[SP-F2] Aincrads Library - You Can Check Out Anytime You Like, But You Can Never Leave!

[Reusririasuir 0]

"TELEPORT URBUS!"

 

Landing in the midst of the busy Medieval Kingdom, I slowly made my way out of the large, stone, teleport center-piece. In my ears, I could hear the sounds of a marketplace nearby. The ringing of blacksmiths hammering out iron, the neigh of horses within stables, and the hustle and bustle of people through the towns streets, all were sounds given to us by the game for added realism. But was it still considered 'realism'? Realism was defined as 'a quality representing a person, thing, or situation in a way that it is true to life', but to the ten-thousand players trapped in this game, this game was life. It had been months that they were stuck virtually and they had even cleared several of the lower floors, but they would undoubtedly slow down and find themselves living longer and longer periods of time on specific floors.

 

Looking around, I couldn't help but shudder at the thought of living in Urbus for the long-term. The castle was a stone grey, the beds were made of straw, and copious amounts of straw covered the streets around the town. The weather was moderate on this floor, but that was the floors only saving grace. The rest of the Second Floor was very unattractive. It started in a mountainous region, and later expanded out more towards woodlands with large flat-topped mountains, but throughout the floor the sky was an overcast grey. The background music was made up of an Oboe-orchestra piece.

 

Today I would be sticking to the mountainous  area in and around Urbus. Quietly double-checking my posting on the message board, I waited to see if anyone would answer the open invitation for some help exploring the area today.

[Reusririasuir 0]

After waiting quite awhile, longer then I would usually wait even, I decided no-one was coming. Closing my menu's and double-checking everything in my inventory, I went ahead and started making my way out of town. Walking past the stables, the vendors, and the street-performers, I marched until I stood at the very exit of Urbus. Taking one last, final breath, I made my way out of town.

 

Stumbling over the rocky terrain, I couldn't help but look at the tall mountains and wish that there was a way to rappel down them. Of course, to go down the mountains I would first have to climb them,which was my immediate goal. Reaching the base of the mountain, I looked up. Finding the nearest hand-holds, I began making my way up the cliff-face.

 

Slowly I would climb up, carefully plotting out my holds nine or ten handholds in a row. Finally, reaching an intermediate ledge, I pulled myself onto it, and took a look around. Much to my surprise the ledge wasn't just a small outcropping in the cliff-wall, but it actually contained the entrance to a cave. As I walked up to the hole in the wall which was hidden by the surrounding shrubbery, I realized just how small it was. It was small enough to only allow one player to enter at a time, and they would need to crawl on their hands and knees while going in. Slowly, I got down onto my hands and knees and began shuffling in...

[Reusririasuir 0]

Feeling the cramped earth around me, I could tell the passage was only getting tighter. Hoping it wasn't going to be a dead-end, I had brief visions of dying in this small tunnel with half a mountain falling on me. Not the most glorious of deaths inside Aincrad for sure. Even though it slowly tightened, I kept crawling until finally, I felt it open up. Reaching around me, I was conscious of just how dark it was in this cave. I was barely able to see my hand in front of my face as I padded the walls making sure I had enough room to fully stand up.

 

Once stood up, I activated my Night Vision skill. Being an expensive skill to learn, I was not happy with having to allocate so many skill points to it, but it was showing itself to be very useful. Removing the darkness penalties was only it's combat benefit, just being able to see the pitch-black area around me was it's most beneficial use. Imagine stumbling through this dark hole without being able to see anything, you'd have hit your head three times by now!

[Reusririasuir 0]

Making my way forward I looked at the walls around me, they were rough, porous, and not very soft to the touch. Still, the architecture of this cave was wrong. It didn't look...natural. The ceiling was carved out in a triangle shape, while the passage itself was quite wide and yet had a flat floor, all things which wouldn't make sense from natural erosion or even simulated procedural generation.

 

By this point Reu was quite certain Aincrad had been developed with extremely powerful procedural, analog, genetic algorithms; meaning that each area of Aincrad was developed with a rough idea in mind by the creator Akihiko Kayaba naturally, but it was enhanced with complicated ever-evolving algorithms which were dependent on not only themselves but also other information they gleaned from data fed too it. You could have every algorithm used by Kayaba and you would never recreate an exact replication of Aincrad, even if you supplied the same data to the algorithms, there was simply no guarantee they would evolve in the exact same manner each time. No doubt about it, Kayaba was every bit the genius he was made out to be.

 

Continuing his examination of the area, Reu slowly advanced up the corridor when suddenly, a Giant Spider suddenly leaped down in front of him. Reu charged in, ready to do battle with the beast.

[Reusririasuir 0]

Coming right up to the spider I drove my blade deep into the creature sending it staggering backwards. Recovering quickly, the eight-legged creature scampered up the wall to my right side, and then it shot a web pinning my arm in place. Pulling at the arm, I could feel that I wasn't going to be able to get it free; the webbing felt as strong as steel cable. Suddenly, the spider leaped out at me and drove its pincers deep into my trapped arm. Shaking it off, I was still unable to move, trapped by the webbing.

 

ID 18389 BD 8 MD 9

 

Reu 39 / 43 (-4) (3 + 1 Critical)

Giant Spider 18 / 22 (-4) (1 + 3 Weapon)

[Reusririasuir 0]

Still trapped, I could only watch the spider dart around me with little to no interest in launching an all-out attack. It seemed to be slowly testing the waters for how close it could get to me without me being able to hit it. Waiting patiently, I switched my sword to my free hand, and quietly watched the spider. Finally, feeling it was close enough, I darted out with my blade. The steel tip of my sword struck the creature, and lit up several red 'damage' points on the beast. Trapped, alone, in the dark, I smiled.

 

 

ID 18393 BD 6 (5 + 1 Lucky Trinket) MD 3

 

Reu 39 / 43 

Giant Spider 14 / 22 (-4) (1 + 3 Weapon)

[Reusririasuir 0]

Standing in pitch blackness I was forced to come to terms with the fact I was stuck. With this apparent, the only thing I  try and cut my way out. Taking my blade, I powered up a sword skill and smashed it against the webbing. With a loud clang, my sword bounced off. It really was as hard as steel! Unable to attack, unable to move, all I could do was sit back and listen as the spider scurried around me. Thankfully, the spider seemed hesitant to attack me, no doubt afraid of my hitting it once again with my sharpened sword.

 

 

ID 18400 BD 1 MD 3

 

Reu 39 / 43 

Giant Spider 14 / 22 

[Reusririasuir 0]

My right arm trapped, I pulled until my wrists were tingling from pain. The webbing wrapped around my wrist wasn't going to break. Frustrated, I decided to focus myself on defending as best I could. I had limited mobility in the area I was in, and so I setup my footwork as best I could. As the spider darted in, I relied on my armor and my footwork to send its attack glancing off. Prepping my sword for a counter-strike, I lifted it, and let the sword skill do the work. Feeling the pulse of a critical hit, I watched as the spider went careening across the pitch-black room and felt the warmness of my battle healing ability. Thankful for night vision, I did my best to keep my eyes on the spider, hoping to not lose it in the giant, blackened room.

 

ID 18413 BD 9 CD 12 MD 3 (6 - 2 Armor - 1 Acrobatics)

 

Reu 40 / 43 (+1 Battle Healing)

Giant Spider 9 / 22 (-5) (1 + 3 Weapon + 1 Critical)

[Reusririasuir 0]

As the spider came rushing back, I once again used my adept footwork to avoid its deadly strike. As the creature came close, I noticed green goo coming from its pincers. 'Poision?' I thought to myself. Reaching out with my sword, I again was able to strike the creature before it could attack. This time however, it pushed through my critical strike and leaped at me, intending to do me harm. As it's massive, disgustingly hairy legs bore down on top of me, it was all I could do to direct the pincers away from me. Finally, I was able to shift my feet to the side and through the beast away from me.

 

ID 18415 BD 9 MD 5 (8 - 2 Armor - 1 Acrobatics)

 

Reu 40 / 43 

Giant Spider 4 / 22 (-5) (1 + 3 Weapon + 1 Critical)

[Reusririasuir 0]

Patiently tracking the spider with my eyes, I strained to keep up with its movements. Even with the illumnination of my night vision skill, it was still quite hard to keep up with this beast in the darkness. Noisily it scampered about, first moving onto the walls, then the ceiling, and then the walls again. Circles, it walked circles around me. Undeterred, I kept my confidence high. Waiting for it to finally launch its attack, I met it with my blade once again. I was still limited in the use of my right-hand, but my left was more then skilled enough to hit the beast as it flew through the darkness. With a final screech, it exploded into data fragments.

 

Looking at my battle results page, I was thankful for the large amount of Col and materials left behind by the spider. However, my right-hand was still trapped in webbing. Looking down the hall in the direction of a startling noise, I realized, something else was making its way towards me.

 

ID 18423 BD 6 CD 12 LD 23 (19 + 2 Lucky Trinket + 2 Search)

 

Reu 41 / 43 (+1 Battle Healing)

Giant Spider 0 / 22 (-4) (1 + 3 Weapon)

 

+220 Col (10 * Mob HP)

+2 Material