[OP-F1] <<Blades of Dreams>>

[Cinder 0]

"I'm ready to head out. I'll lead the way to <>, now another warning, the bay attracts a lot of high level attention, the only way to find it is to track a monster into it, and the mob that walks into the area can only be tracked my high level trackers, or high level fighters. So we are in for a lot."

Miaki followed first, and Cinder moved up beside him as they followed Clarence. He didn't know much about the two, but he was certain that the region itself wasn't going to be the issue. If this place was as dangerous as Clarence made it out to be, it wouldn't surprise him if more dangerous players were involved. High level tracking required? That's just asking for a bad day, Cinder thought to himself as he cautiously looked over Clarence.

Whether or not the man had good intentions, its better to be safe than sorry. He'd have to keep an eye out on him, Miaki, and everything else around them. The last thing he'd want to do was be caught off guard, not in this game.

[Clarence 0]

"Take a picture Cinder, it lasts longer. I can see you eyeing me and I can understand your wariness on this quest with the difficulty of this. But I'm not trying to hurt you, if I am then put a sword right through me and it'll be the end of it." I say to Cinder, trying to calm his nerves. I open my inventory and scroll through the inventory, finding my skill set crystals."Here, this crystal increases your stats momentarily for quests compliments of my shop on Floor 3, they get deactivate when fighting a boss/ a player. Use these to get into <> now you don't have to follow me and if you want, can ditch me entirely if you don't trust me." I say to the two of them and toss them each of them a crystal.

[Miaki 0]

Miaki accepted the crystal and looked at it with interest. He tucked it away in an inner pocket of his jacket and looked back at the two. "Thanks. I'm not too concerned. I'd like to say that I have a good judge of character. Plus I'm used to having to get out of a bind fast. That's why I always have one of these handy." He held up a teleportation crystal in his left hand. "Always as a precautionary. I've never had to use one but you can never be too safe."

[Cinder 0]

"Take a picture Cinder, it lasts longer. I can see you eyeing me and I can understand your wariness on this quest with the difficulty of this. But I'm not trying to hurt you, if I am then put a sword right through me and it'll be the end of it."

Cinder looked up at him and then smirked, looking back at him, "Don't worry, you can just never be too careful. I'm on your side unless you're not on mine." What a wonderful way to start off a quest, at least everyone's on edge now. If we got too comfortable, it could be the death of us, he thought to himself as he followed calmly behind them.

"Here, this crystal increases your stats momentarily for quests compliments of my shop on Floor 3, they get deactivate when fighting a boss/ a player. Use these to get into <> now you don't have to follow me and if you want, can ditch me entirely if you don't trust me."

Cinder took the crystal and pocketed it, just in case. He didn't want to put it into his inventory. The last thing he wanted to have to do was cycle through the items menu to find it in the heat of battle. Taking a look at Clarence afterwards, he nodded. "Thank you." Sorry mate, I just can't trust anyone yet, he thought silently.

[Clarence 0]

"Thanks. I'm not too concerned. I'd like to say that I have a good judge of character. Plus I'm used to having to get out of a bind fast. That's why I always have one of these handy.". I see Miaki hold up a crystal. "Always as a precautionary. I've never had to use one but you can never be too safe.". I see Cinder smile at me."Don't worry, you can just never be too careful. I'm on your side unless you're not on mine." After I tossed him the crystal he turned to me again."Thank you.". I smile back at him and turn back around, continuing to walk. After a couple minutes of awkward silence I finally need to say something."So since we are just going to be walking with each other in this complete silence why not talk about something. Any cool stories from you guys? The most I can think of is of clearing floor 7." I say, trying to break the silence for conversation.

[Miaki 0]

"So since we are just going to be walking to each other is complete silence why not talk about something. Any cool stories from you guys? The most I can think of is of clearing floor 7."

So he is a front liner Miaki thought. One of the players that is considered among the best. Pushing through the game at the front lines with some of the highest ranked players and guilds. He never realized that one of them would be here with him. Up until now, Miaki only knew two players from the frontlines. They were Kirito and Nikki Styx. Both of which he became pretty decent friends with.

"Well one of the most exciting things for me was fighting the <> quest boss solo. That turned into a rather intense fight in the end. Aside from that, not too many exciting things have happened to me. What about you Cinder?"

[Cinder 0]

Cinder continued quietly behind them, looking around as they walked. He always kept a third eye on the landscape and scenery. One was to help locate any threats, and the other was to just observe the beauty of the world he lived in now. I mean, it was remarkable that such a place existed, and to be frank, he didn't mind living here. He wanted to beat the game not to free himself into the real world, but to just show that he cannot be controlled.

"So since we are just going to be walking with each other in this complete silence why not talk about something. Any cool stories from you guys? The most I can think of is of clearing floor 7."

Cinder looked over at Clarence as he began speaking again, and then back into the scenery, only glancing towards him.

"Well one of the most exciting things for me was fighting the <> quest boss solo. That turned into a rather intense fight in the end. Aside from that, not too many exciting things have happened to me. What about you Cinder?"

Cinder took his eyes off the horizon and looked at Miaki, pulling out one of his <> items before putting it in his mouth, and lighting it with the matchbox, the tip flaring as he waved the match box away into thin air; returning it into his inventory.

"Let's see... one of the craziest adventures I've had would have to be getting my <>. That was an adventure in and of itself. I want to say drugs were involved somehow, but I can't tell where they came from. If you're ever looking to be a Lute Artist, thats definitely a good time."

[Clarence 0]

"Let's see... one of the craziest adventures I've had would have to be getting my <>. That was an adventure in and of itself. I want to say drugs were involved somehow, but I can't tell where they came from. If you're ever looking to be a Lute Artist, that's definitely a good time." I smile slightly at Cinder's remark on his adventure."So who goes first. Clearing Floor 7, <> battle, or <>? Iask, trying to keep us all occupied so it would seem less boring.

[Miaki 0]

"So who goes first. Clearing Floor 7, <> battle, or <>? Clarence asked.

Miaki looked up at the sky as they were walking. "I'll go first." He said while reaching into an inner pocket revealing a small metal flask. "To start, I wasn't doing the quest alone at first. I ran into some new kid who was trying to find himself a fancy weapon and remembered hearing about the quest from Kirito." He took a swig from the flask in his hand and cleared his throat. "So this kid and I went off looking for the village. But sometime after starting the quest and looking for the <> we parted ways. I eventually found the bastard and engaged it. Things were going well at first and I had the thing at halfway when it caught me off guard and got me entangled. My health at the time was maxed at 15 I think and once I got entangled before I knew it my health was around 7. I managed to cut myself free from its grasp and fell on top of it damaging it more and bringing it into the red zone. I then bounced off of the plant and finished it off with a sword skill I'm still refining <>. When I checked my HP in the end, I think it was brought down to 4. That was my closest brush with death... But hey I walked away with a pretty good story I'd like to say." He finished his story and took another swig from his flask.

[Cinder 0]

Cinder listened to Miaki tell his tale of how he was nearly killed, taking in a drag of his <>. After he was finished, it was safe to assume it was his turn to tell his tale. Mineaswell, I can't say it'd be as exciting as his, he thought to himself as he took in a deep drag, the shaft burning brightly as it shrank slowly, smoke rolling off the tip. Exhaling from his nose, digital smoke flowed out heavily, an imaginary signal being pumped into his brain that nicotine was truely involved. He felt slightly better as his body relaxed.

"Well, I was walking through the third floor, looking for the solution to the quest <>, I figured it'd give me some extra perks than just being a fighter, but I can't say it's been too helpful thus far. But essentially I came across a sleeping dog, and as I approached him, the quest giving NPC appeared out of thin air, asking if I wanted to accept the quest, so I did, mineaswell."

Cinder took another drag, exhaling the smoke from his mouth into the sky as he looked up, the light grey cloud filling the air above him before disappearing into nothing.

"Essentially the guy wanted me to find the owner, and let him know that his dog was here, lying in the street, so I searched this abandoned town, not a soul around. It wasn't until I arrived up onto the square that a single man was playing a lute against the fountain ledge. So I approached him, but as I did, the music got louder and louder, and my vision got fuzzy and dark. Personally, I thought I was a dead man. I vowed silently to never let my guard down again like that, but it turned out not so bad, because then I suddenly woke up surrounded by various colored lanterns, and hundreds of people shouting. From there, the <> play menu showed up, and as long as I pressed the corresponding strings to the song, music played. After a bit of fun, I finally woke back up in the square, alone on the ground. The guy was gone, and I thought my hopes of clearing the quest were over, but as I came back to check up on the dog, there was the Lute Artist. So, after playing a little tune he taught me to wake the dog up, I was given the profession <>. Its not very high, and I can't play any powerful music yet, so don't get any ideas. I can just wake sleeping characters, thats all."

Cinder wrapped his story up with another heavy drag, the tip flaring again before he flicked off the fake ashes into the thin air, the small particles bursting into shiny ones as that part of the item was destroyed.

"What about you Clarence, how are the frontlines fairing?"

[Clarence 0]

"What about you Clarence, how are the front lines fairing?". I ponder how to go about it but finally figure out a way tot ell the story."Well, my friend Garou, Zelrius, his familiar Miles, and me went up to the tower to go clear it. As we entered a wolf creature and two awful looking mud crabs appeared and attacked us. During the whole battle, the wolf creature called <> was able to evade my attacks and bring me down to 1 hp with the help of the other two monsters. Luckily, Zelrius, Garou, and Miles were able to kill off the Mud crabs and help me finish off the barghest. We finally after what was forever, were able to find the boss room. We called in a couple other people to help, but I can't remember who exactly. It was a great fight and we were finally able to destroy the annoying creature." I say, finishing my story.

[Miaki 0]

Miaki listened to Cinder tell his story about learning <> profession and Clarence talk about how the frontlines are going. "So I think we should've found this out before... What kind of fighters are you two? I mean style or skill wise. I'm working to be a katana user myself."

[Cinder 0]

"So I think we should've found this out before... What kind of fighters are you two? I mean style or skill wise. I'm working to be a katana user myself."

Cinder was hesitant with the question at first. He wasn't one to just openly announce his abilities, but then again, he wasn't in a party much either. After some careful thought on whether to reveal himself or not, he decided that it'd be better to allow them a taste, then to leave them in blind mystery. That way, they're not alone in a battle, with no idea of what he's capable of.

"I'm a dagger user myself, I prefer that speed and avoidance over heavy hitting and damage taking."

Cinder didn't reveal that his dagger was on his chest under his jacket, there was no reason to. At least now they knew that he wasn't going to be trying to tank anything anytime soon.

[Clarence 0]

"I must agree with Cinder on this, I like knowing where my enemy's are at, I also like using my daggers." I say, holding up my dark shadow daggers."How about you Miaki?"

[Miaki 0]

MIaki drew his curved blade halfway from it's sheath, displaying it. "Well by the time this quest is done I hope to be using a <> user. Like you guys, I prefer speed over most things. But I could possibly do a little tanking in our fights if you two prefer to attack from the sides?"

[Clarence 0]

From a reasonable distance I watch the three players talking and showing there weapons."Fools, if only they knew I was here."I whisper to myself as I slowly walk toward the group. As I'm tip toeing toward the group I hit a rabbit and it goes scurrying toward the group. Now by this time I'm letting go a wave of colorful words(That I'm not allowed to say on this site).

[Clarence 0]

With Cinder having to leave and Miaki and Clarence not being at the highest level they would like to be at, they decided to re-visit this quest in order to be at more of an advantage toward the high level monsters.

Three Weeks Later.

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"Hey Miaki, hows it going." I ask my friend Miaki who decided to re join me on this quest. I look up and see his Falcon flying around and smile."Your familiar is as great as ever Miaki."

I say with a smile.

[Miaki 0]

Miaki gave Clarence a thumbs up. "Yeah, Silverwing and I have been doing some serious grinding together. Leveled ourselves up quite a bit. Looking forward to getting myself a katana finally. With our combined levels, getting those mats will be a snap compared to before."

[Clarence 0]

I give a thumbs up back."Yeah I see that with your feathery friend of yours, I was thinking about getting a familiar on floor 8 probably a pol- Holy High Level!" I say with a surprised faced, seeing that Miaki is level 16, much higher then before."What the hell man, you leveled up very quickly, what have you been up too?" I ask with a smile.

[Miaki 0]

Miaki smiled and raised an eyebrow. "Oh you noticed? I forgot as friends we can see each others levels. Let's just say I've been very, very busy on the upper floors. And that's not all." Miaki reached down for the scabbard on his waist. He gripped the handle on his blade and began to draw the silver katana. "I've been rather busy on the third floor. Got myself some forging materials after spending a long time there." He suddenly drew the blade quickly from his waist and sliced the air twice with increased speed. The katana upon being drawn emitted a bright silver flash. "Meet the blade <>. Forged by our good friend Daeron." He held the blade sideways with the tip laying on his left hand. "Turns out I don't need to get the weapon from this quest now that I have a perfect class quality weapon in my possession."