Zajcica

She had already made the dessert before. It was one of her and her sister's personal favorites and her family would get it often. Nothing too special to be honest, but who really cared about that? Deep-fried Ice Cream. The concept was so backwards but simple at the same time. You took deep-fried pancake batter and molded it around a scoop of ice cream of your choosing of flavor. She was sure that would impress the judge.

She collected the necessary ingredients and started mixing them together, deep-frying the pancake batter to make a shell around the ice cream. She peaked up to see what Hestia was making herself, but she had no idea what it was. Of course, her knowledge of Greek foods was pretty minimal. Once they were both finished, they slid their desserts over to the judge one last time. She seemed impressed with Hestia's, but then looked at Yuki's with confusion. It was then she realized that she may have just lost this duel.

A moment of silence fell over the room again as the judge tried the candies from both the contestants. Yuki was still feeling nervous, even after winning the first round over Hestia's amazing smelling meal. If she won this candy round, she would take Hestia's flame for her own crafts. That's what she needed right now. Making her meals was great, but she never seemed to get perfect type meals, just rares. Maybe Hestia's flame would help her see more great crafts.

The judge finally spoke up after awhile of back and forth tasting, "I enjoyed both of the candies for sure, but this round will go to lady Hestia. The challenger's candies were a bit too strong in taste which diluted the flavor a bit. That's means we'll have to move on to round 3, desserts."

Yuki was getting more nervous. This was the tiebreaker round. Did she dare to go with a simple Japanese dessert? That would probably be her best bet.

Round two of their bout of food would be Candy. That was kind of weird to think that she had to just make candies, but nevertheless she would give it her all. She already knew the best thing to make. Her favorite candy was Konpeito, small sugar clumps hardened and packaged. Most of her friends didn't really enjoy konpeito because was just way too sweet, but that's one of the reasons Yuki loved it.

The paladin grabbed lumps of sugar and started to press them together into small clumps. It didn't take long to do this round, since there wasn't any stove or oven required to make candies, or at least the ones they were making. When she was done, she slid the bowl of sugar clumps over to the taste tester and smiled, "This one is called Konpeito. Again, please enjoy."

Yuki watched the judge taste both of their foods followed by another short silence. The anticipation was killing her.

When she presented her Gyudon meal, Hestia too presented her meal. She called it 'saganaki'. It was some kind of cheesy pasta noodle mix and cooked together. The dish seemed so simple, but it smelled absolutely amazing. The unnerving feeling started to settle in Yuki's stomach. No matter what she thought of, Hestia could easily make something five times as better as her.

The judge who participated in this event to rate both their meals sat quietly as she ate. First Yuki's Gyudon, then Hestia's Saganaki. A moment of pause filled the air before she finally spoke up again. 

"Although lady Hestia's food was well made, I will have to give this round the challenger miss Yuki. I've never tasted anything quite like this 'Gyudon' before and it certainly left me wanting more." Hestia seemed surprised as much as Yuki was.

"Looks like I'm the one who will have to step it up then." The Goddess offered Yuki a smile which the paladin returned. 

Yuki's smile faded for a moment. Was that not what she was saying? Or was Cordelia just pressing the fact further to ensure that Yuki wouldn't do anything stupid and get herself killed. She let the silver-haired girl finish before sighing.

"Cord, no offense, but I am tired of waiting to grow the will to be a strong person. I'm taking this stupid digital world by the neck and making it mine. At least if I do die down the road, no one can fault me for doing what I made me happy and what made me feel strong enough to die for. Heroes are born in many different lights, but I'm not actually here to impress anyone other than myself. I will take what I have, put it on the line and become stronger from the risks. I'll be a better person when I see my family again, and I won't regret anything if I do end up dying here. To sum it all up, I've made my peace and I'm going to do everything I can to keep my pride intact." Yuki came back, hoping Cordelia could understand her situation. Maybe she just sounded suicidal, but she would do whatever she needed to to become a hero to herself.

LD: 14+3=17
Materials Found: 2
Total: 4

@Cordelia

The pinkette readied herself for the serpents next attack. If she could block it, the poison wouldn't hurt bad enough to cause lasting damage. She raised her shield as it tucked in to deal more damage to her. The shield stopped it at first, but it wasn't enough. Yuki was sent flying into a wall from the force of the blow, lowing her health bar even further. She coughed as the sand flew into her passages. Only more angry now, the paladin cursed under her breath and charged the beast. The glowing pink lance landed just out of reach of the monster before it slithered back to evade her attack.

Yuki's expression grew worried and strained all at once. If this battle drug on too long, she would be poisoned the entire time and die from that. She held her shield to the beast and tried to work on something to give her an advantage. If only she could land a good attack on it and apply her own damage over time. That would even the playing field.

@Macradon

Yuki: HP 236/330 -26+20=46 EN 22/30 -4 H: 1 Status: Poisoned: 3 turns left
Serpens: HP 139/175 -18 thorns BD: 5-1 Miss; MD: 8+1

When Life decided it was a good time to change into his common attire, Yuki thought it would be a good time to do so as well. She unequipped all her items and weapons and replaced them with her common clothing. Life donned a simple shirt and some sweatpants and Yuki was doing the same, but she figured she should pull out something warmer for this floor. Instead of a sweatshirt and pants, she donned a pink, fluffy kimono, like the one she had at home. It was decorated in a white floral pattern and really accentuated her feminine figure more than her armor could do her justice.

When Life asked if she was fine with sharing a room, she nodded with a slight blush and a smile. "I would be fine with that, yeah." Yuki took the keys to the room and held on to them for Life. "I can go open the room and you can get the food and bring it up. Meet me up there in room..." She looked down at the number on the chain. "2!" She finished her sentence flashing a two with her fingers and started walking towards the stairs.

@Life

If if it was a bit weird for games like this to have event's Yuki wouldn't hesitate to take part in anything that would give her an advantage in the future. She was putting aside a lot of time she could be using to level up for this after all. It was still certain in her mind that hunting on floor one would be the best idea. It made sense since it was the biggest floor that the most eggs would spawn in the fields here. She took a moment to look around, finding a good bunch of eggs lumped together, but no materials this time.

As long as this event was going on and Yuki didn't need her armor, she could continue to wear the bunny dress. It was a great opportunity to use it, after all. After a moment, she spied a good friend of her's. Life was also looking for eggs it seemed. She started to rush over to him.

"Oi! Life-kun! You looking for eggs here too? Let's party!" She waved him down, smiling with a big grin.

@Life

Materials: 0
Eggs: 3

Yuki stood to her feet and dusted the snow off her armor. Staying at an inn for the night would be a great idea. After grinding for literally hours on quests relating only to dragons, I nap would be just what they needed. Plus, Yuki was feeling a bit worn out anyway. She followed behind Life until she caught up to his side.

"I agree. I think we've both probably had a pretty emotional day and could use some rest." Yuki's face got a little red as she remember just how much she was embarrassed in front of Life today, especially with revealing her secret. "I'm sorry if I can be a handful sometimes. Like I said, I've been quite the emotional person since I started my leveling in Aincrad. You and Mari have been helping me a lot though. I'm glad to have you both as friends." Yuki smiled to Life brightly.

@Life

Yuki nodded to her friend as she mentioned to be wary of others feelings when she chose to do something in their party. It made sense, after all, if she was in Mari's shoes, she wouldn't want people just running off on their own to get hurt when she was there to help them. "I'll do my best to be more considerate of your feelings Mari."

Yuki looked back through the quest objectives, and Mari wasn't wrong. She had yet to tame the actual familiar, if she didn't try soon, it wouldn't work as a familiar, it would just be an egg in her inventory. She pulled it back out and set it on the ground wondering what she even needed to do. That was when the egg started to break open. Yuki's heart skipped a beat. How would she tame it? Would it not just accept her if it hatched or would it know that it wasn't meant to be with Yuki and just fly off.

"Alright, well here it comes. Let me give it a try then." Yuki watched the Gryphon pop out of the egg and give a hearty squawk before looking over at the two girls. Yuki smiled at it and held out her hand. How were you even supposed to tame a gryphon, surely not like it was a puppy or something. That's all she had to work with though. "H-hey there little guy. It's nice to meet you, my name is Yuki and I want you to be my partner." The gryphon looked a bit confused before it jumped out of the egg and approached Yuki's hand, inspecting it curiously. After a moment, it made another timid squawk at her. Yuki smiled. "H-Hunh. I think that worked." Yuki sighed in relief and looked over at Mari with a slight smile.

@Mari

Familiar Tamed.

Yuki was sent rolling through the sand. It's weapon completely phased through her shield and her armor. I huge red mark mocking a cut across her digital body sent a sting of fear down Yuki's neck. Although she could feel the pain as directly, she still winced and coughed from the force of the attack. It was true that she wouldn't be able to do any damage to it, though, she could still fight. If ignored Hate, that only meant that they needed to combine as much damage as possible to destroy it before it killed them.

Yuki rose from the sand and her lance glowed with it's usual pink aura. "You said it yourself! Cowering won't get me anywhere! If this thing ignores hate, it'll hit me no matter what I do, I have to do something other than just roll over and accept it! With a loud battle cry, Yuki lunged forward with weapon glowing bright. If she could just land an attack on it, she would stun it long enough for Hidden to finish it. The damage didn't matter as long as she could hit it. The pink light soared towards the lizard's leg, unfortunately, it backed off and roared as loud as it could. The pink glare wore off her weapon and Yuki knew that thing would only hit her harder. She backed up a bit and readied her shield- Or, well, hopefully she could dodge it.

"K-Kuso..." The girl mumbled under her breath.

[0] @Hidden | 900/900 HP | 78/88 EN | 15 DMG | 61 MIT | 4 ACC | 2 EVA | 8 Holy
[0] @Zajcica | HP:  235/330 +5 | 24/30 EN | DMG: 3 | EVA: 0 | MIT: 35 | ACC: 0 | Thorns: 18 | Regen: 5

<<Sando Setsu>> 157/350 | 20  30 MIT | 100  150 DMG [-18 Thorns]

• At 175 HP, MIT becomes 30 and DMG becomes 150
• Ignores MIT, Block, and Evasion
• On a natural roll of 10 he will spin with his weapon at maximum reach hitting everyone in the fight. He will gain 10 hp per person hit.

Her lance was embedded into the dragon's scales, stuck. There wasn't much time to react to the dragon's breath attack at all. It froze everything below her neck, leaving her completely frozen in place in a awkward pose that she took trying to free her lance from the dragon. When Life ruffled up her hair, her expression seemed to be close to another crying fit, but then she burst out in laughter.

"Hahaha! The young girl smiled at her friend. "I really can't cut a break, can I? This is leagues better than the fire breath, though. Maybe this solidifies the fact that I was meant to be a punching bag for others to get there work done. Just imagine if you got hit with this, the dragon could of beat me or you up freely if you had gotten froze." The pink haired girl laughed again. The ice began to crack soon, and then shattered into pieces around her. She fell to the snow on her back and stretched her muscles out.

"I was meant to take the hits, so you continue to let me make sure nothing like that happens to you and nothing can stop us." The big grin plastered upon her face once more as she sat up and collected her equipment out of the snow.

@Life

Yuki winced a little. Maybe she was a bit to eager to get things done, but it seemed like it would probably be best if they got through this as quickly as possible. If they over stayed there welcome there, the parents could have came back and ripped them to shreds for taking their egg.

"S-Sorry. I just thought we should get this done as quickly as possible. I keep dragging you around a lot for my own benefit... She mumbled to herself in frustration. It was obvious that she didn't like relying on another person to ensure that she stayed alive, but when you're playing a tank, you kind of need the help, so she thought. "I promise I'll continue to get stronger so that when we quest together, we'll be on mutual ground, and will be less like me just using you to help me level up..." Yuki went silent after that. Probably best to not go to far into that topic right now.

"I heard this quest could be difficult for some people but it seems like I got it done no sweat. It should hatch soon, since all the other ones were hatched."

@Mari

Attempt 1/3; failed

Yuki found herself on floor number one yet again. The new even meant it was a perfect time to hunt for materials because you could also find eggs hidden around the floors of Aincrad. The large first floor made it easier to search for eggs since it was more wide open. Nobody would be gobbling all of them up in front of her. The quest mentioned that they could be exchanged for a bunch of cool rewards that Yuki just needed to have. She donned her bunny costume, in the spirit of the holiday and went out into the field. No combat required, so no real reason to wear her armor. Any excuse she could find to wear this costume was a nice bonus too, considering how much she loved it.

It seemed a bit lonely to be doing another one of these quest alone. She wondered if any others on the floor would want to join her party. Perhaps you could find more eggs if you were in a larger party or something.

@Arabelle @Cordelia

LD: 12+6=18 CD: 5
Materials Found: 2
Eggs Found: 3

Total Materials: 2
Total Eggs: 3

Name: Mochi
Your Profession: Cook
Your Rank: 6
ID: 138999
Roll: CD: 12; LD: 10
Item Type: Dessert
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: LD 3
Description: A batch of Japanese rice cakes ground from paste filled with a variety of yummy fillings.
Post Link: [Here]

Name: Mochi
Your Profession: Cook
Your Rank: 6
ID: 139000
Roll: CD: 12; LD: 14
Item Type: Dessert
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: LD 3
Description: A batch of Japanese rice cakes ground from paste filled with a variety of yummy fillings.
Post Link: [Here]

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