[PP-F1] Secret Medicine of the Forest

[Shizuki Akashi 0]

Shizuki had rested in the inn for a night, after Meggido had helped her get the the village of Horunka. Curious guy... She thought, sitting in the room that morning. She remembered now what he had told her the previous day, "Here. You can rest here until your hit points return. The quest will still be here tomorrow."

She left her room and went downstairs to the inn's first floor. There, a lady who seemed to be the quest giver due to the marker above her head, sat looking depressed. Shizuki approached the lady, and asked "Do you need help?" hoping to initiate the quest.

"My daughter has fallen ill- The lady started, and Shizuki quickly hit the blue circular button «O» to accept the quest. She preferred to read what the game had to tell her about the quest, instead of listening to some NPC blabber on about her feelings.

Shizuki brought up her UI, and touched the quest button.

«Secret Medicine of the Forest»

«Description: Obtain a rare drop from Little Nepents found in the woods west of Horunka Village.»

«Reward: Anneal Blade»

"Looks like I'm heading west," She said, and exited the inn.

[Guest]

Shade was standing not too far away from said inn. He leaned against a dull lamp, giving off a dull light in the dusk of the approaching dawn. He then noticed a girl walk by. Shade, normally not one to care about things such as this, couldn't help but call out. "Where exactly does a young girl do wandering the streets at this time of the morning, hm?" he said, more or less taunting.

[Shizuki Akashi 0]

Shizuki hurried down the streets when a taunting voice caught her attention.

"Where exactly does a young girl do wandering the streets at this time of the morning, hm?" She turned to see a man leaning against a lamp post. She debated whether or not to ignore him and keep going. No, if I do that there's a good chance he'll follow me. He doesn't seem like a friendly player. The a wry smile played on her lips. But neither am I.

"What do you want? Screw off." She said sharply. Okay, not the best choice of words, but she didn't care.

[Guest]

Shade raised and eyebrow and glared at the girl. "Is that your best comeback? Wow... I expected a little more challenge. Guess you aren't so special. Hell, you're probably another one of those generic, dead-beat players made to be killed." He said, standing up and started to walk towards her. "Unless, you prove me wrong."

[Shizuki Akashi 0]

Shizuki threw her head back in laughter, before shaking her head. "I wouldn't mess with me, if I were you. You seem to value your life. That make you weak." She too, stepped forward. "I on the other hand, don't. You wanna test that theory?"

[Guest]

Shade stepped forward and glared at her. "Look at you, acting so cool. Come on, let's see if you have the bite to back up that bark." He then tensed, and realized, there was more to this girl. Killing her now wouldn't benefit him. He backed down and crossed his arms. "Tch. Whatever. Where is it you're going anyway?"

[Shizuki Akashi 0]

Shizuki produced a half smile and studied shade for a moment, arms crossed. Would it be wise to tell this guy where I'm going? No, probably not... She shrugged. She was prone to recklessness after all.

"West. I'm going to complete this quest for the Anneal Blade, as I need a better weapon than this longsword I started off with. What's it to you?"

[Guest]

Shade shrugged and kept his arms crossed. "What's it to me? Well, I want to see the look on your face after the Nepent makes you it's chew toy. Nothing much more than that." He said, expecting her to react different than most other players would to him.

[Shizuki Akashi 0]

Shizuki smiled, then. She hadn't been one to have much conversation the real world, in fact this was already more than she'd had in a long time, excepting yesterday.She turned around and gestured at him, hoping to tick him off.

"You do that then. I'll be off now." She said daringly and began to walk off to the west.

[Guest]

"What a smug little..." Shade said under his breath, before shaking it off and following along, his arms crossed and his eyes in the same glare they always were. He had better get what he came for by the end of this night. Or else he wouldn't be pleased.

[Shizuki Akashi 0]

Shizuki and her "Lost Puppy," as she had started calling Shade in her head, reached the woods about an hour later, only having encountered a boar on the way there. The sun was at the horizon, having started to rise by this point. Once they got to the treeline, she didn't stop, and kept going deeper into the forest. Just a few feet in, a boar wondered out from behind a tree. "Kuso." She said under her breath, and unsheathed her sword. She held it horizontally to her body, her side facing the boar and her head turned towards it, then she turned her whole body in a lunge and got a critical hit, slashing it's head. The thing bursted into hundreds of blue crystals that faded away. She continued on, ignoring Shade.

[Guest]

Shade shrugged, seemingly unimpressed. "Congratulations. You killed a boar. The weakest possible enemy in this entire game." He said, following her along as he crossed his arms. Something about this girl interested Shade. She wasn't scared of him, and she wasn't trying to constantly get his attention or respect. She didn't care about him. And that's what made her so intriguing.

[Shizuki Akashi 0]

Shizuki stopped and turned on Shade. "Did I say anything about killing the boar? Did I brag? 'I 1-shotted a boar, you impressed yet?' No, don't remember saying that." She turned around just in time to dodge out of the way of a vine of some sorts that had lashed at her. "What the-" She jumped back, now beside Shade, and looked at the monster that had just failed attacked her. «Little Nepent» Despite being named "Little," it wasn't small at all. It was about a meter and a half tall, a lower body made out of thick roots so it can move around, and the upper body being gourd-like with a mouth that has big red lips and not so pointy teeth. It also had two vines coming out of it's body with pointed leaves on the ends, acting as arms.

[Guest]

Shade kicked back and leaned against a tree. "Well, go get him." Shade said, looking to Shizuki. He said, watching intently as the low level monster made the scene to fight Shizuki. If things got bad, he might join in. But he would just see how things would go.

[Shizuki Akashi 0]

Shizuki smiled once he said that. As an avid MMO player, in other MMO's higher level players would steal kills from lower levels to hinder progress, and in truth she did have that small bit of worry in her. Now that that was quelled, she stood, feet apart, both hands on the hilt of her blade, and aimed it 45 degrees upwards and away from her. The longsword had a nice balance in weight, but was a light weapon. She wondered how well it would tear through the monster... Then she realized, it's a game. It goes by damage. She'd only been in the game a few days, but it was starting to feel real to her. She then ran at it and went for a vertical slash. She hit it's vine and watched about one tenth of it's health bar go down, and orange gash appearing where she hit it.

"This should be fun."

[Shizuki Akashi 0]

The «Little Nepent» slashed at her with it's tenticle, she just barely managed to dodge it, and retaliated with a horizontal slash at it's midsection, but managed to miss. Great, that made me look good, she though to herself.

[Guest]

Shade watched as she successfully cleaved into the monster. "Hmph. Not too bad. Don't let your guard down." he said, as the fight continued on. He fully knew that she could take the Little Nepent down without his help, which was fine by him. A load of his back.

[Shizuki Akashi 0]

Shizuki backstepped out of it's range, the attempted a counter attack, dodging a tenticle that had just slashed at her, and slashing it back. She failed to hit it, it was a moving target mid-air after all, and it scraped her arm.

«Shizuki Akashi»

HP: 8/9

«Little Nepent»

HP: 9/10

[Shizuki Akashi 0]

This time, the «Little Nepent» reeled back then lunged at her in attempt to bite her, seeing the move telegraphed a mile away, she stepped to the side and brought her sword down on it's head, landing a critical hit.

«Little Nepent»

HP: 6/10

[Shizuki Akashi 0]

The «Little Nepent» fell to the floor at the blow, but jumped up quickly before she could take advantage, and spun at her, bringing the vine towards her horizontally. She ducked androlled back, putting a little distance between them.