Faerie

PH

Skill(s) Being Dropped: Combat Mastery DMG R1
SP Incurred Towards Limit: 0 (It was free)
SP Refunded: 0 (It was still free)
Cost: 0 (It was free?)

A lot of weird and interesting things had happened in the Town of Beginnings throughout their time in Aincrad, but Fae hadn't had the great fortune of being present for even one of them. That, however, changed when a blue haired young woman jumped out of building and landed next to the mayor and her, and hand placed on the ground in a classic landing. The chaos that spread out from the sudden appearance was immense with carts toppled and innocent people kicked by horses. The look of surprise on Fae's face was soon replaced by a warm smile as the woman introduced herself before her brain and body seemed to realize that she had just jumped out of a two story building and she stumbled holding herself up using the mayor's shoulder. 

"It's nice to meet you Adelyte." Fae chuckled and stuck out her hand for the other woman to take "My name is Faerie, but everyone just calls me Fae, which you can do if you want to, or not, you don't have to." Fae let her sentence peter out when she realized that she was rambling "I would love to have an awesome and clearly powerful player accompanying me." She couldn't quite remember it, but the last time that she had done attempted this quest she was joined by another powerful woman, it seemed like a trend that Fae didn't mind starting. 

Fae's introduction was cut off as the mayor coughed loudly, but politely to get their attention. "The more the merrier I say. You both look to be capable young adventurers. I need your help, I gave out a loan to one of the townsfolk, but I can't seem to remember who. I am much to busy to be asking all about town myself. Please go ask Zakariah at his potion shop if he received a loan from me recently." The mayor spoke fast, almost as if the very last thing that he wanted to be doing was talking to a pair of adventurers. "Of course I -" She was cut short as the mayor started nodding his head "Good, good I thought as much. Well please be quick about it." The man didn't wait for another response from Fae or Adelyte before he rushed off again. "- would love to help." Fae finished her sentence before fading into stunned silence and looking over at her new companion raising an eyebrow. "Well that was a little rude." She shook her head in dismay before continuing "Well like I said earlier, I would love to have company, from what I remember this quest line can be rather dull. But I don't think anything will be dull with you around. Shall we?" Fae smiled before turning back towards the street.

One of the biggest downsides to the 18th floor was the immense difficulty in moving around, most of the water wasn't deep enough for boat travel, and the land was too watery for travel with a wagon, but there one was. Fae carefully approached the wagon, nothing had yet made it seem dangerous to do so, and curiosity had won her over long before she decided to move in. On further inspection, Fae only grew more and more confused, not only was there no perceivable way for the wagon to have made it this far into the swamp, there was also no perceivable way that the wagon could move at all. Even though SAO was a game, every wagon was still pulled by some sort of animal, but there was nothing in sight, no sign of there having been any animal to begin with.

The wagon was a simple one, made of a soft green wood fully enclosed like a small house on wheels. Herbs and other trinkets hung from all different places on the wagon, and a woman sat outside next to a large fire watching as Fae approached. The woman just stared as she approached, keeping her eyes fixed on Fae until she spoke "What are you doing out here?" her voice broke through the silence like a crash, sounding far too loud for the dim swamp. The woman jumped, almost as if startled by the sounds, even though she had been watching Fae approach the whole time. "Oh, I'm just a friend of the animals. I have some feed that tends to make even the most hostile creature friendly." The woman spoke as if she wasn't fully there, with a dreamy quality that made her seem unreal. That coupled with how she seemingly just appeared out of nowhere in the middle of a dangerous swamp was quickly making the whole experience surreal. "Friend of the animals? Like the swamp monsters?" the swamp wasn't full of much in the way of small creatures, mostly just insects and fish, and most of those were far larger than anything that people would normally befriend. The only things that really survived in this harsh environment were the larger monsters that could eat instead of be eaten. "I am a friend of any and all creatures in this tower. Here, why don't you take this. Give it to any monster you would want to treat you as a friend and they will." The woman held out a small brown bag loosely, offering it to Fae and letting her hand fall back as soon as Fae grabbed it. "Now off with you, I have preparations to make, and I can't have you just standing around my camp." the woman left no room for argument, so Fae made her way from the small wagon, reeling at the whole experience 'What even just happened, I think I have whiplash from that' 

Fae eyed the small bag of what appeared to be some sort of kibble one last time before pocketing it and making her way into the swamp. Maybe it would come in handy, but for now she had a reason for being in these god forsaken swamp, and she intended on finishing so that she could leave as soon as possible.

The eighteenth floor was by no means Fae's favorite, far from it in all honesty, but even in Sword Art Online you had to make some sort of living. And that was how Fae found herself struggling through the thick mud and plant life that covered floor 18, boots sticking with every single step as she foraged for materials. Fae had always thrived more outside than inside, and that hadn't changed when she got trapped into SAO, but rather she was able to enhance and capitalize on those skills in order to sell her services as a guide and a gatherer of rare materials for the craftsman that don't have the ability to go out for themselves. One of those very same craftsman was paying for Fae to procure some rare fungi that grew only on this floor, she had found all of what they had been looking for already, but there was no reason not to take advantage of the situation and gather materials for her own purposes. 

Fae was beginning to regret that decision as the loud sucking sound of her foot pulling free from the muck around her echoed in the flat expanse of murky water and muck. Fae had been doing this long enough at this point that she could go just about anywhere in Aincrad without encountering monsters, but this floor was one of the hardest, there was nowhere to hide and almost every single one of the monsters liked to hide in the water and jump out at the last second. Floors like these still had the power to make Fae shiver, remembering days long past when less was known about the floors, and dungeons and floor bosses could just be ran into without any warning. 

Fae was taken out of her reminiscing  by smoke curling into the air in the distance, normally she would have ignored something like this, but her curiosity got the better of her as she veered course towards the smoke on the horizon, making sure to place her feet more carefully so that no noise came out while she was moving. The carefulness that she moved with made the journey slow, and it took her nearly an hour before she passed through a copse of sickly gray trees and could see what appeared to be a wagon sitting on one of the few areas of land in the area that was neither murky nor muddy. 'How did they even get the wagon there.' Fae studied the wagon for a few minutes before determining that it was safe to approach and making her way to it.

Date: 02-27-25
[29/40 EXP] Rank 2 - Apprentice Cook: Able to craft Tier 2 equipment. 3 crafts per day.

Crafting Tier 2 [Dessert]:
ID241985 | CD: 3 | LD: 19 | Fail! (Lose Materials)
ID241986 | CD: 10 | LD: 13 | Success! T2 Uncommon Desert
ID241987 | CD: 9 | LD: 20 | Critical! 1+1 T2 Uncommon Desert
Result: +7 EXP (1+3+3) [36/40]

Fusion:
ID241987 + ID241987-1 | T2 Rare Desert = ID241989

Buying the following items:

Gold Key x2
Blank Dungeon Map T2 ×2
Total: (1,000 * 2) + (200 * 2) = 2,400 Col

Date: 02-26-25
[22/40 EXP] Rank 2 - Apprentice Cook: Able to craft Tier 2 equipment. 3 crafts per day.

Crafting Tier 1 [Snack]:
ID241897 | CD: 1 | LD: 16 | Fail! (Lose Materials)
ID241898 | CD: 11 | LD: 11 | Success! T1 Rare Snack
ID241898 | CD: 2 | LD: 3 | Fail! (Lose Materials)
Result: +7 EXP (1+5+1) [29/40]

The seasons in Aincrad mirrored the real world nearly perfectly, and spring hadn't quite started yet. The trees in the forest on the third floor hadn't grown back their leaves yet, and Fae's boots crunched against the still frozen ground as she made her way to Aruyt, the main settlement that connected to all of the other floors. The soft crunch of boots on frozen leaves was soon replaced by the sound of wooden bridges as Fae found herself at the teleportation monument of the third floor "Town of beginnings"breath hung in the air like a cloud as Fae called out to be teleported to the first floor. Fae had agreed to meet her friend at the orphanage that she ran in the Town of Beginnings, and even though they weren't supposed to meet for hours, she found herself out in the cold morning air, intent to just wander around and think. 

The town of beginnings, for all the bad things that were associated with, was a festive place in the winter and the remnants of holidays months past could still be seen as one made their way through the cobbled streets. Fae had always liked late winter, after all the snow had stopped falling, but before the frost gave way to grass, in the early morning alone, it was like she was the last person in the world, and could forget all of her problems. Her brief revelry was pulled short as the sound of hurried footsteps cut through the silence of the morning. A familiar looking man was walking very purposefully in her direction 'I think that's the mayor, what does he want?"Fae stopped walking and let the man catch up to her intending to hear him out before continuing on with her aimless wandering.

The woman behind the counter smiled as she made a gesture that seemed to have a meaning that Fae didn't understand. Though it was clear that she was directing Fae to look at the sign on the counter. The sign gave a list of general prices as well as a brief explanation of how the shop keeper could not speak. 'That must have been sign language earlier' Fae thought to herself smiling at the woman and dropping the bag of col on the counter "Thank you. Your shop is wonderful, I'll make sure to stop by again soon, I live in the forest just nearby." With that Farewell Fae pocketed her coin and exited the shop.

It hadn't taken long for Fae to get the ping that her new weapon was ready. Ren had worked fast on her last weapon and he didn't disappoint in the slightest on this one. Back in the store she stared in abject awe at the craftsmanship of the weapon. She knew her way around a bow, and this one was one of unrivaled work "Thank you, it's beautiful, I cannot wait to see what it can do."

Fae made her way out of the store with a small jaunt in her step. It had been a long time since she had been able to shoot a bow proper, and this was better than anything she could have hoped for. A smile was plastered on her face all the way back to her home on the fourth floor.

Fae had lived on the fourth floor for a while now, but had never taken a chance to explore anything but the wilderness surrounding her small shop. A trip to the nearby town of Flora was in due order, and while wandering the streets of the picturesque town Fae came across a warmly glowing building selling all sorts of odds and ends. Opening the door, Fae was almost lost in all the different nick knacks and trinkets, the shelves full of everything one could imagine. Not looking for anything in particular Fae looked through the organized chaos of the shop until her eyes fell onto a peculiar metal coin. "How much for this?" Fae asked the shop owner as she made her way up to the counter, placing the coin on it.

Fae had only made the trek to the 21st floor one other time, and it was to make her way to this very same shop. On that say she had traded in the crappy starter weapon that had been given out by NPCs, and replaced it with something of real quality, a quality that she was looking for today. "Hello, I was hoping you could make me a bow? I know it usually isn't a blacksmith's forte, but I don't really know where else to turn." Projectile weapons were something that came out as a surprise to Fae, in one of the very rare patches that got announced by the system, and Fae was eager to feel the wood in her hands again. 

Fae approached the woman smiling in triumph at her successful mission. "Hello Giovanna, I'm back. You're compass came in handy." Pulling out the compass and the demon scale again Fae made to pass them both over to the woman before Giovanna made a motion to stop her, chuckling slightly under her breath "You finding that proves that I don't have anything left to teach you. I always preferred trials by fire when it came to learning, and you have learned all that you can. Please keep the scale, though I will accept the compass, I still need that." she couldn't help but flinch at the mention of a trial by fire, the blazing wall of flame and the magma constructs that she had fought the day before passing unpleasantly through her mind. 'Trial by fire is way too accurate of a statement' she thought to herself as she handed back the compass with a nod. Giovanna stood as she accepted the returned item and spoke "Well, I have been sitting outside of town for a few days now, and I hate to stay still for too long, so I must prepare to depart. I am glad I could help you, next time you need to find a demonic scale you'll have to do it the hard way." She winked and walked back into  her wagon leaving Fae alone outside. 'if this wasn't hard than I'm not sure I want to know what is.' Fae thought to herself before turning around and heading back into town.

She hadn't told Angel or the kids at the orphanage where she was going, or that she was leaving at all for that matter, and she had been out in the charred field for over a day. Her steps echoing on the pavement beneath her feet Fae made her way home, hoping that Angel wouldn't be too mad at her for not telling her where she went. The door of the orphanage had always creaked and today was no different as it made a loud sound alerting anyone in the building to her presence. Just as her fears had imagined a small beautiful blonde woman was sitting in the main hall, glaring at the door. Before Fae had the ability to say anything she found herself being leapt on and hugged fiercely. "Do you have any idea how worried we all were when you weren't in your room yesterday?" Angel took a step back a stern look on her face as she looked up at the much taller woman, and Fae couldn't help but smile. The concern was touching and it was nice to know that someone was worried when she wasn't home. "I was out foraging. And let me tell you it was worth it." Fae smiled wider and pulled out the scale that she had acquired and proffered it to her friend, her eyes growing wide. "Is that what I think it is?" Angel's anger was quickly forgotten as she grabbed the black scale and examined it. "It is, and I think I have an idea for how to get more." Fae let her smile grow as she pocketed the scale again, she had learned a lot today, and she would use that to her advantage going forward.

Fae smiled at her purple haired companion glancing away as she started making her way to one of the main gates leading out of the town of beginnings and in to the fields surrounding it for the second time that day. "Trust me, after earlier I wouldn't argue with you over that for even a second, even if this should be way easier. I don't have a death wish." Fae drifted off at the weight of her words before shaking her head and continuing towards the gate. The town of beginnings was large and it was a few minutes before the pair found themselves once again surrounded by the rolling fields of  green that made up the majority of the first floor.

"Look over there, I think that's what we're looking for." Fae pointed to a group of significantly smaller boars before unsheathing her sword and looking over at her companion, a shaky and hesitant smile on her face. "Care to dance with me?" Without waiting for a response Fae launched herself at the group of enemies in front of her swinging the straight blade in her hand in a wide arc to try and hit all of the boars in one fell swoop. The sword connected with one of the creatures with a squeal and an explosion of blue sparks while the rest turned towards her, their tiny red eyes burning with hatred.

Fae rubbed the back of her neck as she looked around in the direction that Lyle's shop was supposed to be "Honestly, I didn't even know that this quest had more than one part. I sort of just ran into it on accident, and then found you." Fae began walking shaking her head "I mean, I guess it makes sense, it would be weird if this was where the quest ended, what with Zackariah telling us to go somewhere else."

Fae shrugged as the sounds of something striking metal grew louder and louder until she found herself standing in front of another small shop, this one clearly belonging to Lyle as the sounds were almost impossible to hear over. Fae looked over at Nari and nodded before opening the door, a gruff looking elderly man standing in front of an anvil, not pausing to look up "I'm busy." the terse voice could barely be heard over the sound of the hammer ringing against the anvil. "Zackariah sent us" Fae began talking but was quickly cut off as Lyle stopped hammering and finally looked up. "Look here, I don't do anything for free, and that includes talking to the likes of you." Lyle looked the pair up and down seeming to consider for a moment before continuing "You look like you might barely be able to handle yourselves out there, so i'll tell you what, you go out there and bring me some boarlet tusks and I might consider talking to you." Lyle's interest in the companions seemed to disappear as soon as he was done speaking, his hammer lifting again and going back to work brokering no room for argument. Fae made her way back outside speaking loudly to be heard over the sound of the hammering "I guess we have to go on another errand. At least these boarlets are weaker than the ones we fought earlier, it should go quickly." Fae smiled at her companion not fully hiding the shakiness that she felt at the idea of even a small fight after the events from earlier.

Fae smiled and twirled around to face her new friend, the long pieces of cloth on the mottled green cloak she wore briefly blowing out to look like wings before settling back down again. "I've always been pretty lucky, my dad always said I had the luck of the Fae." Fae's smile grew bigger as she continued walking backwards through the gates of the Town of Beginnings "I've always loved nature and exploring the wilderness, so I'm glad you think i'll be able to put some of that to use in the frontlines."

The Town of Beginnings wasn't busy, most players having moved to higher floors as they were unlocked, vying for properties in the more luxurious cities in Aincrad, and finding the way to the shop of one Zachariah was easy as the pair made their way through town. The shop wasn't big, a humble thing that smelled of fondue and various herbs with a long haired man well beyond middle aged manning the counter, vials of various shapes, sizes and contents littering the shop. "Ah, adventurer." the croaky voice of Zackariah, the proprietor of the small potion shop rang out as the door closed behind Fae and Nari "I didn't expect you back so soon, I hope getting those herbs was of no trouble." The elderly man stood from his seat, back arched as he relied heavily on his walking stick to amble up to the pair accepting the herbs from Fae in a leathery wrinkled hand nodding "Yes, yes, these will do nicely." he quickly eyed the herbs before pocketing them in his robe and turning around before softly exclaiming like he had just remembered something and rummaging through one of the shelves. "I just remembered, your question from earlier, no I am not the man Dorian loaned anything to. Just like him to lose track. I would check with Lyle Tealeaf, just a block over, he and the mayor have been speaking quite frequently as of late. Ah, here it is!" Zackariah turned back towards the pair and held out a potion for Fae to take "I'ts nothing much, just a potion an apprentice of mine made. Consider it a thank you for the herbs. Now go, shoo, I have work to do and I can't have you young'uns interrupting me all the time."

Fae let herself be pushed out of the little shop, reeling in confusion as she blinked, standing with the potion in her hand. "What? The quest isn't over?" Fae pocketed the potion before looking at her companion for this journey so far. "I guess those drinks will have to wait. Care to join me?" Fae didn't actually wait for response, making her way in the direction that Zackariah had indicated they could find Lyle.

It was hard for Fae to imagine Nari as anything but strong, from her perspective, this woman was at the peak of what players could become, but it was comforting nonetheless, Fae wasn't confident that she would ever be able to fight, not like this woman before her, not like any of the other frontliners, but she had her own talents, and she would prove that she could be useful even if combat wasn't ever going to be her strong suit. "Thank you. That means a lot coming from someone in the frontlines. Someday I'll be there with you."

Out of the corner of her eye Fae caught the gleam of another material that could be harvested and quickly went to retrieve it "I think this is the last one. I guess we should head back to Zackariah and get this quest turned in. I really appreciate your help, and truly hope we run into each other again soon." Fae straightened and smiled at her companion, she hadn't expected to run into the woman, but had quickly grown to call her friend.

Fae couldn't help but smile along side her companion as they continued to walk through the grasslands, both their eyes searching, if not for the same thing. It was refreshing meeting someone who was, to put it simply, so nice. Most of the frontlines that Fae had met had a similar disposition to Nari, but it was still a breathe of fresh air to see that people were still willing to help those less fortunate in such a dire time. "Well, I'll tell you I'm definitely glad you came down to the first floor today." Smile faltering slightly as the thought of what could have happened if Nari hadn't decided to relax on this particular day. A slight shake of her head had Fae's smile back in place as she crouched down to gather another bunch of herbs, holding them in her hand as she stared. 

"You know, I have always been so inspired by you people on the front lines." Fae gripped the herbs harder before finally releasing them and putting them into her inventory. "I don't know if I can ever fight like you, but I will find a way to help. I can't just sit idly by and watch as people risk themselves to save people, to save me." looking up a blush spread across Fae's face waving her hands awkwardly "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have started talking like that." Fae spluttered out an apology as she crouched back down intently looking anywhere but at her companion hoping that it looked like she was hunting for materials.

Fae's smile grew even easier at the lighthearted way that her companion spoke, nodding as she turned back towards the rolling fields that spanned out from the Town of Beginnings. It wasn't particularly hard to avoid combat in the areas so close to the first settlement and Fae blushed at the confidence that she had originally shown when she dove head first into the boars earlier, it had been a mistake and Nari had had to jump in to save her. "Maybe this time I'll just focus on gathering the herbs for Zackariah." 

Fae deftly made her way through the grass keeping an eye out for the telltale gleam that faintly came from harvest-able materials quickly gathering some and placing them into her pack. "So, what's next for you after this? I mean I can't imagine you spend all your time saving newbies like me on the lower floors, what with how much higher level you are." Fae felt awkward as she tried to make small talk with her newfound companion, they had spent hours together at this point, but it felt like they had not actually spoken for more than a few moments, most of the time spent in combat or acting as a lookout for the level players, and that feeling had only grown as Fae seemed to have been left completely alone with them.

Fae tried not to tremble as she grabbed Nari's hand and let them help her to her feet, feeling as though her body weighed ten times what it had before she had left for this quest. Letting out a shaky breath and brushing off her clothes Fae tried to force a smile onto her face, she wasn't dead and she had been saved there was plenty to smile about right now, but the effort seemed almost insurmountable as she looked around "Yeah, maybe I'm not so ready as I thought I was. . ." trailing off Fae couldn't help but notice that the pair was just that, only a pair. "Hey, Where's Ryn?" A wave of panic washed over her as Fae hurriedly began looking around, the only thoughts coming to mind was their third partner stuck in the same position as Fae had been, only without the guardian angel in full plate that had arrived to save Fae. The color drained even further from Fae's face as no sign of the green haired girl could be seen. That is until the sight of something green, nearly blending in with the grass caught Fae's eyes, her cloak discarded and sitting on a nearby rock.

Fae ran to the cloak fearing the worst, before her brain was finally able to catch up to her feet and she realized, if the cloak was still here than that meant that Avoryn would have had to have taken it off, it would have disappeared along with her if something unfortunate happened to her while she was wearing it. "She left behind my cloak. She has to be alright." Fae bent and picked it up, donning it again, feeling more comfortable with its weight on her shoulders as she turned back to Nari "I wonder why she left without saying anything. Anyways, I agree, let's get this quest over with and get that drink." the smile on Fae's face wasn't as forced as she made her way through the plains with her newfound companion, and this time she would stay well away from the boars.

It was oddly comforting having someone that she had only met hours ago care so much about Fae's well being. After everyone had been gathered in the Town of beginnings by the Game Master, and been told what this game truly was and the horrors that would come to follow, a large portion of the population had adopted a fend for themselves attitude, only caring about the welfare of themselves and those close to them. But this, for all intents and purposes, complete stranger stood to the side, watching like some sort of guardian making sure that even in the worst of moments Fae would come out of this safe. The thoughts brought color to Fae's cheeks as she shook her head, now wasn't the time to get sentimental or moony.

Two boars were still left and they were practically ignoring the other person in the fight in favor of Fae. It became harder and harder to dodge the attacks of both animals as they seemed to begin attacking more in tandem, staggering their charges and attacks in such a way that their was never a moment of downtime for Fae to go on the Offensive. At this rate the odds were beginning to look worse and worse for Fae as the boars kept pressing their advantage, the difference in health between the boars and Fae was growing wider and wider as the attacks grew harder and harder to block and dodge. And then it happened. Fae's foot caught on a rock hidden by the grass as she attempted to leap out of the way of another charge. The fall made the first boar's attack go wide, but the second one was left with the perfect opportunity. Scrambling in the grass beside her Fae clawed into the dirt looking for her fallen sword, just inches from where her hand could reach. Glancing back at the boar as it snorted Fae could see the bloodlust in its eyes, could see the pure intent to kill. Fae watched, all thoughts of comfort and safety fleeing her mind, as the boar dug its hoof into the ground and snorted preparing for the final charge, and in this moment she knew that she would die.

Fae smiled at the encouragement coming from the side of the field where Nari stood. So far the purple haired woman had done exactly what she had promised she would, acting as a protector for the two low leveled players as they foraged for the materials required for what was essentially the first quest most people ever did. Nari hadn't stepped in to help the pair as they fought, but her presence alone had been a comfort, knowing that if anything did go wrong she would be able to step in and save them. 

Comfort though, was not always the best emotion to feel on the battlefield. Falling complacent, even when you had a safety net wasn't a good idea. This proved to be true for Fae as in a moment of distraction she swung wide, with her sword meeting air rather than the resistance of the boar that she had expected Fae didn't have any time to bring it back up before the boar charged her, squarely ramming its head into her stomach and sending her skidding backward a few feet. "I'm beginning to think," Fae spoke through gasps of air as she tried to replace what had been pushed out by the boar "that maybe, I was a little overconfident.". The boar shook its head and snorted as Fae started to feel as though she could breath properly, clearly the  attack had not only stunned her and they were both beginning to shake off the feeling.