Zajcica

Yuki smiled, looking up in the sky as her familiar too did it usual 'skree' noise around her guild leaders familiar. It looked marginally less alert than Zandra's though, considered she was barely a week old. The pinkette then turned to the other woman behind her.

"Like I said, nothing special, just regular non-combat gathering. I don't mind that at all." They approached the area the marker had led them to and would get the benefits for. As they walked in, Yuki instantly found a large batch of eggs. She walked over and scooped them up, moving them to her inventory. "So, Z, you've been running Aincrad Trading Post. What's it like to be a guild leader? I've had visions of being one myself in the future, which is why I was wondering.

The familiar finally came back down and landed on Yuki's head, like it was her little pink nest. Yuki smiled at Zandra again, hoping she would be fine with her calling her 'Z'.

Materials Found: 0
Eggs Found: 6

Total Materials: 0
Total Eggs: 6

Name: Deep-Fried Ice Cream
Your Profession: Cook
Your Rank: 6
ID: 139647; 139647-1; 139647-2
Roll: CD: 11+1; LD: 18
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]

Yuki thought about Mari as Shield explained his old friend Rain. Mari was a remarkable person to her. She scolded and pushed Yuki all the time, but in an attempt to make her a better person. Deep down, she felt like Mari was something of a pseudo-mother figure to her. Let's face it: Even in your twenties you can rely on your parents. Her attention focused back on Shield when the skree from bird came out, and the bumped into her head.

"Uh, sorry I got distracted. Thinking about my family gets me like that." She looked at her collection of eggs. "Oh, yeah I got around 50 just from this one round of collecting. I'm not intending on leaving soon either with out much reason. You staying out much longer?" The girl shifted in her position to get more comfortable and looked over to Shield. "Do you have any family outside the game? I have a sister, a mother and a father waiting for me and I'm sure they are all crying over me in a hospital room somewhere. Thinking about them makes me feel resolve, but it makes me feel a bit upset at the same time. My heart aches with how much I miss them, so I use that to keep myself going."

LD: 20+3=23
Materials found: 2
Eggs Found: 2

Total Materials: 21
Total Eggs: 47

Again he was offering her the contents that he rightfully had acquired from the chest. She really didn't want to impose on him by taking things from his chest just after socking him in the face. Though, he seemed to be fine with it all. Yuki would have felt horribly bad if she had punched him in real life, but honestly, what was the difference of punching him here or in real life? She still felt bad about it since that really wasn't her intent.

"I- I don't know if..." The stern look that Shield gave her spooked her enough to hit 'Accept'. "Th-Thanks Shield. When I get stronger, or if I find the time to help a lower level player with anything, I'll do anything I can to help them. I'll be sure not to take unnecessary risks from now on. Thank you for shedding light on that. I will be become better than I am now, and I'll help everyone."

LD: 20+3=23
Materials found: 2
Eggs Found: 2

Total Materials: 19
Total Eggs: 45

Yuki had expected Shield to keep pushing her until she was on her edge, but really he just started laughing. And he laughed pretty hard. She felt sorry since she didn't really mean to hit him like that, her hand kind of just took control of itself to make him back off. If she said sorry, though, she was sure that Shield would scold her. She quietly watched him go back to his fishing spot, then she followed behind him and sat back on to her knees. The girl was quiet for a moment. She felt like things were going to be awkward now.

She watched him fish up the second chest, which was making her feel like she really needed to invest in the fishing skill soon for her Nature's Treasures quests. The  girl wondered how much it would cost to get her hands on a teleport crystal.

"Do you know how much Teleporation Crystals cost? I'll buy one when I-." She looked up at her orange cursor, remembering she wouldn't be able to return to the safe zone now. "When this wears off."

LD: 2+3=5
Materials found: 0
Eggs Found: 0

Total Materials: 17
Total Eggs: 43

Day 11

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

EXP: 82 Total: 448+82=530

Yuki stood up when Shield approached her again. His stern voice continued to make her shrink, but even still he progressed his point. She need to stand up for herself and stop being such a wussy. It was her job to stand toe to toe with anything, even someone like Shield. If she continued to cower behind her aegis, she would never come out from behind it. 

"Stand up and do something about it. In a fight, there isn't time for inactivity, and there isn't time to pout. Stand up." Shield said as he got up close and personal with the young girl again. He wouldn't stop until she showed him that she could change. A brush of instinct fell over her and her breathing increased. Her hand moved on it's own. The balled up fist thwaked against Shield's cheek, turning his head to the side and leaving a red mark there. Yuki took the thorns damage, which reduced her health nearly by 1/4.

The girls cursor then turns orange above her head. "Ngh...H-How was that?"

@Shield

Yuki has gained an Orange Cursor for the rest of this thread.

Yuki turned around as another player approached her. She hadn't yet met this player, but she expected that since she didn't have any gear yet, she was a new player. The girl waved at her.

"Oi, the boss is about to spawn and you look like you don't have anything to protect yourself from this boss yet. Stay behind me and I'll protect you. My name is Yuki, I'll be your shield" The girl bumped her chest with her fist and gave Hinatao a wink. Just as they did they're introductions the nepents spawned behind Yuki. She brandished her shield and lance charged into combat as quickly as possible. The lance shined with a bright pink hue as the girl swung her lance with a large arc over the area. Two of them died then and there. The other two followed up with an attack of their own, but one of them felt her thorns leaving the last one all by it's lonesome self.

Nepent 1 - HP 0/7 Dmg: 3
Nepent 2 - HP 0/7 Dmg: 3
Nepent 3 - HP 7/7 Dmg: 3
Nepent 4 - HP 0/7 Dmg: 3

Yuki: HP:  379/380 -1 | Energy: 28/38 -10 Hate: 1

The paladin found herself back on Floor 1. She needed to grind, and realized that she had missed one of the easiest quests in the game. She could walk through it easy, the information broker showed that the Nepents couldn't do more than her MIT worth of damage and her thorns would kill them all instantly, even the boss. She stepped through the grassy plains of the first floor, no need to really hurry.

The Easter event was still going on, but she still needed to get EXP to level up. Tier 2 was just around the corner, she could taste the damage boost and armor boost of brand new armor. Hopefully that would make things easier for her. Her mind trained back to the things that everyone had said to her to this point, especially Shield's. Confidence and power was necessary to be a tank player, even more so when other players are relying on you to protect them. She would get stronger.

@Hinatao

Using a Yuki's Grace and a Slime Farm bonus to get +2 SP at the end of the post.

The girl shrank in her skin as the towering Shield stood in front of her. Her picked her up and gave her a shove, causing her to lose her balance and end up back on her rear end in the dirt. She braced her self as he came forward again. Thought's scrambled, she couldn't find a way to reply.

"I-I, um.." But, Shield kept coming. Picking her up and pushing her back again. This time she tried her best to stay to her feet but inevitably she met the ground once again. He grabbed her hand, explaining that she shouldn't be relying on her actual weapon at all. Needless to say, she didn't know how to feel. In the real world, this would have been akin to an assault. Though, she knew that he was doing this probably with good intention, it was hard to keep the shocked, scared expression on her face from forming. When he was finished with his speech, he took a seat back at his fishing spot and left her there a couple paces away on the ground.

The thoughts in her head banged against brain. She was confident about who she was as a person, but it was still difficult to see herself as a good tank player. That way of thinking would get her and others killed if she thought like that? How could she control that outcome if she wasn't sure of herself? The pinkette coughed roughly as she stood back up. It was just something to think about now, and to forget about Shield's rough methods. Mari had been harsh with her, but never had she really hit Yuki or been so pushy.

The girl took a seat back her spot carefully and started at the ground. The expression on her face probably hinted that she was trying to digest Shield's words. She looked down at the batch of eggs that had already spawned, moving all but one to her inventory. She stared at it momentarily before chucking it into a wall. Whether it was to let out frustration or anger she wasn't even sure herself. Nevertheless, the egg splattered into chocolate pieces then dispersed back into data. Yuki continued to stare at the floor afterwards, quietly.

LD: 11+3=14
Materials found: 1
Eggs Found: 6-1

Total Materials: 17
Total Eggs: 43

Yuki would lead the way, since she knew more about the quest. She wasn't sure what Zandra's level was, but she was sure that she was a higher ranking player than Yuki. Most people she met were. It wouldn't be uncommon for her to meet another front liner considering how many she was meeting recently. 

"There's not much to the quest to be honest. It basically just increases your chances of gathering materials compared to outside of the quest. If you're really lucky you can also find much more than you expect with the quest active. You can do normal gathering, fishing or mob hunting and the odds for all those are increased. Any preference? I should be okay to start tanking things on this floor. I'm level 19 with 54 mitigation by the way." Yuki explained as they walked around searching for the area where the Nature's Treasure was meant to take place.

Yuki cut him off just as he finished speaking.

"I understand that, I did go to an info broker and lasted about 6-7 hits with this boss, but the problem was that I couldn't find the chance to land an attack on it because I'm incompetent at fighting by myself. I didn't land a single attack on it or else I would have killed it. That's what's really pissing me off. When I fight dragon's with Life, I get burned down to yellow health, I get frozen completely in place and I find myself needing more help than I would like." She continued looking at the floor. "I guess I just need to practice fighting, but I'm afraid I'll just end up in the same situations. I feel so useless sometimes."

The girl transferred the next respawn of eggs into her inventory and sat there quietly, expecting Shield to comeback with something akin to 'well that's what you need to do if you want to improve.' That's what Mari would tell her.

LD: 19+3=22
Materials found: 2
Eggs Found: 2

Total Materials: 16
Total Eggs: 38

Yuki gave her a big smile when she realized the leader of Aincrad Trading Post was much more friendly than she came off to be with her appearance. The paladin extended a hand to shake with her.

"The services have been extremely helpful in helping me learn my cooking skill. Since I started a little over a week ago, I've already gotten close to grand mastering cooking. So, thank you for the help that your guild has given me." It came to her attention that Zandra was looking to do something here on Floor 11. Maybe she could invite her to a Nature's Treasure. "I was just looking to do a quest on this floor called Nature's Treasure. I don't know if you're busy, but would you like to join me?"

The pinkette pulled open her menu and sent Zandra not only a party invite, but also a friend request. She gave the guild leader a happy smile when that was all said and done.

Yuki felt a slight intrusive as the other two girls already seemed to know each other prior to this meeting. Should have been expected she guessed. After giving Arabelle a matching smile with a slight bow she took a quick look for eggs and materials. A group of brightly colored eggs smelling of chocolate were bundled together under a nearby bush with some materials next to them. The paladin walked over to the spoils and moved them into her inventory without wasting any time. 

Even when she was in her own thoughts, Cord's voice got to her when she mentioned a familiar name: Mari.  She peered over to where the silver haired girl had called to Mari and, sure enough, saw the orange player standing alone. It was in fact Mari. You couldn't mistake that orange clad player for anyone else.

"Oi! Mari-chan!" The girl said with a wave and a bright smile.

LD: 6+6=12 CD: 5
Materials Found: 1
Eggs Found: 5

Total Materials: 3
Total Eggs: 19

Sitting quietly next to Shield, Yuki scooped up the next batch of respawning eggs. A bountiful harvest of eggs this time. She was going to hit her goal easily if she kept this up. When Shield finished his explanation, she sat for a moment, thinking about what she should do to multiclass. She had wanted to do support originally, but she had taken a liking being a tank player. You could protect your friends before they got hurt, unlike in a support class.

"Well, I've been attempting to fight alone to practice my combat skills, but I always end up close to dying before someone jumps out of nowhere and saves me. I'm tired of relying on others to keep my alive... I want to be strong enough to pull my own weight and not worry others." Yuki explained looking down at the ground. "I recently survived a field boss with 6 hp remaining on floor 5 because someone was watching my battle from a distance and they saved me before I died... If I could just be stronger I wouldn't need that kind of help."

LD: 14+3=17
Materials found: 2
Eggs Found: 6

Total Materials: 14
Total Eggs: 36

Every fiber of her wanted to stay polite and let him have his reward, but it was pretty obvious that he wanted to help her out. The menu popped open for trade, Yuki looked through it. Inside was a lump of col, likely close to 1000 units, and two unidentified potions. Looks like she'd be taking another trip to Ceres. It didn't take a lot to identify and she was pretty short on consumables herself. The girl browsed through her menu and transferred the items and money to her inventory. The chest then burst into blue digital smoke.

"Um..Hey, Shield. I have recently found myself..." She winced trying to think of a nice way to put it. "Being absolutely bad at combat. What can I do to improve my own combat? Not like 'oh you're a tank so you should party with friends' I've heard all of that already, but I've honestly done nothing to support my friends when I fight with them."

LD: 15+3=18
Materials found: 0
Eggs Found: 2

Total Materials: 12
Total Eggs: 30

Yuki seemed unbothered by Shield's decision to decline her offer to join the guild. She expected him to say no anyway, being much higher level than her. He was probably busy with many other things than that. Her smile continued as she spoke.

"No worries, I'll do my best to prove that I can lead a guild and help lower players!" The sound of Shield standing up and reeling the rod back to pull in the chest startled her a bit. The treasure chest seemed to glow when it came out of the water, she hadn't actually seen one yet. "Oh! This is the first treasure chest I've ever seen! They're supposed to have really good stuff in them right? Are you going to open it now?" She asked a little more excitedly than she probably meant to.

In the corner of her eye, she notice the spawn of eggs that had suddenly appeared next to her and put them into her inventory.

LD: 15+3=18
Materials found: 2
Eggs Found: 3

Total Materials: 12
Total Eggs: 28

The paladin was quiet for a moment while he explained his experience with his old guild. She was starting to believe that Shield was the same as Life. They started playing the game but something or another made them stray away from the fight and went into seclusion. She didn't really know what to say, but something did come to mind to try and soothe him.

"Well, if you want, you can always join my guild when I make it! We could have the same goal as you're old guild, because if I was your guild existed when I started my leveling in Aincrad last month." Her smile grew even brighter in an attempt to console him. "I also love meeting new friends so if you wanna add me to your friends list..."

The menu opened up in front of her, she scrolled down to her friends list and soon the message appeared in front of Shield.

-Zajcica wants to add you to their friends list-

LD: 13+3=16
Materials found: 2
Eggs Found: 3

Total Materials: 10
Total Eggs: 25

Yuki looked at the ground embarrassed. It really did seem like a foolish thing to think about it like that. If she did end up making a guild, there was only two out comes: The first one being that it fails and everyone involved goes their separate ways on the matter; or, the second on being that it became a strong guild that Yuki enjoyed being the leader of. She smiled again and looked back at Shield. 

"Thanks Shield, that really cleared the clouded judgement I had about starting a guild. I will do my best to make a guild that can do something for other players, even if we don't make it to the top of the top." The girl shifted quietly in her position to make herself more comfortable. It was unexpected to meet others up this high, but she was glad to meet a new friend. "What about you, do you have a guild that you're apart of? Friends whom you care for here in Aincrad?" It felt awkward to ask that, but he had asked the same thing to her, so hopefully it was okay.

LD: 2+3=5
Nothing Found

Total Materials: 8
Total Eggs: 22

The paladin pulled in the next bunch of eggs up and into her inventory as they spawned right next to her seat. It was kind of boring to farm this way, but at least she had a friend to speak to while she did this though. Shield brought up what her current guild was. If he had asked her last week, she would have said none.

"Well, I just recently joined Aincrad Trading Post because they have amazing benefits for a crafter. However, I had a bit of cute dream of becoming strong enough to lead my own guild. Though I don't really know anyone who would want to join and I can't just make a guild with myself. Maybe I'll just end up joining a higher up guild and be content there. I hope I can be stronger and maybe lead people later in my Aincrad career. I wanted to be an icon for lower level players to grow strong and do something about this stupid virtual prison in their own way. The girl sighed quietly. "I'm such a air-head sometimes I guess.."

LD: 12+3=15
Materials Found: 2
Eggs Found: 5

Total Materials: 8
Total Eggs: 22

Yuki looked at the fish that seemed to be modified to look like those American candies! That was adorable! What were those candies called again? Polish Fish? Something like that. She clasped her hands together when she saw the fish and smiled.

"That's adorable! I didn't know they changed the design on the fish to compliment Easter!" After she got that out, she got a look from Shield like he wanted an answer for his previous comment.

"R-Right, don't worry I will. I guess it would be safe for me to stay here while I do my searching then so I don't worry anyone. I have couple high level friends, so if I got into a dungeon I'll have friends who can help." She smiled at Shield happily. The eggs that she had scooped up earlier finally respawned in a different batch. She quickly scooped them up and moved them to her inventory and sat where she was until they would respawn again.

LD: 20+3=23
Materials Found: 0
Eggs Found: 3

Total Materials: 6
Total Eggs: 17

She stopped as the smithy came to escort her back to the safe zone. Really she want to tell him not to worry about it and that she would be fine to make it on her own, even with only 6 hp remaining. It would start regenerating soon. She couldn't really bring herself to tell him that she was fine with taking her walk of shame back to Nimbus alone.

"I'm alright, really. The poison effect finally wore off and I have... uh, less than 1% of my total HP." It sounded so much worse when she said it out loud. "Thank you for helping me back then. I still feel like I don't deserve this kind of treatment."

Yuki was quiet the entire way back after that. She knew that she needed to think on what was happening during her last few weeks of leveling. She kept trying to get ahead of herself too quickly. It was time to slow down and learn how to do things the proper way.

@Macradon

As her health bar ticked down the last time to a solid 6/330 health points, the girl collapsed back in the sand breathing heavily. Her body felt insanely heavy.

"Oh my god..." Perhaps she was overselling it, but how else does someone react when they're this close to death. It didn't really help that the health bar visualized just how close she was to becoming nothing but data and a corpse in the real world. She would be much more careful from now on. "I...I won't do anything that stupid again. I promise. I'll take the time to practice and stop leaning on people to help me." Her words didn't really seem directed at Mac, but more to herself.

After a moment, she finally sat back up and got to her feet, leaning on the lance she carried. "Th-Thanks again, Kajiya-san. I've been in too many of these situations and I feel unrightfully bailed out of them way too many times. I'm going to train has hard as possible, so people stop having to help me so much. I-I'll head home and think about what you and Mari have told me.."

With that last comment, the girl start limping away towards the nearest safe zone. 

@Macradon

Yuki sighed as Mac mentioned her unskilled combat experience. While most of that was surely just bad luck almost completely, she knew that she was still one of the worst offensive fighters on the face of Aincrad. Probably best she stick with a defensive style.

"So I should just practice fighting mobs until I get stronger? Well, I guess there's no get strong quick schemes even in a video game. I'll have to take someone with me to farm mobs then, not sure I can deal enough damage to things to practice by myself." Her thoughts came out loud. She winced heavily as her health fell into the 20s the poison hadn't worn off yet, but she knew by the tick times that she wouldn't have to waste a potion. 

"The game really does a good job emulating this near death experience, jeez." The paladin groaned as she tried to stand back up.

@Macradon

The girl collected a batch of eggs off to the side before Shield introduced himself, then sat back on her knees next to him watching the lure bob in the water. He mentioned a teleportation crystal, and Yuki got a bit nervous. She hadn't gotten the chance to buy one yet, though it was a good point that now was probably a good time to get one.

"Eh-hem, well, I haven't quite taken the time to collect a teleportation crystal just yet. Though, being a tank, I understand how the aggro-mechanics of SAO work. As long as I keep my distance from mobs and don't accept any dangerous quests, I won't be attacked by anything. I actually live just up a floor and also run my shop up there. While I'm leveling to reach the front lines, I also want to supply them with food."

The little snake slithered out of Shield's sleeve, and it would have freaked her out if they were in the real world, but it thankfully it wasn't as scary as somethings were here in Aincrad. She smiled at Shield and watched lure bob around again.

"I need to invest in the fishing skill. My dad taught me a little about fishing, seems reasonable that I should use that knowledge to my advantage here."

@Shield

LD: 20+3=23
Materials Found: 2
Eggs Found: 6

Total Materials: 6
Total Eggs: 14