Zajcica

Day 9

(1)Fail: 2
(2)Salvage: 1
(3)Uncommon: 3
(5)Rare: 0
(8)Perfect: 2

EXP: 71 Total: 377+71=448

Before closing her menu, Yuki went to her inventory to ensure that she had switched out her weapon and shield with some rings she had obtained awhile ago. They help her find materials, so it wouldn't be weird to assume that they would be able to help her find a familiar in the same right. Once that was done, she closed her menu and approached a cliff face. A quick inspection showed that it would require a bit of scaling to reach the top.but it wouldn't take too long.

"This doesn't look like a bad place to start looking. If there happens to be nothing at the top, we can still get a good vantage point of where to go next. I'll be trying to get a younger Gryphon. I don't think the parents will try to come and murder me five floors up or anything, if it has parents. If we're lucky, we can just find an egg- uh, if that's how they procreate I guess." Yuki said as she began to scale the side of the cliff, looking down to ensure Mari was following.

Once she made it to the top of the cliff, she reached down and helped Mari up. The side of the hill went up much further but there was not need to go any further. A nest laid messily on the other side of the cliff. Huge, big enough for two Gryphons. Upon further inspection, the two could see a cave, likely where they actually slept. Why the nest wasn't in there was the biggest mystery, but that was fine. A batch of broken eggs lay quietly inside the nest, except a single one. Yuki opened her menu over the egg and moved it to her inventory. If she attempted to climb down the cliff with this giant egg in her hands, she would surely drop it. She looked to Mari and nodded at her, making sure not to say anything if the parents were around and the two of them made their way back down the cliff without any problems.

@Mari

Searching for Familiar: LD - 15+3=18 Familiar Found

Day 8

(1)Fail: 2
(2)Salvage: 3
(3)Uncommon: 2
(5)Rare: 1
(8)Perfect: 0

EXP: 59 Total: 318+59=377

The paladin frowned a bit. It was clear that she knew there would be a lot more effort in rehabilitation than just a few weeks, or perhaps Life just hadn't caught on to the fact that she was just playing a bit of jest to make him feel better on the topic. It was a bit obvious that this was a topic he didn't like talking about too much. Most likely because of his father, but from what she knew, Life's father would probably just love to see his son again. 

Life rushed ahead of Yuki as the dragon spawned. "M-matte!" She said, but Life was already into battle. She wanted to go first so she could take the hit for him. It wasn't going to kill him with a single or anything, obviously, but if Yuki didn't take the hits for her friends, what use was she? "Let me take the hits Life!" She called out as she brandished her lance to the dragon.

A bright pink light surrounded her lance and she jabbed it into the dragon's shoulder. Her damage was minuscule compared to Life's, but of course, that wasn't her job. She would be able to do more damage in the future. Now was the time to hold her defenses up, though, since the dragon would surely go for her.

@LifeLvl31: Health: 577/640(75-12=63) | Energy: 62/62 | Damage: 15 | Evasion: 3 | Accuracy: 3 | Mitigation: 12 | H: 1
@Zajcica Lvl12: Health: 240/240  | Energy: 22/24 -2 | Damage: 2 | Evasion: 0 | Accuracy: 0 | Mitigation: 42 | H: 3

Icefyre - the Diamond Hatchling: HP: 74/250 (2x2=4) - MIT: 50 - ACC: 2 - EVA: 1 - DMG: 75

Abilities: <<Tiny Ice Breath>> : On a roll of 9 - 10 (naturally), this boss will breath ice on your character and immediately be frozen in place for a turn removing your evasion properties.

Name: Deep-Fried Ice Cream
Your Profession: Cook
Your Rank: 5
ID: 138909
Roll: CD: 12; LD: 2
Item Type: Dessert
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: Ambition
Description: A large scoop of any flavor ice cream surrounded in a cocoon of pancake batter that has been deep-fried.
Post Link: [Here]

Day 7:

Fail: 1
Salvage: 3
Uncommon: 1
Rare: 1
Perfect: 1

EXP: 58 Total: 318

Yuki smiled when she agreed to share recipes with her some time. More friends was always great, though she was starting to wonder how she had made so many insanely high level friends compared to friends her own level. The only people she'd really met that was her level was Luna and Rosary, She knew Rosary for about 5 minutes and Luna hasn't responded in some time to her messages. Hopefully she was alright.

"N-Not that I think front liners are invincible or anything. I get's there just as much a person as I am, but I want to be... Uh, I'm not sure. I want to be a hero to myself. To stay strong and get through this digital world not as a scared little kitten but a strong beautiful lion, whether I live or die." Yuki blushed a bit as she said that. "Maybe it's not something I should be thinking about. I just want to keep my spirits up. If I'm strong, I wont die.

LD: 3+3=6
Materials Found: Fail
Total: 2

Yuki laughed with Cordelia when she mentioned her only specialty was ramen. She wondered how many times she'd made ramen herself while learning how to cook. After all, you have to learn the basic recipes before you move on to the more intermediate ones.

"Ramen isn't that tough, and it's not like Ramen Shop don't exist and basically only sell ramen anyways. I've seen a few. If you would like some tips to make your recipes even better, maybe we could share some time. You get better by learning from others, of course." The paladin smiled to her yet again. She was never really conscious that she smiled that much until she hung out with Life and realized how much she really did smile. Her grin could feel infectious to some people.

"So, what's it like being close to the front lines? It's my mission to get stronger and join the front to help us all get out of this digital prison. I'd like some insight."

LD: 1+3=4
Materials found: Fail
Total: 2

The girl walked through the clearing where the boss would spawn. She was ready for this, consumables taken and an escape plan if needed. Hopefully she could get through this easily. Her damage was low, but the boss actually had lower health than she did herself. She could deal enough damage with her sword arts to kill it, but she hoped that even without her regen, she could tank the boss just fine.

The ground began to shake a bit, telling her she should probably get her weapon out. She drew the shinning lance from her inventory and readied her new shield. The wyrm busted from the ground in front of her, hissing loudly in her face. More terrifying types of bosses, and gross ones.

She swiped the edge of her spear at the serpents body, but it only coiled away from her. The shifting sand under her feet made it difficult to attack. It retaliated, biting its large maw down on her arm, injecting some toxic poison into her. She looked at the poison icon above her health bar and winced. This got off to a great start..

Yuki: HP 282/330 -26+20+2=48 EN 26/30 -4 H: 1 Status: Poisoned: 4 turns left
Serpens: HP 157/175 -18 thorns BD: 6-1 Miss; MD: 10

Yuki laughed as she talked about only really becoming a cook for her boyfriend. The pinkette thought about her mother again, I mean, it was difficult not to think about her mother when it came to cooking.

"I've always loved cooking, so there was no way I was taking any other profession than that. My mother taught me how to cook after I got out of high school so I could make my own food when I moved out. It helped aft-" She stopped there, no need to bring that up right now. "Ah- nothing! My mom was just a big inspiration for cooking for me. I make anything you can think of out of a Japanese recipe book: Udon, Ramen, Bentos, Donburi, Sushi, etc. I haven't started charging anyone yet since I'm still perfecting my skills. Though, if you ever wanna stop by for something to eat, come up to Coral. It's right outside the safe zone." Yuki scooped up some of the onions for herself after Cord was done taking her share.

LD: 10+3=13
Materials found: 1
Total: 2

Yuki reached out her hand and firmly grasped Cord's thin hand in her own. Her grip was much more firm than Cordelia was probably expecting. The pink paladin smiled again as she mentioned her looking for materials, exactly what she was doing.

"Hey, but you were the one who did it, Cord. Not anyone else. I'm sorry that I put that pressure onto you." Yuki said, finally letting go of Cordelia's hand. "Yeah! I'm looking for Materials as well. I just started my own food grill on floor 22. I make a lot of traditional Japanese foods. I'm running out of materials for crafting to gain levels, so here I am."

She looked over where Cordelia looked, she seemed like she was checking for more materials. Yuki looked around herself for anything useful, but unfortunately her usual luck rang true. Nothing at all. She pulled open her HUD and sent Cordelia a party request with a smile.

LD: 7+3=10
Fail
Total Mats: 1

Yuki found herself outside Nimbus. She had relied entirely on others to carry her though quests and levels since she began her Aincrad career. It was time for her to take advantage of her gained skills and learn to fight on her own. She still had problems dealing damage, but she could handle the damage this boss dealt by herself thanks to her new shield and extra levels in Heavy armor. She is tougher than she ever was before. She made her way down the mountain side and toward the quest area. If things did get dangerous, she always had the option to run. If she well below 100 HP she would start running and comeback to the boss when she was stronger.

Yuki wondered how Mari was doing after their little spat. They did mend the situation because Yuki was able to shut her mouth and take Mari's feelings into consideration. She made friends with Mari so quickly, but it was then that she realized that she could just as easily lose her.

@Macradon

Yuki walked through the grassen plains of the first floor, to start searching for materials. She despised this method of material hunting, but fighting mobs just took way too long as a tank. However, something caught her eye really quick. A silver haired woman that looked striking familiar. How could she forget the person who had saved her life on one of the higher floors. The dangers of that floor meant she had no time to actually thank her for saving her life, even after they made it back to the teleporter. Yuki rushed over to her.

"Oi! Sorry to bother you, but I couldn't help recognize you from that underground floor and I remembered that I didn't actually have time to actually tell you thank you for saving me." Yuki said with a bright smile to Cordelia. "I also realize that I never actually introduced myself. Watashiwa Yuki-desu, yoroshikune~ What are you doing on this low level floor?"

LD=8+3=11
1 Mat found

Yuki turned to walk out of the arena, but she was stopped by the slamming of the arena door. She was absolutely sure that she had hit deny on the message when it asked her if she wanted to accept the quest. Was she in here alone with the boss now?! That thing will murder her!!

She turned around to inspect the area, hiding behind a pillar before the boss got a chance to see her and opened her menu. [censored]! She couldn't use her messages! There was no calling for help now. Around the corner, she peered upon the giant lizard with it's massive glaive. It was terrifying, even compared to the white tiger she'd just dealt with with Hidden. Sitting in a corner would only prolong her time here. It was either fight or die.

The pink paladin rushed into the arena and yelled out to the lizard, "Alright lizard, lets get this over wi-!" She started before noticing Hidden on the other side of the monster. "Y-You?! What are you doing here?!" Yuki yelled to her makeshift ally, pretty relieved to find out she wasn't alone.

No matter how high of a level she became, Yuki always found herself coming back to Floor 1 for something or another. Whether it was to see friends she knew on the floor, to visit shops and check they're stocks, or, for her main purpose today, to gather materials for her crafting. She was beginning to run low after just a week of crafting and in that week, she was able to make strides in the cooking rank. Already halfway to maxing it out, and it's only been about six days since she unlocked it. All those buffs people recommended that she get really helped her level up quickly.

While walking through the Town of Beginnings, she was thinking about how bad her luck with materials was. She always seemed to have a difficult time finding them, unless she went and spent time to kill mobs with her thorns and horrible accuracy. Hopefully today she could get a good helping of materials wot ensure she'd be set for another week or two.

@Cordelia

A floor full of sand and desolation. Nothing like the previous floor, which she adored for the snow. Life on the other hand wasn’t thrilled as much as she was over floor 4, she had the same feelings about floor 5. A sandy desert and the heat just annoyed her. If this weren’t a completely digital world she’d have probably sweat off five pounds by now.

She approached the quest area, a giant arena. She starred up at the massive structure, knowing that if she were to walk in there it was fight or die. Looking back at the quests level made her cringe. She was not even half the recommended level, so it probably wasn’t best to take on this quest just yet. Perhaps she could invite Mari to help her with it, but the only information on the quest was that you beat it or it beats you.

”This is a pretty terrifying quest, hunh...?” She mumbled to herself, staring at the arena and then back to the quest. It was probably time to turn back, she could comeback with ample levels and prep time.

@Hidden

Yuki laughed happily after Life's comment about him being a twig. She knew he would probably be back to full health when they got out within a few weeks, or well, maybe a month. He'd be one of those boys pushing people off him when they try to make him sit down because he hasn't fully recovered.

"You won't be held down long, I'm sure. You'll be back in the fields in a month or two I'm sure. I think it'll take me at least 3 to recuperate since my body is on synthetic hormone treatment. I wonder if I'm even getting that medicine I need. I'm sure my parents are making sure that my medical needs are being met." Yuki turned to give him another smile, the glare of the snow seemed to make her teeth shine even brighter. She perked up at his mention of getting this quest finished. "Y-Yeah! We get stronger, we clear the bosses and everyone is free to live their actual lives again! That's what I want to see."

The girl continued her lead. It wouldn't be much longer before they found themselves face to face with their fourth dragon.

@Life

Barely able to dodge the urge to start crying, Yuki rubbed her eyes to get the welling of tears off her face. Mari was harsh, she knew that. Many people could easily hate someone for just being brash, but even when she nearly brought Yuki to a full-blown bawl, she liked that about Mari. She was real and not afraid to give her own opinion. And not only that, she presented good reason. Yuki took a deep breath and pulled open her HUD to pull up the notes about Gryphons she had made before she started the quest.

"Um...It seems like they usually spawn in a group of two or by themselves near nests on sharp hills. Might have to do a bit of climbing to find a nest." The pinkette read off her notes, allowing Mari to peak on them if she needed to. Yuki tried to smile to her to amend the heavy feelings.

@Mari

Yuki smiled at him, she seemed to be enjoying herself more than she had on any other of the floors. The girl was beaming with life as they walked through the snow towards their destination. She walked backwards as he mentioned getting his own house.

"It's great. I've never lived on my own. Even up to my 20th birthday, I've lived with my parents. I've been kind of reluctant to live on my own because I'm just scared of being alone. All that worrying stuff, ya know? It's different in Aincrad. I can't just get mugged around here or something. I'm strong and can protect myself here, but I'm pretty frail in the real world." Yuki thought about how things probably were in the real world. "I must basically be a tooth pick by now from atrophy. I wonder if I'll even be able to stand."

The girl spun back forward and lead the charge, walking tall as she could, which was still pretty short. "A weird thing to think about. Maybe I shouldn't dwell on it." She laughed awkwardly.

@Life

The meal. Easy enough. There were tons of Japanese meals that Yuki could make to challenge Hestia with. Though, she had no idea what Hestia could do to destroy her foot hold. She looked down at the ingredients on the counter and wondered what she could begin making. While she pondered, however, the goddess of the heart had already begun her meal. Yuki was feeling pressured. What was a great meal that she could use to beat Hestia? Something her mother could have taught her?

She began mixing her ingredients together, chopping vegetables and grabbing some meat to start something. She couldn't hesitate here, focus, determination and her knowledge would get her though this. After several quiet minutes of sizzling and knifes on cutting boards, meals were finished and passed to the taste tester. Yuki finished cleaning up the mess she had made on the cutlery she used.

"This dish is called Gyudon. Please enjoy."

Hestia grinned as the girl accepted her challenge. Another woman came in as Hestia began to explain the rules.

"Others have accepted my challenge and lost, though, some have won, and I enjoy making the challenge different for each player that comes through. For you, the rules will be pretty simple: This woman here will be our taste tester. We will go through three rounds of food and she will decide which one of our meals are better. Which ever one of us ends up with 2 points will be the winner of the challenge. As I said, if you can best me in this challenge, I will grant you my flame. If you accept this rules then we may begin. The first round will be simple: Meals."

And with that, the cooking got started. The simplified system of cooking in SAO would expedite the process of cooking, but that wouldn't make Yuki's meals better the Hestia's. She really needed to focus.

The pink paladin nearly burst in excitement. She was actually being challenged by a god to battle of one of her most favorite hobbies! Cooking was probably one of Yuki's greatest passions and if she could beat Hestia at her own domain, imagine what she could make with that flame boosting her crafts. Yuki nodded to Hestia and gave her a challenging grin.

"It would be an absolute honor to have a competition with a god domained with cooking and food. I gleefully accept your challenge Hestia. Do your best and I will do my best as well. We will see if I'm able to out do the Goddess of the Heart." Yuki said approaching the counter to take her position. "What are the rules of the challenge then, Miss?

Crafting materials were laid out for them both to use. With the amount she had, she could make any dish that she wished to defeat Hestia. Relying on Japanese recipes would be the token to victory for Yuki.

The both of them headed through the gates and into the common area of Mt. Olympus. Not like it was some actual city, just buffer between different areas where several other named legendary gods and goddess worked on their craft and oversaw their domains. The paladin stuck close to Hestia.

"There are several great chefs and connoisseurs through out Aincrad and I cannot help but invite them to Mt. Olympus to chat." Hestia admitted as they walked into her beautiful kitchen. It was spacious and magnificent to anyone well versed in cooking. "But, I did not summon you to come here merely to chat with me. Instead, I wish to challenge you to battle of the hearth. If you can beat me, I will bestow upon you a special ember that will make your crafts ever so resplendent. Will you accept my challenge?"

Hestia closed the door behind them and went behind one of the clear polished counter, awaiting Yuki's response.

With the golden gates of Olympus now in view, the pink paladin wasted no time on finishing her trek up the mountain with a full blown sprint. At the gate's opening stood a woman cloaked in a robe. They stood patiently, awaiting her specifically to show. The woman stepped forward as Yuki approached her.

"Welcome to Mt. Olympus, young one. I am Hestia, the goddess of the hearth. What brings you to our gates?" She asked, pulling the hood down off her head. Her red-ish colored eyes would look menacing on anyone but her. The goddess was even shorter than Yuki, who was dwarfed by many other players in the game. 

"I think you already know why I am here, Miss. I've come to see what for I was summon." Yuki gave her a smile, which she returned softly.

"Right you are." She motioned Yuki to follow her through the golden gateway.

Even though the dirt path up the mountain provided easy scaling of the cliff-face, it still took much longer than she would intend to get up to the summit. The path twist and turns while heading up, and mobs even spawned while going up. Had to dodge those like the black plague if she wanted to make it up there. That made her wonder what the hell she was going to do if Hestia intended to challenge her to combat in some way. There's no way she would stand a chance against anything on this floor, she would die in an instant. Though, there was no actual recommended level for this quest it seemed, so perhaps that foreshadowed a non-combat situation.

After about half an hour, Yuki finally found herself in view of the gates of Olympus. They were golden and beautiful, like any story would depict them. The girl took off in a lunging sprint, ready to see what Hestia had in store for her.