering. "YAATAA!!! THATS HOW YA DO IT!!" This made Miaki form a big, toothy grin.

"Alright dude here it comes. Go for it!"

(5 HP... Got it! -makes mental note)

Miaki heard the laugh of one player that he was walking by. Hearing this looked for the the player he had just heard.

Sorry buddy, I wasn't laughing at you.

Miaki stopped in front of him, facing the new player.

"It's alright. Was it something I did? Or is there something on my face?" Miaki laughed after saying this.

*Edited for grammar fixes.

Miaki saw MacGrath smiling, starting to get enthusiastic about training.

"I'm ready to fight more now!" He heard MacGrath say.

"Then lets take another swing at these things." He said this while drawing upon his blade again. "These boars are fairly weak. Comparable to slimes or small bats from other RPGs." Miaki spotted another boar spawning onto the field. Once he locked onto the boar he saw in his vision the HP of it appear. In the last engagement he wasn't paying attention to that, something that if he kept slacking on would end up very grim for him. "These boars here have 3 HP it looks like so it'll take atleast two attacks to kill them." Miaki faced Haine who was watching them with what Miaki took as an approving look on her face. "Have you ever used the switch system MacGrath? It's where we alternate the attacker in a fight against a target. Kinda just like we did just now. I'll make the first attack on this one again and let you finish it off, assuming I hit him of course. After we defeat this one, I'll let you be the first to attack the next one if you feel up to it." He gave them both a nod, held his blade at the ready, and charged the unsuspecting boar with a dash attack.

Boar HP: 3/3

Battle Roll

0-2: Miss

3-5: Boar dodges

6-8: Hit (1 Damage)

9-10: Critical: (2 Damage)

(Again, correct me if I have the system a bit off. I think I may have it this time though.)

Miaki kept his wrists loose by swinging his blade around before finally sliding it behind his back. "No sweat." He thought for a moment of how so many players seemed too afraid to leave the safety of the <> and that they would be killed as soon as they stepped out. Why were they so scared to leave? With proper preparation one would do fine out here. He stopped focusing on this and brought his thoughts back to the now.

"Shall we try another boar or two? It's nice to be out here with someone for once."

"Nice hit man! I'll finish it off!" Miaki held his blade with both hands in front of himself, waited til the blade glowed and jumped toward the boar. "KYAAAAA!"

Battle Roll

0-5: Miss

6-10: Killed

(From here on out lets use the correct Battle Dice use as Haine corrected previously)

Miaki shook his head, trying to discard the events of yesterday. A sick feeling entered his stomach. He wanted to throw up. Could you do that in this game? He didn't want to find out. Looking again at the date and time on his HUD, Miaki took a deep breath and tried to get his bearings again.

"Guess I should find my way back to the <>."

Miaki drew his <>, wanting something to hold on to, and walked in the general direction of the city.

Miaki walked through the town center having just left the city tavern and was looking for something to do. He didn't care too much what he did, chat with a player, explore, hunt, anything, it didn't matter. Miaki looked up at the sunny sky and opened up his inventory, equipping a fedora.

Miaki rushed up to the small group and saw Yue, now in Haine's arms, completely limp. He focused on her and a cursor appeared over Yue but he couldn't read her HP because he wasn't in party with anyone. "What's wrong with Yue? Was she in a battle?"

Miaki watched as Haine rushed in and made a clean slash at the boar. She jumped away from the boar who needed one more clean strike to die. "Alright MacGrath its all you!" He watched as the boar began to advance on MacGrath.

The two players firmly shook hands. "Cinder, nice to meet you." Miaki watched Cinder take another puff from his <> and puff smoke into the digital space around them.

"I'll gladly help you on the quest if you want, I'm getting a little tired of farming mobs for right now, the change in pace will be relaxing."

"That'd be great. I've had my fair share of simple exploration and killing mobs and really want to find out about this special crafted weapon." Miaki swiped two fingers down, bringing up the HUD and sent a party invite to Cinder. While doing this he began talking again. So the <> is that way right?" He stuck his thumb in the general direction of the Eastern part of the city. "I've been there before but don't know where the shop is. Mind leading the way?"

Miaki laid completely sprawled on the damp grass a couple miles from the the <>. His face was completely dug into a soft patch of grass there. He slowly started to shift around coming out of his sleep. He awoke rather still and groggy, and who could blame him? He'd slept on the ground completely exhausted. But why had he slept on the ground? Miaki slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position and brushed some grass off of his light-brown jacket. Brushing some twigs and blades of grass from his hair he tried to recall how he got where he was. The memory escaped him for the moment so he looked around him trying to find something that would bring him answers. He started to stand up, his body reminding him of where he'd just sleep, with grogginess still affecting him. He without thinking looked where one would have worn a wristwatch to check the time and day. Not wearing one he started to get confused.

He found himself in a slightly dense forest. Forest? What is- That's when it hit him. The logging in. The ominous bells. The hooded figure. The lack of a log out button. The beginning nightmare.

Fear started the slip in and Miaki froze for a moment. He was about to start panicking again. His brain now fully awake started running 1,000 RPM and waved open the HUD. He brought up a clock and saw the time and day. The display read: 14:23, Monday Nov. 7, 2022