Yona

"That's what they all say..." Yona said in response to the pink haired saboteur's claim of this not being about money or business, in which Yona believed it was the latter, before having stormed off to the corner.

@Blueberry

Yona knew a thing or two about how business worked. Constant competition. If you were lucky enough to avoid getting crushed by another, you'd either remain moderate for all the time, or become the one who crushes another. Based on her brother's claims, Yona's father had crushed one or two potential competitors, but that might have been biased by the two's shared hatred for said father.

Yona just wanted to have a good time. Really, she did.

Monkey wrenches like this, however, tend to ruin the mood...as well as first impressions when it comes to reputation with people one doesn't know. She remained in the corner for a bit longer, hoping to calm down. Sooner than expected, Astralin showed up to the party, and Yona noticed a number of things.

Astralin brought more desserts than expected, so Yona could only wonder what was going on on the other end...but on this end, it was enough for successful damage control.

Astralin knew the host.

Astralin's presence seemed to make someone uncomfortable...enough for her to drag the host away for what may have been a private chat. Who knows what it was all about...though Yona had a wild guess for that.

Yona exhaled, and left the corner to rejoin the party. She hesitantly tried one of the blueberry sweets...but...yeah, as much of a Sweet Tooth as Yona was, she was just too salty about what went down to receive anything positive from eating it. Well, at least she tried.

With a sigh, she left the dessert table alone for a bit, because she was likely to eat a ridiculous amount if she stuck around. Now that she had calmed down(kinda), hopefully she'd be able to continue enjoying the party...and hopefully Astralin wouldn't spill the beans about the damage control.

Well, so much for an attempt to get through this smoothly. Yona opened the door to see two merchants letting out a laugh...even though she could hear other kinds of sounds before she opened the door. They were probably trying to keep pleasant faces when the public was involved, which made sense, of course. 

The reason for what sounded like a heated discussion earlier was revealed when the quest NPC's words suggested there were multiple ways to appraise. Well, might as well just learn from the current master now, and try out new materials later...they were probably just different styles of appraisal, which meant no mechanical purpose, just aesthetic. Yona chuckled. "Hieroglyphic? That sounds ancient." She remarked, taking the quest NPC's side in this...if this was indeed what the discussion was about. She'd probably hear the other side of the equation anyway, but oh well. "Yeah, I'm ready."

The quest NPC would bring Yona over to where he did his work. "Now then, this is how an appraisal is done." He began, though it would seem that the words were towards more than just Yona, for the other merchant was still in the area.

He would proceed to show his appraisal method to Yona, and Yona watched his work thoroughly. "Right then, now you give it a try." The quest NPC said. Yona would keep what she saw in mind as she pulled out what she'd found.

When she did finish, she wondered why someone would have tossed away the rare consumable after all, for upon inspection, it wasn't bad. Less than ideal, but otherwise pretty good. The others, Yona didn't find very much use for. One was a consumable that was best when paired with a mitigation consumable, and the other was just some random ailment, and it's tier was too low to be practical. Maybe some clueless rando out there might want it though... Her eyes remained focused on the rare potion. "So...there's something else I might owe, I take it?" She guessed. The quest NPC thought for a short moment. "You choose one of those to keep, I'll take the other two as payment." He decided. "It's a deal. Thanks for teaching me, pleasure doing business with you." Yona agreed.

With that, their business here was basically done. She then remembered something important and turned to look at the other NPC. "Hey uh, your scribe is waiting for you." She told him before leaving the building.

@Hirru

ID# 202910 LD: 7(Protein)

ID# 202911 LD: 14(Bleed)

ID# 202912 LD: 20(Damage)

[Selected to Keep: Liquid Strength(2 DMG)]

Yona came here to take a break, to meet new people and just have a good time...and sweets.

But sometimes there's always that one who just wrecks at least one thing, and it all goes to shit.

The host seemed a bit awkward in his response, was this his first time hosting a social event? He offered a place to set down the two dozen festive cupcakes she'd brought, but before she reached the table, someone walked in, moving at a faster pace than Yona, and upon reaching the table, this person takes one, but then what happens next was where everything went downhill.

The girl issues a command, and a slime jumps off of her neck and onto the table, taking everything that was on it. Yona watches with shock on her face. Once the slime finished its work, the girl then...replaces everything, with a one-flavor array of her own. This girl walks in, just to sabotage the dessert table without the host's consent, leaving behind a one-flavor array such as this? Yona's expression became a furious scowl.

Ugh. What an absolute disgrace.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Yona demanded. "You don't just do shit like this, especially without the Host's consent! Who the hell do you think you are, that you'd be above everyone else's choices?"

Whatever response would follow, her next words were likely to be spoken, as they may or may not apply to it. "Whatever, if it's really that important to you, just place yours alongside the rest and let the people decide, don't just forcefully take the whole playing field like it's Monopoly or something."

@Blueberry

Yona would walk off in a huff, and head over to a corner to pull up her messenger. This was in need of some serious damage control. She needed to contact someone. Someone who's had some decent personal experience around the floors...and what would be better than a higher leveled player?

With the messenger conversation complete, Yona closed her menu, walked out of the corner, and looked around, for all that was left to do now was enjoy the party, and wait for confectionary reinforcements.

Hirru explained what the unique materials were for, how the shard could be obtained by foraging and could upgrade equipment quality, whereas the scale could be used to have an appraiser pull up a unique enhancement on an item.

And of course it would be this guy's reasoning for picking fishing, too.

Yona had a full idea as to what she would be going for, but now it was time to get back to the quest. "I see...yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I'll keep what you said in mind, thanks for telling me."

Hirru then noted that if she ever spotted an NPC in purple robes, that she should say to them that their scribe was waiting for them...and that the NPC was probably talking to a Merchant or Appraiser...again?

Yona's eyes widened. "Oh, no..." Yona thought. She dropped all sense upon hearing that and so she ran. She ran right back into the safe zone. If this guy was right, the NPC might end up getting in the way of the quest. Yona had more than enough to do, she couldn't just stand around and wait if some NPC thought it could do whatever the hell it wanted. She wasn't gonna put up with any unnecessary delays if she didn't have to...right?

At least the crowds within the safe zone weren't as dense as usual. Hopefully she wouldn't encounter any delays once she reached the quest giver's shop.

A Party.

A Christmas Party.

Holidays and the events tied to them usually meant two things... Parties...and Desserts!

"Oh, hell yes..." Yona thought aloud. Having allies and friends was important in an MMO, anyway, so this would be a good opportunity to do so, as well as take a load off and relax...right?

With three dozen festive cupcakes purchased, she would make her way to the specified location. Along the way, though, she still munched on a cupcake or two... wouldn't hurt if it was only a few, right? She would take a deep breath when she approached the door. It's been a while since she had to put on a brave, public face. "You better not blow this, Tora." She muttered to herself.

She opened the door oh so suddenly, she almost slammed it against whatever wall it opened towards. She also happened to be on the assumption that there was no doorbell. "Ding Dong, Yona has arrived to the party!" She announced to the players around. ...Wait, there were only five? "...Huh...are we early or something?" She asked as her eyes took in her surroundings. "Well, anyways, I didn't exactly come here empty-handed!"

She opened up her inventory, but there were only two dozen cupcakes left. Oops.

"Shit, I shouldn't have eaten so many of them already!" She thought. She pulled out the two boxes, each containing a dozen cupcakes. "I've got some festive cupcakes for anyone who wants some!" She'd say.

"Just please take an ample amount before I eat the rest of them..." She thought.

@Koga @Oji @tricolor_mina @Astreya @Lishuu

Stats and Equipment:

Hirru would explain the differences between the various professions, but Yona would do her best to avoid making any remarks on the ones she considered but just couldn't get down for the life of her. She avoided making any responses to Appraiser whatsoever, she didn't want this player to know she was on her way to becoming a rival in business. Hirru then explained how secondary professions worked, that they were simply better ways to gather materials...as well as the unique materials that each one was capable of finding. Yona's eyes lit up slightly. "Uh huh...so, what does each one do? Knowing what professions work well together might help me in the future." She asked.

Hirru then reeled in his fishing rod and asked what Yona was going to do next, now that she had all three unidentified items. "Um, what else?" Yona asked. "I've got what I need, so now I just gotta deliver these to the guy who asked for them! Yeah..." 

There was no need to say anything else, there was only the task ahead of her.

Hirru gestured for Yona to walk over to the river, but then spoke of his own profession, which happened to be fishing. "Did...did you say, Secondary Profession?" She asked. "So, what makes the difference between primary and secondary professions? I assume it's possible to have one of each?" 

Secondary professions...Yona wondered if there was one she could pair well for either her build, or with her primary profession. Now all she needed, for the time being, was to find something else. ...But it wasn't like she could find something in the river without the fishing profession...or could she?

Her eyes darted around the waters, looking for anything that seemed off. When she locked eyes on something that looked out of place for a river, she knew just what remark to make once she shoved her hand in and pulled it out.

With a dripping wet consumable in hand, Yona let out an exasperated groan. "Even in a game like this, there's still an asshole out there who litters, messing up the environment."

ID# 202734 CD: 10, LD: 13(Found Rare Consumable)

PH

Seeds: 38

Tags: 1

Link: https://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/21101-pp-f10-the-fall/

Purchasing Gleaming Scale(30 Seeds)

Tag total: 1(T1 Halloween Candy x3)[Wait, how do I get them readied like everyone else did?]

"...The Tree?" Yona questioned. "Are you serious?" She said while suppressing a laugh. Who would be stupid enough to just leave something in a tree? This was like some kind of odd scavenger hunt, this wasn't how looting worked.

Yona walked over to the tree that the player had pointed to. What kind of supernatural sight did this guy have that he could see an item through all those branches at a glance? Well, one way to find out.

Yona realized the hard way that she'd never climbed up a perfectly straight tree before, and it wasn't long before it started to get on her nerves. She kept making attempts to grapple the trunk and climb upward in order to reach the easier-to-climb branches, but each attempt went just as well as the last.

Forty failed attempts later, Yona resorted to a more forceful method for reaching the item. She drew her weapon, and hoped that this tree was not an immortal object. She unleashed her sword art upon the tree, and marks would appear where her weapon had landed. The marks weren't that deep, so this seemed like it would take some time.

Yona couldn't tell how long it had been before she finally dealt enough hits to get the tree to snap, and down it fell, shattering after it hit the ground. Yona's energy had depleted, so she would seem to be winded.

...of course, to add insult to injury, the item she was looking for, which turned out to be a weapon, fell a fair distance after being launched by the force of the tree's knockdown, and the blade sunk into Yona's backside.

Yona pulled it out, and to her, it looked like... 

"I just...sliced up....a tree....FOR THIS PIECE OF JUNK?!?!?!"

If her face was not enough to express her frustration, her outburst definitely would.

ID# 202357 CD: 1, LD: 8(found Uncommon Curved Sword)

"You mean I gotta scavenge for shit-quality items that someone else left behind? That doesn't sound too promising..." Yona remarked at Hirru's "advice". She was aware how RPGs and MMOs worked, and if someone dropped an item, it was usually because it was junk and the player had no use for it.

Hirru explained why he was here. Apparently he was more of an assistant to a merchant, appraising items he himself would find. He seemed to not be so sure about the whole overpopulation thing, claiming he hadn't been seeing more than usual. "Yeah, it is kind of odd, though. I first noticed when I almost got swarmed where I normally wouldn't get swarmed, then there was a lead over in the tenth floor, a player who looked like a Princess was willing to carry me through the trip, but it was like someone was already making their way through." Yona remarked.

"Then the party carrying me ran into this boy going by Vigilon, and barely missed an encounter with some 'Dazia' person...so I guess plenty of higher level players haven't been having too much of a hard time, and may even be clearing out the excess monsters, who knows?" She added. "Then again...I kinda felt like I was being watched...even before I ran into that skeleton guy, who completely whipped us all, even though we took no damage whatsoever."

It was kind of unsettling, to say the least. "But that's more than enough rambling, so I guess it's time to see if that hypothesis of yours holds water." She decided, before going to check the brush that Hirru had gestured to.

Within the foliage, she somehow spotted something in there. "...The hell is this doing here?" She remarked before pulling out the consumable she found. Seeing that it was unidentified, it could not be used until it was appraised.

ID# 201967 CD: 11, LD: 4(Found Uncommon Consumable)

This guy.

He had absolutely no clue what Yona meant by Lizardfolk, as if he had no clue what it was, yet he recognized the lizardfolk that was apparently stealing his rations.

Maybe he just didn't know the term, then?

He soon addressed Yona again, introducing himself as Hirru...an appraiser.

"Oh, wonderful," Yona thought. "Not even ten seconds outside the safe zone and already there's a potential rival in the Equipment Gacha."

Since Hirru had asked Yona about if she needed anything, she might as well answer. "Not necessarily, I'm just heading out to find some equipment. There's an um....a quest! A quest and I need three unidentified items for it." She explained.

As long as the dots weren't connected, there shouldn't be any trouble unless he wasn't the competitive sort. "I go by Yona, by the way." She added, introducing herself. "Any reason you're sticking around here? You just looking to do business, or are you one of those players looking into the weird shit that's going on around some of the floors, the rumors of Monster Overpopulation?" She asked.

First there was the initial realization of the Monster Overpopulation, then there was the carry at the Tenth Floor which ended with a high level skeleton just casually knocking everyone, including Yona, aside. Not to mention there were those Essences that apparently had the old fashioned "Take one" rule, leaving Yona to only have that one, which was currently sitting in her inventory, like some kind of key item, simply because Yona had no clue what the hell she was supposed to do with it. ...And now there was this.

Yona wasn't put off by green hair, so it wasn't the person waving to her that caused her expression to appear as though she was off-put for the actual reason just so happened to be the half-camouflaged lizardfolk pulling a wagon. That was an unusual sight for her.

"What the hell? Is...is that a lizardfolk?" Yona asked, after about ten seconds of awkward silence and her expression.

She never thought she'd see a lizardfolk around here. ...Well, at least, one that wasn't a monster. She had a feeling she might encounter one as a monster in higher level floors, but as an NPC just casually pulling a wagon? Gotta admit, one of the few things she expected the least.

What a strange time this had all been so far.

Yona knew she wasn't ready for the tougher parts of the investigation that Krysta's party was up to, so she needed some time on her own to train herself up to about near Astralin's Level at least. Due to the mysterious phenomena going on, she should start her training with something simple so that she would be less likely to get swarmed by mobs outside the safe zone. Hopefully, she'd be able to catch up quickly so she could return to the investigation.

If Yona was gonna get anywhere, she had to be more than a scavenger in the wilds. But what else could she try? She was clumsy with the forge, kept poking herself with the tailor's needle, wasn't delicate enough to be an artisan, she wasn't the best with potions unless a quest required it, she was a mediocre chef at best, as she found herself incapable of performing the key actions for making enhanced food(how does that even work?), and despite her sense of style and pretty voice, she didn't seem capable of writing her own songs, let alone winding up as a Bard from Dungeons and Dragons just by choosing performer as a profession. So what else could she try? Well, she recently heard from the grapevine about Appraisers, who could identify a looted item's enhancements, sometimes coming across something unique... With a glint in her eyes, and a smirk on her face, she began seeking out a teacher for Appraisers. She came across an NPC who knew a potential mentor's location, and marked it on her map.

When she arrived, she could clearly see that this NPC had wares for days, maybe weeks, or months, even! The NPC emerged from a rack of scrolls, greeting Yona with a smile of pearly whites as shiny as that bald spot on his head. If there were nice-looking scavengers of the Business World, he was clearly one of them. "Why Hello, what is it you're looking for today?" 

"I'm looking for someone to train me in the art of Appraisal, and I was directed to you." Yona revealed. The NPC scowled. "I don't do anything for free." He shot back. "Obviously. You think I didn't know that?" Yona responded. "Is it a Col Payment, or do you need me to fetch something for you?" The NPC seemed to be in thought for a short moment as he looked Yona up and down. "Well knowledgeable, straight to the point...seems to have a little potential...hmm..." He muttered to himself. Then out loud, he said, "Tell you what, you bring me the items, I'll show you how to identify them." With that, Yona would nod in agreement and be off.

She would be on her way to the safe zone's exit, 'cause items to appraise could only be found outside the safe zone. She ended up getting distracted by pulling out that weird vial of <<Blue Essence>> and staring at it, wondering what the hell it was. She shook her head, she couldn't seem to tell. Maybe one day, She'd find the answer.

Until then, she would be doing simple stuff like this, all just to prepare herself for the journey ahead. She was somewhat nervous though. If the Monster Overpopulation that those three were investigation was even on this floor, would she still have a hard time out there?

Well, there's only one way to find out.

@Hirru

Stats and Equipment:

Vigilon introduced himself in response to Yona's introduction, and he also responded to what the other girls were asking him. He seemed to be equal height to Krysta, so Yona was still the tallest player here. Yona smirked at the knowledge that she was the tallest among them. While not taller by much, she was still taller...maybe she was older, too?

The players, now having their vials of Essence, began to make their way out. It wasn't like there could be anything else this Vigilon person hadn't already seen by now, anyway, so if he was paying any attention, exchanging intel would be a breeze. Astralin helped the Party plus One get their way across the tile puzzle again, using her memory to assist her in the effort. Next thing the players knew, there was a hooded woman in the doorway who fled upon being spotted, and then Astralin noticed a skeleton casually dressed in a hoodie, and he didn't seem to be speaking eerily. In fact, he sounded pretty chill.

Astralin, however, was unnerved by the skeleton's words, and after the skeleton cracked a bad joke, Astralin attacked...and missed. Yona pulled out a cupcake from her inventory, and proceeded to eat it while watching Astralin fail pretty badly. Astralin stopped rolling in front of Yona, and Astralin seemed to be upset over how useless she'd been in combat throughout the whole trip so far. Maybe she deserved a sweet, too. Yona pulled out a popsicle from her inventory, opened Astralin's mouth, and placed said popsicle in there with a smile. Hopefully she wouldn't end up choking on it. Now it was Yona's turn to deal with the skelly.

Yona took position behind her target while one of the other players were busy distracting it, and once that was done, Yona took this moment to make an attempt on this guy. She swatted at his skull using the flat end of her blade, and attempted two rapid slashes. Only the swat managed to make contact.

"nice try." The skeleton noted. "Well, I've only made two strikes, and a hit, so I'm not out of the game just yet." Yona responded. With the left eye aglow, the skeleton waved his arm and suddenly, due to the floor rising up and swatting her, Yona was sent flying out the door. Literally, out.

"now you're out." The skeleton remarked.

Yeah, Yona wasn't ready to compete with this just yet. "Alright, I admit defeat."

...for now.

ID# 200979 CD: 12(tag.)

ID# 200980 CD: 6(miss)

ID# 200981 CD: 8(miss)

Tags Acquired: 1(10 materials, +5% Exp for the thread)

Both Astralin and Krysta just noped out of the situation, just like that, leaving Yona with the frogs...or so one might think. If running was a valid option, then it was a damn good option, as Yona was not gonna stick around with a pair of toxic frogs. She bolted for the doorway that led further into the ruins, hopefully the frogs would lose interest and hop somewhere else, so that she wouldn't have to deal with them again when it was time to leave at the end of the investigation. Yona would enter the next room to see Astralin and Krysta frantically trying to solve a spiky tile puzzle. "Can I ask how frequently puzzles like these show up? Are they normal, or are they usually saved for higher level zones?" Yona questioned. Knowing whether or not traps and tricky puzzles were scattered around all levels and areas of Aincrad might prove to be useful information.

Once the puzzle was solved and the party managed to get away from the frogs by going down a ladder covered by a trapdoor, Astralin went on ahead and spoke of some person called Vigilon.

When Yona entered the dim room, she saw not only the rest of the party, but also who she could only assume was Vigilon. Well, they knew him, but Yona didn't. The two party members greeted the guy casually, so Yona didn't see anything more...yet.

More importantly, what were those odd vials? The players were already taking some, so Yona needed to take her share quickly! She walked right up to them and took the Blue one. Something stopped her from grabbing another, so she might as well take a look at the one she did manage to grab...

"One per player? What is the meaning of this?" Yona thought. Well, it didn't look like she was getting more than what she now had, so she pocketed the Essence she'd grabbed and looked over to Vigilon. "I don't think we've met. I go by Yona." She said in introduction.

Seriously? Both Astralin and Krysta didn't want anything to do with this. Neither did Yona, so it would be a bit of a stalemate among the party, and those damn frogs were only getting closer! "Are you kidding me?? I don't wanna touch those things! Astralin, I understand if it's because you're using martial arts and don't wanna get poisoned, I don't wanna get poisoned either! Honestly, there's one of us who's capable of taking a status ailment and I know who that is! Let the Princess handle these frogs, 'cause who knows what they really are!" Yona exclaimed, despite somewhat making a reference at the end.

After all the cliche stuff Krysta had done so far, she had a chance to either break the stereotype or follow through with it. Come on, Death game or no, this was still a game! ...And they're just two frogs...potentially poisonous frogs...but still!

Sure enough, Astralin and Krysta continued their assault against the Skeletal Guardian. Astralin failed to damage the target yet again, whereas Krysta finished it off. 

Oh look, experience. Well, guess even just standing around in a party had some value. With things like this going on, a lazy player could lie about his or her level and get carried all the time until he or she reached a desired level...but such a thing would be too dumb, boring and, honesty...just plain petty for Yona. She knew she'd need to put in some work of her own if she wanted to really get anywhere.

Krysta checked to make sure Astralin was ok, then the party entered the ruins. The entryway seemed pretty empty, and Krysta seemed to get the idea that the party wasn't alone.

Plap, plap, plap...

Wait, what was that noise?

Plap plap, plap plap, plap plap...

Yona turned her head slowly towards the direction the sounds were coming from, and she saw two little frogs hopping across the floor...pretty close to the players. The patterns on the endemic creatures weren't that of typical frogs. Yona had heard from one player that the waters of the tenth floor were poisonous...since frogs were amphibians that came from water, then these might be...

*ribbit*

"D'AAAAAAAHHH!!!"

Yona pulled out her weapon, pointing it towards the two frogs...which simply continued to hop towards the party.

Yona was a bit confused as to exactly what Astralin meant. "Uh, you just described every weapon in the game." She remarked. "Exactly what do you do, then?" She asked.

It wasn't long before the players encountered a monster blocking the way. Astralin tried out something, and it was...odd, how did...was that the martial arts skill she'd heard about? This was starting to get more confusing. Astralin didn't look like the sort to fight with her fists or feet, and yet here she was, using Martial Arts to pull off...whatever it was she tried to do just now. Krysta then managed to actually land a hit against the monster, cutting its HP down to yellow, almost red. All in one attack? Damn...Yona couldn't wait to get that powerful. Krysta told Yona to wait, which was the obvious course of action, due to how aggro seemed to work in this game. Krysta also said something super cliche, along the lines of "I won't let you hurt my friends" or something like that. Nice one, captain obvious. The Skeletal Guardian attempted to strike back, but Krysta blocked the attack and it ended in lock. A seemingly disembodied voice came from the monster as it glared at Krysta. "...Leave..."

Ok, so it just wanted the players to leave. Well, bad news for him, that wasn't gonna happen.

[Yona takes no action]

ID# 200635 MD: 5(miss)

[0]Yona: HP 20/20, EN 20/20 | 6 DMG | 6 MIT | 2 EVA | 3 LD

[1]Krysta: HP 640/640, EN 72/84 | 21 DMG | 78 MIT | 1 ACC | 3 LD | Holy: 8 | T4 Bleed

[0]Astralin: HP 420/420, EN 58/60 | 20 DMG | 3 ACC | 2 EVA | Freeze: 9-10

                    Enemies:

Skeletal Guardian: HP 138/372 | 124 DMG | 18 MIT

Astralin would pull out-

"Wait, hold up, is that a Spellbook? I thought we didn't have magic in SAO!" Yona exclaimed. "Is it a unique skill or something?? I haven't seen any listed skill on my skill menu that would even be close to that, and I've heard rumors of skills completely different than the rest, skills that must be discovered, rather than just invested in." 

To think, that someone would ever try to attain magic...but why? Sure, everyone had their own thing, but Yona didn't think any players would be becoming magic users or anything like that...

Regardless of the answer she'd get, it was time to set out. It was probably because Yona was being carried, but Krysta didn't seem interested in attacking monsters as of the moment. Well, the players came to investigate a mysterious phenomenon, so grinding wasn't really the goal just yet. Speaking of the phenomenon, part of it was monster overpopulation, right? So...where were all the monsters?

As much as Yona wanted to be the Party Leader, a carry was a carry. Astralin suggested that Krysta should be the party leader, and Krysta seemed to accept only because she was carrying both her allies for this objective. Well, that was one good thing to look forward to! To be humble would serve everyone well for the time being...though the only thing humble on Yona's end was her level...

Soon.

Yona accepted the invite, she would be a lowly level one getting carried...for now.

"Just you all wait...I might be below all of you now, but I'll reach your level at some point...then at the very least, we'll be equals..." Yona thought. "I'm sick of just doing nothing, even if I have to start with a carry just so I can have a piece of the action that's worthwhile, then so be it!"

She had a goal in sight: To catch up with everyone else so she wouldn't have to answer to anyone. Knowing she was finally on her way to rising up in level, she could feel her determination.

The Player Yona was speaking to seemed to be irritated by her words. Before Yona could say anything else, another Blonde player walked into the scene. She addressed the Princess Player as Krysta, which might have been her username. The blonde seemed to be on the assumption that Yona and Krysta were friends, and asked who she was. Krysta admitted that the two had only just met five minutes ago. "Yep, she's right, we're more like, fresh acquaintances, you could say. Anyway, I go by Yona, what about you?" Yona added. Krysta seemed to get distracted by a message, but it seemed to be tied to why the three players were here. Krysta seemed to really wanna know that Yona was aware of the situation. "I'm aware...that I'm getting carried. As long as I don't pull aggro, I'll be fine." Yona claimed, looking confident. "So, who's gonna lead the party?" Yona asked, wanting to know who and what she was working with.

Monster Populations were on the rise, and there were rumors of stuff going down on the Tenth Floor of Aincrad. She had to see what was going on somehow, but with the overpopulation issue, she literally could not go anywhere alone. She was gonna need some help...which was exactly why she was tagging along behind a girl who looked like some kind of Princess over to Floor Ten.

"Hey now, don't you worry, I'm low-level, not stupid. I know when to run." Yona claimed. The Princess girl didn't seem to understand the rumors, and from what she saw, she claimed that almost nothing had changed. "If that's the case, is it subtle, or is it purposefully hidden? Either could be the case if the rumors happen to be true." Yona noted. "But oh, I'm a low-level player, so what the hell do I know?" She added with sarcasm and a shrug.

Stats and Equipment:

Normally, enemies would shatter upon being defeated. Why was there a corpse left behind this time? Yona walked towards the body, and the option "Search" appeared in front of her. Upon doing so, an uncommon weapon appeared before her, and then the boar shattered.

So it was a temporary thing, then. Alright, no biggie. She took a good look at the weapon, but it didn't look all that impressive. "...Do all unidentified items look as weak as this piece of junk?" She thought aloud. She hoped it was only until the identification came, as to keep the item's real value a surprise. Clearly she couldn't do anything with it at the moment, so she stowed it in her inventory for the time being.

Then Yona heard a boar squeal, and looked to see incoming disaster. SuzuNa had gotten herself in combat with a boar, but its attack had cut down a quarter of her HP. Yep, she had zero Mitigation. "What the hell are you doing??" Yona reacted. Suzuna Claimed that she could handle the situation, that Yona only needed to worry about her quest. "I- I just.."

If this was not a literal life or death situation, Yona would have left this alone. But seeing that it was not, she let out an exasperated breath, and readied her weapon, in case SuzuNa proved herself to be more reckless than she already had done.

ID# 196918 CD: 3, LD: 9(found Uncommon T1 Curved sword) 

@SuzuNa

SuzuNa listened carefully, then began to practice on the tree as Yona offered. A few basic attacks were dealt to it, and then Suzu managed to learn how Sword Art activation worked. "Yeah, that's it, there you go!" Yona encouraged. SuzuNa then remembered that Yona was currently on a quest. "Well, if you're ready, let's go." Yona decided. The tree had been a worthy training dummy, but it was time to move on.

Surprisingly, it didn't take very long to run into some trouble. Yona slowed down when she saw a whole herd of boars on the horizon. "Hold up...I'm gonna see if I can keep its attention, assuming it becomes hostile on sight." Yona warned, holding her arm out to prevent her ally from getting to close to what could be an enemy's aggro range. "Boars may seem docile, but they are easily provoked, and will become hostile to anyone or anything that steps within their agrro range...aggro is a term having to do with aggression, by the way. To 'pull aggro' is to get its hostile attention in a way that it keeps its eyes on you, rather than others." Yona explained. "I'll step forward, but I'll try to do so slowly as to not have the whole herd stampeding towards us."

She did so, and she stopped when only one of the boars squealed, its cursor turning red, as it turned its attention towards her. She stepped back. "Let's make sure we don't provoke the others just yet, hopefully we can pick them off one by one...otherwise, we might just end up having to put up with a field lesson on Area of Effect Sword Arts." Yona suggested.

She then attacked the Boar once it was in range, but the battle was over as soon as it began...maybe she should have just used a basic attack. "Well, that was...easier than expected." She remarked. Then again, it had been some time since her first battle, so she might have forgotten how easy it was to kill low level enemies...once Sword Arts were learned. She began to look through what this battle had earned her, and her ally was probably hoping for a share of the spoils, so she guessed. "Want some of this?" Yona asked.

ID# 196739 BD: 7(hit)

ST-I: 6x4=24 Damage to Boar

ID# 196740 CD: 8, LD: 12+3=15(84 Col, <<Unidentified T1 Rare Claws>>, and <<Unidentified T1 Uncommon Consumable>>)

Yona: HP: 20/20 | EN: 16/20 | 6 DMG | 6 MIT | 2 EVA | 3 LD

SuzuNa: HP: 20/20 | EN: 20/20 | DMG: 4 | ACC: 2 | EVA: 1 | LD: 3

                     Enemies:

Boar: HP 0/12, 4 DMG

SuzuNa had some questions as she searched her Equipment for Enhancements. "Enhancements are as they're named. No special actions are required, they just enhance your abilities and make the things you do around the game much easier." Yona answered. SuzuNa listed the enhancements her equipment had, one of which seemed a bit meta in terms of the name. "Loot Die, so it is called. From what I can tell, it makes it easier to spot things when searching for something, and when looting slain enemies, it increases the odds of better drops. Things like that. Light Momentum makes it easier to hit your target every time you miss, but once you hit, the benefits of the enhancement disappear until you miss again." Yona explained.

"Now, before we get into any fights, maybe we should make sure we both know what we're doing. Combat may sound simple in a lifelike game like this, slice things, enemy dies, 'woo, you win', but due to Sword Arts, it's actually a bit more complicated than that. Typical attacks don't do much at all, just your base damage. Keep attacking that way, and it'll take a long time to fight enemies, and it will be more likely they'll win as a result. That's where Sword Arts come in." Yona explained. She turned her attention to a nearby tree. "There are a number of ways to activate them." She began as she drew her weapon. "The most common method is to use a certain motion or two to activate it while your weapon is drawn. From what I've heard, some players manage to master them to the degree that they practically just have to think it while they have a valid target in their sights and bam, it activates. I'm not sure that the latter is legit, but hey, maybe with practice, we'll have a chance to see if the rumor holds water." She said with a chuckle.

"But since you're kinda new to combat, the basics should do just fine." Yona decided as she took position. "Like so..." With a precise movement, her wakizashi glowed and she swiftly attacked the tree. The object was clearly damageable, as several slash marks appeared on the wood of the tree. "There...why don't you give it a try? Best to figure out how it works now, rather than having to learn this in actual combat with an opponent that can actually fight back."

@SuzuNa