ChaseR

It really didn't take too much longer of wandering about the forest, following the path and hoping for the best before it began to come into sight. The ancient ruins that he was told to look for the monsters in, they were finally appearing before him. It didn't seem to be the front entrance though, more so one of the many entrances a maze should have. Although with slight hesitation, he gripped his sword tighter and began to head on inside. He kept an eye on the ground for materials as always, but mostly kept his ears perked in hopes of listening to any approaching intruders.

"Yeah, they're weak compared to me. But combat is still something I'm not fully familiar with. It's hard to say I don't get agitated any or I don't go into fight or flight at the slightest hint of battle. Everything is going to go this way from here on out though, isn't it?", he pondered and kept a sharp glare on his face, making sure to be on his toes for the slightest indicator of a boss approaching him.

No materials found.

"I'll never manage to get used to this teleportation system to travel in between floors... It's so weird and feels so outlandish after having gotten used to the first floor for so long... Worst of all, you can't even tell you've moved until you open your eyes or notice the bright flash is over. I'll get used to it sooner or later, but... It's kind of nice, really. Having something new like this around, especially considering how much longer I'll be stuck here. It's been god knows how long and we're still on the twenty fourth floor, eh..? Long ways to go...", the bluehead rambled on inside his head, all the while keeping an eye out for any materials and picking them up if needed- if he found any in the first place.

"I'm definitely making it to help with the floor climbing though. That's for certain. Just gotta hang in there and get on with the groove of things. Until that's been done, let's focus on that alone.", he reassured himself, seeing the forest only grow denser with every step and the monsters start appearing less and less. Then again, maybe he just couldn't see them as much through the thick leafage.

No materials found.

As he'd entered deep inside the forest, enough that the entrance became hard to distinguish from any paths going further inside, he kept his guard up more than he'd ever had before. Most monsters around him were either watching carefully or ignoring him, deeming him too strong or careful to be ambushed successfully. Although he made sure not to trip anywhere and not to take his attention off of glaring at the enemies all around him too often, he did occasionally look down at the ground and let his eyes quickly scan for any materials that could be nearby.

Nothing was to be found so far, but that should come as no surprise. He was in a forest where he couldn't even spend enough time looking around to see if anything was worth of note in the first place. It was silent, the only noises around him being his own breathing, steps and the leaves of bushes and trees dropped on the path rustling.

No materials found.

Chase had been looking for quests that he could do on his own, asking around for people to learn how easy they were based on the numbers. After all, numbers seemed to be all in a game like this, in this virtual deathscape. According to the NPCs he'd asked before getting the quest flag- no, maybe even after... Regardless, based on what they had to say, its HP should be fairly low for him to be able to take it down in a few hits. Maybe a sword art or two, or a few basic attacks in between and he could do it. He wasn't quite certain what the quest needed him to do however.

"Let's see... I have to go to the forest alright... Let's start with that part. It's said that deep within, I should find a maze or something around those lines, and I have to defeat a Minotaur in it or whatever... Those greek beasts anyways. History came in handy after all.", the boy's inner monologue finished as he parted from the new town of the third floor, beginning to head outside of the safezone to the ancient forest with his sword at the ready for any encounter he were to face. He didn't want to be caught off guard, and especially wounded before he even got to what everybody referred to as the 'boss' fight.

What she had to say was interesting, to say the least. He'd thought that floors would indicate just how strong one would have to be to do anything in them, but quite the contrary... It got a sigh out of him, really. It was a system he couldn't understand or get behind, but at the same time one he never had to get behind in the first place. "I see... So it's really weird like that.", he mumbled lowly to himself and looked down at the ground with his eyebrows furrowed, keeping his arms crossed and tapping his foot silently. 

It was then that the exhaustion struck him and he began to feel more and more tired by the second. Maybe he'd pushed himself a bit too hard for a starter on the first day, seeing as the wave of fatigue struck him almost instantly and quite hard at that. "A-Ah, right. I'm beginning to feel tired, so... Should I send you a message tomorrow when I'm ready for the minotaur quest? Late morning, maybe?", the boy asked her with a sheepish smile, giving an awkward laugh. He wasn't too used to waking up early in the morning, and without an alarm clock around it'd be hard to keep track of when to wake up. At least for him. "I'll be crashing at the inn again, but... I should ask if I can sleep at her place tomorrow."

Chase grinned at the offer, although it did feel rather odd to be invited to her home no less than a day after they'd met. He'd probably take her up on the offer, but... The bluehead wanted some more time to pass, at least until he's equal to her in terms of strength. If everything kept going along at this pace, that wouldn't even be too far off from today. Maybe in... four, five or so days. He already wanted to head back to Urbus tomorrow, to check the shops and whatnot. "Of course. How many more quests are there to be done until we can move to the second floor?"

So far, they'd done all quests on the first floor of the game. If there were a total of twenty three of them though, he was certain that meant they'd slowly have to use the missions and climb further and further up ahead. In the end, they might end up in the frontlines much too quickly, provided they kept getting levels like so and finished quests like this, one after the other and in quick succession. But there was something that bothered him. "It's been god knows how long, and Shay is already more knowledgeable on the game than I am... But she still hasn't reached any higher levels. Why is that? Something must be wrong. It can't be this simple, I'm not too good or anything like that. So what is it?"

He didn't hear a response, but her not rushing forwards to finish the job was enough of an answer in and of itself. "Thanks.", the boy said with a quick look over his shoulder before he continued, lowering his sword to just above the ground and charging at the queen in order to give the final blow. As he jumped at it once more, he got a clean hit from the ground up to the insect, cutting all the way to just in the middle of its body before pulling his blade out only once he had practically cut it in half.

With that, he landed and kept his sword to the side, panting as he heard the body drop right behind him and disappear into blue fragments. It wasn't long before the loot window appeared in front of him, which got a small smile. He sheathed his sword once more, accepting the Stinger he'd gotten from the boss and turning around to look at Shay. "Now we just have to turn it in and we're going home for the day. Right?", he asked her happily, glad that he could land such a good hit without the game's system assisting him this time around. More than anything, his performance was astounding for the time being, and that made him glad enough on its own.

Chase: HP: 240/240 | EN: 18/24 (+1, -2, +2) | DMG: 8 | EVA: 1 | ACC: 3 | REC: 2
The Wasp Queen: HP: 0/50 (-2) | DMG: 20

Day 9

3 Fail, 1 Uncommon

+10 EXP (+1EXP per fail, +3EXP per Uncommon, +4EXP due to ambition)

4 T1 Materials lost.

As they got to the fields, Chase silently took a look at the boss. He could tell that it was stronger than most monsters he'd faced or seen up to now, if not the strongest, which was probably the case, but that didn't unsettle him any. He had taken no hits up until now, and the monsters had all died almost right away. With this in mind, he took a deep breath and removed his sword from its sheathe, gripping it tightly with both hands and starting to move towards it. Without looking at Shay, he asked her with confidence in his voice. "Okay. But if you could, I'd like to try this alone. If you could do it alone before, I can too."

An orange glow formed around Chase's blade before he jumped towards the Wasp Queen, almost slipping due to unstable footing right before he did so, but making it nonetheless. Once he was right in front of it, he let his sword go wild, throwing undercuts, overcuts and some horizontal slashes through the middle of the Wasp Queen's body right at her. By the time she was going to attack, even if she looked like she was going to miss, she was too dazed from the boy's attack and failed to move even a bit. Seeing her HP bar having almost completely depleted, he was certain he didn't need help with this. 

Chase: HP: 240/240 | EN: 17/24 (-9, +2) | DMG: 8 | EVA: 1 | ACC: 3 | REC: 2

The Wasp Queen: HP: 2/50 (-48) | DMG: 20

Cooldowns; Stun 2 Turns

Day 8

2 Uncommon, 2 Fail

12 EXP (+1 EXP per fail, +3 EXP per uncommon, +4 EXP due to ambition)

4 T1 Materials lost.

Day 7

3 Fails

+6 EXP (+1 EXP per fail, +3 EXP due to Ambition)

3 T1 Mats lost.

RANK UP!
ARTISAN RANK 3

1 Salvage (LD 5)

+3 EXP (+2 EXP per Salvage, +1 EXP due to Ambition)

1 T1 Mat lost.

Returning the Hand Wraps.

With a quick final glance around for materials, Chase tried to make the most he could out of this overall short trip back from the NPC's hut. It hadn't really been that long since he'd left the town, and he was already standing almost right outside. He was about to enter and head to the teleporter before noticing a glow by the side, picking up the second- and final for now- material from the ground with a small grin on his face. "Alright... Time to head back and give it a rest, for now. I should have the Martial Arts skill available, so if I ever decide to switch weapon types... I can always invest any leftover Skill Points into it."

Like so, he entered the town and began to make his way over to the plaza, opening up his menu and going to his inventory tab to give everything a quick look once more, checking his rewards after this short expedition.

T1 Materials Found: 1

"Overall, this world is really detailed in the end, isn't it? Stuff appears everywhere, and best of all, it's really property of whoever finds it first. It's so perplexing and at the same time just... relaxing. But there's always the looming threat of death at the slightest mistake, if you're unprepared or not equipped well enough. T-Tch... If I hadn't found Shay, back then...", he thought back to the first day, frowning slightly as he'd probably never have had the guts to step out of the Town of Beginnings, were that the case.

Shaking his head, his eyes took on a much more confident look as he let out a huff and clenched his fist just slightly in front of him. "If I find anybody in dire need of help back in the Town of Beginnings, while I'm still going there... Hell, even if I'm going for my shop. I'm definitely going to help them get out of here. Even just by a quest.", he agreed with himself, seeing nothing in his way but not caring- it was more of pep talk time anyways.

T1 Materials Found: 0

"Honestly, I don't care how many materials I find on my way back to the safezone.", the bluehead nodded to himself, keeping his arms crossed while his inner monologue continued. He made sure to not trip on any pebbles or holes in the dirt, at least keeping proper track of everything else around him. "Just finding out that I could do this will really save me so, so, so much time trying to look for materials later or even buy them. And it feels all that much better to have discovered this on my own. I wonder if Shay already knew this but just hadn't told me?"

Whatever the case, the only certain thing was that Shay wasn't keeping it a secret, had she known of course, just to gather all the materials by herself. She was probably not too interested in collecting everything around her, which was fine. Chase on the other hand... He wanted to say he had just found something else, but... That'd just be wishful thinking really.

T1 Materials Found: 0

"So if I want to keep my stocks up for materials and the like, I should keep my eyes out while I'm on my way to and from a location... That makes perfect sense. It's not like if I'm walking I can't look around and walk towards anywhere to pick a material up off the ground.", he kept on going inside his head with his chest puffed up with all his pride for that tiny achievement, feeling truthfully happy. As much of a game as SAO could be considered, this was what good design always led to- satisfying moments when the players connect the dots and end up getting a result like this out of very trivial tasks like this.

"I wonder if anything else would happen to be laying around, if I already found a single material of course~...", the blissful swordsman rambled on inside his head, keeping an eye out by the sides of the path he was taking just in case any materials were dropped around. No luck this once, however.

T1 Materials Found: 0

He began to climb down the mountain, and once the boy was close enough to the plains part of the floor, it was time to do it. He'd finally start putting to use all the knowledge he'd sucked right into his head and left on the back of his mind. "Back in the quest I did with Ariel, I remember the NPC asked me to go look for materials. You can get them either by killing monsters around your level, or...". And with that, he began to look around the grass while heading back to town. This was genius, multi-tasking at its finest. As obvious as it was, it was only the first time it had really crossed his mind.

And his efforts paid off almost immediately as he was blessed with the glow of a material on the ground, waiting for him to pick it up. And that exactly he did. He scooped it off the ground, quickly stashing it in his inventory and wearing a satisfied, smug smirk on his face while he strutted through the relatively empty plains.

ChaseR | HP: 240/240 | EN: 24/24 (-1, +1) | DMG: 4 | EVA: 1 | ACC: 3 | REC: 2
The Boulder | HP: 0/50 (-4) | EVA: -2

Without any second thoughts, he took his stance again and grinned widely. A final punch was all that it really took before he finished breaking the rock, watching it fall down into many pieces and as soon as each hit the ground, it broke into blue crystals. This made him feel really accomplished, as he turned to look at the NPC who gave a nod and stood up, with his arms no longer crossed. He walked up to the bluehead and raised his hand, wiping his fingers over the whiskers he'd applied on him as they quickly disappeared.

The quest confirmation window appeared in front of him once the NPC went back to the cozy confines of his hut, and the boy simply accepted his rewards before taking the hand wraps off, unequipping them and replacing them with his trusty sword once more. He wasn't planning to get into battle, but on the way back, an idea crossed his mind. Given he wasn't in any rush just yet, he had something he could do just to make the trip that much more worthwhile. "Right, if I recall correctly from the Earning a Living quest..."

ChaseR | HP: 240/240 | EN: 24/24 (-1, +1) | DMG: 4 | EVA: 1 | ACC: 3 | REC: 2
The Boulder | HP: 1/50 (-4) | EVA: -2

The boy stopped focusing on his stance, quietly running his hand over the boulder to admire the cracks. His effort began to show, even if he doubted it at first. The NPC was obviously as unwavering as ever before, but he couldn't care less. Some of them seemed to act like humans, while others were obviously programmed to act out a certain way. This one was probably neither and just unamused compared to others, but Chase wasn't one to know. Regardless of whether the geezer cared or not, the swordsman was about to break the boulder with his bare fists, all due to the help of his will and these hand wraps.

"I can tell it's about to break. It shouldn't take much more than this.", he thought, quickly shifting into his battle stance and throwing another punch with all of his might right at one of the cracks on the boulder. A wide crack spread over all the rest, and it was obvious that a tiny push would be enough for the huge rock to crumble into pieces. Dust was practically already coming out of it with every punch, and that made Chase all too glad.

ChaseR | HP: 240/240 | EN: 24/24 (-1, +1) | DMG: 4 | EVA: 1 | ACC: 3 | REC: 2
The Boulder | HP: 5/50 (-4) | EVA: -2

Although the train of thoughts regarding the skill list was over, he knew that there had to be some archive, a collective list of every skill, attainable and not, somewhere in the game. Maybe it was a building on the Town of Beginnings, or on some other floor that he hadn't visited. With only two people to turn too, he was determined to ask them and find out if he could educate himself any further. Maybe like that, he'd know what skills to get and how to make it to the ranks higher. Keeping close tabs on everyone and knowing their limits would help when trying to cooperate with them, too.

"I'm almost there. Let's think about that when it's time to think about it.", the bluehead tried once more to get himself on track, taking a deep breath and focusing all his strength into his other fist which he hadn't used too much to attack, before throwing a wild punch at the boulder. The hit landed, but it felt much too off given that's not how he was used to moving his body around. "Eh... I'll stick to initiating with right handed punches."

ChaseR | HP: 240/240 | EN: 24/24 (-1, +1) | DMG: 4 | EVA: 1 | ACC: 3 | REC: 2
The Boulder | HP: 9/50 (-4) | EVA: -2

While he regained his composure for his next strike, a smile crossed his face. The boulder seemed to be very close to breaking, perhaps three or so punches away. He couldn't see his health, sure, but he had began to get a feel for how much longer it'd take, given its looks and the increasing amount of cracks that appeared with every single strike on it. "Mastery with these weapons doesn't really appear to work literally... You put in skill points to get more skills or to strengthen the ones you have, but the system makes up for whatever lack of battle experience. This is 'experience' though, in the literal way. I wonder if it'll help any."

Then again, his mind began to wonder back to the skill list, realising that since that existed, it worked as the clear foundations on what was possible and what wasn't, given each weapon type. "But it only shows you skills you can learn by default... So how do you get Unique Skills? Ariel mentioned them, but she didn't seem to know about that.", the boy finished his thoughts before throwing a kick at the rock, hitting it with his heel and taking a step back afterwards, hopping on his feet slightly. "Almost there."

ChaseR | HP: 240/240 | EN: 24/24 (+1, -2+2) | DMG: 4 | EVA: 1 | ACC: 3 | REC: 2
The Boulder | HP: 13/50 | EVA: -2

Although it hadn't been all that long, if long at all since he began to chip away at the boulder's health, it felt like it had been ages. His thoughts were keeping him from getting in the zone, slowing this process down much too long and making him feel as if he was spending incredibly much time and energy going through this. The NPC was too silent to help provide any conversation, as any NPC would be, and he himself wasn't too social either. "Honestly, I've been too used to having Shay be around. Even silent, at least some company makes this less lonely."

Taking another deep breath and trying to keep his posture as well as possible for the next hit, he prepped himself before releasing one more punch, feeling his hand connect with the boulder much better than before. Maybe it was because he hit it in the right spot, or because he was getting the hang of this. Regardless, that was one more hit closer to unlocking the Extra Skill, and that was enough to get him excited enough. "Even if I don't use it, it's nice to be at ease about this sort of stuff. It's one more thing to look forward to anyways."

ChaseR | HP: 240/240 | EN: 24/24 (-1, +1) | DMG: 4 | EVA: 1 | ACC: 3 | REC: 2
The Boulder | HP: 13/50 (-4) | EVA: -2

With a quick glance to the side, he looked at her when she offered and replied with a shrug. It was obvious he wanted to try it out, at least while they were still in the earlier floors after some tiring day, but... They had time until then. "Why not, one of these days.", he responded before tensing up just slightly when they'd reached the teleporter. With a somewhat hesitant expression, he stepped on and watched her teleport away, furrowing his eyebrows. "R-Right, of course I'd have to learn how to use this at some point... C'mon, just repeat the same words she said, nothing you can go wrong with there..."

Like so, he took a deep breath followed by a confident shout, maybe too loud for his own good. "Floor Two: Urbus!", he finished and clenched his eyes shut, only to see a blue light cover his body. By the time it was gone, he opened his eyes to find himself on the second floor, completely new and different compared to the first floor. "H-Hm... So this is Urbus? What's the first floor called?"

Day 6

2 Fail, 1 Salvage (LD 6)

+7 EXP (+1 EXP per fail, +2 EXP per Salvage, +3 EXP due to Ambition)

3 T1 Mats lost.

"They're potions with extra steps then.", he mumbled lowly to himself, shrugging it off and trying to focus more on the task at hand. All they had to do was go find the Wasp Queen, if he remembered the name right in the first place, kill it and then turn the mission in. With how much practice they had up to now, doing every single of the beginner missions and getting Chase to become more and more familiar with the system, it should be a relative piece of cake. At least he's level twelve now too, compared to the measly one from a few hours ago.

Progressing this quickly made him feel even more hopeful for what the future held, but he was getting sidetracked. Putting his mind back on track, he gave her a glance and nodded, before looking at the path they were taking to the teleporter and grinning. "I haven't used a hot spring before. Seems nice though.", the bluehead commented, thinking that at some point, he wouldn't mind trying one out. Then again, to ask Shay if he could use her house for the hot springs would be beyond rude, even for how rough he may be with his words from time to time.