Ironside

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Post Count: 12

Bruin was silently celebrating his victory already as he prepared to strike the boar that had just charged past him. He dived at it instinctively, but unlike before the amber glow didn't engulf his rapier and he ended up nearly falling face first into the grass as the boar pup squealed and dodged the blow. As Brun stumbled, he watched the two boars turn and dig their hooves in for a charge of their own. Bruin barely managed to catch his balance in time to do a forward roll away from them, only barely missing their blows against him, leaving both sides of the encounter with nary an additional scratch.

Bruin huffed a bit, and looked at his energy bar. He was starting to get a bit tired from all this. He had two attempts to kill the two boars left in the tank, before he ran out of energy entirely. He had to make them count.

Post Count: 11

Alright, so now Bruin was starting to get the hang of things. He was a lot more confident now that he had actually managed to kill one of the pups, and now all he had to do was the exact same thing he just did. Unfortunately, he was only partially aware of how he actually did it. He took a deep breath, and tried to let his giddy excitement subside a bit, so that he could find his center. 

Trying not to give it too much thought, he stabbed at the nearby, still confused, boar pup. Sure enough, not thinking too hard seemed to actually help him, as the amber glow engulfed his rapier once again, and the creature was summarily dispatched. The remaining two boars seemed to shake themselves from their stupor at this point, and charged at Bruin. But Bruin easily danced away from them, readying his rapier for his next strike.

Post Count: 10

Bruin was getting frustrated. He couldn't remember exactly what the manual had said on how to activate sword arts, mostly because it was Japanese and he was only just fluent enough in it to get by in a work and conversational capacity. All the technical terms and more obscure stuff was lost on him, and that's what he figured was holding him up now.

But whether he was nearly at full health or not, him missing forever would ultimately still lead to his death if he wasn't careful. He needed to figure this out, and fast. Drawing on his spotty memory of what the manual said, he readied his rapier again, before charging the boar he had been after this whole time. To his delight, and honest surprise, the rapier began to glow an amber orange, and the game seemed to take over his body as it guided two stabs directly to the heart of the boar, and with a loud squeal, it popped into a shower of pixels.

He couldn't believe he had done it. And he couldn't help the boyish glee that suddenly overtook him as he cheered openly at his success. The remaining boars seemed incredibly confused and a little scared of the man who was celebrating their brother's murder.

Post Count: 9

Bruin was surrounded on all sides by the pups after his first attempt, even by the one still happily chewing on grass. He looked around, and pinpointed the boar he had originally taken a stab at, and he was sure that he could take it down this time.

He readied his rapier, and charged at the animal, but he still managed to flub the activation of his sword art and the boar sidestepped the blow, albeit barely. Bruin grunted as he dug his feet into the soil and tried to turn himself around and dodge the pups as they made their own swipes at him. His legs were cut open by the tusks of the first two, but he managed to easily dance away from the third. He wasn't expecting the fourth one to suddenly decide to join the battle, and grunted as it charged in from behind.

A part of him was regretting taking on a tougher challenge like this for his first combat, but looking at his health bar he wasn't all too worried on that front at least.

Post Count: 8

Bruin held his rapier in his hand. He was ready for this. He knew he could do this. His first combat in SAO. He gripped the rapier tightly and stared down the four unaware boar pups. They had no idea what was about to hit them. At least, that was Bruin's plan.

Instead, what really happened was Bruin charging forward, a battle cry that not even he knew he had in him, as he whiffed the first boar entirely. He hadn't even gotten activating his Sword Art properly. The display was laughable at best, as three of the four boars grunted angrily, and all charged the man at once. Bruin was thankful not only that he was wearing armor, minimizing the damage, but that the fourth boar seemed to just be there grazing, not a care in the world. Bruin thought it best not to get its attention as he readied his next attack.

Post Count: 7

Doing the first quest had given Bruin a significant boost in experience and levels, but it just wasn't enough to make a difference in anything but his health and energy pools. That was fine though, looking through his inventory, Bruin remembered that he had gotten that damage potion from Zackariah. That would boost his damage just enough to be able to take out all the boars in one blow each.

So, as he walked into the early sunrise light, Bruin pulled out the potion and chugged it down, feeling the buff take effect immediately. He was ready to take on the boars. Now he just had to find a good group of them all clumped together to tag.

It didn't take much searching, as most of the other players either were still figuring things out with Lyle, or had been grinding all night and had long since surpassed this level of monster. And there they were, a group of four boars pups, grazing on the same overgrown patch of grass.

Post Count: 6

Bruin chuckled to himself as he pushed through the crowd, all eyes on him. As he left, he said, "You all know what to do now, so hop to it." A part of him felt bad for the avalanche that was about to descend onto Lyle, but after watching Zackariah move seamlessly through the throngs of people in his shop, he doubted the blacksmith would have any trouble keeping up. What Bruin was now focused on was the fact that he had to get to those boars fast before anyone else could.

As he walked to the outskirts of town to leave the safe zone, he looked at the stats of the monsters he would need to face alongside his own capabilities. His sword art was just too weak to take them out in one blow, but he wanted to be efficient, rounding up a large number of them since they did little damage. As he walked, he strategised, knowing there had to be a way.

Post Count: 5

As Bruin spoke, Lyle rubbed his chin thoughtfully before reaching out to grab the note from Bruin. He opened it and gave it a quick read before nodding and giving a hearty chuckle. "Ah, I had almost forgotten that I had mentioned needing these to Zackariah over lunch the other day! How nice of him to remember." the blacksmith admitted before turning his face back to Bruin. "So, I need some boar tusks. Are you willing to get some for me?"

As soon as Lyle finished speaking, a quest accept window popped up in front of Bruin, startling him a little. Quickly, he tapped the accept button, and he was off to the races. Bruin nodded, knowing that Lyle already knew his answer, but it just seemed impolite to not actually respond. "I'll be back in a flash!" Bruin told him, as he turned to the crowd around them, who had long since stopped shouting and just stared dumbfounded.

Post Count: 4

As soon as Bruin placed his hand on the blacksmith's shoulder, he had to dodge the hammer swinging upwards at his face. He didn't think that the man meant to harm him intentionally, and Bruin even wondered if the blow would have done anything game wise, but he also didn't want to risk it. Yet, it seemed to make a difference, as Lyle held his hammer high without striking another blow, and slowly craned his neck to look at Bruin.

Bruin flashed a winning smile, as the man stared, and slowly, Lyle flashed his own smile. "Yes, lad, can I help you?" the blacksmith asked, slowly lowering his hammer and placing it on the anvil besides the glowing metal. Bruin nodded, not wanting to lose this chance, and quickly admitted, "Yes, sorry, I've been told you need assistance with a matter. I was sent by Zackariah, he sends his regards." As he spoke, Bruin produced the note from Zackariah from his inventory, handing it to the blacksmith.

Post Count: 3

As soon as Bruin placed his hand on the blacksmith's shoulder, he had to dodge the hammer swinging upwards at his face. He didn't think that the man meant to harm him intentionally, and Bruin even wondered if the blow would have done anything game wise, but he also didn't want to risk it. Yet, it seemed to make a difference, as Lyle held his hammer high without striking another blow, and slowly craned his neck to look at Bruin.

Bruin flashed a winning smile, as the man stared, and slowly, Lyle flashed his own smile. "Yes, lad, can I help you?" the blacksmith asked, slowly lowering his hammer and placing it on the anvil besides the glowing metal. Bruin nodded, not wanting to lose this chance, and quickly admitted, "Yes, sorry, I've been told you need assistance with a matter. I was sent by Zackariah, he sends his regards." As he spoke, Bruin produced the note from Zackariah from his inventory, handing it to the blacksmith.

Post Count: 2

~Continuation of Breaking Ground~

As everyone tried their best to get the engrossed blacksmith to start their quest, nobody seemed willing to do more than shout at the man in order to get him to actually respond. Honestly at this point, it felt like the man was intentionally ignoring all the shouting going on around him, and Bruin couldn't honestly blame him. The majority of players here were kids, or at the very least young adults. If he had this much of a ruckus in his classroom, Bruin probably would have just zipped up himself.

But, despite all that, Bruin didn't want to wait for all the hubbub to settle down before he could get his quest started. So, risking the idea of being smashed with the blacksmith's hammer for interrupting, Bruin stepped forward to the anvil. Sparks flew from the sword that the man was working on, but Bruin pressed onward anyway. He placed a hand on the other man's shoulder, politely, to get his attention.

Post Count: 1

Bruin easily found the shop, as it was just down the street. This shop was still busy, but appeared less so, perhaps due to the number of players who failed the initial quest only to give up entirely. At the very least, at least this shop had a chimney, so any smoke was being vented properly. Not to mention it didn't look like any players were actually crafting. "Just a fetch quest, it seems," Bruin muttered idly to himself as he figured out where the man of the hour was. Though, that was easy enough to figure out as well. There was a small circle of players standing around a man pounding away at an anvil. Bruin joined the crowd, and it appeared that Lyle operated the exact opposite of Zackariah.

The man was not ignoring players coldly, he just seemed invested in his work as he hammered away. Bruin cleared his throat, but to no avail, as him and others did all they could to start their second quest.

Post Count: 20

When all was said and done, Bruin actually watched Zackariah walk away this time, as effortlessly as if the crowd wasn't even there. At least Bruin was able to confirm that despite what it seemed, he wasn't teleporting around the room. Though he wondered if it was an NPC superpower when nobody was looking to be able to do that.

Stifling his thoughts for the moment though, Zackariah made his way to the exit, wanting to get out of the shop as quickly as he could so he could breathe properly again. He wasn't sure how people were failing that quest. It had been exceedingly simple. But he supposed if nothing else he was a scientist by trade, had gone to college, and played plenty of RPGs. Surely that had to be it.

Thinking no further on the matter, and just being glad at the ability to get a proper lungful of air, Bruin quickly made his way to the quest marker indicating Lyle's shop.

Post Count: 19

As Bruin mouthed to respond to the cheerful alchemist, Zackariah held out three potions instead, along with what looked like a sealed note. "Take them, for your hard work and dedication. You picking those flowers and making that potion got some of my orders done early!" Zackariah explained, as Bruin looked over the potions in front of him. Looked like buff potions and health potions. Standard RPG stuff. Bruin grabbed the set of potions and stuffed them all in his inventory, before taking the note.

As expected, before Bruin could even so much as think to ask what the note was, Zackariah explained: "I have a blacksmith friend, Lyle. He's been having some trouble procuring some local materials due to the dangerous nature of gathering them. As you can understand, he isn't a fighter. And that's where you come in!"

Bruin was ready to sigh, mostly because of the one-sided nature of this conversation, but remembered the smoke and thought better of it this time, simply just nodding instead.

Post Count: 18

Bruin mixed the potion with a nearby stir stick, and as soon as he had turned off the burner Zackariah was at his side again. Bruin was more than a little startled this time, as he had been focusing on the table when the man suddenly shifted into his field of vision without warning. "Yes, perfect Ironside!" the man greeted him with no hesitation or even indication that he cared about startling Bruin whatsoever. Bruin took a breath, realizing too late that he had forgotten about the stifling smoke, and coughed openly for a few seconds.

Zackariah waited wordlessly until Bruin was finished coughing, and once Bruin stood up again, breathing with a slight wheeze, Zackariah snapped up the flask with the yellow potion. "I'm always so proud of my newcomers who can get it on the first try. Do let me know if you ever wish to pursue a career in alchemy, hm? Seems you have a knack for it!"

Post Count: 17

Before Bruin could really respond, he looked up from the table filled with flasks and Zackariah was gone again. Just like that.

Chemistry had never been Bruin's strong suit, despite being an archeologist. They were required to know a bit of chemistry due to carbon dating, but Bruin had never been big on that. He let other archaeologists handle that. All Bruin had done was learn enough to get a passing college grade, if he was being honest. But, he remembered enough to know that once the water in front of him started to boil, all he would need to do is drop the flowers inside. If Zackariah said this would make a potion, then that was that. He had no reason to doubt his teacher.

So, after an excruciating few minutes sitting in the stifling smoke of the room's failed experiments, Bruin dropped the flowers in, and was happily greeted by a sweet smelling yellow mixture.

Post Count: 16

Bruin pushed his way into the shop, looking for the friendly shopkeep. The haze hadn't dissipated in the slightest, and Bruin couldn't help but have a coughing fit halfway through his search and attempt to reach an open crafting station. When Bruin managed to reach the table covered in various glass doodads, Zackariah seemed to almost appear out of thin air next to him. In fact, it was so suddenly Bruin couldn't rightly say that he hadn't done just that.

"Ironside! I was beginning to worry that something had happened to you when you never came back! I'm so happy to see you in one piece," Zackariah explained, before reaching to the table in front of Bruin and turning on the burner under one of the flasks. "Okay, so take those flowers you gathered yesterday and boil them in this flask to make a potion. Let me know if you need any help!"

Post Count: 15

Morning came quickly for Bruin, and as soon as the sun shone through the crack in his curtains, his eyes snapped open. He was used to this in the real world. After all, the only realistic time to work on a dig site is when the sun is up. Unless the dig site is in a cave. Then there's no good time to work at a dig site. But that was neither here nor there.

Bruin sprung to his feet, equipped his gear, and headed for Zackariah's shop as quickly as his feet would take him. He was determined to beat the crowd today. He was sure that it wasn't nearly as busy. And you know, Bruin was right. In fact, it seemed even more busy. And with that, Bruin let out a heavy sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. Either these players didn't sleep, or they all had the same idea as him. Didn't matter much, Bruin had no choice but to wade his way into the fray.

Post Count: 14

After a bit more consideration, Bruin decided to head to bed for the night rather than beeline straight to finishing the quest. The quest isn't timed, Zackariah as an NPC isn't going anywhere, and Bruin is, in his mind, an old man. So to bed he would go. Besides, if he was lucky, all the younger players would sleep the morning away, leaving Zackariah all to Bruin. Though, as Bruin headed to the nearest inn he couldn't help but wonder about the lives of the poor NPCs.

If players spent the entire night running Zackariah's quest, would he get to sleep? Did sleep even matter to him? Would he show signs of fatigue, or would he just appear as chipper as he had to Bruin despite the throngs of people surrounding him. Bruin supposed he could watch the man for a day to get his questions answered, but that felt far too creepy, even if it was just an NPC. So as he laid in bed and drifted off to sleep, he perished the thought.

Post Count: 13

As the sun started to lower itself behind the distant mountains, Bruin found himself walking into a field with the last flower he needed for the quest. It was a relief, Bruin was trying his best to not push himself into staying up and prided himself for keeping proper rest schedules despite the stress of the entire situation. Even if he had to finish the quest tomorrow, at least the flower picking part would be done. And so, with no more fanfare than the first flower, Bruin picked it, stuffed it in his inventory, and began making his way back to the Town of Beginnings.

He wrestled in his mind about whether or not he shold go see Zackariah tonight. On one hand, the quest location was probably less clear later in the evening. On the other hand, Bruin wasn't sure what was next and how long it would take, and he wanted to sleep. And he didn't have all that long to make his decision.

Post Count: 12

It seemed that for as lucky as Bruin had been, he had finally run dry. As he waded through the brush of the forest, he found that he couldn't see anymore goldenrod flowers anywhere. There were plenty of other flowers, and for a moment he had considered picking those as well. But that wasn't the quest, and as he looked to the sky through the trees he saw the bright light that originally shone through the trees was starting to fade.

With a sigh, Bruin turned around and made his way back the way he came, hoping against hope that maybe one of the flowers had respawned and would be easy pickings on the way back to the open fields. But as he pushed through this didn't seem to be the case. After a bit more trudging, he had broken out of the trees of the forest and shielded his eyes from the sun.

Post Count: 11

Bruin's plan was working. As he waded into the brush of the forest, he spotted another flower quickly and easily. Things were going almost too smoothly, and for a moment Bruin wondered if he was being led into some beginner trap. But the flowers were most definitely planted, not just laying on the ground or something like that. He wasn't following a breadcrumb trail. At least, not one planted by another player. Though he supposed that he didn't know enough about the game world to be entirely sure.

As he picked the flower, that led into him thinking about the idea of digging up flowers and replanting them in a way to lead players to their doom. He wasn't sure how viable gardening was due to the durability system of items he had seen other players dealing with. One player simply dropped a sandwich and it exploded into pixels. It would have to be something he looked into later.

Post Count: 10

It didn't take much wandering for Bruin to find the next flower. It was as simple as that. He seemed to have found a small grove of the flowers all spaced pretty evenly apart from each other. As would be expected from gathering in the starter area. At the very least, there weren't any other players around snapping them up, so despite everything he was getting this done quicker than expected.

Another flower safely stored away in his inventory, he made his way further into the trees, hoping that the last few flowers might be hidden away in the small forest located near the Town of Beginnings. He was less worried about the monsters now, as they didn't seem to be too bothersome, and well, it's the starter area. He should be able to dispatch them easily. That was the thought process at least. He just had to silently remind himself that he didn't have unlimited lives like in other games.

Post Count: 9

As Bruin looked around, he thought that he had found quite a good spot for gathering the flowers. At least, there was one other flower. That was a good start. Surely there were more than that without him having to go too far, despite seeing no others in his immediate vicinity. But that was for future Bruin to figure out. For now, he had a flower to pick. He bent down and cleared the area of the foliage before pulling the flower from the ground, root and all. 

Satisfied, Bruin stood again and gave another light stretch. He was more than a little suprirsed at how the game mirrored his actual fatigue that he might feel in the real world. He hoped that this wouldn't affect his ability to keep up with the younger players. But perhaps it was because he was just level one. The latter had better be it, or else he was in trouble.

Post Count: 8