Hisui's Story

November 6, 2022--10:18 PM
Floor 1, Horunka

A cool breeze blew about as a girl in a black hooded cape entered the second town. She could see that a number of cursors belonging to other players were in the area. Well, that was to be expected, considering she was rather new to MMOs, especially one such as SAO...but honestly, there were fewer than she thought would be there. Wow, it's surprising I'm not bringing the absolute rear for once.

The female player, whose username was Hisui, reached up and moved her hood a bit further down until it almost covered her eyes, and pulled the edges of her cape a bit closer around her body with a shiver. She wasn't very comfortable socializing with other players, so she was making her presence rather small. "Best to find the inn quickly, I guess..." she murmured to herself.

Walking through the small village of 10 buildings, however, she had no idea which house was there for what purpose. Her map didn't help, either. Eventually, she ended up walking into a small cottage further into the town--without thinking about how illogical it was that such a small house would be the inn. When she entered, she was immediately treated to the sight of a middle-aged woman stirring tea, in what seemed to be her home. The cursor just above her head let Hisui know that this was an NPC, so her initial surprise disappeared quickly.

The NPC gave her a surprisingly warm smile, and spoke in an almost motherly tone that Hisui rarely heard anyone speak in. "Good evening, journeying swordswoman. You must be tired. I do wish to offer you some food, but I do not have any at the moment. All I can give is a single cup of water or so."

At first, the young hooded girl was at a loss for words, before she quickly remembered her manners. "Y-yes. T-thank you," she replied, bowing. Luckily, apparently Hisui had said it loudly enough and with few enough stammers for the NPC to understand, for she went to pour water into an old-looking cup, and set it down on the table before Hisui. For a few moments, the young girl did not move, for the idea of someone just offering a cup of water to a random person who just walked into her home was a bizarre and foreign one. Finally, she settled into the chair, gingerly picking up the water and drinking it. It felt cool and wonderful in her parched throat.

With a slight smile, the lady turned back towards the pot and continued to stir it. Just as Hisui wondered what an NPC would need to cook, if she would not give it to other players--the "I have no food right now" statement was proof of that--the steady sound of a child's coughing echoed from the other side of the door to the next room. The NPC lady's shoulders seemed to fall in despair, just as Hisui looked up in surprise at the sound. Who was...?

Right then, a golden question mark appeared above the lady's head--if Hisui remembered correctly, this meant there was a quest was available for her to take. Sitting up a bit straighter, she cleared her throat (out of habit) and asked, "E-excuse me, m-ma'am...i-is something troubling you?" Even if this was not a real person, she did not leave out the formalities in her speech.

Softly turning to face Hisui, the lady began to speak, while the question mark above her head blinked constantly. So now, Hisui would learn about the circumstances for this quest. "Actually, journeying swordswoman, my daughter..." Looking down with a somber face, she began to explain her circumstances. "My daughter has been stricken with a severe illness, you see...and even when I treated her with medicine from the market--" Here she gestured at the pot. "--nothing has worked. The only solution I can conceive is to give her medicine obtained from within the predatory plants in the forests to the west."

As Hisui listened, she heard the child coughing even more, and she couldn't help but feel sympathetic towards the NPC lady's problems. However, the lady's shoulders seemed to fall even further at the same time. "However, plants of that particular type are extremely dangerous, and rarely even seen to begin with...I could not obtain the ovule, as such. But you, journeying swordswoman..." With a twinkle of hope in her eyes, she looked up. "You are young, and could probably make the journey in my stead. If you can obtain the ovule from one of those plants for me, I will gladly give you a longsword handed down in my family as thanks."

Just as the NPC lady finally finished her tale, Hisui noted that the quest log at the left of her vision was updated--it now read "Find Little Nepent's Ovule (Little Nepent)--(0/1)." So, if she did this, she would be able to obtain a longsword...? Perhaps this was the best course of action, but she was probably not fit to go in this state. Perhaps it was best to wait for the next day...

Then again, she had gone with less sleep before, right?

Standing up and draining her cup, Hisui bowed once again to the NPC lady. "I-I will save your daughter. P-please, don't worry," she promised, and turned on her heel, walking out the door. About 10 minutes later, after getting her sword and clothes repaired from what she encountered on her way to Horunka, Hisui set out to the forests outside the village.

November 6, 2022--10:36 PM
Floor 1, Horunka Forest

"A single room which was occupied by no one else...
From here you can see a withered cherry tree.
I started to sing the notes from the voice buried under that tree...

Do you live strongly?
May I go ahead and live...?"

As Hisui walked through the forest, she pulled her hood down and started singing. It was just a thing to keep her occupied, really. So far, she had not seen any Little Nepents yet, and several minutes had passed. Her arms were at her sides underneath her cape, relaxed. Right now, she couldn't seem to register the fact that she was imprisoned here with thousands of other people whom she never had met; it only seemed like a normal walk in the woods to her.

All of it just felt unreal to her. Maybe she was still dizzy from the panic, as she had been in the plaza right after the announcement--there, she nearly fainted from fear, and had to wait several precious minutes to calm herself down and convince herself that she had to go to the second town. Maybe she was bewitched by the beauty of her surroundings. Who knew?

Everything around her still felt like the real world, from the chill against her skin to the noises of insects in the night. Yes, "bewitched" was probably the best term for her current state. Even if it was a prison, no one could deny that Sword Art Online was absolutely beautiful. That wouldn't change the fact that Hisui would still try her best to escape, though...

"Let me be the final person who sings for that person.
I'm fine; will you repeat it over and over again?
'There is no song I listen to other than your song.'"

Before Hisui could sing the next verses of her song, she suddenly heard strange noises from nearby. A moment later, a dark violet cursor appeared a few meters away from her. It was a monster! And one that was higher level than her, it seemed...as denoted by the color of that cursor. Holding her breath, Hisui reached for her hip and put a hand upon her sword's hilt...

A few moments later, a monster that resembled a flower, with a gigantic mouth in place of the petals, grew out of the ground in front of her. But when Hisui saw the name, she gasped--it read "Little Nepent." The cursor, meanwhile, was surrounded by a yellow glow--this meant this monster had to be slain for her quest.

Hisui drew her sword and leapt back a few meters, as the (not so little) Nepent crawled towards her, its roots wriggling in what seemed to be an imitation of a horror movie. With a change in her footwork, Hisui threw herself at the Nepent, who responded in kind with a vine. The girl tried to avoid the vine, but it still struck her across the cheek, causing her to let out a small cry. However, she quickly resumed her charge, and raised her sword, which now glowed red with the Sword Skill, Horizontal. The blade slashed horizontally into the Nepent's mouth's underside--much faster than the movement would have been in real life. Unfortunately, the skill had not done much damage to the monster at all.

To her surprise, the Nepent's flower began to enlarge...what was going to happen? Worried, she threw more attacks at its body, but barely managed to make the bar drop to 80% before it spewed out some kind of acrid fluid which splattered across her cape. To her horror, a notable portion of the fabric that made up the cape vanished, and some struck her arm. There was a jolt of pain--thank goodness pain lasts much shorter in SAO--and she saw her health bar recede quite a bit.

So she would have to find a way to dodge it when that happened again...Hisui jumped back again, threw herself out of the way of the vines, and leapt at the Nepent one more time, using Horizontal again. However, Hisui's sword struck the point at which the mouth met the stalk--and the HP bar dropped significantly, as the Nepent screamed.

That's it! I need to attack that point! Her sword glowed again, and she slashed it with a third Horizontal. She then threw herself backwards to avoid the vine attack, and somehow managed to avoid the worst of the acid. Her boots were damaged by the attack, but the Nepent was open for a killing blow. Hisui charged and used the skill Slant, tearing through the stalk diagonally and killing the monster in a shower of polygons.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Hisui glanced at her health bar--it had fallen to about 5/8. "I'll need to work a bit harder to avoid the acid next time," she muttered to herself. Then a window popped up in front of her, detailing her rewards: EXP, Col...but "Little Nepent's Ovule" was not among them. Hisui stared at it with surprise, and then looked back at her quest log. She had killed the Nepent; why hadn't she gotten the ovule? "I'll fight another one and see what happens," she sighed.

As if on cue, the strange sounds rang through the forest again, and she turned to see another Nepent spawning nearby. Hisui raised her sword, a set expression on her face.

(OOC: Any of you may join Hisui right now, if you're bored enough/don't know what to do next. Since Tolbana is the last city in the 1st floor, though, whereas Horunka is only the second town, I doubt I'll pick up any partners.)

(Tagged wrong person ignore. Doing this on a phone is really hard)

Triangle▲
Why did he say that? He doesn’t have feelings for this girl…does he?

Sure she has a frail frame that makes you want to protect her, and those blue eyes…Out of a force of habit, he used his hands to sweep his hair from his eyes.

Bad move, he ended up looking into her eyes. They were an odd mixture of colors…. And he was drowning in them and couldn’t move. He was trapped.

“WAKE UP YOU DUMBASS,” a voice inside of him yelled, it sounded awfully familiar, not Kayaba, but someone he knew. On the outside it appeared Triangle only froze for a few seconds while staring into the girl’s eyes, but something was changing inside of his head. For a split second, the name above his head changed to red, had a person blinked, they would have missed it. Triangle felt like his brain was splitting, the pain knocked him out of the quick trance. Any composure he could’ve mustered up shattered like waves on the rocks, he wasn’t flustered anymore, he was scared out of his mind, of his mind.

Feeling very near the edge, and backed up against the wall, “I uhm… just remembered something I had to do, we’ll party up some other time,” his voice was shaky. Then without any warning, he ran for the nearest building and scaled the wall up the roof while activating the hide skill; he had to get as far away from people as possible, but he didn’t know why.

Wandering around in the second town’s forest, where he had crushed the wolf king’s uncle’s coup(Triangle had got there using the gates), he questioned why he had ran; it wasn’t because of the girl’s blue eyes, he quite liked them, but something inside of him didn’t, there was no explanation. Thinking about something unexplainable remind him of his friend and roommate. Triangle lived in an apartment with a friend, who he has never seen before, the same friend who loaned him the nerve gear and beta code. Heck, he didn’t even know the friend’s name, they only spoke by leaving notes for each other; Triangle would leave a note before he went to sleep, and in the morning there would be a reply. An odd relationship, but he was the only friend Triangle had, who has always been friendless.

Strolling through the woods confused and missing his closest friend, he heard conflict nearby. Using his hiding skill, Triangle approached the noises and watched from a nearby branch. His hide skill was still lower ranked compared to his other skills, but in addition to his black cloak, players without a mid ranked detection skill would have trouble seeing him.

This girl had impressive swordplay; she was battling a plant type monster (he never bothered to learn the names, and just referenced the guidebook most of the time.) The girl took out one of the monsters but not unscathed, this was why he disliked swords and sword users, they’re too reckless and risky. Not only would they endanger themselves, but also him; then again, the blue eyed girl used swords. Will he ever meet her again? What then, when they form a party, how will he fight? His fighting style is mainly for soloing. The image of her blue eyes popped into his head, he would’ve liked to dwell on it some more but had to shake it out for the sake of observing the battle.

Oh another one spawned and the girl was preparing to face it; her health dropped significantly after the first bout, and by the looks of it she might be in trouble if more spawn. Stupidly, he forgot to buy another spear and was weaponless aside from the few throwing spears he had carved here and there. Guess he’ll have to hope no other plants spawn any time soon. Triangle quietly begins carving a few more throwing spears while keeping one eye on the battle.

He should stop being stingy and buy things from the NPC shops, other than cheap wood shafts. Maybe a good durable spear this time, instead of the cheap beginner weapon. Perhaps new clothes too, he was still wearing the newbie outfit under his cloak.

November 6, 2022--10:39 PM
Floor 1, Horunka Forest

With one final Slant to its stalk, Hisui destroyed the second Nepent. Letting out a sigh of relief, she glanced at her own health bar--it had fallen to about 3/8 of its original value. She had taken less damage than last time, to be sure, but it was still concerning.

Raising her right hand, she squeezed her thumb and index finger together and swept them downwards, calling out the menu. Entering her inventory, she took out a few health potions, stored two into her pockets, and drank one. It tasted absolutely horrible, but she saw her HP was rising once again. "It'll take some time," she sighed, "but as long as nothing comes my way before the potion finishes healing m-"

The sounds of a Nepent spawning rang out to her side. I just HAD to open my mouth...

Putting a hand to her face and groaning in annoyance, Hisui drew her sword again, but stayed a distance away this time to give the potion time to complete its work. The Nepent spewed out its acid, but Hisui threw herself to the ground, and the acid flew above her head into the trees. Rising quickly, she waited for it to attack again--which it promptly did with its vines. Her sword flashed to the sides, parrying the blows, but one vine still managed to strike her in the leg.

As Hisui winced, she noticed her HP was no longer rising--it was over half again, though, so she rushed towards the Nepent head-on, unleashing Sword Skills one after another. The delays between skills caused her to take more damage, but the plant monster's health quickly depleted as well. Just before the Nepent was about to die, it launched another acid attack, but Hisui leaped to the side, let it fly into the bushes behind her, and struck once more at the stalk, killing the plant.

Once again, "Little Nepent's Ovule" was not among the rewards. This is starting to get a bit worrisome, Hisui thought as she gulped down another potion. "I guess I can stay for a bit longer," she murmured, "but how long will this take?"

(OOC: Remember the acid that flew into the bushes? It splashed around wherever Triangle was hiding, because freak coincidences happened. Yes, I am a jerk. That doesn't mean Triangle has to get hit, though.)

Triangle▲
Swordsmen these days... Just charging headlong into the battle without much planning. The girl had swiftly taken out the second plant but not without damage, with her HP at 3/8; she stopped in the middle of the battlefield to heal, a risky move because you might never know when- Never mind, another one spawned, before her HP could recover. Throwing spear handy, Triangle continued to watch the battle, ready to intervene at any moment. After exchanging a few blows with the plant and rendering it near death, the creature spewed a last barrage of acid, luckily the girl had dodged it and finished off the monster. The acid splashed harmlessly in the bushes underneath the tree where Triangle was hiding, well, not so harmless for the bushes because they just melted. A little drop splashed onto Triangle’s arm and burned his arm, it did very little damage, but still burned nonetheless; he had to keep a straight face and not wince at the pain, else his position would be revealed. Then again it was probably better if he showed himself now…

Games tend to have anti spawn camping mechanism for field mobs, where after a certain amount of monsters are killed, more spawn in rapid succession; this is usually a good thing for higher level players, making it much easier to grind, but in this girl’s case it might be deadly. Just as he predicted, three plants spawned at the same time and closed in on the girl. Triangle’s plan for a cool entrance were dashed when the branch gave way, due to being weakened by the acid, and he fell into the bushes below, creating quite a bit of noise. The plants naturally reacted and changed their aggro to the higher leveled player, Triangle.

Ah shit… he didn’t have a usable weapon; having no choice, he used the Paralyzing Howl skill. With the plants frozen in place for a few seconds, it gave him time to recover and throw his double pointed spears into the roots of the plants, tangling them and greatly limiting their movements.


“Sorry sword girl, that’s all I can do to help you,” He started to turn and run before the plants snapped out of the debuff. Sprinting past the girl, “Be careful, more will spawn after these, and maybe even the field boss will show up.”

It won’t be his fault if the girl dies right? Stopping before he entered the trees, “If it were me, I’d take advantage of the geography,” pausing for a second, he added, “Use the trees and disable their movements any way you can…” Triangle’s debuff was starting to wear off on the plants, so he activated hide, and ran deeper into the forest.

She’ll be fine he thought. If she listens to his advice, the plants should be tangled up in the vegetation and become easy targets.

November 6, 2022--10:43 PM
Floor 1, Horunka Forest

"...what was that about just now...?" Hisui wondered, staring after the boy who had appeared and attacked the Nepents, said some words, and then just left. Regardless, she still had to deal with each of them right now.

The spears had not inhibited the Nepents' acid attack at all, and they each promptly launched it, forcing Hisui to jump backwards. As soon as the deluge of vile fluids ended, she leaped upwards, grabbed a tree branch, and swung towards one Nepent, slashing it with Horizontal. It writhed in pain, and Hisui let more skills fly at the stem, destroying the Nepent. But the paralysis of the other two Nepents suddenly wore off, and the durability of the spears which the boy had planted into the ground near them reached 0. The spears broke into pixels, and the two Nepents were free to attack her.

As another one of the plant monsters prepared its acid spit, Hisui tore the remaining spear out of the earth and threw herself out of the way. A vine whipped up and lashed her across the face, but she rolled to the side so that her fall wouldn't leave her defenseless, and flew upwards with Slant. But while she was tearing through the stem of the Nepent which had whipped her, another one of the monsters performed the vine attack, and the delay from using a skill meant she couldn't avoid it this time.

A scream came from Hisui as she was hurled away, but she managed to scramble to her feet and move away before a double acid attack could take her down. She then charged at the weakened Nepent and impaled it with the boy's spear before kicking off of it, pointing her sword at the stem. With a flash of red light, she lashed out with Horizontal and tore through the weakened Nepent once and for all, destroying it. Now there was only one Nepent left.

Acid burst from the flower, and Hisui hurriedly threw herself to the ground, letting the vile liquid surge over her head. The moment the air was clear again, she pushed herself upwards and cut through the stem of one with Horizontal, before dashing onward and kicking off a tree into the air above the demonic plant, letting her use Vertical straight down to bifurcate it.

"Still no sign of the Ovule," she groaned, as the rewards window popped up. "How long will I be here?"

----------

November 7, 2022--12:14 AM

Mopping her face, Hisui let out a long-held breath, ignoring the window that just appeared notifying her that she had reached Level 5. There was a Nepent in front of her which had a bright red flower growing upon its head, for whatever reason--she had reduced it to half of its HP. Her own health was nearing the red zone as well, and she was exhausted from spending so much time trying to find the Ovule. But she had no intention of giving up now.

The Nepent blasted acid at her, and Hisui was too tired to dodge as well as she had before. So she simply took off her ruined cape and put it in the way of the acid, letting its durability run out completely and giving her time to jump away. "You're mine!" Hisui shouted at the top of her lungs, breaking into a dash towards the Nepent the moment she landed. A vine swept at her face, but this time she blocked the vine with her left hand, ignoring the sharp pain. One more Horizontal--

--and just as the reward window popped up somewhere in the falling fragments of the Little Nepent, a fist-sized ball that shone with a soft green light landed in her hand. Hisui stared at the sphere in confusion, and then looked at the reward window...and her eyes lit up. "Little Nepent's Ovule. I've finally found it!" she gasped. Finally, her painstaking search was at an end. Putting a hand to her chest, Hisui breathed out a sigh of relief, before pocketing the Ovule and setting off for Horunka again.

In a few minutes, she re-entered the village, and found the NPC lady's house once again. Emptying yet another potion, Hisui watched her HP slowly rise again, and knocked on the door before gently pushing it open. The lady turned around to see her, having been cooking something before the hooded girl entered. A golden exclamation point hovered over her head to remind Hisui about the quest she had in progress.

Stopping within two feet of the NPC, Hisui took the Ovule out of her pocket and held it out. "I-I've found it for you, ma'am," she stammered, a shy smile on her face. "I-I hope this makes your daughter recover." The NPC lady gasped in delight, and took the Ovule from Hisui, voicing her thanks.

The glowing green sphere was placed gently into the pot, and the NPC took out a sword in a dark red scabbard from a chest in the corner of the small house. "Again, thank you for your efforts, traveling swordswoman," she told the young girl with a warm smile. "May this blade serve you well in your ventures."

With both hands, Hisui carefully took the sword, before letting out a small cry when she realized it was notably heavier than the Starting Sword. Seating herself at the table, Hisui laid the sword out before her, pressing a finger to it, and was greeted by a window that detailed its stats and its name. "Anneal Blade...?" she murmured, carefully lifting it again. It would take some time to get used to its weight and size, but she was sure she could do it.

A quest completion message appeared before her as she was equipping the Anneal Blade and storing the well-worn Starting Sword in her inventory, and her exp rose yet again. She was well on her way, it seemed...Hisui leaned back in the chair with another sigh of relief. Everything will be fine. I will survive in this world.

While she was resting, though, she noticed the NPC lady taking a wooden cup from a shelf, placing the contents of the pot inside it, and walking towards another room, holding the cup gingerly as though the slightest breeze would shatter it into nothingness. Intrigued, Hisui sat up and followed the lady. Would she get to see the sick daughter now...?

Standing in the doorway, in the door which had been left ajar, she could see it was a small bedroom. There was a small wooden dresser by the wall, and a bed by the window, along with a single small chair. And, surely enough, she saw a girl lying on the bed, who looked to be seven or eight years of age.

Hisui gasped in a bit of horror--the child's complexion was ghostly, and the few parts of the girl's body she could see with the shoulders peeking out from the sheets were bony and thin. "How terrible it must have been for you..." she whispered, not moving from the door.

Upon noticing her mother, the girl lifted her eyelids slightly, and was looking at Hisui, who let out a little cry of surprise...but soon was at ease, for the girl's lips formed into a faint smile. As the mother was helping her to a sitting position, however, the girl's body bent over, gripped by a coughing fit. To the rather emotional Hisui, it seemed that face surrounded by those shaking light brown braids would disappear into the moonlight...

While stroking the girl's back gently with her right hand, the mother sat down on the chair by the side, and spoke. "Agatha. Here, the traveling swordswoman got some medicine for you from the forest. If you drink this, you'll get better for sure." With that motherly smile that made Hisui feel even more at ease whenever she saw it, the NPC lady made the girl take a hold of the cup that her left hand held.

"...Okay." Agatha nodded with a soft, high-pitched yet soothing voice, and holding on to the cup with her small hands, she gulped it down. When the cup left her face, it seemed that a slight tinge of red returned to her cheeks, and Hisui smiled as well, knowing that the young girl was just fine.

Returning the now empty cup to her mother, Agatha returned her gaze to Hisui, and her face shone with the most charming grin that the hooded girl had ever seen. Her lips moved, her stuttering words flowed out like demure jewels. "Thank you, onee-chan."

Hisui took a step back, completely knocked off guard. "O-onee-chan?!" she repeated in a tone of disbelief and embarrassment. How was the NPC this sentient...? Perhaps she had been wrong about how un-humanlike they were...finally, Hisui returned the smile, though hers was weaker and more timid. "...y-you're welcome, Agatha. S-sleep well tonight, a-and...I hope you get better." Knowing she had no other words to say, she raised a hand in farewell to the NPC family and disappeared out the door.

Now to find that inn...

Kirito observed the strange player who had just dropped in front of him. That was quite the entrance he thought but pain not mind to him. He enter the shop and placed a bunch off small books on the table writing a sign that said guide book for free. He then walk up to the bar and order a small Tea, he waited as he saw the through his menu if anyone had send him a reply. He saw Miyer would be grinding soon and when the battle took place they would go together. He then took a look through his inventory he had two blades the anneal blade with + 6 enhancements and the blade of infinite MP. He had a hard time deciding which one to take to the boss battle but finally decided upon taking the anneal blade. He then receive his tea and drank it he left 20 Col on the bar and walked away. The fields were being picked cleans as he took a break but he knew the best spots to grind due to his beta tester back ground. He headed toward that direction hoping to see the field with the level 15 monsters and while he was going solo he could handle them as long as they didn't swarm. He pulled out his blade and began grinding his level slowly increasing. He decided to take a break from all the grinding and then walked back to the town thing were a lot calmer now people understood the vitality of being able to survive. He saw the strange boy again, then another girl with a similar blade to his, there was a couple that just had starting grinding, then there was a tank obvious player, he saw last a another blue haired boy all of them determine as he was to win.

( anyone wants to join me in the following quest for now kirito will be sociable and approachable so please I would like to get to know each and every single one of your character before Friday.)

Here is your 15 daily quest

1. The 3 Bear rampage. ( there was a case of breaking and entering the victims three bears who are now rampaging through the forest chasing the responsible assailant, capture the assailant or kill the bears is up to you ) Level: 5 Xp Yield: 100 Reward: The house in the forest ( if bears kills ) The pick of locks a pick that allows to pick low level door without with ease. ( if the assailant is kill)

2. The bird wonder ( there is a justice bird trying to save his mentor an old bat from a hyena's attack ) Level :4 Xp: 75 Reward : the boomerang spear ( a spear that returns to the user if thrown.)

3. The living blade ( there is a cursed blade in the forest if anyone tries to pick it up it will sap their energy however if the swords deems you worthy it will become the sapping blade of the king which allows a energy sapping skill when contact with the skin of the enemy is made.) Level :6 Xp yield: 150 Reward: Sapping blade.

4 . The first rule of rpg ( there is a swarm of monsters appearing through the meadows they are rumored to give a lot of XP the draw back is they swarm the opponent effortless killing them) Level :6 Xp yield: 175 Reward : Double xp

5. The Creed is sacred ( a group of mysterious assassin' s just open up a spot for a single new comer who can bring them the head of the monster called the Temple a monster twice as high as any player with a huge cross in its chest ) Level: 7 Xp yield: 175 Reward: Cloak of the assassins + sneaking and Dagger damage

6. The golden ape ( there is a monkey giving information about a sword skill called the turtle slash his name is sung wukong but he will only reveal his secret to a strong opponent who can best him and his magical pole) Level: 4 Xp yield: over 90 Reward: Sword skill the turtle slash

7. The chief and the arbiter ( there is duo giving a quest to destroy a poisounous plant that is turning their friends into zombies slay the plant and do not become a zombie ) Level: 18 reward: Light Blade a blade composed of a bright metal makes it look like if it wasn't a tangible thing

8 The Psy ( There is a dancing npc that is willing to teach a moved called the side step counter if you can show him you can get down) Level:5 Xp yield: 50 Reward: The side step counter

9. The Mischievous fox( there is a fox deep in the forest that is nimble and agile trying to keep himself alive he will bestow a fast dodging skill to his next apprentice will it be you ) Level:4 Xp yield: 80 Reward: The nine tails, allows to the user access to a running skill that allows quickly movement at the cost of being down on all fours and not being able to use weapons.

10. The trishotgun ( there is a charismatic outlaw hoping to turn his life around all he need is for you to pay his debts if you do then he will give you the triblade a blade that give a +3 attack if used on bandits.) Level:5 Xp yield: 100 Reward: The tribalde

11. The stacking miner ( there is a miner that has re imagine a way to mine his pickaxe can now pick blocks of 1 meter by 1 meter up he is willing to pay you a lot of Col if you keep the explosive nepents away from him. ) Level: 5 Xp yield: 125 Reward: 3,000 Col.

12. The preparations for winter because it's coming ( there is a small feathery dragon who has landed in the mountain the NPCs want him death because once winter come he will attack their cattle do not attempt alone. ) Level:8 Xp yield: 400 Reward: The scale chest plate + 10 attack and hp

13. The wrong turn on Tolbana ( by mistake a rare mob has appeared outside tolbana it's name the grey rabbit if you can catch it and kill it I will grant you rabbit meat a meat capable of healing any status ) Level:5 Xp yield: 110 Reward: The docs meat

14. This is dot way to similar ( there is a new teleporting gate in the forest rumored to lead to a small new floor called the dot new floor it is rumor there is a small girl there giving the dot hack slasher blade ) Level:6 Xp yield: 175 Reward: The dot hack slasher a blade with better flowing combos.

15. The forever battle ( someone though it would be funny to start a few between butterfly cocoons and salmon fish the result a never ending battle please finish it and let there be a winner ) Level: 5 Xp yield: 60 Reward: The powders of status effects ( if salmon kill ) or The mountain leap an extra jump skill that allows a much higher jump ( if cocoon killed )

Tolbana outskirts November 7, 2022

Kirito was relieved that the other players were safe and now focused on killing the remaining zeboars in order to get the xp to take on other quest. He continued to dispatch them a lot easier now that he had support from shiro and magnus. He finished the remaining ones and smile wiping his forehead even thought there was not sweat he was exhausted. He walked over to Shiro and MAgnus and smile " Thank you guys this quest would have been a lot more difficult if I did it alone anyway I hope you guys got enough experience to take on other challenges without this happening." He said thinking of how close to death they were. He wave them good bye and began to walk back to town in order to take another quest so he could level up faster out of the 10 zeboars he must have killed at least 4 of them at 175X2 experience he had gain 1400 XP enough xp to level up to level 7 he was now in route to becoming stronger and being able to survive the game of death. He excused himself and walked back to the place he was renting in order rest a bit. He was walking when he realized he had used his sword so much it probably now needed to find someone who would repair the equipment. He walked to town looking for a smith that would be able to help him without cleaning out his col supply. He however was distracted when he saw Argo the info dealer making her money by selling information he decided to check out what information she could have that could help him. He smiled as he saw her cat markings and then decided to inquire about the info she didn't have much he didn't already no so he decided to leave her to her business.

( again this week I want to get to know every single character in my rp so please don't be shy and join me in a quest just a quick introduction will suffice.)

tolbana 9 pm November 7,2022

Kirito look up at shiro again " Do you need any more help friend ?" He asked a little worry that he might have run into troubled. He sat in a bench and waited for him to talk as he looked through his menu and accepted the quest to kill the dragon winter is coming" Hey how do you feel about fighting a fire breathing lizard " He said as he smiled but realized even if they were in good levels fighting a dragon would require more than two players he decided to use the system quest to post one on his own. Anyone seeking to gain good xp and favorable reward please meet me in the outskirts of tobalna I will share the details of this quest once you arrive. He send the quest to the nearby players, and then turn to Shiro " Let's go we need to meet people in the outskirt of this town." He said as he started walking and then realized this guy had been calling him by his name the whole time. " Hey have we meet before, or how do you know my name I don't believe I ever told you it" He said a little worry this guy had been buying players names from argo because only two type of players did that the PKers and the traps for the PKers. He tap hi sword and sight hoping this guy wasn't one of them even thought he would do anything to survive killing someone would not weight lightly in his conscious. He arrived to the place he was supposed meeting them and waited for the players to arrive there this quest would be the most difficult one yet. He equipped his Anneal blade and packet all his healing potions and crystal as well as the corridor crystal in case things when wrong.

Tolbana outskirts, Time: 2100, November 7, 2022.

---

While he sat atop the wild Zeboar he held on for dear life. He wasn't exactly sure about how he was going to handle this situation he put himself in. Almost as if to answer his question a swordsman came and slew the Zeboar he was just riding, sending him dropping to the floor quite unceremoniously. Before he knew it two other players were tackling the mobs
he was fighting. "Hey! What on earth do you two think your doing?" He asked, somewhat angry but mostly just confused.

The kid instructed the older guy to get him out of here. Needless to say, he was quite shocked at all this. Not the fact they were helping him though that was a bit puzzling too but rather the fact that they just swooped in and were planning on cutting him out from getting the kills. The older guy was blabbering about healing or some other nonsense.
"Just what do you think you are trying to pull!?" He responded to the other guy's offer to heal him by turning his back on him and charging straight back into the fray.

Because the other two had joined the fight the damage was distributed between them. Thanks to his battle healing he was able to sustain himself through the Zeboar's assault, laying waste to about three more before the herd was no more. He knelt down to rest, his body battered and exhausted from the running and fighting.

"Thank you guys this quest would have been a lot more difficult if I did it alone anyway I hope you guys got enough experience to take on other challenges without this happening." The kid said to them. He was quite upset with them now. "Without this happening!? I totally had that all under control until you both showed up! Stealing my kills like that is the worst thing you could of possibly done right there. That's such a noob thing to do I just- Hey! Where you all going!?
Hey! I wasn't finished talking!" He was yelling at them. Towards the end of his rant there the two had already been walking away, almost as if they weren't even listening to him to begin with. Yeah, he didn't really have that situation with the mobs under control but he was never going to admit it, even if they were to try and beat it out of him.

"Well I'll just move on then... Bloody people." He cursed them under his breath, pushing his tired frame up. He dragged himself from the scene and continued onwards down the road. The only upside to his evening so far had been that he had gotten enough exp to put him at level seven. "At least I leveled finally. Still, I need to do more quests to stay ahead of the curve." He was mostly talking to himself, laying out his plan in his mind as he traveled. His whole body groaned with pain, reminding him that even though exp is important it still craved rest like any other normal human being.

He walked for a while down one road then another. He sort of lost track of time in his doldrums. Down the road he saw a city he recognized not too far away. Horunka city, not a bad place to level. It had plenty of woods with a rather scarce population of people there usually. He strode into town and looked around, evaluating the population of players present. So far it seemed pretty thin, making this place ideal for leveling. The less people to steal his kills, the better.

There was the occasional player around. The closest one was a very short girl concealed by a black cloak, little showing but her face, most notable features of which were her brown hair and rather bright green eyes which stood out in the dim light. She seemed to look lost though he really couldn't tell. Normally he couldn't care less about what weaker people did but he didn't see the harm in giving a couple directions. It would only take a couple seconds of his time or so he believed.

"You lost?" He asked the young girl. He only approached until he was within decent talking range. Even as socially awkward as he usually was he knew it was poor form to loom over someone so short. Even at the distance he stood he seemed to dwarf her by a couple feet or so but at least he wasn't towering over her.

---

Total EXP Earned: 350, Total Col Earned: 0, Level After Total EXP: Level 8.

November 7, 2022--12:19 AM
Floor 1, Horunka

The Anneal Blade was notably longer and heavier than the Starting Sword, and Hisui found it was hard for her to even carry it--the red scabbard nearly touched the ground while it was on her belt, and she found it a bit hard to balance while it was there. I hope it doesn't end up being a problem next time I have to fight...

Of course, right now she probably should be trying to find the inn. Horunka wasn't a big village, but in her exhaustion, Hisui had no idea where the inn could be. She couldn't even remember which buildings she had gone into...

"You lost?" She heard a voice coming from her right, and turned to see a tall, fat man standing a few meters away. He carried chain mail and a mace on his belt. And his eyes were fixed on her, so that question was definitely directed towards Hisui.

"M-me? Um...y-yeah, I-I guess," she stuttered, instinctively backing away. Hisui's social skills were utterly horrible, but she had even less experience with boys in real life. Which made things even worse with the "There are no girls on the Internet" stereotype, because there were probably more male players. "I-I, um, well..."

Can you PLEASE get a word out, idiot?! she screamed at herself internally, but all she did in real life was wrap her cape a bit more tightly around her body. "Y-you see, um...I-I'm, ah, l-looking for the inn. D-do you know where, um, it is...?"

Horunka Forest, Time: 12:20 AM, November 7, 2022.

---

The girl seemed to trip over her words a lot but eventually she did answer his question, more or less. Magnus shifted his armor onto his good shoulder while she struggled to ask where the inn was. "Yeah. It's just over there." He pointed in the general direction of the inn. His directions were not very helpful as the inn wasn't immediately in view, being around a few buildings and such.

He covered his mouth as he yawned. Just how late did it suddenly get? I wasn't walking for that long was I? Huh. He was silently weighing his options. On one hand he didn't plan on being left behind in levels but on the other hand he hurt all over and he was starting to feel quite tired. Apathy wins today I guess. He finally resolved his internal struggle.

With his mind made up he turned towards the direction of the inn and started on his way towards it. He looked over his shoulder to see if the young girl was following him, seeing as how she was looking for the inn and all. An interesting detail caught his eye as he glanced back over to her. The blade she was wielding was the Anneal Blade, a sword that was the quest reward for the Secret Medicine of the Forest quest. "I take it the Secret Medicine of the Forest quest is already done?"
He asked a more or less rhetorical question, gesturing to her new sword with his mace hand.

(OOC: To those of you whom it might concern, I think you can still do the "Secret Medicine of the Forest" quest if you feel like it. I started and finished it before Kirito even listed it, so don't feel like you're locked out of that quest. Besides, I remember reading from a side story that "Secret Medicine of the Forest" can be done by all players, and as many times as one wants.

GM: The quest can do four times by four different player this is so we have a fair leveling system. )

November 7, 2022--12:21 AM
Floor 1, Horunka

The man pointed her in a certain direction, and started walking that way himself. Figuring he probably was equally tired--humans aren't exactly nocturnal, after all--Hisui followed him. As she was walking, the man glanced at her once and asked, "I take it the 'Secret Medicine of the Forest' quest is already done?"

"Hm? A-ah, yeah...I-I completed i-it just a f-few minutes ago," Hisui replied. "W-why do you ask?" She wasn't quite sure how he realized, until she realized he had been looking at the sword hanging from her hip. So he had recognized the quest reward? That caused her to question something else. "W-wait a moment. H-how did you know about that quest? H-have you done it as well?" But the man didn't have any Anneal Blade on him, and Hisui had never heard of Beta Testers yet.

They finally reached the inn just as she finished her last question. Hisui paused walking for just a moment, waiting for the man to walk in before her. At the moment, she didn't really know what to think of him...he hadn't said much to her yet, at any rate.

( To does who are not happy about the RP i been trying really hard to make it pleasing to everyone but Does it really cost that much effort to just look where you are posting ? I made this two places because floor 1-100 is where the non cannon happens, and here sword art online is where the cannon happens.)

Horunka Forest, Time: 12:23 AM, November 7, 2022.

---

"W-wait a moment. H-how did you know about that quest? H-have you done it as well?"

Figures. He didn't expect much out of someone who wasn't a beta tester. "Saw that same blade on a guy I partied with during the first floor dungeon. Fairly interesting guy but he got all hacked up when he aggroed a pat during a pull." He explained to her using MMO jargon. He didn't really take into consideration the possibility that she might not understand some of the abbreviations. He also didn't consider the fact that he just told her about how some guy got violently killed during a dungeon run without establishing a proper timeline for when this incident took place which was back during the beta.

He remembered the good old days of beta. Back when there was no urgency and he could grind and level at a steady pace,
no worries about permadeath or any of that nonsense. The recent addition of the risk of dying was annoying but it still didn't annoy him as much as when he removed everyone's avatar. Back then he was Magnus the Great. Now he was just Magnus.
The kill stealers from earlier were the metaphorical salt in the already grievous wound to his self esteem.

When they were at the door to the inn they both seemed to be standing there, neither one entering the establishment. It was beginning to feel a bit awkward as neither one of them moved for the door. After the tension got too thick he was obliged to speak. "Well, this is the inn. You going in?" He stepped further aside, gesturing to the door in an attempt to spur some sort of response in this lull in activity.

November 7, 2022--12:24 AM
Floor 1, Horunka

"H-hold on, w-we've already found the, ah, d-dungeon by now? And...um, I-I'm sorry, b-but what?" Hisui knew almost no MMO terms whatsoever, so she just couldn't understand what happened (other than the fact that that other Anneal Blade wielder had gotten hurt badly. Hopefully he had gotten out alright...).

Apparently, both she and the man had been intending to wait for the other to walk in first. After a few awkward moments, the man stepped back further and asked if she was going in. "A-ah, yeah..." Embarrassed a little, Hisui went in through the door, holding it open for the man as she did so.

At the reception area, she checked out one room, and stood back for the man to do the same. Right now, Hisui wanted to ask the man a bit more about SAO, seeing as he was rather knowledgeable about it, but she knew they both would need sleep. It was past midnight. "Well, ah...g-good night, sir," she said with an uneasy smile. "Um...l-let's do our best tomorrow...o-okay?"

Turning on her heel, she started walking up the stairs to her room. But she probably wouldn't see that man the next day, since Hisui knew by the time she woke up tomorrow, it would probably be almost noon.

Horunka Forest, Time: 12:26 AM, November 7, 2022.

---

"H-hold on, w-we've already found the, ah, d-dungeon by now? And...um, I-I'm sorry, b-but what?"

The girl clearly had no idea what he was talking about. He placed his palm to the front of his helm in a mock face-palm followed by a sigh of despair. Yeesh, she didn't even read up on her gaming lingo. Is this her first time playing an actual video game? Her chances of surviving this game were looking lower and lower to him. "No, we haven't found the dungeon yet. They moved it since they closed beta and started the pre-orders for the NerveGear headsets." He set her information straight.


As she went in he was not far behind, coming inside right after she did. "Thanks." He thanked her for holding open the door for him. She was a nice young girl, he felt a tad sorry for her knowing that between her lack of gaming knowledge and absence of any apparent armor she was due for an early grave.

She had payed for her room first, the key to her room placed in her inventory. He stepped up to the desk as she proceeded towards the stairs. "Well, ah...g-good night, sir," He nodded to her in response. "You have a good night too." He bid her the same well wishes. "Um...l-let's do our best tomorrow...o-okay?" "Right. Plenty of kills to us both."


He turned around to address the inn keeper behind the desk. "I'd like to check out a room please." He asked the friendly looking npc. "Alright sir. That will be twenty Col." She asked him in a polite manner. "Here, just let me..." He said as he opened his inventory. In it the Col counter blinked with a nice big round zero. He just remembered that he had spent all his money on his gear. While that had helped him grind harder than everyone else, putting him ahead of the curve, it had also left him without a single Col left to spend. He was counting on some of the mobs he was hunting to have something he could sell but he had no such luck. "Oh dear." He said, starting to pace back and forth in front of the slightly puzzled npc.

His brain burned as he fought with himself. He tried to think of something, anything he could sell to cover for the cost. He was not willing to part with any of his gear as that would set him well behind in cash spent versus cash earned and force him to fight at a handicap to try and buy back what he would need to sell. On the other hand besides that there was little to no other conceivable way for him to make the requisite amount of cash and still be able to sleep in any reasonable span of time. He briefly considered sleeping outside but with the new rules on dying in place that put him at a huge risk. After all he was a very deep sleeper, capable of sleeping through almost anything. There was only one choice left and it really boiled his ego to even consider it.


Slowly he approached the young girl who he was just speaking with just a minute ago. "Ah, uh... I was wondering, no, Perhaps if... Since you er... I just thought... Maybe-" He struggled to force himself to say it, his pride fighting him every inch as he tried to speak making most of what he was saying awkward and without point. He knew there was no way he could phrase this and still retain his gravitas but it still almost physically hurt him to say it.

"I can't afford a room. Can you..." The word had grabbed onto his tongue and was refusing to let go. With an audible gulp he swallowed his pride and spoke. "Help me out? I swear I'll pay you back." He finally did it. He asked someone else for help.
This game had officially broken Magnus the Great, reducing him to groveling to newbies for pocket change. Of course, he was blaming the game for all this when in actuality it was his own poor fiscal choices which put him in this position.

I swear... When I find the lowly scum who removed my in-game appearance I will stop at nothing to destroy him and everything he knows and cares about. He will rue the day he messed with Magnus the Great like this!

November 7, 2022--12:27 AM
Floor 1, Horunka

Just as Hisui was unlocking her room, she suddenly saw the man from before approaching her. Despite the rather composed way he had been talking to her before, the man now stammered in a manner as pathetic as that of Hisui herself. "Um...I-I'm sorry, what?" She asked, lowering her left hand with the key in it.

Finally, the man manged to speak up. "I can't afford a room. Can you..." He gulped, seemed to struggle with himself and finally blurted out, "Help me out? I swear I'll pay you back."

Honestly, his change in behavior was so drastic that Hisui had to work hard to suppress a giggle. "I-it's alright, sir," she replied, calling out the menu and pressing a few buttons. A moment later, a trade window popped up in front of her, reading "Hisui > Unknown Player" above the list of objects they were trading. While Hisui was surprised that it would say "Unknown Player" rather than the man's username, she still prepared to send a good amount of Col to the man.

"W-well...I obtained quite a bit of gold-um, no, I mean...col while I was doing the, ah, quest in the forest," she told the man with a shy smile. "S-so I think, um, I-I'll be fine for now. N-no need to worry about, ah, p-paying me back any time soon, sir." She knew that getting the room only costed 20 Col, but it was likely he would need more for tomorrow. 250 Col should do the job...

Hisui pressed the "Confirm Trade Request" button, and the Col was transferred. "Well, g-good night, sir," she said to him again, before entering her room and closing the door behind her. As soon as she unequipped her gear and cape, she lay down inside the bed and began to sleep...or, she would have, if it didn't take so darned long for her to fall asleep in real life as well.