[SP - F3] A Maven of Swords (Grandmastering OHSS) [COMPLETE]

[Takao 0]

Takao pulled the comforter off his body as he rose up and out of bed. Morning hit him like a tonne of bricks, as was usual, which prompted a long  and guttural groan from the depths of his lungs as he forced his body from the comfort of the bed. It was astonishing how well sleep, as well as the associated effects like deprivation of such, were simulated while in full dive. The simple action of opening his menu, which had once been an anchor to tie down the realization that the world he was forced to live in presently, had even started to become second nature. It was definitely an odd set of circumstances he'd found himself in. Also per usual he found his familiar hanging halfway off the bed. He reached down and pulled the limp monster back up onto the bed before leaving the room, not bothering with putting on additional clothes since his sleepwear that consisted of boxer briefs would suffice for now. Traversing the stairs that lead to the lower level left him in the kitchen of the rented building he'd come to call both his shop and his home. An abundance of col had allowed him to procure and maintain ownership of the building for quite a while, yet he'd not bothered with opening the shop portion just yet, given how little spare time he found himself having.

[Takao 0]

Not long after Takao had occupied himself with crafting up a breakfast for both himself and his familiar did the latter wake up and join him. The red draconic monster leapt up onto the counter opposite of where Takao was working and exhaled a high-pitched yawn, parting its maw farther than what seemed to be natural. "Mornin'." the brunet said as he cast a brief glance over his shoulder, only returning to his work after the monster acknowledged his greeting. Takao gestured to a stack of a dozen or more pancakes on a plate beside him before picking it up and sliding it to the familiar. "Eat up, buddy." he said as he returned to fixing himself something to eat. He'd settled for a breakfast sandwich made with eggs, bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes, which was more or less what he usually ate. With the sandwich in hand, he turned and leaned against the counter to watch his familiar devour its breakfast.

[Takao 0]

"It's been a while since I picked you up from that sandbox, huh?" Takao teased before taking a bite from his sandwich. The familiar narrowed its eyes at him slightly, and he knew fully well that the red monster strongly disliked the desert in which it had once called home being spoken so poorly of. He just couldn't help himself, given his own distaste for extreme weather conditions on either end of the spectrum. A few floors fit such a description, and he made an effort to avoid them as much as he could. "Y'know, you missed a lot of stuff, like the time I fought a clone of myself. Bet you would've loved to see me beat the crap out of myself." A laugh followed his words, and his familiar followed suit. It definitely would've been an enjoyable sight for the monster, given their love-hate relationship.

[Takao 0]

Takao snorted out a laugh as his familiar spoke. The only sounds that left its mouth were incomprehensible, but given the beast's status as Takao's familiar, he understood what it said perfectly well. "Hah! 'course not, I kicked my butt - ...like, I as in me me, not him me. He only landed like... one good blow too. You just can't beat the original! Mostly 'cause that'd just be a bad story. Bad writing and all that." he said, chuckling again as his familiar rolled its eyes. It was probably rather difficult to display respect for somebody who spoke so confidently while in his skivvies. "You weren't around when I fought the Snow Beast the first time either. I was practically his punching bag for the first half of that fight. That's probably the closest I've come to dying since Yuudai, but it wasn't all that close."

[Takao 0]

"Hm... I guess technically the closest was that one I just did with Ssendom, but I didn't actually get hit there. He rushed in and took aggro before I could, so he ended up getting the brunt of the damage. Ended up using a bunch of my crystals on him just to keep him alive." he said with a shrug. The items he'd lost in the fight weren't nearly as important as the life they'd saved, but he felt a little less prepared for the boss fight without them. Even so, he wasn't planning on tanking damage himself, so they'd be reserved for usage on the people who actually did sustain damage. The breakfast sandwich he made was gone by now, and the pancakes had been finished well before that.

[Takao 0]

Takao brushed off his hands and stretched his arms outward as he walked to the archway that lead into the unused shop portion of the building. He leaned against the door frame and set his sights on the front door, which happened to be lock, per the usual. The bay windows were clear, as was the large window on the side that showed the rolling fields of dandelions, which let in copious amounts of light. "Y'know, I'm close to capping out my weapon skill. Whadaya say we go out for a spot of early mornin' hunting? I bet we could knock it out real quick. Bet I'd be one of the few in the boss fight that actually managed that too." he said as he cocked his head to the side, glancing over his shoulder to the familiar. It hopped up onto his bare shoulder as a means of expressing its response, eliciting a nod from Takao. "Alright! Skill cappin' and material gathering's on the menu!" he said, quickly moving toward the door. He unlocked it, opened it, and took two steps outside before freezing in place. His eyes widened some as he took a few steps backward and closed the door, then glanced down at himself. "Oh. Right."

"Pants."

[Takao 0]

Now equipped with not only pants but the entirety of his usual getup as well, Takao finally left his shop with his shoulder-mounted familiar in tow. The flagstone paths of Delilah turns to rough, beaten dirt roads leading off into the wilderness as he passed beneath the settlement's western gate and delved into the wilderness. He felt the safety of the town leave him as he walked, but his confidence didn't waver. This was his home after all, more or less, and he was familiar with mostly everything. From the monsters, to the NPCs, the locations, and even some of the more regular players. That was how he knew exactly what - or rather, who - he was going to use to grandmaster his weapon skill.

[Takao 0]

The Forest of Wavering Mists laid ahead of him, only a hundred meters or so in the distance. He didn't have any plans to actually enter the forest, but instead began to move around its outskirts. Plenty of monsters spawned on either side of him, but none of them captured his interest. He had his mind set on one particular spawn to act as his medium for raising his skill the last few points, and he was sure that monster in particular would put up quite the battle. "You can chill out nearby, there shouldn't be anything too big that spawns besides this guy." Takao said to his familiar as they approached the area he knew by instinct. 

[Takao 0]

Otoko leapt from Takao's shoulder and scurried off to a safe location when the brunet's quarry slowly sprawled into view. The silhouette appeared to be humanoid, though the finer details of its appearance weren't revealed to him until he came closer. As he did, the monster's eyes lit up and shone red, denoting its aggression toward him. He took a quick glance at the being's equipment, given that it was human or at the very least human-like. A straight sword of the one-handed variety sat in a scabbard on its left hip, meaning it used the same weapon as Takao and was also right handed, just like him. The armour it wore lacked large metal plates in favour of lighter boiled leather dyed dark browns and black, which meant that if it had any mitigation at all, it would be low and likely negligible. The other details of its appearance, such as its dark skin and purple hair, were all disregarded as irrelevant. Height and arm length were taken into account, but his time to examine the monster was up.

[Takao 0]

Takao pulled the sword from its scabbard as the elf did the same. It lunged at him first and aimed a horizontal slash for his chest, though Takao had no problems with blocking it with the flat of his sword. He stopped the elf in its tracks by locking their swords in a bind, and subsequently broke the bind by slamming the sole of his boot into elf's chest. It stumbled back after howling in pain, only to find Takao had prepared a sword art in the seconds that followed. It blinked once and he moved, striking at the monster with a mixture of thrusts and slashes.

- -

» ID : [[ 31983 ]]
» BD : [[ HIT (3 + 3(ACC)) ]]
» MD : [[ MISS (8 - 3(EVA)) ]]

« Takao »
[[ 118/118 HP ]]
[[ 19/27 Energy ]] «Howling Octave» used. (-8 Energy)

« Dark Elf Swordsman »
[[ 188/260 HP ]] [[ 9(DMG) * (8*1) = -72HP ]]

Edited September 27, 2015 by Takao

[Takao 0]

The elf was incapable of recovering from the heavy blow Takao had dealt and stumbled back despite its best efforts to regain its balance. Takao didn't wait around and let it gather its bearings before he descended upon it with yet another sword art - the same as before. His blade thrust five times, creating a pattern with small wound marks, then connected them with each of the three subsequent cuts that tore away at the monster's health. The strength of his sword art sent the elf tumbling into the ground, its health well over halfway depleted by the two strikes.

- -

» ID : [[ 31988 ]]
» BD : [[ C.HIT (10 + 3(ACC)) ]]
» MD : [[ MISS (8 - 3(EVA)) ]]

« Takao »
[[ 118/118 HP ]]
[[ 12/27 Energy ]] «Howling Octave» used. (-8 Energy)

« Dark Elf Swordsman »
[[ 100/260 HP ]] [[ 9(DMG) + 2 critical * (8*1) = -88HP ]]

[Takao 0]

"Aww, c'mon!" Takao taunted as the Dark Elf returned to its feet and began another assault on him. Its blade was continuously slapped to the side, or locked into a bind that Takao promptly broke with another firm kick, or simply evaded in general. Despite its best efforts, Takao just proved to be much too evasive and defensive with his sword to be able to strike. "You can do better than that!" he said, just before releasing control to the system to carry out the same sword art that had already succeeded thrice. His sword thrust and carved into the elf, dropping its health down to dangerously low levels.

- -

» ID : [[ 31990 ]]
» BD : [[ HIT (6 + 3(ACC)) ]]
» MD : [[ MISS (5 - 3(EVA)) ]]

« Takao »
[[ 118/118 HP ]]
[[ 5/27 Energy ]] «Howling Octave» used. (-8 Energy)

« Dark Elf Swordsman »
[[ 28/260 HP ]] [[ 9(DMG) * (8*1) = -72HP ]]

[Takao 0]

"It's not really fun if you don't fight back, y'know!" A wide grin had crept up on his face as he taunted the Dark Elf into attacking. Having reduced its health low enough to remove any worries that the monster might gain the upper hand proved to make his movements a bit sloppy, His darker-haired adversary recovered and resumed its assault. It unleashed a flurry of strikes that Takao was forced to either block, parry, or otherwise evade to save himself from taking damage. With the last of its might, it hefted its sword above its head and roared out as the blade came crashing down toward Takao, who raised his own sword to catch the blade and enter a bind. "Hah, there we go!"

- -

» ID : [[ 33012 ]]
» BD : [[ MISS (1 + 3(ACC)) ]]
» MD : [[ MISS (4 - 3(EVA)) ]]

« Takao »
[[ 118/118 HP ]]
[[ 4/27 Energy ]] Attack missed. (-2 Energy)

« Dark Elf Swordsman »
[[ 28/260 HP ]]

[Takao 0]

Takao pushed the weak of his blade forward and let the Dark Elf's sword slide down to collide with his blade's guard. With the additional leverage gained by placing the blade so close to where he could pivot his blade, Takao had no trouble in overpowering the monster and returning to a standing position. Upon doing so, he thrust his sword to the left, taking the Dark Elf's with it. In the same motion he stepped forward and landed hard on his right foot, then twisted his body and slammed his shoulder into the Elf. It stumbled back and fell to the ground, and despite its attempts to recover, the monster still found itself at the receiving end of one last sword art. Takao's blade cut it twice, once downward in a diagonal direction, and the other upward in the opposite direction, effectively carving out a crude "V" shape into the Elf's torso.

- -

» ID : [[ 33013 ]]
» BD : [[ HIT (3 + 3(ACC)) ]]
» MD : [[ C.HIT (9 - 3(EVA)) ]]

« Takao »
[[ 118/118 HP ]] (Damaged negated by turn order.)
[[ 1/27 Energy ]] «Vertical Arc» used. (-4 Energy)

« Dark Elf Swordsman »
[[ DEAD ]] [[ 9(DMG) * (2*2) = -36HP ]]

[Takao 0]

"Hah..." Takao dropped his weight onto his knees and supported his body from falling. His energy had been thoroughly depleted in the battle, which had been very one sided in favour of the brown-haired swordsman. The corner of his eye caught sight of some slight movement, and as he turned, he noticed his familiar scurrying closer on all fours. The brunet dropped down to sit in the grass, his sword still clutched in his right hand, trying to catch his breath. "See?" he said between breaths. "What'd I tell you? No problem."

[Takao 0]

Takao slowly climbed back up to his feet with the help of his sword as leverage. "I'm starting to think that material grinding can wait for a bit... maybe tomorrow." he said as he stretched his arms. "That took more out of me than I was expecting. Buuut..." His right hand swiped open the menu and swiftly navigated to the list that held his skills. After a moment of searching around, he came across his weapon skill, and smiled wide upon seeing that the skill had been increased to its maximum value. "Looks like that's all it took anyway! Booyah!"

[Takao 0]

"C'mon buddy, let's head back. I'm already beat." Takao said as he gave his blade an unnecessary twirl by rolling his wrist before sheathing it into the scabbard on his back. He rolled his shoulders just before his familiar leapt up his back and atop them, supporting its weight with an arm draped across the top of Takao's head. The brunet didn't seem to mind in the slightest, given that it was the small dragon-like monster's usual method of transportation. Plus he liked the looks people gave him, he found their faces to be rather funny. Not many players had familiars, and even fewer gave benefits, making Takao one of the lucky few.

[Takao 0]

The walk back to Delilah took considerably longer than it had in the past, given that Takao's energy levels were fairly low following the fight. The Dark Elf didn't match him in skill, but its health had been vastly superior to his own, which made it an exhausting task. The pair passed the time with idle conversation, and every so often Takao would reminisce about past happenings before the two had met each other. At Otoko's request, he went into particular detail about his duel with Gemini, a shapeshifting NPC who had mirrored Takao's own appearance.

[Takao 0]

The gates of Delilah slowly came into view as the pair strolled closer. Takao felt the typical sense of ease grow in his chest that he usually got whenever he returned to a safe zone after a spot of hunting. He didn't have to watch his back or constantly look over his shoulder, he could just... relax. It wasn't something a player could do whenever there was a risk of monsters being around. The moment he passed through the gates, he exhaled a sigh, and immediately set off in the direction of his shop. The trip itself had taken forty five minutes just to get back, totaling the time he'd been out there to be about two hours.

[Takao 0]

"Alright then, that's... that's pretty much it for skills, I think - for now anyways, I mean." Takao said as he pushed open the door to his shop and stepped inside. He closed and locked the door behind him, and immediately set off for the staircase hidden away in the kitchen. "I've got a few things left to craft, then I can dedicate the rest for energy replenishing, and I have to pick up the crystals from Zandra... But that's it for my weapon skill." He almost sounded relieved. It was one less thing he had to worry about, one less skill to dedicate time to. "I guess I can try to get my armour skill up a rank, and maybe I'll consider taking battle healing again. But for now..." Takao had ascended the staircase that lead to the residential portion of his rented shop-home hybrid.