[SP-F1] <<Earning a Living>> Minerals and Materials (Complete)

[Birdie 0]

Birdie sighed as she stared at the low number of materials in her inventory, having used them all up for various reasons. It was natural for a low-level player to run out of their initial supply eventually, but even after she'd ventured out to gather more the previous day, her stock was running dry. "Maybe I should invest that gathering perk," she cited quietly, "4 materials per harvest.. 4!" She dreamt about the skill's usefulness, even if it would fall off later on in the game. Still, Gatherer wouldn't be obtainable for a while now considering she was still only level 4 and didn't have nearly enough SP to invest into it.

Her need for materials brought her to the edge of a small cave, just off the borders of Starting City. This specific one was said to have very little spawns inside, and the monsters that did lurk inside were incredibly weak and easy to deal with. With her new rapier, Retaliation, she felt confident enough to dispatch any foes she might come across. She set foot inside the cave, immediately feeling a cold chill run through her spine. 'S-so.. cold..' was her initial thoughts, though she was exaggerating a little.

 

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

Birdie's arms wrapped together in an effort to keep her as warm as possible, and she cautiously ventured further into the cave. Natural crystals that illuminated some light hung from the ceiling and helped light up the otherwise pitch-black rocky walls, allowing her to see where she was going. She'd even be able to see if there were any fancy gems or stones lying around the ground, though she was prepared to mine veins of ore should she need to.

ID# 67120

LD: 19 +1 Material

(Total: 1)

A small glimmer of light reflected into Birdie's cyan eyes, prompting her to squint and shield them for a moment. As she approached the small light, what appeared to be a small chunk of crystal sat on the ground, the light from the ceiling refracting through each of face to produce a small rainbow shadow on the ground. "Ooo," she hummed, crouching down in order to examine it. 'Small Yellow Crystal - +1 Material' it read, prompting her to pick it up and deposit it into her inventory.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

"I have a good feeling about this!" Birdie chimed in excitement, shaking her arms excitedly before she remembered just how chilly it inside the cave. She sighed, equipping herself with a smile before she continued onwards.

In the distance, she heard something drop to the floor. It could've easily been the smallest rock falling to the floor of the halted footsteps of a dangerous creature - either way, it wouldn't dissuade the Artisan from gathering her materials, and she trucked forwards in search of more materials.

ID# 67124

LD: 18 +1 Material

(Total: 2)

Her foot hit against something, causing her to mask an expletive by biting her lip. "F.. jeez, what the heck?" Looking to the ground, she saw what appeared to be another crystal, though the light wasn't reflecting off it nearly as well as the yellow. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a 'Small Black Crystal', and had the same material value as the crystal she'd only a few minutes ago. Her troubled frown shifted into an ecstatic smile, and she scooped it into her hands right away. "Aaaand.. gotcha!" It poofed into her inventory.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

She let out a dreamy sigh, 'What can I say? I'm a natural~' Her confident thoughts were only to entertain herself - in fact, she knew very well that her luck could run out at any moment, especially if a monster decided to show itself. For now though, she walked further on into the cave, the light from entrance nearly disappearing as she found herself coming to a small bend. Deciding to look around for any obvious materials one last time, she crossed her fingers and hoped for a crystal.

ID# 67125

LD: 17 +1 Material

(Total: 3)

"A. another one?" She could barely believe her eyes; 3 crystals in such a short span of time? She'll be having fun back at her shop tonight. Picking up the little crystal, she noted its red hint before depositing it into her inventory, raising her material count by +1. 'Okay, stay calm, don't get too used to this. Knowing my luck, these may be the only materials I get for my entire time down here..'

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

Having descended deeper into the cave, darker thoughts began to fill her mind. 'Hm.. what if I did find an enemy in here? Would I be able to fight it.. heck, would I be able to run away? Nobody would even know that I've gone down here - then again, I've only really spoken with a handful of people, I doubt it would be a huge loss to anyone.' To think of that last line hurt a little, though it was her own fault for not getting involved with anyone's business yet. 'If you want to earn people's respect and love, you need to reach out to them first,' she recalled a phrase that her dad cited to her countless times, prior to his passing. She sighed, forcing those depressing ideas out of her head for the moment. "Focus on the materials, Ava.."

ID# 67126

LD: 19 +1 Material

(Total: 4)

Something glowed in the distance, was it another crystal? The distraction caused her to stray away from the main path, leading down a narrow side-cavern in an effort to investigate. As she approached it, a window prompted her to put the pickaxe to the wall. "O.. kay.." After doing so, a small animation of a pickaxe mining away at a rock appeared, and a positive chime sounded soon after. Another window with the words 'Congratulations!' spread across the top popped up, informing her that she'd gained another material. "Alright!"

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

Birde quickly returned to the main trail after reaching a dead end with the side-path, and she slowly felt herself growing accustomed to the whole 'cave exploring' thing. Sure, the fact that no monsters seemed to be spawning helped her think more positively about the experience, but the sheer amount of materials that seemed to be scattered around was simply too good a thing to gloss over and ignore. Right as she was about to take another turn, she froze on the spot. In the distance, faint red balls hovered around in the air. 'I.. I don't think rubies can fly..' she thought. Luckily, whatever it was didn't seem to notice her; something she used to her advantage. She slowly backed up, moving around the corner once again to reach safety. "Too close," she whispered, resting her back against the cave wall in order to catch her breath. ".. way too close."

ID# 67127

LD: 5

(Total: 4)

 

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

Birdie contemplated her next actions, one false move and she could find herself in a fight with something that she doesn't want to mess with. 'Going further isn't an option..' A disappointed sigh escaped her lips as she realised that her trip may come to an early end, seeing as there wasn't much else to do other than make her way out. Combating whatever monster blocked the path ahead wasn't a good idea; boars were fair game, but that thing certainly wasn't a boar.

ID# 67129

LD: 6

(Total: 4)

Birdie's cyan bangs bobbed with each footstep, her feet hastily scurrying across the cave floor. The trip had been a fun experience and she planned on coming back soon, though not without some company and definitely not without equipping herself a little better. The light from the cave's entrance came into view once again and she released a thankful sigh, knowing she could calm her pace to a slow walk.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

ID# 67138

LD: 4

(Total: 4)

"What a trip," Birdie whispered, huffing quietly as the cave's entrance approached. Though her time was embarrassingly sparse, the turnout hadn't been terrible. Four materials would allow her to craft a day's worth of goodies at the shop, and with the recent promotion to Apprentice Artisan, she might even try her hand at jewellery for the first time.

She passed through the opening in the hill side, the harsh sunlight above piercing through her dark-adjusted eyes like millions of little needles. After she shielded her aching eyes, she caught a glimpse of the fields surrounding the town and let out a joyous sigh. "I'll never get over how beautiful this place is." There didn't seem to be any boars nearby, much to her benefit, and the girl started to contemplate where on Aincrad she would go to find more materials. 'Clay digging is gruelling, to say the least. I could go flower picking, there's a nice garden of them over on the other side of town.. hm.'

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

Faced with a hard decision, she decided to bide her time and think it over by the riverside. Birdie approached the nearest stream, the same one she'd been to only a few days prior in search of clay. A smile befell her lips as she recalled the memory, especially as she remembered the boar she'd fought later that evening. "I'd like to see that boar think twice about attacking me now," thought Birdie, her smile brimming with confidence as she thought about how much stronger her weapon was now. As her feet came dangerously close to the water's edge, she stopped and stood there for a moment, looking at her reflection in the way.

ID# 67140

LD: 18 +1 Material

(Total: 5)

A shiny object caught the light inside the water, reaching Birdie's eyes as a faint illumination. "Hm.. what's that?" She lowered herself to the ground, resting her knees on the grass as she inspected the object closely. A window popped up prompting her to pick up a 'Gold Fragment', worth a single material. "Uhm.. gold spawns here?" Utter confusion perplexed the girl for a moment, before she remembered about gold panning. "Right! Wow," she stated in disbelief, putting the item into her inventory.

 

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

'How much gold could I find here.. hmph, I'd need a sieve to search properly.' Birdie huffed, had she even seen any of those on sale around town? The girl hadn't heard of anything like gold panning inside of SAO other than manually collecting materials and such. She decided to walk a little further downstream, keeping her eyes peeled for any little shiny objects stuck in the river bed.

ID# 67142

LD: 3

(Total: 5)

The girl's mind began to wander. 'I should really explore the higher floors.. I've heard great things about Snowfront Town on the fourth floor, though I doubt that's a place I'd want to go without picking up some winter clothes first.' That thought lead to another; new clothes. How could she have forgotten? She wanted something that offered a little more protection than her short skirt and jumper, but each time she felt confident enough to enter a store, she'd found an excuse to wriggle her way out of it. 'I really should stop doing that..'

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

The sun had risen high up into the sky - the first floor's simulation of the sun, anyway. Clouds were sparse, meaning the Cardinal was obligated to crank the temperature up to properly simulate the weather. Birdie didn't know any of this of course - she was hardly versed in the game's development team and indeed much of the game itself was a total mystery to her going into it. Though, she doubted the likelihood of her being dissuaded from buying the game knowing more about it, and nobody would've guessed the developers pulling off a stunt like this prior to release.

ID# 67176

LD: 10

(Total: 5)

Her eyes hadn't strayed away from the stream of water beside her, she knew better than to look away for even a second. Knowing her luck, the only time she'd pass something useful was when she blinked and missed it by a microseconds.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

"Maybe I should pick up a hobby, only for when I'm not busy at the shop or out gathering.." The girl's lips pursed in thought of what activities she could partake in, given the limitations of the game world. Duelling and sparing might be an interesting hobby though it didn't suit her particular interests, and she would like to avoid potential conflict where she could. She wanted something easy and that wouldn't take up very much of her time, granted she did have all the time in the world now. "Hm.. sports? Picking up track running wouldn't be a horrible idea.." She closed her eyes and sighed, contemplating whether she should whack herself upside the head or not. "There's no running tracks in this world.. right." 

ID# 67188

LD: 9

(Total: 5)

Birdie huffed, 'Nothing else is popping up, I guess I just got real lucky with that little piece of gold. Hmph..'

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

Her thoughts returned to potential material gathering spots, and more specifically, what sort of materials she could look out for. 'Metals, flowers, pretty rocks,' her mind went through a mental list, noting each type of material she'd found so far. 'The market might let me trade in some things for materials? Surely a high-quality apple is a good enough trade for a common crystal.' Birdie became lost in thought, taking her eyes off of the river for a moment.

ID# 67191

LD: 11

(Total: 5)

After realising her absent-mindedness, she immediately shook her head and refocused on the river bed. 'Grr! I need to stop getting distracted..' Her search didn't seem to be bringing up any results, something she'd come to expect now considering her amazing stroke of luck at the start of her trip. She shared a chuckle with herself, 'That's what I get for bragging about how great I am at finding materials, hm.'

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

Birdie resigned to the fact that her search was getting her nowhere, muttering as much before her smile disappeared, replaced by an expression of indifference. 'On the bright side, today turned up quite a few high-quality materials?' She tired to make the most out of the situation, and the idea of having some crystals under her belt really did put her at ease, if only for a few minutes. She was even able to conclude the day with the knowledge that caves were gold mines for materials, and rivers were the exact opposite. She the calm waters one final time, intent on finding a sparkle in the river.

ID# 67194

LD: 14

(Total: 5)

She found herself standing before a bridge and decided to cut off her search right then and there, figuring that she should just look elsewhere for materials. Birdie didn't think to wander anywhere specific. Instead, she followed along a path that seemed to lead into a small forest; maybe there would be some nice flowers hidden within?

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

The journey was slow going, though Birdie didn't much mind it. It was quite calming to walk at such a slow pace with a gentle breeze brushing past her, making her hair wave subtly in the wind. The more she thought about it, her entire lifestyle seemed to have taken a huge step backwards recently; not in a negative, of course. Before she would be reliant on digital devices to lose herself in an imaginary world, but now she could 'physically' roam around in one. Granted it wasn't a world that she designed, nor was it one that she'd chosen to be stuck in, it was still a fantasy land and an experience that you wouldn't be able to undertake anywhere in the real world.

ID# 67199

LD: 12

(Total: 5)

The family of trees drew closer, allowing Birdie her first peak into the shaded area. There wasn't much to see at a single glance, though she'd figured as much prior to seeing it. Deciding that there wasn't much else to do other than wander inside, she continued along the dirt path and entered through the school of trees.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

The ambience was quite different from the open fields. Instead of the breeze whistling through her ears, the sounds of the leaves rustling and birds tweeting filled the air, bringing an instant smile to her face. "It's so peaceful," she commented, her hands lowering to her sides as she walked along the beaten path, gazing at all the forest had to offer. Colourful flowers filled the bushes that lined the edge of the path, giving the place a much needed touch of colour. The trees spanned on for about half a kilometre it seemed, the sunlight on the other side barely trickling through the gaps in the woods.

ID# 67201

LD: 15 +1 Material

(Total: 6)

Sat just to the left of Birdie was a beautiful pansy flower, the inner petals forming a perfect silhouette of a butterfly. The girl had almost missed it, barely catching sight of it in the corner of her vision. She approach it, giving a light smile before accepting it into her inventory.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

With an additional material in her bag, she commended the trip into the forest as a success already. Flowers were bound to be all of over the place, whereas finding a tiny nugget of gold in the river again was likely to be an incredibly rare occurrence. Jumping up from her crouch, she looked in both directions of the path to see if any boars or players were nearby. Concluding that she was safe for the time being, she sighed happily and started to walk again, heading deeper into the forest.

ID# 67202

LD: 8

(Total: 6)

The leaves had become calm, a byproduct of the wind settling down to almost unnoticeable speeds. The thought brought a smile to her face, 'The calm before the storm, right?' She kept her eyes peeled for any monsters; she'd felt the same sense of security during her time in the cave and that nearly ended up with her in a mess. 

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

The forest's trees appeared to thin out, making way for the open fields beyond. She slowed down to a near stop, wanting to prolong her stay in the ever-so-quiet woodlands of the first floor. She did eventually come to a stop next to a tree, putting her hands against the trunk to rest her body for a moment so that she could evaluate her earnings for today. "Hm.. four crystals, one golden nugget and a baby pink pansy. Not the worst haul ever.." Truth be told, she'd expected to find a lot more than six usable materials. She still had a long while to go before the NPC would retreat to his house however, so there wasn't much need for her to worry about returning with a light bag just yet.

ID# 67205

LD: 19, +1 Material

(Total: 7)

She knelt down next to an assortment of flowers lying just a small ways into the wild forest, seeking out a small flower to serve as a reminder of her endeavour into the forest.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

Birdie took her time to chose the right one, resisting the urge to scoop them all up in her arms and whisk them away back to her shop. Her eyes finally rested on a little red tulip with two leaves pointing out from the stalk. She pulled it from its roots, watching as it transferred into her inventory with a poof. She smiled happily, rising up from her knees to brush any dirt away from her skin and clothes. 'They really tried hard to implement dirt physics into this game, huh?' she wondered, twisting on the stop to head back to the main path.

ID# 67210

LD: 10

(Total: 7)

She hadn't managed to find much as she made her way out of the forest; as much as she didn't want to admit it, withered flowers and plain bushes weren't of much use to a person of her particular skills. "I hope I can make a planter eventually.." Her eyes widened, "that's it! A tree in the shop!" A person passing by would think she's a complete psycho, though she was careful enough to ensure nobody was around.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

The distance between Birdie and Starting City was drawing to a sluggish close, the girl still adopting a rather slow pace so that she could still conduct her search for materials. She peered to the city's entrance, trying to judge how much further she had until arriving. "Hmm.. that's at least, like.. 10 metres away.." She couldn't hold in a smile. 'That's about 5 minutes of walking at this pace. Come on, just one more material..' Her eyes surveyed the surrounding area, looking for anything of value.

ID# 67212

LD: 4

(Total: 7)

'I totally suck at this.' She huffed, 'I bet it wouldn't be much better with the Search and Detect skill either, hmph..' Reluctant to admit defeat, there was much longer between herself and the town, and she just resigned to the fact that her search had practically come to an end. 'Whatever, seven materials isn't anything to gloss over. Oh! And the quest rewards, nearly forgot about those.'

Edited September 7, 2016 by Birdie