[PP - F2] Seul used Rock Smash! <<Breaking the Unbreakable>>

[Seul 1]

The second floor wasn't so bad. It had only been a few days since Seul arrived and he was already feeling confident enough in his skills to trek outside of towns. The sun sat high in the sky as a constant reminder that the young rogue had wasted most of his morning wandering down a simple, dirt path in the woods to the south. It had only been a few hours earlier when he overheard a player singing high self-praise in the town plaza for obtaining an extra skill as a reward for completing what they claimed was 'an insanely difficult quest that would make anyone else cry'. He had doubts about that last part, but the fact still remained that the skill did exist. The player provided the only lead he could find, so if he truly wished to one day fight alongside the higher raid groups it was worth a shot. He'd need all the strength he could get his hands on. In this game a person was only as strong as the skills they had; so the more skills one had at their disposal, the more versatile they could be. Who knows? Having an extra skill or two may even save his life one day.

Stupid luck had blessed him up to this point as he managed to reach the second floor at only level one and avoid any major conflicts along the way. However, the fortune streak that blessed him decided to come to an abrupt stop. Seul had hit a wall. No seriously. There was literally a wall blocking his path. The dirt road came to an end at the bottom of a tall cliff. "W-What...?" Was the only thing he could utter while placing his hands against the stone structure to check for a secret passage way of some sort. To no avail, it was just as solid as it seemed. He was out in the middle of who knows where with his mission at standstill. His sense of direction couldn't possibly have been that bad. How hard was it to find a stupid mountain?! He spent next few moments pondering what to do until a brilliant idea hit him: Call for help! Stepping up onto a tree stump, he cleared his throat.

"Help! S.O.S.! I need an adult! Somebody! Anybody! Amazing player in peril here! Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp!!!" He could've sworn he saw the trees shake from the sheer magnitude of his voice alone, but he chalked it up to just the mass migration of birds that coincidentally fled the area just as he started shouting.

Edited October 9, 2015 by Seul

[Mack 0]

ID: 32285
LD: 11 (No Mat)

Raising Guillotine back over his shoulder, Mack whipped the carbon steel head of the weapon around his body in a Celtic knotted silver and grey blur. Just as it was burying itself into the trunk of the tree that the massive red-headed man was trying to harvest crafting materials from the air was rent by the shouts of someone that sounded in serious peril. But, apparently not too serious if they had time to scream that they needed an adult. Sighing, the hulking blacksmith ripped his axe free from the burdensome tree, disappointed that there had been no crafting material that had been produced. Grunting, he shouldered his axe and made his way in the direction from whence the shouting seemed to be originating.

"If you're quite through calling the attention of every mob within several miles, you can stop your inane babble," the brute of a blacksmith said, emerging from the densely packed trees at the edge of the dirt road to stand in front, and slightly to the right, of Seul. "Now," Mack began again in a low tone, drawing back the snow white cowl of the Angelic Sheath, "What seems to be the problem? Why do you require the presence of an adult," the ginger asked, swinging his axe down from his shoulder and planting the butt cap attached to the haft of the weapon in the ground before pausing to lean on top of the dull portion of the weapon's head.

[Seul 1]

To think a plan that was so simple actually worked. The young male was taken aback by the man that now stood before him. Attract mobs? At first glance, this guy could've easily passed for a monster himself! Just his size alone was intimidating enough but the most impressive part was how he was able to so effortlessly maneuver the axe he had equipped. After taking note of these things, Seul briefly turned his gaze toward the small dagger sheathed at his waist; thoughts of upgrading at some point bombarding his brain. It took a minute or two to bring his attention back to what Mack had said and he realized how weird it must've looked to be asked a question only to respond by spacing out.   

"Oh... I'm actually eighteen. I figured, someone would be more likely to show up if I said that though." He shot the blacksmith a sheepish grin, hoping that  he at least somewhat possessed a sense of humor. Or mercy. "Anyway, there's this quest I heard about; it's supposed to be somewhere around here. Awards a skill for completing it. Ring any bells?" He was rummaging through his pockets while he spoke and after an extensive search process, produced a folded scrap of paper. Upon unfolding, it displayed a crudely drawn scene of a stick figure karate chopping a rock and a single speech bubble that read 'Hyaaaaah!'. "Looks like this!"

[Mack 0]

ID: 32397
LD: 2 (No Mat)

"So, you're after the martial arts skill," Mack asked, standing up and slinging Guillotine to his back as he opened up his menu. A second later, the two handed axe disappeared to be replaced by a different axe at his back with the steel ax head of Invictus now protruding above the massive man's left shoulder. "I've completed that quest already, I can show you where to go," the massive red haired man said at last, still pawing through his inventory to replace his beginner clothing with the ruby red armor of Pertinax. 

"You're standing before it," the Grandmaster of the Crimson Blades said, gesturing to the massive rock wall in front of Seul. It certainly was NOT the right wall. But, the young man needed to learn that poor decisions led to poor outcomes and that caution and discretion were the better parts of valor in the world of Sword Art Online. "Go ahead and break it down," Mack said, crossing his brawny arms over his chest. "I can't help you with this part of the task," he concluded, deciding to tell Seul after a few minutes of effort that he was in the wrong spot.

[Seul 1]

"Eh...?" Seul glanced at the wall before turning his face to Mack again. He repeated this motion for what in reality had only been a couple of seconds but felt like an eternity. His face clouded over with doubt over the task at hand. But there were a few things that didn't quite seem to line up. For starters, he had already inspected the wall. If this truly was the quest's location why didn't a prompt for him to accept appear in his field of vision? Maybe extra skill quests had their own conditions for accepting aside from travelling to specific locations. Maybe if he just started it'd mean automatic acceptance. Yeah. That made sense. And on top of that, he had someone who already completed the quest there to point him the right direction. The thought that this player could've been lying hadn't even crossed his mind. Nobody in there right mind would go out of their way just to send him on a wild goose chase. With that settled he pushed away any further thoughts before approaching the wall.

"Martial arts, right...? This is gonna take a while." The boastful player he encountered earlier mentioned something about only being allowed to use his fists in order to damage the rock. Assuming that those rules still applied, Seul didn't even bother with drawing his weapon. In fact he doubted it would be any quicker if he did use his cheap dagger. The thing would barely scratch a boar's hide, let alone break through a couple of feet of stone. He let out a sigh before closing his eyes and winding his arm back and releasing it in a quick punch. Wait. What? Something was wrong. There was no health bar to indicate any damage and he knew for certain that his strike hadn't missed. Could he not have hit it hard enough? "Well, when in doubt... Punch your way out!" The famous last words seemed to lose the little credibility they held as his shower of fists began to rain down on the wall for what seemed like ages.

[Mack 0]

ID: 32411
LD: 15 (+1 Mat)

Mack watched for a few moments as the dark-haired kid began to rain blows down on the stone wall. Of course, the wall was an immortal object so there was no way his fists were going to cause even the slightest amount of damage to the wall. Still, sending the kid down a dead end rabbit hole for a few minutes wouldn't be the end of the world for either of them. Reaching up over his left shoulder, Mack drew Invictus for the first time and considered the newly made weapon in his hands. The axe had not yet had a true field test and using it to harvest, or attempt to harvest, crafting materials hardly seemed a fair or true test of the quality of the weapon. Still, that was the task at hand. Smirking one last time in the direction of the kid still uselessly beating his fists against the rock wall, Mack turned to the nearest tree and buried the blade of Invictus into the trunk with a solid thunk. A piece of lumber suitable for crafting separated itself from the tree in a shower of wood chips and Mack scooped it up to add to his inventory.

[Seul 1]

After about twenty minutes or so of pounding away at the wall, he figured that this was getting him nowhere fast. It was usually around this time when he'd get frustrated and start flailing about in a blind rage. But no. That wasn't going to get him any closer to gaining the skill. After one last punch he drew his arm back and shook out his wrist vigorously. "Um... Are you certain this is the right spot?" He asked while turning his gaze to the man. But to his surprise Mack didn't seem the slightest bit interested in his fight against the wall and the stray pieces of wood and freshly severed stump was a enough proof for Seul. "H-Hey, were you even watching just now?! It's like this thing is made out of bricks or something; so some advice would be appreciated!"

[Mack 0]

ID: 32454
LD: 5 (No Mat)

Burying Invictus in the tree one last time, and failing to produce any usable crafting materials as a result, Mack turned to face Seul once more. Apparently, now the dark-haired kid was ready to act like an adult. After he'd been wailing on an immortal object for the past twenty minutes. "That's because you're trying to punch a hole through an immortal object," Mack said, calling in a low tone to where Seul was standing. "The rock you need is about a mile east of here," he continued, pointing in the right direction. "The lesson to be learned is this: carrying on like a fool outside of a safe zone is more likely to bring you a drawback rather than a positive result and carrying on like a fool inside a safe zone, for the record, is likely to piss off other players."

Turning around to tree once more, Mack wrenched Invictus from the trunk and slung it over his shoulder. "I'm Mack, Grandmaster of the Crimson Blades and, now that you're ready to act your age rather than your IQ, I will take you to the correct rock whenever you're ready."
 

[Seul 1]

Mack's words were sharper than the blades on the axe he carried. Seul wondered if the wounds left on his self-esteem would ever heal. Of course, he realized just how melodramatic he was being in these thoughts but the man did raised some good points. At least for now staying on a people's good sides was the most valuable thing he could have; even more so than any skill the game could offer. He turned his gaze toward the wall before looking in the right direction of the quest then back to Mack, Grandmaster of the Crimson Blades. Crimson Blades... Sure, the name was familiar but if you asked him exactly where he had heard it before he would have just shrugged. He cursed his faulty memory under his breath before deciding it was probably best not to bring up his prior ignorance to the existence of the man's guild for the sake of being polite.

"My name's Seul." He said with an outstretched hand there to accompany the greeting. "And I do appreciate you taking the time to help me out this much. I don't want to be any more of a burden, so I'm sure I can find it on my own now. It was that way right?" His other hand was pointing in the completely opposite direction of the quest loctaion...

[Mack 0]

ID: 32474
LD: 18 (+1 Mat)

When Seul held out his hand to shake, Mack turned and buried the blade of Invictus in the nearest tree. Once again, since he wasn't actually trying to harvest a crafting material this time one was produced. Kneeling, he scooped up the item and added it to his inventory before standing once more and accepting the other fighter's hand, his massive mitt engulfing Seul's completely as they shook. "When you're acting like an adult, you're not a burden and the Blades pride themselves on helping low level players," Mack said, tactfully ignoring that the dark-haired kid had pointed in completely the wrong direction from where the red-haired guildmaster had indicated mere seconds before.

"Now then," the enormous blacksmith said, shouldering his axe once more. "The day is wasting away and we've got a bit of a walk. Time to be on our way," he concluded and, without another word, Mack began moving off through the forest in the direction of the rock that Seul would need to vanquish if he had any hope of gaining the valued martial arts skill.

[Seul 1]

The boy had tucked his hands into his pants pockets before trotting off behind Mack with renewed vigor in each step. The real show was finally on the road, or so he had hoped. He had been mislead once but it was only to exaggerate the importance of good decision making while out in the field. Or rather, forest. Still, Seul didn't regret his choice. If he hadn't chosen to call for help the two of them may have never have even crossed paths given just how vast the world was. No, this must have been fate at work! He settled on that story to justify taking such risks up till now.

"So..." He started. They had been walking in near silence for the last ten minutes with only the sound of the forest's natural debris crunching underfoot for comfort. If it carried on like that much longer he was almost certain he'd die from just how maddening the situation was. "What made you want to form the... Um... The Green Swords?"

[Mack 0]

ID: 32528
LD: 8 (No mat)

“I formed the Crimson Blades for several reasons,” the enormous blacksmith said, correcting Seul’s mention of the Green Swords by giving the Guild’s correct name. “First, to assist low-level players such as yourself. Second, to form the foundation of an army of players united with the sole goal of clearing SAO and freeing ourselves from this prison. Finally, it is safer and faster to work on clearing the game with other players supporting you. Much as I might prefer to work alone, I must bow to the logic of working as a team.” Within a few more moments, Mack led the other warrior into a small forest clearing where the quest rock was standing.

“This is the rock you must break. If you need anything else, I will be farming the trees around the clearing,” the red-headed man said, heading off to the edge of the clearing and burying the bladed head of Invictus in the nearest tree, though he failed to find a crafting material on the first attempt.

Edited September 23, 2015 by Mack

[Seul 1]

Saying the rock was large was definitely an understatement. The thing was taller than he was, though it still paled in comparison to the behemoth of a wall he tried pulverizing earlier. This one seemed much more realistic for the terms of completing a quest. There wasn't any doubt in his mind that he'd be there all day if it was just him duking it out with the stone. He watched Mack move to the clearing's edge and start hacking away with his axe before shifting his focus back to the rock. To his surprise, an elderly man had somehow perched himself upon the rock without him noticing; Seul knew for a fact that he wasn't there when they arrived. Just how did he do it? The man was sitting pretzel style with his legs crossed and arms at his sides. His clothing resembled that of a stereotypical monk you'd see in a cheesy Kung-Fu movie and of course his head, save for the snow-white beard that flowed to his lap, was void of hair; nearly blinding the boy as the sun reflected off it.

"Um...?" Was all he could muster to say to try and catch the old man's attention. Up till that point he seemed to have been in a state of deep meditation and only when Seul spoke up did he crack open a single lid to peer down at his disturber. He was fast for an older guy and before the boy realized what happened, the man had somehow managed to use his face as a canvas, tracing lines that were supposed to resemble whiskers on his cheeks with bright orange paint. Just as Seul thought he was going to snap the guy's neck the man darted away and effortlessly flipped back onto the rock. "Be at ease, child. All shall be clear once your task is complete." He stated in a mellow voice before winking and disappearing in a blur.

Seconds later the quest prompt finally appeared only to vanish at once again at his acceptance. The rock's health gauge had also shown up and much to his dismay the rock had far more health than he originally imagined. He turned his attention to Mack who was still chopping away at the trees before calling out. "Hey! Feel like lending a hand? Or well... A fist?"

[Mack 0]

ID: 32582
LD: 14 (No Mat)

Burying Invictus deep in the trunk of the tree that he was engaged in farming Mack left the weapon stuck there for a moment as he turned to face Seul. "If I help you then there is no guarantee that you will be granted the skill you seek, even though I already have the martial arts skill," Mack called to the other warrior, his voice booming across the small clearing, his arms crossing over his chest as he spoke to Seul. "However, if you can find a wolf around here you might be able to get it to drop a pick-axe. That's how I did it. Killed a few wolves, found a pick-axe and used the tool to lower the rock's HP to where I only had to hit it once with my fists to break it. SAO's game engine still counts that as a success... unless they've patched that."

[Seul 1]

ID# 32654 | BD: 4 (FAIL)

Normal Attack

Seul [HP: 4/4] [Energy: 0/1]  >>>>>> Rock [HP: 50/50]

Nope. Nope. Nope. That plan was far too risky from his own perspective. Sure, the axe-man seemed like he could've easily murdered a wolf with just his gaze alone. But as Seul was now the rock probably could've murdered him, let alone a wolf on the second floor. It may have been the more difficult route, but as they say slow and steady wins the race. As a nice bonus if it kept his HP bar in the green zone he was all for simply using his fists. "Nah, I'll just do it myself..." He mumbled half heartedly while approaching his target once again. He wound up his right hand before firing it against the side of the stone. After a moment of observation he withdrew his arm only to find that there wasn't so much as a single scratch on the rock. "I didn't even deal any damage! What's this thing made of, diamond?!"

[Mack 0]

ID: 32676
LD: 7

“I don’t think it’s diamond,” Mack called from the edge of the clearing and he yanked Invictus free from the tree trunk once again. “At any rate, it didn’t drop any loot or crafting materials for me when I broke it, I only got access to the martial arts skill,” the muscle-bound blacksmith continued, raising the bearded axe back over his right shoulder. With a grunt, he twisted into the swing and slammed the bearded head of the axe into the tree once again. Despite the fact that the weapon made very solid contact with the tree trunk, as the resounding thunk made quite clear, the tree failed to yield up a useable crafting material.

[Seul 1]

ID# 32996 | BD: 9 (HIT) | 1 (Base) + 1 (Critical) = 2 Damage!

Seul [HP: 4/4] [Energy: 0/1] >>>>>> Rock [HP: 48/50]

"Ugh..." He couldn't help but groan at the futility of his situation. At this rate Mack would've been able to cut down every tree on the second floor before he managed to break the stupid rock. "This skill had better be worth it!" He called back before releasing another fist at the stone. When he pulled back this time he notice a small, almost insignificant indent on spot where he struck. A grin grew across his face before he raised his arms in triumph. "Ha, how do you like that?!" He taunted, knowing full well that the stone wouldn't be responding any time soon. It still felt good to know he was making progress. Now he just had to do that a hundred more times. Easy.

[Mack 0]

ID: 33060
LD: 10 (No Mat)

With another grunt, Mack twisted into a swing of Invictus and buried the bladed head of the axe deep in the trunk of the tree that he was still hard at work farming crafting materials from. This time there was no spray of wood chips to denote that a material had been produced and the enormous man didn’t even bother scanning the ground with his eyes in a fruitless search for a material that he knew wouldn’t be there to pick up anyway. Growling, he wrenched Invictus free from the tree and shouldered it for a moment, turning to see how Seul was dealing with the rock. “It all depends on if you want to be able to fight without a weapon or now,” Mack called to Seul. Mack had the skill, but he’d not put any effort into leveling it up yet.

[Seul 1]

ID# 33345 | BD: 7 (SUCCESS) |

Seul [HP: 4/4] [Energy: 0/1]

Rock [HP: 47/50] ( 1 Base = 1 Total Damage!)

"Fighting without a weapon, huh?" The idea of being at least a little skilled in unarmed combat did appeal to him. Given his weapon choice, the majority of his attacks were designed for close quarter scuffles. This placed him at somewhat of a disadvantage as he'd have to get well within an enemy's striking range in order to be effective. Mixing in martial arts with his dagger play against someone who wasn't expecting it seemed like a valuable strategy. "Uuuugh!" The next groan escaped his mouth as he fired off another jab. Slowly but surely the rock was sustaining damage. It wouldn't have been long before the precious skill was in his hands. Just needed some patience.

But who was he kidding, his entire day was going to be lost to a stupid rock. He turned once again to Mack before stretching out his fingers. "Maybe this'll go faster if you tell me a story?"

[Mack 0]

ID: 33454
LD: 13 (No Mat)

“What kind of story do you have in mind,” Mack called, asking what the dark haired kid wanted to hear. So far, their noise and racket, which both of them were really generating in equal measure, had not attracted any attention from the local flora or fauna, but Mack had his doubts that they would be lucky enough for that to continue. After all, he and Beoreson had been forced to deal with multiple wolves when Mack had tackled this quest and he strongly suspected that the wolves would come again, whether Seul wanted them to or not. Drawing Invictus back again, Mack slammed the blade into the tree once more, failing once again to produce any crafting materials.