Shay

Shay went quiet for now. She was so deep in her own head space wondering what would be next from the boy, but this time he came at her with nothing whatsoever. The thing about guard were apparent, but he seemed to already realize that so there was no need to go further on the subject. Instead, she looked around for materials. She had yet to find too many now and was wondering if she'd even get enough to supply a days worth of crafting at this point. Not that she cared too much, honestly. She could always go and hunt down some random mobs to get materials and Col off them.

The boy had gone quiet for sure this time, so Shay wasn't sure what to say at all. There would be all the time in the world to level up and talk about what a build is. Also what kind of rules the game set that differed it from the real world.

Materials found: 0
Total: 2

The crimson eyed woman pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed audibly. This man really was nothing but a noob, not only to SAO but to freaking MMO's in general. She had so much to teach him in so little time. Finally, she let go of her nose and looked over to him, still not really sounding mad.

"A safe zone is around every settlement that protects players and non-player characters while they are inside it. If this is your first time ever leaving the Town of Beginnings and heading into the field, then this is the first time that you have ever been vulnerable to death. Once you are out here, you can die via monsters, another player - they have orange cursors but some of them aren't crazy its a bit hard to explain - and you can die from falling damage or status effects that deal damage over time." She feels like she could have said that in a single sentence if hadn't been for the fact that she couldn't use acronyms.

Materials found: 0
Total: 2

Shay thought about it.

"Hm, the next two floors up are pretty much just giant forests from what I remember of being up there short times. I live on floor 4 though, so I spend most of my time there. It completely covered in snow. My house sits outside of the safe zone area on top of a hot spring that keeps my entire house warm. It's pretty nice." She didn't really mind the cold weather all that much since she was from northern Japan. It usually got somewhat cold in the winter up there, so it was just like that, but perpetual.

"I know there are weak bosses on floors above us, so might be jumping around a lot at first, but there isn't much reason for us to go past floor 6 until we are around level 25. Once we hit that level, it'll be a lot easier to beat those higher floors."

Materials found: 0
Total: 2

Shay cocked a questioning gaze. Not because she thought it was a dumb question or anything, she just seems to have misunderstood if she meant the front lines or herself personally. 

"I am unsure if you mean the front lines or me. So, I'll just answer both: The front lines have currently cleared up to floor 24. I believe they recently had a meeting, or are about to have one about the boss situation, but I have no idea where and have no reason to be there for it. If you want to know what floor I've been to, I have visited everything up to Floor 4, where I live." She had lived in that shop for awhile now as a makeshift home. She really needed to go out and gain some money to get a bigger residence. "However, we're going to be spending a few hours doing these quests so don't worry about going higher just yet. We'll get to that." Her tone was no longer harsh, just a feeling of sureness.

Materials found: 0
Total: 2

"I'll teach you the best I can." The girl says, keeping an eye out for those elusive glowing materials. "I only know the basics of MMORPGs in this setting since it isn't anything like I've played before, but I bet it has the same skeleton. We'll continue to keep the front lines in the back of our minds while we grow out here. I refuse to take you into combat without first getting you a level up or two. Keep looking for materials so we can go and get this done. The longer you spend thinking, the less time you're using to actually get stronger."

Shay never really talked this much, but she was sure that this boy needed a reality check. Wishing to be a member of the front lines isn't much of a sin or anything, but it wasn't all roses and rainbows. She would have to teach him how to keep himself alive, then the two of them can duo their way up the ranks.

Materials found: 0
Total: 2

She could tell her words got to him, but not really until she saw the tears forming at his eyes. Perhaps she was a bit too rough there, but she didn't want him to get the wrong idea. After a deep breath, she put her blade on the ground and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Anyone in this world can be a hero, but you can't help anyone if you don't first help yourself. I am telling you that you cant help anyone if you don't first learn the basis of the game. Everything here has a reason. This quest is meant to teach you how together to make items like I do. Players use them as currency as well. The quest has exclusive sp, which basically means that once you past level 16 you can't cash in on the experience. Think smart and maximize your potential, then you'll be able to help others."

Once the mobs had passed, the girl spun her blade back into it's saya with skill and grace. It didn't look like she was trying to show off, just like it was something natural. When he spoke up to her, her sharpened, crimson gaze could have pierced his eyes. "Don't talk such rot." She snapped back. He was thinking that he could just level up and join the front lines like it was just that easy. "You are but an infant right now, tasking yourself with building a wall when you can't even lift a brick." Her harsh tone was hinted with concern. She knew that if he kept that mind set, he would get himself killed taking risks too big. "First you learn to walk: Finish these quests for their experience alone and get them before they're gone. Once you've learned how to walk, you can strengthen yourself to lift the brick."

Still there was nothing nearby at all. This was becoming increasingly annoying already. She remembered why she hated gathering and would rather just gather items through killing mobs. It was simpler, more engaging and had better yield of outcome.

"You suck at speaking." Another simple sentence that she could agree with. She did suck at speaking, terribly.

"Yeah." She said back, not denying his comment or really even getting bother by it. "I will use the materials to make consumables that debuff my enemies." She was trying to put everything in layman's terms to make it easier for a noob to understand.

Up until this point, nothing had bothered them, but the closing of monsters did warrant enough threat to pulled her weapon out. She held her saya housing the katana in her off hand. "If anything attacks us, you mustn't try to fight. They will easily take you down without some gear. I will be fine on this floor. so don't worry.

Materials found: 0
Total: 2

Shay looked unbothered by the topic. She didn't care that much about power leveling. She was going to do her best enjoy the game while she leveled and not lose sight on it meant for her to be alive. The girl sighed and took a look around for materials. Her mutual friend was realtively quiet and didn't put up a fight when she told him that she would help him level. Newbies never understood how easy it was to help them. To be fair, Shay herself was a newbie to Sword Art Online mechanics, but she had helped countless people in other games start off.

Nothing in this area right now. With a sigh, she turned to see if the boy had gotten a hold of any more materials. When he mentioned holding her back, she turned her head back around. "Tch, I'm helping you because it helps me and I would be annoyed if someone got killed cause I didn't help them out. Some quests are difficult to take alone and I would really benefit from a duo partner."

Materials found: 0
Total: 2

"This is my first RPG."

Oh no.

Shay stopped in place. She hadn't met many people here that didn't have some kind of knowledge of how the game actually worked. Again, she couldn't be hard on him, nor would she really. It wouldn't be her character to do that sort of thing. Many people found her callous, but really she was just bad at socializing.

"You sound like you could really use some help then." The girl said. Was she really about to say this? "I'll help you. Teach you how to survive. I'm no where near experienced with this game in particular, however, I'm something of an avid MMO gamer. From here on out, you and are going to grind together. If I find a quest I want to do, I will contact you."

With that, the raven haired player opened her menu, scrolled down to her party, clicked on his name and sent him a friend request. A notification popped up on his console. "Accept it. Before I change my mind."

Materials found: 1
Total: 2

Shay was quietly searching for more materials herself when Chase had pulled her out of her own head. More questions, which was entirely reasonable since he was still pretty new to it all. Surely he would have fun doing combat. From what she remembered, the boars in the second quest were more annoying than dangerous, though they were going to have to do something about that beginner gear that he has.

"Yeah, the quest allows you to craft it for the sake of the quest. After that, you can't make anything buffed until you take the Earning a Living quest. I wouldn't worry too much about it though. If you ever need-" She stopped there. Was she really going to offer her services? Ugh, yes. Fine, put your pride to the side for no Junko. "If you ever need performer crystals for debuffs or healing, let me know. I am a crafter."

Nothing found.
Total Materials: 1

Shay gave a slight smile. Glad to see he was making better progress than she had starting off. It must have taken her an hour to find her first material when she had originally taken this quest. Of course, she didn't need the materials for the quest, but she herself was running low on materials for her shop so it would be a good idea to try and stock up on a few more materials before she ran out. It wasn't like she had the Col to buy more.

"Nice job, now you'll need to find four more. Then after that, you'll have to go back to the quest giver and he'll have you make a potion with the materials that you gathered." She wasn't really the best at explaining these sorts of things in detail, but hopefully he understood what she was meaning. If not, he would surely ask her.

Nothing found.
Total Materials: 1

"I do quite despised this style of quest. 'Go fetch x amount of items and bring them back to me.' However, this is an important quest. You want the experience from it now or you won't get any from it when you level up." The veteran gamer was starting to come out of the raven-haired swords woman. She hadn't spent much time in SAO following quests and beating the game, but she was familiar with other RPGs and their likes.

While she didn't need to collect any materials for the quest, she herself was going to collect some for her shop, if she could even find any. That was when her crimson coloured eyes locked on to a glowing substance. She had no idea how picking weeds helped her craft music box crystals, but no need to question video game mechanics, cause they didn't make sense. "They look like this." She said holding it out for him to see.

Materials Found: 1

After their level reveals, Shay was mostly quiet. Normal she would talk a little more if she wasn't upset about Titan having gone missing still, but something had really just struck her that she needs to keep moving on. The tank's name wasn't on the monument of life, so she wouldn't worry too much. He'll resurface one day, hopefully, or his name will end up there and she'll have some closure.

After they made it to the quest giver, Zachariah gave ChaseR his duty. Shay had already done this quest, so he didn't offer it to her. Once the quest was set up, Shay sighed. Having company again wasn't so bad. She had spent a long while in her shop doing nothing making songs. After debating her next move, she'd kill herself for this, but maybe she'd get lucky. At least he wasn't too outspoken like Titan was. "I'll join you and teach you a little."

Once they made it out of the safe zone, the raven haired woman. Looked around materials, and there was nothing. Still just as annoyingly hard as she remembered, good. "Well, you'll have to collect objects tagged with a material. They glow, so they're easy to see... when they spawn."

No materials

Shay wasn't one to make small talk, but she didn't really berate anyone who tried to make it with her. Names were important in a game like this after all, but she was sure that he would start asking what her level was and all that stuff. If she invited him to a party, he still would only be able to see her name. So with a wave of her dominant hand, her menu slid open. She reoriented it to his view so he could see clearly what she was capable of.

Shay | Level 14
[    280/280   ]

The monitor also read out her equipment and Col. She wasn't that worried about anyone knowing that stuff. She wasn't exactly resplendent with anything amazing to begin with. Hopefully he wasn't taking her quietness as rude. It was just as simple as her being socially-inept. Always unsure how to approach people and not be so blunt.

Shay didn't normally spend time on the first floor. It wasn't really her favorite spot to be, but not because she had out leveled it or anything. The hot weather was just nasty. She sweat easy and all around just unpleasant. Players didn't have bodily fluids though, so she couldn't actually sweat, but even still, the heat of warmer floors compared to her favorite floor four where her house currently resided.

Her peaceful thought was interrupted pretty quickly, though. She had only come down to this floor to look for solo quests to complete, not to socialize. Her callous look and crimson coloured eyes probably weren't the most welcoming, but she wasn't a total asshole as to ignore someone's request. "If you are a new player, you should take the beginner's quest line." Thinking about it, he might not know where to go to get there. "Here, I'll lead you there I guess. I don't have anything better to do."

@ChaseR

A red beam of light emitted from the katana user's blade, ready to strike down her first target. Or she would have if something hadn't attacked from out of nowhere and destroy three of the mobs then and there. It seemed like they missed one though, so she wouldn't hesitate to join the battle all the same. Her weapon still beaming with energy, the crimson eyed swordsman dashed forward and split the beast completely in two. It shattered into nothing but data.

With her mark done, the girl nodded and retrieved her saya. The work pretty much done in seconds, she was pretty happy to see that it was done quickly and painlessly. The blade sunk deep into it's holster and clanked against the metal. "Where are you?" She asked, waiting for the other player to make a move it could be dangerous if it was an orange player. She would be ready to run back to town if need be.

Venom Snapper | HP: -90/150 (-240) | DMG: 35 | EVA: 1
Wolf #1 | HP: -8/40 -(48) | DMG: 25
Wolf #2 | HP: -200/40 (-240) | DMG: 25
Wolf #3 | HP: -200/40 (-240) | DMG: 25

[1, 0, 1, 1] NIGHT | HP: 1195/1195 | EN: 100/114 (-14) | DMG: 20 | MIT: 99 | ACC: 3 | EVA: 2 | LD: 3 | BRN: 36 | BLGT: 72 | BLD: 36
[0, 2, 0, 0] Shay | HP: 280/280 | EN: 28/28 | DMG: 7 | ACC: 1 | EVA: 3 | BLD:12 | REC:2

The potion given to her by the quest giver had absolutely no taste, which was surprising to the raven-haired player. It honestly was just water. Well, at least that made it pretty easy to down.

The callous look dotting her expression, Shay makes her way towards the edge of town where the quest marker would lead her to the mob of wolves known by the town as the Warg. They were terrorizing any going-ons in the city by ravaging the outskirts with feral intentions. Seems like this merchant was one of the most effected by it, hence why he insisted on seeking help. Shay would easily oblige since she needed the experience anyways. If she didn't do it now, she wouldn't be eligible to get the exp reward.

It didn't take long to find the wolves at least. Not far from the safe zone barrier, they jumped of the bushes, looking to tear her a new asshole. She simply removed her blade from the saya that she held and tossed the holster on to the ground behind her. Readying herself for battle.

Shay | HP:280/280 | EN:28/28 | DMG:7 | EVA:3 | ACC:1 | BLD:12 | REC:2
Night | 

Wolf 1: 40/40 | DMG: 25
Wolf 2: 40/40 | DMG: 25
Wolf 3: 40/40 | DMG: 25
Venom Snapper: 150/150 | DMG: 35/50 | EVA: 1

@NIGHT

Walking off the teleporter in Floor 2, Shay had to adjust to the temperature change. Snowfrost was so insanely cold compared to other settlements. She had been lucky to find a hot spring to build her house around. It kept the temperature warm enough to live in without it being intolerably frozen.

Once she had finally adjusted to the temperature difference, she made her way to the merchant in the quest information. This was a relatively easy quest that she could solo. With her equipment, she could avoid being attacked by the enemies and defeat them rather quickly. Though her sword arts kind of suck compared to what other people can output she would have to resort to using her strongest solo target sword art and take them down one by one. 

Once the antidote item was acquired, she went ahead and chugged it. They would likely inflict her with the poison anyway so why not.

@NIGHT

T1 Perfect Incarceration Debuff

Day 11

(1)Fail: 0
(2)Salvage(LD:6+): 1
(3)Uncommon: 3
(5)Rare: 0
(8)Perfect: 2

EXP: 27+18; Total: 149+47=194 Rank Up! 2 > 3
Custom Ambition Tool: +1 EXP; ATP bonus: +2 EXP, +5 to Salvage attempt

Once the victory screen rolled the raven-hair player groaned. It was a timed boss that weakened the players enough to make them feel like that they might actually lose. She knew the moment that she saw the boss that was invincible with no revealing mechanics that this was a joke. Good thing she decided to stay. 

This was some easy experience made. Ever since Titan had disappeared on her, she couldn't really find the will to get back to climbing. Maybe this was the call that she should get back to leveling and make her way up to the front lines. If she sat around moping about losing friends, she would never get anywhere.

Walking through the crowd, who was celebrating mostly, some others were even crying for their lives, the crimson-eyed assassin attempted to make her way back to the teleporter. Getting back into grinding would be difficult, but she could do it. Just needed to take a rest after that.

This game was becoming more and more boring by the second. If hadn't been for the bluff of getting experience from this event, she might have left already. She was already here and if most of the highest leveled players were going to be dying here, hell she might as well throw herself into the fire. She watched as countless players did countless things to appease or retaliate against the bosses invincible fool proof strategy. She herself had seen enough of this bull. Her saya appeared in her hand which quickly housed it's curved blade once again.

Watching the HP of every single soul in this fight drop further and further was painful, even for the player who rarely cared about anyone's feelings but her own. The frantic hopes and fears of every other person fighting for their freedom was something to admire, however. Was making an attack even worth it at this point?

[No Action]

Name: Rout
Profession/Rank: Performer/2
IDs[CD/LD]: 153801[9/17]
Item Type: Debuff Song
Tier: 1
Quality: Uncommon
Enhancements: Hypnosis 1[Masterpiece]
Description: A short piano song play by Shay herself. When played near monsters, they find it hard to focus on the fight.
Post Link: [Here]

Day 10

(1)Fail: 0
(2)Salvage(LD:6+): 3
(3)Uncommon: 1
(5)Rare: 0
(8)Perfect: 0

EXP: 9+12; Total: 128+21= 149
Custom Ambition Tool: +1 EXP; ATP bonus: +2 EXP, +5 to Salvage attempt