Acanthus

Running low on damage potions and not many Alchemists in sight. Really appreciate it :salute: Requesting Potion of vicious Dragoon-Fang | DMG III | 221226 Potion of the Ancient Rock Dragon | Overhealth III | 236045-1, 236039, 236039-1, 236039-2, 236039-3

THREAD SUMMARY Experience | [Word Count: 6626/5 = 1325.2] * [True Tier: 8] * [Group Factor: 1] = 10601 (Words) + 2880 (Dungeon) + 2500 (Quest) = 15,981 EXP Col | 795 (Laurel Wreath) + 400 (Bonus) + 128,000 (Dungeon Drops) = 129,195 col Materials | 40 Materials. Other | 244169 | LD 16 | Unidentified Perfect Weapon with one guaranteed Unique Enhancement.

(Author’s note: In an effort to make dungeons interesting from a narrative perspective, I’m writing a series I’m referring to as “The Dissident Dungeons,” which delve into the creation of Sword Art Online. It’s a tricky area to explore, because I’m explaining a topic that affects every person that writes on this site. The backstory below is personal headcanon, and I won’t ever reference it in group threads without explicit permission to allow other people space for their own explanation, or even new staff information. To the extent the narrative of the Dissident Dungeons conflicts with establi

The boar flaked away against the backdrop of Tokyo, and Acanthus admired the view for a moment. Then it was time to move forward. There was no button to press for the next room. Instinct told Acanthus that she would need to climb all the way to the summit for her reward. Going down did not appear to be an option, and the game had conditioned her to always be looking up and ahead. At the summit, a small treasure chest greeted her. It popped open without trouble, revealing a horde of col, materials, and a strange, plain-looking sword. It appeared to be unidentified, but had a designati

The boar’s chest heaved with exertion. It could barely stand, let alone fight. “You’re all mine,” Acanthus muttered to herself. The thing was basically dead. It had been simple enough to slay. Why had she been worried in the first place? Even someone as reserved as her should have known that the fight would pose no threat. The boar sensed Acanthus’ gloating. With a baleful shriek, it redoubled its efforts, exploding from a stand still at a lightning pace. Acanthus brought her shield up a moment too late. The boar connected cleanly with her chest, cracking the armor with an audible so

The fight had gone on long enough. If the game developer’s couldn’t be bothered to include an interesting boss, then she felt no need to appreciate the fight. The background, on the other hand, still proved a mystery. After two rounds of dull, generic fights, the scenery had transformed into something breathtaking—and real. This had been the first time in Aincrad that something from the real world had been pulled inside as well. The trail and vista had been painted in this mindscape with a stunning accuracy. Each distant building seemed to have been built from sharp memories. It was out o

Besides, she didn’t have a crush on Edict. That was ridiculous. Asking him for the kiss had been a product of poor thinking. It didn’t reflect on her character. Flying through the air once again, Acanthus remembered that she was actually in a life or death situation of her own. Her health had dipped tremendously, but the boar was clearly on its last feet as well. It was time to buckle down and put the stupid thing out of its misery. Boar_3 charged with a limping gait, and Acanthus easily moved out of the way to deliver another blow. And another, and another. The battle had been decid

“An interesting name for a soundtrack. Are you religious?” “I’m not. I didn’t realize that the title had such an implication.” “Mmm. It’s an interesting phrase, for sure. So then how did you settle on the title? Surely Cardinal has been carefully scrubbed down to secular roots, careful to avoid any touchy topics.” I didn’t settle on the title. It just… happened. Acanthus was unable to explain. She could not recall naming the thing. She could barely recall completing it. It truly had felt like an out-of-body experience for her. Given the proximity of the soundtrack’s genesis to t

Through the fighting, Acanthus found some distance from the boar. She used the time to fish her first soundtrack from her inventory and unleash it on the boar. The soundtrack was a creation that baffled even its creator. When Cardinal introduced the update, she labored tirelessly to produce one of her own. But in making the item, she had not followed her usual rigor. She had not spent a dozen evenings brainstorming ideas or pulling from experience. She had simply decided to allow the crafting system to guide her through the process. The end result was a strange tune with a stranger name:

Another solid stomp cleared a portion of her health bar. The tenacity of the boss began to worry Acanthus. Her safe-gap was beginning to dimish. A teleport crystal sat in her quick-access inventory, ready to pull her away from danger. Assuming that it even worked here. The dungeon seemed off somehow: a different kind of “off” than whatever had chased her and Edict out of the woods. But a kind of “off” that Cardinal did not sanction. The thought of using another teleport crystal weighed on her. It was a silly hang-up; worse, it was a potentially deadly one. Boar_3 took advantage of Ac

The pig huffed in response, almost like it was laughing at her. Acanthus did not find it amusing. She moved into range again, working carefully this time. The boar no longer charged blindly; it appeared to be probing for weaknesses, waiting for the right opportunity to close the gap for another hit. Acanthus took the lead, stepping inside the thing’s flank for a quick cut to the flank. The boss took the hit, but also managed a counterattack of its own. She stayed on her feet this time, skidding backwards into the undergrowth once more. Her foot teetered over the edge of the trail—not a sh

The crater left behind reminded Acanthus that Boar_3 was a boss, and that it would hit like one. She couldn’t tank all of these— Acanthus flew, her fall broken by some low scrub off the trail. Boar_3 had followed up on its stomp with a lightning-fast headbutt. Her skills and armor worked to recover the health she had lost, but it was not keeping up with the boss. “So I’m on a timer,” she said to herself. “That’s fine. I need to be done quickly anyways.” Acanthus bounced back to her feet, pleased to see her thorns and fire working. The general merchant’s immolation potion proved

The attack connected beautifully, shaving off a small portion of the beast’s health. Acanthus eyed the change with exasperation. It would be a long fight. Not a challenging one, just a long one. Deftly, Acanthus threw down the bear trap she had acquired. It was a powerful thing, allowing her to stop an enemy in its tracks. It would only stop an enemy briefly—time enough for one attack—but that guarantee was a powerful thing to have. The trap was a routine part of her “opener,” another word she had picked up from the gamers of Aincrad. Boar_3 had taken the bait, and run straight into

It had been foolish to hope. But the hope had been a pleasant feeling. Acanthus manuevered her way closer to the mountain and away from the edges of the trail. It was possible that the fall would not kill her, or that the drop was merely a visual illusion of the dungeon. But risking it would be foolish. Besides, the boar was pitifully easy to manipulate. All it wanted to do was bellow and charge her. Acanthus had tried once to lead the pig over the ledge, but it had enough sense to stop short. All the more reason to assume the drop is fatal. Warily, she opened her defenses to test th

Cool, crisp air startled Acanthus. The dungeon had carried her away from the nameless room and deposited her on top of a Mountain. Not just any mountain—she vaguely recognized the trail. It was a different season, and the path appeared far less worn, but she had hiked Mt. Fuji once before. Acanthus snapped her neck around to gaze from the heights. Sure enough, the soft outline of Tokyo formed under the glow of the dawn. Acanthus breathed out slowly and watched her breath form foggily. Illogical as it was, Acanthus briefly dared to hope she had been saved through some unknown means. T

The current room proved less interesting than the first. The only landmark rested in the back of the room, another waist-high pedastal with an indentation. Surely there was a secret passage or treasure chest that Acanthus had missed? “Reveal.” The walls refused to light up, remaining a dull, black background upon which nothing was shown. Dispappointing, but predictable. She recalled the dungeon she had delved with Freyd and Morningstar, which offered no diversions on the path from the first fight to the last. Morningstar. She felt a pit form in her stomach, but she could not identify

Her health climbed faster than even the elite enemies could drop it. She began to feel invincible. It helped that she dealt almost as much damage using her thorns as she did when attacking. And it seemed like she always got hit. Building a fighting style that leaned into her pessimism felt right. Not to mention it had paid off. If the Elite Enemies weren’t giving her any trouble, then the boss would be smooth sailing. Boar number one (Boar_2 number one, to be precise) charged in, health bar nearly invisible. Acanthus stepped aside and struck the thing down with one final blow. The second

The slightly bigger boars worked in tandem to flank Acanthus. The first charged, forcing her shield up and front while the second worked around to the side. With a quick sideways glance, she decided she would have to take the hit. Working her blade into the first boar, she heard the second charging at her side, just outside of her vision. Gritting her teeth, she dug her heels in as best she could. The boar connected, rattling her entire body inside the suit of armor. She watched as her HP ticked down—thankfully, not by much—and saw the boar sustain reciprocal damage. As much as she wanted

Acanthus swept the room for traps or hidden exits. Content that there was nothing to reveal, she moved towards the alcove on the far end of the room. A small black pedastal rose to her waist, offering a small indentation for her hand. “No other way to go,” she mused, and pressed her hand into the space. Her vision stuttered, then warped blue. When her vision finally adjusted, Acanthus took stock of the room again. It was the same shape, size, and aesthetic of the previous room. “Lazy effort,” she said absentmindedly. “But I guess the developers were phoning it in at this point. Which mean

Squealing, the four boars charged and attacked her all at once. She side-stepped the first two, and brought her shield up to bounce the third before slicing the last one with botan. Their health bars and damage were much improved over the first-floor counterparts, but Acanthus had also come a long way since then. She recalled struggling to fight them one-by-one all those months ago; now, she was dancing with four without breaking a sweat. Her armor made her near invincible. But it was more than that. Her confidence in the game had grown as well. She learned more and more, studied the rule

She was no longer on floor twenty. Or, if she was, it was somewhere she had never been before. She recognized the slate black walls and glowing blue lines as the default dungeon aesthetic. But the space was far bigger than the info brokers led her to believe. Without thinking, she drew her sword and shield. A shower of pixels fell from the air, forming solid shapes. Acanthus held her breath, anxious at what sort of creature would spawn in such a mysterious place. She scoffed out loud to see it was nothing more than a boar. The same kind of monster she had killed on her first day out in th

A streak of red dust vanished in the distance, ending at a stony wall. Finally. The next question was obvious: how do I get inside? Had it not been for reveal, the cliffside appeared perfectly normal: its jagged face climbed up and out of sight, crowded by trees and other greenery that hid the sky. No blemishes or smoothness marked an entrance. Perhaps a pass phrase was required. As she opened her mouth to speak, she felt static on her tongue. Her lips rolled backwards at the unpleasant feeling, and her hand reached up to feel what was the matter. Nothing felt out of place; a quick l

Acanthus blinked a few times, wondering how to summon her new skill. It supposedly made dungeons much easier to find. But how was she supposed to use it? She blinked again. Maybe there was some kind of pattern? Surely it didn’t involve going into and out of the menu to activate it. What if the solution was painfully obvious? “Reveal.” Her normal vision washed away, replacing objects with faint outlines of themselves. Some objects flashed green or white; those appeared to contain trace materials or col that she could gather. But she’d already established gathering was a waste of time. Mons

That did the trick. And in about sixty percent of the time she had allocated for the task. What to do next? If Pinball were here, then they could go pick up some lootable mobs and wipe them out for easy col. You idiot. You don’t need him for the loot minimum mobs anymore. Just go out and do it yourself. She almost opened her map to look for some high-level areas she’d previously marked. Instead, her finger brushed up onto her inventory, pulling up a list of disorganized junk that made her spine shiver. She’d get around to organizing it someday. Right before she closed it, the pile of unus

She could hear the boss’s labored breathing through the dense green leaves. One last attack would finish it off. Charging into the brush, she prepared to end the fight. The cat, unused to its prey charging into its domain, waited a brief moment before turning into a ball of teeth and claws. It scratched and bit at her gear, but no amount of rage would penetrate her armor. She let the thing tire itself out before delivering the coup de grace. She was careful to avoid looking at its eyes. She hadn’t shaken how pitiful Kumatestu appeared in its final moments. She had no doubt the game would