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[PP-F2] Fists of Fury! <<Breaking the Unbreakable>> (Randal, Melissa)


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Melissa gritted her teeth as she sat under the waterfall, brow furrowed as she tried to focus on her own mind...but the frustration of failure so far kept her distracted. Her expression continued to grow more agitated as she felt the water pound down on her back, drawing her out of any focus she was briefly able to obtain. How the hell were they meant to be able to focus on things with so many distractions?! This was absurd! She'd seen martial arts masters doing this kind of thing in movies, but trying it like this made that seem ridiculous. SAO wasn't exactly real life, but it was pretty close...and if anything, it was making this easier because she didn't have to deal with any potential pain from having so much water coming down on her.

After a few moments of not being able to find her focus, she opened her menu and removed the vanity armour she had on, hoping that having something else not weighing her down would help. It certainly wasn't for now, though...

ID# 188365 | LD: 8 | Total Per Hit Bonus: +2

 

Edited by Melissa
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Aru took in deep breaths as he maintained his concentration on the task at hand. He could feel his mind focusing on multiple things as the waterfall was roaring in his ears. He couldn't hear anything but his own thoughts, and they all kept going back to him, how he missed his family, how he missed his teammates, wrestling, he missed it all. He wasn't sure, but he was positive tears were streaming down his face along with the waterfall, as his body reacted in the only way that it could that didn't involve moving. He wished he had never put on that stupid nerve gear, he could still be gaming with his brother, he could still be wrestling.

There were so many things he regret, but he knew that if he didn't, his brother would have been forced into this hellhole. And he knew he would never live with himself if he died while in this game. He was strong, but he didn't know if he had the strength to play this game. It took everything out of Aru to just continue every day with his tasks. And some days he didn't have the strength to go out in the fields. He didn't know how the frontlines did it. He might never know how they did it.

ID: 188524

LD: 15 (Total Bonus Damage: 6)

Edited by Aru
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Eventually, Randal‘a state of mind transformed from completely confused to semi-concussed, the water didn’t seem as heavy as before, his body moved slightly to be more aligned with the natural chakras of the waterfall and was figuratively sucked into it. 

In his own experiences, an enduring painful experience will go either one of two ways, the person will break and succumb under the brutal nature of the situation or they will grow to be resistant and stronger because it. As of this moment, Randal had simultaneously experienced both in a short amount of time and perhaps this was the growth that the masters expected in them (or just him).

Randal felt that the waterfall was filling his fist with power, the same kind of driving power that was beating down in his shoulders and the same kind of relentlessness, never failing to hit Randal and inspiring Randal to never give up in hitting something else be it his Inner demons or his outer ones.

Natural LD : 20 (Total damage bonus +6)

Spoiler
ID Battle Craft Loot MOB Character Link Purpose  Time
188548 6 2 20 10 Randal http://www.cydel.net/images/saorpg/diceroll/Msg_hover2.png Task 2 attempt 2

 

Edited by Randal
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With her armour off, Melissa remained sitting cross-legged, one hand on each knee. Her eyes were closed as she attempted to gain some level of focus, after failing twice already...and slowly, her expression softened, little by little. Her jaw was no longer clenched in frustration, and her brow was no longer furrowed in annoyance. It had been a pain to handle, but after some time to get used to it, apparently she had managed to figure out a way to handle the distraction of the waterfall. That, or she'd simply accomplished it out of sheer spite. No way was she going to let herself be a complete failure in this quest, damnit.

Once they were finally finished, Melissa stepped out from under the water and shook her head like a dog, spraying water from her soaked twintails, which whipped around. They could probably pass for weapons with how waterlogged they were at the moment! "Ugh, that's done. What's next?"

ID# 188604 | LD: 18 | Total Per Hit Bonus: +4

Edited by Melissa
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Aru felt himself falling more and more into a trance-like state as the waterfall roared in his ears and over his body. He didn't feel cold surprisingly, his body was numb as his mind wandered to different thoughts he wasn't quite sure of inside of him. These thoughts, he knew they were his own, but at the same time there was something inside of him that wanted to grow. He didn't know why he felt this way, but he did.

He heard something rustling and moving, and it brought him out of his trance. He simply opened his eyes, and he saw his one of his companions, Melissa, get out from under the waterfall. He guessed it was time for it to end, and he stood quietly, his body used to the weight of the waterfall and easily stood against it. He shook his hair as the pixelated water crystals went in different directions.

"That was refreshing Master." he spoke with a smile. "Needed something like that, thank you." He bowed respectfully and awaited the next order, and what their final task would be.

ID: 188707

LD: 5 (Total Damage Bonus: 6)

Edited by Aru
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Randal watched as Aru bowed to their Master and hoped that his admiration for the old man would not diminish because the next task was the one that he was familiar with. Punching the boulders that were in the courtyard on the way in.

The master led them to one boulder and started to regale them about some meaningless backstory that Randal had heard before. The story goes that a long time ago, the founder of martial arts was betrayed by the masters of the other weapons out of greed for his techniques which when used together would make the rest more powerful in their own skills. In order to escape, the master at the time had to punch through a mountain to escape and so it was passed down in his legacy that all that wish to learn his skills must achieve the same feat. Of course, the Master also recognized that they mountain breaking was probably a dramatization but to honour the wishes, we must symbolically punch through a boulder.

Randal took the first swing and was amazed by the result.

Randal Hits Boulder for 10 DMG
BD 2+3+2= 7 Hit

Spoiler
ID Battle Craft Loot MOB Character Link Purpose Time
188720 2 3 19 3 Randal http://www.cydel.net/images/saorpg/diceroll/Msg_hover2.png punch boulder 2021-04-15 20:12:15

Stats without Weapon skill rank or mods (+3 From hand wraps | +6 from quest training)

[0 Hate] Randal: 440/440 HP | 61/62 EN | 1+3+6 DMG | 3 ACC
[0 Hate] Melissa:
[0 Hate] Aru:

Boulder: 65/75 HP | -2 EVA

Edited by Randal
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Refreshing? What the hell was Aru on? Were all high-level players like that, or was that a tank thing? Or maybe he was just a unique weirdo, that was a possibility too. Either way, she had no idea how he could find that refreshing, but at least it was over! Now next was...

Punching a boulder. This guy was a madman. He'd have to be, to believe something about someone punching through a mountain, but even this alone was absurd! This must have been the tedious part of the quest she'd heard about, because she couldn't imagine punching through a boulder with your bare hands would be particularly easy.

The redhead decided to follow in Randal's footsteps, after that solid strike...but found herself wanting. She'd gone for a kick, figuring that her powerful swimmers legs would make it easier to break through, but she found that her foot merely bounced off, and she stumbled backwards from the impact. "Ugh, great start..."

ID# 188728 | BD: 1 | Critical Miss

HP: 40/40 | EN: 22/22 | ACC: 2 | EVA: 0 | MIT: 5

Boulder: 65/75 HP | -2 EVA

Edited by Melissa
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Aru watched as the master lead them over to a gigantic boulder. The thing was huge, and a little bit intimidating. He was trying not to lie to himself that he wasn't a bit perturbed by the actual size of the thing up close. Randal struck first. His attack connected well and he made a few small cracks into the gigantic slate of stone. Melissa tried next, but it didn't end up as well as Randal. he didn't expect it to, as her and him had just taken this quest for the first time, where as Randal had taken this before. He cracked his knuckles and realized it was his turn to punch him. He took a comfortable stance, brought his fist close to his body, then struck it forward. He hit the rock, however the damage he did was minimal, barely a scratch. Plus, his fist hurt like crazy. He retreated his striking hand and shook it a bit. He didn't hit it hard enough. He'd have to take another strike and hit it twice as hard as before, that had to be the key to breaking it.

ID:188747 BD: 2+1+2=5 Miss!

[0 Hate] Randal: 440/440 HP | 61/62 EN | 1+3+6 DMG | 3 ACC
[0 Hate] Melissa:  40/40 | 20/22 EN | 1+4 DMG | 2 ACC
[0 Hate] Aru: 760/760 HP | 86/88 EN | 1+1+6 DMG | 1 ACC

Boulder: 65/75 HP | -2 EVA

Edited by Aru
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After letting his allies punch and kick at the piece of rock, Randal could not get back into the flow. He was excited to see how much more damage he had done to the boulder on his first hit today then when he was punching it months ago, so he had to thank the Master for his amazing insight and hellish training.

The problem was that training could never remove the uncertain element of luck, while Randal was trying to attack the boulder, he did not get nearly the results that he wanted.

“Have you guys ever wanted to learn a martial art outside of this death game? Or would have ever learnt something?” Randal asked his companions on either side, it was a simple question, one that was out of left field but still probably much more interesting than whatever was happening right now.

Randal Misses

Spoiler
ID Battle Craft Loot MOB Character Link Purpose Time
188748 1 6 4 4 Randal http://www.cydel.net/images/saorpg/diceroll/Msg_hover2.png punch boulder 2021-04-16 08:23:25

 

Edited by Randal
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It was kind of embarrassing to have her first strike be totally no-sold by the rock, but it was also a little relieving to see that Randal also failed to make a dent in it, despite his previous experience. Well, perhaps relieved wasn't the right word, since if he was struggling to damage the boulder, then they'd probably be here a while...but at least it meant she wasn't a total failure for not actually damaging it on her first strike. Either way, she had to do better now, or they'd be there all day! This time, she measured herself and lined up the blow before throwing a punch, which put a small crack in it. Now that was progress!

Hearing Randal's question, she stepped back for a moment to answer, and allow her allies their attacks. "Well, my mum did make me learn a bit of judo so I could protect myself while walking alone, but I was never really interested in it. Just learnt enough to be satisfied. I was always more of a swimmer, when it came to exercise."

ID# 189457 | BD: 6 | 5 Damage

Melissa | HP: 40/40 | EN: 22/22 | ACC: 2 | EVA: 0 | MIT: 5

Boulder: 60/75 | -2 EVA

Edited by Melissa
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  • 3 weeks later...

Aru watched as his companions took their own hits against the gigantic piece of earth. He took in a deep breath as to calm his nerves, and closed his eyes to bring in his focus. He was taking in too much information and not focusing on his own actions. A few months with the Info Brokers will do that for a person, where it's their whole job to become aware of everything around them. When he felt his focus was re-aligned with the task at hand, he opened his eyes and struck the rock with a larger amount of force than before, and his fist left a substantial crack in the boulder. He smiled and brought his fist back proudly

"Ohhh that felt awesome! I gotta do it again!" He said with a proud smile on his face, a few flecks on the rock still stuck to his knuckles as it dissolved into pixels, blowing away in the wind. He turned his head to give attention to Randal, who asked a question about himself. His smile still held true. "Well, I did wrestling before this game, so maybe I would have if enough time passed. I can only do wrestling for so long, til i'm out of High School. Then it's time to work."

ID: 191875 BD: 5+1+2=8 Hit! 8 Damage to Rock

[0 Hate] Randal: 440/440 HP | 61/62 EN | 1+3+6 DMG | 3 ACC
[0 Hate] Melissa:  40/40 | 20/22 EN | 1+4 DMG | 2 ACC
[0 Hate] Aru: 760/760 HP | 86/88 EN | 1+1+6 DMG | 1 ACC

Boulder: 52/75 | -2 EVA

Edited by Aru
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Listening the Aru and Melissa talk about how they all had experience or another with martial arts from outside the game made some modicum of sense when thinking about it. At this stage of the game, it was almost certain the those that remained alive were mentally and physically stronger than the rest, having been able to outlast other players who could not bear their circumstance and opted to use death to escape and others who were not able to deal with the monsters well enough.

“What are your plans once we are done with this? I had heard that after they advance party cleared one of the higher floors there was a new dungeon type entrance that players were unable to decode so I might head on there next. Do you guys have any quests lined up once you are accomplished with this one?” Randal said, dripping virtual perspiration because of the strenuous task that was set before them.  Punching a rock should not be this physically exhausting but when put into perspective that the rock was much bigger than anyone who was here, it suddenly made a lot more sense.

Randal Hits Boulder for 10 DMG
BD 2+3+2= 7 Hit

Spoiler
ID Battle Craft Loot MOB Character Link Purpose Time
191966 2 9 9 4 Randal http://www.cydel.net/images/saorpg/diceroll/Msg_hover2.png punch boulder 2021-05-05 12:08:23

Stats without Weapon skill rank or mods (+3 From hand wraps | +6 from quest training)

[0 Hate] Randal: 440/440 HP | 61/62 EN | 1+3+6 DMG | 3 ACC
[0 Hate] Melissa:  40/40 | 20/22 EN | 1+4 DMG | 2 ACC
[0 Hate] Aru: 760/760 HP | 86/88 EN | 1+1+6 DMG | 1 ACC

Boulder: 42/75 HP | -2 EVA

Edited by Randal
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