NIGHT

Take two.

Ren was sure she was going to end the fight here and now. Life had other plans, however.

Picking herself up from the earth, she tried to find her sword. If it was big and shiny, it shouldn't be that hard to spot, right?

On the other hand, that boar--oh no it was coming this way--!

Ren picked up the slack and started running with a loud, "Gah!" to celebrate the occasion. As the boar snorted and snarled in anger, her eyes travelled to the dirt in search of her sword.

Ah, there it was. As she was passing it, she reached out a hand to grab a hold of its handle, exerting additional force to keep up the pace. Taking time to firmly grip it in her hands, she stopped, turning around and striking a stance.

The boar furiously charged at her, slamming its tusks against her sword that Ren was using to block the attack. The two heaved and shoved, as Ren tried to maintain an equilibrium, if she couldn't bring herself to overpower it.

Quote

ID: 126971 | BD: 4 (Miss) | MD: 1 (Miss)

Boar #1: HP: 10 | DMG: 3

NIGHT: HP: 17 | DMG: 4 | EN: 0 (+1, -1)

Well, best to put that boar out of its misery, right?

That was what Ren had thought, bringing herself to another charging stance.

Ren was fast, but the boar was faster. It jumped away from her strike, seemingly knowingly, but she'd guessed it was out of the original panic. Skidding to a halt, she whirled her blade around, attempting to stop her momentum, but fell on the grass instead, letting go of her blade.

"Shoot," she mumbled, looking around for its handle, before hearing an angry whine from the lone swine, charging at her vigorously. With wide eyes, she waved to it, completely off guard. "W-wait!"

Ren scrambled to her feet, only to be met with sharp tusks that carried her and swung her across the field. She fell to the dirt, bouncing off of it at least once. Afterwards, she pleaded to herself, she would get a nice warm bath and a day off from the numbness.

Quote

ID: 126961 | BD: 3 (Miss) | MD: 10 (Crit)

Boar #1: HP: 10 | DMG: 3

NIGHT: HP: 17 (-1) | DMG: 4 | EN: 0 (+1, -1)

"Yumi..?" Ren mumbled, eyes focused on Yukiro. It wasn't like him, to her knowledge, but it's not like she really knew him too personally; this had been their first meeting, after all.

She balled a fist up, worried, but putting the pieces together. So the person he lost must've been Yumi, she figured. If their names started with the same suffix, they could've been really close. I really hope he's doing okay over there...

Paused in thought, she snapped back to reality as he called back to her, "Come on, we still have some flowers to pick!"

Oh right, my quest.

"Ah, wait up!" Ren followed behind him, making sure he stayed steady. At the very least, if Yukiro had defended her from the creatures of the dark lurking around, she could very well offer him some emotional support. He looked like he really needed it.

And a nagging feeling in her stomach told her there were many more like him in the cruel world they were trapped in.

At some point, she'd stopped, spying a flower patch she could gather in. Squatting, she started sifting through them, checking if she could spot anything shiny. She did, and picked it up with a grin, holding it up to Yukiro. "Does this make you feel better?"

Quote

ID: 126960 | Material Search | LD: 15

2/5 Materials retrieved.

@Yukiro

When she rose, the creature had already shattered and burst into tiny fractures of light, illuminating the area temporarily. Ren paused, lost in thought. Did something happen? She recalled Yukiro's battle cries and the desperation in his voice.

"... I will avenge you!"

Did he... lose someone?

The tense atmosphere was cut short by the drop of loot, and Ren dusted the earth off her armor and kept her sword as she read the box's contents. Closing it, she wandered over to Yukiro, concerned.

"Hai! Good job back there," she started, uncertain of how to begin. "Uh, you doing alright though? I know you might be concerned, but I'm doing alright."

"Um, did you lose someone, before..?" No darting around the issue, she supposed. Ren had heard of stories from players who'd gone out in a party and had their numbers whittled down by beasts, but she'd never imagine it to be this pervasive. Traumatic though... she could understand.

Quote

ID: 126927 | LD: 4 | CD: 3

Loot: 250col, Tier 1 Materials (2)

@Yukiro

--- !!!

Ren shot up from the grass, coughing and spitting, trying to wipe the grime from her face. No, no no, this felt a lot worse. As she scurried to get up, the raging boar she had damaged tackled at her once again, knocking her back on her face, planting it to the ground.

Oh god this is definitively the worst.

The frenzied boar paced and jumped around, growing ferocious, before shattering into crystal ash -- a likely result of Ren's armor. Struggling to rise, Ren felt relief from that, still trying to wipe away the grass bits sticking to her cheeks. Meanwhile, seeing its partner disappear only made the smaller boar panic, pacing around the ashes sadly and anxiously.

Ren peered over her hands, smeared with dirt, squinting her eyes curiously at their predicament. The boar was whining sadly at the fading lights, giving her a glance every so often. Is this an intentional outcome of the game's systems?

Quote

ID: 126924 | NIGHT | BD: 5 (Miss)
ID: 126925 | Boar #1 | MD: 2 (Miss)
ID: 126926 | Boar #2 | MD: 8 (Hit)
ID: 126950 | Loot from Boar #2 | LD: 19 | CD: 1

Boar #1: HP: 10 | DMG: 3
Boar #2: HP: -6 (-9 from Thorns) | DMG: 6

NIGHT: HP: 18 (-1) | DMG: 4 | EN: 0 (+1, -1)

Loot: 30col, Tier 1 Materials (4), Perfect Consumable (1), Rare Trinket (1)

6/5 Materials retrieved!

"Sorry, this was my fault," Yukiro commented, running over to regroup. "I should have insisted we wait until morning."

"It's fine," she replied, adrenaline rushing through her veins. "Although, I'm not sure if this creature usually lurk about in these fields," taking a few steps away from Yukiro, she brandished her sword, sweeping it to the side dramatically. "It's kind of intimidating!"

Bringing her blade up to her cheek -- her front hand holding it steady, the back aiming it at her target -- she readied her footwork into a familiar stance. A stray thought crossed her mind. This wasn't exactly the same stance she took before, would the server recognize her intentions?

Ping!

A jostle of her blade, and she was off. This time, she kept an eye open, careful to watch her movements in the rush. As she cut through the side of the manticore, it bounced away from her, howling aggressively. She turned as she landed, flourishing her blade in the direction of her enemy to regain her stance. She'd hit.

But she wasn't so lucky this time around. The manticore swung its tail back at her, sweeping her off the ground, and she hit the dirt landing on her back. The beast growled back at her, waving its tail.

Okay, this isn't as easy as it seemed last time...

Quote

Turn Order: Yukiro, NIGHT, Manticore

<<Straight>> on Manticore.
ID: 126919 | BD: 7 (Hit) | MD: 10 (Crit)

[3] NIGHT: HP 18 (-1) | DMG 4 | EN 0 (+1, -2)
[0] Yukiro: HP 140 | DMG 5 | EN 9

Manticore: HP 27 (-8) | DMG 15

Picking a fight, picking a fight.

Ren eyed the fields around her cautiously. While she did have experience in combat, she still wasn't so sure about getting into tussles on her own. Perhaps she should start with something small first, instead. What could she try?

Two lone boars, probably a couple, going on a date? That was a strange image in her head, she thought, as she readied her greatsword and shuffled up to one of them, preparing to strike. Maybe she could surprise them with a <<Straight>> right off the bat...

It was old hat by now, or maybe it was beginner's luck? Ren took up position from an appropriate distance, readying the greatsword by her side, feet apart.

Ping!

With a bright streak, she rushed past the larger boar, which squealed with a frenzy. She'd have landed alright if it weren't for the quick headbutt of the same boar, knocking her down onto the grass. The smaller of the two strutted by to investigate, nudging the fallen Ren to get back up.

Quote

ID: 126921 | Ren | BD: 8 (Hit) 
ID: 126922 | Boar #1 | MD: 1 (Miss)
ID: 126923 | Boar #2 | MD: 6 (Hit)

Boar #1: HP: 10 | DMG: 3
Boar #2: HP: 3 (-8, -9 from Thorns) | DMG: 6

NIGHT: HP: 19 (-1) | DMG: 4 | EN: 0 (-2)

Ren solemnly stepped up to a tree, this time a little further away from the pond she examined earlier.

"Another tree. Good tree. Could I have some tree stuff," she blathered, absent-mindedly, as she put her hand on the tree, patting it gently. "Please," she closed her eyes, "please just give me your tree stuff."

The tree did not respond, not give her its tree stuff.

"You know what?" Ren replied in objection, after a dramatic pause for the tree's response. "That's fair. If I were a tree, I wouldn't give away my tree stuff either."

The tree, still, could not respond.

"Ugh," Ren mumbled, sitting on the dirt. It felt awful knowing that she wasn't very good at gathering materials. It's one of the few elements of MMOs she used to actually enjoy. All it's done so far is get her to get dirty and run up to trees and talk to them.

Pulling up the quest log (hesitantly, mind you, she was afraid of getting the UI dirty) she re-verified the methods of retrieving the materials.

... any standard means... gathering, fishing--

-- combat--

-- Combat. Combat it had to be.

Quote

ID: 126918 | Material Search | LD: 3

Yeah, this is getting ridiculous. Maybe I should build a lawnmower, just mow the grass, collect any shinies I find...

... Would the system even let me do that? I mean, the grass could respawn, right..?

Ren was lost in thought, as she resumed her search for materials. This time, she had completely given up and returned to sorting through patches of flowers. Her handiwork was simply done through auto-piloting; now, she was just going to bank on luck to carry her through her flower searching process.

As she picked one, it shattered into artefacts of light. Ren could only grumble under her breath about it. At some point, she figured, she was going to go crazy with the flowers, and simply eradicate the lot of them in front of her.

She picked a few more up, only to have them crumble into dust. Sighing, she stood back up, stretching from the work. Time to look somewhere else.

Quote

ID: 126915 | Material Search | LD: 13

Okay, where to next..?

Ren decided to pause, and take a look around for any interesting gathering landmarks, but stopped when she noticed a pond. Excitedly, she rushed over, nearly tripping in the process.

Small insects and frogs were lounging by the cool water, and scurried away as they heard Ren approaching. She held her breath -- she didn't like pond-side creatures too much anyway. As they parted, she steeled herself to rummage through the dirt near the pond, trying to find a semblance of interesting materials.

Nope, she just got mud on her hands.

This would continue for a good side of the pond. By the time she'd finished, her gloves were well coated in mud. She groaned, exhausted from having gone through an irksome duty and coming up empty. She even had difficulty moving her fingers, with the soil well stuck to her gloves, so she washed them off awkwardly in the pond water.

Ren felt a little guilty for doing that.

As she cleansed them off, she kept a lookout -- not so much for landmarks or danger, but about the creepy crawlies that might be around, trying to take back their territory.

Quote

ID: 126913 | Material Search | LD: 12

These trees are pretty thin... Well, they look good standing here, anyway.

Ren had began to make her way towards a cluster of trees, from where a pack of boars had just begun to leave. Being careful, she stood idly by as they hoofed it a few meters away, before approaching the landmark, curious.

The trees had surrounded a small, smooth stone, almost like it was a protective shrine built from nature. That would've been a sweet sentiment. Ren thought about lifting the rock, but decided against it, worried if there were bugs. Her hands patted the thin tree bark, checking to see if there was anything out of place with them.

As she did, the tree rustled, almost out of instinct (if you could say that trees had instincts), and a large leaf with a shiny center floated down. Ren caught it in midair, dazzled by the eccentricity of it.

She bowed deeply towards the peaceful shrine. "Thank you," she declared, imagining there was a spirit that took kindly on her that occasion.

Quote

ID: 126912 | Material Search | LD: 20
2/5 Materials retrieved.

Another rock turning up empty. Ren had visited another rock, taking a sweet stroll on the way there rather than a run. Her hands had just met a greyer, warbly stone, with tiny holes dotted along its surfaces. It felt a little uncomfortable to touch it, but she got used to it after a while. She was just glad the game had decided to gift her gloves along with her armor.

Maybe materials were just difficult to find to begin with...

Dusting off the dirt from her palms, Ren set out to find yet another source of materials. It was entirely possible she could continue to investigate rocks, but with them being rather few and far between, she wasn't super enthusiastic about looking for them specifically. Perhaps she should give other methods a try.

Maybe investigating a tree? She pondered, looking around. While she was still adverse to flower patches, maybe they were simply more plentiful, and she'd have an easier time going from patch to tree to rock to patch, in that rotation. She could always try.

Quote

ID: 126911 | Material Search | LD: 6

Ren took the time to run through the field, a proper (but fun) work out as the sun lazily shone down upon her. Darting and weaving through the creatures was an interesting challenge, as she scouted for the next location she'd scavenge through for her materials.

Dodging a stout boar's crossing, she twirled, spotting a white mark in the peripheral distance. Racing towards it in a sprint, she tapped against it with a hand, heaving. It took her a moment to recover from the run, but in broad daylight, Ren was genuinely having fun.

Maybe if she'd have known, she'd come out of town to play a lot sooner.

"Now," she started, grin plastered on her face. "Our next contender, is this other giant rock! At least, that's what one might say..."

Her hands patted the rock down, a marble-like dark grey, but found nothing. Clicking her tongue, she leaned against it, still recuperating. At least she could rest easy here for a bit.

Quote

ID: 126908 | Material Search | LD: 4

Ren had given the idea of searching through foliage another thought, and that thought had consisted of No, do not send me back there, I will never find any flowers, No thank you, No not again, and As long as I can help it, never. So there was that.

Instead, she had decided to scout the outskirts of town for rocks. It wouldn't be like the night excursion, she concluded, just in case she felt a fear of being put in danger yet again. No, this time she would try looking for shiny rocks; gemstones, if the game would let her find some.

Her first inspection was on a large, white stone, weathered from age. A model for prospective rocks everywhere, she figured, a hand smoothing its surface over, checking for any dislodgement of ore.

Indeed there was. As her thumb graced over one, she scooped the material out, stuffing it into her inventory.

Quote

ID: 126906 | Material Search | LD: 17

1/5 Materials retrieved.

In a shop lined with artifacts, mementos and small handcrafted wares, all seemed quiet and fine with the world. Sunlight drifted into the room through the large glass window at the storefront as tiny specks of dust floated by to meet the day. It was an entryway to the limited space from the bustling streets outside, and a glimpse into the magical world that Malachi Ringly, master artisan, had lived in for the past few decades.

Or at least, that's what he'd have you believe.

Ren broke the peace, stumbling into the front door, a physical bull in a china shop. Her strength easily managed to slam into the side of the wall. "Ah... shoot." Gauging her size to the space, she unequipped her greatsword at the entrance with a flurry of finger movements, giving the man behind the counter time to collect themselves from the sudden outburst -- and the new customer.

"... Yes yes, what is it you want?"

Squeezing through the door with her armor, she looked around the room, eying the display shelves. It was strange that the entryway was tighter than the main area, she thought, as she followed the individual gems and trinkets that lined the walls. So that's what trinkets are...

As Malachi cleared his throat, Ren's attention turned to him, mouth agape. "Uh..." She sauntered and leaned over the counter, attempting to get close to the NPC. "You teach your craft, right? Artisanship?"

The man blinked slow, attempting to emphasize a thought. "Figures," he commented, putting down his tools at the desk. "Yes, yes I do," he moved towards the counter, cracking his knuckles. "I'll only give you a demonstration, though, can't give away all my secrets."

"That's fair," Ren replied, eying his fingers, that were reaching out towards a box, with drawers that opened up like stairs. Malachi frowned, tracing the drawers' soft fabric, bare of contents, before opening up another container, lid up. It, too, was empty.

"Tsk," he grumbled, closing the containers. "This is not going to do." Massaging his temples, he closed his eyes and faced Ren, who was looking awkwardly dumbfounded. "Okay, you're an adventurer, right?"

"Uhuh."

"Then go fetch me some materials," Malachi heaved, turning back to his desk. "I'll teach you how to be an artisan in return.

The quest window popped up. Ren tapped on accept, almost taken aback by the next line that came rather smoothly, as though he'd already expected her to agree to begin with.

"-- And do it quickly, I've got customers coming in soon."

Yeah... I'll see myself out.

Now this was something that looked like it came out of nightmares. What was it again? A <<Manticore>>?

... It sure didn't look like it belonged here...

Yukiro had swerved around to defend her, his sword glowing in the night. As the creature leaped to them, he'd shifted her a little a ways from its landing position, getting on his back to avoid its attack.

But Ren had the advantage, having known of its position and bulk as it came crashing onto the dirt. With a wide arc, she drew her greatsword, slamming the blade's edge against the beast's face, drawing a red scar through its eyes. In shock, it clawed back at her, knocking her to the side. As she tumbled, the beast roared in agony, pawing and pacing against the dirt.

With the red lines on herself blinding her own vision, she managed to stop herself with her sword, slowly getting back up.

Smarts, that really hurt...

Patting her armor, she made sure that she was still in relatively safe condition. Looks like there was only good news.

Quote

Turn Order: Yukiro, NIGHT, Manticore

<<Straight>> on Manticore.
ID: 126907 | BD: 10 (Crit) | MD: 8 (Hit)

[Hate: 2] NIGHT: HP 19 (-1) | DMG 4 | EN 1 (-1)
[Hate: 0] Yukiro: HP 140 | DMG 5 | EN 11

Manticore: HP 35 (-6, -9 from Thorns) | DMG 15

"Hey." Ren jumped, snapping her vision over to Yukiro. "You okay, Night? Did you see something?"

Gulping, she fidgeted, a grip on her wrist. "N-no, I think I just spooked myself..." Her initial guess was a PK-er, and she had heard stories about them before. She sighed, attempting to calm down. It'd be easier if it was a system-controlled creature, she thought.

Maybe it was a bear... That might fit the fields better.

But the overthinking was getting to her.

"Hey, a quick tip." Yukiro advised, aloud. "If something jumps out, just remember to kick with your shin, not your foot." To Ren, the suggestion felt a little out of place, but she quickly recovered after processing the information, taking a guess. "Oh, to maintain stability as much as possible? I think I can do that."

As the two trudged on, Ren decided it would be better to air her anxieties before she got caught off guard by them. "So, uh..." she trailed, taking another look across the plains. "What did the figure look like? Bulkier, leaner?"

@Yukiro

"A big one?" Ren paused to think the term through. Were the beginning fields really that terrifying? But maybe Sword Art Online really was different. That would be a shock -- Ren would have to throw out almost all classical knowledge she was familiar with through the window. Holding fast to her past memories, she quipped, with finality, "Well, if you wanna call it that."

The two headed through the dark, moonlight and bright absent-minded eyes of various creatures be their guide. "What I saw earlier," Yukiro commented, "was much bigger than a wolf, so keep an eye out."

Oh.

That's what he meant.

"M-Mm," she agreed, her gaze trailing to the grass. But what could be bigger than a wolf out in the open field? It'd have to be pretty obvious of a silhouette, she guessed, standing at least taller than the other animals lounging around. Maybe a werewolf? ... Did the game even have werewolves?

... A person?

Ren looked behind her, fists tightly balled and her skin crawling on her back.

@Yukiro

The laughter was contagious, and Ren couldn't help giggling too. Her words had some truth to them; a vague sense of doubt in the system, the same way that some players believed in a Random Loot God. Resuming her work, she took a moment to check her belongings, before heading back over to where Yukiro was standing. "It'd be a good break from the flowers," she added, dusting off her gloved palms of dirt.

Looking around, Ren tried her best to see through the darkness for any signs of movement. There was some ruffling from a few small bushes, sure, but a small creature could very easily hide in there. She wasn't entirely sure what she was looking for. Glancing over to Yukiro, she questioned, a little cautious. "You were looking out for something earlier, weren't you? Maybe we can find it together."

Patting her chest with conviction, she added, "I think we could handle it!"

@Yukiro

''Don't get down on yourself,'' her companion consoled, as Ren continued looking around, relieved that Yukiro appeared to be relaxed. ''I couldn't find these things for the first time either.'' Now that was hard to believe; his searching skills seemed to prove otherwise tonight. But, maybe it had a lick of truth in it. 

''Besides, it didn't shatter, so it probably counts for something.'' 

''Oh yeah, that’s true,'' Ren proclaimed. It was difficult to wrap her head around differentiating the colorful flowers in the flowerbed around her, but the sudden explosions of blue pixels was also rather startling. Sticking to her intuition, she picked another flower that seemed to glimmer, but it shattered on impact instead. 

''Haa...'' She sighed, tensing up at the nature of her predicament. Maybe she wasn't cut out for material gathering. Should she just stick to combat?

Recalling Yukiro’s concerned demeanor, a thought went up in her scatterbrained head. She stood up from her squat, stretching a little, examining the area around her. ‘’You don’t think something out there might be frightening the flowers, do you?’’ 

Quote

ID: 126845 | Gathering Material | LD: 5

@Yukiro

Ren barely managed to stifle a laughter as Yukiro pulled up another flower. "Skill of heroes, huh? Maybe I could try harder then." She wasn't particularly hard on herself in light of the joke, instead finding conviction to try and do better. With a careful glance, Ren shifted her focus and picked another patch in the masses. She started sifting through the batch, much more careful this time.

... --!!

"I think I got one," she breathed, as her fingers grabbed a hold of something sparkling under the leaves. Bringing it up, she had expected to see a yellow flower, just like what Yukiro had shown her.

But it was blue.

"It's... it's blue."

Ren felt like staring into the abyss as she gazed upon the flower. The colors felt too familiar, it was almost as if the game was playing a prank on her...

She pocketed the flower, taking a glance at Yukiro to check if he was on alert. She'd hoped not.

Quote

ID: 126836 | Gathering Materials | LD: 13

1/5 Materials retrieved.

"Ah!" Yukiro's sudden jump startled her as she was reaching out to sift through the earth again. "Yes, of course! Everything is alright! I was just looking out for... something-" He dove into the flora again, prompting Ren to continue her own search as well.

"If... If you say so."

If only I could recall how it looked like...

It didn't help that her party seemed a little on edge, though Ren tried to ignore it briefly. Maybe it was just a veteran's experience of being careful. She'd known the dangers of looking for items and being caught off guard in other games before.

Another search, and Yukiro brought up yet another flower. "Here we are, another one." Ren greedily eyed it, wanting to etch its details permanently in her brain. As he pocketed it, Ren continued her fieldwork, attempting to fill the void of silence.

"So, is there any trick to it?" She squinted her eyes. "I hate to be honest about this, but all these flowers just seem the same to me," Blinking the creeping darkness away, she picked up a stray one to examine it closer in the dark. "Maybe it's just more difficult in the night."

Quote

ID: 126833 | Gathering Materials | LD: 2

@Yukiro

After a few moments of haphazard scurrying, Ren took a beat to calm her anxiety, and catch her breath--

"What you need won't be here."

She hung her head in shame. No way, not again... Were my game senses always this bad? Maybe it's been too long...

"You'll need to search for a certain kind of flower amongst the scattered flowerbeds. Come, there's one over this way." Yukiro gestured and sauntered over close to the wall at a hurried pace. Ren took a moment to stand upright, gently dusting off the dirt from her armor. "Ah, wait for me!"

Jogging closer, she followed her team mate to a brighter patch of grass in the fields. They were little easier to spot had she been looking for the tell tale signs of wildflowers, but in the dark, the elements simply blended together too well. She crouched down in the same patch, opposite to Yukiro as he picked up a tiny yellow flower. "Look for something like this," he advised.

...

Ren glanced at it, a blank expression unchanging. She attempted to memorize its features, before digging through the clutter of flowers, but was unable to find anything similar. Sighing, her gaze returned to the held flower as she attempted to record it to memory yet again, but her attention shifted over to Yukiro eying the dark plains behind them. "Everything alright there?"

Quote

ID: 126818 | Gathering Materials | LD: 9 (Fail)

@Yukiro # ps. how do i delete a post if i double posted on accident,,,,,

Quote

ID: 126757 | Wolf #3: LD: 7 | CD: 5
Loot: 60col, Tier 1 Materials (2), Rare Trinket (1)

A swing of his sword, and Yukiro took out the last wolf. "Nice one!" Ren huffed, taking in the reassurance that the fight was over. A window quickly expanded in front of her, totaling her new possessions. A handful of col -- a nice bit of security -- some materials and two rare trinkets.

"Oh? Rare items..."

She pulled open her inventory to examine them. Interesting... Ren knew that adventuring players had to bring some kind of equipment to a shop to get them appraised, but it felt... different, seeing them in her register first-hand. A smile came to her face as a wave of excitement washed over her. Hope these turn out to be useful.

-- The quest!

Ren hated to admit it, but she had entirely forgotten the reason they came out here to begin with. Scatterbrained, she closed her menus and squatted, petting and rifling through the grass with abandon. She wasn't certain what exactly she was looking for, but she'd be damned if she wasn't able to tell when she found it.

Quote

Scavenging:
ID: 126759 | LD: 8 (Fail)

@Yukiro