[SP-F1] <<Earning a Living>> Nelkeatye Tailoring

[Nelkeatye 0]

The day was hot, the game’s temperature settings were high and the artificial Sun was shining bright without a cloud in the sky. Just Great, Nel mused to himself as he queued up for a drink in the fountain, oppressive heat and my clothes are just terrible for it and on top of that I have no cash for an upgrade.

 

Finally getting to his turn at the fountain, Nel leaned in taking a drink of the refreshing water I’ll still never get over how real this all feels.

 

Just then, a commotion started at the middle of the line, higher level players tried to bully lower ones and a scuffle started, Nel was pushed forwards and as he tumbled there was an audible RIP as he coat sleeve caught on the fountain.

As he tumbled forwards it was only a matter of moments before his coat turned blue and then shattered into tiny data fragments, as the basic item’s durability reduced to 0.

 

“Aww Man! Now what am I going to do?â€

 

Nel Picked himself up and moved away from the fountain, bemoaning the loss of his coat, the short sleeved tunic beneath was tatty and his trousers were covered in dirt and dust from his time wandering around the first floor of Aincrad.

 

“I guess if I’m going to be spending some time here in this game I best think about a profession.â€

 

Taking a seat on a bench, Nel brought up the game’s information menu and started to scroll through the professions, Alchemist, Blacksmith and Fisherman were thrown right out, far too dirty and hands on for his liking. Performer seemed tedious, he never did enjoy large crowds in the real world, he then spotted one that sounded perfect for his current clothing predicament...

 

“Hmm, Tailoring eh? Sounds good to me, now where can I find the chance to learn that?â€

 

Turning back to his menu, Nel looked at the map of the beginner’s town; it seemed there was a place set aside for shops of all trades, no doubt a good place to begin. Brushing himself off, Nel started strolling across town, re-adjusting his sword belt.

[Nelkeatye 0]

After a short, determined stroll through the bustling markets of the beginner’s town, Nel found himself amongst the dedicated stores for the various traders’ of SAO. A few of them he could see were player run, whilst others run by NPCs. Not wishing to bother another player with his need for a new outfit, especially when he had no means of payment right now, Nel headed towards a Tailor’s shop, the Golden Needle, with a sign in the window ‘Apprentice wanted’.

 

“Hmm, must be my lucky day, or one of these quests I keep hearing about,†he wondered aloud to himself, “either way, I best seize the opportunity while I can.â€

 

With determination, Nel pushed open the door and heard the small bell go off with a pleasant chime. Ensuring eh closed the door carefully behind him so not to bang, Nel walked over to the counter where a small old woman looked up at him from a short stool. She had a needle in her hands and was deftly threading it with golden thread, lost in her own activity; the shop’s proprietor hadn’t heard Nel enter.

Mesmerised by her agile fingers and keen perception, despite the large rimmed glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, Nel stood staring for a few moments before remembering to speak.

 

“Good afternoon,†He spoke softly and politely, “I’m here about the sign in the window?â€

[Nelkeatye 0]

The old woman finished threading her needle and tied it off dextrously, so as not to have to thread it again before she was done. She carefully placed the needle down before turning to the boy who had entered the shop.

 

“Welcome to the Golden Thread, my boy, my name is Nenneke and I own this shop.†Nenneke was softly spoken and very calm, â€œhere about the apprentice position you say? Well, then; good! Now, I won’t let just anyone become my apprentice, you must first acquire a few things for me.â€

 

Whilst she was talking, Nenneke started to rummage through a set of small draws behind the till, pulling out a piece of parchment and a quill. Writing in a steady hand, the tailor penned a quick list for Nel, his tasks in the quest.

 

“Bring me the items on this list and I will teach you a bit of what I know, at least a way to fix those threadbare rags.â€

 

With that, the note was pushed into Nel’s hands and he was ushered out of the shop, it seems that to find these items he would to need to search.

[Nelkeatye 0]

Stepping out onto the street, once more ensuring the door to the Golden Thread was shut carefully behind him, Nel went off in search of a quiet area to check his list and think. Finding a wall on an empty street, Nel hopped onto it and sat down, his legs carelessly swinging in the air. With great care he took the letter written by Nenneke out of his pocket and examined it thoroughly.

 

Hmm, what do we have here? He mused to himself as he read the letter, it had several materials he was to find, he was to harvest cotton lint from the fields near the town, so that Nenneke could weave the cotton into the thread necessary for the garment. Secondly, Nel was to pick flowers from a field on an upper floor, which in turn Nenneke would crush and turn into dye. Finally,  Nel had to kill creatures with tough hides which were around the floors, which Nennek would sue to reinforce the garment.

"Well. I best first things first, cotton and then flowers, I think I'll leave leather till last as I'm sure I will need to kill animals for that."

Reading finished, Nel returned the letter to his pocket and set off to the farmlands on this level of Aincrad, determined to do some farming whilst the sun was still shining. Coming across the field, filled with rows upon rows of cotton plants, Nel couldn't see any farmhands or other NPCs around and so decided to start picking the cotton. This first attempt at a new occupation turned out to be a disaster, with Nel destroying some of the cotton stalks.

 

ID: 25535
Loot die: 6

[Nelkeatye 0]

After half an hour or so had passed and Nel still had no luck with harvesting any cotton, his fingers were dirty and stung from trying to snap the stalks of the plants, at this rate it was going to take him a long time to progress anywhere and worse, he had no idea how to pick cotton! The guide in his inventory from the brokers didn't seem to help at all, so Nel set off in search of some way to make it easy for him. It wasn't long, baking in the hot sun, before he had to take out one of his water rations. Sipping slowly as to conserve it, Nel spotted a man with stooped back nimbly and expertly examining a plant, and pulling off the bulbs in a swift motion before popping it into his sack. The farmhand was shirtless, his torso tanned from the sun, a wide brimmed hat on his head helped his balding pallet stay unburned, and his rough, flax trousers were rolled up around the ankle, with no boots. How does he make it look so easy?

 

"Ermm, good afternoon sir," Nel began nervously, not wanting to break the stranger from his stride as he was clearly 'in the zone', "is there any chance you could show me how to harvest? You see-"

 

Nel stopped speaking abruptly when the farmhand turned round, he was easily over six feet and his toned, athletic muscles dwarfed the slimmer boy. He looked to be around 30 or so, his hands were calloused and dirty, obviously used to hard toil. 

[Nelkeatye 0]

"Sorry Young 'Un, didn't hear you comin'", the middle aged farmer replied, looking strangely at the younger man who had walked through his cotton field without so much of a 'good day'. "You want to know how to pick cotton?"

 

The farmer brushed down his trousers as he stretched out his back and flexed his shoulders, getting rid of the stiffness which had built up over a few hours of hard work. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand before reaching for his water skin, bringing it to his lips, the middle aged man tipped it back, though only a few drops spilled out into his parched mouth. He shook the skin a few times before giving it up and dropping it on the ground beside him. With the skin being empty and it's purpose fulfilled the item burst into small blue fragments as it hit the compact soil, dry after the hot sun. 

 

"Ach, never a good thing, running out of water on a day like today, the sun is awful. Mind sharing some of yours kiddo?"

 

Taking the proffered bottle from the boy in his field, the farmer finished it off in one gulp, again tossing the item to the ground, shattering it into hundreds of bytes of data. One last stretch and he gestured to the cotton plants behind him, the ones he had been, up until recently, harvesting. 

 

"The name's Seiyuu, by the way, thanks for the water, what's your name kid?" he began, remembering that introductions were important. "Now, there are two ways of harvesting. The first is to pick the lint from the bolls which are ripened, though you could always snap the full bolls, which is much faster."

 

With his brief explanation finished, Seiyuu made a short demonstration of checking a cotton plant for a ripened boll before picking the lint from it, filling the sack on the ground next to him.

[Nelkeatye 0]

Ahh, so that’s what I was doing wrong? The strange pod lke things are what you need to pick, not hack. Nel thought to himself as he watched the muscular man work with such ease, sheepishly remembering his own attempts and the near butchery caused on the plants, at least they were virtual here in SAO.  The process seemed easy enough, ensure the ‘Boll’ was fully opened and simply pick the lint from inside, filling a sack, Seiyuu’s sack seemed huge, but Nel doubted he quite needed that much.

 

“Oh yes, I apologise,†he started, remembering to introduce himself, “My name is Nelkeatye, a pleasure. Do not trouble yourself over the water and thanks for the lesson.â€

 

Nel stepped towards the cotton plants next to Seiyuu and copied his technique, looking for the right Boll, his fingers worked nimbly, however, he hadn't quite grasped the technique shown by Seiyuu and so again his attempts amounted to nothing, the spore like cotton bursting into little blue shards of data.

 

ID: 25728
Loot Dice: 5

[Nelkeatye 0]

Seiyuu watched the young man’s attempt and visibly winced as the unripe cotton was pulled from the boll, he took a deep breath to calm himself, he remembered being inexperienced once and the thrashings from his father were not the best teaching method, in his opinion. The farmer put down his sack and moved over to the boy, looking over his shoulder by stopping slightly.

 

“Now, look carefully at the Bolls I am going to point out to you.†He began calmly and slowly, thoroughly examining the plant and pointing out a few examples. “See these ones here? They aren’t truly ripe yet as you can still see bits of the Boll at the bottom, whereas these†pointing at a fully bloomed example, “are perfect, try for those, and if you’re having trouble picking the lint separately, you can pull off the whole Boll.â€

 

Saeiyuu stepped back and watched the young man’s progress with the new lesson.

[Nelkeatye 0]

With the sun beating down on him and his ever repeating failure to get enough lint, Nel’s frustration was mounting. He took a step back and breathed deeply, overcoming the recklessness caused by pent up emotions, just as he would before any match back in the real world, focus was key, lack of focus could see you fail and mounting failures could well lead to death in this world.

 

“I am sorry Seiyuu-san, I do not mean to waste anymore of your time, my thanks for your patience thus far.†Nel gave a bow of respect to the older man and wiped his sweat drenched forehead with the sleeve of his tunic. Stretching his muscles and rolling back his shoulders, Nel set back to his task, he had picked the right Boll this time, but still had no luck in acquiring any usable materials. He was wasting time and risked wearing Seiyuu's patience thin with each failure.

 

“Darn, I hope Nenneke doesn’t pick someone else.â€

 

ID 25729
LD 9
 

[Nelkeatye 0]

Seiyuu clapped his hand on the young man’s shoulder, smudging the tunic with a mix of sweat and mud from his caked hands. “That’s much better lad, keep at it and you will be just as good as me some day!†he said with a loud, booming laugh.

 

“Now, I do not wish to sound rude but I must be off, you are a pleasant young gentleman but too much of my day has passed already and I have many more chores to do yet!â€

 

With his farewells said, Seiyuu packed away his tools and hoisted the large cotton sack on his broad shoulder, dragging it behind him without any apparent effort despite the obvious weight and blaring sun. The farmer headed towards the house that could be seen just at the far end of the field.

[Nelkeatye 0]

Nel waved farewell to the large, imposing farmer, who turned out to be the friendliest man he had met in a long time and then shook his head before sentimentality could set in. He is just an NPC, a fabricated code made to seem real; I can’t spend my time worrying about them and need to clear this accursed game. The thoughts brought on a sense of melancholy and his thoughts drifted back to his life in the real world, wondering if his family had heard the news and how they were taking it.

 

“Right, enough of the miserable attitude, I have a task to do and it won’t complete itself!†He spoke aloud with some conviction, spurring himself on with a little pep talk. Nel set himself back to work, trying to remember Seiyuu-san’s advice as he searched for the correct type of Boll before deftly picking the Lint from inside. This time it was a major success and there were no wasted materials. Hmm, hope Nenneke has use for me, I'll never make a living as a farmer.

 

ID 25730
LD 18!
Earned (Picked Cotton Lint)

[Nelkeatye 0]

After a few hours spent in the cotton field, Nel had finally completed the first task on the list he had been given by the old tailor. Now, getting closer to sundown the heat had cooled off quite a bit and Nel was feeling the lack of his coat. His muscles felt cramped after all the picking and so he decided some exercise would help clear up the tension in his shoulders. He spent some time limbering up before affecting a light jog to the next area shown in his guide. A field of flowers on one of the upper floors; the guide warned of some hostile creatures in the area, giant lizard like creatures, but these were a rare sighting.

 

Stepping through the teleporter, Nel was shifted to the correct level of Aincrad, according to the guide; the field of flowers was fairly close and so he headed off, again at a jog, in the right direction. Some time later he had reached the field. A quick survey of the area revealed no direct threat from the aforementioned lizards and so Nel headed towards the field.

 

The first thing he noted was the vast array of colours, deep reds, pale blues and violets were arrayed in neat rows, interspersed with fiery oranges and even some unnatural colours for flowers; Deep obsidian.

[Nelkeatye 0]

 Nel took a deep breath and rubbed his legs down to avoid cramp after the jog, it was odd to still feel exhaustion whilst he was technically a digital entity but hey, if the game could kill him he was sure it could make him feel tired too. Brushing himself off and wiping his brow with his sleeve once more, the young swordsman moved towards the field of flowers, admiring their vibrant colours and the feel of their programmed texture. There was no smell from the flowers which was good, they had always made his eyes itch in the real world.

 

Moving carefully through the field, Nel started looking for the right colours for his jacket, first off, the obsidian rose like flowers, then a deep red and last a golden yellow. His first few attempts yielding nothing however, the flowers he picked were crawling with caterpillars which seemed to have eaten most of the petals; Nel threw them away, sighing resignedly. Don’t you just love quest difficulty and how random it is to acquire the right thing?

 

ID 25743
LD 9

[Nelkeatye 0]

This was only the second task of three and it looked as if Nel would be trapped in this quest for an age. He really needed to get a move on to avoid this lizard creatures he had heard about, though they could of course be conjecture and rumour. He was fed up of failure however, not something he was accustomed to back in the real world; he just needed to get the knack of the nuances of the game surely? Unless it was all dumb luck, again a possibility. This is getting infuriating, all I need to do is pick some simple flowers, how hard can it be?

 

Once more his reverie had turned melancholy and Nel shook himself out of it, all this moping was not helping and in fact was hindering his progress, the hours were passing and soon it would be sunset, he had to get a move on before the old tailor shut up shop for the night, sure she hadn't given him a deadline, but it paid to be prompt in these things and show he was worth keeping around.

 

Rolling up his sleeves, Nel set back to work, picking flowers of a few colours, this time success! No infestation nd the flowers seemed perfect for what he needed. Nel placed the flowers carefully in his inventory before checking the list one more

 

 

ID 25747
LD 18

Earned (Flowers)

[Nelkeatye 0]

“Right, that’s two down and only one task left what was it again?†Nel asked himself as he opened up his game menu and pulled ‘Nenneke’s Letter’ from his inventory and reading it over. â€œRight, just the hides left, so back to the first floor and then to return to Nenneke-san.â€

 

Putting the note back into his Inventory, Nel took one final walk around the flowers, enjoying the bright, vibrant colours and the texture before making his way back to the teleporter and heading back to the first floor. Strolling back through the town of beginnings, Nel made his way to the fields outside to the most likely location of a boar to spawn.

 

“Well, this will be my first tome fighting in SAOâ€, said the young swordsman as he drew his Estoc and made a few practice swings to get his arm in. â€œWell, let’s go I guess.â€

 

As soon as Nel was out of town and in the Grasslands, he heard a snorting and a shuffling sound, he was under attack!

 

Fight Statistics-

Nel [HP 11/11] [1 DMG]
Boar [HP 6/6] [1 DMG]

[Nelkeatye 0]

Nel spun on his heel upon hearing the snuffling and scratching at the ground behind him. Bringing his blade to bear, Nel had very little time to react as the boar charged him. The Swordsman’s aim was to spin a pirouette to avoid the charge and stab it from the rear, however, things didn’t always go to plan, and much like his luck in the rest of this quest it went wrong this time to.

 

As he turned on his heel, Nel slipped on the dry, sandy ground and he was taken unawares, his sword missed the boars flank but he was caught on the right arm by the boar’s razor sharp tusk, followed by a spray of deep red blood and a cry in pain.

 

“First blood to you I guess, just watch it pigâ€

 

ID: 25765
Nel (BD): 3
Boar (MD): 8

Nel [HP 10/11]
Boar [HP 6/6]

[Nelkeatye 0]

Nel set himself into a swordsman’s stance, facing the Boar before him, one of its tusks already spattered in his blood. Controlling his breathing, Nel prepared to strike, lunging forwards with a flawless fencing manoeuvre. However, the strike was best used against an opponent with human proportions and his blade was deflected off the tusk of the Boar covered in his blood, taking a chip out of the bone but not causing any reduction in the health bar of his foe.

 

On the other hand, the Boar pawed at the ground and charged, lowering its head and taking Nel out at the knees, causing him to fall and bounce off the hard ground, causing bruising on his legs. 

 

ID: 25768
Nel (BD): 4
Boar (MD): 6

Nel [HP 9/11]
Boar [HP 6/6]

[Nelkeatye 0]

Nel hissed in pain as he brought his fall following the attack into a combat roll, flipping off his back onto his knees and trying to bring his blade to bear. Why can’t I hit this thing? I have no problem fencing human opponents, then why can’t I land a single blow on this glorified pig?! His thought process was fast, but before he could get into an advantageous position and get his feet under him the boar charged once more, the ground churned up under its feet, the Boar lowered their tusks and hit Nel square on, another solid blow, this time to his midsection, causing him to fall flat to his back as he was then trampled by the boar.

 

Ouch, is it a freight train?!

 

ID: 25771
Nel (BD): 3
Boar (MD): 10

 

Nel [HP 6/11]
Boar [HP 6/6]

[Nelkeatye 0]

Nel swore as the boar trampled over him, even though SAO was a game, there was no doubting that the pain sensors in-built into the Nerve Gear could make Nel suffer as if he were hit in real life! Hopping to his feet, Nel took advantage of the fact that the boar had not finished its charge and counter-charged himself. As he caught up to the rear of the boar, the swordsman performed a flourish with his wrist, scoring the boar on both flanks with long deep cuts and a piercing strike sinking deep into its tough hide.

 

Blood streaming from the wounds, the boar squealed in programmed pain and carried on its charge before turning back and facing the young swordsman. It snorted and started pawing at the ground.

 

“Ha! Got you, you swine!â€

 

ID: 25772
Nel (BD):  10
Boar (MD): 4

 

Nel [HP 6/11]
Boar [HP 3/6]

[Nelkeatye 0]

Exultant from finally landing a telling blow on his snorting opponent, Nel foolishly let his guard down for just a moment, but as with any combat a moment's hesitation can be your worst mistake. Instead of following up on the blow and despatching the Boar like he should have done, the young Swordsman's boasting allowed the boar to regain its composure and spin round. Realising his error a moment too late Nel was unprepared for the ferocity of the boar's next charge. As he dove out of the way he was clipped on the leg and thrown to the ground unceremoniously. Rolling through the grass and dirt, the Swordsman stopped and rolled back to his knees. 

 

Bringing himself into a crouching position, Nel readied himself for an evasion and an attack if possible.

 

ID 25805
BD 3
MD 6

 

Nel [HP 5/11]
Boar [HP 3/6]