PP - F1 Wandering Around Town (Calrex, Takneil) (Completed)

[Calrex 0]

Calrex made his way back into the Starting City, returning from wandering around outside, giving a sigh of relief as he successfully arrived back through its gates.

 

"Alright another day still alive. I haven't seen Teayre in a while, and Oikawa seems to have been busy at his forge. Although I guess I've been pretty busy myself with gathering materials. Hope everyone's doing alright."

 

He gave a small sigh as he went over to a nearby fountain, sitting down at its edge as he looked around. Even though he had been in the game for more than a few days things seemed to be about the same as when he first arrived. There was a mix of players and NPCs moving quickly back and forth through the hustle and bustle. He reflected on his first time moving around through SAO and how so many people had come to greet him. The whole thing felt so recent, yet somehow in the distant past.

 

He looked down at his Anneal Blade, the sight of it reminding him of how far he had come from before. When he first started out he could barely score a hit on an enemy. Now he even recently took on a golem with his bare hands and made it out alive.

 

"lLooks like the grand plan of escaping this game is going perfectly fine. From what I remember the frontline players are still working on opening the 11th floor. I wonder what new mysteries will be held there."

 

With that he gave a calming breath as he gave himself a brief moment of rest.

[Takneil 0]

The boy sighed as he made his way through the streets of the city, he hadn't been here for that long it felt as though it would never end. Takneil gulped nervously darting his eye from each individual in the crowd, he had nearly cried in relief when he had heard there were safe zones but nevertheless he always felt like his back was exposed wherever he went. 

 

"I wonder how much longer this will last?" he asked himself as he popped up the worn collar of the long black coat he dawned. Takneil wasn't one to really enjoy being seen out in the open due to his uneasy anxiety but he at least needed to try and find someone to help him level up, he knew that this game is unfair in the way it works with Players Versus Enemies and if he were to survive to make it out he would need to live through that unfairness by making himself stronger. Takneil let out a startled yelp as he noticed he had wondered mindlessly in front of another who was sitting on the edge of a fountain, quickly to not arose attention the boy takes a seat by the man. what should I do?, if I just sit here I'll look like a creep...he thought to himself as he bit his lip. "So...hows it goin?" he asked before sharply cursing himself for asking a weird question.

[Calrex 0]

"So...hows it goin?"

 

A voice out of nowhere broke Calrex's train of thought as he looked over. It was a younger boy that had sat down next to him, looking over, "Well, that's definitely an interesting way to greet someone. Alright then, now how to respond...can't be too friendly or it might be too overbearing, to standoffish and it might be offputting. Hm..."

 

He gave a quick look and saw that this person was new to SAO and hadn't even reached Level 2 yet. Going from that Calrex figured that he was probably curious about the game and was asking a higher player about the game. "Would make sense. I mean at the level I'm at I can give him a hand like I did with Riksis and Warnik.."

 

"It's going alright so far. I'm Calrex, nice to meet you."

 

He extended his hand in greeting to the new player. At the same time he was scanning with his eyes subtlety to check for the players reaction in order to determine how he would respond.

[Takneil 0]

Takneil swallowed his fear as the man spoke, SAO wasn't a game he could just go through being a loner and it didn't help that he was never good with staying calm when meeting new people but if he were to survive he would need to make friends. "Likewise, the name is Takneil" he says as he shakes Calrex's hand. Alright we have introductions lets try and hold a conversation...Takneil instructs himself as he retracts his hand trying his best to flash the man a friendly smile...at least as much as you could with a scarred face and eye-patch. Keeping his eye on the Calrex. "But if you want you can call me Tak" he says as he fiddles with one of the trench coats straps, he enjoyed being able to feel the things he could in real life...it helped him maintain his sanity.

[Calrex 0]

Calrex nodded as the new player introduced himself as Takneil, or Tak for short, giving him a good shake of the hand.

 

"Alright, it seems like the initial awkward might have dispersed slightly. Although it seems like he's still feeling a little nervous. Guess I should respond with a little more open personality."

 

As Takneil gave his smile Calrex responded with his own, trying to assume a welcoming persona, "So then Tak, how're doing so far, well, other than the fact that you're alive of course."

 

Calrex shifted his sitting position so that rather than sitting perpendicular to Takneil he was angled slightly towards him, around a 45 degree angle so that he could still sit comfortable while giving the player his attention.

[Takneil 0]

Shifting uncomfortably Takneil cleared his throat. "I'm gonna be honest here...I haven't been doing so good" he states as he swipes open the menu remembering he only had what he started with, it made him feel uneasy that his life depended on HP and stats rather than his own power. " I've been afraid to leave here since I've started this cursed game, it isn't fair that all it takes is five points to kill me..." he says sadly as he turns away from Calrex. "I haven't been able to find my friends and so far everybody else just laughs at me if I ask them to help" he states as he closes the menu.

[Calrex 0]

Calrex listened attentively as Takneil explained to him his current situation, a stoic look on his face as he processed the words.

 

"Sounds like he's had a seriously rough start, especially with the fact that everyone so far has been ignoring him. I got lucky and encountered a bunch of people that helped me out in getting started. He does seem to be honest and straightforward so far though, maybe that might be part of it as well for all I can tell."

 

"Geez, sounds like you've had it rough. I would be worried too if my health was still at 5 points. I can't really speak for the players you've encountered though, but all the people I've met so far have been helpful. I guess that you found a bunch of bad eggs so to speak."

 

"Let's see, I've got some time for now. Maybe I'll show him around the city and then if he's feeling up for it I might take him out nearby and introduce him to the combat system. That might be what he needs to get started."

 

Calrex got to his feet, stretching his arms to help wake himself up, "How about this? I can give you a tour around the city for now, since I'm guessing you haven't gotten a hold of where everything is just yet. After that if you're feeling up for it I'll take you just outside the gates and have you give a shot at the battle system. Think that might be enough to get you a good start?"

[Takneil 0]

The boy startled as Calrex offered to help him out, looking to the standing man incredulously Takneil gripped the ledge of the fountain nervously. he wasn't sure how to take the good news it seemed almost suspicious to him but Calrex didn't seem to be of the same crowd he kept on running into, going through the thoughts in his head the boy pushed all doubts away from his mind he had to make a friend at some point maybe Calrex was the person he had to trust...

 

Standing from the fountain Takneil nodded towards the man as he straightened his coat, it may have been a game but he still had to worry about how he looked to others at least...that's what his mother would tell him...gods he hadn't thought of her ever since he entered the game she must be worrying either that or slamming the doctors heads together. Takneil chuckled at the last image in his mind. offering Calrex a grateful smile the boy studied the area his mood a little improved from thoughts of the librarian. "so where to?" he asked curious about where the two might go.

[Calrex 0]

Calrex gave a nod as Takneil got to his feet and gave him a smile of thanks, asking where they should head first. "Well since you're first starting out I'll take you over to the various districts where you can procure items and such once you start obtaining col from monsters."

 

With that he motioned for Takneil to follow him, leading through the winding pathways of the city. As usual the city seemed to be hustling and bustling with various NPCs and players that were coming and going in and out of the gates. As he did he checked back every once and a while to make sure that Takneil was keeping pace as he weaved his way through the crowds.

 

After some time he arrived at the start of the merchant district, the familiar smokes from the blacksmith shops rising up. "Wow, Oikawa wasn't kidding when he said that there were too many blacksmiths in the market." As he arrived he turned to face Takneil, "Alrighty, so here we are. This is the merchant district. This particular area is where you'll find all the shops that you will need to visit for armor, weapons, and other various items. In fact."

 

He swiped through his menu, recalling a particular quest that he had noticed when he first started the game, showing it to Takneil, "If you need another source of income rather than killing monsters there is a quest called <<Earning a Living>> which will allow you to choose a profession and even open your own shop on whatever floor you would like that has been cleared."

 

"I personally didn't take the quest because none of the jobs seemed to be that interesting, although I hope my little side job of gathering materials for the shops is useful to them."

[Takneil 0]

The boy followed Calrex nervously as he made his way through the crowd, he had almost lost the man a few times due to admiring the pure beauty of the massive city. Takneil kept silent as the two walked wanting nothing but to keep focus on Calrex's words, he bit his lip as he saw rising stacks of smoke rising in the distance. Was there a fire?, he asked himself. 

 

Takneil yelped in surprise as the man turned to him, he hadn't expected to be stopping anytime soon and would have preferred to keep moving...standing out in the open like this it made him feel open despite the fact it was a safe zone. Calming himself the boy listened to Calrex. Oh so the smoke must have been rising from the forges, he mused as another thought came across his mind. "wait what's Col?" he asked with a tilted head.

[Calrex 0]

"Col is the currency within Sword Art Online. It's what you use for pretty much any exchange, although some player-run shops are also willing to trade goods of materials for items as well. However it really does help to check and see what the offers are."

 

Calrex motioned for Takneil to follow him over to the side so that they were away from the middle of the crowd and wouldn't get swept this and way that. He leaned against a wall, double checking his menu before closing it.

 

"Here's the breakdown that I remember so far in terms of the shops. If you're ever in need of general items like basic healing potions and teleportation crystals check out the merchant shops. They're there to provide whatever basic needs a player requires to survive outside in the fields. They also generally also operate certain types of exchanges which will carry some weaponries provided from various shops. Sometimes you can even find great weapons and armor in their cases.

 

Next is the Blacksmiths and Tailors. There's some stuff going on between them that I'm not exactly aware of, but in general my recommendation is that if you are looking for any type of armor or weapon to go and see these shops. Of course, blacksmiths work with metal and tailors will work with cloth. One of my good friends Oikawa runs on actually on this floor called the Gurando Foji while on the fourth floor there is a tailor shop called The Lion's Den run by Ariel, although I believe she's currently closed up shop in the meantime.

 

After that comes the other professions, although I won't bore you with a lengthy explanation of each one, but they're as follows: artisan, alchemist, cook, fisherman, and performer. Each one is relatively self-explanatory. If you're looking for a fairly unique shop once you get to a high enough level head to the 10th floor alchemist shop called Alchemic Contagion run by Mari."

 

He gave a breath after finishing his speech, "Most of this stuff should also be easily locatable within your menu's tutorial. Go ahead and wait here for a second, I'll be right back."

 

With that Calrex quickly went into a merchant shop titled Catfish Sundries, popping out again and walking over to Takneil, "Here, these will probably do you some good since you're starting out."

 

Gifted

1 Healing Potion

1 Field Rations

 

"A healing potion is the main thing to heal yourself while in combat. Later on it's not as much as one would like, but more health is better than no health. The second one you need to use before going into combat, but it will give a temporary boost to your health."

[Takneil 0]

Takneil chuckles nervously as the man explains what Col is and the uses. so it's money...I should have been able to figure that out. he chastises himself as he follows Calrex out of the way of the fast moving crowd, the boy eyed the players cautiously as he listened to the man...

 

The boy raises an eye brow with interest as Calrex began talking about professions. "So I don't have to rely solely on monsters as an objective" he states as he begins examining each of the shops on the street. I'll have to try my best at doing that quest... he says to himself as he watches the man enter the store.

 

What am I doing here?...he asks himself as he waits for Calrex. I should just remain here on Floor 1 until the game is completed. Takneil says sadly in his mind. The boy was lost in thought when a soft *ding* caused him to snap back to reality...or...virtual reality that is, noticing the gift notification Takneil swipes open his menu. "what's this?" he asks not realizing Calrex had given him something.

 

Received...

1 Healing Potion

1 Field Rations

 

Raising an arched brow as he noticing the man had returned Takneil looks to him gratefully. "Thank you..." he says not wanting to further interrupt Calrex. 

[Calrex 0]

After Takneil accepted the potion and field rations Calrex gave a nod as he looked around, "Alright, the next thing I think you should see before you decide to embark outside the city. If you don't feel like you're ready for it just yet let me know. It's nothing that no one knows about, but it is something I tend to keep in the back of my mind whenever I'm outside of the safe zones."

 

With that he directed Takneil through the crowds, leading him to an area a little more out of the way from the hustle and bustle of the crowds. The feeling of this area was more solemn and serious than the business of the merchant district. After leading Takneil up a flight of stairs the two would arrive at a large slab of stone. Inscribed on it were the names of numerous players. A good amount of the names had a strike through them, as if someone had taken a chisel and struck the stone.

 

"This is the Monument of Life. Inscribed on this are the names of all the players that are trapped within Sword Art Online. It also serves as a way for all of us to see how many of us are left. Note this though."

 

He went over to the stone, pointing at one of the striked out names, "All of the names who have this strike through have already died within the game."

 

He went over back to Takneil, turning to face the monument, "The names of all the people I've met so far have not been crossed out yet, for that I'm thankful. I brought you here so that you understand as well. While we are in a game, this isn't something that can be taken lightly. Be careful with the steps you take."

 

"I feel like I've dampened the mood here, but I should probably get these points out of the way before I lead him anywhere else."

 

"Next question I have for you is this. Are you familiar with player killers?"

[Takneil 0]

Takneil nodded confidently as the two moved away from the crowd, straitening his tattered coat the boy could feel a twinge of a smirk take to the corner of his mouth...he hated being out in the open like that it never boded well for him. "we'll see when we get there, I mean I don't think I even know how to equip my sword!" he plays off as a joke as the two made their way up the stairs. wait where are we going?...hold on we can climb stairs!?, he exclaims in his mind temporarily baffled by the realization. 

 

Taking note of the dreaded feeling the boy allows his mood to become a bit more serious to respect the sense, looking to the large stone slab Takneil looks to Calrex with an arched brow awaiting his words...

 

His eye widening in hope the boy turns to the stone and begins scouring it, they have to be here!. he thinks to himself as his gaze falls to an unscratched name. "Hikoru's still alive...thank heavens" he says with a relived sigh as he continues on down the Monument of Life. Come on, Come on!. he repeats over in his mind as he searches for one more name, a smile forming at the corner of his mouth Takneil sighs once more as he turns away from the stone. Zerax is also well... he says happily within his mind as he looks to Calrex. "Thank you Calrex, with this I was able to find out if my friends are alive or not" he states finding respect for the man. 

 

Takneil sneers at the mention of player killers, he hadn't had the misfortune of running into one yet but he knew of them from more...safe games. "Yes I've heard of them...their another reason I'm still level one" he snarls as he takes a few calming breaths.

[Calrex 0]

"Guess he also knows a couple of people in this game as well. Good hear they're still alive."

 

As Takneil responded to Calrex's question about player killers Calrex nodded, "That's understandable. I wouldn't worry about it so far, since you're still new to the game. From my experience they tend to only target players that are easy to kill but yield a good amount of experience or players that have equipment that they can steal. Since you have neither you will be okay for quite some."

 

Calrex went over to a nearby bench, sitting down, "The other thing I would advise is to be careful not to draw any conclusions about them either. Player killers are usually distinguished by an orange or red crystal, but that's the only real defining trait about them. Some people I have met that have killed players in the past had legitimate reasons for doing so. Self defense and such are some of those reasons."

 

He looked over at Takneil as he continue his speech, "Take note also to be careful of the colors of their crystals. There is an actual quest that player killers can complete when they are orange that will turn them back to green. Red players are ones that completed the quest and killed again. However as an orange player one can kill as much as they want without changing their color. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the most dangerous characters still had orange crystals."

 

Finishing that part Calrex got to his feet, "In any case just be careful. Player killers can't attack in safe zones, so you're safe here. The only real way they could do so would be to challenge you to a Total Loss duel, and in that case they would need your consent. So if you remain aware you shouldn't need to worry."

 

With that Calrex motioned for Takneil to follow him as he left the monument, heading through another series of streets, "The next place you'll need to know about once you get stronger. It's the teleportation plaza, which houses the gate that allows us to travel between the different floors."

[Takneil 0]

Takneil listened to the man's words closely taking in all the information he could get, after all...he would need it to survive. it would benefit him to remain at his level with PKers it sounded but now he knew his friends remained alive and that was enough to push him that one final step..Takneil would become stronger, remembering that he couldn't even figure out how to equip his weapon he sighed sadly deciding to stand as Calrex sat down the boy examined the monument further fixating on one name in particular, was his name going to be scratched one of these days?...

 

Gulping anxiously the boy gladly followed Calrex once more finding the stone to be too eerie for his tastes, he furthered listened to the man careful not to miss any info. "So it's like a portal?" he asks curiously as his tattered coat flowed gently behind him.

[Calrex 0]

"Actually it is literally a portal, although we don't have to walk through it. Basically we just need to stand in the active vicinity of the gate."

 

As he led Takneil down a flight of stairs they emerged in a smaller square with a single statue-like formation in the center. It was a single small raised platform with which a few feet above it floated a rotating ring. The ring itself seemed to be tilled with a transparent almost aurora-like display of blue and green. As if originating from the pedestal itself was a circle inscribed into the ground formed from various runes and unreadable text.

 

"See that circle on the ground. That would be the area you need to stand inside in order to be able to use the portal. Once you are within it you can call up your menu and select which floor you'd like to travel to. There's a similar area like this within each floor that's connected to the main settlement of that floor, so you don't need to worry about having to fight right when you teleport."

 

Calrex moved over to the side so that Takneil could get a good look, "Right now the tenth floor is the highest floor that we've gotten unlocked so far, but there's a raid being planned to try and open the eleventh floor. Hopefully if things go well that'll add another floor fairly soon."

[Takneil 0]

Laughing nervously Takneil gulps as he looks to the rings, he didn't think that he would be using them anytime soon but it was still need to know information. keeping his eyes on the gateway the boy cleared his throat. "wait we've only gotten to the tenth floor?" he asks a little surprised, Takneil was honestly shocked that the frontliners had only gotten that far...what happened to try hards?.

 

"well either way I don't think I'll be on the higher floors anytime soon" he states honestly, knowing that he would want to be a higher level before he faced the monsters on the above floors.

[Calrex 0]

Calrex gave a nod as Takneil commented on the fact that even with the amount of time passed the tenth floor was the last floor to be reached, "Yeah, I wish I could say that we're going at a fast rate, but at the moment there aren't many players that are strong enough to actually be on the frontlines doing the raids. While all of us want to get out of this game as fast as possible, it wouldn't be worth it if we lost people in the process. From what I know we're taking it carefully in order to preserve as many lives as possible."

 

As Takneil made known his hesitation about moving to the upper floors Calrex nodded in agreement, "I wouldn't worry about moving to the upper floors until you're about level 3 or so. By then I feel you should be safe with trying out at least the second and third floors. Not all of the quests available are on this floor unfortunately."

 

With that Calrex motioned for Takneil to follow him as he led him over back in the direction of the merchant district, "So far that's about all the knowledge I can give you. The rest can be found usually though the tutorial, but the only other things I could help you with is combat. If you don't feel up for it just yet though I understand."

[Takneil 0]

"I understand" he says as he follows Calrex, watching the people within the crowd nervously as the two made their way towards the merchant district. Takneil startled when the man mentioned that he only had combat left, was he ready to go outside of the walls?. looking to his hands the boy bites his lip in thought, what if I died?. he thinks to himself as he imagines his name being scratched from the monument. sighing Takneil looked to Calrex. "I'm going against my instincts but lets go do it...I need to learn some how"