[SP-F1] Better Than Real Life

[HolyKnight 0]

HolyKnight was running across rooftops in the Town of Beginnings. Laughing, she had never felt more alive! Sneaking up to a ledge, she could hear the players below as they worried about finding col to afford sleeping in an Inn, as they worried about finding food, or more water. The players discussed quest and monster strategies, and how they just would never make it.

 

Weak! She thought they were all weak! Instead of worrying about sleeping outside, they should be thankful it isn't raining. Instead of worrying about food, they should be thankful they started with any bread at all! She knew though, that they would come to appreciate these things as they ran out of food, or water, or col. You can't appreciate food until you haven't eaten for a week. You can't appreciate water until you're catching rain in your hands just because its the only water you've drank in three days. Many of these players were going to die, she decided. They weren't stout of mind or strong in body to keep themselves from dying. HolyKnight knew that she was in ample supply of both a strong mind and a strong body. She knew that she would be one of the ones to survive, no to live in Aincrad.

 

Standing she made her way away from the ledge, and went back to running across rooftops; she had never felt this free, not once in her entire life, it was a-mazing.

[HolyKnight 0]

Walking through the marketplace situated on the main street of The Town of Beginnings, HolyKnight observed everything around her. The market was busy, full of characters and non-player characters, NPC's, alike. They were all bustling, talking, laughing, and participating in commerce, it was something HolyKnight was pleased to see. People in this game should enjoy themselves, she thought. They could be back in real life at work, or school, or doing any number of things they hated, but here they are in A GAME.

 

Yes their was the threat of death, but you had that in the real world too. Worse, you had the threat of death mixed with living a long, and painful life. A life where you could become powerful on your own, was much better than life in the real world where you're dependent on things such as your parents, your school, your occupation, your label.

 

Here the only label that mattered was your Username.

[HolyKnight 0]

After perusing the marketplace and getting an idea of what type of sword she wanted. HolyKnight began making her way out of town. If she was going to have a specific sword crafted, she would need to gather materials, earn col, and hunt boars. Having a good idea of the area from listening to the conversations of others, she set out. She knew this was going to be the hardest part, not dying early in the game while she still didn't have any skills or more health. Still, she was hoping to be careful and get through this unscathed.

 

Moving throughout the field, she reached a good vantage point on a hill and looked down. Ahead she could see several boars grazing, and a small group of shrubs in-between them. Moving carefully towards the shrubbery, she checked it out for materials, but didn't find anything useful.

 

ID 17816 LD 6

[HolyKnight 0]

After not finding any materials, HolyKnight moved onto the boars. She decided to start with one small boar, which was slightly away from the group. Running up to it, she launched her attack. "HOLY STRIKE!"

 

ID 17832 BD 2 MD 6

 

As she shouted her attack, she swung down, but when she attacked the boar, she only bounced off. Shaking off her attack, the boar rushed her and smashed into her. Falling back with an 'Oof', she watched her health bar slowly drop. Not the best start...

 

HolyKnight 4/5 (-1)

Boar 3/3

[HolyKnight 0]

ID 17833 BD 3 MD 3

 

Standing herself back up, HolyKnight only became more determined. This time she attacked the boar head-on with more conviction. Running at the boar she clashed against it but couldn't seem to find a way to land a good strike. As they separated, the boar then charged her but HolyKnight was able to deflect the attack and circle away from the charge.

 

HolyKnight 4/5 

Boar 3/3

[HolyKnight 0]

ID 17834 BD 2 MD 4

 

Swinging her sword down at the boar, HolyKnight watched as her sword failed to break through the boars tough skin. Feeling the blade reverberate in her hand, HolyKnight became more frustrated. She expected to be good at this, but she wasn't having very much success. Slowly, the boar moved in for another attack but she managed to get herself out of the way in time and avoid taking more damage.

 

HolyKnight 4/5 

Boar 3/3

[HolyKnight 0]

ID 17838 BD 2 MD 3

 

Launching another attack, HolyKnight had to dart in to move herself closer to the enemy. As she did, the boar leaped over her head, avoiding her attack. Turning, she followed the beast as it ran around in a giant half-circle before charging at her. Once again, using her sword, she was able to deflect the attack and send the boar's rush off in another direction. This was going to take forever, she thought to herself.

 

HolyKnight 4/5 

Boar 3/3

[HolyKnight 0]

ID 17839 BD 7 MD 3

 

Finally deciding she had enough, HolyKnight attacked the boar again. This time, she attacked and screamed "HOLY STRIKE!" yet again. This time, when her blade hit the boar, she saw it make contact and a red damage wound appeared at the point where her blade made contact. Sending the boar tumbling back, she watched as it fell over dazed and confused.

 

HolyKnight 4/5 

Boar 1/3 (-2)

[HolyKnight 0]

ID 17841 BD 1 MD 4

 

Wanting to capitalize on the fact the boar was laying on the ground, HolyKnight swung her blade down attempting to spear the enemy while it was laying there. Suddenly, the boar kicked itself up and away and HolyKnights blade only drove into the ground. Pulling it back out, she quickly had to defend the return strike from the boar but was able to do so easily.

 

HolyKnight 4/5 

Boar 1/3 

[HolyKnight 0]

ID 17842 BD 5 MD 7

 

Charging the boar again, HolyKnight just barely missed landing a killing blow. As she did, the boar smashed into her, using its tusks to rip into her unarmored stomach. The tusk ripped into her and when it pulled away, she could see the red damage wound on her. Worse, the strike hurt. They were really living in a virtual world!

 

HolyKnight 3/5  (-1)

Boar 1/3 

[HolyKnight 0]

ID 17843 BD 4 MD 3

 

Attempting to attack the boar again, HolyKnight found herself locked sword to tusk with the rabid, snorting beast. Once again, her sword lacked the damaging capability to pierce through the thick skin of the beast. At the same time however, HolyKnights defensive skills were top-notch and allowed her to block the beasts attack. HolyKnight continued to look for an opening to strike, she wanted to finish this monster off, she wanted to earn her first kill in Aincrad.

 

HolyKnight 3/5  

Boar 1/3 

[HolyKnight 0]

ID 17844 BD 6 LD 7

 

Observing an opening, HolyKnight attacked the boar, with intentions to kill. Moving in with deadly malice, she blocked the boars rush, and then swung her blade deep into its side. Watching the creature burst into pixels, she felt completely exhilarated, like she had never felt before in real life. 'This was perfect', she thought to herself. It wasn't a perfect kill, but that would come with more time, more experience.

 

Looking over the drop menu, HolyKnight observed that she didn't earn any col, but that she did receive a material. She knew she needed at least five to requisition a new sword and so she decided to stop hunting and do some material gathering. After all, she needed to wait for her health to come back up. She had heard about a Combat Healing ability from other players, perhaps she would invest points in that next. It was hard to decide on where she should spend her skill points this early in the game. She had an idea of what she wanted in the end, but that would take a very long time at her current rate. Still, she wasn't going to lose faith, and decided to soldier on, because a person's character is built by life's challenges.

 

HolyKnight 3/5  

Boar 0/3 (-2)

 

+1 Material

[HolyKnight 0]

ID 17845 LD 9

 

Continuing to search the area, HolyKnight came across a group of weeds which looked promising. Squatting down, she tried to see if she could pull them up. Doing so, the game's auto-protect system activated and read 'Immortal Object'. The auto-protect system is what protected players in towns, and protected the games terrain from players who might try and deface it. Frustrated she got back up, finding these materials wasn't going to be easy.

 

HolyKnight 4/5  +1 Out of Combat Healing

[HolyKnight 0]

Walking up and over one of the hills, HolyKnight saw several players heading out into the field. Intriqued, she thought about following, but instead went a different direction. It was strange, to think about people working together after so short a time. It seemed like most of the parties that were forming were of people who knew each other in real life, or from other games. HolyKnight had noone like that. This thought bothered her and so she turned her attention to hunting for materials. Checking a rock cropping she was excited to see some 'basic alchemy stones'. Adding them to her inventory, she hoped to sell them quickly once she was back in town.

 

ID 17848 LD 15

 

+1 Material

 

HolyKnight 5/5  +1 Out of Combat Healing

[HolyKnight 0]

Continuing to check the rock outcropping, she failed to find any more materials. Sighing again, she continued looking around the area. She was toying with the idea of fighting another boar. They weren't extremely tough, but she still needed to get stronger if she was going to feel comfortable fighting them. To make it even worse, they were clearly a faster way of gathering materials then this slow grind of searching possible areas. Swinging her sword in the air, she posed to it a question.

 

"Should we fight another boar?"

 

ID 17849 LD 8

[HolyKnight 0]

When the sword failed to answer, she decided to keep searching. Checking a tree for possible fruit, she failed to find anything. So far she had found two materials, not very promising at all. Still, the weather was nice, and it was only mid-afternoon, she had plenty of time to keep searching. Wanting to remain within eyesight distance of The Town of Beginnings, she was slowly moving in a large circle going from east to west, but keeping it in view the entire time.

 

ID 17850 LD 11

[HolyKnight 0]

The field of beginnings, was vast and covered in beautiful green grass. It crossed her mind that sleeping out here, might be more comfortable then sleeping on the stone ground of the Starting City, but of course there was more danger involved in sleeping outside of here. Player Killers roamed these hills, and even more, animals came out at night. Monsters much stronger then what would be encountered during the day. And of course, players couldn't operate well in the dark. Their were in-game penalties you would suffer if you didn't have necessary skills to survive in darkness. 

 

Still...the weather was nice. Coming across a small stream, HolyKnight drove her hands deep into its crystal blue waters. Feeling the stones at the bottom, she yanked one up, seeing it labeled as a 'Water Crafting Stone', she added it in to her inventory. Slowly, her collection was growing.

 

ID 17851 LD 19

 

+1 Material

[HolyKnight 0]

Seeing another boar in front of her, HolyKnight decided it was time for more combat. She re-equipped her sword and charged at the monster. As she neared it, she swung her blade and made contact. Angrily, the beast snorted and charged HolyKnight right back. Slamming into her, HolyKnight took quite a bit of damage from the beasts critical hit. Her health bar ticked down to nearly half just from the one blow. Serving as a reminder of her own fragility, HolyKnight quietly prepared herself in case of a quick death. She wasn't afraid to die here, it would be better to die here then in real life; but still, she would rather she not die until she got to see the very top level of this world. There was still so much more for her to see!

 

ID 17853 BD 7 MD 9

 

HolyKnight 3/5 (-2)

Boar 1/3 (-2)

[HolyKnight 0]

Once again HolyKnight charged at her fiendish enemy. This time, the pair locked up blade to tusks and the creature let out a great snort. Breaking the gridlock off, she was unable to find a place to strike, while the boar's snout was driven straight into the ground. It wasn't damaged from this however, the move simply allowed HolyKnight to step away from the boar, in an attempt to create space between them.

 

ID 17855 BD 5 MD 1

 

HolyKnight 3/5 

Boar 1/3 

[HolyKnight 0]

Following up the beasts nose-dive, HolyKnight stepped back but tripped over a boulder that was behind her. Landing on her butt, with an 'oof', she felt rather embarrassed. As the boar rushed in to attack, it also tripped over a rock and went tumbling, a rather lucky break for HolyKnight.

 

ID 17856 BD 2 MD 4

 

HolyKnight 3/5 

Boar 1/3