Zajcica

The girl decided that things were getting serious now and she didn't mind if Shield had elected to ignore her questions about the other girl. She had noticed that both her and Shield were in the same guild based on the icons next to her name. He must have recruited her to one or something. Well, not the time to be thinking on that.

She walked up the staircase in front of Shield, taking the lead lifting the hatch up quietly. No one had noticed them just yet and the witch was fooling with something at a table. An alchemy project? Luckily, her engrossment in the activity was leaving her open to Yuki's sneak attack. She summoned the Trap of Argalia and stabbed the witch with it's pointed head. No damage. 

The witch turned and growled at the paladin, then noticed Shield and nearly had an aneurysm. "You again?!?! Why do you insist on annoying me to no end!"

[H:0/0/0/0] Shield: HP: 1815/1850 | EN: 162/176 | DMG: 2 | EVA: -1 | MIT: 181 | BH:92 | HB: 48 | THN: 99 | ENV: 18/4
[H: 0/0/0/2] Yuki: 720/720 | 62/66 | DMG: 5 | MIT 81 | EVA: -1 | ACC: 3| THN: 18 | BLD: 24

Elite Flying Monkey 1: 220/220 | 90(45) | MIT: 35
Elite Flying Monkey 2: 220/220 | 90(45) | MIT: 35
Elite Flying Monkey 3: 220/220 | 90(45) | MIT: 35
The Witch: 699/700 | DMG: 100 | MIT: 70

Yuki backed off as quickly as she could manage. The adrenaline pumping through that ballsy punch was already wearing off pretty quickly. If she hadn't done that, Shiina could have been at risk of dying to the Lionesses claws and she refused to let anyone die when they stood behind her shield. That being said, she was also pretty terrified of dying herself, no matter how much she played it off like she wasn't scared.

She fell to her rear end back to Shiina when she made it back, clutching her shield in her lap and watching Mari completely demolish her Lion. The sound of her voice barely reached the paladin, who's mind was a thousand miles a second right now. "I-I, uh... I'm fine. Focus on your...uh, your fight Mari-chan." Yuki took a moment to try and clear her thoughts looking down at the ground to help her focus on moving things off her mind. It was obvious that she was a little shaken up in the moment.

@Shiina @Mari @Oscar

The girl looked like one to be good at scouting so it didn't really surprise the paladin that she was able to find a treasure chest so early in her career. Yuki herself never cared too much with these sort of things. Too much looking out for things that took too long to deal with. Maybe if she was grinding she would try to look for one, but not in the middle of a quest. She would have to wait on Shield to finish what he was doing.

"That girl seems pretty nice. You said she was a healer right? She didn't use a single sword art while we were fighting and I think I saw her using some kind of needle as a weapon. Is that like a dagger or something? Interesting choice of weapon for someone so cute and innocent looking as her." The paladin thought out loud, watching the other tank fiddle with the metal keys in his hand to open the chest.

@Shield

Name: Mochi Supreme
Your Profession: Cook
Your Rank: 8
ID: 149691
Roll: CD: 11+1; LD: 6
Item Type: Snack
Tier: 2
Quality: Perfect 
Enhancements: LD 3
Description: A ton of Japanese rice cakes ground from paste filled with a variety of yummy fillings.
Post Link: [Here]

Name: Udon Bowl with Veggies
Your Profession: Cook
Your Rank: 8
ID: 149695
Roll: CD: 12+1; LD: 6
Item Type: Snack
Tier: 2
Quality: Perfect 
Enhancements: ACC 3
Description: Japanese noodles with mixed vegetables and sometimes some shreds of meat.
Post Link: [Here]

Name: Mochi
Your Profession: Cook
Your Rank: 8
ID: 149700
Roll: CD: 10+1; LD: 2
Item Type: Snack
Tier: 2
Quality: Rare
Enhancements: LD 2
Description: A box of Japanese rice cakes ground from paste filled with a variety of yummy fillings.
Post Link: [Here]

Name: Mochi
Your Profession: Cook
Your Rank: 8
ID: 149698
Roll: CD: 10+1; LD: 2
Item Type: Snack
Tier: 2
Quality: Rare 
Enhancements: LD 2
Description: A box of Japanese rice cakes ground from paste filled with a variety of yummy fillings.
Post Link: [Here]

Name: Udon Bowl with Veggies
Your Profession: Cook
Your Rank: 8
ID: 149693;-1;-2
Roll: CD: 8+1; LD: 16
Item Type: Snack
Tier: 2
Quality: Rare
Enhancements: ACC 2
Description: Japanese noodles with mixed vegetables and sometimes some shreds of meat.
Post Link: [Here]

Name: Udon Bowl with Veggies
Your Profession: Cook
Your Rank: 8
ID: 149696;-1;-2
Roll: CD: 8+1; LD: 19
Item Type: Snack
Tier: 2
Quality: Rare
Enhancements: ACC 2
Description: Japanese noodles with mixed vegetables and sometimes some shreds of meat.
Post Link: [Here]

Name: Hanami Dango with Green Tea
Your Profession: Cook
Your Rank: 8
ID:  149694
Roll: CD: 9+1: LD: 3
Item Type: Snack
Tier: 2
Quality: Rare
Enhancements: Prosperity 2
Description: Hanami Dango sticks served with warm green tea.
Post Link: [Here]

Yuki was just getting ready to start her crafts when she heard the sliding door open, and guess who it was. "Irashaimase! Oh- Crow. I knew you couldn't resist my food. It's so much better than those bland little rolls that you've been eating." Something to help him find a familiar? Guess he was referring to the luck boosting food that she could make. There was nothing else that would make sense. "Easily done!"

With that she got right to work. Everything was ready before he even got here so it didn't take longer than five minutes to get his order made. She wrapped it all up in a to-go box with an extra set containing it's vanity counter part. "Here ya are, turd. Enjoy as usual." With a smile, she continued with her daily cooking.

Day 31

(1)Fail: 0
(2)Salvage: 0
(3)Uncommon: 3
(5)Rare: 5
(8)Perfect: 2

EXP: 100 Total: 2,143+100=2,243

Yuki gave him a smile while she opened her menu to check her next menu. It was from Night. She must be nearby if she was asking her this. Scanning the area, she thought maybe she could catch a glimpse of her friend, but she was no where to be seen for now. While she spoke to Crozeph, she typed out her response to Night.

"I've been alright. There has been a person helping me level up and I've been busy. What about you? I told you to keep busy so you didn't fall behind. I won't be waiting around for ya!" She handed him his serving of the feast. "Make sure to eat it. It will give you almost 100 more HP to help you survive the damage. I could get frozen a lot here and I don't want you guys to lose even half your HP. I won't be able to tank if I'm worrying about you."

To Night:
Wrong Guy. This guy is nice and stronger than he looks. He's a good friend and a damager as well. It'll make the boss easy. I have food for you here as well, so hurry before it gets cold! Σ(T□T)

@Crozeph @NIGHT

Yuki gave Shield's hand a return fist bump, and smiled at him with her big toothy grin. Then just like that, no time to waste. Shield began to sprint into the castle. The group made their way through the castle quickly and efficiently with Shield's guidance. It was pretty clear that he had been on this quest a couple times before. He probably had the layout memorized.

"This is going to be fun. I've barely gotten the chance to fight with you on a boss Shield. All we've ever done is a bunch of training. I'm not really the best with damage, but I'll do my best to keep bleed up so you can kill her off." Upon reaching the stair cases's feet, Yuki looked up to try and see the hatch that led into the witch's den. "Up there? Well, if we're heading up, Shye, you're going to have to find a safe place to wait for us. This would be so much easier if we brought an AoE damage user with us." The girl thought about it, hein-sight was always 20:20, but here they were. No turning back now.

The girl listened quietly scanning the entire battlefield while dislodging her massive weapon from the tree. She wasn't relying so much on her eyes as she was her ears. With the snow surrounding her, it wouldn't be difficult to hear the boy creeping around her. She reached out her hand as soon as she heard the footsteps behind her and grabbed him by his shirt while he was invisible.

"You, Mari, Hidden. I will help anyone who needs it, even if that means I have to beat the [censored] out of you guys to make you understand." She tightened her grip on him, making sure that couldn't escape her until this invisibility effect wore off. "I might be crazy for trying, but I can't stand watching others suffer. You all wouldn't understand. You haven't been through the life experiences that I have. You don't think that I could be where you are, or understand you, but I could. I know Mari has killed people, but she is still a good person underneath. Hidden has done the same, but that doesn't mean they aren't redeemable. I refuse to believe that you cannot redeem yourself until you prove me otherwise!"

@Pinball

Detection success 14 >12; Pinball is removed from stealth.

Pinball: 1260/1260 HP | 121/126 EN | 15 DMG | 3 EVA | 3 ACC | 63 BH | 9-10/36 BRN | 9-10/36 BLD | 9-10/36 BLT {Vanish: 0/3}
Yuki: 570/570 | 54/54 | DMG: 4 | EVA: 0 | MIT: 43 | ACC: 3 | Thorns: 18 

Ugh this remaining monkey was testing her patience. If it wasn't completely stupid it would have already hit Shield and this pointless battle could end already. I guess technically it was smart for not being able to hit Shield, unless you look at as the thing was just delaying it's death.

"I'll just spam my Maiming Blow then. It's my strongest single target attack. And no, I haven't invested Block yet and Aki is the bulk of my defense right now. Me and her have come a long way since we last saw you. I'm investing in block from here on though. The experience that I'll get from this quest should let me by the first rank and I'll be able to get Shield Bash soon." Eyes back front, the paladin's lance hummed with a familiar hue and embedded itself into the enemy monkey. Again no bleed. Well, maybe that was a sign that it would proc more on the witch.

[H:8/8/8/15] Shield: HP: 1850/1850 | EN: 162/176 | DMG: 2 | EVA: -1 | MIT: 181 | BH:92 | HB: 48 | THN: 69 | ENV: 18/4
[H: 1/7/1/6] Yuki: 720/720 | 48/66 | DMG: 5 | MIT 81 | EVA: -1 | ACC: 3| THN: 18 | BLD: 24
[H: 2/0/0/2] Shye: 200/200 | 20/20 | DMG: 2 | BLD: 12 | Rec: 1 | EVA: 3

<<Flying Monkey 1>> HP: 0/150  | DMG: 70 (35 min) | MIT 20
<<Flying Monkey 2>> HP: 0/150 | DMG: 70 (35 min) | MIT 20
<<Flying Monkey 3>> HP: 0/150 | DMG: 70 (35 min) | MIT 20
<<Flying Monkey 4>> HP: 98/150 (-1) | DMG: 70 (35 min) | MIT 20 | [BLD: 12/1 turns]

Yuki saw the message pop up in her menu just as soon as she started her food crafting today. Perfect time to makes some use of her foods in a big battle. The Absolute Zero quest out leagued her ability to tank for sure this was too big of a job for just her and Crow. She opened another message box after sending Crow a reply.

Crow - Will be there in 20 minutes, bringing a friend.
Night - Hey, Floor 4, Absolute Zero. Bring buffs, I'm bringing a feast for Mitigation. 20 minutes.

With both of her messages sent out the paladin quickly wrapped up all her foods and made her way to the teleporter while eating her freshly made sushi dragon roll. It would make her a little tougher, but it wasn't enough. She would need more HP as well. This was dangerous since the boss had the potential to freeze her in place. She pulled out another set of food, some marinated squid cooked just perfect! With  Cooking was never not fun.

Twenty minutes pass and she meets with Crow at the lake he mentioned. "Oi. Bringing me back to the freezing cold floor hunh? Well, I brought you something to eat. It'll make you a little tougher cause this boss can use AoE. I've got a friend coming to help us, cause without help, we won't last long enough."

@Crozeph @NIGHT

Name: Fiery Dragon Roll
Your Profession: Cook
Your Rank: 8
ID: 149472
Roll: CD: 12+1; LD 1
Item Type: Meal
Tier: Tier 2
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: MIT III
Description: A spicy hot roll that could make a person breathe fire like a dragon!!! Well, not really, that's just how it's advertised in Yuki's shop. This roll will make a person's mouth melt from how hot it is, but will make them feel invincible for battles to come!
Post Link: [Here]

Name: Fiery Dragon Roll
Your Profession: Cook
Your Rank: 8
ID: 149471;-1
Roll: CD: 10+1; LD 14
Item Type: Meal
Tier: Tier 2
Quality: Rare
Enhancements: MIT II
Description: A spicy hot roll that could make a person breathe fire like a dragon!!! Well, not really, that's just how it's advertised in Yuki's shop. This roll will make a person's mouth melt from how hot it is, but will make them feel invincible for battles to come!
Post Link: [Here]

Day 30

(1)Fail: 0
(2)Salvage: 0
(3)Uncommon: 6
(5)Rare: 3
(8)Perfect: 1

EXP: 91 Total: 2,052+91=2,143

Yuki nodded as they laid out the game plan. With her shield being inactive to the fight, she wouldn't pull more hate, but it would probably be best if she asked him about how to start the fight.

"Does that mean you want me to wait for a turn or two of howl so I don't pull anything through your hate? Even without my taunt, I can still pull aggro without even landing an attack." She mentioned, and then readied her next sword art. The pink lance stabbed through the remaining monkey's back, she watched it's health bar tick for effectively nothing and threw it at Shield, trying to make it collide into him for the extra thorns damage.

"Keeping bleed up is difficult since it's pretty much all luck and my range is lower than it used to be. I'll focus my attacks on the witch then so I don't run out of energy and only hit her without sword arts. That will help keep my energy reserves alive while we fight and I can keep attacking until bleed activates."

@Shield

[H:8/8/8/15] Shield: HP: 1815/1850 | EN: 163/176 | DMG: 2 | EVA: -1 | MIT: 181 | BH:92 | HB: 48 | THN: 69 | ENV: 18/4
[H: 1/7/1/6] Yuki: 720/720 | 48/66 | DMG: 5 | MIT 81 | EVA: -1 | ACC: 3| THN: 18 | BLD: 24
[H: 2/0/0/2] Shye: 200/200 | 20/20 | DMG: 2 | BLD: 12 | Rec: 1 | EVA: 3

<<Flying Monkey 1>> HP: 0/150  | DMG: 70 (35 min) | MIT 20
<<Flying Monkey 2>> HP: 0/150 | DMG: 70 (35 min) | MIT 20
<<Flying Monkey 3>> HP: 0/150 | DMG: 70 (35 min) | MIT 20
<<Flying Monkey 4>> HP: 112/150 (-1) | DMG: 70 (35 min) | MIT 20

The girl struggled to gulp down the saliva building in her mouth as the his blade was basically cutting her throat. Any movement would surely cause it to prick her body, and it didn't look like a pleasant blade to be hit by. Was this a bad idea after all? She knew not every orange player was going to be redeemable, but in both Mari and Hidden's cases she thought they were. Why should she treat this boy any different than those two?

The blade was pressured off her neck, allowing her to breathe easy again. She wasn't done yet though. "You've got that orange cursor for a reason, I'm aware of that, but you aren't an animal. You're just as much a human being as any other player in this unfair game of hopelessness. Letting another person shoulder your problems with you, or by just understanding that everyone makes mistakes if part of being human. I'll beat that sense into you if I have to!"

The girl reared her lance back again, making sure not to use a sword art, and rushed into another attack, only meeting the tree that Pinball leaned against. He was gone again, swifter than the wind. She growled at her absolutely awful accuracy and turned to meet his gaze again. "I won't sit here and leave a person to suffer on past mistakes."

@Pinball

Getting close to the edge of town, she ran into a blonde player with a wolf as a pet. Aki instinctively flew up off the ground and landed in the nest of pink hair that was on her owners head, the gryphon cawed down at the wolf. The paladin stopped as she mentioned the witch and her eyes lit up with excitement.

"Y-Yes! Well, uh no. I mean if I can find someone to help me. It would be suicidal for someone of my level to try and kill the witch. I'm only level 27 and would be lucky to break through the witch's Mitigation or survive the onslaught of her minions. Would you help me? You look like you could handle yourself better than I could." The pinkette opened up her menu, scrolled down and invited the other girl to her party. "Ore wa Yuki. Yorushikune~" The paladin gave her usual Japanese greeting, that would easily be translated into English for anyone who had global communication active.

@Lessa

The paladin covered her ears when she heard the howl coming. Shield did the same thing so she expected it. As thier attention was turned to the beefier tank of the two, Yuki summoned her massive lance. Golden hinted, white and glorious Lux. She braced her feet and centered her weight to her core rearing the lance back for her attacks to come. 

"See if you can dodge this!" The paladin bursted forward, slashing the bladed lance through every single target except one.

Critical! Critical!

Her luck was improving a lot with all these critical attack she had been hitting. It made her smile, until she realized that these enemies could mitigate even her critical damage down to one. At least the critical meant that her bleed would apply. The two that were devastated could be seen choosing between which of the two targets to attack. Thankfully, they both attacked Alec instead of her.

"Oi, told ya I could keep up. Though that's probably bad since your thorns are stronger than mine. I'll wait for you to pull ahead again so they don't focus on me!" She raised her lance in a defensive posture. Her shield was made useless at this rank, so there was no point in using it over her trinket. A shield-less tank. How useful.

@Alec

Alec: HP: 1085/1085 | EN:  104-7=97 | DMG: 15 | MIT: 151 | ACC: 0 | EVA: -1 (SW) BH: 21 | THN: 27 (48 TOTAL)
Yuki: 570/570 | 54/54 | DMG: 4 | MIT: 43 | ACC: 3 | THN: 18

Hurricane! x4 Sword Art

[4, 3]Bee Minion 1: 201/250 (16-25=-1+48 THNS) | DMG: 125 | MIT: 25
[4, 4]Bee Minion 2: 201/250 (24-25=-1+48 THNS) | DMG: 125 | MIT: 25 | [BLEED: 12/2]
[4, 4]Bee Minion 3: 201/250 (20-25=-1+48 THNS) | DMG: 125 | MIT: 25 | [BLEED: 12/2]
[4, 1]Bee Minion 4: 202/250 (-48 THNS)| DMG: 125 | MIT: 25

The girl returned his gaze with another smile. She threw her hands behind her head, carefree and lax. "No no. I would prefer we fight with your lead. You are the most experienced between the two of us, so I figure you should call the shots. I'm pretty good at adapting my strategy with the person that I'm questing with, so don't let me slow you down."

The paladin looked forward making sure that she wasn't going to trip over any loose branches. "I've quested with some big players before that have all carried me through a bunch of quests, letting me run wild without recourse, but I want to take quests as seriously as possible. I just broke Tier 2 and I don't want to act like a reckless noob and more. I'm shooting for the front lines one day and I have to hone myself for that. If I don't, I could get someone killed."

@Alec

With the creature hit by a roar focused towards it, Yuki could let out some damage with her weapon. It wasn't very good damage but there was always a chance of keeping bleed procced on the target. She activated her Maiming Blows Sword Art, giving her golden, white lance it's familiar pink hue. The spear penetrated the Monkey's body and wings, flinging it to the the ground at Shield's feet.

It wouldn't take much longer. She also knew that when it came to the boss she would need to know the game plan before hand. Shye couldn't join them even if she wanted to. This boss had area of effect skills that would burn her pretty quickly and they couldn't nuke it fast enough to keep her alive. She would have to wait down below for the two tanks to finish their attack on the witch and get the items that she needed. All she had left in her unidentified items was a couple weapons and trinkets, but hopefully she could get a blighted item.

[H:8/8/8/15] Shield: HP: 1815/1850 | EN: 163/176 | DMG: 2 | EVA: -1 | MIT: 181 | BH:92 | HB: 48 | THN: 69 | ENV: 18/4
[H: 1/7/1/6] Yuki: 720/720 | 48/66 | DMG: 5 | MIT 81 | EVA: -1 | ACC: 3| THN: 18 | BLD: 24
[H: 2/0/0/2] Shye: 200/200 | 20/20 | DMG: 2 | BLD: 12 | Rec: 1 | EVA: 3

<<Flying Monkey 1>> HP: 0/150  | DMG: 70 (35 min) | MIT 20
<<Flying Monkey 2>> HP: 0/150 | DMG: 70 (35 min) | MIT 20
<<Flying Monkey 3>> HP: 0/150 | DMG: 70 (35 min) | MIT 20
<<Flying Monkey 4>> HP: 125/150 | DMG: 70 (35 min) | MIT 20 - [BLD: 12/1 turn] 

The dagger user had stopped one of the Lionesses thankfully, but the remaining one was still prowling around looking for which one of the enemies to bite at next.

"You can take a hit."

Her mind try to persuade her. Was it worth a shot? If she didn't die to the lie, she would almost absolutely die to Mari's inevitable post-fight wrath. This was her calling. Being put in rough situations and barely making it out by the skin of her teeth. She would have to. If she didn't, there was a chance that this little girl behind her was going to die to Lioness. After immense struggling to keep her feet rooted, the paladin broke. She gave Shiina a firm, serious glance and looked her directly in the eyes.

"Do not move from this spot." She said as she turned and entered the battle. Mari was going to hate her for this, but all she had to do was make an attack. The paladin rushed past Mari and the Lion she was fighting and into the remaining Lion that yet to pull aggro from any one. Her first clinched, she delivered the most fierce haymaker she could must. Without wasting any time, she called out to Oscar backing away from the Lion with her shield raised in defense.

"Oscar! Switch!"

Oscar 1070/1070 HP | 52/104 EN | 22 DMG | 4 ACC | 3 EVA | 106 MIT | 12 FLN | 36 BRN [BD8-10] | SAVVY
Mari 1230/1230 HP | 101/120 EN | 15 DMG | 6 ACC | 5 EVA | 43 MIT | 24 BLD[BD8-10]
Yuki 220/220 HP | 22/22 EN | DMG 2 | 27 MIT
Shiina 100/100 HP | 10/10 EN | 1 DMG | 27 MIT | 3 LD

Basic Attack | Major Critical! +2 Base! on Nemean Lioness5!
Switch Activated with Oscar!

[Os1, Ma0, Yu0, Sh0]Nemean Lion 612/838 HP | 135 DMG | 82 MIT | 3 ACC | -1 EVA
[Os0, Ma2, Yu0, Sh0]Nemean Lioness4 273/512 HP | 170 DMG | 47 MIT | 1 ACC | 2 EVA  -24 Bleed 2/2 Turns  -24 Burn 2/2 Turns
[Os0, Ma0, Yu3, Sh0]Nemean Lioness5 511/512 HP | 170 DMG | 47 MIT | 1 ACC | 2 EVA
[Os1, Ma0, Yu0, Sh0]Nemean Lioness6 83/512 HP | 170 DMG | 47 MIT | 1 ACC | 2 EVA

Transferring LD 3 - Mochi Supreme to @Shye

Yuki followed behind the hulk of a man. It was probably best to let him take the lead since he was a stronger tank. Removing her taunt would probably be a good idea too, but it was attached to her weapon so it was either that or just wait a turn to start attacking. If she did that, Alec would take more aggro than her but she could still help him. When Alec brought up The Blazing Typhoon she smirked. Macradon was someone she was familiar with, but she didn't necessarily know him very well.

"What a coincidence!" The girl pumped her chest with her fist and pointed to the Typhoon's emblem on her chest plate, small but still noticeable. She gave the man a smirk. "Macradon has already gotten me covered since level 1, though like I said, I'll be needing to upgrade here soon. Doing a lot of grinding to get specific enhancements that will make me invincible." She flexed her biceps a bit comically as she finished that sentence.

@Alec

The paladin nodded to the knight with confirmation. This ordeal wouldn't claim her heart just yet.

"Yes, no more snakes please, and especially nothing eating me. Let's get me some gear that I can live with. I'll be tougher than ever, and nothing, nothing, will get the better of us! Me and you both will be invincible together and we'll kick this stupid game in the face!" The paladins face was still wet with tears even though she had stopped crying some time ago not to mention the food jammed in her mouth. "I won't let anything hurt me, or you! We'll get out of this damn game if we have to do it ourselves!"

Her smile was back to that big toothy grin though, hoping to put Night's doubts at ease with it. She gulped down the mochi in her mouth and took a drink of the tea. Then opened her menu and messaged something to Ren. "Hey, so here is what I'm looking for by the way. If you find someone with items like this that they're looking to get rid of, I need them and I'll pay good for them. Sorry if its hard to read." I picture of a hand written note appears in her console, in Yuki's beautiful handwriting, but messily scrawled on the sheet with words crossed out everywhere.

Yuki sighed to herself. Night was completely right, she was still developing. She couldn't compare herself to Shield, he was almost literally three times her level and she wasn't him. She was just a girl with a complex mind set.

"I'm sorry I put so much of my energy into putting myself down Night. It really must be difficult for others to see me breakdown like this. I need stop acting like such a child I guess, but maybe I can tone it down enough to where I won't just die for any random reason." The girl looked up to her friend with a mochi ball stuffed into her mouth and gave her a happy smile. "You're a good friend Night. I would say my best friend. As I said earlier today, I wouldn't trade this friendship for anything."

The thought of her sliding down the snakes esophagus made her shiver with fear, though, she does remember what she was thinking. "When you freed me from that snake, I...I was accepting death at that point. Being swallowed whole like that... The joy I had when you killed the snake was...immeasurable. Knowing that it wouldn't be the last time I saw a friend. So, thank you."

The girl finally turned around to meet Night's eyes again, only to see another figure walk around into the room. Her face grew entirely red with embarrassment as it became clear that they weren't alone. "I- uh... um..." Just as quickly as they came in, they were gone. Another moment of silence went by.

"Y-Yeah, I can increase my ability to tank to a point where I'm nigh invincible...but it requires a lot of grinding and time. I need so many important things for my own survival. I'm afraid of dying before I'm able to get ahold of them... My gear is still kind of weak too... I need to upgrade." The girl sighed. "That stuff that we farmed up yielded nothing but a lance and a few shields with different effects. I guess...I have to go out and fight more."

Yuki looked over the mochi that was brought to them both. Strawberry? She took a few and started stuffing them in her mouth. Her face was still a little red "W-Will you help me again Night? I feel like my doubts are at ease when you're with me. Everything seems so much less scary."

"N-Nobody stressed me to be strong... I put that on myself, because I thought that's what tanks do... Right? Shield is strong, he was the one who taught me. I can't falter or people around me will die... It's my tenacity and willingness to be the punching bag that keeps others alive..." A sniff passed through the girls nose and she finally let go of Night. "Sorry for throwing myself on you... I know you don't like it... or well just the contact I guess..." She scooped up a cup of the tea that Night had prepared, looking off into another direction away from Night. She was quieter now, attempting to calm herself and quit crying. She was looking like a baby at this point if she kept crying.

She let out a heavy sigh and took a sip of the tea. After a moment, she started whispering to herself something that Night could hear. Words of reassurance. "I am strong, I can protect people, I won't die." With another deep breath, Yuki fixed her breathing, her back still turned to her friend. This was something she had to daily to make sure she could mentally survive the day.