[F1-SP] <<The First Lesson>> A Little Late

[Ivory Lotus 0]

It was just another day on floor one. The sun was shining, and the NPCs were doing their own thing. A lot of players had cleared out of this place since unlocking other floors, but there were still quite a few stragglers that refused to leave. Their lives were more important than escape, and Ivory could respect that. Personally, Ivory preferred to avoid conflict. She wasnt even that big of a gamer either, and this wasnt really her type of game. It had interested her enough that she was in this mess though. 

"You there! Stop, please!" A man approached her with long, purposeful strides. "Pardon me, but I am in need of some assistance, and you appear quite capable." 

Ivory didnt quite know about that one, but she didnt interrupt him. she had played enough of this game to know the start of a quest when she saw one. She was just happy to have something out of the ordinary to do. Hopefully not involving combat. She didnt have anywhere near the damage for that kind of quests, thats why she brought friends.

 Stats:
 

Spoiler

 

Lvl: 19 | Mitigation: 62 | Health: 410 | EN: 56

Skills:

Spoiler

 

>> First Aid: Rank 5 (30 SP)

Mods:

>[Rank 2 First Aid Mod] Purify (4 SP)

>[Rank 3 First Aid Mod] Energize (5 SP)

>[Energize Mod Add-On] Hyperactive (5 SP)

>[Rank 4 First Aid Mod] Barrier (6 SP)

>[Rank 5 First Aid Addon] Field Medic (6 SP)

 

» Heavy Armor: Rank 5 (30 SP)

Mods:

>>[Rank 5 Heavy Armor Addon] Iron Skin (6 SP)

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Ivory Lotus

[Ivory Lotus 0]

"My name is Dorian, and I am the mayor of this town. As part of those mayoral duties, I issued a small loan to a member of the community a few months ago. Well, the time to collect had come around and I-" Flustered, Dorian systematically ran his fingers over his perfect mustache. "You see, I've forgotten who it was I loaned the money to. Terribly embarrassing, I know, but I am a very busy man, and I cannot keep track of everything that happens. I'm sure you understand." 

Ivory definitely understood. She was the absentminded sort herself, constantly getting lost, losing things, forgetting stuff. She nodded to him encouragingly.

With a wave of his hand, Dorian continued, "Should you be willing to track down the loan recipient for me, and collect the col, I would be eternally grateful. Just, maybe don't let anyone else know I forgot who the loan went to?"

She giggled, glad to finally have a quest that wasnt combat based. "Of course, I would be happy to help you Mr. Dorian." She responded with a little bow. She wished that she had friends to do this quest with, but despite that fact that she was certain that everyone she knew loved her, she rarely saw them. She raised her hand, pressing the blue accept button on the screen in front of her. It wasn't worth worrying about, she was constantly making new friends anyway.

Dorian nodded. "Excellent, I knew I could count on you! You might start with Zackariah, the alchemist. He's often doing projects for the town, so it may have been him that borrowed the money." 

She raised her finger to her lips thoughtfully. That presented a bit of a minor challenge for the young woman. She wasnt entirely sure where this Zackariah NPC was, and with her sense of direction it might take her forever to even find him. "huh." She said to herself after a moment of thinking. Thinking was too hard and took too long, it was time for action! she picked a random direction and started walking. Zackariah couldn't hide from her for long!

[Ivory Lotus 0]

It took her literally 2 hours to find her way to the shop, which she realized had been right in front of her most of the time and she had been walking in a circle for the last 20 minutes. She wasnt upset though, life took you where you were supposed to be, so she must have been destined to get lost for an hour and 30 minutes... An hour and 40 minutes? Math wasnt her strong suit and she wasnt going to stress that either. The point was destiny had caused her to get lost and it was for a reason. She entered the shop, noting the shelves everywhere filled with all kinds of potions and jars. It was honestly a little overwhelming.

 “Oh, hello," Came the distracted greeting from behind the counter. A man with a long, snow-white beard glances up from a bubbling cup of sweet-smelling purple liquid. "Are you here to order something? I’m sorry, but I am currently swamped with orders, and I’m running out of supplies.” 

Ivory smiled at the man, but honestly she was seriously questioning if that was really true with all of the shelves filled with potions. Swamped with orders, but with so many unsold potions? They must either be useless and for decoration, or he was making stuff up.

[Ivory Lotus 0]

Light came into the man's dark eyes, a lightbulb going off to signify a brilliant idea. “Would you gather a few materials for me? Flowers, herbs, rare woods, whatever you can find outside the city walls. I promise I’ll help you fill your order as soon as you return. In fact, I would be willing to show you how to do it yourself.” 

She had honestly been worried at first, the mans dead eyes had been depressing. She didnt want anyone to be sad, even a random NPC. Luckily he seemed to have some kind of great idea involving her going and getting stuff for him, and then doing the work that she wanted done herself. Which was some insane nonsense. That was like ordering from a pizza place and them telling you to go pick the tomatoes and make the cheese and pepperoni and stuff, and then telling you to just make it yourself.

The idea was funny to her, and despite how silly of a premise this was, she was honestly happy to do it anyway. It was just a silly video game quest that about... finding things. Wait a second... She started counting the things she was bad at on her fingers before giving up as she ran out of room to count. she was sure that was one of the things she was really bad at. This was going to be an interesting quest.

[Ivory Lotus 0]

Thankfully it only too her 20 minutes to find the exit to the starting city. One might ask why she didn't just keep teleport crystals on her and teleport places. The answer was simple. And that one who asked was probably an idiot. Teleport crystals didnt grown on trees, and Ivory was one hundred and ten percent broke. She wasn't sure if shed had money before and then lost it somehow, but she knew for sure that her bank account said 0 col. She stepped out into the plains, making sure to avoid any mobs as she looked around for some kind of material. 

+1 Mat

Spoiler

 

 ID# 188193 results:

 Loot: 16

 

Her efforts were not in vain as she managed to stumble upon what seemed to be some kind of herb. With a smile she plucked it, depositing it in her inventory with a flourish. Now, for four more and then on to whatever else this quest had in store for her.

Edited April 13, 2021 by Ivory Lotus

[Ivory Lotus 0]

The young woman took a moment to ponder why people enjoyed doing this kind of thing. It occurred to her that it was sort of like picking flower except instead of a bouquet at the end you got stuff to increase your stats with. That was kind of lame. Ivory would much rather have the flowers than a potion or weapon. Now armor was another story. If it was cute she was all for it. She started to imagine the kind of armor she would commission when she had money or materials to spend and then realized that she didn't really understand what the options were for kinds of heavy armor. Did it have to be like heavy plate steel or something? Cause that would be lame too.

Spoiler

 

 ID# 188270 results:

 Loot: 6

 

No Mats found

She glanced around the plain, her eyes narrowed and keeping an eye out for materials. She wasn't able to spot any though, unsurprisingly. It wasn't as though she had any clue what she was looking for in the first place.

Edited April 13, 2021 by Ivory Lotus

[Ivory Lotus 0]

She twirled in place, her cloak flying out around her and she meandered further out of the safe zone in search of more materials for the quest. This was the kind of thing that she had been doing for most of her time in sword art online, minus the gathering materials. Now she wondered if maybe she should have been keeping an eye out all of those times that she had just been wandering around aimlessly enjoying herself. The enemies on this floor didnt pose any sort of threat to her with her high health and mitigation, so she was pretty much free to roam as she wished, trying to avoid enemies and feeling the breeze on her face. She wanted to go barefoot honestly, and feel the grass on her bare feet, but something, maybe her common sense, stopped her.

+1 Mat (2/5 for Quest)

Spoiler

 

 ID# 188273 results:

 Loot: 14

 

She spotted another herb of some kind, making her way over to pick it and storing it in her inventory. Only three more to go and she could attempt to find her way back to the potions shop.

Edited April 13, 2021 by Ivory Lotus

[Ivory Lotus 0]

Ivory kicked at the ground aimlessly, humming random notes to herself and twirling as she walked, not sure what direction she was going, but she didn't much care. She would get wherever she was supposed to be going eventually, that was just how fate worked. Her thoughts drifted to the people she had met recently and the stuff they had done. Not much really. There was that one guy who she hadnt really liked, although they hadnt really talked all that much. She had a bad feeling about him and wasn't sure if she should avoid him or not. She would let fate handle it, that was how life worked after all. What happened happened, and it happened for a reason. She smiled to herself, wondering if she might be able to find some secret grove or other strange and beautiful place as she wandered. That would be fun, but she wasnt generally lucky enough to stumble on something like that when she was by herself.

No Mat found

Spoiler

 

 ID# 188274 results:

 Loot: 5

 

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Ivory Lotus

[Ivory Lotus 0]

A girl could dream though. Maybe a secret cave with glowing crystals, or a light blue lake with a beach of white sand. If she managed to somehow find the latter she was definitely going barefoot, that was for sure. She looked around her, noting that she could only barely see the starting city, also noting a group of enemies a little ways off to her right. She frowned and changed direction, heading to her left further out, checking the ground for herbs, bushes for berries, etcetera. She even checked some boulders, although after doing so she felt really dumb. you weren't going to find resources on a boulder of all places. Ivory was starting to get a bit lonely, so she started humming again as she continued her search. She took a moment to kneel next to a white wildflower, leaning down to smell its sweet fragrance with a contented smile on her face.

+1 Mat (3/5 for quest)

Spoiler

 

ID# 188275 results:

 Loot: 15

 

She then noticed what appeared to be a small inconspicuous herb nearby, picking it and depositing it in her inventory. 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Ivory Lotus

[Ivory Lotus 0]

The healer hummed to herself as she continued to scour the ground around her looking for materials. In a way the work reminded her of her time as a medical student, except way less interesting and actually not similar at all. She hadn't gotten very far in that venture unfortunately before this sword art online thing had happened to her. It was just supposed to be something to do to relax every now and then, not something she was stuck in for years. She wondered what would happen when they managed to get out, if the place she had been interning would let her back in. Probably not, and to be completely honest she couldn't really remember a whole lot about what she had learned. All of that time studying hadn't really amounted to much had it. It wasnt really her fault, but the fact that this search for materials wasn't amounting to much definitely felt like her fault. She kept getting distracted with her own thoughts.

No Mat found

Spoiler

 ID# 188306 results:

 Loot: 10

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Ivory Lotus

[Ivory Lotus 0]

She had hoped to graduate from school, get a good job, maybe meet a cute boy. That would have made her parents happy. They had always said that she didn't spend enough time on herself; it was the whole reason they had gifted her the game in the first place. She hoped that they didn't feel guilty about anything. She started to kick a rock around as she walked. what had she accomplished in this game in all of her time here? Nothing really, and that bothered her a lot. She wanted to help people but people were dying and there was nothing she could do about it, at least not in her current state. Maybe she couldn't fight, but she could get stronger in other ways and help people and save lives in that way. There was a long road ahead of her, but her goals were certainly achievable. The fact that she couldnt hurt enemies was a bit of a bump in the road, but that just meant that she needed to make friends who could help her that way.

No Mat Found

Spoiler

 ID# 188307 results:

 Loot: 3

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Ivory Lotus

[Ivory Lotus 0]

She had only ever really met one frontliner, and honestly she had found him to be intimidating and not very friendly. Maybe it was just first impressions, she would try to keep an open mind. She twirled locks of her hair through her fingers humming to herself quietly and haphazardly touching things as she walked. Bush... boop Rock... boop Tree... boop. She didnt know why she was doing it, but it helped the time to go by just a little bit faster. Wandering with a purpose was a little boring, especially when she didn't really know what she was doing. Maybe it was silly to have a quest that was just: go find materials; and then expect you to know what it was talking about. Her humming got a little bit louder as the wind around her picked up, until it was like she was battling the wind with her voice. Ah, another herb. She leaned down and picked it up.

+1 Mat (4/5 for quest)

Spoiler

 ID# 188308 results:

 Loot: 12

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Ivory Lotus

[Ivory Lotus 0]

That had been a lucky find. Now she was only one material off of the next part of this quest. She hoped the actual crafting portion wouldn't be too hard. She continued to kick at the pebble she had found before eventually losing it somewhere in the grasses in the field. She sighed, sitting down on a nearby rock and just looking out over the expanse of the field she was in. It was a beautiful landscape, but one that she would rather experience with friends. That was another problem. She really needed to meet new people, maybe join a guild or form a party. She was a very social person, and she found it strange that she had so many friends but so few of them ever acknowledged her. It was a weird world, but she was sure eventually she would have so many friends she wouldn't know what to do with them all. That was the dream.

No Mat found

Spoiler

 ID# 188309 results:

 Loot: 10

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Ivory Lotus

[Ivory Lotus 0]

The wind blew through the grasses, making a strangle rustling noise. It was a strange, but peaceful kind of noise. With some boar enemies in the distance she could almost make herself believe that this was the real world, not a video game, and that she was in the middle of some expanse of grassland somewhere in the wild. She started to hum again, quieter this time. She had spent so much time just chilling, trying not to stress that it came naturally to her. It was very different from the kind of person she had been before this game. She had had the opposite kind of problem, but this game had given her a chance to just relax. She just wanted a peaceful life with fun people who supported her and who she could support. She didnt want to deal with drama, or fighting, or any of that stressful stuff. She just wanted everyone to be happy and healthy and to enjoy themselves. She leaned down, picking a herb out of the grasses near her feet. Easy.

+1 mat (5/5 for Quest)

Spoiler

 

 ID# 188310 results:

 Loot: 11 (That was close)

 

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Ivory Lotus

[Ivory Lotus 0]

She made her way back to the starting city. Luckily it had fairly visible walls, even from where Ivory had gone out to, and she had managed to find her way back without a hitch. She was definitely a ditz, but she wasn't that much of a ditz. She wandered in through the gates, nodding to the NPC guards. She knew they weren't real people but it still didn't feel right to just ignore them like they weren't there or something. Now for the ridiculous task of finding the potion dudes place again. That had taken two hours last time. This time it would probably take way less time, but she couldn't be sure. it had been pure luck that she had managed to find it the first time. This time she had a vague idea of the general direction at least. She started to walk, her boot clicking on the brickwork streets. She needed to make friends with a navigator or someone who could help her finding things that honestly shouldnt even be that hard to find.

[Ivory Lotus 0]

It actually only took her 30 minutes this time, and although that was still way longer than it should have been, she was very happy with the results. Progress was progress after all. She entered the potion shop again, once again noting all of the shelves of potions and the alchemist himself. Passing over the materials he ushered her to a workstation, explaining to her how crafting worked and what she needed to do to make a health potion. It looked simple enough and it was actually quite similar to how her family had done it in their medicinal shop. It was way simpler actually, but the general idea was the same and she wasn't going to sweat the details like that. She organized the materials, her face becoming serious for once as she focused on the craft, starting to make her potion with care and focus that seemed very out of character for her.

[Ivory Lotus 0]

She bit her lip thoughtfully, picking a material out of the small assortment she had collected and examining it. She placed it carefully in the miniature cauldron, adding water and stirring slowly, making sure the herb was mixing with the liquid. She slowly reduced the mixture until it was a little thicker than before and went to bottle it up. The whole process only took her a few minutes and as she expertly bottled the mixture it was very obvious that this wasn't the first time that she had done something like this. She looked over the consumable, smiling happily. She was very proud of her accomplishment, a perfect healing potion on the very first try. Even with her experience she hadnt expected that. She hoped that this was a sign of things to come. She showed the potion to the potion maker happily, before depositing it in her inventory for use at some other point.

Spoiler

 

 ID# 188561 results:

 Craft: 11 Perfect quality healing potion

 

+1 Perfect t1 healing potion

Edited April 15, 2021 by Ivory Lotus

[Ivory Lotus 0]

."Now, was there anything else?" Zackariah asked.

Ivory smiled, not really seeing any alternative to explaining the situation. He seemed like the trustworthy sort. She then confessed to him that she was there to see if he had borrowed money from the mayor as the forgetful old man had somehow forgotten who he had loaned it to. It was definitely the sort of thing Ivory would do, but also she was aware of how silly a thing it was to do and didn't hesitate to call him out on it in front of Zackariah.

Zackariah chuckled and shook his head. "Leave it to Dorian to forget something so important. No, I'm afraid it wasn't me that borrowed the col. You might try Lyle, the blacksmith. I've seen him talking with the mayor frequently the past month or so, and he's just up the road. I wish you luck!"

Her eyes widened. This was a series of mini quests or something? And she had to go find another person. She groaned loudly, her head falling and a very tired look appearing on her face. Maybe shed complete this whole thing some other time. It wasnt the quest, it wasnt finding materials or whatever. It was quite simply going places. She was terrible at finding places. Her sense of direction was, quite simply put, horrendous.

[Ivory Lotus 0]

Her mind wandered as she left the shop, thinking to herself about the first time she had made a medicinal tea with her mother. It was strange, she had gone two years before this whole sword art online thing not seeing them face to face or talking to them that much. She had been so involved in her studies that her family had fallen on her list of priorities, something that she regretted immensely. So much for her advice that she had given her newest friend Randal about not being worried about death if you didn't have anything to regret. Maybe that had been a dumb piece of advice seeing as they were not in any position to fix the regrets that they had while stuck in this game. All she knew at this point was that she missed her family immensely. She frowned, the sadness evident on her face.

[Ivory Lotus 0]

Ivory hummed to herself as she walked, wondering if she should maybe hit up Randal and see if he wanted to do a quest or just hang out or something. Maybe she would go wandering again or check out a new food place. A new food place.... Wait a second, Randal was a cook, if she recalled correctly. Maybe he could maker her something delicious. But then again she didn't have any money, and she didn't want to take advantage of her friends. Back to the same old place she usually stayed then, and the same old food. She thought back to the soups and stews her mother used to make and how delicious they were. This game had good food, but it wasnt the same as home cooked family food. She smiled anyway, deciding to interpret the memory as a positive moment of reminiscence rather than of something she had lost. Shed be out of this place soon and she'd see her family then, she was sure of it.