[PP-F01] Starting The Lessons [Vally, Mars]

[Vally 0]

Right, time to get started! Whatever...getting started actually involved, that was. Taiga had heard of a tutorial, and it would make sense for an MMO to actually have one. Admittedly, she had gotten a bit swept up in actually talking to people using her voice for once and trying out the combat, so she'd actually managed to miss that. And well...it wasn't as if Taiga had stepped out of the house enough to find something like that anyway, over the post couple years. Whoops?

But, whatever. Vally was getting started with things in SAO now. Properly. Not hiding away in an inn for two years, being a Hiki-NEET. Although that wasn't really Vally doing that. Anyway! While she did like to play up the tough-girl persona, Vally did kinda need someone to help her out with this for now. Preferably a high-level player, so they could help her out with optimizing and give her a heads up about quests with choices, but actually finding one of those out was hard. Especially since most of those were no doubt on the front lines, rather than in the beginning town, and everybody loved their vanity items to make them look cool. Not that she could really blame them, considering how she looked.

However, what did catch Vally's eye was the player with no weapons. At least, not visibly. He was definitely a player, and he had gear, but no weapons? She hadn't seen that so far. Maybe that meant he unlocked something that meant he didn't need to! Vally had played a few MMOs like that before, where you needed to progress or complete quests to unlock classes or skills. Perhaps this was like that? But, whatever. Standing around thinking to herself was gonna get her nowhere.

"Hey, you look...decently high-level. Or at least kinda experienced. Wanna help someone out? 'Someone' being me, of course", she questioned on approach, a small smirk on her pale face.

[Mars 0]

He makes his way through the first floor that is home to the town of beginning looking for players that could be of use and rather easy to get onto his side. With his side having one simple goal that would be of use as of this moment which is gaining as much strength as virtually as possible in the shortest amount of time. With the frontlines being in a surge of activity and moving through progress with the highest leveled player being astronomically high compared to the players who start out it is only right to find proteges among the new players to be able to fight alongside him, and maybe if he can get lucky to find players with a morally grey compass towards them to help with some cases where a darker side of things would be required. 'Though anyone with a good guy nature can help also just as easily it just requires some different tasks to get such things across.' He thinks to himself as his liger at his side let out a low growl as he gazes in the direction of the fire liger's growling and sees a rather interesting girl make her way over towards him. The man known as Mars having a red sash around his black clothed light armor with a bit of the red sash hanging off the left shoulder ever so slightly to give this cape type of feel to it. The rest of the armor being lightweight armor visually like it is just made of cloth with maybe some light bits of armor for maneuverability sake.

If i may ask what would you need help with? Furthermore, what is your name? We maybe in a video game however at the very least we can still have some manners some this is the reality we live in now. He says in a calm tone of voice as he gazes at the woman in question his liger that has a aura of flames around staring down the woman as Mars simply holds out a hand towards the beast making it stop.

[Vally 0]

Ooooh, interesting. A liger! And one that was apparently rather firey, to boot. So pets were a thing too, huh? Vally wondered whether they were simply cosmetic or if they were actually capable of helping. On the one hand, this guy with the matching colour scheme had indicated for it to settle down. On the other, it was a pointless thing, because they were in a safe-zone anyway. But hey, whatever. This guy seemed rather aloof, but it wasn't as if Vally herself wasn't like that sometimes. He'd at least be helpful, judging by how his fashion seemed to match those of other high-level players in other MMOs.

"Well, looking to start the tutorial. Only actually got up to things, figured hiding here wasn't going to get things done any faster. I'm Vally, since you asked. How about you and your uh...companion?" Vally decided to go with that.

"You seem pretty experienced, like I said, so someone like you would be a great help with me starting out. Stops me from dying to a tutorial mob, eh? Although admittedly, if I did things right, they shouldn't even be able to hurt me..."

[Mars 0]

He nods at the name not going to question it since he had seen weirder and their is a almost unsaid rule that every name that someone chooses usually has a meaning behind it that might be important to the person, or just a joke name that they made not knowing that it was what they were going to be stuck with for the next years of being trapped within this game. My name is Mars, and this is my familiar Valen. Also you can consider me experienced i guess from the quests i have taken, and from the fact that i am close enough to the frontlines level where they could accept me . He says with a nod of his head as he looks towards the girl thinking on what she is asking as he glances over her and processing the words that she had said. 'A person that has made sure to be calculated enough to avoid death that is at least above some of the other players i have seen. Might be worth staying with her to keep an eye on her progression.' he thinks to himself as he gazes towards the girl and nods his head as if to say yes towards her question. That will work for me Vally though if you haven't picked up the quest you will first have to go to that quest location and pick it up this is a chain of quest as most tutorials are after all. He says calmly towards his fellow player and gestures in the direction of where the questing NPC could be.

[Vally 0]

Vally's name was mostly just a handle she'd picked on a whim for her first MMO. No doubt there were others with more important meaning behind their names, but hers was just one she'd used for a while. Rather like her real name. Mars, though, huh? Vally was pretty sure that was the name of a God of war in some culture or another. A good person to learn from, then! That's what SAO was, for the most part, after all. And if he was close enough level to the frontlines to be able to fight there, all the better.

"Good to know, having someone experienced showing me the ropes will help keep me alive. I'm planning on reaching the front lines eventually, so...y'know, you'll definitely be a great help", she stated with a sage nod and a hand on her hip.

"Yeah, would make sense. Wasn't even sure where to find them, to be honest, but if he's in that direction, then...well, no point wasting time on picking up the quest, huh? If it's a chain, that's just even better. More rewards."

With that said, Vally turned on her heel and headed towards the workshop that Mars had indicated. She entered quietly and offered a wave to the NPC before she started the quest. He wasn't a person, but it was more of an natural response than anything.

"Five materials, huh? Okay, that shouldn't be hard. Unless a really strong mob shows up out of nowhere, we should be pretty safe from anything that wanders by. You ready to go?"

[Mars 0]

The black haired martial artist makes his way towards the direction of where the quest begins from the alchemist location of the first lessons NPC as the martial artist would wait outside for the woman to get the interaction out of the way as he keeps his familiar at his side at all times. So than Vally what is your goal within this game? Along with this for this goal of yours what are you willing to do to try and attain this goal of yours? He asks the woman curiously knowing that most if not all people had a goal whether they acknowledged it or not for something they wish to attain more than anything. To try and succeed at for usually more than anything with his goal being different than others but having heard a simple one that it seems most people lust over. The goal of gaining as much power as possible to use as they desire. 'I wonder if she'll be any different.' he thinks to himself as he watches her accept the quest in question.

[Vally 0]

Well, that was an interesting question. Right into the heavy-hitting stuff, huh? Vally tapped her cheek in thought for a few moments before she came up with a response. "Well...play it. SAO is a game, even if we're mortal in it, so I plan to play it. Optimize to the extreme, take all the mechanically best options...y'know, all that stuff. I hate sitting around doing nothing, being a coward, so I'm gonna become as strong as I can, then head to the front lines and put it to use so we can actually clear Aincrad", she responded, one hand on her hip.

After all, this was the only place where Vally could be strong. The powerful pro that everyone would look up to. The hero, always on the front lines, leading the charge to the top of Aincrad. In real life, she was confined to her own mind for everything. Here, though...well, here she could be anything she wanted, for the most part. "...Yeah, that, I guess. I'd say that's my goal. Win", she concluded with another nod.

[Mars 0]

He glances towards the goal and grins ever so slightly at the rather simple goal of something he couldn't even try to turn into anything else since it was as she had said a goal to simply win, but that does leave some interesting wiggle room to try and play with it to see what he could push and motivate her to try and achieve if she doesn't have such thoughts currently. Well are you simply wanting to win this game? Or maybe their is more you're trying to win? Maybe become the highest damage dealer on the frontlines? A leader that people look up to? And you didn't answer my second part. What are you willing to do to try and achieve these goals? He asks the girl curiously not going to let one part of his question just slide wanting to see how much determination and fighting spirit is within this player. Wondering to himself if their are any other players he could consider allies and willing to trust in a idea of forming a guild with besides his rival, and Cosi. Only time will tell and only time will tell if people could pass his rather selective process, if not very blunt way, of deciding who he trusts.

[Vally 0]

It seemed this guy was the philosopher type. At least to Vally. That was hard to deal with. She didn't really know what would constitute an 'acceptable' answer to them, so she was never quite sure what their reaction would be. Although she couldn't really say she could predict that kind of thing for other people, either. "Hm...I guess just winning this game. Being the best DPS would be nice, I've never gotten quite that prestigious in other MMOs before. That might be something to pursue, I guess. Standing out as one of the best", she decided after a small moment.

"As for that...well, whatever it takes. I mean short of PKing, I guess. NPCs aren't people, so making 'bad' choices in quests to get better rewards won't hold me back. Plus I'll need every advantage I can get to make sure I don't die", the spear-woman explained, eyes roaming over the town. She couldn't wait to get out of here and onto bigger, better things, where she could grow even stronger.

[Mars 0]

He nods his head in understanding of what he had heard having heard a rather similar answer, but still all the same pleasing answer to hear that something as simple as not wanting to kill a program would stop someone. Possibly even doing their best to get the most critical moment to strike out at the enemy to secure a victory is just as equally viable to them even if it could hinder another players growth in the very end. 'Only time will tell and i'll happily observe more until the correct time and moments are within my grasp.' he thinks calmly as he glances towards the girl and nods his head in understanding to her. That is understandable Vally. If you ever need help with more quests know that i can be a simple message away to aid you. He says towards the girl as they exit the  town of beginnings and more importantly enter the area in which the girl can go and gather the five materials that she needs to progress and finish up this quest as fast as the duo could be able to do so.

[Vally 0]

Indeed, Vally was willing to do near-enough anything to progress within SAO. Having to kill a mindless program wouldn't stop her, that's for certain. Some people got sentimental about such things, but the spear-woman was focused entirely on winning and being stronger. Now, she even had a more world-focused goal of being the best DPS around. Both of those goals were quite far ahead, however, and no doubt would take a large amount of effort. But for now, small steps. To be the best DPS, she first had to be a DPS at all, and right now she was actually more focused on surviving. She'd managed to farm a rare armour before SAO had truly started and got someone to enhance it with some mitigation, enough that none of the monsters on the first floor could even hurt her. But of course, that meant she was probably behind in DPS compared to other two-handed users, for now.

Hearing Mars' words, Vally nodded, her smirk having returned to her face. "Good to know, I'll need the guidance of a more experience player so I know the best choices to make, especially if there are branching quests with different rewards", she stated, before following him out of the town.

Almost immediately after they arrived at the gathering location, the plum-haired woman scanned the area for the materials they needed. Fortunately, she'd already managed to find one. "Okay, good, one down and four to go. Let's hope we don't have to do this for too long."

 

[Roll ID #107591 LD: 12]

Edited October 16, 2018 by Vally

[Mars 0]

He looks towards the girl and nods his head as he walks alongside her as she would go through the quest and gathering the materials in question as the martial artist would just take this time to try and get as much info that he could work with to try and think of places and plans to get things rolling into his favor. 'There are many stronger players than myself and i will need to somehow surpass them. it is just a matter of figuring out the how to that equation' He thinks to himself as he than looks towards the woman as she picks up the first material out of five. I would help you with this but the game is specifically programmed to only count ones that you have picked up yourself, so i am more so just here to make sure that you don't go insane trying to do this yourself from not finding any of these plants after who knows how long. You'd be surprised at some of the stories of failure you can overhear while walking through the first floors and others. Of player sometimes taking days or hours to just do this one quest because the game decided to hate them. He says in a joking tone of voice towards the girl leaving it up to her if she wishes to believe his statement or not.

[Vally 0]

Vally snorted and chuckled a little, before giving a nod. "Lots of RNG, huh? That's always a pain. One of my guildmates in my first MMO had absolutely abysmal luck, while mine was pretty good. Beginner's luck, I guess. We spent weeks grinding for a transmog item for him, once. I'd need to start using my toes to count how many times it dropped for me. Too bad it was an account-locked item...", she mused out loud.

It was certainly a true thing, that some people would just go insane from all the grinding and farming. Vally had never really been one to enjoy it herself, but she'd always managed to make friends quickly in MMOs, so it became far less monotonous. "Having friends around turns it from mind-numbing to just something to do in the background, really. Speaking of..." Vally grabbed another material that she'd noticed out of the corner of her eye. "I'd say we're doing well, but I don't wanna jinx it."

 

[Roll ID #107593 LD: 19]

Edited October 16, 2018 by Vally

[Mars 0]

He chuckles slightly and nods his head in understanding of stories of abysmal luck being quite familiar with such luck, and more importantly having to have been part of such stories himself because of a singular player. Well if there is anything more RNG based that can help you get materials in your off time it is fishing, and let me tell you i have a friend who has that skill and i think with what he has faced it has been more harmful than helpful. I can't even tell you how many times he has fished up an enemy that has almost killed him and me also just from being close enough in proximity that he just draws powerful enemies that almost kill him and myself repeatedly. He says towards the woman as he sees her take another material out from the ground and nods his head at that fact seeing that they are at least keeping a steady pace for success that with after this would take just a simple and easy trip back towards the alchemist to make a potion for the next few missions that will occur. Thefamiliar by Mars' side just walks with the man with a apathetic look on its face.

[Vally 0]

Vally laughed again. Yeah, that sounded about right. "Man, I hope that skill isn't bugged. Imagine that. Being stuck in a life-or-death game and it's buggy! I'd feel sorry for the poor sap who dies from clipping through the floor and falling into the void, or whose cool new weapon doesn't render properly. That'd suck pretty bad. Although I guess the latter could be really useful in PvP...Wait, fishing can make enemies appear? That's...interesting. I guess you're still getting SP from killing it? "

The spear-woman was really talking to herself more than anything. This time, she frowned as she looked around. "Guess I did jinx it, I don't see anything. Freaking...RNG...ugh. I hope this doesn't take too long, I don't wanna be getting held up by RNG in the tutorial, I wanna get this over and done with as quickly as possible."

Vally tapped her foot impatiently in thought, before moving on to another area. "By the way, you got any buffs to finding stuff, or something like that? Might be worth looking for a chest or a sub-dungeon once we've finished up gathering all this stuff, but I doubt my chances for finding that stuff is great right now, since I just started."

 

[Roll ID #107594 LD: 10]

Edited October 16, 2018 by Vally

[Mars 0]

He chuckles softly at the imagination of a all powerful weapon being dropped only for it in the end to just be nothing spectacular from the fact that the textures on the thing had broken into a horrible mess that could bug out an avatar or even player to death all because Kayaba messed up on something absolutely horrible. It would be equal parts horrific from having to wander if that will happen in the future as the new method to kill those who are too strong for their own good. While also being comedic knowing that such a advanced powerful game like this could be ruined by a simple glitch and big within the data that has been coded. He says with a light chuckle as he walks along with the woman with his hands at his side while the rest of his body is ready to move into action to fight against any foes that would make themselves known to the martial artist. I don't have any buffs to that sadly since i don't really do that when i am with a group and trying to get some loot for grinding purposes. That is usually my rival's problem not mine. He says honestly with a small shrug of his shoulders.

[Vally 0]

That would indeed suck. Vally sincerely hoped she wouldn't encounter any bugs herself, although she found herself thinking that creating a game like this without bugs would be a bigger accomplishment than the NerveGear itself. It was only a matter of time most likely. Hell, maybe her not being able to find any materials here was a bug too, but she decided to give it another once-over to see if there were any she'd missed in her annoyance. The one thing Vally hated about MMOs was all the farming and grinding.

"Speaking of 'too strong for their own good', we're lucky the top players haven't turned to rampant PKing, at least as far as I know. 'With great power comes great responsibility', as Uncle Ben once said. I'm really surprised the the top levels aren't just players picking on lower levels. Pretty much every MMO with PvP in all areas but towns has had that, in my experience. But, I guess the fact that they'd be killing actual people put off more people than I expected. My faith in humanity is truly restored..." The last line came across completely deadpan, before Vally shrugged. "Damned random spawns..."

 

[Roll ID #107609 LD: 2]

Edited October 16, 2018 by Vally

[Mars 0]

Well the sad thing is that even if we wanted to try and put up a fight against the higher leveled players if they started to turn to PKing other players if that nobody would be able to stop them if they went wild with such  thing. The strongest players in this game deserve such a title because of having been at this thing for awhile and thus have the power and the experience to accompany that to do anything they could feel like. Though if one did turn towards PKing random players i feel like it would cause a systematic downfall of the entire frontlines from distrust and other such things being created from such a event. he says in a rather calm tone of voice as his mind quickly starts thinking of alternative outcomes if such a thing did occur and how such a event would be contained by players as a whole since it would be rather difficult to put somebody like Hikoru down for his skills in hiding, or Calrex for his pure ability to take quite a lot of hits and shrug them off for the most part.  The voice of Mars as he speaks being rather neutral and uncaring not having much emotion behind it as if he isn't worried about the outcome or the deaths that could be associated with such a thing happening.

[Vally 0]

The frontlines falling to infighting would certainly be a bad thing. The frontlines were the vanguard for clearing SAO, after all. If they were to break apart and fall into anarchy, who knows how long it would take to form up again so they could start clearing floors, and hell, the amount of people dying from such a thing might even leave them unable to even clear the game. What would happen then? Would Kayaba pull the plug upon realising that it would be impossible to complete? Or would people be forced down to die, to escape the game? That was a sobering thought.

"Yeah, with the way stats work in SAO, after a certain point it's impossible to beat higher-level players..." she commented idly, before giving a small noise of victory. "Aha! There you are, you annoying little...three down. Let's hope I find the last two quickly...and don't mess up on making that potion, too. I really don't wanna have to do this all over again."

 

[Roll ID #107610 LD: 18]

Edited October 16, 2018 by Vally

[Mars 0]

Well this is a game though as you mentioned  and a easy way to beat the highest level player is to create another one or three wouldn't you agree? To beat the frontlines strongest player would be possible even for a group of people that could be composed of players like myself. All it would take is just the right opportunity and a moment to strike down like assassins upon a target. Since this is a game thus stats are everything, but after awhile there is also the simple fact that we are also living beings not just little images on a screen with that factor being the biggest difference. Within this world you're just as susceptible to human error such as distractions or other things that would be impossible in other games due to being a omnipotent force almost. He says towards the girl in a calm manner of voice as she picks up another herb almost completing this quest thankfully so since it is rather dull one to the highest degree possibly that could be achieve for a tutorial. Gatheriing the second worst quest with the only thing topping being escort. There are many roads to power and victory in this game like there are in the real world.