[SP-F5] Hardening the Body <<The Traveler>> [Complete]

[Aereth 1]

It was again very early in the morning and Aereth just finished his daily workout session outside of Itzal's shop. Today however was a very different day. He talked to Itzal about getting two days off from their daily training schedule. The reason for this was, that Aereth wanted to take a certain quest, that required at least one day and one night to complete. He wanted to complete <<The Traveler>> in order to pick up the <<Survival>> skill. To reach his goal, he would have to harden his body, soul and skills. And today he was starting to harden his body. 

He made his way to the Delilah Village on floor three to stock up his supplies for the upcoming survival trip. Reaching the village he bought several sandwiches and many bottles of water. Then he went to the teleport gate and said: "Floor 5 Armadillo!" He got engulfed in light and was gone without a trace.

Edited November 6, 2016 by Aereth

[Aereth 1]

Aereth stepped out of the light that engulfed him while teleporting and set his first foot on sandiest floor he ever has been on. The sun was burning down on the city of Armadillo and hot winds blew through the streets and side alleys. Aereth immediately pulled up his dark brown scarf to cover is mouth and nose and equipped his dark brown <<Leather Coat>>. Althugh it was making the heat even less bearable, it prevented the sand from slipping in every hole of Aereth's outfit.

He remembered the little talk he had with the quest NPC, that was designed as an old lady that had lost her cargo. She needed the cargo back in a maximum time gap of two days, so he had to speed up his pace, if he wanted to find the quest items in time. He walked out of the city, where almost all the buildings seemed to be made of sandstone and entered the El Perdido dessert.

[Aereth 1]

Before he set his first foot in the dessert he choose to check once again on his supplies to see if he had forgotten something. He swiped with his left hand and opened his inventory. Inside he found his Sword of Legion, enough sandwiches for at least two days and enough water for three days. He knew that water was much more important in the dessert than food. Dismissing his menu he started to walk into the dessert.

After about one and a half hour, a dead tree and some cactus came into his view, so he chose to inspect this area. After looking around for some minutes he was able to find a certain item which had the name <<Lost Cargo>> "For real? This was as easy as taking a lolly from a kid..." he thought and stored the quest item into his inventory. Even though he found the quest Item, he made his way deeper into the dessert. It was to harden his body after all. And he also needed some more materials if he wanted to open a successful tailor shop in the near future.

Spoiler

ID# 70292 results:
Loot: 16 
Craft: 4

Aereth: <<220/220>>
Quest Item: +1 <<Lost Cargo>>

 

Edited November 5, 2016 by Aereth

[Aereth 1]

Just after he finished picking up the quest items he continued his traveling through the dessert of floor five. And while walking, he started to think about the shop he would build in the future. For him it was clear that he had to take the tailor profession. Because if he really wanted to make his plans come true, he needed stealthy full-body armor in order to keep his identity hidden from all the others. And the only way to get good leather armor was from a tailor. He didn't want to rely on monster drops in this regard, and he also did not want to buy the armor from another player, also because then the maker of the armor would know who he was. No, he would make his own armor. He also had in mind how it would look like and which enhancements he would use on it.

After some minutes he noticed something in the sand beneath him. And indeed, he found some <<Animal Leather>> and stored it into his inventory.

Spoiler

 

ID# 70293 results:
Craft: 10
Loot: 17

Aereth: <<220/220>>
Quest Item: 1 <<Lost Cargo>>
Materials: +1

 

 

Edited November 5, 2016 by Aereth

[Aereth 1]

The next thing he would need was a good weapon. The sword he was using right now was very good, but it was not his own one. It still belonged to his guild and he did not intend to steal it from them. He would definitely get a good sword on his own, but right now he didn't know what kind of enhancements he would want for it. And the bigger problem was, that he either had to let the sword be crafted by another player or he would have to get it from a monster drop. Dismissing his train of thought he concentrated on the goal he had right now. Getting that stupid skill, and gathering as much materials as he could get in this freaking dessert.

He started looking for materials in his surrounding area, but wasn't able to find anything but sand. Left sand, right sand, front sand, back sand. Sand everywhere. Sighing he continued his hunt for materials.
 

Spoiler

 

ID# 70298 results:
Craft: 9
Loot: 9

Aereth: <<220/220>>
Quest Item: 1 <<Lost Cargo>>
Materials: 1

 

 

Edited November 5, 2016 by Aereth

[Aereth 1]

After another hour he finally reached something that looked like abandoned ruins. "This is awesome, there are for sure many materials, and I'm able to get some rest while being guarded from the winds..." He thought as me made his way to the abandoned ruins. 

Finally reaching the ruins he opened his inventory and spawned a bottle of water into his hand. As the bottle materialized, he opened it and took a sip from the cold water. "Aaaaah. That was awesome." Then he started to think about one specific redhead and his maid he met some days ago. His name was Domarus, and he seemed quite interested in Aereth and his future. Even if it seemed like it, but he still didn't  trust him fully. He knew that he was still hiding something from him, but in the future he would without a doubt get behind the things Domarus did not want him to know.

After that he rose up on his feet and explored the ruins.

Spoiler

 

ID# 70299 results:
Craft: 4
Loot: 3

Aereth: <<220/220>>
Quest Item: 1 <<Lost Cargo>>
Materials: 1

 

 

Edited November 5, 2016 by Aereth

[Aereth 1]

Walking deeper into the ruins Aereth noticed how the sandstorm outside grew stronger and stronger every second. So even if he wasn't able to find anything inside this ruin, it at least spared him the harsh walk through the heavy sandstorm. 

After some minutes of walking Aereth found some kind of main square of the ruins. Another thing that he noticed was that the architecture of the ruin was very similar to the architecture of the city of Armadillo. The buildings were made of hardened sand and stones. And they were formed like domes or something. It almost seemed like this ruin was like an old abandoned version of Armadillo. But he knew that this just seemed like it was so. After all this game wasn't running long enough for a whole city to turn into ruins. So he assumed that it just was a gimmick implemented by the programmers of SAO.

Spoiler

 

ID# 70300 results:
Craft: 10
Loot: 6

Aereth: <<220/220>>
Quest Item: 1 <<Lost Cargo>>
Materials: 1

 

 

Edited November 5, 2016 by Aereth

[Aereth 1]

Half an hour later he finished exploring the abandoned ruins and made his way back out into the dessert. He pulled his scarf back over his nose and his thoughts traveled back to his fellow redhead Domarus. He was thinking about his real motives and real goals. Unfortunately he wasn't able to gather any information about this Esther girl. First of all, Domarus told Aereth that he shouldn't do something like that. But that wasn't the thing that was stopping him from his information gathering. The real thing that was stopping him from gahtering was, that he didn't want to risk anything regarding the safety and rescue chances of her. Right now he was too unexperianced regarding stealth and information searching. He really needed to master his class as soon as possibe. He was glad that he met his teacher back in the day as he dropped from out of the sky from seemingly nowhere. And his travel continues... 

Spoiler

 

ID# 70301 results:
Craft: 9
Loot: 14

Aereth: <<220/220>>
Quest Item: 1 <<Lost Cargo>>
Materials: 1

 

 

Edited November 5, 2016 by Aereth

[Aereth 1]

Several steps later he stopped his tracks, to scout for any possible materials, some kind of shelter or anything else. But he couldn't find anything. Just sand, sand everywhere. With a gesture of his hand he opened his his menu and selected his map. According to the map data, around him was really nothing. Dismissing his map with a sigh, he continued his trip through the dessert.Step after step he carried himself through the dessert withstanding the steady in strength rising sandstorm. He somehow managed to keep his health points at maximum. "This Leather Coat was really worth the effort of getting it." he thought while remembering how he took the quest. And again his thoughts traveled back to the redhead that seemingly didn't want to get out of Aereth's head. In the near future he would have to do some research regarding him on his own. But first he would have to get stronger and much more skilled.

Spoiler

ID# 70302 results:
Craft: 4
Loot: 14

Aereth: <<220/220>>
Quest Item: 1 <<Lost Cargo>>
Materials: 1

 

 

Edited November 5, 2016 by Aereth

[Aereth 1]

And this strength and skill was only obtainable with hard work. But at some point he would have to leave his new friends behind in order to operate from the shadows to protect them. Itzal, Birdie, Jonathan, Kasier and the two member he had yet to meet Hikoru and Beatbox. He will have to be smart when he was going to cut the connections with them. After all he wants to protect them. And if there would be any connections from him to them, it could end disgustingly... He wanted to avoid that at all costs. Maybe he could use Domarus for this purpose. He offered him a place to stay if he needed to vanish form Aincrad for some times. At this point he was even considering taking his offer to teach him some things about the darkness. How you not only let yourself be consumed by it, but also to gain full control and use this darkness to protect the others... Aereth even managed to gain full control over his hate, after all...

Spoiler

ID# 70303 results:
Craft: 11
Loot: 6

Aereth: <<220/220>>
Quest Item: 1 <<Lost Cargo>>
Materials: 1

Edited November 5, 2016 by Aereth

[Aereth 1]

Hate... It was one of his main sources of energy and power right now. It took him a long time until he was able to channel his unbelievable amount of hate into something productive. He remembered the first days after Adrians death. This was by far the hardest time of his whole life. He spent most of his time in bars in order to drown the pain that grew in intensity with each day. When he then finally was out of Col he slept most of the time on the streets of the <<Town of Beginnings>>. At the thought of this harsh time Aereth clenched his hands to fists and cursed into the scarf he pulled up over his nose in order to protect his face from the sand. He would never be like this again. And he would never tell anybody about this time. Maybe not even his girlfriend in the real world would get to know this side of him if he made it back.

As he was walking through the dessert, totally lost in thoughts, he saw something black, shining through the sand. He picked it up and store it into his inventory. 

Spoiler

 

ID# 70304 results:
Craft: 11
Loot: 17

Aereth: <<220/220>>
Quest Item: 1 <<Lost Cargo>>
Materials: 1 + 1 = 2

 

 

Edited November 5, 2016 by Aereth

[Aereth 1]

Darkness... To accomplish his goals, he needed to work within the shadows and the darkness. He would have to find a way to gain full control over this darkness so that it wouldn't consume him entirely. He managed to control his hate, so he was positive that he would also gain full control over the darkness.

Step after step, he made his way through the dessert. It was slowly getting darker, so he would have to find some place to stay the night since he didn't want to travel in the night. The risk of encountering monsters while not seeing much was too high. Then he found something like a stone cave, and decided to use it as a shelter for the night. It was also time to eat something for the fist time today. Pretty exhausted Aereth reached the cave and walked into it, until he the winds and the sand couldn't reach him anymore. Then he sat down, resting his back against the wall behind him and started to take his food and water out of his inventory.

Spoiler

 

ID# 70318 results:
Craft: 5
Loot: 4

Aereth: <<220/220>>
Quest Item: 1 <<Lost Cargo>>
Materials:  2

 

 

Edited November 6, 2016 by Aereth

[Aereth 1]

As two sandwiches and a bottle of water appeared in Aereth's hands, he began with his meal. Taking his first bite off his sandwich, and started to think about his guildmates. He really got along well with all of them, except the two DPS units of the Celestial Ascendants. But the principles of their guild was awesome. To help lower level players growing in strength and skill, by tutoring them through the lower levels. He remembered his initiation with Itzal a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately he had to lie to his friend back then about his real reasons for becoming strong. But he would never find out about his reasoning, because as soon as his training would be finished and his debts to Itzal and the guild were payed back he would leave without a trace, so that no connections between him and the Celestial Ascendants would remain. They protected the lower leveled players in their way and Aereth would protect them in his way. Even though they might not see it like that.

Spoiler

 

ID# 70324 results:
Craft: 2
Loot: 1

Aereth: <<220/220>>
Quest Item: 1 <<Lost Cargo>>
Materials:  2

 

 

Edited November 6, 2016 by Aereth

[Aereth 1]

Aereth finished his meal which consisted of two sandwiches and a bottle of water, and the hours passed by while he was lost in his thoughts about his guildmates. He needed a plan to vanish from Aincrand for the one or two months he needed, to let the matter of him leaving the guild settle. Domarus told him that he could stay at his place if he needed to dissapear for some time. But knowing Itzal and the other guildmates, they would for sure also look at Domarus' place for him. The other option however was, getting a shop somewhere hidden on his own when he had left the guild. Or to get a shop, while still being in the guild. But he would have to hide the whereabouts of the shop, as well as his identity when using the shop. The last option, and probably the safest one was to stay at different inns every night...

Spoiler

 

ID# 70325 results:
Craft: 1
Loot: 10

Aereth: <<210/220>>
Quest Item: 1 <<Lost Cargo>>
Materials:  2

 

 

Edited November 6, 2016 by Aereth

[Aereth 1]

With a swipe of his hand he opened his menu again and looked at the time. It was about four o' clock in the morning. He had decided not to sleep tonight, since he was alone out in the wild. Mobs or other players could attack at any time and due to being alone he had to play guard for himself the whole night. It didn't bother him much though. Back in the real world he often had to study through the night in order to get his work for the university done in time. And additionally he had enough to think about.

Picking himself up and putting back on his scarf and Leather coat, he made his way out of the cave. It seemed like the sandstorm got even stronger in the night. He decided to head back to Armadillo in order to complete his quest and get his Survival skill. 

After some minutes of walking he passed an old dead tree and found two <<Noble Wood>> items beneath it. "Wow, it seems like these quest items are spawning everywhere.."

Spoiler

 

ID# 70334 results:
Craft: 4
Loot: 20

Aereth: <<213/220>> +3  out of combat regeneration
Quest Item: 1 <<Lost Cargo>> +2 <<Noble Wood>>
Materials:  2

 

 

Edited November 6, 2016 by Aereth

[Aereth 1]

About two hours passed without something interesting happening around Aereth. He just walked. Step after step. Right now he was on his way back to Armadillo but he wasn't taking the same route the he took to get to the cave where he spent the night in. He decided to take a different path, because he was eager to find more materials on this travel. Heck, he even found two quest items for the Rovian Wars quest, so the must be more things hidden in the sand. But this time however, he wasn't able to find anything besides sand. Sand everywhere.

Some countless steps later he found some kind of abandoned house in the dessert. Just one single house. Nothing else. Entering the house through the rotten door, he found out that the house was indeed... abandoned. But Aereth used the opportunity, and took another water bottle out of his inventory. He emptied immediately, and continued his travel.

Spoiler

 

ID# 70335 results:
Craft: 6

Aereth: <<216/220>> +3  out of combat regeneration
Quest Item: 1 <<Lost Cargo>> +2 <<Noble Wood>>
Materials:  2

 

 

Edited November 6, 2016 by Aereth

[Aereth 1]

Before he helft the abandoned house, he searched every room of it for materials or other useful things but wasn't able to find anything in there. "It isn't abandoned for no reason after all." he said to him as he continued walking through the dessert. At least the sandstorm seemed to weaken a bit, and if the sandstorm continued to weaken at this rate, it would be gone when he reached Armadillo again.

When Aereth was helping to find Domarus' familiar he was thinking about what kind of familiar he would be hunting when he needed one. Back then he came to the conclusion that a wolf would fit him the best. He could use it as a distraction on the lower level floors where normally also mob wolves would spawn, and he somehow wanted to have a dog since he was a boy. Enhancement wise he thought about evasion and accuracy but wasn't quite sure what would be possible for familiars.

Spoiler

 

ID# 70336 results:
Craft: 12
Loot: 4

Aereth: <<219/220>> +3  out of combat regeneration
Quest Item: 1 <<Lost Cargo>> +2 <<Noble Wood>>
Materials:  2

 

 

Edited November 6, 2016 by Aereth

[Aereth 1]

After all he needed a familiar that would be able to help him getting an edge on his opponents, and also a stealthy one in order to get his information gathering done properly. But that's something for another day. Right now he needed to get back to Armadillo in order to get his survival skill in time. Looking again at his menu time it was about 8 o'clock now and the quest would expire if he didn't speed up his pace a little bit.

After he finished this quest he most probably would rest for one day and then continue his training with Itzal and Birdie. He would also have to make plans for the gathering of the next skill he would need for his plans. The Material Arts skill. It was a hard chunk of work to get this skill but he would really need this skill in the future, since it is required for the strongest sword art of the one handed straight sword. The Meteor Break.

Spoiler

 

ID# 70337 results:
Craft: 6
Loot: 7

Aereth: <<220/220>> +3  out of combat regeneration
Quest Item: 1 <<Lost Cargo>> +2 <<Noble Wood>>
Materials:  2

 

 

Edited November 6, 2016 by Aereth

[Aereth 1]

Another two hours passed by as Aereth was walking through the sand alone. According to his map data, he wasn't very far away from his destination, and with that, the competition of his quest. But unfortunately he had about a hour to walk until he reached the city, and the temperatures were almost unbearable. On the other hand, the sandstorm had nearly vanished and Aereth was able to pull down his scarf in order to breath more easily. Taking out another bottle of water, he studied his map data once again.

As he walked his last steps before he reached the city he found a material hidden in the sand beneath a cactus. He picked it up quickly and stored it into his inventory. It was a good quest. He was able to find some materials as well as two quest items for the Rovian Wars quest. And he would also get Col, Skill Points and his desired extra skill.

Spoiler

 

ID# 70338 results:
Craft: 10
Loot: 19

Aereth: <<220/220>>
Quest Item: 1 <<Lost Cargo>> 2 <<Noble Wood>>
Materials:  2 + 1 = 3

 

 

Edited November 6, 2016 by Aereth

[Aereth 1]

"Finally." he thought as he saw the gates of Armadillo. It had been one and a half days since he left this f*cking city in oder to get the lost cargo for the old lady. Just as he was about to enter the city he found another material laying in the sand. He picked it quickly up and stored it away into his inventory. "Now I just have to find this old hag again to get my f*cking skill." he mumbled into his scarf.

Half an hour later he found the old lady, gave her the goods and received his rewards. "Thank's and goodbye." he waved to the old lady and left into the direction of the teleport gate. "Floor three, Prairie" he said and left without a trace.

As he arrived at floor three he immediately went to Itzal's shop to get a shower and after that he would get something proper to eat.

Spoiler

 

ID# 70339 results:
Craft: 8
Loot: 17

Aereth: <<220/220>>
Quest Item: 1 <<Lost Cargo>> 2 <<Noble Wood>>
Materials:  3 + 1 = 4

 

 

Edited November 6, 2016 by Aereth