Andromeda

And An was back to circling around them again with her shield held up in front of her. The amateur player was holding it a bit too rigidly and her shoulders were too stiff, but no one was around to inform her about that. She noticed that the last two of the original group were just barely clinging to their lives -- their HP values small red drops in comparison to their earlier health bars.

These two were stupidly persistent. They'd been at this for forever already and though their movements were starting to stagger, the ants still shambled onward with the undying determination to chomp on their target. And their slowed movements really didn't help. 

She wasn't going to use her attack on the weaker bunch, so that meant she needed to adjust a tad bit. 

Very impatiently, An stood perfectly still and winced as the entire pack came racing towards her.

--Oh, and there was an eighth.

"Ehhhh?!" A noticeably flustered An waved her rapier threateningly at the newest one that had come from what was probably an infinite underground colony of ants. It didn't work; the very thought was sending shivers up her spine and it was starting to show. Of bugs... a hundred times bigger than the regular... just waiting to take their turn at attacking her... "Aw, bloody hell, just go right back to whatever hole you crawled out of!"

She didn't mean to yell like that. 

Eep.

Whatever, the newest antman looked angry. An stayed at a distance and prodded at it with her rapier (again, another bad idea), and it lunged right at her. She stood with one foot behind the other and felt the mobs' attacks batter against her shield. Thank whatever gods compelled her to join that Halloween event, without her Thorns, she would have taken forever to handle all of them!

"Alright! Now it's your turns to get looted~," the silver-haired player sang. Her red eyes glinted with greed and excitement, all while the remaining ants practically cowered at the sudden malevolent aura that spilled forth from her cursed weapon. Or maybe that was just how she saw it. They were all in the red zones, ready for looting after just another round or so -- and An was still up and lively as ever (as lively as you could get with zero energy anyway, once she was off the rush, she would probably keel over or something), and she'd never once felt this powerful before!

...the Nepents were different. She knew that quest was already below her level when she took it.

One ant just straight up gave up on life and threw itself at her shield -- bursting into a million red sparkles that almost matched her red eyes shortly after. One of the remaining two hesitated. The other sprung forward and followed, but oh no, it didn't die yet. Then another dug itself out of the ground and reared up at her.

Oh, no.

Her movements stuttered in her surprise, but An quickly shook her head and thrust out her rapier before it could act.

It seems that for the past few rounds or so, the last ones in were always the first ones out. Unlucky things -- and she thought the remaining three would have been a bit smug if they had at least the brain to make that realization. ...And An didn't learn that until Antman No. 6 caught her while she was attempting to circle around the pack and bullrushed her shield like a kamikaze pilot on a mission.

...though calling it that might be a tad disrespectful. Despite having faster legs, it hit just as well as the other three. The way the scene looked was, one over-sized ant butted its head against a noob's really weird-looking shield and said noob took a point of damage as the ant promptly exploded on contact.

"Whoaaa!" And An had succumbed to the temptation of checking the loot mid-battle. Stars shone in her eyes at the sight of her first looted Perfect Weapon -- and T2 to boot! For her, it was practically like a prized treasure. If it was possible to get something like this after killing three-something mobs... renewed excitement shone in her red eyes as she fixated on the three remaining mobs. Not too much HP left now. Prepping her rapier, she stuck it through the first one that attacked her.

The new guy was faster than the rest, like killing her had been its childhood goal or something. Or it was stupidly suicidal. Hardly a moment after the cold chill from Frost settled into it from its attack, the antman was scuttling forward once again -- seemingly unfazed by the three DoTs steadily eating away at its HP bar. "Wah!!" came the surprised shriek from the (not so dignified) girl as the mob suddenly lurched forward and snapped its strong pincers at her legs. "I just got those boots!"

And oh, did she mention that it was fast? 

That's it, this one was gonna go.

An continued backpedaling in an almost cartoonish fashion as the rest of the group -- save for one that got knocked back by an overexcited ant -- followed suit. Somehow, she eventually regained enough balance to hold her rapier in a 'ready' stance and dart forward to deliver another blow to the heading ant.

The remaining antmen acted after the last red data fragment had dissipated. An readjusted her grip on her rapier and lurched back, fending off their thrashing legs as she scrambled to find the proper footing to stand. That was kind of a bad idea, she thought sheepishly, but at least she was facing a more comfortable number of three now.

Behind the attacking mobs, the ground was beginning to shift again. And yet another over-sized insect head burst out from the soil, its antennae feeling out the surface ground before it.

Wait, WHAT?!

An was actually starting to sweat. Was there going to be an end to these things? Was there a sort of 'Stop' button somewhere that she hadn't heard about? She prepped her rapier as the newest arrival lunged forward and scored a heavy blow on her shield. Forcefully pushing back, she fired another blow of her own. 

Blight. Burn. Boom boom bang. Now Antman No. 5 was plagued with her rapier's status effects and limping behind the pack. Sorry not sorry. Pumping her legs as fast as she could, An led her not-so-merry band of opponents back to the open area where she spun around to face them and spread her arms with a grin. "I'm all open!"

Not.

Okay, maybe a little bit. In an instant, one antman lunged forward with a frontal attack that went past the defense of her shield and another swiped its leg at her side. Both inflicted with an instance of Frost. An gripped her rapier, turned on the second attacker, and stuck it through its head. She pulled it out and bashed the other away from her -- straight towards the other healthy ant that was waiting to attack.

Antman No. 5 staggered towards her. It raised one leg only to weakly fall forward under the burden of her status effects. But it got up again and took one step forward with much struggle. Not long before it died now, but An had to admit, she kind of felt bad for this thing.

"Here." 

She crouched down, one hand extended. And as its pincers desperately closed around her wrist, a cold red aura shot down her arm towards Antman No. 5 -- dealing one instance of Frost damage.

Its loot was kind of disappointing.

"Nope, nope, nope!"

Her opponents were all at half HP. Now, she favored evasion. She stumbled out of the way of all three ants' attacks, leaping over a persistent bug at one point and almost falling over at the landing, not because she finally decided she was not having it with bugs around half her size, but because she didn't want to make any more of a mess. Here among the [Garden]'s long rows of plants, it was all too easy for the clumsy player to lose track of her surroundings and trip straight into a bush once again.

Temporary strategic retreat. She dashed straight for the [Garden]'s one open area: a wide space of sorts between the plantation and the orchard. It was no open field, but it was better. An reached the area first before she stopped and checked on her mobs. 

Seconds later, the silver-haired player was running back to the rows of plants with the three still in tow.

Antman No. 5 hadn't followed her. It was still on its back, poor thing. But An wasn't going to touch it. So let's help it flip over with -- "Accel Stab!"

A conglomerative explosion of leaves, black energy, and disgruntled antmen. And tomatoes. An shot to her feet and her blade, still thrumming with the remnant energy of a Sword Art, sheared off the tops of nearby bushes. Oh no, didn't they have this nice flat trim to them earlier? An could only hope they regenerated -- else, whoever was doing the garden work wouldn't be all too pleased.

The antmen, sans the one she impaled with [Quadruple Pain] earlier, recovered. That one was on its back with its legs waving in the air. 

Some things never changed.

None of the bugs that scuttled forward now had taken any damage, but they looked angry. And An... An was internally panicking over the mess she made of the [Garden] in the span of one combat encounter. Her head snapped up when the first reared up and after reflecting a bit of Frost damage, she ignored the rest of the minor blows and set her rapier on the second ant that came to attack.

"Ow, ow, ow..." In her An-sized hole in the greenery, the clumsy player sat up and sniffed. So unfair. Everything had been going perfectly fine too! Slow, but perfectly neat and fine. She felt around the ground for her rapier and saw the state of the brush around it. Dry, cold, wilted leaves, rotting fruits. What a waste of a perfectly good tomato bush. She could have gathered some of that too.

The antmen were had caught up to her and they were mobbing her. "Wait. Time out, time out!" Flailing legs and antennae, pincers snapping at her armor. "Geez! Calm down a little bit. I just killed your friend!"

Why did she even think that was a good idea? They attacked with greater intensity, and that meant they were receiving the full brunt of her Frost damage -- but An was getting buried under this mass of over-sized bugs.

Eenie meenie miney mo.

"Quad. Pain!"

Alright! Now all they needed to do was keep it up and she would be off with them in around... ten rounds or so? An wasn't too good at the math stuff. She spun around in a circle as the fourth antman (she'd decided to call it that because standing up straight, they would probably be as tall as people) joined the rest in surrounding her. Having never seen the wrath of status effects, it was the first to rear up on its back legs and swipe at her too.

"Bam," she muttered under her breath, grinning. The antman's leg was now covered in the lightest sheen of frost. 

Time to prep her counterattack! Charging, her rapier seemed to swallow up the surrounding light only to spit it out as black flames, and she silently singled out the bug with the biggest HP value-- 

"Aaaaaah!!"

She activated her Sword Art too early. The system assist shot her forward, sailing her past her target and the other two's attacks, and sent her crashing straight into the bushes.

An dismissed the small notification bubble with a frown. It continually floated at the edge of her vision and even as she was in the middle of combat, the amateur player was itching to open it and see what goodies she got; she made a mental note to completely disable that function later on. Putting aside that minor inconvenience, the rapier-and-shield user wasn't too worried. One down and only a small amount chipped off her HP.

And she was on floor eleven to boot. An glowed with pride. Was this how it felt to be strong? She liked the feeling. But she also felt that this was going a bit too slow.

In front of her the three remaining ants smartly kept their distance from her rapier.

"Hey, is this what it's like to be in a colony? Come on now, I killed your friend," An waved her weapon around, then pointed it at the spot where the first ant had died, and cheerfully requested, "So please attack me!"

Something snapped and the over-sized bugs surrounded her and did. Popping out from the ground was another; blinking in surprise, she hastily charge a Sword Art only for it to step too far into her range and clash against her shield.

Four surged forward as one, but the antman which she had hit with a Sword Art staggered to a halt and fell to the ground. Convulsing. A thick black aura engulfed its body and small ice crystals crept up its head and it gave one last twitch before it was fully consumed under the might of three damage over time effects.

"Heh? But I only hit that one once?"

And An sort of stared, not really moving at all. She only snapped out of it when a small circle appeared at the bottom-left of her vision, indicating an unexpanded list of the loot she passively gathered from that kill.

Holy cow, she was that strong? Here the amateur player thought she would be spending the entirety of the day fighting off the same four mobs. She cast a red glance down at the rapier in her hand and slowly looked up at the other three mobs with a mischievous smile. "Alright... now that I know how strong you are, come right at me!" Two stopped their charge. One was adamant about avenging its friend and clashed heavily against her ice shield.

...not the results she wanted. An really needed to invest in [Howl] or something.

They were ants, popped up from large holes they dug open on the ground when she was not looking. And they were disgustingly big. SAO-RPG developers, what the actual heck? An's squeamish rich girl senses were screaming for her to run -- because holy crap, if the small ones weren't already gross enough, they had to scale them up by a hundred times the original.

But the amateur player knew this was something she needed to get over. If she couldn't stand four measly ants, she wouldn't ever get any better at this! Adventurers faced gross stuff too -- all for the thrill of having found something no one had yet come across or the feeling of just seeing the world for themselves. 

All that, she thought, as she missed one with her rapier and then dug her feet into the ground for the oncoming attacks.

Part of her build relied on getting hit.

Into the [Garden] she went. For a moment, An didn't really see anything. Just lots of patches of shrub and colorful flowers. It was peaceful and quiet, just how a garden should be. Did Leah point her the wrong direction? No, no -- that was impossible of that scary stern lady, and if she ever caught wind of that thought, An was genuinely fearful of whatever angry lecture the woman would have prepared.

She walked down the rows of plants she couldn't put a name to and for a moment, her curious, inquisitive air had returned. This was nice. An had made her rounds around every floor's combat area but she never stayed in one particular place for too long out of fear of being chased by some waiting mob or something. But hearing that, you might ask, why did she even leave the safe zone if she felt that she was in so much danger in the first place?

It was An. Just An.

And her first set of mobs were here. When she picked up the sounds of something scuttling behind her, An whirled around and raised her shield.

"Whoop-" One nipped at her leg. The rest, easily deflected. Charging up her rapier, she raced forward and a dark mass exploded from the weapon as she engaged the first with a deadly quadruple strike. "Got you!" 

Some time after the festivities in Taft, the amateur player found herself trekking through Floor 11's forest with a semi-transparent window displaying a map of the combat area hovering in front of her. Andromeda was wrapped up tight in her fluffy red-and-brown winter attire, but the buffs listed beside her status bar and her cursed rapier ready and eagerly releasing shadowy black bubbles into the air implied that she wasn't just here for some cute sightseeing trip. Not too long ago, An had exchanged some holiday greetings and small talk with her senpai down at the Town of Beginnings and to her absolute delight, received an unexpected PM a few hours after.

Quote

From: Arabelle

I just remembered. You mentioned picking up the hot cocoa with the LD bonus in the event, didn't you? If you don't already know, it's a time-limited item, set to expire at the second week of this month. One of the first of its kind! -- the type that can actually be brought out of event areas anyway. So if you want to use it, you need to be quick.

Tip: it stacks with the [Nature's Treasure] bonus. ;)

Oh my gosh, she sent me a winking face and I know she probably does this all the time, but it's cute and what if--

Ahem.

In conclusion, An was heading towards the nearest [Garden] as indicated in the map Leah had highlighted for her.

Objective: Escort Civilians to Safety
ID: 133485
LD: 9 + 3(bonus) = 12
Progress: 3/3

Reaching the end of the tunnel, An smiled and breathed in deeply...

Only to be greeted by the equally stale air of the large cavern that served as their current evacuation area. So this was it? An thought they had mentioned a cavern, but for some reason, she thought they would end up aboveground at some point again. She stepped to the side and let the NPCs pass, tuning out most of their thanks to admire the new area she had stumbled upon -- stale air and underground or not, this place was something she would likely only see for this one instance! Fires lit at the "camp" they had erected, another medical tent, personal tents for the aristocrats, sleeping rolls for the lower classed, various weapons and tools and equipment that were probably enough for half the town to survive on for a week, and a sizable amount of NPCs settling in -- with chosen leaders directing camp activities.

It was beautif--

A tug on her hand. An looked down at the little girl who plodded in last. It looked up at her with a sweet smile though the sadness in its eyes told a different story. When had these guys started seeming so lifelike? "Thank you for guiding us, ma'am," it rubbed at its eyes. "Can you bring my friend, too? He stayed back in the castle."

AI or not, she felt as if saying no to the poor thing would be completely heartless. She patted the small child's head. "Yeah, I will. Pinky promise!"

More walking.

Objective: Escort Civilians to Safety
ID: 133485
LD: 9 + 3(bonus) = 12
Progress: 2/3

Down to the castle dungeons with an oil lamp provided by a servant. The passageway to the tunnels was a section of the stone wall on the back of the second cell to the right that could be slid open. Not too different from the usual fantasy stuff, An noted, but an eager smile grew on her face as she ushered her group of NPCs in. But neither was it something she got to see for herself every day! 

"All in? Be careful." And the prison guard slid the wall shut behind them.

Okay, now it was a bit scary. The tunnels were narrow and the sound of every step bounced off the rock walls. They were a good few feet underground and would have been in complete darkness if not for the torches the rest of her NPCs carried. An gave her oil lamp to one of the citizens and held up her map with both hands. Pretty straightforward, the escape tunnel didn't have too many confusing twists or turns. After a routine check on the NPCs still following her, she issued them a reminder. "It's dark and hard for me to keep track of everyone, so please be sure to stick together!"

Objective: Escort Civilians to Safety
ID: 133485
LD: 9 + 3(bonus) = 12
Progress: 1/3

An was starting to sweat. 

Didn't they say the main force was coming in three days? What to make of this, then? She couldn't jump to any other conclusion when the guards atop the rebuilt walls began to call out warnings. Already, the players who had slowed down to take a much-needed break when the fires died down were back in their constant motion once again, with a greater sense of urgency this time. It was weird and unexpected. On one hand, the part of her that drew from experience in the more straightforward type of tower defense games figured the main objective still remained: defend a town from a major invasion force that is coming in three days, and probably the smaller scouting forces sent forth. On the other hand, those portals on the ground looked too aggressive to be a part of the vanguard and maybe the enemy had been lulling them into a false sense of security all this time. 

She didn't know the answer. She didn't feel ready to face the worst case scenario. She silently reassured herself by reaching to brush her fingers against the Teleport Crystal that was inside a pouch strapped to her belt.

Players rushed off to defend the walls, but An moved further back into the town. The calling of one townsguard who passed her had drawn her attention. Leave the defending to the ones who were better at it... and get a special opportunity to take a personal look at the secret passages she had never once heard of! Gathering her own group of NPCs as instructed, she smiled brightly -- an assurance in the midst of the turmoil -- and introduced herself with haste.

"I'm An!" she chirped. "Um... I haven't personally been to the caves yet, but one of yours gave me a map. It'll be an adventure!"

The citizens all shared worried looks.

They were going to be fine.

Objective: Healing Citizens

ID: 133345

CD: 12

The first thing she registered was that whatever she had fallen on had suddenly shifted and she was thrown off. The second thing was that she had fallen on people. Three players. Who had somehow fallen into a pile together. An was getting war flashbacks to that one time she laughed at two players bumping into each other only to walk into a pole herself... and have a random laughing albino guy slide off the roof and fall headfirst into the ground at the other side of the street. The third thing was the very familiar player who seemed to look at her in horror as soon as she pulled herself away.

"Divebomb Girl?!"  An scooted back. The girl's voice rose in pitch at the nickname that only reminded her of their first meeting. It was one of absolute. B e t r a y a l. "What kind of nickname is that? You promised to forget! Baka!"

She was red-faced and understandably still completely confused at how four people managed to get into this mess. 

Scooting back a bit more, she steeled herself and bowed. At least she could provide them her reasons. "I'm so sorry! I was in a rush and running too fast without looking. This won't happen again. I'm sorry!"

And she darted behind a corner and ran away from yet another embarrassing situation. When she was far enough, An regained the presence of mind to remember she was on task and -- a bit slower this time -- continued making her way to the apothecary. That was what she came here to do, after all. If only she wasn't... her.

Stupid. Harriette.

The alchemists were busy. Prepared potions were already placed on trays, ready to be carried to the medical tent. An grasped for the handles of a tray, hesitated, then took only a few to make absolutely sure she wasn't going to somehow mess up and lose all of it. Satisfied with her decision, she made her way to the medical tent at the center of the town.

There weren't many players. But there were many injured. All they needed to do to recover was to drink the potion. Lucky for them, right?

Finding no one in charge, An walked up to one of the injured citizens and smiled comfortingly. "Hi, I'm An, and I'm bringing you a potion from the alchemists. Here, drink up. You'll feel much better afterwards."

Not long after, the NPC started to show signs of visible recovery and An heaved a sigh of relief. There were things she could do, after all.

...from there on, she knew exactly what to do. Set the snowball down, push it forward and roll it into a bigger ball, then two smaller snowballs for the upper body and the head, and... was she decorating it this year? An had forgotten to run to a general store to get the materials for its eyes and nose.

The silver-haired girl molded the snowball between her gloved hands, making sure it was firm enough so it wouldn't fall apart in the midst of rolling. She must have looked a bit weird seated alone in a flat snowy area as it didn't take long for someone to approach her and ask what she was doing.

An gave a small, surprised jolt. She didn't recognize that voice. She peered up at the man who hovered a small distance away and her expression turned friendly when she now had a face to associate with the voice. There was nothing wrong in talking to someone while doing this. An had her mind on the task so it was difficult to overthink five hundred probable scenarios where she could mess up in a social situation.

"I'm building a snowman!" she responded brightly. 

"See?" An finally laid down the snowball in her hands and rolled it forward a few inches, watching as snow from the ground clung onto it. "This'll be the lower body. I think the snow's thick enough for something half my size." Then she paused, resting her gloved hand atop the snowball. "What about you? Enjoying the festivities?"

Name: Steel Guardian [#129980]
Your Profession: Merchant
Your Rank: 2
Roll ID: 133291 | 133292
Roll Result: 15 | 14
Item Type: Shield
Tier: 1 
Quality: Rare 
Enhancements: [x2] Mitigation
Description: A towering tower shield.
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/18519-f1-r2-merchant-pandoras-wares/?do=findComment&comment=593236

***

Name: Potion of Shielding [#131555]
Your Profession: Merchant
Your Rank: 2
Roll ID: 133294
Roll Result: 10
Item Type: Potion
Tier: 1 
Quality: Rare 
Enhancements: [x2] Mitigation
Description: It's green and it tastes bad, but you feel tougher when you drink this potion. Enough said.
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/18519-f1-r2-merchant-pandoras-wares/?do=findComment&comment=593236

***

Name: Protein Bar [#131555]
Your Profession: Merchant
Your Rank: 2
Roll ID: 133295
Roll Result: 1
Item Type: Snack
Tier: 1 
Quality: Rare 
Enhancements: [x2] Probiotics
Description: A light nutritious snack that invigorates the user and makes them tougher for a short period of time. But seriously, how did you end up looting a protein bar from a treasure chest?
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/18519-f1-r2-merchant-pandoras-wares/?do=findComment&comment=593236

***

Name: Greatplate of Might [#131555]
Your Profession: Merchant
Your Rank: 2
Roll ID: 133321 | 133322 | 133323
Roll Result: 11 | 12 | 12
Item Type: Heavy Armor
Tier: 1 
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: [x2] Heavy Momentum | [x1] Taunt
Description: A heavy steel chestplate. Wearing this makes you look like a gung-ho shounen protagonist, and it understandably pisses your enemies off. But never fret! With Heavy Momentum™, you are sure to make a flashy comeback and beat all your adversaries to a paste! Just... miss at least once... maybe...?
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/18519-f1-r2-merchant-pandoras-wares/?do=findComment&comment=593236

Objective: Healing Citizens
ID: 133334
CD: 2
[shifting objectives is a free action since fortifications were completed]

An had literally no idea what she was doing. At the very least, she was good for lifting, but once the wall building entered another phase, the NPC gave her instructions she couldn't clearly comprehend -- probably the noise, she told herself in assurance -- and one too many blunders got her booted out of the group.

Why did you even get yourself involved with that? You were never good at manual labor. Stupid Harriette.

Luckily, as the silver-haired player wandered the streets depressed, she found another job! According to a person who stopped her on the way (definitely not because she looked lost), the players in the medical tent were in need of potions from the apothecary. An sweatdropped as she stared at the map they presented her. "Why... did they even set up tent that far?"

"I think the better question is, why did they build the apothecary at a far corner of the town," Leah scoffed. An practically froze as the red-haired woman dismissed her scout and strolled up to her with a hand on her hip. She was here, too? Now An felt extremely out of place. "They needed to be close to where all the wounded are coming from, hence, the medical tent being somewhere off-center. Get that, kid? All you need to do is run back-and-forth. I'm sure you could manage it."

An thought that last sentence was missing a word. Then An thought maybe it was intentional and she lit up.

"I-I'll do my best!"

Practically jumping for joy at the indirect compliment, she ran towards the apothecary, skidded around a corner and kept up the same pace without looking and she only noticed the chain reaction blooming in the most randomest of places when she was already -- 

Thud.

An had unintentionally joined the dogpile.

Why does this always happen to me?!?!

"Welcome to my shop! How may I help you?" Another day, another new customer. An was admittedly feeling a bit nervous -- that feeling hadn't really left her ever since she had to handle two mega orders at once -- and she hoped this guy didn't start off too bad... oh, four identifications! That she could get done in a night and it was the exact number of her daily crafts too, leaving her feeling pretty satisfied. 

"While I... work?" Unusual request. "Sure! It's a lot less fun than advertised though."

It was just an option that appeared whenever she picked up an unidentified item. The game officially recognized her profession as a merchant, so she had access to it. Tapping it consumed Col and gave you a waiting time. Rinse and repeat until all enhancement slots were filled up.

When she went to proudly demonstrate, An lit up at the mention of adventure and she was just about to momentarily ditch her job to see if he was serious when her face involuntarily turned red. "L-l-lovely?! I, I wouldn't uhhh-- I mean, ehehehe, thanksIguessyou'reprettygoodlookingtoo?"

Golly gee, this girl did not know how to handle unexpected flirts.

Mortified, An picked up the first item and silently hoped that she could magically identify something that would make both of them forget this disaster.

***

"Whew! All done!" Still red-faced, An slid the identified items back to her customer. "Thank you for your patronage and please come again!"

Objective: Fortify the Walls
ID: 133282
Final LD: 9 + 6(bonus) = 15

An invasion for Christmas? An was equal parts livid and excited. For one, she had settled in quite nicely with all the festivities that event NPC had set up at the eleventh floor and she was having fun relaxing and totally not taking advantage of all the free stuff, but on the other part, this event was different in a way that made her want to try everything out! New game objectives that diverted from the classic fight-everything-until-they-all-die mold was a dash of fresh and thrilling that nicely wrapped up SAO's Christmas and New Year's present to its players.

So as fires and chaos raged about, the silver-haired newbie waltzed into town with a totally out-of-place bright smile. 

This was fine... the injured were all NPCs, right? Lines of randomly generated code were nothing to be concerned about, though strangely enough, thinking about Billy and the other small NPC and its distrustful older brother being in this same situation... kind of made her stomach twist. An's smile faded at that thought, but she quickly entertained herself with wondering which task she should go for. The town guard who called for players to help rescue the captured royal family sounded like an adventure! ...but seeing the nice equipment of the players who undertook the task made her feel like she would just be a burden.

Repairing the walls, it was.

And let her tell you, An could lift a pretty good deal.