Shay

Shay took hold of the fishing rod for Chase and sat in the front. "Nope." She said as she cast the line into the water when they were far enough out.  She watched the line sink into the water with the bobber floating upon the surface peacefully.

She sat quietly for a moment, watching the bobber intently. When Chase spoke up, she finally spoke again, after some thought on the subject. "If I remember correctly, there is a really long quest line that involves dragons in the came. You can't really rule out anything not existing in this game because nine times out of ten they are. Just about anything fantasy themed is going to show up here. As long as it's not magical."

Her attitude seemed to have finally mellowed now that they've had a moment of peace away from the fighting. She was looking rather bored already, not even taking her eyes off the fishing line to speak with the boy.

"Tanking can be difficult-" She stopped herself. She just offered him which he would like to do, so it wasn't best to go straight for his throat or anything anymore. "But, so is having the courage to leave the Town of Beginnings and actually do something. We'll get you some gear to make you able to take a hit and I'll invest in skills that help you do just that."

As the two rounded the lake, fish continued to jump from the surface and splash right back down into it. She wondered if the old man had ordered a fishing pole from the artisan Hannah was now going to want them to help him catch some stupid fish. If so that, would be so predictable that even Shay saw it coming. They would end this quest line here right? Just finish the delivery and go home? As they finished the delivery, he offered them to help do exactly that.

What the fuck.

"You wont die, and neither will I." The girl said with certainty. She folded her arms as well, hoping they would reach their next destination soon. "We're going to make our builds revolve around keeping each other alive. One of us picks up supportive skills and the other picks up some tanking skills. With that on top of our damage, we'll be extremely hard to kill for any boss in the game. Nothing will ever threaten us, even as solo players."

As they continued to walk, the lake where Ol' Pete was came into view, they would have to walk around to other side to reach the pier however, and it probably wouldn't be the best idea to wade through a lake of mobs. "There's the old codger that Hannah wanted you to find it looks like. Let's head over there and get a move on. Like I said, the more time that we spend standing around is more time wasted."

"Im aware, again." The rogue replied, the same answer he had gotten earlier. She knew full well that she had a stubborn and harsh way of viewing things and dealing with other people. She was hardly taught how to socialize with anything. After her parents passed, she didn't really have much interaction with anyone whatsoever. She just reclused into her home and wallowed in the inheritance that they had left her with. Made it difficult to move on with life when you were completely loaded with no connections.

"Once we get done with this, there's only three other quests that I've completed that you haven't. We'll go do them cause they're easy to do and it'll get you caught up with me. I need you to be around my level if we're going to be playing together. I don't want to have to worry about you dying because your a lower level or something."

Shay wasn't even worried about her level at this point. Worrying too much about what levels you gained only slowed down your progress. It was like counting your footsteps as you walked. It gave you a good sense of progress, but it inevitably made the journey feel longer than you expected. That being said, she needed to open her menu to check the level.

"Looks like the last quest we did allowed me to reach level 16, hence why I couldn't undertake this one. This quest and the next one require you to be level 15 or below. This is the exact reason that I told you why you needed to do these annoying quests first. If you didn't you would be wasting the total experience you gain like I did." She was trying to put it in a way her would understand without using too many exclusive terms to gaming. Hopefully he was catching it all.

Shay looked up to the giant concrete pillar and nodded. "That's where the floor boss room is. The front liners go inside them when they go to clear the floor then walk straight into the next floor." She explained, not going too into detail on what happens in them. If she knew herself, it would be easier to explain but she's never been inside of one so she can't say much more.

"If you want to be on the front lines, you'll go in one when you gain enough levels to get there. From what I know right now, the front lines is currently around the level of 60+ so I'm not sure if we'll be able to catch up in a timely fashion." She shrugged a bit. She wasn't that worried about joining the front lines yet, that was for sure. She would just keep doing quests to level up, then when she was there, she was there. It made enough sense to her.

"Good job." The girl said somewhat plainly. It wasn't that she wasn't impressed or anything, it was just what she had expected from him. Any one could be a force to be reckoned with in this world given the time and determination. Even someone who had no idea how to hold a sword correctly could still swing it and kill shit. ChaseR was a good example of this, but he'd only just begun. Soon, he'll be someone people will respect and fear.

By now, the music crystal shattered on the ground and the music stopped. He should have the item in his inventory now so all they had to do was return to the quest giver and give her the item so she can tell them to deliver another stupid package to another NPC for no reason whatsoever. "Come on. No time to stand on ceremony, we have to keep leveling you up." She said starting to make her way out of the cave.

"Bosses are monsters that are stronger than normal monsters. They usually have special abilities, high health pools and damage and maybe certain mechanics that you have to follow. This boss does a lot of damage on his first attack, so I wont be fighting, but I'll be using an item for you. It will lower the creature's ability to dodge. Since you'll be fighting in low light, it best to have whatever advantage that you can." Shay took the duo to entrance of the cave, holding her black cube that contained the music crystal in her hand. She tossed the item up into the air and caught it looking into the dark cave. She beckoned him ahead of her.

"If I attack it with something strong, I might kill it, so don't rely on me." The cave was insanely small, it was more of a tiny coven to be honest. The golem was pretty easy to spot, since y'know it's just standing in the middle of the open section of cave. The girl stepped into the cavern, of to the side as not to interfere with the battle and tossed the crystal onto the group between both of the combatants. A soft tune of piano played through the crystal, seeming to affect the golem in some way.

"Enjoy the music"

Using Lullaby 1 on Cave Guardian. -1 EVA

ChaseR |

Cave Guardian | 20/20 | DMG: 50/5 | EVA: -1

Calming herself be she got too annoyed the girl continued on the way. They were close to Hannah's location by now.

"My house is really just apart of my shop. I sleep in a hammock in a loft. Perhaps I'll let you come over some time and show you how Performer crystal are created. I have one in my inventory right now that is going to help you fight this next boss. There is also an item that you got from the second lesson. Should be a potion that will protect you from a single attack once you take a hit. This boss does about ten times the damage on his first attack that hits, so make sure that you drink it."

She was talking much more than she had wanted to, but it was all so necessary. Is this really what having friends was like? Man was it stressful.

Shay pinched the bridge of her nose again. There was still so much he didn't know and she was sure that he would annoy her about it. However, it was necessary that he know these things if he wanted to get stronger. At least he figured up something to go with.

"Players can invest in gaining a job that lets them create either consumables or equipment. For example, I am a performer. I can create debuffing crystals that lower monster's stats on use. Don't ask how they work, its just a game thing. If it doesn't sound correct then it's a 'game-thing'. Stop thinking that this world is anything like the real one. Nothing that makes sense here makes sense there."

With that out of the way, she continued. "Professions are those jobs yes. Likewise, Col isn't so much money as they name for money. It's like Yen or US dollars. There is another form of currency by way of materials. They are a little more expensive than Col cause you need them to make items like you did in the first quest."

As Shay attempts to accept the next quest on her menu, the button denies her from accepting it. Her screen read 'You are too high a level to accept this quest.' A disgruntled groan escaped her lips as she closed it and the delivery box disappeared from her inventory.

"Looks like I've out leveled the quest. You might catch up to me here." She mentions with a shrug. "Oh well, it'd be better than me getting much stronger than you."

With the quest marker laying out their next objective, Shay sighed. "There's a way-point on our maps that will show us where she is. Not all quests have these, but it is meant to be for new players so they go easy on you."

Upon bringing up more terms, Shay wasn't sure where to begin. She knew most of them as any other words so it was weird to think right off the top of her head. "List the ones you don't know to me."

The rogue too dropped her materials in to the blacksmith's hand who had yet another task for them, they were to go and find another person and deliver a package to them. Typical starting quests for games like these. Shay normally skipped them, but these ones gave some decent experience and you needed all you could get in a death game like this.

"NPC is another bit of gamer lingo for characters that aren't real people. It stands for Non-Player Character. You and are known to the system as 'Player Characters', or PCs. Man, I really have to teach you more basic acronyms or people are going to give you weird looks." She shook her head and took the deliver box that they needed to take to the third lessons. The box flashed with light and disappeared to her inventory. Their next objective was to find a painter by the name of Hannah and deliver these stupid boxes. Easily done, until the NPC tasks them with killing something.

"A lot of people I've met have been from either Japan or America." Shay mentioned with a bit of shrug as the duo entered the safe zone of the Town of Beginnings. "I imagine it must have been difficult for the American players to have gotten a hold of Nervegears. They're not cheap whatsoever, even my bank account took a heavy toll." She stopped right there. This was most of the reason that she kept her stupid mouth quiet. No one needs to know that you're rich Junko.

"As for the tusks, they'll probably just go back into the system and cease to exist. Think of it more like this though. The Tusks get molded down into experience for us as a reward for completing the quest. Getting hung up on things with NPCs aren't really important. They system respawns them and such. They're just data like all the other things in the game. They only thing that makes them different from random mobs and bosses is that they don't attack you on sight." Shay didn't sound harsh when she said this, only such like that's the way it was.

Shay followed behind that boy a step or two, he seemed to be taking the lead back, so she didn't mind it. They were somewhat quiet for a minute until the boy stopped in front of her. He was frozen up for a second before turning and pointing at her for some reason.

"You're Japanese?" Was her Japanese speech not enough to give that away? Maybe he took a wild guess when he reacted to her thanks for food. Her arms folded over her chest as she responded. "Hai, yoroshiku." She said plainly with a slight wave. "Was it not apparent? Perhaps you just aren't very well versed in Asian languages. My apologies."

After that, she continued to walk towards town, beckoning him to follow. There was no time to be dawdling when they could be leveling, after all. Any wasted time talking about irrelevant things was time they could be using to kill a boss.

Shay ate the bread much more quickly than Chase may have expected, having finished even before he got to the halfway point. Once it was downed, she took a moment continue resting, picking the crumbs off her face with her fingers and tossing them into the grass. It was pretty apparent at this point that the girl was something of a glutton when it came to foods.

"Gochisousama deshita." She said, looking over at him, hoping her may understand enough of her native tongue to know what the words meant and hoping that he wouldn't get mad since she had forgotten to say ittadakimasu before she started. With her hunger satisfied for the moment, she had to wonder what would be on their agenda after all these beginner quests. She had already completed the Hoya herself, and the Wind Wasp, but she might have to take him through those so he can get the experience as well. Those fights were so easy, even someone like him could handle it.

As he concluded the trade, a flash of light summoned a piece of bread into the girl's hand. It looked like random vanity food that one could get from an NPC shop, or something that an aspiring cook player made. They didn't necessarily taste the best, but they satisfied the stomach at the least.

"Sure." She said closing her menu and taking a seat in the grass with her katana laying next to her, ready to get back into battle again should they need to protect themselves with anything. The rogue bit into the bread, not really seeming to mind that the bread was completely stale and not as pleasant as her regular cook makes. Food is food after all, and Shay was hardly picky about what she ate. As long as it didn't taste like absolute barf, that's all that really mattered. She was still really quiet, only really seeming to reply to direct questions.

Shay stopped and looked the boy in the eyes. Everything was so simple to anyone who had ever touched a game was completely unapparent to this boy. He must really have zero experience with gaming. For what reason would he get a hold of such an expensive console and game then?

After a moment, she opened her menu. Her dominant hand waved down in front of her, pulling up the stats menu. "Head to items. Scroll over the item that you wish to trade and hold it with you finger. A sub window will pop open that allows you do things with it. Usually it's 'Equip/use', 'trade' and 'discard'. I heard there a few items that you can 'Copy' too such as keys to houses, but I'm not sure about that one. I spoke fast, did you catch that?"

She asked looking though her opaque menu at him, her crimson eyes piercing the faded transparency.

With the only pup remaining being the only one she needed, Shay quickly activated another sword art and killed the last remaining boar. After confirming the kill on the last boar had net her the tusk, she quickly moved out of the battle radius next to ChaseR. "All done. Good job, let us head back to Lyle and turn the quest in." Shay said as she started to take the lead ahead of him back towards the town of beginnings. That had gone much more smoothly than it did the last time. Thanks to actually having access to an area of effect sword art in her katana kit rather than having to use a curved blade.

Just as she was coming out of hiding to start leveling again, a new friend had been found. This boy showed a lot of promise compared to someone with a lot ego who already knew the game. Being able to teach him is better than getting a cocky upstart of a player following her around. Though, they may have to multi-class a little if they want to see effectiveness in combat together.

Shay | HP: 287/300 | EN: 20/30 | DMG: 7 | LD: 4 | ACC: 1 | BLD: 12 | REC: 2

Boar Pup 1: 5/5 | DMG 3

[3/3] Tusks
 

"Great job." The rogue offered a smile as he took a breath. "Now wait righ there, I need to collect my own and only need two more. It shouldn't take me too long."

When she stopped speaking, more boar pups entered the battle field. Since they're new ones, they wont attack ChaseR unless he enters combat. The rogue took hold of her blade, reading herself for a fight. Some crappy mobs like this wouldn't threaten her.

The redness covered her blade once more as the boars approached her. With slices more precise and clean than the eye can follow, Shay eliminates each and every target with swift strikes. Except for one, which jumped and hit her dead in the stomach. The damage was still minimal. "Only one more tusk to go now. This should be rather easy, but still it continues to be difficult with me." She complains as more boars join the fight.

Shay | HP: 287/300 (-5) | EN: 25/30 -(5) | DMG: 7 | LD: 4 | ACC: 1 | BLD: 12 | REC: 2

Boar Pup 1: 5/5 | DMG 3
Boar Pup 2: 5/5 | DMG 3
Boar Pup 3: 5/5 | DMG 3
Boar Pup 4: 5/5 | DMG 3

Shay summoned her blade from the ether in it's saya, holding it in her off hand as they walked into the wilds. The duo walked in the direction that the boar pups were located, it was easy since she had already been there once. "Explaining sword arts to their deep core is irrelevant. Just remember two important things: Using a sword art increases your damage at the cost of using more energy; and, some of them have special effects. You're gonna use an area of effect sword art here. It attacks multiple targets at once."

At that moment, a group of four boars spawned ahead of them, just out of detection radius. The dark-clad rogue unsheathed her blade and focused. "Put all of your focus into your weapon and let it build up until it's ready. Once it activates, the system will move your body for you." Soon, her katana lit up in a bright red color, humming with power. When the energy was stored the girl bounded forward with incredible speed.

Her blade released the red energy into the boar pups, killing two of them outright and dropping from one of them the tusk that she needed. The two that she missed jumped on her instantly, hitting her quite easily without her evasion gear on but doing minimal damage. Just as the first two died, two more boars joined the fray. "Take your time, I'll be alright."

Shay | HP: 292/300 (-8) | EN: 25/30 -(5) | DMG: 7 | LD: 4 | ACC: 1 | BLD: 12 | REC: 2
ChaseR |

Boar Pup 1: 0/5 | DMG 3
Boar Pup 2: 5/5 | DMG 3
Boar Pup 3: 5/5 | DMG 3
Boar Pup 4: 0/5 | DMG 3

ID#156055 drops 1 boar tusk. [1/3 tusks]

Boar Pup 5 & 6 join the fight in place of Boar Pup 1 & 4

"Of course I'm going to teach you how to use a sword." Shay said plainly popping the paste-mochi into her mouth. "I told you we're going to level together. We can't do that if you don't know how to fight. Unless you wanna learn how to tank or heal."

She didn't care what sort of build the blue-headed boy was going for, she knew how to build them all. Helping him find the right build that suited him was what she was good at. "In order to finish this quest, we have to kill boars and get their tusks to drop. It's not hard since this mochi we just ate will increase our luck stats for awhile."

She was sure that he wouldn't understand entirely how one could shift their luck like that, but it should be apparent enough that this is a video game where the laws of the realism didn't exist. "I'm going to teach you how to activate a sword art."

Shay's crimson eyes darted over to him when he brought up the notion of giving her something. He had an item that he wanted to give her? If it was the potion that he just made, she was going to be even more than pissed.

"Yeah sure, what is it?" She tried to relieve some of the growing tension in her tone as she spoke. Slowly the tenseness in her muscles faded and her facial features weren't as glowering as they were earlier. "I apologize for yelling at you the way I did earlier as well. I am not the best with choosing the correct words to satisfy others and I am usually pretty direct. I suggest that if you can't take my criticism, you learn how to deal with it or you don't party with me."

Blunt as ever, the raven-haired assassin was known for being a bit harsh. Years of being pent up and pampered by their family can really make for annoyed emotions.

Shay's frustration was hidden under the thick curtain of raven-strands. She just tried to get of the subject, but now he was rubbing it in, albeit unintentional, she can't help but let the stress of her grinding teeth take over.

"The system does most of the work." The girl finally barked out, not making any eye contact. "Crafting is a lot of luck and experience in the skill to create stuff. The first one has it's parameters lowered from what I know so that means that your luck was a little bit easier than what you would deal with when you actually learn the skill. That is, until you start leveling up."

She was doing her best not to show her frustration, but it was apparent in her voice now. She led the duo to the quest's end by way of the streets, only taking about ten minutes or so to reach their destination. "Here, give him the package so we can get you some gear and start the second quest.

Shay stood with her arms folded. She had been lucky to get even a few perfect crafts and yet he had nailed without hardly doing anything on his first try. For her, she had to learn how to play the damn piano for years just to undertake such a profession only to have her crystal shatter into pieces more times than she could count on five hands.

"G-Good job." She wasn't outwardly angry, but it was still annoying none the less.

"Oh before I forget, I have one more item on an agenda to take care of." The NPC lifted a box from behind the counter and put it down on the wood in front of ChaseR. "Could you please take this to a friend of mine by the name of Lyle. His blacksmith is a couple blocks away. I think your friend there might know where he is."

Shay sighs and beckons him to follow her.

Shay groaned a little as she realized she wasn't getting more than two measly materials to add to her waning supply. She had hoped to find more, but leveling was more important that crafting.

"Now we head back to the quest giver and he'll teach you how to do basic crafting. The system helps you, so you don't need to know how to actually do it." She explains. While heading back to the safe zone, she keeps any eye out for at least one more material but ultimately finds nothing.

It doesn't take long for them to make it back to the kindly alchemist that originally sent them on the fetch quest. Upon entering, he welcomes them back.

"Ah, you've returned, perfect timing! I've just arranged the alembic for use. Please, give it a go. It's not difficult at all. Just mix the materials into the alembic and watch them turn into a healing potion!"

Materials found: 0
Total: 2