[SP-F1] <<Blade of Dreams>> (Completed)

[Azide 0]

That single thought was what kept him going. "Just finish this up nice and quickly and I can say goodbye to a long and boring day," he told himself. He tightened his grip on the rapier as the pain ebbed from his body, giving him the strength to press on. As the creature ran forward at him, Azide ducked under the fist of the slower combatant, then stepped to the side and stabbed at the stone golem in its flank. He drove the sword deeper into the beast, inflicting further pain upon the creature, causing it to roar out once more in a cry that resembled a mixture of gravel and thunder. Learning his lesson, Azide quickly slipped his blade back out before the monster could take hold of it, a look of satisfaction in his eyes as the golem faltered.

ID: 7271

BD: 7 (hit)

MD: 1 (miss)

Damage taken (Azide) = 0 (miss)

Damage taken (Golem) = 1 (Rapier)

Azide HP: 5/11 (-0)

Golem HP: 3/6 (-1)

[Azide 0]

Without skipping a beat, Azide continued his offensive, sensing the difference in their morale. "Assuming these things even have any morale." In any case, he was on a roll, and he wanted nothing more than to take advantage of that fact. As the creature struggled to regain its composure, he rushed at it again, then leapt forward. Unfortunately, the creature had managed to find its footing before he could reach it, and it stuck its stony arm out and grabbed the player by his neck. It lifted him into the air, its grip tightening and threatening to crush his windpipe. Instinctively, Azide plunged his rapier deeply into creature's arm, forcing it to both release him and withdraw for a moment. Azide landed on his feet and stopped to rub his neck, then pointed the tip of his blade at the golem, before charging forward once more. "As long as I have the advantage, I won't be stepping down anytime soon."

ID: 7272

BD: 8 (hit)

MD: 6 (hit)

Damage taken (Azide) = 1 (base)

Damage taken (Golem) = 1 (Rapier)

Azide HP: 4/11 (-1)

Golem HP: 2/6 (-1)

[Azide 0]

Azide ran straight towards his foe, counting on it to miss its attack in order to leave him with an opening. The stone golem took a few steps, then ran forward in an effort to slam its rocky shoulder into the considerably more fragile player. Recognizing the opportunity to strike, Azide rolled well out of the path of the golem and watched as it fell to the ground. He quickly rose to his feet and jumped onto the fallen creature's back, then drove his blade straight through its neck as it began to pick itself off the ground. Predictably, this wasn't taken well, though the player managed to keep ahold on the uncooperative beast it attempted to shake him off. "This'll be over soon," he thought, readying his rapier for another thrust.

ID: 7273

BD: 8 (hit)

MD: 2 (miss)

Damage taken (Azide) = 0 (miss)

Damage taken (Golem) = 1 (rapier)

Azide HP: 4/11 (-0)

Golem HP: 1/6 (-1)

[Azide 0]

Azide readied him blade to strike at the monster once more, but released as the creature began rushing straight into a wall, in a bold attempt to crush its passenger against the jagged stones. He watched as the creature collided with the wall, stirring up a considerable amount of dust, but looked no worse for the wear. He ran forward to ran the creature through, but found trouble following up upon running into the dust cloud. A stone fist landing beside him moments later, making him suddenly thankful for the dust that had just caused him to miss. The stone fist retreated, and thus so did the player, who maneuvered his way to another section of the room and found himself hoping that the creature had lost track of him since their last clash.

ID: 7274

BD: 5 (miss)

MD: 5 (miss)

Damage taken (Azide) = 0 (miss)

Damage taken (Golem) = 0 (miss)

Azide HP: 4/11 (-0)

Golem HP: 1/6 (-0)

[Azide 0]

Azide kept light on his feet, moving around the edge of the room without pause. "I'll stay on the move until the dust settles. Then I'll strike, without any complications in the way." Suddenly, an arm reached out from out of the dust cloud, forcing Azide to stop dead in his tracks or risk colliding with it. The stone arm slowly pulled back until fading from view, leaving the player anxious about where it would appear next. Azide walked forward slowly and cautiously, keeping his guard up and his rapier raised. The dust began to fade, and the golem didn't seem to be in front of him... "Damn it, how close is he?" he wondered, turning around as quickly as he could manage. Immediately, he sprang backwards and managed to dodge most of the stone giant's attack, though not quite all of it. Azide winced, but swung his sword toward the golem's face, only to be casually deflected by its hand at the last moment. Upon landing Azide instinctively clutched his arm, which had been clipped by the giant's attack, but let go with the knowledge that the sensation would soon subside. "Come on you bastard, let's settle this in the light," he called out. The dust had since faded, and his target was once again in full view. So was he, but then again, that wasn't too important.

ID: 7275

BD: 3 (Miss)

MD: 8 (Hit)

Damage taken (Azide) = 1 (base)

Damage taken (Golem) = 0 (Miss)

Azide HP: 3/11 (-1)

Golem HP: 1/6 (-0)

[Azide 0]

Azide dashed forward, quickly building his pace until it reached a relentless speed while the stone golem came marching his way. The distance between the two soon approached nil, as the two parties made their moves. The stone golem had decided to make an attempt to crush the player, and had placed its bets on a shoulder-first charge toward Azide. Meanwhile, Azide pushed off of the ground, propelling himself into the air at high velocity. Within moments, the two had collided, and it'd looked like bad news for the ambitious player. Azide landed a few feet back from where the two foes had clashed, having been knocked back by the greater force his opponent had been able to generate. He glanced at his right hand, which was distinctly not in possession of that all-important rapier. Looking up, he could now see that it'd been left planted in the creature's chest. He locked eyes with the creature, and began searching for what would most certainly be some risky retrieval options, but watched as the creature stepped forward and began dissolving into crystals. It reached out at him in silent agony, then shattered, leaving behind only its eye. Azide walked over to the spot and recovered his sword, inspecting it momentarily before sheathing it. He picked up the creature's red eye and inspected it in his open hand, then closed his fingers around it. "One ruby red ruby, just like she wanted. I can finally go home," he thought. He sent the item to his inventory and let out of a sigh of relief, then promptly left.

ID: 7276

BD: 10 (Crit +2)

MD: 6 (Hit)

LD: 13

Damage taken (Azide) = 1 (base)

Damage taken (Golem) = 1 (rapier) + 2 (Crit +2) = 3

Azide HP: 3/11 (-1)

Golem HP: 0/6 (-3)

*Golem HP (6) x 5 = 30 Col

** 1 material gained

[Azide 0]

Azide strolled into the shop and quickly tapped around on a virtual menu, causing the supplies he'd gathered over the past few days to materialize over the counter, then drop with a clang onto the wooden surface. "Hey, I'm back with that stuff you wanted," said Azide. He casually walked up to the counter, then rested his arms on top of it. 

Sai looked unimpressed by his unannounced entrance, and almost even annoyed by his haphazard manner, but chalked both of these things to simple impatience. "Back already?" she asked sweetly, though the question was clearly sarcastic in nature.

Azide pretended not to hear her. It'd taken considerably longer than he'd been expecting, after all.

 

The young blacksmith picked up each of the items and carefully examined them one by one. "Hmm... let's see, one boar's tusk, some greater steel ore, and even one ruby red ruby!" She turned to look at him again, appearing pleased. "Not too shabby Azide. I'll admit I didn't know whether you'd be coming back or not, but this should be everything I need to make- er, what'd you call it again?"

"Atom Slicer," he replied simply.

She nodded. "Right! That was on the tip of my tongue- promise. Anyways, I'm ahead of schedule as it turns out, so I can go ahead and whip this up for you now if you'd like!" She saw him nod, then went to the back room. After firing up the furnace, she heated up the steel ore until it began to melt and take on the shape of its stone mold. "Since it's a rapier, it doesn't take too much metal to make the main blade." She waited for the molten steel to cool and harden, lowering both the mold and blade into an icy water bath in order to speed up the process, although that was more of a formality as the game made the process a quick one regardless. Before too long, Sai finished the work of both tempering and sharpening the slim blade, then moved on onto the hilt. She grabbed a pair of the halved wooden sword grips that she'd always kept at the shop, then pressed them together around both halves of the blade's end. After that, she carved the boar's tusk until it resembled an ivory arrowhead, then fastened it onto the end where it would serve as both pommel and makeshift dagger. Continuing the process, she set the ruby into the sword itself through a hole she'd left in the blade while forging it. Finally, she took the remaining portion of the steel ore, and with a great amount of assistance from the game's automation process, created the unique guard which wrapped around the bright red gem. Sai wiped away a bead of sweat from her forehead, then grinned. "You've done it again, Sai."

[Azide 0]

After what seemed like ages, but was actually a few minutes, Sai stepped out of the backroom and held out the finished product. "Ta-da!" In her hands was a rapier alright. The blade itself was predictably in color, although the steel gave it a more lustrous gleam than his old iron one. Both the grip and its pointed pommel were a pure white- the grip through paint, and the pommel by nature. Finally, the guard consisted of overlapping steel rings which surrounded the centerpiece of the blade- a bright red ruby. Together, they resembled the structure of an atom- a nucleus surrounded by its orbitals. This was intentional, of course, and amused the aspiring chemist greatly. Its proportions were mostly normal, although it was wider than most, and just a tad thicker, and one side of the guard reached out higher than the other, making it more useful in block enemy attacks. She smile and handed the blade over to her client, who seemed more than overjoyed in his own way.

"It's beautiful, Sai. I don't know what to say. I don't have much money, but-" he began.

She shook her head and cut him off. "Nope, the pleasure is mine. Besides, what's an NPC gonna do with col anyways?" she teased. She laughed, then bowed at him. "Just use it well, and drop by again sometime. Maybe I'll have another assignment for you! Who knows?" 

Azide continued to thank her profusely, then nodded and promised he'd do just that someday. For now, though, he still had much to do. He left the shop and closed the door gently, Atom Slicer in hand. He unsheathed his old rapier, or rather, the flimsy piece of iron he'd been using as a weapon, and tossed it aside. "Out with the old and in with the new." He walked off, his quest complete.

[Azide 0]

=====Quest Complete=====

400 col (1 page completed) + 30 col (6 HP enemy looted) = +430 col

1 SP (topic completed) + 1 SP (quest reward) = +2 SP

1 mat (wind wasp) + 1 mat (noncombat gathered) + 1 mat (stone golem) = +3 mats**

**Wait, actually, do those mats I gathered actually get spent on the weapon? I roleplayed acquiring them, but i did legitimately get them as well. If so, no mats acquired!

Sword Skill Trained (One-Handed Rapier) = -2 SP (Rank 1/5)

Quest Reward Item:

Item Type: One-Handed Rapier

Item Name: Atom Slicer

Item Rarity: Uncommon

Item Attributes: +1 Damage

Item Description: A rapier crafted in such a way as to make slashing a viable option. Its edge is said to be sharp even at an atomic level.