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[PP-F1-NK] <<The First Few Lessons are Free>> (Floofy)


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It was early in the morning and many players were already up and about. Reasonable, considering the fact that many players in SAO were always on a tight, busy schedule. They couldn’t stay here for too long, or their physical bodies would give out due to the lack of activity which would eventually lead up to them dying without seeing the light of the real world again. At least that’s what a small girl who still wore the starting armor thought while rushing through the streets with a small box displaying a map of the Town of Beginnings floating beside her.

The red-haired girl pushed through a group of players who were blocking her way, muttering a quick “sorry, excuse me” before continuing. She was already far enough behind as it is, but right now, according to one of the conversations she had heard last night, the frontliners were already starting to look for the boss room of Floor 20. With her sluggish progression and low level and the speed of the frontliners’ progression combined, she would never reach them. It might even take her a year. She can’t waste a year. So the early morning found Airi knocking on the door of an NPC named Zackariah.

The NPC, white-haired old man, opened the door and gave her the generic “good morning, how may I help” greeting which she hardly listened to. Once the NPC stopped talking, she quickly tackled the main point of her visit. “Hello, I actually wanted to ask if there was anything I could help you with?” she asked, hoping that her statement would bring the NPC straight to his quest dialogue.

And it did. “Yes, I do need help. You see, I am an alchemist, one who makes potions for a living, and recently, a valuable customer of mine put forward an order for a few Healing Potions which he needs today. Unfortunately, I am currently out of stock of juniper berries, a valuable ingredient in crafting Health Potions, and I don’t have the time to collect some more. However, if you accept, you would have to go to the plains outside the Town of Beginnings. Would you be willing to do so?”

A pop-out menu materialized in front of Airi and without hesitation, she tapped the ‘accept’ button. The NPC spoke again after: “Thank you for offering your help. I would need you to collect five juniper berries, you can find them in bushes scattered around the plains. Afterwards, I would also need your assistance in making the Healing Potions and after all the potions have been crafted, I would need you to deliver them to a local blacksmith.”

(OOC: @Floofy)

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Just as Airi turned to leave, Sakoda ran head first into her, gasping for air. She had clearly been running all across town. "W-Wait!! You didn't accept the quest already did you?!" Sakoda desperately asked, not wanting to go through the NPC chatter herself. Normally, NPC's were the only people she could get to talk to her, but over the past week she had gotten tired of wandering the Town of Beginnings, and wanted to get stronger. She knew she couldn't stay her forever, especially with her IRL body at risk. With the frontlines only at floor 20, it could take them forever to get out, and she needed to be up there helping the push. Maybe with her knowledge from her time in the beta, she could help move things along...

Of course, unknown to her, beta testers had acquired a bad name, especially the ones who had made it the furthest. Other players who recognized her would mutter under their breath, calling her 'beater'. She didn't know it was meant as a beta-cheater, and thought it was a compliment, although she hadn't "beaten" anything since the games release. Heck, even during the beta, she spent her time studying and making reports on the wildlife of SAO. What could be tamed, what could be killed, where to find certain creatures. Her entire focus during that time was on familiars and companion animals. But now, her focus was completing the game.

"Please tell me you didn't accept his quest yet, I really don't want to sit through the explanation..." she asked again, although she could tell that the girl, Airi, had indeed accepted the quest, given that the NPC had turned and gone back inside. Sakoda sighed and whispered to herself "it gets tiring hearing the same dialog over and over.."

 

((OOC: @Airi)

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Airi opened the quest menu and quickly reviewed the tasks listed. Collect 5 juniper berries from the grasslands, was the first item in the task list. It was simple and easy, aside from the fact that she would have to go to the areas outside the safe zone to do so. The specified locations were fairly close to the town which means she could run straight back if she ever got into trouble, but what would happen if she couldn't? She had heard news of a Level 1 player being killed by a boar in the starting areas. A new player, who probably had the same goal as her. She didn't want it to end up with the same fate as him. 

She needed company, someone who would watch her back while she was gathering the materials. She flipped over to her friends list in the menu and gave a quick goodbye to the NPC which caused it to disappear into its house and close the door. She turned around, and a girl with hair as red as Airi's appeared and almost crashed into her while frantically asking if she had already accepted the quest. The taller girl stepped back and asked her the same question again, with a bit of explanation added at the end. "I already accepted the quest. Why, are you going to take the quest too?" Airi asked. The answer seemed pretty obvious, since the player wouldn't have approached her if she weren't. "If so, do you want to do it together then? I think it would be safer if we do."

(OOC: @Floofy)

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Seeing it as an opportunity to avoid talking to more NPC's, she gratefully replied "YES! I would LOVE to!!" She opened up her game menu, so she could accept the quest from Airi. Once, accepted, she looked at the first task. "Juniper Berries, huh? shouldn't be too hard to get 'em. Unless it's been changed since the beta.." She looked back to Airi "oh, thanks for doing this with me, by the way! It'll go a lot faster between the two of us. By the way, my name is Sakoda!" She proudly stated, offering her hand in greeting. "nice to meet ya!" Hopefully, this new girl wouldn't distance herself like all the other players had done. She had no idea why, it isn't like she did something bad. Not that she knew anyways. Ever since the beginning of this whole mess, she had kept herself locked up on the first floor, in the Town of Beginnings, for fear of getting killed. It was only recently that she finally decided to do something with her life here.

 

((OOC: @Airi

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The girl she had asked was willing enough, so Airi extended her hand and shook Sakoda’s firmly with a smile. “My name is Airi, and it’s nice to meet you too. Shall we proceed then?” She turned around and began leading the older girl to one of the town exits, brushing past other players on the way. The red-haired girl didn't attempt to start any form of conversation. She needed to get stronger, and fast. They could just talk while staying still in one spot and gathering the materials. The two players stopped just a few paces away from the town exit. Already, a few boars were milling about and sniffing at the grass from time to time. They looked like they only followed a specific code. Walk forward, check for players, turn a random direction, check for players, and walk forward again. She spied a few juniper bushes a few ways from their current location.

Airi looked at Sakoda, gesturing toward two boars that stood in between them and the materials. She hoped the other player would understand. “We’ll have to cut through them since we’ll be stepping into their aggro circles anyway. They’re pretty far apart, so attacking one won’t bring the other along. I think. Are you up for a fight?” The red-haired girl unsheathed her basic starter blade and waited for her companion’s ready signal.

(OOC: @FloofyJust a reminder, we have to accomplish the task lists individually. Which means that Sakoda has to gather 5 berries, and Airi has to gather another 5. Same thing goes for the rest of the tasks. Also, I don’t think we’re allowed to play as players who’ve been beta testers, unless you got approval or something.)

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Sakoda nodded in understanding. She unsheathed her Starter Spear, and already her hands were shaking. In any other game, she wouldn't be this nervous, but here death was very real. She took a deep breath to calm herself, "okay, I think if we take out one at a time, we can rest while gathering the berries before moving on to the next one. That way, we'll have as much health as possible while still completing the task in a quick time." She looked to Airi to see if she liked the plan, or if she wanted to propose another idea. She was open to any other suggestions, especially since she wasn't much of a strategist herself. She had a hard enough time keeping track of the day, let alone making a plan for it. She was certainly glad to have Airi with her now, to help her along the way.

(OOC @Airi I haven't been told otherwise, and my journal explains her being a beta tester a few times, so I think its OK. After all, I'm not using it for an unfair advantage or anything, more of a way to explain why other players seem to avoid her)

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Spoiler

Boar
HP =
5/5
DMG = 5

Airi nodded in agreement and readied herself for combat. A few moments worth of waiting made her realize that since she was the one who suggested to engage, she should be the one to land the first hit. She looked around her surroundings first and waited for another boar to move away before she took action. The red-haired girl focused on the <<Boar>>. It was one of the weaker mobs: 5 HP, probably deals as much damage. She had 20 HP, and can take 3 hits. Airi took a deep breath, forced her hand to stop shaking, buried the fear that was rising inside her, and charged forward, activating the <<Rage Blow>> sword art. It would eat up all of her energy, but she wanted to deal as much damage to it before it attacks her. And hopefully, let Sakoda land the killing blow.

She stopped, just a few inches away from the boar, enough distance for her curved sword to reach it and slashed horizontally. The boar gave out its usual death cry once she had withdrawn her blade and pixelated. It didn't even get a chance to deal damage to her. Did she just land a critical hit? She almost grinned. Maybe she shouldn't have been so nervous after all. She quickly remembered her companion's presence behind her and turned around quickly, keeping the other girl in her vision. Airi gave the other girl an apologetic glance. "Next one's yours?" she suggested.

Spoiler

Perma Roller:
ID: 79537
BD: 9
CD: 4
LD: 2
MD: 2

<<Rage Blow>>
Damage = 2 * (2*1) - 0
Damage = 4 + 1 (crit!)
Damage: 5

Airi deals 5 damage to the boar, and uses 2 energy in the process, leaving her with 0 energy.

Boar: 5/5 -> 0/5 <<Dead>>
Airi: 20/20  2/2 -> 20/20  0/2

(OOC: @Floofy Alright then~ Just a side note, I'll be following the floor standard parameters in spawning the mobs. Also, do you think I did the combat thing right?)

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Sakoda nodded and got her sword ready. She approached the next <<Boar>>, but suddenly froze in fear. What if she couldn't do it? What if she wasn't strong enough, or she missed her attacks?! She started to move back, but then remembered Airi was with her. She couldn't run, not when she had someone relying on her to help! She lunged forward to the Boar, holding her sword out to the side for a slash attack. As she dashed passed the boar, her sword cut into its side, from its head to its rear. She didn't pay attention to how much damage she did, as she spun around and slashed at the Boar again and again until it dissolved into pixels.

She blinked a few times before realizing what she did. Ya, it was basically the first monster anyone could face, but she had assaulted it in a near blind furry. She didn't even know if it had attacked back. Looking up to Airi she shrugged and smiled. "So uhh... next one?"

 

(OOC: @Airi Sounds good. I think you did great, but I also did a sort of alternate way to do combat, to see if it would be ok)

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Her companion hesitated for a few moments, then charged forward, slashing madly at the boar until it burst into red pixels. It didn't get a chance to hit her either. "Nice," Airi commented as she went to stand beside the other girl. Then she nodded to the bushes containing the juniper berries. "Path's now clear, so we can get those now. I guess they'll be enough for both of us to get near halfway through the required number of materials. Also, can you look out for mobs while I'm gathering? I'll do the same for you, of course." 

Without waiting for a reply, she strolled towards the bushes while keeping the other player at the corner of her vision. Sakoda may be a Level 1 player like her, but that didn't mean that Airi was completely safe around her. She crouched down in front of a juniper bush and began plucking the bigger sized berries. There were a few of them (most were still small though), and were comparatively bigger than the real life versions. Maybe to make them easier to spot. The girl then stood up and examined the two good materials she had gotten. Then quickly dropped them in disgust. "The fully grown ones here have worms in them and I don't think the NPC would accept those stuff." Airi told Sakoda. "One bush out, five more to go."

Spoiler

ID: 79877 | LD: 10 (fail)

EN (regen): 1/2

(OOC: @Floofy I'm not really sure, but I think you have to follow the combat system stated in the rules)

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She sighed "This is going to take a while, isn't it?" She looked up at the sun "It looks like it's about noon, I think.. At this rate, it'll take us a few hours to get all ten berries." Sakoda frowned, thinking that there had to be a more effective way of gathering them. Maybe boars had a chance of dropping them on death or something? Although, she highly doubted it. Looking down from the sky, she found herself looking at Airi. "Do you have any ideas on how we could speed this up? After all, the less time we spend on this quest, the more time we can spend grinding, or forming parties. Heck, maybe even finding Guilds to join...." Her eyes widened as a realization came to her. "Err, I guess I'm not being much help by standing her and talking?" Sakoda burst out laughing before motioning to Airi to follow her. They definitely weren't making progress just standing around, and they still had quite a bit of work ahead of them.

(OOC: @Airi, yes senpai ^^)

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Airi visibly perked up at the mention of guilds. "Do you know of any? Guilds, I mean. I'm a bit interested in joining one." the red-haired girl inquired. She turned to the next bush and began rummaging through the leaves, looking for the fully-grown ones. Unfortunately, there were none. Another player had beat her to it. At least she hadn't touched worms this time. "Nothing here, either. Four more bushes left before we have to look for another cluster," she sighed, sounding a bit exasperated. She motioned for Sakoda to come nearer. "You gather too. I don't think any of the boars would be passing by us anytime soon."

She stood up, moving to the next bush. This was getting incredibly boring. She was somewhat glad that she had someone to talk to out here, because if she had done the quest solo, she would've given up earlier. And her consecutive fails were extremely demotivating. "I don't know how to make this a bit faster," Airi said, replying to the Sakoda's earlier question. "Though I do know how to make this a lot less tedious and boring. Let's talk. Why did you choose a spear in-game?"

Spoiler

ID: 79958 | LD: 4 (fail)

EN (regen): 2/2

(OOC: @Floofy)

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"No, I dont know any guilds outside of the famous ones. You know, The Army, Knights of the Blood Oath, Laughing Coffin, so on." She was unsure about gather berries, not wanting to start gathering more than Airi. She would rather have her finish her requirements for the quest than get upset about not being able to get anything. Not having anyone to talk to had made her really sensitive to these things, and she just didn't want to do anything to scare off possible buddies, even doing things that were purely up to chance. "Uh, no, i'm fine for now," She smiled reassuringly, "Go ahead and find what you can, I can hit the next batch. No problem!" She smiled to Airi, while also thinking she did pretty good at defusing the situation. Granted, to anyone else it wouldn't have been 'fused' to begin with. She then noticed Airi asking about her spear. "Oh, well, honestly I felt like being a sort of like, uhh... Assassin support, kind of thing?" she frowned, unsure if she was explaining it very well. "Like, being able to sneak in and do damage, but then being back behind my team and healing them, before going back and doing more sneaky damage. Kind of that rotation of actions, right?"

(OOC: @Airi)

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"Alright, you gather and I watch for mobs at the next batch." Airi rummaged around the third bush and plucked a fully-grown berry that lacked defects. Finally! She held up the berry in Sakoda's direction and grinned at her success. One berry down, four more to go. Plus her companion's five berries. Then she carefully kept the material in her inventory (wouldn't want to lose such a precious find now) and moved on to the next bush. Of course, the other player never left her vision. 

"The Knights of the Blood Oath sounds like a guild I would join," she said, in another attempt to make conversation. It really was boring out here. She even found herself wishing for some action. And she hated fighting mobs. That was definitely saying something. "Since they're called the leading guild in SAO and all. Though I've heard that it's a bit hard to join, so maybe I'll just join one of the other guilds, given the chance. What about you?"

Spoiler

ID: 79966 | LD: 14 (success)

Quest Materials Gathered: 1/5

(OOC: @Floofy)

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"M-Me? Er...well.. to be honest, all the players seem to avoid me.. I try to be nice and everything, but for some reason, everyone gives me dirty looks and walks away": She frowned, confused about everyones attitudes towards her. "it's like they think I'M to blame for all of this stuff going on, you know? I want to think that the others just want a scapegoat to blame.. but at the same time, that doesn't make sense, because we HAVE someone to blame, the creator Kayaba Akihiko!" she rubbed her forehead in frustration "ugh, its so confusing!!" Sakoda was pretty sure all of this was giving her a headache, if that was even possible in here. She hoped not, because she didn't remember seeing anything that looked like Aspirin during her exploration of the town. Having a headache was one thing. Having a headache that you cant get rid of is so much worse! Maybe 'headache' was a status ailment in the game? If that were the case, certainly there would be a potion to counter it! Sakoda then realized how much she was overthinking this whole thing, and brought her attention back to their conversation. 

 

(OOC: @Airi

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"Other players avoid you?" Airi asked the golden eyed player. It was unusual for other players to ostracize another. After all, they were all in this death game together and they couldn't clear the game without needing each other's help. Unless... "You were...a beta tester, weren't you?" It made sense. The older girl had mentioned something about gathering the quest materials in the beta and she wasn't like the typical newbie who knew nothing about the game and asked a dozen questions at a time. "Oh. Wow. You really are one," she murmured when she came to that realization.

Then she realized that she sounded a bit too much like the other players who despised beta testers. "I mean, you being a beta tester's okay with me. It's actually really nice. I don't get why the others don't like people like you. I mean, you knew nothing about what was going to happen." The red haired player held up another juniper berry in success. Would the next one be a fail? Probably. "I'm a bit interested as to how the game was when you couldn't die in real life and you could log out as well. So what did it feel like? Was it actually...fun?"

Spoiler

ID: 79975 | LD: 17 (success)

Quest Materials Gathered: 2/5

(OOC: @Floofy)

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She frowned, not understanding why being a beta tester mattered, but... "Er, no actually, I wasn't in the beta. I missed out on the access time to get in. I was just so excited about SAO coming, I did everything I could to learn about, well, everything. Especially the wildlife. Dragons, Unicorns, Demons. What all could be tamed, what needed to be slain, what floor certain things were found at. I heard rumors that on floor 42, there are aliens!" As she went on, it really did seem like she had the knowledge of a beta tester. Heck, even a beater would be amazed at everything she was saying. It looked like she could've talked the day away, but she stopped and frowned, "but.. no, I was never in the beta.. Why does that matter though? You made it sound like it was a bad thing." Was it a bad thing?

 

(OOC: @Airi yea, found out I cant be a beta tester, but I worked around it :P)

 

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Oh, whoops. So Sakoda wasn't a beta tester after all, just someone who knew a lot of stuff about the game without being in the actual beta. Well, fair mistake. But then why did the other players avoid her? Was it something the golden-eyed player had done? Or was it because she gave off the 'beater' vibes whenever she talked about the game? Airi decided not to ask for now, since it may be some sort of personal question. 

"It is a bad thing. I've heard that other players direct their hate to beta testers a lot, maybe angry at them for 'not sharing much about the game' or blaming them cause they pretty much helped the gamemaker finish the game. And maybe some of them were even accomplices in the whole death game thing." the younger girl spoke, looking through the second-to-the-last bush. She pulled out a nice-looking berry with a triumphant grin. One more bush to search. "But whether you're being avoided now or not, you'll find a guild with nice people eventually. The game would never run out of those. And hey, if you do, send me an invite."

Spoiler

ID: 80063 | LD: 17 (success)

Quest Materials Gathered: 3/5

(OOC: @Floofy)

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She smiled and nodded. Airi sure cheered her up, and she was really glad she got to have her as a companion. "Hey, why don't we add each other to our friends lists? That way we can keep in contact! Plus, if either of us get in trouble, we know we can call each other for help!" Her smile grew into a grin. Finally, she found someone in this world that seemed to like her, or at least was good at pretending like it. Hey, whatever worked was good enough for Sakoda! "Oh, hey, looks like you almost have all the berries you need, huh?" It didn't seem to take Airi that long, so it gave Sakoda hope that the gathering wouldn't be that bad on her end either. Of course, RNG has a way of being cruel, doesn't it? For all she knew, it would take her weeks to get a good pull from the bushes.

 

(OOC: @Airi)

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The young girl smiled at Sakoda and opened her menu to send a friend request to the other player. "I was actually just about to say that," she said as she pressed the 'Send Friend Request' button. Then she turned back to the last bush in the cluster and inhaled deeply. If she gets one more berry from this bush, then she'll have four berries. The red haired player then began looking through the berries. Unlike the other bushes, it had more fully-grown ones... and most of them weren't in the best state. She parted some leaves and reached deep into the bush, successfully plucking a good berry. "Four out of five!" Airi sang, keeping the material in her inventory. 

She stood up, brushing the dust from her skirt and looked around. She spotted another cluster of six or more bushes containing their needed materials a little ways off. No mobs stood in their way, though a boar looked a bit too close for comfort near the cluster of bushes. She could tell easily, however, that they wouldn't walk into its aggro circle. "Your turn to gather," Airi said, gesturing to the bushes she had found. "I'll attack the boar if it gets too close."

Spoiler

ID: 80075 | LD: 19 (success)

Quest Materials Gathered: 4/5

(OOC: @Floofy)

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Sakoda had just accepted the request and looked up to see the boar. Nodding, she knelt down next to the bush and started to rummage around in it. grabbing a berry, she pulled her hand back and examined what she acquired. Frowning in disappointment, she tossed aside the spoiled berry and sighed. "rotten to the core.." Just like she feared, RNG wasn't in her favor like it was for Airi. "Maybe it was a fluke though," she told herself. After all, it was the first try she had! She couldn't just assume that the rest of her luck would be the same. Even so, it was only a matter of time before she started getting the good stuff. Statistically, it was impossible for her to always fail. She would complete this quest, no matter how long it took! Even though she did have a companion waiting on her, if things got bad enough, she could always tell Airi to go on ahead of her.

Spoiler

ID: 80081 | LD: 1

Quest Materials Gathered: 0/5

 

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