[PP-F5]Dawn of a New Player

[DarkPhoenixDawn 0]

Everything was amazing, this world was amazing! Dawn couldn't believe something like this, that allowed her to escape her real life, existed. It was an escaped, an experience that Dawnika had only ever dreamed of. Free from her cruel mother, and away from her poverty stricken life. That is until she tried to log out, finding no option to do so. "What the-?" She muttered to herself among the crowd of people in the streets of The Town of Beginnings. "This must be a glitch in the servers or something. I wonder if I should message support for help?" Dawnika's attention turned when a tower bell began to ring ominously. What could that mean? She didn't have much time to think about it before she was teleported to the town square. The Game Master appeared before all the players and announced "his world" and it's "features" of death in real life. Once the spectacle had ended, Dawnika was torn. She was stuck in this world of death and the despair that haunted her in real life, had come in a new form here in Sword Art Online. She wouldn't do this; She wasn't strong enough to handle it. "I'm staying here. There's no way I'm risking my life for this. I only wanted to escape the pressures of real life in a world away from it. Now it has followed me." Dawnika shrank in her skin, "My life is full of misery."

 

After so long, the Frontlines had been formed, and Dawnika put her trust in them. They're the strong players who will band together and succeed in ending this madness. But, this is taking longer than she had expected. Once she heard news of floor 4 being a winter biome of sorts, she wanted to travel there. The cold and snow reminded her of home. As soon as floor 4 was open to the players, she moved there. The Town of Beginnings was too crowded for her.

 

Two years. Two freaking years laters, and we're only on floor fifteen? That's the news from the front lines. One person couldn't do much, but Dawnika knew what she had to do: It was time to pick up a weapon and use her former knowledge of MMO's to help the front lines in any way possible. "No more being a coward, time to do something about this." Taking her claws in her hands, Dawnika gathers her essentials and heads to floor five. Maybe she could find a high level player to help with a quest there, if not, she would take a lower level quest to level up. The first thing she did upon entering floor five was locate an information broker to get details on quests. Hopefully there's someone here who can help her.

[Zelrius 0]

Zelrius slowly groaned awake from his bed on the Thirteenth floor. The following Month had been so emotionally tolling on the boy, not that was anything new to him. Matter of fact, the golden haired boy would have been more surprised had an entire month gone by without some form of Damage, whether that be Physical, Emotional, Or Mental, taken place. It was so common place now, especially for anyone who was a Frontliner. The consistent pressure from the thousands Not fighting, The heat of battle on an almost daily basis, the Planning and arguing. That, and then the Drama following the Spring Festival at the beginning of the month. He had asked Manta out on a date, and while that's all well and good, Kiru interrupted them leaving. Again, not that big of a deal, other than how much of an idiot Zelrius was for the way he treated Kiru during that interaction. And what ensued, was what Zelrius was now waking up from, twas the day after. Yet even after all that, and how he knew each month left in the game brought similar events, Zelrius still found the will power to get out of his room in the Guild Hall and switch into his gear.

Within moments, The boy was adorned from head to toe in Unique items and other gear assortments. With that, The Commandant rushed off to the Teleportation gate, intent on making this day more of a stress-relief day than anything else. Each step to the Gate not far from the Guild hall left no Footprints, his boots of Agility to thank for that. The only noise he made was the jingling of the two pendants around his neck and a slight metallic sound each time the swords on both hips bounced just a bit in their sheaths. Within a few minutes he teleported out of the horrid thirteenth floor and into the Capital of the Fifth floor named Ignis. 

Within moments he walked over to the Broker that distributed the Butcher of the Sands quest and sighed, Remembering that the quest was strictly non-solo allowed. He looked beside him to a girl also accepting the quest and sighed. Zelrius was reluctant to ask her, afraid she'd either see his gear and run off, or think he was just trying to flirt with her. He turned away and called out to anyone in earshot, hoping someone would accept the quest with him. "For anyone interested in Doing the Butcher of the Sands quest, I request you please come talk to me. You can keep the drops or whatever, I just want to kill something..." He wasn't sure if that'd draw anyone's attention, but it was worth a try.

[DarkPhoenixDawn 0]

Dawnika's ears perked up to listen to this boy who had just come up to receive the quest. He had chosen the same quest as her, in fact, and now rereading the briefing, she realized this quest wasn't solo. This player is obviously high level though. Dawnika was only level one, there's absolutely no way he want her help. She'd get them both killed. Though, if she took someone who seemed to be a lower level, that would just increase the odds of horrible obliteration. She not so eagerly rose her hand to the boy who looked like he was her best choice. "I-I was actually just looking for company on the same quest. If you're willing to take someone as low leveled as me, that is."

Dawnika moved in closer to Zelrius and spoke to him further. "I am, uh...level 1. I want to level up to help the front lines in the future. I was hoping someone would help me complete a high level quest to help me get started." She spoke a bit a confidently but it was obvious she was slightly scared of the knight before her. Expecting him to be harsh about a low level player like her even thinking it was a good idea to accept this quest that is level 35 recommended. She must look like an idiot.

[Zelrius 0]

Zelrius' eyes twitched a little when he heard the female voice call out from behind him. He was kind of hoping she'd take him up on the offer, and kind of hoping she wouldn't have. He honestly didn't want to babysit a level 1, but fought that reluctance because the girl was actually a bit cute. On the flip side, He was already dating Manta, and to simply accept a quest with another girl on the basis that she didn't look bad, felt kind of off for the golden haired Commandant. On top of that, she didn't exactly seem ready to adventure with him either, the feeling clearly being mutual, but for completely different reasons. He decided to drop the thought and not be mean to her.

"That's fine. You don't have to be a high level at all. I am more than fine with you standing behind me while I completely annihilate the boss if you're okay with doing that. Though I suppose most low levels would find that a bit insulting, so I understand if that is not in your best interests." He was trying his best to be polite to a low level, despite just how very much he hated them and how lazy they all were. He grinned as a thought came to him, pulling out his permanent Ookami potion. Maybe he'd see her again, who knows. This would be his personal mark on some random person. "Here, Drink this. Should boost the amount XP you gain." Zelrius tried to keep a straight face holding the potion out to her.

[DarkPhoenixDawn 0]

She looked curiously at the potion. Dawnika hadn't heard of a potion that could increase experience game in a game like this. It sounded fishy, but nevertheless she took hold of the potion. "A-Alright, I can't believe you would give a potion like this to me, seems like a terrible benefit for you considering you get nothing out of this." Her attention returned to the vial with the odd liquid in it. It couldn't hurt to drink it right? High levelers in the frontlines don't PK, she hopes at least. The cork of the vial was released by the girl's finger nails. She took a swing of the potion and prepared herself to be poisoned or something stupid.

Well, it wasn't poison, nor some kind of experience potion. Feeling new sensations at her back and her head, she feels around her hair to realize she had new ears. "What the hell? Did this potion make me a freaking animal? A half bred human dog?" At first her demeanor seemed upset, until her eyes nearly glowed in passion. "This, is, [censored] awesome!" She yelled out in glee, admiring her new tail. How does someone find a potion like this?

"How long does this effect last?! I need more of these potions for when it wears off!" After calming down a bit though, she gets somewhat serious and looks up to him. "Anyways, I wont mind hiding behind you. I understand full well exactly what the stakes are, and I will die if I try getting involved in a fight like that at my current level. I want the drops and the experience solely. I hope to join you frontliners soon, so I'm going to have to catch up. I will be pretty busy for the next few weeks."

[Zelrius 0]

He grinned as she reacted, at first, exactly how he thought she would. He didn't say anything about the benefit. She was right that it didn't directly benefit the Commandant, only that it made him happier knowing that there was now a Wolf girl running around Aincrad, one he'd be able to easily spot if she didn't ever get rid of it. Though the reaction right away shifted and became a good bit more positive, much to Zelrius' surprise. "Eh?" Was all he managed out in confusion as she now seemed quite pleased with the potion. The most surprising part wasn't that she enjoyed the effects, it was more that she didn't seem to care he had told her it an EXP bottle and not just a regular transformation potion, though if she had disregarded that, he certainly wouldn't bring it back up.

"I figured a lazy low level like you just wanted to Mooch off. That's fine, not like this is going to be a TON of effort anyhow." He laughed a bit hard at her statements, trying not to seem too rude. "Every god damn Low level wants to be a Front Liner. Of course you do. They all think it will happen over night. Look, your gear isn't even good enough to handle a Boar, let alone bosses. Go home cute little Wolf, let the Big kids handle this." To stop her from getting angry or offended by that, Zelrius quickly changed the subject.

"Well, the effects are permanent..." He trailed off but quickly raised his hands in defense and added to his sentence with haste "Before you freak out, I do have a curing potion, here. Let me get it," The golden haired boy began rifling through his inventory in search of the cure potion, unable to find it right away in a bit of a panic.

[DarkPhoenixDawn 0]

She instantly stopped him from getting that cure potion out. "No way! This effect is permanent? I'm a half wolf now?! That's so cool! I wont be needing that cure potion, you can keep it. This is too freaking cool." She released her grip of his armor and backed off. "Ha! You think  that I think I can become a front liner overnight? That is quite literally impossible. I can't do much at my current level, but sitting around down here isn't getting any of us out of Aincrad. I was traumatized when this all started, but no more. I want to help. I will not rest until I can do something to help." She knew full well that she wasn't going to a floor above 5 anytime soon.

Dawnika clasped the claws of iron on her hands. This was going to be dangerous, if she needed to protect herself, she would do her best. "I don't want to be remembered a coward. If die on this quest, than so be it. At least my resolve was good. I wont die a coward." She said this knowing there was no possible way she could help him defeat this boss whatsoever.

"Shall we make haste then...uh, I'm sorry I didn't catch your name. On that note, what level are you? My name is Dawnika." She opened up her user interface and swiped through the options to find the 'Invite to Party' option and request him to join her party. The request appeared before him on his interface. DarkPhoenixDawn would like you to join their party. Accept? - Decline?

Edited March 31, 2016 by DarkPhoenixDawn

[Zelrius 0]

He smiled like an idiot even more when she just seemed so thrilled about it, for reasons beyond his knowing. Her stopping him was an also unexpected action, but he closed his inventory without question. "I am going to be honest; I didn't expect you to be so accepting of you're new... look. Nonetheless, I request you keep it on then. I am going to nuke this quest for you, and what I want in return is for you be half-Wolf for the rest of the game. Deal?" With that, he began to head off into the desert to fight this boss and get it over with. "Atleast you're realstic. Most low levels think they can wake up one day and decide to be a high level. A lot of people have spent the last few years sitting on Floor 1, wasting their lives away, I can atleast commend you for trying."

Though her next words seemed a bit more serious than the light-hearted and joking mood Zelrius tried to keep the conversation at. "Good way to die and make sure everyone knows how, Frontlines. My Morbid humor aside, I'd like to make you an offer now." He reached a gloved hand out to her after straightening the Bowtie on his tuxedo that he always wore around. "If you're absolutely serious about being a Frontliner and wanting to stay a Ookami. I will nuke any quest with you and gear you out, so long as you can guarantee I will see you at a future Boss fight, adorned in said gear and," He used that reached out gloved hand to lightly massage her new Wolf ears "You're new appearance as well." Though he wasn't sure if she'd be receptive of the touching part.

He clicked the accept button and didn't say a word after that, only adjusting the Blackfyre cloak on his back and continuing to walk through the desert. The wolfgirl would be able to see his name and level in the top left of her own Heads Up Display. "Commandant of the Azure Brigade, Lord Blackfyre, and Slayer of the Hydra, Zelrius is my username. Good to meet you Dawnika."

[DarkPhoenixDawn 0]

Dawnika smiled to her new acquaintance, his rubbing her ear made her feel strangely warm. She looked up the interface where Zelrius's name appeared. '208 health, dang that sounds about right.' She was focused on his health bar, and looking closer she finally sees his level. "Fifty-Two?! Holy crap! That makes me feel much better about this quest knowing someone so strong is willing to help me. Thank you, Zelrius." She gave him a slight bow, along with a smile.

Wiping her long hair out of her face as she returned to normal posture, she listened to his request to stay a wolf and join the front lines. Benefits for doing exactly what she wanted? Things were already looking up for her, all she had to do was take action. "You have a deal! You will most certainly be seeing me on the front lines, not soon, but I swear I will be there one day!"  Her confidence was overflowing. She was ready to start her story in this world.

She began to head north, where the broker info mentioned this arena was. "At your level, I'm sure you could take this boss down within two turns. Me hiding wouldn't be that necessary as long as I don't actively attack the monster right?" She spoke more tactically than in fear. She wanted to make sure she wasn't going to get instantly gibed by this beast of a monster to her level.

[Zelrius 0]

He jumped slightly at her increased voice volume, unexpecting it and stopping his walking to glance back to her. It only took a moment for Zelrius to register what it was she was talking about, and grinned taking the chance to brag a bit. "Aye Fifty-Two. As Impressive as that may sound, there are plenty of people catching up to me very very quickly. Part of the reason I am doing this quest again. That aside, I'd try to be modest and say it's not a big deal, but honestly, it is a big deal. For me anyway." As much as he tried to sound nonchalant, his words were true enough. Most would try to play cool and say it's not that hard, which is a load of bullshit, Everyone who is even Level 30 can tell you that it is hard once you start getting to the upper Levels.

"A Deal's a deal Wolfie. See you on the Frontlines. After this, I have a shop I can lead you to, and we can gear you up. Would you be okay with that?" He asked, though Zelrius could probably guess the answer that was going to be given. He was certainly glad she had a bit of confidence unlike most lowlevels, Whom are either too Confident and think they could outdo even Zelrius, or far too under confident, and don't even think they could stand in the presence of someone like Ssendom.

Her last comment made him laugh as they arrived at the Butcher's Arena. He turned around and rubbed her new wolf ear again, hearing no protest from the last time he did it. "That's real cute. You think the boss is going to last long enough to even draw a weapon, let alone two turns. No, so long as you enter the Arena with me and stand inside when I kill him, you don't even have to draw a weapon. Now come on," He led her inside the arena and within an instant, the Boss's desginated area recognized there were infact two players and the in a plume of sand the Lizard appeared. 

Zelrius didn't even wait for the dust and sand to clear, Drawing both his swords and in a flurry of attacks, turned the quest 'Boss' into data particles. Sheathing them once again and walking about to the Wolfgirl. He exteneded a gloved hand to her and bowed slighty. "Shall we go?"

BD 2+4 Accuracy = 6 HIT ID 54550

6 Base + 8 Fallen + 5 Charge = 19*27 = 513

Zelrius 208/208 E: 25/52
Dawnika 4/4 E: 1/1

Butcher 0/350 HP

Edited March 31, 2016 by Zelrius

[DarkPhoenixDawn 0]

Dawnika's ears perked again. He wants to even gear her up? This couldn't be real. "I would enjoy that Zel, if you don't mind me calling you Zel. Which you shouldn't if you're going to call me Wolfie." She was beginning to sweat a little in the desert heat. Damn it was hot on floor five compared to floor 4.

He laughed at her statement about discussing some kind of strategy. He laughed. Dawnika wasn't sure if she should be scared or feel safe. Could he really one shot the boss? There's no way that was possible. Even at his level, something has to prevent him from being able to insta-kill it...right? "I-If you say so Zel, but shouldn't we take some kind of precaution? I'm prone to instantly dying if something happens we can't control."

The fight was, wait, was that even a fight? No. That was a freakin' slaughter. He actually took the boss down in one attack. It would be an understatement to say she was surprised. If her jaw hung any lower, she would be eating sand. "He actually did it...He one shot that boss. I need to do everything I can to raise my level. I want to be just like that." Dawnika said while Zelrius was still out of earshot. As he approached and asked her if she was ready to leave. She could only nod in response as she followed him out of the arena.

[Zelrius 0]

"You can call me Zel, only because I don't hate you like I do most Low Levels. However, I draw the line there. Nothing more, just Zel or Zelrius." He grinned and added in a joking manner "Though Lord Commandant is the most preferred." He pulled at the collar of his Dress shirt under the tuxedo to let in some air flow agains this body, the immense amount of equipment and long sleeved clothing being a little too much to bare in the desert sun, Reminding the Golden Haired boy why he didn't come to this particular floor often. "We should leave this place fast before I have a god damn heat stroke." He said in light of the great heat that loomed over the floor during the day. 

He continued along the Floor and got to the teleport gate, before going through his inventory quickly and pulling out a small item. Tossing it to her, Zelrius explained. "Open your Inventory, press 'Examine' and then press Activate. That was a drop from the monster we just fought. Should be a fairly good weapon for a Noob like you Wolfie. Of course, I'd prefer a straight damage weapon, but we can get you one of those only if you're feeling especially picky about your equipment." Though truth be told, Zelrius didn't believe in a such thing as 'Picky' when it came to equipment. You either got what you wanted, or might as well be useless. 

Zelrius began sending a message over to Ariel for his order for Dawnika, and called out 'Snowfrost Town' once at the teleport gate, taking him to the city so he could navigate to the shop.

[DarkPhoenixDawn 0]

Dawn smiled, glad that he had allowed her to call him by a nickname. She was already friends with a high level player. She's glad to see there is some nice people in this game, unlike in the real world. She laughed at his statement to the temperature, even though it was killing her as well. "Yes, let's go somewhere a bit cooler than here. The difference in climate between floors four and five are amazingly different." She said as they re-entered Ignus.

When he through the item at her she fumbled to catch it. "You're giving me the spoils? Well, I guess it doesn't benefit you much considering you were way too high of a level for that mission." She did as he said, scrolling through her inventory to find the item. "Claw's of the Sands," she says, reading aloud, "plus two damage and plus one bleeding." She located the item to her inventory for now, since she wouldn't be needing it right now.

Dawnika did as Zelrius did, calling out her location and stayed close to him. "So, we're going to meet your friend who can make me some gear now, correct?"

[Zelrius 0]

When they got to the fourth floor, Zelrius pulled back on his gloves to make sure they fitted snuggly around his hands. He began making his way through the town, remembering everything that has happened for him on this square. Where he met Zoey, whom was attacked by PKers and was being dragged out of town. Where he went with Kiru on their first and only search for Keith, and where he first met Lessa, whom went from friend, to foe, back to friend over the next year or so. Just another reason for the Golden haired boy to avoid the fourth floor. Too many bad memories, not enough good ones.

The first thing he did was unclip his cloak and hold it out to her. He figured that she might have clothes appropriate for the floor, but thought to be more of an act of Manners than of actually trying to do much else. "You can wear my Blackfyre Cloak while we talk to and from there. I want it back though before we part ways. Last person I lent my cloak to on this floor ran off with it. I had to get a new one made." Whether or not she accepted it, he called out to Wolfie moving along the path to the edge of town.

[DarkPhoenixDawn 0]

Ah, the cool air of floor four again. It had only been like 2 hours or so in the desert and she missed home. This floor has been her favorite for nearly a year now.

Zel was offering his cloak to her, and it made her blush slightly. She love the cold air so it never really bothered her. Nevertheless, she didn't want to make him feel bad by not accepting the kind offer and took it. "Thanks." She said quietly. "I'll make sure you get it back."

Her boots trudged in the snow leaving prints as the walked over other prints already there. "I assume this outfitter is a good one if you're in connection with them, hunh?"

[Zelrius 0]

He hated this floor so much, for more than a few reasons. Though he had always hated the floor, even when he first stepped foot in it after clearing the Third Floor boss with Shark and Ryujin. Since the moment it was open, Players flooded the Winter Wonderland, for some god damn reason, and Zelrius wasn't particularly fond of very large crowds, especially ones composed entirely of useless Low levels. Though in thinking this, he grew a bit self-conscious, given he is now walking through that same Snowfrost town that he hated so much with a low level "What have you stooped down to?" Zelrius asked himself in his thoughts.

As she took the Cloak, he nodded, "Seriously, I want it back. As sweet of a person you've been to me so far, I kind of need that cloak. Just not right now." He was trying to emphasize the importance, but failed to do so in his mind. He decided to let that go, thinking that if she wanted to keep it, he was too nice of a person to say 'No'. Not like it was that big of a deal anyway, he could get another one made.

As they arrived at the Crowned Lion Shop, Zelrius picked up the order he sent to Ariel and then pushed Dawn slightly forward. "Go ahead and order the Enhancements you want and what type of clothing you want it to be. Be descriptive, You're going to want to like your armor, given you'll be wearing it a lot."

[DarkPhoenixDawn 0]

Dawnika walked into the shop, eyeing the stuff placed onto the display. She was then asked what kind of armor was to be made for her. A moment of silence fell for a second until she replied,"I need some light armor, with +1MIT and a +2 to EVA."

It didn't take her long to think of what it should look like. "Make it a white dress with a red accent along the left side of the skirt. Nothing extremely flashy, but not too dull at the same time." She smiled as Zel slapped the necessary col on the counter for the shopkeeper.

While they waited for the order to be complete, Dawn turned to Zel. "Tell me what the front lines is like. I assume it's not as amazing as the idoit low level tell me like they've been there. 'Glory fighters and amazing warroirs' i bet its bloody stressful up there."

[Zelrius 0]

As they walked at of the shop, Zelrius turned his attention to his notification bar and sighed. Reading the message, He had been invited up a few floors for an Event boss. "Probably some kind of Easter bunny or some [censored] like that..." He said more to himself than outloud. He turned back to Dawn who was now geared out and gave a quick inspection of where extra items would go. noticing they were blank.

"Well, You have Armor and a Weapon. Now we need to get you a Trinket or something. I am thinking since I am buying the stuff, a Phoenix Pendant?" Though he tried to be assertive about it, Zelrius still accidentally added an upward inflection, making his 'statement' more of a question to her. He sighed at his own inability to demand or force things upon people.

Another Notification, this time by Tristan about the same Boss fight. He frowned, knowing that he'd have to leave soon. And for the first time in a while, Zelrius was reluctant about leaving a person, quite enjoying the company of the person he called Wolfie. He closed the message, ignoring it and trying to keep a conversation with Dawn.

[DarkPhoenixDawn 0]

Dawnika liked the sound of this 'Phoenix Pendant'. "That sounds cool. I assume it gives me upgrades to my stats for equipping, right?" She asked him like she already knew what they did. It's obvious to him that she must have been a pretty adept gamer before getting stuck in Sword Art Online. Most bought the game out of pure hype for being in virtual reality to her knowledge, but she has played video games since she was a kid. This was nothing new to her.

Dawnika noticed all the notifications Zel was beginning to get. "Busy front liner business?" She joked and pulled up her interface again. "If you have to leave, I understand. Let me friend you so we can stay in contact, if you're alright with that." Another message popped up in his menu - <<DarkPhoenixDawn>> would like to add you as a friend. Accept? - Decline?

[Zelrius 0]

 

Zelrius chuckled a bit at her comment. "You sound like someone trying to pretend like they know sports. 'Yea to win, you need to put the object in the enemy thing across the field.' What I am saying is, it sound very vague. Yes, It will increase your stats for equipping it. Most items do, that's what they're for." He stopped and mentally slapped himself in the face for being that rude. "How do you feel about increased Mobility and Precision on that Pendant?" In an attempt to divert the conversation from his overly rude and unwanted Comment.

He sighed, as she sent the Friend request. He was reluctant to go, even back to the Frontlines. He accepted the friend request and subconsciouts gave her wolf ear another little massage of sorts, the same way he had when she first obtained them. "I must go Wolfie, as you guessed. Though, I'd like you to promise me another quest in the future. I did, afterall, give you a permanent effect potion, I am hoping to atleast see it's effects every once in a while."