Jump to content

Acanthus

User
  • Content Count

    1,279
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Acanthus

  1. Adrenaline pumped through her body as she took off in a full sprint down the road. The sun was setting; monster spawns would be increasing soon. And she was alone in the wilds. It was a dangerous place to be with Hatred clouding her thoughts. Wait, what had Hatred told her that day? She couldn’t remember. I don’t need to remember. I’m not here to learn about myself. I’m here to kill. Aincrad wants it, and I will oblige. Acanthus focused on her goal. If I get to town, I’ll be that much safer. That’s all I can do right now. Polishing off another pack of four, she took stock o
  2. She recalled the shades that she had faced on the third floor, and almost laughed thinking about the strange creature’s comments to her. Were monsters allowed to do that? Maybe she just imagined it. It could all be in her head. Technically, it already was. All the beautiful questions of Aincrad, and violence is the only answer she chose. It was the only answer the system allowed. Acanthus had spent two years terrified of death, but the real joke was that death was the only option. For her, or for the things that stood between her escape. People called it the death game because of the obvious f
  3. Pulling away with a fresh set of materials, she proceeded to run her sword through the monster. It weakly moaned as its body vanished. Like culling a garden, she joked grimly. Because her encounter had thrown her off, she had not realized that the road was facing south. She had made good time to Wanderer’s Rest. She breathed a sigh of relief. I’ve been lucky to avoid any mobs so far. I’m also lucky that the corpse wasn’t a diseased villager. According to her map, it would only be another hour until she arrived. She read up on the village’s entry in the broker’s codex. Apparently, the
  4. After seeing the plant woman, Acanthus was careful to look over the foliage she plundered. Safety aside, it seemed disrespectful to pillage what amounted to the poor villager’s grave. There would always be other things to gather. Leaving their incidental resting places at peace seemed the least she could do for them. Acanthus leafed through her current plunder inventory idly. It was impressive. If there weren’t limitations on housing in the game, she could have gone and bought another estate with just what she had right now. And she wasn’t even halfway done. The day was still young, and s
  5. No villagers in sight. Disappointed, Acanthus took the time to let her energy recover. She let her mind wander. Slowly, and without disturbing the grave silence, she stepped backwards from the entombed woman. Finding the courage to tear her gaze away, she walked as quickly as she could on her way. Although she had not seen them before, she could not shake visualizing vague shapes of men and women in the growth. She prayed that she was merely seeing shapes after her last encounter. Everywhere she looked, she saw the shapes of agonized villagers. She killed, sliced, and ripped away at
  6. Correction: I exist in this game to kill. Everything else in this game exists to be killed. It is a simple existence either way. The plants had perfectly captured the last moments of the woman’s terror, down to the ridges of her forehead. Her sunken eyes conveyed an eldritch fear; only enough to comprehend that her death was coming, but not enough to understand why. Her mouth was similarly poised in rictus. Acanthus could see the gaps in her teeth, and a green mass near the back of her mouth, likely her tongue. Acanthus gently put her hand over her mouth. She resisted the urge to scr
  7. Nothing on this floor could shake her. Nothing on this floor could scare her. She was, mathematically, invincible. As she arrived at about her shoulder-height, she noticed a particularly stout branch on the far side of the small tree, just shy of a meter long. She began working from the trunk out to the branch. As she rounded the tree to pick the last few berries off the branch, she had a grotesque realization. This branch has fingers. She killed more of the mossy freaks. Give me col. Give me your materials. She ripped limbs off a fallen villager; the vines made for good craft
  8. With a deep breath, Acanthus continued her slaughter. They’re not real, she said as she slew. They aren’t even people anymore. They’re just people-shaped. If they were alive at one point, it was long before I sent them back to nothing. Eyes still on the road, she saw more of these berry-laden vines in the middle of the road. She continued along, following the vines as they wound their way down the path. Acanthus kept her eyes glued firmly to the road. The berries were becoming harder to spot in the thickening vegetation. Finally, she hit the source, something that looked like the bas
  9. There was probably some interesting, rich background that players could explore. Why the floor became the way it was, the relation of the angels and the humans; that sort of useless lore. None of it would put col in her pocket. Learning about the game didn’t send her home any faster. Every so often, Acanthus noticed hints of civilization. Plants sometimes took the shape of collapsed houses and structures. The vines often formed alien shapes, indicating that it had swallowed up something foreign, lost to time and decay. Near the road, some tendrils of leafy vines crept slowly along. Acanth
  10. Acanthus, dismayed, saw that the path continued east. To the south, a rolling sea of green choked out any direct path. She had been warned that it was possible to cut through the growth, it was a dangerous endeavor for inexperienced solo players. Resigned, Acanthus continued down the road. Despite the quantity of growth, it was not a vibrant, diverse ecosystem. The plants here all offered the same visuals—rich green leaves, and deep brown branches or light green vines. The colors were pleasant, but so uniform that it was almost maddening. Acanthus cut through the undergrowth with impunity
  11. The last time she was here, she had spent so long marveling at the plants. How they grew, and they bloomed and had strange lives of their own. It was fascinating from a botanical perspective. Not from a game perspective. Acanthus reached down again to pull more of the vine. As she worked, she realized why her gloves had frayed. Sturdy or not, the vines had fine hairs that upon closer inspection, were small, supple needles. She felt a mild prick in her finger as a needle pierced the gloves and poked her finger. Drawing back, she decided that perhaps the kudzu was not worth perpetually harv
  12. A few players approached her, waving politely. She greeted them in return. They appeared to be much higher level than her, although their gear suggested they were still fighting on the lower levels. Acanthus wondered what their story was. Did they know each other in the real world, or did they become friends from the shared trauma of their prison? Acanthus never worked up the courage to ask, and the players disappeared in the distance. Acanthus continued to lean against the tree, as still as a statue. Her eyes fixed on the energy bar in the top right, waiting for the exact moment it would
  13. Leaning up against a tree, Acanthus stood placid. She fought the urge to take a deep breath. It was a physical reaction to a digital affair. Regardless of her breathing, the energy bar would return at a set value. Thanks to her villa, it returned much quicker. All the quicker to return to the grind. Acanthus glanced over her map, making slow, plodding progress. She had a task for the day, but she also had plenty of time to complete. There were worse floors to be stuck on, so why not take a little time to enjoy herself? She stood still for a moment, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.
  14. Purchasing: (1) Dimensional Backpack, Spyglass (x3) Payment: Sent 5,800 col to banker
  15. Adding on to Acanthus' house: Payment: 35,000 col sent to banker
  16. NIGHT had impeccable timing. Her message went out right as Acanthus stepped away from the teleporter and onto floor 17. She’d actually planned to do some light grinding to pad out the materials she’d spent preparing for the raid boss. Before she could think (spiral) in earnest about the upcoming fight, she responded to NIGHT. Acanthus: I’ll be right there! Proud of herself for adeptly handling in-game messages for once, she didn’t realize she had sent the message in the old group chat NIGHT had made. Or that NIGHT was only about ten meters away. With a quick tug on her tunic (telepor
  17. All crafts are 10/21 crafts, found here. Round 1: Fusions 236082 (Rare Masterpiece) + 236080 (Rare Masterpiece) = 236092 (Perfect Masterpiece) 236073 (Rare Masterpiece) + 236076 (Rare Masterpiece) = 236093 (Perfect Masterpiece) 236086 (Perfect) + 236083 (Perfect) + 236077 (Perfect) = 236094 (Perfect Masterpiece) Round 2: Crafting Name: March to the Dawn Profession: Performer Rank: 5 Roll ID: 236074 Roll Result: 1
  18. Crafting for 10/21/2024 Extended Workshop. (+3 EXP total from Trinket | Tuning Fork + Hard Working) 1 236079 CD: 2 +1 LD: 5 Salvage Failure - 5 (+3 Ambition) 2 236078 CD: 1 +1 LD: 20 Critical Failure - 4 (+3 Ambition) 3 236077 CD:
  19. No teleport crystal. She’d agonized about the decision over a sleepless night, counting fake stars in a fake sky. But the stars dimmed as the sun rose, Acanthus had no more time to worry. She left her fears in the studio with Oz’s handcrafted crystal, weighing down a sheaf of half-completed compositions. If she took it to the fight, the teleport crystal would be a false sense of security. The fight would become chaotic, the plan would begin to fall apart, and Acanthus would have to think of a backup plan. And a plan that involved running would only distract her. The world seemed to move s
  20. "We're sort of on our own." A stone whizzed by, denting the helmet of a soldier. Levi stood behind them, knees nearly knocking from a mixture of cold, fear, and adrenaline. “Sort of,” Acanthus responded. She considered saying something dismissive of the boy, but the strike was solid. And at least he was trying. Following up on his momentum, she fought through the melee to reach the affected soldier and struck him down quickly. She looked back to finish off the group, and was surprised to find that none were left standing. The three of them had made fairly short work of the enemies. “That actua
  21. 10/15 fusions and evals All crafts can be found at this link. Item Fusion: (3) Rare -> 1 Perfect Masterpiece 235873, 235871, 235869 -> 235880 Name: March to the Dawn Profession: Performer Rank: 5 Roll ID: 235866 Roll Result: 10+1/LD:17 Item Type: Support Song Tier: 1 Quality: Perfect (Mast) Enhancement:
  22. Crafting for 10/15/2024 Extended Workshop. (+3 EXP total from Trinket | Tuning Fork + Hard Working) Roll: ID# CD: LD: Quality Count Experience Ambition Mod 1 235868 CD: 9 +1 LD: 17 Rare (Mast) - 8 (+3 Ambition) 2 235867 CD: 12 +1 L
  23. Customer. A real customer. Try to act calm. Acanthus busied herself by cleaning and fidgeting with some of the displays within a calculated earshot of the green-haired man. Just enough to not look like she was hovering, but still close enough that he wouldn’t have to raise his voice to summon her. "Hello there! Do you have any Masterpiece songs? Particularly any Perfect quality Instant Healing songs?" She proudly held up a sample recording. “I have a few in stock right now. This one is titled ‘March to the Dawn,’ and is an instant, perfect quality heal. Should put you or anoth
  24. Item Evals for 10/14 All crafts refer to 10/14 crafts, as found here. Round 1 - Fusions Fusing Rares 235734, 235732, 235730 -> Perfect Masterpiece (235736) 235729, 235728, 235726 -> Perfect Masterpiece (235737) Round 2 - Evaluations Name: March to the Dawn Profession: Performer Rank: 5 Roll ID: 235735 Roll Result: 12+1/LD:11 Item Type: Support Song Tier:
×
×
  • Create New...