Shirogane

Shirogane giggled at the mention of beautiful woman. Plini seemed like the serious type and she wonders if he was the kind to invest some time meeting one. "Now that sounds like a nice way to get out, I know we are all trapped in here like-" she thought hard for a second at what to use as analogy, twirling some kind of pen she held "-I guess we'll go with mice."

"It has its benefits but don't let senpai's suggestions cloud your goals for this expedition we're planning." Crozeph's store looked really empty, Plini seemed to picked up the alchemist profession with no interest in opening an alchemy store. 

"Please? I'd like to explore with you two around!"

"I think that's a good idea too senpai, that would make things easier or Plini"  she seconded the notion of her boss. Technically, she's working or Crozeph, she didn't have any profession chosen at the moment unlike Crozeph and Plini. She may have engrossed herself with arranging the few items that the owner of Night's Watch has but she can only do so much before she reaches boredom. Having an alchemist and a merchant with her is one of the great things she can apply her niche, that is managing the shop.

Since Crozeph sucks at the customer service aspect of his shop.

She held a makeshift clipboard with her hand and a pen she got from the twins who are Crozeph's informant, crafty little fellas. "It would be great if we can help you with the gathering somehow Plini."

"Nothing we can't handle?" Shirogane blurted as if she heard something absurd but then again, Crozeph was always leaning to being absurd. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea to just go out of the shop and swing their weapons like sticks with the new systems. She remembered how freaked out she would be whenever big game patches arrive. Expansions, patches, and DLCs were always enough to make her feel uncomfortable.

She looked at them both, two guys who seem to be close to reaching a conclusion to this conversation. "That's it, even though this is kind of a new thing to me I can still work this out with them tagging along" she thought. Crozeph was already familiar, Plini picks things up fast even though Crozeph's vocabulary was weird. She knew she had to play a role but she wasn't sure what it would be with them.

"I wonder how I could help..."

Shirogane learned a lot of things just from the first exchange of information, it now feels more MMO than before and somehow when Plini mentioned about the skills, she began scrolling to her skills menu and indeed saw some extra skill points available for her "y-you're right! maybe I should reset my points into something-" she looked at the other part of it "Extra skills are limited to tier, does this mean if Plini and I try to get some extra skills in the future we can't use them all?" she asked Crozeph.

As of now, she and Plini hadn't crossed the second tier yet. It was because they got held up by so many things but it should be changed or else they'll get left behind Crozeph. "The two of us don't have those extra levels that Plini talks about so I'm guessing you know what those are senpai." she asked him, she knew little and Plini knew a little more than her based on his observations so Crozeph would likely know more on stuff, he was observant yet he also kept things to himself unless someone asks him.

She liked the pat on her head, it felt weird and nice at the same time. They hardly knew each other  when it comes to who is who but she saw how Crozeph and Plini were sensible enough to actually start a serious conversation. Of course a few weird things would be uttered by her senpai and Plini's blunt and honest remarks would surface but she knew that these two will get things done if needed be.

Shirogane made her way to the table too looking at Crozeph who was coughing after she thigh slammed his face on his own tea. "I-I Shirogane Chosa will facilitate the first meeting of... er, what should we call ourselves?" she asked Crozeph. There were three of them, five if she counts the twin informants of Crozeph. Ren and Rin would pop out from time to time back when Crozeph employed them to look for Plini. 

"This meeting aims to discuss the following" Shirogane did her best to make it sound a little formal "For some reason, Plini and I got pulled in a storm of shadows. It was weird because it looked and felt like a dream yet when all of us woke up-" she looked at Crozeph "we all sort of knew that it was real too and what's more, our stats and skills were reset." 

"So if Plini's hunch was right, then senpai knows more than the two of us. I'll ask the first question now so we can get started. Why does it feel like we all went changes? even senpai returned to his black hair. What did the storm do to the rest of the players? was there casualties?"  she looked at them both and then began to introduce herself.

"M-my name is Shirogane Chosa, I'm built to be a tank with a little mobility, I-I like fluffy creatures."

She wasn't prepared for it, seeing the two of them safe. At first she felt anxious, Plini was left in her care by Crozeph and then all of a sudden they get separated without knowing what happened to each other. Now her senpai is here making his way back to the kotatsu and pouring tea on his cup while Plini stood by the door holding his boots looking at the two girls who are Crozeph's informants. 

"I'm so glad... I'm so glad you're safe!" Shirogane rushed forward and jumped over Crozeph, she couldn't contain the happiness of knowing that she didn't place someone in the hands of death. Her jump was a bit weak though as her right thigh struck Crozeph slamming his mouth to his tea cup faster than he wanted.

She wrapped her arms around Plini and squeezed him tight "don't worry Plini, your senpai is here. We won't be separated again I promise. I won't watch you fight alone again I-" she looked at Crozeph who was coughing as he choked on his tea "I, um, sorry."

How long has it been? months? a year? or just a few days. As her back lay on the wooden floor, the girl seemed to be lost in her own thought of what to do. There was that time where they all sort of got caught inside a storm. It felt like a dream to her and it happened while her and a really handsome guy was killing some boars. She turned herself sideways and stared at the window. It looked like it was night time outside but the thing is...

I am in Yomi, what a really gloomy place"

She bolted up and sat slowly, her hair covering one of her eyes. The lanterns of the room gave enough light to show her lilac hair. "I am now living in a room my senpai bought, just above his shop" she thought. After the stormy dream, Shirogane found herself within the ground of Yomi, villagers looked at her with weird eyes, it must've been the thigh highs and armor that made them feel weird. The first thing she did was search for the Night's Watch, a shop owned by her "senpai" a guy who seems to know an awful lot but Shirogane always sees him doing dumb things. Fast forward to the current time, now she's resting inside the comfort of his home just above his house. It had the basic necessities but she felt a bit lonely living alone. 

As she folded her legs and wrapped her arms around it, Shirogane gave it more thought as to what she should do "I should visit Alca and Jeca but they already sent me a message that they're doing fine. Maybe I should look for Plini, he must've fallen somewhere unsafe. I already told senpai of what happened and he told me to stay calm. What should I do-" as Shirogane continued to fall deep into anxiety, she heard a knock from downstairs. "Ah! senpai must've found something about Plini, I should prepare so we can search for him!" 

The quickly changed from her purple kimono into an armor that she wore when she landed on Yomi, she moved as if she was a firefighter wearing gear and it look less than a minute for her to don everything and quickly picked up her spear leaning on a wall and ran down the stairs. To her suprise, there were two person on the table in the shop of her senpai.

"Y-You two...."

Current Level: 10
Current SP: 22
Link to SP Tracking: [link]
Item Upgrades:

Notes:

RP

ID: 187424 BD: 9 [critical success]
Shirogane dealt 3+1=4 damage to Boar Pup

Plini | HP: 74/80 | EN: 4/8 | ACC: 0 | DMG: 2 | EVA: 2 | MIT: 9 | LD: 1
Shirogane HP: 199/200 I EN: 8/20 I DMG: 3 I ACC: 1 I EVA: 0 I MIT: 17 I TRNS: 1

Boar Pup 1/5 | DMG: 3

Shirogane was almost ready to attack when she saw him flinch "hey, are you- nevermind" she said. Plini seemed fine except that he lost the chance to deal damage with how powerful the charge was to make him flinch. She held her spear tight as she watched, Plini moving and dodging while dealing attacks at the same time, it was as if he's controlling the pace of the battle despite getting pushed back earlier.

"He does seem to know how to handle his weapon, it's just weird that it's a vanity one" she thought. Most of the players she sees has a well crafter weapon, loaded with enhancements that gives them an edge either on farming or fighting powerful creatures. Plini was different or rather the first one she saw as different, his weapon was a normal one yet he handles it with enough grace. "I wonder what his reasons are for having an equip like that."

Shirogane lowered her spear a soon as she saw the boar die. "Are you ok? w-well you seem to have taken less damage so keep at it" she told him. The girl opened her inventory to see if she had something that could help Plini but unfortunately she was less equipped for this. She took a deep breath and looked at the player. Plini's playstyle was quite fascinating. Incorporating fencing with his sword arts despite his low-level, Shirogane wouldn't suprised with Crozeph actually doing kendo moves because his level speak of it but for Plini.

"He seems to know a lot of stuff but lacks practice of it. This virtual world must've been a nice practice ground for things he read" she thought. His build leans to being nimble too, lightweight over heavy attacks. "I can do that also with my spear but I'm planning to switch it with martial arts so-" she saw another boar approaching, tusks sharp as a newly-sharpened pencil.

"O-Ok but are you sure?" she asked as Plini laid down another plan for them. A threatening pose was enough for Plini to gain the attention of a boar roaming. It was probably her imagination but the player just did what seemed to be a fencing stance. "He knows fencing? or maybe he was just letting the sword art flow like one" she thought. It was kinda subtle unlike how she sees her senpai unleash attacks with references to kendo. 

She held her spear tight as Plini and the boar clashed, it ended quickly though as Plini remains true to his goal. "Step in when things get ugly just like he said" she thought. She kept her breath steady and held her spear in a defensive stance "the first thing to do is defend him from any fatal attacks" she wasn't sure if that can happen seeing as Plini seemed good at counter-attacks "built like a solo player, or a scout" she uttered.

[Shirogane stands ready]

"Pin it down then!" Shirogane shifted the weight of her spear downwards sending the tusk of the boar to the ground. Since a lot of force was applied the tusk buried itself easily "persistence ends here" she uttered before slicing at the neck of the boar with her spear. The attack was rather too effective as it killed the creature so quick "a-a critical hit?!" she thought.

It seemed like a splendid attack but she had other worries, now both of them might end up in a stalemate of tactics. "I can't tank it because my armor itself can kill them so..." she couldn't think of a way "come one Shiro, think of a plan. Don't look dumb on him" she thought as she scratched her head. Plini seemed attentive and she thought that it wouldn't take long before the guy finds out that they'll be having a hard time gathering tusks.

ID: 183463 BD: 10 [critical success] MD: 2 [fail]
Shirogane dealt 3+2=5 damage to Boar Pup C

Plini | HP: 80/80 | EN: 8/8 | ACC: 0 | DMG: 2 | EVA: 2 | MIT: 0 | LD: 1
Shirogane HP: 199/200 I EN: 10/20 I DMG: 3 I ACC: 1 I EVA: 0 I MIT: 17 I TRNS: 1

Boar Pup HP: 0/5
Boar Pup A I HP: 0/5
Boar Pup B I HP: 0/5
Boar Pup C I HP 0/5
Boar Pup D I HP 0/5

"Ok!" she exclaimed. Plini was right, there was no need to waste energy gathering a lot of boar pups. Lure one and let Plini take the last hit, that way she won't be wasting a lot of energy for AoE attacks.  Shirogane synched her movement with the remaining boar pup who charged at her. She still had the aggro and it would mean Plini can land a hit after it attacks her

The tip of her naginata clashed with the tusk, she aimed just right to stop it from skewering her but at the same time it was rendering her attack useless. The moment she shift her weight is the moment she loses the chance to land a successful attack. The clash continued and she was hoping she could chip away half of its health.

ID: 183386 BD: 4+1= 5 [fail] MD: 3 [fail]

 Plini | HP: 80/80 | EN: 8/8 | ACC: 0 | DMG: 2 | EVA: 2 | MIT: 0 | LD: 1
Shirogane HP: 199/200 I EN: 10/20 I DMG: 3 I ACC: 1 I EVA: 0 I MIT: 17 I TRNS: 1

Boar Pup HP: 0/5
Boar Pup A I HP: 0/5
Boar Pup B I HP: 0/5
Boar Pup C I HP 5/5
Boar Pup D I HP 0/5

"Eh?" Shirogane almost lost track of their current objective. If Plini didn't have an AoE attack then she would have to deal with it all. Not that it would be a danger, she had enough defense. "O-Ok change of plans, I will attract two more but that's it then you try to deal with them one by on..." Shirogane got flustered. It felt like Plini was relying on her when it comes to strategy but now she can't think of what to do other than attract more mobs.

A boar pup charged at her but she managed to dodge it, it was a fortunate thing she could still move away from their attacks. She wasn't scared of the damage they could deal, she was worried that her thorns might kill them off.

Then her worries came true as if it was an unwanted wish granted

The boar pup from earlier and the last one she struck charged towards her. She raised her arms to guard her chest, using her spear to push them back "oh no..." her thorns began kicking in and it was strong enough to obliterate the two boar pups "I-I'm sorry Plini I didn't mean to..." she pointed her spear at the remaining boar pup in front of her "stay away! l-let Plini land the killing blow!" she yelled.

Shirogane used <<Sonice Charge>>
ID:182948 BD: 1 [fail] MD: 5 [fail]
ID:182949 BD: 6+1=7 [success] MD: 7 [success]
ID: 182950 MD: 7 [success]
Shirogane dealt 3 damage to Boar Pup D
Boar Pup D dealt 3 - 17 MIT = 1 damage to Shirogane
Boar Pup D is damaged by thorns [9 dmg]
Boar Pup B dealt 1 damage to Shirogane
Boar Pup B is damaged by thorns [9 dmg]

Plini | HP: 80/80 | EN: 8/8 | ACC: 0 | DMG: 2 | EVA: 2 | MIT: 0 | LD: 1
Shirogane HP: 199/200 I EN: 10/20 I DMG: 3 I ACC: 1 I EVA: 0 I MIT: 17 I TRNS: 1

Boar Pup HP: 1/5
Boar Pup A I HP: 0/5
Boar Pup B I HP: 0/5
Boar Pup C I HP 5/5
Boar Pup D I HP 0/5

Shirogane saw Plini dash off to face a boar pup, she wasn't expecting him to be that nimble. She followed him, her naginata ready in action "I'll try to take on two of them, you can try to finish them off with an AoE attack" she told him. It was the least of her problem now, she raised her defenses high enough to be able to take less damage from these kinds of mobs. 

She pointed her spear forward, grasping it with both hands aimed at two boar pups who came to the rescue of the one Plini attacked. "This is trouble if thy gang up on him" she thought. Shirogane jumped forward and as soon she landed, she pivoted her hips and spun around. The tip of the naginata struck the two boar pups, now she caught their attention. The two mobs attacked but Shirogane was able to fend them off as they charged towards her "now finish them of Plini."

ID: 182876 BD: 6 + 1 = 7 [success] MD: 1 [fail]
ID: 182877 BD: 5 + 1 = 6 [success] MD: 2 [fail]
Shirogane dealt 3 damage to Boar Pup A & B

Plini | HP: 80/80 | EN: 8/8 | ACC: 0 | DMG: 2 | EVA: 0 | MIT: 0 | LD: 1
Shirogane HP: 200/200 I EN: 15/20 I ACC: 1 I EVA: 0 I MIT: 17 I TRNS: 1

Boar Pup A I HP: 2/5
Boar Pup B I HP: 2/5

Shirogane drew nearer, she wasn't sure what to say to him. "I need to say something nice before he sees that I'm nervou..." she was surprised to see Plini stretch out his hand. He even followed it with a bit of advice with his calm voice. Shirogane nodded, took a deep breath, and shook his hand "nice to meet you too, I'm Shirogane" she then held her spear and placed it behind her, mimicking his gesture of strapping his weapon behind. "I think you have an idea now of what we are going to do right?" she asked him. 

For some reason, she felt at ease despite the sharp look in his eyes  "I guess I misunderstood senpai's description of him, he is trying to make the most of his time with how he looks at me" she thought. The open field was littered with boars, the numbers enough for them to take them down one by one and have less worries of getting too much aggro "so what do you have in mind? do you have some sort of plan?" she asked him.

"Right, I just have to help him gain some levels then we go to Nature's treasure quest" Shirogane played the same sentence inside her head over and over again so that she wouldn't lose cool in front of the new guy in their team. It wasn't a hard quest either, they were gonna do the boar quest. For her, it would be another time to face her fear of killing animals despite them being mobs inside a game. Crozeph already told her of his initial impression of Plini "the guy is a bit on the calculative side, he listens intently and he seems to not like wasting time doing things that aren't giving merit" Shirogane sighed "so he's a serious type, I don't know..."  she walked towards the location that they agreed upon while she was cooking in the kitchen of Crozeph's store "I'm used to senpai being serious but I don't know if I can handle another who seems to be worse than him" she uttered.

It would be an easy quest, not sure if she can at least give a good impression at him.

Stats:
HP: 200/200 I EN: 20/20 I DMG: 3 I ACC: 1 I EVA: 0 I MIT: 17 I TRNS: 1
Equips:
Ko-Naginata [DMG II] I Armor of The Sands [thorns I/MIT II] I Belladona Haircomb [ACC I/LD I] I Shielder gloves [vanity]
Skills:
2HAS [R1] I Heavy Armor [R2]

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Shirogane tried her best to remain calm. While the armor did cover her down like a skirt, she still finds it hard to get used to wearing something like it. "Agh! I can't take it anymore" she opened her inventory and took out a pair of thigh-high socks and wore it as quick as she can while trying to catch up with Crozeph who seemed to be absorbed into finding the quest giver "he doesn't really care whether a girl is showing skin or not, maybe he's just trying to hide it" it was weird for her also, other players they passed by looked at her as if they're about to break their neck and Shirogane was getting more conscious of it "I don't want to complain more since he said he got in from a quest, it probably was a dangerous one considering..." she looked at its enhancements "...it's really for my tier," she thought.

Shirogane took a deep breath and ran towards Crozeph, catching up with him, she asked if they are already near "Do we kill something again? I can handle it much better now. I watched Jeca kill some high-level boar so I could probably take it on some on my level" she told him as she tried covering her legs while walking.

Shirogane almost forgot the armor, back when the Tanabata event ran its course, Crozeph was already handing it to her and for some reason, they sort of forgot about it. She could still remember how Pramanix pulled her away from the hole made by Skalaugh and its minions. I haven't thanked you for that, keeping me safe despite us not together that event. I hope that even with Skalaugh ruining the rest of the evening you had a great time with your girlfriend" she told him as she took the armor and equipped it.

From a glance, it looked like an armor with an almost jet-black color but it glimmered as if it had a violet hue in it "where'd you get this armor? this looks really wonderful" she said as she equipped it on herself. The armor materialized on her body as an armor that covers her whole body up to half-length of her thighs while a violet robe covered her back. Her arms were exposed and she felt comfortable moving both. The thighs, however, Shirogane was flustered and she began flailing "why are my thighs exposed?! you d-did this on purpose!?" she gasped she pulled the robe tied on her waist and covered herself "t-this is embarrassing! how dare you make me wear this" she told him.

Stats update
Level 10
HP: 200/200 I EN: 20/20 I DMG: 6 I MIT 30 I ACC: 1 I EVA: 0 I TRN: 9 
Equips:
Ko-naginata [DMG II] I Armor of the Sands [Thorns I/MIT II] I Belladonna hair comb [ACC I/LD I]
Skills:
2HAS [R1] I Heavy Armor [R2] 

"Let me go!let me go!" she tried to run as Crozeph held the collar of her armor "I want to kick back and enjoy the weather!" she added. It's not like Shirogane is lazy, just that Crozeph chose the wrong day to actually persuade her to finish the quest. It looked like a child throwing a tantrum or worse, some guy is forcing his way into a girl who is desperately trying to escape. Him telling her that he'll whip the lass to shape was not helping either "help! this guy is trying to whip and train me to do some really hard things!" she uttered as she tried to break free but Crozeph's grip was too strong for her. Passers-by are already looking at them suspiciously, it couldn't be reinforced however with how they're doing it in public.

Then his last sentence caught her off guard.

Shirogane stopped struggling as soon as she heard him talk about a boss battle. "I-I'm sorry..." she told him "I never thought it would happen this soon, I only hear of how scouts were almost killed looking for the boss room and it caused for some delay just to prepare," she told him. The atmosphere turned gloomy but Shirogane won't that happen all day. She slapped both her cheeks and puffed it up to hype her "ok, I don't want to worry you about me, let's get this done senpai" she told him.

"It's a nice day to just sit somewhere grassy and enjoy the weather setting for today..." she said as she stood at a road. It was indeed a nice day for the Town of Beginnings and Shirogane must've felt the need to partake in such a chance given to her "...but no! we have to train me so that I can be ready for some quest!" she yelled beside the person with him. The bright sunny day turned into a heated afternoon with no relation to time with how Crozeph bugged her about doing the third quest. She began pulling on her hair as if she didn't want to do it right now "look senpai!"  she grabbed his head trying to show him the grassland before them "do you really want to waste the day looking for something or killing Poar Bups?" she asked. Turning around, Shirogane was ready to make a run for it "Town of Beginnings I'm going to relax today and do that quest some other time!" she uttered with enthusiasm.

Level 10
HP: 200/200 I EN: 20/20 I DMG: 6 I MIT 21 I ACC: 1 I EVA: 0 
Equips:
Ko-naginata [DMG II] I O-Yoroi [HM I/MIT I] I Belladonna hair comb [ACC I/LD I]
Skills:
2HAS [R1] I Heavy Armor [R2] 

Looking for Mari might have to wait as Shirogane stood by the bamboo tree to hang her tanzaku "I'm just going to annoy her if I keep on following" she thought as one by one she tied the papers to the tree. "I wonder if all these will be granted" most of it is wishful thinking and others are for the motivation of goals and Shirogane is satisfied by the outcome of what she wrote, "now if only I could grab some food and return to senpai's shop then I'll be good to go."

Crozeph offered his shop as a place to stay for Shirogane, despite the warning of it being gloomy as hell. Shirogane took the offer and managed to stay at the back of it while Crozeph kept on visiting and dumping materials from his travels. A few visitors and some walks on other settlements made her feel satisfied and add to that the times when Jeca and her guild would invite Shirogane for dinner.

"I should try some takoyaki and go to sleep, maybe senpai will bug me tomorrow about doing a quest." For all she knows Crozeph might be spending his time with his girlfriend "heh, I'm sure she's the one dragging that asocial person here" she thought. Shirogane held together her palms and closed her eyes "may all these wishes come true" she uttered.

[Shirogane hangs tanzaku]

"Sounds like you got your hands full right now, I may not know you much but I'm sure you'll be fine," she told Mari. Shirogane was quite adept at it, managing but never when it comes to people. She might be on the social side of things but Shirogane never imagined herself doing what Mari does. "It's quite easy to manage resources when the game is providing enough system for us to use but I'm not sure it's that easy to manage guild members, I get easily intimidated by people who are a bit loud," she said as she continues to write down her wishes.

Back when she was labeled as a "gamer" Shirogane never saw herself handling guild members. She knew her limitations and her altruistic nature is at most taken advantage of. With that in mind, she resigned herself to taking on tasks that filter the kind of people she meets online. "Though sometimes I can't help it, people need help and while I want to, things get really tough for me," she said while looking at her tanzaku. Her time spent inside the settlement living in fear of the monsters outside was enough to drag her lower and now that Crozeph is helping her, Shirogane's urges to help others is slowly making its way back to the surface "if you ever need help, I can try to add a helping hand" she told her. Soon enough she was following Mari as she told her she'll hang the tanzaku. "I'll be right behind you," she told Mari while showing the sweetest smile she could do. Shirogane followed while she continues to ponder the last two wishes she'll tag along with Mari's.

What would you wish for someone you would like to know better?

What would you wish for yourself?

Maybe she was so absorbed to her writing the wishes, Shirogane gave the papers a smile and looked up, only to find out that she lost Mari even in a not so thick crowd, she went the wrong way as she turned her head and saw the bamboo tree on a different direction "um, Mari-senpai where are you?" she asked but it seems she has to find her now.

@Mari