Bismuth

Bismuth had now failed to find the material that he was looking for in two of the most common spots to find it. Normally someone would get disheartened at this, but the hunt was just part of the fun for Bismuth, that along with the documentation and exploration were what really fueled him into this sort of research. Keeping up with his slow moving crouch through the plains, Bismuth took the time to look at the quest that he had received from the Gypsy at her Caravan. All it said was that he needed to tame a familiar, without really giving him much to go on when it came to actually finding said

"I feel like being the person who provides a contrast to things that are good things, isn't really someone I should be interacting with. At least there is a purpose for his actions." Bismuth thought it was far better to have a reason to be a bad person, then to just be one for none. He had dealt with his fair share of people only using him for their own gain, and he was completely done with that, even if it was drastic and sudden. "That sounds like a plan." Bismuth smiled as Freyd described Astreya it was fairly on point, and it made Bismuth laugh "You'd think it would go away, but it's s

Bismuth walked slowly making sure that he kept himself low, the bright green ang gold of his armor wasn't really designed to hide in the plains that he found himself in, the off white of the lions that prowled these hunting grounds were much better at this sort of thing. The walk despite being the closest to his previous location still took him an hour, it had already been three hors since he had left for this journey, and it was reaching midday, and staying outside after dark was a almost a guaranteed death, the lions got more active night, and were even harder to see than they were during th

Looking behind him Bismuth looked at the caravan again, growing ever smaller in the distance, not being able to take his mind off of the odd encounter, Bismuth had heard stories about how off putting and unnerving the Gypsy could be, but experiencing it for himself was something different all together. Taking a breather beneath a pair of trees a half hour walk from the lions resting spot, though it was relatively close, the lions never made there way to this specific area, so it was somewhere that players like himself could take a rest in relative safety compared to the rest of the area surrou

Pebbles scattered down from the rocks as Bismuth scrambled down, making sure to keep his footing while also quickly making his way down the rocks towards the camp. It was so odd to him that someone would have set up a camp here, there was a settlement right in the center of the floor, Corinthia, and with how it wasn't even quite midday yet there was no reason not to just keep pushing all the way to the town, especially since it was a safe zone. it took another good ten minutes before Bismuth had reached the campsite, and while he saw a campsite, he didn't see anyone currently there. "Hel

Bismuth knew that finding the material that he was looking for was going to be an ordeal, all of the most likely places that he had recorded that he would be able to find it were in the common resting spots for the pride, but those weren't the only places it could be found. The place that Bismuth currently had his sights set on was one of the resting spots of the lions, one that had an outcrop a good distance away that could be used to view the lions from afar without much risk of being spotted, if all went to plan, he would be able to hide on the top of that outcrop in order to make sure no l

This was not the first time that Bismuth had found himself on the higher levels of Aincrad, though he had never done any real combat on any of the floors, even on floor one. And this time wasn't going to be different, at least that was the plan that Bismuth had in mind. Today he had made his way to the far eastern side of the seventeenth floor to a place called the Nemean plains, this was a fairly dangerous place to visit on the seventeenth floor, that was if you didn't know the path that the Nemean lion, and Nemean lionesses followed. Bismuth had already been to this floor before with some hi

"It may have been sudden, but he feels like the kind of person who uses someone for his own gain, and then throws them aside the moment they aren't useful. And I have had enough of those types of people, plus the ladies can't resist a man who cooks." Bismuth winked at Freyd while they walked, not caring one way or the other if his companion joined him or not, but definitely not frowning at the company. "Marv, like the guard?" Bismuth was interested in knowing if it was the same Marv that Astreya had somewhat introduced him too on his foray into gaining the gathering quest, though she had

"The games just make it more fun. Who doesn't just love a race, plus it lessens the stress of the request, if I were to just walk up and ask to get a coffee, that puts you on the spot. This way since it's just a joke, if you don't enjoy the idea of getting coffee there is no pressure to say yes." Bismuth explained his methods very bluntly though not in a rude way, just matter of factly. Bismuth was genuinely enjoying his time, and he didn't want to upset his new friend at all, so he wanted to make sure that he explained his reasonings. "Though, my request stands. I have enjoyed your company so

Bismuth chuckled, Astreya was turning out to be a fairly enjoyable companion, Bismuth had mainly just walked up to her on a whim because she was pretty, but now he was glad he had, so far she had been nothing but kind and funny. He knew that there wasn't actually anything much that Astreya could do when it came to helping him, he would have to gather his own resources without any actual help from anyone, but support was still support, while Bismuth enjoyed the task, gathering could be something very boring when you were doing it alone. "Don't worry, I don't tend to find myself in trouble

Bismuth just listened to what Freyd had to say not really responding until he was almost done with what seemed to be a lecture. "My wiles aren't for gathering information, that is just for fun. The information people can give me doesn't serve much of a purpose when I could just go out and collect my own data." Bismuth scowled as he looked back towards the Cambion over in the corner then back to Freyd. "If it means dealing with the likes of him," Bismuth nodded his head back towards Billy not much caring if he heard that he had a disdain for the deal making devil "Than I don't much think I want

Bismuth finished his diagram, Freyd could tell that with the little time spent on it, it was a very accurate representation of the creature they saw standing before them. complete with a couple of sentences, pointing to different areas of the drawing. Bismuth closed the book with a dull thud clipping it back to the buckles he had on his thigh intent on coming back here to get more details out of Billy later, but though incomplete this entry would do for now. placing the pencil in a container seemingly designed for storing the small utensil and clasping it in place beside the book, Bismuth fina

"I know, but if you've done it already that just means you can give me some pointers when I start doing everything wrong." The pair had almost reached their destination it was only a few more minutes of walking before they would arrive, Bismuth didn't know how to feel about it though, he wanted to get this quest over and done with, so that he can start more of his research for the more rare materials in Aincrad, it was hard to study them without the benefits that the gathering profession provided, and he had finally caved. "Don't worry your pretty little head angel, I'm not careless, I've

"Well a passable neophyte is still better than not having anyone around at all, your experience will be appreciated none the less." BIsmuth smiled inwardly, his face not changing from his usual expression of uncaring enjoyment, Bismuth wasn't going to claim that he was an expert or anything when it came to gathering and looting, but Bismuth had spent the last 2 years researching everything from locales, to mobs, to even some event bosses to write down all that he could about the way that they worked, their possible ranges, everything that could be useful out in the field and inscribing it all

Bismuth watched in silence as Freyd antagonized the small boy, intending to step in the way and call Freyd out for his poor treatment of someone who was so clearly doing nothing wrong, at the moment at least. But that mentality shifted as the boy's appearance did. Bismuth prided himself on his knowledge of the Cardinal system and about every material and monster that could be found on the floors they had currently discovered, but this, this was something completely new, something that Bismuth was not expecting. Unable to keep his expression from changing, the normally relaxed and inatten

Bismuth had already decided that commenting on his new companions shadow would result in him just gaining more questions then it would answer, as he already had several. Bismuth could feel his ponytail slapping against his back as they continued there very fast walk towards, well Bismuth really didn't know, it seemed like Freyd knew where he was going, but it definitely didn't seem like he was heading to the Appraiser's quest. The fast pace wasn't really something that Bismuth disliked, he had spent a decent amount of his time outside of the beginner town running around and collecting data to

Bismuth noted the lack of a shadow on his newest travelling companion, so far being one of only a few people he had interacted with an Aincrad, that is if you didn't count the hundreds of books and maps that he had read on the spawn mechanics that people had been able to decipher for the game they were in, but Freyd was quickly turning into quite the unusual character, not that Bismuth minded at all. "So did the shadow skip work today?" Bismuth knew the joke was horrible, but bad humor is the best humor for getting to know someone. "I didn't expect you to come all the way out here with

Bismuth enjoyed listening to Quip's accent and let that be known by the wide smile he was giving to her, Scottish wasn't really something he had experienced a lot growing up in Japan. Seeing the look of disappointment on Quip's face when Bismuth mentioned Freyd, not meaning to bring the woman any ill will, but before he had the chance to say anything she had already run off to catch who he could only assume was Freyd. Sighing Bismuth turned back around leaning himself against the counter. Startled by The sudden whisper coming out of the shadow's Bismuth looked up, in front of him was, the

"Charm is my middle name, don't worry I'm not this nice with everyone." Bismuth winks in her direction, seemingly amused with himself, still just as carefree as he had been since he walked up to her. Bismuth noted her smile, and was glad that he was able to bring one to her face, a smile was when someone was the most beautiful after all. "An expert? I knew that fate was pulling me towards you, Well I guess with you here this is going to be a breeze." Bismuth smiled down at her, truthfully glad that he could have her help with this, there was only so much that books and maps could get you when

"Anything with you around would probably be a better time, Right now I am heading out to get the gathering profession, don't need a weapon much, if you know what your doing that is." Bismuth gestures at the fact that he is wearing neither armor nor weapons even though he planned to leave the town. "I sure could use company, especially from a pretty little thing like you. Shall we?" Bismuth asks gesturing towards that gate of the town that could be seen off in the distance, not waiting for an answer as he starts walking towards the gate without much care, his hands held up behind his hair. "The

Bismuth knew that in order for him to survive in Aincrad he was going to need materials, and that here was no better way to go get those materials than to get trained as a gatherer. He figured that even without any actual equipment, that he wouldn't need them, the first floor was relatively safe, especially if you knew where you were going and what you were doing, which after two years of studying maps and spawn locations, Bismuth was pretty confident he fit into those categories. The gatherer that Bismuth was looking for was on the other side of the beginner village just outside of town, so i

After checking his new dagger off of his list Bismuth only had a few more things that he needed to get before he felt ready to start heading out into the non protected areas of Aincrad, those being a pair of trinkets, and a set of lightweight and easy to move in armor. Bismuth already knew where he was going to get both of those items, opting for the trinkets first at Freyd Edges, a shop on the outskirts of a monastery on the thirteenth floor, normally Bismuth would have opted for the armor, but in his research there were not very many tailors in Aincrad, and one of the few had a, prickly, per

Bismuth was glad to see that the shop that Vigilon ran in the mountains seemed to be as legit as people had said it was. Looking through all of the ready to buy equipment along the walls, Bismuth could tell that he was a very good blacksmith, and that his money would be well spent. Normally Bismuth would have been very interested in watching the blacksmith work, but something else in the shop had garnered his full attention. On the far side of the counter there sat a small white dragon, something that, with him being new to the outside of the beginner village, Bismuth had never seen before.

Bismuth had spent the last two years in Aincrad practicing and studying the system, learning how to make use of everything that it had to offer for him, now it was finally time that he put all of that practice and theory to the test. And with that he needed a real weapon, not just the wooden sword he had been using to practice with, something small and light. After some asking around Bismuth heard of the blacksmith on the third floor just an hour outside of the floors main city Nimbus. It was cold on the mountain top that the blacksmith Vigilon had made his shop on, but after too much w

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