[SP-F1] I should just run... <Earning a living>

[Alet 0]

It's been a few days since that little excursion of mine...

Gathering materials for trade, exploring the floor for a bit, and learning boar attack patterns, at that time, I believed it was a successful run. I got enough materials for a bit of armor, got some Col, even leveling up to two. I thought that no consequences would come out of it. Alive and well, I slept peacefully, unknowing of what will become of me because of my actions...

You see, I was rather clumsy during my little adventure... I crushed too many alchemist ingredient's to count, and the ones that I didn't crush was usually destroyed indirectly by me...

And well... A rather "eccentric" NPC took note of this... He stalked me in the shadows, tried to kidnap me in my sleep, and watched my every move that day...

Now... Now he's back. Back for revenge for all of those wasted MAT's... And this is the story of what happened to me on that day...

"A day I will never forget..."

[Alet 0]

It was night when it happened. I was all alone, sleeping in my little nook in the shadows, thinking nothing was wrong with the world... Except for the fact that were stuck in a video game, but at that point I've gotten use to the fact... 

Anyways, I was snoozing when all of a sudden I lost all feeling on my tongue. At first, I really didn't mind it. Maybe it was a glitch in the system? I mean, it wasn't really that far out there. This game had to have a few imperfections, right?

Then, I lost all feeling in my mouth,then throat, then my body started to feel numb all over... "What's going on?" 

I tried to open my eyes, then failing horribly. I tried to command my arms to move, but they wouldn't listen. Panicking a little, I started to try and do something, anything, until all my actions were blocked by a unknown force...

As I was awake, my hud was still shown for me in the darkness. Then, I saw it. A little, innocent yellow lightning bolt. However, my imaginary eyes widened at that symbol. "That symbol... I've heard about it before... It's a status that you get from some monsters, or potions..." At that moment, I knew that this was the end, because...

"I've been paralyzed, and I'm not sure who or what did it, nor why..."

[Alet 0]

I'm currently in a burlap sack, being thrown around in pitch darkness. The most likely situation is that I've been kidnapped in a safe zone... IN A SAFE ZONE!!!

(This event made me actually scared of sleeping for a while, paranoid of being swooped up into a bag once again like merchandise or something .)

This is freaking me out! I've been in crazy situations before, crossing dressing, mind reading, heck, even having to defuse a potato bomb by cutting the red wire at a science fair. But this... Being abducted in the middle of the night in a game that isn't even in real life... Yeah, no, first time for everything...

"Wow, cool quest." "Never knew there was a abduction mission." "Scary NPC..."

As I worried about my current situations, I started to hear other players mumbling about a quest or something, and after a few moments I realized what they were talking about. "Well crap... I am being abducted, and I now know it's a NPC that is the culprit. But really, isn't this a bit fishy to you all?!? A health bar with a player's name is currently in a burlap sack, and you do nothing about it? Is this normal?

These thoughts weren't necessarily ones of anger, just extreme confusion. At that time, I seriously thought the game designers were insane. And one of them kinda is now that I think about it...

After being in darkness for a while, the chatter of the city started to fade, and I heard the foot steps of a entity starting to slow down. After a moment, I deduced that I was currently in the fields outside, and what ever was about to happen to me, it was going to happen soon...

"I'm all up for new experiences, but I prefer the ones that don't involve pain..."

The universe didn't grant my request for me...

 

[Alet 0]

The footsteps were getting ominously slower by the second, and a few moments it stopped completely. After a short silence, I heard shuffling for a few moments, and then heard my sorry self plop onto the ground. A potion was then forced into my mouth, and after a bit of force feeding, the Paralyze symbol was gone, and I was back in control of my body.

I sat up, and opened my eyes. Around me was the field of beginnings, with a full moon in the sky. The fields were cleared, and I could see the city in the distance. However, that wasn't what really drew my attention. What really concerned me was a bulky man armed with a lumberjack's axe was staring me down, looking me over... 

His face was of one with mild disdain, as if I just walked in at the wrong time or something. The man mumbled something under his breath, and stared right into my eyes, apparently unaffected to it's ...

"You..." He said with a questioning tone. "What's your name?"

My mind was still confused at this point, but I was able to pump out a calm statement. "My name's Alet... May I ask why you uh..." I point to the burlap sack on the ground, where I was held captive for a time, "kidnapped me?"

He glares at me for a moment, then tosses me a beginners knife, a brand new one.

"Your returning that too me after were done here. Now come." He says with a authoritative tone, and I follow him without hesitation.

[Alet 0]

The time spent traveling was in silence. I was still trying to process what just happened, and he was looking around for... Something... 

After some more walking, I realized what direction were heading to, the forest. Now that I think about it, there was a small village in there, maybe he lives there? With him looking like a stereotypical lumberjack, it seems as if that were true. But, still why-

"Oi, you, Alet." A stern voice interrupts my thoughts, and I realized we stopped in front of a plant.

I tilt my head in slight curiosity. "Um, why are we stopping in front of a plant?"

He shot me a look then points to the plant. "You are going to learn how to respect that plant, and i'm going to make sure that you don't kill anymore."

I'm slightly confused, and I start to speak. "Wait, what do you mean by-"

Then... I remember my last adventure, and all the plant's I practically murdered one way or another. I mean, all of them were mistakes that I made, I really didn't mean to do so... But try telling that to a guy who has a axe as big as you.

Playing along, I start walking forward. "So... How do I... Respect it?"

With observing eyes, he watches over every movement I make. "I don't know, you do it. Your the one who owe's em." 

"How the heck do I interact with something that can't talk?"

After giving a pleading glace to the man behind me, and being shot down by a look, I internally sigh...

"This is going to take a while, isn't it..."

[Alet 0]

162 day's later... (A/N That ****ing equals a while?!? And that's one heck of a time skip!)

"Yes... It's been 162 days give or take a few hours if I remember correctly." Alet contemplates as he wanders around the first floor forest, with a odd sakura tree here and there to remind him how long it has been... The sun is high in the sky, and with a steady tempo, the black haired kid wanders on.

"From what I gathered," The boy remembers, as he looks around for something "This quest was suppose to give you so much boring information that you were suppose to lose your patience with Iwao, then he would go on to respect you for being bold like his father or something, and would then teach you how to do actual Alchemy..."

"Ah, here it is," Alet spots a small flower in the distance, with a slight blue tint with thorns on it's spine, resembling a rose. However, instead of taking a crack at it with his still, really bad, knife, he pulls out a journal and starts to write in it. The journal's cover is worn, and the pages look like they've seen better days. His writing utensil is a feather that seems to always have a bit of ink on it. After a few paragraphs of description, he places the book back into his inventory, and starts walking a seemingly random direction...

 

 

Edited March 1, 2016 by Alet

[Alet 0]

Dusk...

Alet is standing in front of another plant, this time a emerald green root with orange flowers scattered on it. Continuing to scribble into the journal, he brings up his menu for the time, and the numbers 29:32 counting down flash right next to a single quest. <Earn a living>. On the description, it says... 

"Write down 5 descriptions of plants among floor one in Iwao's journal, then return to him. Maybe then, he will teach you how to become a Alchemist. Time Limit : 4 Hours" 

"I better head back, it's getting late anyways..."

Alet started to walk in a specific direction this time, pass all the tree's and random mobs from the plains... "This quest is kinda interesting in this regard I suppose. Pretty much, a random numbers system makes 5 flowers spawn at different locations, and said flowers are made from pre-made plant parts that are then mashed together to make a single entity. Heh, i'm getting nostalgic of the time where I had no idea what to do..."

He walked while reflecting upon his time repeating this same quest over half a year or so... "At this point, the only reason why i'm continuing this quest is to gather info on terrain of the first floor, and the patterns i'm noticing. For example, let's take the boar's. I believe from watching them I can see their spawn points and the timers I have a set "safe" time, and not give a damn while looking for my plants. Of course, it won't be the same for all the floors, but I have to perfect this skill of analyzing and dodging aggro ranges. Because..."

The boy looked down at his rusty little knife, then sighed. "My little pokey stick hasn't seen much action in a while. Combat wise at least..."

While having these thoughts, he arrived to a small little town called Horunka Village, a place he has called home for a long time...

[Alet 0]

He wanders into town, NPC's greeting him with the same old, same old every time he goes to his "Master's House", which in reality, is just a humble little shack. With the quest timer on it's final few minutes, he knocks on the door quickly, and the numbers freeze just in time for the man that kidnapped me to "teach me how to respect plants", to step out and greet me. Iwao still looks like he did back then, tall, broad shouldered, and a giant axe slung across his shoulder. With a haughty tone, he speaks the same line I've heard repeated for 161 times (and counting).

"Hello, Mr. Plant Destroyer. Have you finally finished up on what I tasked you to do?"

Going through the motions, the boy nod my head, and starts speaking in a respectful but soft tone. 

"Yes sir, here is your journal and feather back."

He appraises my body with the same eyes I've felt too many times, and he waves me in. "Come, let's see what you got today over some bread, shall we?"

 

 

Edited March 1, 2016 by Alet

[Alet 0]

Taking his normal position in the living area, Alet look around with familiarity around the room. In the middle of the cabin, fire place boasts a crackling flame in the middle of the room warming the soon to be cold air. A table is set up meant for dining is in one of the corners of the building, and a few pots with a green herb grow in another, (well, not really grow, but you know what I mean...). However, the main center piece of Iwao's humble abode is a delicate flower that glows with a light tone of blue that stands proudly above the fire place. There is also small door that leads to his bedroom, but it's a immortal object, so sadly he has not been able to sneak in and see it.

Iwao pulls two of the chairs from the dining area in front of the fire place, sits in one, and beckons me to sit in the other. I do so, and from there, his monologue begins...

"Well, lets see here..." Iwao's eyes scan the pages, looking intently at the pages. He seemed to be actually reading it, nodding his head and making noises of agreement...

"However, in reality..." The boy stares into the lumberjacks eyes with a intelligent glow...

"This is a cover up for the computer to scan my work. Looking for key describing words, measuring the length and complexity of the sentences and also the amount of time I spent on each separate entry, it judges whether or not I passed the quest. And..."

The lumberjack closes his eyes, and closes the book, as if in thought. Then, after a moment, he speaks in a smiling tone.

"Good job. You pass, for today. Now, let's eat something shall we? Pull up that chair to the table, I'll grab some bread."

Sighing internally in relief, he did as he was told "And I made it, still nerve wrecking after all these years..."

 

 

Edited March 1, 2016 by Alet