ChaseR

It didn't take long before the boy noticed just how irritated Shay was beginning to get, frowning slightly before letting out a sigh and shrugging it off. "She offered, not my fault.". Her words began to help him reach the conclusion, while they were trapped in SAO, which would last long if the vanguards were truly still at the 24th Floor, he'd have to get used to game logic. It'd become necessary to reevaluate how to approach situations and how to think about everything around him, as well as the way they functioned. "You have a house. How did you get it?"

Chase asked once he recalled her having mentioned that during the first quest they were having together, walking through the fields and towards the grove where the artisan was said to be located. He'd asked her, back then, what the floor looked like, as in, if the entirety of the first floor was just huge, green fields. Since she didn't answer that though, he'd guessed the answer was yes. Much to his surprise, it wasn't. As they moved further and further ahead from the Town of Beginnings, he began to notice trees by the side, and even in the far distance, a portion of the floor leading to the dungeon's entrance be a complete forest. "So each floor is like its own 'country', so to speak... Surprising."

With a sigh, he gave her a nod and silently began to head towards the marker once she'd told him where to see it. "It feels so weird, this would never happen in reality...", Chase thought, stuck up in between the real world and the virtual one more than ever now that he had his daily attire with him, even in SAO. It wasn't exactly the same, but it was enough so that the line between the two worlds blurred more than ever before. "I don't know.", he blurted out once they'd exited the Town of Beginnings, looking to the side at Shay who was walking next to him. "I don't know what terms I don't know."

After having graced her with his informative as ever insight, he took a deep breath and opened his menu, looking through the various tabs in order to gather some terms to pick and choose from. At least the ones he couldn't understand off the bat. "Professions? There are jobs? And is Col slang for money?", the bluehead found two terms and presented them to her, not so much because he couldn't tell what they stood for, but to get more insight. What he'd said before stood true, he wasn't sure what terms he wasn't familiar with as he obviously enough hadn't heard them before. Only time would go to show, by the looks of it.

With both Chase and @Shay having just now finished Lyle's quest, a quest flag triggers and Lyle tasks them with taking a parcel all the way to some artisan, by the name of Hannah. "For NPCs, they sure are familiar with one another...", the young man thought, accepting the quest just like his partner did and beginning to head for the exit of the shop. Upon stepping out, he opened his menu and took his Silver Earring off, replacing it with the armour that he'd bought before. It appeared to look like a casual outfit one would wear back in the real world during a nice, breezy spring day.

It definitely didn't look like it belonged to the world, but he was very contempt with what he'd gotten. Surprisingly enough, his Sky Blue Apparel looked just like one of his favourite outfits from before he'd gotten trapped. Even without knowing much about him, it was easy to tell he'd specifically bought this for nostalgic reasons. He turned to look back at the raven assassin, giving a small frown and posing the two important questions. "Know where she is? And can you teach me more terms? I'm not planning on talking with others much, but I want to know."

"Yeah, me and Lily had to gather up pocket money since the beta got announced to get a hold of one. It still cost more though.", he nonchalantly said, for the first time in forever talking about his past life before getting trapped in the game. He hadn't paid close to any attention at her comment regarding how rich she was, thinking it was probably just her being bad with words, same as he.

He nodded on the small remark about experience and the differences between NPCs, before he proceeded to ask. "Why are they called NPCs again?". Chase had heard the term a lot of times before, sure, but he never knew where that abbreviation came from. As they entered Lyle's shop, he was looking over his head in an attempt to see some title or name possibly next to his cursor. Unless, since this was a fantasy game, that was a separate race. "They're a different race?", he continued, dipping his head in to greet the old man before opening his inventory to place the materials on the bench to turn the quest in, expecting Shay to do the same.

Chase shook his head at her statement, following right behind her and making sure not to trip anywhere. "It's okay. I only know English. The game's Japanese, so there must be a lot of you.", he responded, albeit a short while had passed. "Truth be told, I haven't seen too many players that really stand out, like Shay. They must be in the upper floors, huh? I might have to talk with more of them, as horrible as that sounds.", his inner monologues went on and on. Overall, that was the one thing he hated about himself. Even inside of his head, he could never catch a break.

And as he drew closer and closer to the conclusion that there'd be a necessity for socialization sooner or later, they eventually arrived at the Town of Beginnings, and headed right towards Lyle's workshop. "Say, NPCs aren't real people. So what do they need all the items for?". With that question in mind, he thought he'd ask Shay, although he could tell it was most likely just to give the players some objective. "What will he do with the tusks?"

Ethan looked at her with his eyes squinted, realising that she must have said thanks or some wish. "... People in India do that. I remember from a trip with my family.", he thought, grinning and giving her a nod. "Not a problem.", he responded despite not having understood what she'd said, getting up and putting his sword back on the belt around his waste. He began to head back to the Town of Beginnings, walking with his arms crossed as he figured they might as well turn the quest in now that they were done eating too. 

Halfway through walking, he froze and stared down at the ground, lost deep in thought. "Wait a moment... Indians say mantras before food.", he connected the dots, looking over his shoulder at Shay with a completely serious face, as tensed up as he could get. His eyes were pinned on her katana, before running over her armor. The bluehead remained like that for a little while before snapping his fingers and pointing his right index finger her way. "You're Japanese?", he asked, making a sophisticated guess based on her armor. "She's kind of like a samurai... Right?"

All of his muscles quickly relaxed, the trade being over now. He took a piece of bread out from his own menu as well, sitting down next to her with his sheathed sword placed down on his right. In all honesty, he was far too surprised that this had worked out. He found her quite odd, in a nice way. She didn't want him overestimating his abilities as that would put him in danger, but even if underwhelming, she let him make more courageous offers like this one.

He took a bite out of the bread himself, looking to the side and watching Shay eat it. "She doesn't mind?", he thought, a small smile appearing on his face before he looked back at his own lunch and took another bite out of it. By the time he'd already eaten half of it, he let out a deep exhale. "Thanks.". He knew he wasn't good with words, but he didn't care. She'd seen him at his worst already, heard all of his ambitious thoughts and agreed to raise him to adapt to this world's needs. Chase just wanted to express how thankful he was for everything, even if it wasn't much relative to any, even slightly experienced, player. Dry bread was too cheap of a commodity, but it was all he could afford before now.

Chase began to sweat when her piercing gaze met his own, almost feeling his breath cut off before she opened up the menu and the tension lifted. "One of these days, I'll die of a heart attack...", he mumbled very lowly, listening to her and nodding along as he opened his own menu. He went through his inventory and found the item, following her instructions. He seemed surprised to be looking through the menu, although at the same time rather nervous because of being watched by her so intently. Having gotten a good look and idea for what the menu looked like, the boy took a deep breath and then traded the item, selecting Shay as the recipient.

A trade window popped up with him offering Dry Bread to her. He looked at her with a serious expression, still slightly intimidated by the look on her face. "You helped, so I bought you food. We can eat together.", he awkwardly blurted out in a deadpan voice, beginning to stiffen the longer she took to reply. "... I might as well die right now.", he thought to himself, feeling as if the tension he accidentally created again by offering practical dirt cheap food was suffocating him.

Chase nodded at Shay and began to head back alongside her, walking slower than normal as he waited for his energy to come back. Sooner than he expected though, he was back to feeling fully energised, as if he'd never gotten tired in the first place. "This really doesn't feel that normal... Game logic's going to be hard to get used to.". His eyes darted towards Shay's direction, and although hesitant, he coughed to get her attention and stopped, opening up his menu. "Teach me how to trade. I can't use the menu.", he almost demanded with how abruptly he spoke, looking at her quietly.

This quest had gone by so quickly, that now that both of them were relatively rested, it was the perfect time to learn some basics about the world and give his little 'gift' to Shay. Although how precious it was or how expensive is... a whole other matter, of course. It was true that he didn't know how to operate all parts of the menu however, and sooner or later, he'd have to stop relying on Shay for everything. "The sooner the better, too."

Chase silently watched Shay, feeling the fatigue get to him from spending all of his Energy like that. He could move, but felt like he'd collapsed if he pushed himself too much, or maybe even a tiny bit. He was too tired to tell. The bluehead's eyes widened when he saw Shay get hit in the stomach, tightening his grip on his sword and lodging it into the ground, using it to help himself keep standing and rest at the same time. "If an item can make me luckier, which isn't realistic, then a hit from a lower level monster should be weaker to a higher level player... She shouldn't be in danger, judging by her green bar, but... It looks like it still hurts."

Just as he glossed over the thought of hurting, he looked down at his right hand, remaining silent and trying to dig his nail into his skin. "Right... I'd overheard some people sometime during my stay, but... Something about a pain absorber? So if we were to get hurt, it'll only sting... Still, I'd probably react like I really got hit.", he finished, looking back up at Shay to see how she'd handle all of the boars. The only certain thing was that she could do it, they were weak. Much too weak to be a problem for her. It's just that there were so many, and they didn't seem to stop appearing.

He listened to what the Katana user had to say, opening his mouth as if to speak before seeing her launch right forward. "Take your time", she said, but that only made him feel more stressed out seeing how he was bombarded with what ultimately boiled down to: "S-So hold your sword, try to do what feels natural and hope for the best...". Chase tried to calm down, as hard as it was, emptying his mind, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He kept his sword low, his blade right above the grass, held with both hands. He opened his eyes, a fierce look on his face and ran right towards the boar pups, a faint green glow coming from his sword.

As Chase swung his blade horizontally, he could feel his powerful motion aided by the system. He couldn't see or feel anything helping him out, but it was obvious this wasn't fully on him. There had to be some assistance, at least with the aim. With a single sweep, he took out one of the pups. He could feel the system still helping him move, realising this is what Shay must have meant when she mentioned it being an "area of effect" sword art. The bluehead swung his blade once more, taking another pup out and planting his foot in the ground.

The glow wasn't gone from his blade, as Chase realised this wasn't quite it. With every slash he became progressively more and more tired, but he had to finish what he started, obviously enough. He swung two more times, taking out all four of the pups and watching them turn into blue crystals, before disappearing into thin air. The loot confirmation message popped up, saying they already had all three tusks, which honestly surprised him. The entire situation surprised him on its own. He stood in awe, with his blade lowered as he panted for air, the glow finally fading away. "That...", he mumbled, completely speechless before looking over his shoulder at Shay.

Shay | HP: 292/300 (-8) | EN: 25/30 -(5) | DMG: 7 | LD: 4 | ACC: 1 | BLD: 12 | REC: 2
ChaseR | HP: 80/80 | EN: 0/8 (-8) | DMG: 7 | LD: 5 | ACC: 3

Boar Pup 2: 0/5 | DMG 3
Boar Pup 3: 0/5 | DMG 3
Boar Pup 5: 0/5 | DMG 3
Boar Pup 6: 0/5 | DMG 3

ID#156066, ID#156068 and ID#156069 drop 1 boar tusk each. [3/3 boar tusks]

The boy nodded at her, exiting the safezone and stepping out into the field as he breathed in, exhaling with a sigh. More terms he'd never heard before, and he was certain that wasn't a general game term either. Just how little touch he had with RPGs before getting involved with one... Honestly... "... Sword arts?", he questioned with a confused expression, taking his weapon out of its sheathe and trying to find out how to hold it, feeling quite awkward regardless of his stance or grip on it.

"W-Woah, it's heavy... It's heavy when I hold it... Maybe if I find the right stance...", he thought, silently inspecting the blade and even losing himself for a moment. Once he was finished admiring his blade, he held it in front of him with his hands on both hilts, lowered and looked at Shay. "I've never held a sword.", the bluenette added, keeping the same confused expression. "S-So sword arts and even my stance... Can I even swing this? How should I swing this? Why were there no instructions, t-tch...", his mind rambled on and on, as he began to ponder the many questions of Aincrad once more, getting closer and closer to his ever-approaching existential crisis.

Having finished the first beginner quest, the duo went to the shops to get Chase some better gear. After looking around for a while, they found an Artisan, a Blacksmith and a Tailor, proficient enough to make the perfect gear for him. He quickly equipped the new sword and trinkets that were made for him, trusting in Shay's word to not need the armor quite yet, although it worried him. "Say, does the armor even do anything..?", he pondered, remembering just how much he doubted it could protect at all in a virtual world. Once they headed back to the workshop, they heard the NPC's troubles and Chase agreed to help out, thus accepting the mission.

Exiting the shop, the bluehead opened the menu to find food, not another Dry Bread at last. He took out the [Rare Mochi] and scuffed it down, having begun to feel hungry already. As if that wasn't enough though, finally something other than damn bread drier than a desert. He looked to the side at @Shay, slowly starting to step towards the gate and frowning. "Teach me how to use a sword and trade.", he blurted, looking at her with furrowed eyebrows. As laconic and to the point as ever, even after shopping for some good gear. "Having eaten good food and wanting to gift something like that... Tch..."

[Consumed Mochi - LD II]

Chase simply smiled, looking at the tome and letting out a sigh before he opened the menu and stuffed it in its inventory. "Like hell I'm ever taking that book back out, it'll break something with how heavy it is.", his thoughts went on, before he listened to what Ariel had to say and accepted the necklace, putting it back in his inventory as well. "Thanks. It feels like I really tried for once.", he simply said, looking at the bench he worked on it before back at the blonde. He headed outside of the shop, gesturing her to follow right behind, exiting and stretching his body. "What will you do now?"

He curiously asked her, looking at the top left corner to see that they were still in a party. "She's a frontliner, so she'll definitely go back to the top floors. She just happened to bump into me.", he went on to answer his own question in his head, before shrugging it off, metaphorically and literally. "I still have Shay after all. Will she be safe out there though?". He had many questions about Ariel, but they'd be answered in due time. When they were fighting together, him, her, Shay, and god knows how many more people and who they were. All that was stuff of the future though. Snapping out of it, Chase looked over his shoulder to see if Ariel had exited yet.

I accept.

Ariel was visibly taken aback by the NPC and it even took her a second to figure out he was referring to her, few times someone referred to her with that tittle. She nodded and got close, unsure why he would call out for her. The master artisan would hand her the item: "Please, try it on for us!", he said in a surprisingly gentle tone. Ariel obliged, seeing no reason to not do it. She even made a slow pirouette to fully show the item over her clothes.

"What do you think young man?" said the NPC, a grin finally appearing on his features. "Us artisans need to create wares that enhance the natural beauty of those who wear it. I'll let you be the judge of your work." he then folded his arms, showing no signs of wanting to speak before hearing his honest opinion.

Chase silently looked at Ariel as she twirled around, taking a deep breath. He knew his opinion wasn't the way it was because he'd made the item himself, but... He'd put his heart and soul into it. All of his will to reach the frontlines couldn't match just how he hoped for this to work, how excited and worked up he got prior to creating the necklace. And so, he opened his mouth. 

"I think it fits her. It's good. But I can do better.", he bluntly blurted out, knowing that if it didn't day 'perfect' on the quality, there was no room for doubt. It wasn't the full extent of his abilities. It was however all he could muster, and he was contempt with it. Contempt would be an understatement actually. Rather happy, too happy in comparison to any other moment he'd had upon entering this world. "What do you think?"

Earning a Living's craft.

Chase slowly looked back at Ariel, giving a small smile before making a joke for once. "So much for having no idea, tailor lady.", before turning back towards the bench and taking a deep breath, easing his grip on the chisel and hammer temporarily. He seemed to have almost shut down from lag or something else, before he opened his eyes and got to hammering the chisel, working on making the best he could out of the blueprint. Once the final touch came up, he seemed to be so into it he even let out an audible shout, small dust shooting from the materials he was chiselling away at. "Haaaaa!"

He seemed to be carefully looking down at the necklace, touching it to pick it up before seeing it shatter into crystals once more. It felt defeating, yet motivating to have his efforts quite literally disappear into thin air. "This is much more like a lesson than gathering the materials was... I'll make it, definitely!", he thought, oozing with determination as he took hold of the next material. For once since meeting him, Ariel could see just how determined he was getting, not faltering even a bit at the failed attempt and getting back to work with his practice.

The clinks caused by his hammer on the chisel resounded through the back of the building, working hard and even beginning to sweat from a point onwards. It didn't take more than a few minutes before he brought the hammer down once more, more dust coming off as a bright, blue glow flashed, replacing the materials with the necklace. "Did that... do it?", he wondered and silently inspected it upon picking it up.

The necklace was silver, shaped like a tear. Inside of the frame, there was a gem to the colors of Chase's hair. It seemed to emit a very faint glow, but it could also be because of the poor lightning. Whatever the case, it looked to be complete, a fine item for his first trinket. "... I did it. Master Artisan.", he proclaimed, looking to the side with a wide grin on his face and presenting him with the trinket, holding it firmly and proudly. He even looked to have puffed his chest out a bit, filled up with all the pride of his first successful craft. 

Lost 2 T1 Materials.

I accept.

"K-Kid..?", he let out a deep sigh and looked at her, watching rather amused and surprised at just how much she could do. She looked a bit too accurate, although that's what surprised him the most. It'd been a long while since getting trapped, so it made sense she could control her body just as well as she could in real life, but... It was too accurate to look natural. By the time she was done, they had the artisan's attention, causing Chase to cough dryly and open up his inventory, sorting through his small assortment of items before he made the materials appear on the bench. "I brought back what you requested. Teach me."

The NPC's previous gray (!) quest indicator lit up as the player presented the quest materials. "Very well lad! Now come time's a wastin!" he claimed with renewed vigour, taking the materials and going next to a small workstation behind his counter. A door to the side opened as well, an entrance for ChaseR through which he could make his way to the indicated spot. When he would sit next to the impatient Artisan, the veteran would hand him the materials back and put a piece of paper next to him. "Make this for me!" he almost commanded, giving ChaseR a small chisel and hammer to work with alongside the small necklace blueprint on the paper. The master Artisan would offer no more advice and return to his work with haste.

Chase silently looked at the hammer and chisel with furrowed eyebrows, beginning to sweat as he took hold of both and stared the blueprint down intensely. "M-Make this..?", he uttered in the back of his mind, shaking his head and trying to do what felt natural. With the system's assistance he hammered carefully and slowly at the blueprint, finding it feel more normal than he expected, despite him not making many, if any movements on his own. And so, his first attempt continued until the results showed. It looked to be an alright trinket, as he took it into his hands before it broke into small, blue shards and disappeared. "H-Huh..?". And thus, the materials he'd used got lost, causing him to sigh. "Should I try again?", he asked the Artisan, a determined, albeit confused, expression on his face much more than before.

Lost 1 T1 Material.

Hearing her voice, it was more than apparent he was doing something wrong. Getting discouraged by the frustrated tone he remained silent all the way, simply following along until they were there. He gave her a nod and delivered the package, placing it down and stretching afterwards as he let out a deep sigh, finishing the quest. He looked over her way once the quest completion message appeared in front of him, coughing dryly and opening his menu as he seemed to look through his inventory a bit. "It's not because I messed up, but..."

Chase looked over at Shay and tapped her on the shoulder, furrowing his eyebrows and wearing a determined expression on his face. "Hey, since we're already on with this... Before we start, can I give you something?", he vaguely said, ignoring how his inventory screen was see-through, even though in reverse. Well, it's not like the dry bread was going to be a bad present... "I-I seriously don't have anything better... Damn it... I might look like a cheapskate, but... I'll have something better next time, for sure. Definitely."

Chase slowly nodded and stashed the potion into his inventory, letting a sigh and taking the box in his hands. "Right behind you. Thank you, old man.", Chase dipped his head in towards Zackariah and then exited the shop, following right behind her with his eyebrows furrowed. "That... That was too easy, wasn't it, Shay?". He still had his doubts about who was helping who at this point, but it'd be rude to not settle for the best, if that's how luck wanted things to be. "Shouldn't it have taken more tries or uh... Some tutorial or something..? It feels weird to just get something perfect by dumping in ingredients and staring..."

Little did the male know, just how much he was probably rubbing salt in her wounds unintentionally. Not only was it incredibly lucky, getting a perfect potion just like that, he was oblivious to it and wanted to talk it over with her, believing she'd know more considering she had a profession and most likely had also dabbled into crafts before. "It's happened to you too, right?", he finished, seeming to have gotten much too talkative now that they were so close to finishing the quest.

The boy nodded at Shay while they travelled, confused as to how the system would really help. It doesn't have a physical manifestation after all. "... Does it?". As conflicted as he felt, he simply decided to shrug it off and kept silent, swinging his head along his steps left and right on the way to the alchemist's humble abode once more. He listened to Zackariah's instructions, opening up his inventory and hesitantly taking one of the ingredients out of it. "So just throw them in... Right.", he nodded slowly and put the ingredient in, taking a deep breath and waiting for a result.

A bright blue glow blinded Chase as he quickly put his hands in front of his eyes, before he only saw a health potion on the bench. He picked it up, opening the interface to see that it was of Perfect quality, letting out a low groan and furrowing his eyebrows. "S-So all I had to do was dump in the material... And that's enough to make a perfect potion..? If that's the case, the system did it, I was the one assisting...", he mumbled lowly to himself, obviously happy that he accomplished it but at the same time, taken aback from how underwhelming it was. Always better than nothing though, definitely.

Shay's silence got met with an even quieter Chase. He eventually snapped out of it and went back to looking through the grass, squinting his eyes and biting his cheek just slightly, groaning. "So do materials just appear like that or do they have some time interval between each appearance..? There has to be some pattern to it at least...", the bluehead wondered and pondered the many mechanics and questions of life, in this world at least, just because he hadn't seen a material or two for three or so minutes. Honestly, if he weren't trapped in here, he'd consider this an early sign of insanity.

Before the existential dread got enough time to settle in, he saw something glowing and forgot everything about the pattern to spawns. He picked it up, finally having gathered all five of the materials and letting out a deep, loud sigh of relief. "I got them all, Shay.", he stated and looked towards her with a small smile, knowing it's not much but being quite happy to have finished the first part of the quest successfully on his own. "Where to?"

Materials Found: 1
Total Quest Materials: 5/5

He gave her a quick nod, hurrying back to the shop without saying much else. The closer he got, the more excited he began to feel about finally getting his profession. It's not like they were quite done yet though, first he'd have to try and make something based on what Ariel had said. She must have had experience with this quest before, even if she was a tailor and not an artisan. "So... The quests must be the same thing, but for an item of a different profession? She seems to know the game too well to have been that far off."

The bluehead began to wonder just how well this would work. He could imagine what it'd be like making something in the real world, but over here in SAO... There was no way it could be the same as it would be in real life. "How does crafting trinkets work, Ariel?", he posed the question and looked at her as the shop's entrance began to appear in sight. It'd been all too long since he'd felt this form of excitement, to be fair. He was sure it couldn't be complicated, considering that he'd be made to craft a trinket right then and there, if she was right. Maybe it happened like partying did through a menu?