Morningstar

Somewhere down the line, the conversation had changed subjects once more. "Have you been to the Endless Caverns?" "On Ten? Can't say that I have. What's there?" "Not a ton," Willow said. "Shadow monsters and drakes, mostly. But it's really pretty. There's one area with like, glowing blue trees." "Glowing blue trees?" "Yeah... I don't know how to better explain them," she laughed. Morningstar tried to recall a similar place but failed miserably. The tenth floor remained totally mysterious to him; he never really went near it. It was dark, gloomy, and quite dangerous if

A soft hand touched his shoulder. "I'm sorry," Willow told him. He nodded. "Simon was just a kid. Fifteen, or something. He deserved better. Anyway, the heat's only fifty percent of the reason why I don't come here. This place tends to ruin my mood." "Let's go," she smiled. "The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can leave." "Yeah." *** Conversation took a more cheerful note for the next stretch of their travels. Willow told him the story of her great-aunt's sixtieth birthday party. Horrendous laughter escaped from both of their lips; breathing and talking were equ

Morningstar continued. "We left from Fortaleza, I think, on the fifth floor. We did a quest called the Traveler—have you heard of it? Yeah, that one. We spent a day or so in the desert just walking and it was a terrible time. Anyway, we ran into some desert bandits out there but they didn't give us any trouble and let us pass through. We found some ruins nearby and intended on resting for a while before nightfall, but the bandits had tracked us there." He fiddled with a cool, solidified lava rock. Willow was listening intently. She realized where he was going with his story. She had alrea

"We're never coming back here," Morningstar wiped his forehead. "I get why you hate it now," Willow sighed. She took a long sip from her canteen, only stopping when she realized she had to breathe. He took a short look at her before glancing away. She was new in his life. She hadn't been around during the start. It wasn't only the heat that caused him to hate the ninth floor. It was history. He had mentioned the story once, but briefly and only touching on a few points before closing off. But it had been years since the events took place and it no longer carried the same weight

Morningstar had somehow stumbled into a quest. His party included star-crossed lovers and a deaf girl that he could somehow understand despite speaking two words of sign language. The system attempted to translate her signs through some sort of weak telepathy. All that trouble to get away from the voices in his head and here one was again. It mostly worked, too. The translations weren't perfect, but they showed how far technology had progressed. Cardinal never ceased to impress him. He vaguely remembered the name Dorian from somewhere. A previous quest, he thought. "Oh, shit, this is

He held blame for nobody but himself. Zandra rushed to his side, activating both her and her familiar's heals simultaneously. The distance between him and death was lengthened for a while longer. As his health bar regenerated, so did his body. "Right," he nodded to Zandra. "Back to work." Freyd had the right idea, battling the slobbering three-headed beast by himself. He controlled the fight expertly while the other two reoriented themselves. Morningstar leaned towards the the left-most head, leaving Zandra to do as she pleased. If he could whittle down its health bar just a bit

From his inventory, Morningstar pulled a pocket journal. It was leatherbound, and well-crafted at that. He had found his original on the game's opening day, shortly after discovering that he would not be leaving. It was his first purchase, even before a meal. He had continued buying copies ever since. Each time he dotted the concluding sentence of the final page of a book, he would return to where he started and purchase a brand new one. It was an cycle that he wished would never end; a ritual that brought him peace in a world so uncertain. Everyone had something, he theorized. He fl

Sunlight blasted Morningstar in the face as he materialized in the Town of Beginnings. It was an astringent change of scenery from the dreary tenth floor and the ill-lit locations within its land. He had spent enough time staring into the void that entering a normal town essentially burned out his eyeballs. Squinting, he stepped into the town. His investigation of the void had come up futile. It was an oddity that simply existed with no logical rhyme or reason. Naturally, that intrigued him and so, he spent three days there. One of his experiments included dropping useless items into the

"Not to ruin the mood...but does anyone see anything alarming around here? I don't trust this...it's too easy..." It was a good observation. Morningstar sliced through a Blightbound Monstrosity, severing it in two like it was butter. He reigned in his horse closer to Nari so he did not need to shout. "Nah. I'm gonna live ignorantly and enjoy the easiness of this. It's not often the system gives us a break." He took a good, long look at Freyd as he rode by. Morningstar refrained from saying anything, but he seemed off—mounting his horse and donning the shadowy cowl had flicked a switc

Zandra's charge caught Morningstar off guard. It was quick and intense, the polar opposite of what Freyd had just told them. She swung high and hit air, panicking as Cerberus simply moved out of the way. The middle head swooped in for a counterattack. Morningstar clenched his fists and lunged, unable to sit back as the beast's jaws closed in on the girl. The backbite of his sword redirected the attack away from Zandra, saving her from an untimely decapitation while also pulling its attention towards himself. For this decision, there would be repercussions. Head 3 slammed into him from beh

He listened to her story while putting together pieces of the puzzle. They were similar in many ways, he imagined. The both of them came from families with enormous reputations and he thought that insurmountable expectations were common territory. "Look at us," Morningstar smiled. "No MMO experience and yet here we are, surviving." "I'm sorry about your brother," he added. "I hope he's doing okay now." The tablet was coming together nicely. Etherial mentioned being shockingly adept at reading it, which Morningstar agreed with. She had a knack for translation. "The game will translate

"ok." morningstar waited around while night did her crafting things. nyanko was visible from where he stood, and they stared at each other neutrally during the time it took for the ring to be made. he liked cats. he wanted one. night came back and delivered his commission, which he thanked her for. it was a pretty item that would fit well in his collection. "where'd you find her?" he asked, before leaving. he wasn't sure whether he planned on doing anything with that information. probably not. morningstar tripped on his way out of the evening star, in spite of night's warning.

Name: Crystal +2 Your Profession: Appraiser Your Rank: Rank 5 Roll ID: 221557, 221558 Roll Result: 6, 2 Reroll ID: 221572, 221573 Reroll Result: 17, 7 (Unique found! BD: 10 CD: 7+1=8 AND BD: 10 CD: 12+1=13) Item Type: Straight Sword Tier: T4 Quality: Rare Enhancements: Absolute Accuracy, Freeze Description: A broken piece of the field boss, Avalanche. It is impossible to melt and sharp like a sword. Link: URL Acquisition ID: 221339a

total cost = 173,360-8,500 = 164,860

Ciela literally meant a few moments. He didn't even have time to pour himself a cup of tea before she wrapped around the corner of the back room with his wagon wheel in hand. "You are a superstar," Morningstar said, impressed by how fast she had baked the item. "Thanks, I'll enjoy this. Congrats on the shop!" And then he left, leaving behind a large quantity of materials for the woman to work with. On the way back home, he messaged Willow, who was deep in a nap. After accidentally waking her, he told her about the cozy little shop on floor twenty-two, putting forth the idea that

During their dungeon run, Nari had mentioned that she was a performer. Never having purchased from a performer, Morningstar was naturally curious about the products she had for sale. "Hey, Nari," he said, waltzing into Morríghan's Descants. He browsed the many songs she had in stock, most of which had names he wouldn't have dared to pronounce. He picked the with words he knew. "Mind if I take a few of these off your hands? I have a bad habit of not bringing any health recovery items along on quests and dungeons." The listed price was transferred to her account in col. ***

Morningstar, wandering aimlessly around the twenty-second floor, came across a shop he had never seen before. He thought that he remembered seeing the building before, but not inhabited. Now, there was a sign and decorations, and presumably someone inside. He took a look inside Fondante's Inferno with the assumption that it was a cook's shop. It smelled like a bakery, which Morningstar loved more than anything else in life. Baked goods, he believed, made the world go around. "Anyone home?" He called into the newly setup store. A moment later, a vaguely familiar face poked out from th

"Are you a regular here, Morningstar?" "Hardly." The bartender reappeared with Morningstar's drink in hand. He set it down on the counter before him. Morningstar paid, peeved by price gouging the tavern practiced. There was no way it cost them anywhere near 7,000 col to have the ale imported. Even for a rare item, it was a little much. He took a sip, eager to find out what was so great about the drink. It flowed down his throat like lava, burning and tingling on the way down. He coughed, half-surprised despite Kent's warning. "Jesus," Morningstar coughed between words. "You drin

He had learned that the tavern was called "The Tipsy Troll." It was a hole-in-the-wall establishment with more patrons than it deserved. He waltzed in, unimposing in appearance. He fit in well, dressed in his freshly repaired red coat. The players and NPCs that littered the bar were dressed similarly, mostly in their adventuring gear or casual clothes. It was a rowdy bunch, despite the alcohol in them having zero effect whatsoever. Placebo was a funny concept. The swordsman took a seat at the bar and ordered the special. He was told that they had recently received a large shipment of an i

"Because we're curious, excitement-hungry adventurers," Morningstar shrugged. "At least we've made new pirate friends, right?" He slipped past Nari, drawing his blade. Timing his attack with his partner's, they took down the skyrat raider together. His blade passed through the pirate, granting him the last hit and rewarding him with an uninteresting pile of loot. "Bit claustrophobic in here," Morningstar highlighted, putting away his blade. "Very dusty. I wonder if they've ever cleaned it." The ship rocked and sunk, causing the pair of players to stumble around. They continued t

It would take some precision to not kill the quest boss. It wasn't something that Morningstar was accustomed to. Generally, a quick end to a fight was ideal, but he wanted the sword art and cardinal had placed restrictions on it. It was fair enough, he thought. An unlockable ability was bound to have tall hurdles in its way. Freyd went after the leftmost head, while Zandra took on the one in the middle. That left Morningstar with the third and final head to battle. He shot forward, slamming into Head 3's jaw with a sharp uppercut. It would have dazed most opponents his size, but Inferno's

The city was as he had left it: bustling and busy. He rode in on time to return his horse. He and the local stablemaster had a rocky relationship, to say the least. The swordsman had a history of making late returns and often had to pay extra as a result of his tardiness. It was a bad habit, he could admit, but also frequently out of control. "Oho! Now, this is a rare sight," the stablemaster stroked his grown out beard. The NPC actually looked pleased for once. He even stood from his chair to greet the swordsman. "Hello, Percival." "Back early, are you?" Asked the stablemaster,

new stat block | last updated: 4/6/2024 | MORNINGSTAR | Lv. 55 >> P. 22, Lv. 33 | Status: [ // ] Notes: //

"So how long have you been playing games?" Morningstar thought very briefly before giving his response. "How long ago did this one start? Eight—nine years, maybe? Geez, I'm getting old," he chuckled. "Anyway, that long. I'm not really a gamer. Or maybe I can't say that anymore. I was a Nintendo kid but lost interest and time as I grew up. This is my first, and probably last, real video game. Quite the choice, I'd say." People didn't ask about other's lives lives before the game, and he tried to do the same. His experience was that they were often taken aback by it or prickly with the

Before the treant could steal too much from the trees, the swordsman cut it down. A final slash through its midsection did the trick, severing perfectly in two. It decayed before his eyes, and the wood crumbled to blue dust. It floated in the wind, up towards the sky, disappearing in the sun's light. The sword's aura vanished. He returned it to the sturdy scabbard at his waist, taking one last look at the empty grove before retreating. His victory was not fruitless; he had been rewarded with a rare item. Blessing of the Wood was its title, and its effect was similar to the rooting ability