[SP-F1] Earning a Living (Elyth)

[Elyth 0]

Elyth set out for Horunka Village in a rush, looking for the nearest exit located on the Wall. Suddenly, she skidded to a stop. Shoes digitally scraping the surface of the cobblestone road, Elyth suddenly remembered that she had no hatchet.

Time to get one.

Elyth activated «Sprint», and dashed all the way to the NPC General Store. She abruptly slammed the door open, and slammed her hands down on the counter. "Quick! Do you have a Hatchet?"

"Hatchet?" The NPC woman asked. Her face was one of mystifying confusion.

"Uh, a Hatchet, yes, the kind of axe you use not to kill people but trees," Elyth replied, roughly mimicking the action of axing a tree.

"Ah yes, a hatchet," the NPC responded, bending down and producing an axe from under the counter. "Will this do?"

Elyth took the physical hatchet/axe and took a look at the description:

For felling trees. Used with the Woodgathering skill.

"Yes, it's suitable," Elyth exclaimed, looking up brightly at the NPC. "How much col does it cost?"

"200 col is the price."

[Elyth 0]

With her new hatchet, Elyth set out for Horunka Village through the main gate of the Town of Beginnings.

She skipped for a couple of feet before deciding that skipping was probably both a waste of 《Satiation》 and her stamina. Therefore, no skipping.

She walked on the sandy paved path that lead out of the Town of Beginnings and held her hatchet to her chest, happily humming to herself, before she realized that she was going to be destroying the roots of SAO’s ecosystem by chopping down 5 trees.

Now, Elyth was one of those persons who always felt strongly about things, especially the environment and other things concerning nature. Once, she had even gone as far as making adorable tree plushies to guilt-trip people into stopping the destruction of these adorable, harmless plants.

[Elyth 0]

Indeed, it was thanks to the internet that she had been able to get the designs for the tree, and thanks to that fabric store in the city that she had went shopping in for the holidays that she had successfully created so many miniature tree plushies. She had then borrowed her childhood friend’s resident sewing machine, one of the last of its kind, and painstakingly stitched the cloth together, some parts with the machine and some by hand.

They were adorable. Oh yes, trees were adorable.

Oh yeees, Elyth was still on the road. She quickly flung open her eyelids, having shut them for the nostalgic reminiscence just now.

*Sigh*

*Siiiiiigh*

*Siiiiiiiighhhhhhhh- Alright, this walking was getting boring. Elyth was still in the fields surrounding the Town of Beginnings, because these fields were just so large it was disorienting. She could still see the Town of Beginnings from here!

Elyth took out her SAO manual after a moment of standing still in silent consideration. As she materialized the book, she slipped the hatchet into her inventory. She flipped through the manual to the page on Floor 1, and read:

Floor 1:

Geography-

Unlike the higher floors of Aincrad, the 1st Floor does not have a particular theme or dominant geography. As the starting location of all new players, the great expanse of the 1st Floor is quite diverse.

The Starting City is located on the southern end of the floor and rests over the edge of the floating castle. The metropolis has a diameter of approximately 1km and is the focal point of the floor, featuring the teleport gate in the central plaza. The city wall forms a semi-circle to the north.

Grasslands surround the Starting City, and they are populated primarily by boar and wolf-type monsters. Worms, beetles, and wasp-type insect monsters also inhabit the grasslands surrounding the Starting City.

To the northwest of the Starting City, there is a deep forest region. The northeast is a lake region. Players must pass through either of the two regions before reaching a significantly more dangerous mountainous region containing ruins, valleys, and more difficult monsters.

The 1st Floor Labyrinth is located on the far northern edge of the floor. It begins at part of a large 300 meter wide by 100 meter tall tower that is a portion of the dungeon that leads to the 2nd Floor. This Labyrinth has twenty floors before the boss room on the 20th floor of the Labyrinth.

Settlements-

Though it is said that various small to medium sized towns and villages dot the landscape of the first floor, there are few that are really the most active, and notable.

«Starting City»

The Starting City, also known as "Town of Beginnings", is the main settlement on the 1st floor. It is the beginning point of all players and also the largest town in Aincrad. It is also where a majority of the non-players in «Sword Art Online» reside.

«Tolbana» Town

Tolbana is the second largest town on the 1st Floor, at approximately 200 meters wide. It is the closest town to the 1st Floor Labyrinth, only 30 minutes away from its entrance, and it is the site of the first «1st floor boss strategy conference». The town is lined with large windmills. Players first arrived at Tolbana three weeks after official service of SAO began.

Tolbana has several bars and restaurants, 3 inns, and a number of NPC houses. Tolbana also has several fountains and an amphitheatre-like meeting place. Its main plaza is known as «Fountain Square».

«Horunka» Village

Horunka Village is the second village on the 1st Floor. It lies to the northwest of the Starting City. It is also the place where one can start a quest to obtain an «Anneal Blade».

[Elyth 0]

“Then perhaps I should head Northwest. Afterall, isn’t that where both Horunka Village and the forest with trees are?†Elyth thought aloud, sitting down in the grass. “Alright, it’s decided. Northwest I go.â€

“That is, it I can find where… northwest… is,†Elyth finished.

Quickly, she opened up her HUD and flipped to her map. She opened it, and found the tiny compass rose in the bottom left-hand corner. Apparently, Elyth was facing the right way? How do does one read this map again…?

Elyth looked up at the horizon. She was pretty sure she was heading the right way, because there was definitely a set of tall peaks that resembled mountains and green dots in the distance that looked like trees.

It was worth a shot.

“Lead on, feet!†Elyth shouted, running recklessly into the unknown.

[Elyth 0]

Elyth had run for an unknown period of time before finally finding the village in the distance.

“YEESSSSSSS†She yelled, having finally reached a resting place. It was almost sunset now. She rushed forward with a burst of speed and enhanced morale, running into Horunka Village to rest for the night.

She slammed open the door to the inn, and quickly ordered a room before going to sleep. Running from one end of Floor 1 to halfway across the other was very tiring.

Good night.

[Elyth 0]

The next day, Elyth woke up refreshed. Leaving the inn, she headed off to the woods to get some wood before locating the 《The Caves of Emanon》, which would probably take some time to locate.

“‘Just outside Horunka Village’ my butt,†Elyth muttered, quoting Nim, the librarian who gave her this quest. She was walking fast, rapidly approaching the trees in the distance.

*Sigh*

She really didn’t want to kill any trees, whether they would respawn or not. It went against her morals. Or maybe…

Maybe she could gather some tree seeds, and grow them, and plant them. Regrowing trees after she cut them down.

Why not?

[Elyth 0]

Wow. This forest was bootiful. It was almost as bootiful as the library, which was… made of chopped up trees.

Elyth sat down on the fringes of the forest to contemplate.

Three seconds later, she arose, silently crying. Anyway, she had to try and retrieve some seeds from the trees. Luckily, these trees on the border of the forest were fruit trees. How convenient.

Elyth smiled. Fruit trees would be easiest to deal with. All she needed to do was to grab a fruit and plant it and hope it grew very fast.

Now, to get these fruits.

Elyth began climbing up the solid and tall tree trunk of the fruit tree, intending to pluck several of the plump and- again- conveniently ripe fruits.

Battle dice:

1-4: Fail at gaining fruits

5-8: One fruit reached

9-10: Two fruits reached

Loot dice:

1-10: Common fruit tree

11-16: Uncommon fruit tree

17-20: Rare fruit tree

Goals: 0/5 fruits

[Elyth 0]

Having successfully scaled the length of the tree, Elyth reached up for the one red fruit dangling within reach.

*Ding*

Gained one

Rarity: Uncommon

“Yay! That’s one. Let’s try to get four more...†Elyth thought to herself. She began climbing higher, up to that one other fruit that seemed easy to reach.

Battle dice:

1-4: Fail at gaining fruits

5-8: One fruit reached

9-10: Two fruits reached

Loot dice:

1-10: Common fruit tree

11-16: Uncommon fruit tree

17-20: Rare fruit tree

Goals: 1/5 fruits

[Elyth 0]

This was great! Elyth looked at the panel before her, where the following was displayed:

Gained one

Rarity: Rare

Getting moar fruits...

Battle dice:

1-4: Fail at gaining fruits

5-8: One fruit reached

9-10: Two fruits reached

Loot dice:

1-10: Common fruit tree

11-16: Uncommon fruit tree

17-20: Rare fruit tree

Goals: 2/5 fruits

[Elyth 0]

Reaching for the next closest ripe seed-holding packet of juiciness, Elyth felt her hands slipping. A quick seconds-long fall later, her goal was once again out of reach.

“Ow,†she muttered, rubbing her bottom. While gritting her teeth to stave off the pain, Elyth put the two apples, her hatchet, and her sword in her Inventory, before once again gripping the dark, worn bark before her and pulling herself up. Her feet felt for grooves in the tree bark where they could secure themselves, and slowly, the sky was visible once again from between leaves and branches.

Hazy grey eyes scanned the blue-green horizon disrupted only by the blurred outlines of mountains in the distance. Platforms suspended only by thin metallic threads were floating in air, waterfalls forming from gravity’s greedy pull. The morning sun in the distance shone over the sky, showering brilliant luminescence over the landscape only Elyth saw at that moment.

“It’s too bad... If only I could live in both worlds at once.â€

[Elyth 0]

“Such a world! I wouldn’t mind dying here,†Elyth thought, hugging herself at the thought. But she’d rather avoid dying. She still had a life to live, places to see, and so many things to experience and share. It wouldn’t do to die so early.

Thus, back to the picking!

A breeze swept by Elyth as she leaned over slightly to pick that one particularly red fruit that seemed within arm’s reach of her current position...

Battle dice:

1-4: Fail at gaining fruits

5-8: One fruit reached

9-10: Two fruits reached

Loot dice:

1-10: Common fruit tree

11-16: Uncommon fruit tree

17-20: Rare fruit tree

Goals: 2/5 fruits

[Elyth 0]

Her body tipped, its center of gravity suggesting a probably fall. Her arm, still stretched out, efforts fruitless, had finally gained that one last push to send it towards the red apple.

Indeed, Carpe Diem. Victory, metaphorically, was at hand.

Acquired one

Now it was in the Inventory.

Swerving delicately, as to not disturb the tree anymore than she should, Elyth spotted another fruit, and lightly skipped from one branch to the other.

Battle dice:

1-4: Fail at gaining fruits

5-8: One fruit reached

9-10: Two fruits reached

Loot dice:

1-10: Common fruit tree

11-16: Uncommon fruit tree

17-20: Rare fruit tree

Goals: 3/5 fruits

[Elyth 0]

So there were two, and here Elyth had thought there was only one.

Two fruits, one bright red and the other... also red, were there for the picking. Elyth wrapped her hands around the smaller apple first, and left it in her inventory.

*Ding*

Acquired one

Swiping away the screen that had obscured her view, Elyth reached for the other, more plump-looking apple.

*Ding*

Acquired one

Goals: 5/5 fruits

[Elyth 0]

So, now Elyth had five fruits.

She hopped down from the wavering tree branches and landed on the ground, leaves and grasses cushioning her fall. Looking up at the forest of trees, Elyth was loathe to strike them down. What would happen if she could not plant the apples?

Typical. She was still so indecisive.

*Sigh*

Staring at the trees, Elyth turned around. She walked away, trying to think of an alternative to gathering wood from these trees.

[Elyth 0]

Perhaps she could farm for mats for wood! But that would require her to find a mob that dropped wood. Most likely that mob would also be made of wood. Thus, ents. Or something close in detail.

Elyth decided to go see someone who may have an idea on where to find this rare, elusive mob.

"Ehhh? They're everywhere in these woods?" Elyth asked, dumbstruck. She was leaning forward on a stool, pressing against the dark wooden counter where stood the single innkeeper of Horunka Village, an indescript man with a mustache that made the rest of him look lame.

"Yes, in fact, they're ruining the wildlife around here! I'd ask you to help me by killing some, but I have nothing to give to you in return," the NPC Innkeeper muttered, flipping through pages of what Elyth could only guess was the inn registry.

"Hmm. Well, then, would you happen to know where the 「Caves of Emanonã€are?" Elyth asked, brushing her chin slightly with a free hand.

[Elyth 0]

*Thud*

The innkeeper's book fell to the ground, and for a second, his body grew rigid. Elyth jerked back in surprise, and tilted back a tad too far, before gripping the top of the counter just in time to prevent gravity from taking her away to the floor.

"The «Caves of Emanon»…?" He gasped, mustache curling up in surprise. He leaned forward, and whispered frantically into Elyth's ear, "Who told you of this place?"

"Uh, it was Nim, a librarian from the Main City, sir," Elyth replied, noting the urgency in the Innkeeper's tone of voice.

"Oh, Nim, how typical. This Cave is an important secret of our town, and houses a miraculous amount of rare monsters. Since Nim sent you, there must be something at hand. I will give you a map of your destination, but you are not to show it to anyone else."

[Elyth 0]

"Of course!" Elyth said, and held out her hand as the shopkeeper handed to her a small scroll of paper. It was nondescript, a single scroll of yellowish paper slightly rough to the touch.

*Ding*

Acquired

"Thank you very much, sir," Elyth said as she bowed, swiping away the pop-up as she did.

As Elyth exited the store, she thought, Perhaps I should take inventory.

INVENTORY:

(2)

(3)

Well, she was somewhat ready to go!

[Elyth 0]

Upon inspecting the map, Elyth discovered that she perhaps was doomed to get lost somewhere along the way. Well, that was fine, since she was hunting Ents anyway. Elyth headed out of Horunka Village, and skirted the borders of the forest, looking for what looked like a large wolf-head, from where she was to follow a sort of trail to a large cave entrance.

Expectedly, this arch was hard to find. Elyth wandered around for hours before spotting what looked like a small dog with shiny white fur that glaringly reflected the artificial sunlight. Her next thought went something like this:

A dog? And it's a special looking one too... Wait, this could be related to the wolf head on the map! So, dog->wolf, right?

And thus, she began running towards the little dog shining in the sun.

[Elyth 0]

Elyth followed the shape of the dog until she couldn't see it anymore.

Saying "Where did it go?" would be entirely pointless, because such a small dog could've hidden nearly anywhere. With a sigh, Elyth looked around. This particular clearing in the woods was bordering a tall purple mountain in the background, and were she able to see from a bird's-eye view, Elyth would've seen the glimmering aqua lake closing off all entrance to a mysterious gap in the mountain range.

As she tilted her head- Again! There it was again! Even she could see it from here, that tiny glimmer- Elyth noticed yet again the glare of light on some silvery pelt, and chased it into the forest.

She was aware of a rustic yet even forest path underneath as she ran, chasing the glint, but yet again it disappeared as quickly as it came, as if taunting Elyth of her inability to catch up or keep up, whichever it was. This time, Elyth was stuck in the middle of a moderately-lit forest, lost, instead of outside, where she could still see Horunka Village.

Whoops, she thought, casually and grimly apologizing to herself.

[Elyth 0]

Walking around the same landscape of tall tough-barked trees and vines and leaves and dirt forest path floor thing, Elyth had spotted a log, on which she now sat.

"Mayhaps the map has a clue?" She said aloud, taking out the piece of parchment and scrutinizing it closely. Hmm. Se turned the parchment around, and looked at the backside. Nothing.

That was disappointing. Which meant Elyth had no choice but to follow the path- wait, couldn't she follow the path back to the way she came? But no, Elyth remembered some foliage and undergrowth when she first rushed into the forest, so that wouldn't work.

Onward!

There was nothing particularly exciting or eye-catching for some time, and Elyth couldn't find another log to sit down on. Just when she was growing somewhat excessively bored-

*Ding*

You have entered the 「Death Mistã€

Description: From here on out, the forest is populated with the dead of this forest. For every hour in the 「Death Mistã€, player health goes down by two.

Aw poop.