ChaseR

The environment, the Elks and Foxes he could see by the side further into the woods he was trying to find a way around... All of them looked and acted so real, wandering around, playing with one another or even feeding on the grass, by the looks of it. "I can only imagine what SAO would have been like if Kayaba hadn't trapped us here. Why would you corrupt a world like this..? I have to clear the game. I'm sure everybody has the same questions too.", he finished with a disappointed sigh.

The motives behind Kayaba's actions were perfectly unclear, and now that he'd experienced the world for himself and had some alone time without resting or doing anything else that vital, he could ponder and trouble himself like this. "This is enough motivation to clear the game already, no wonder there's so many strong people in the frontlines... I'll be getting there too, soon. I can't waste more time sitting idly.", the boy finished, making sure to avoid any nearby monsters' detection radius on his way to the cave. 

He waved at the woman after reassuring her that he'd bring her kid back alive, running towards the exit of the town and stopping right before going through. He opened his menu, checking at his level and health. Even checking his equipped items to make sure they provided at the very least, some protection, he made sure to have some potions at the ready if things got bad. "I shouldn't be doing this, especially after my promise to Shay. I can barely handle a weapon, but..."

With a deep breath, he exited the safezone and began to head on over to the marked location on the map. "Sorry Shay. I won't die, I promise.", he finished his thoughts, carefully beginning to make his way on over. While walking through the grasslands, he could see just how detailed Aincrad truly was. It wasn't just the first floor he'd only seen up to now. Some paths got narrower, some others had a river flowing past them, and everything looked just like they would in the real world.

"Your daughter?", he asked her with furrowed eyebrows, frowning slightly. Even if she was an NPC, she looked and acted all too real. He couldn't just leave her like that, even if he was in danger by going out to help her, if it meant stepping away from the safezone. "Please, you have to help me! She was playing in the caverns by the mountains with a friend, but monsters attacked... Her friend managed to get away, but... She's still somewhere out there, please! You're an adventurer, I'll give you Col in return, just please find her!"

The woman's erratic speech and behavior was enough to convince Chase. As odd as he could be when talking with others for the first time, he knew just how she felt. If anything, the Col was not what convinced him to take up her request. As he gave her a nod and asked her to mark on his map where the cave was, he saw the notification stating he'd accepted the quest. "So this is a scripted event..? Still, what if you can fail the mission? I should get going, damn it..."

Chase had just entered the second floor, curious as to what it'd look like. He was surprised to see, from the teleport plaza in the center of the town, just how many mountains stood tall over the walls. "So from fields to mountains... Looks natural so far. The season seems to be the same. I wonder if there's a snowy floor somewhere..? I think Shay had said the fourth one was covered in snow.", he thought, getting sidetracked but eventually shrugging it off.

As he decided to walk down the shopping district and be done with it, he noticed someone running towards him. He almost instinctively took a defensive stance and moved his hand to the hilt of his weapon, gritting his teeth. The NPC slowed down, looking like a woman and looking at Chase, her face filled with worry. The bluehead slowly went back to his normal stance, moving his hand down again and groaning. "I've gotta get over that habit... Tch...", he thought to himself, listening to the woman speak. She made a request to him.

A soft knock could be heard from the door before the bluehead opened it and stepped inside, looking around. He was silently looking through every ware the shop had up for grabs, scratching the back of his head and approaching the counter where Crozeph was at. "Field Rations and an Immolation Potion. One of each.", he awkwardly blurted out in a deadpan tone, never having been the best with encounters like this. He began to reconsider if he sounded like a robber more than a buyer, then again...

While waiting for the merchant to get the items ready, he opened his menu and fiddled around with it, having a bit of trouble before taking out all the Col he would need for the trade. "Here.", he said and offered the small pouch with the Col, staring into his eyes quietly.

Day 1

2 Salvage Crafts (LD 4/10)

+4 EXP (2EXP per craft)

2 T1 Mats lost.

Down the shopping district of the Town of Beginnings, a small wooden workshop can be seen by the right side of the pathway. The workshop's entrance is just under a wooden roof, making some shade for anybody waiting outside. Once entering the workshop, it looks just as any workshop does. There's plenty of tools laying around, although of all of them, the only misplaced ones left on the bench constantly rather than in their proper places are a hammer and a chisel. Entering usually gets the attention of the bluehead, who'll appear from the back of the shop, where he makes the blueprints for his crafts, giving the customer an awkward look.

He doesn't seem too enthusiastic to be socialising usually, if ever, and proceeds to welcome whoever's there in a very unenthusiastic and plain voice. "Welcome to Cheap Chips. Give me materials, I'll make a trinket.", he blurts out as a welcome, before following it up with: "So?"

Rank 6 Artisan

EXP: 402/639

Items to eval:

• 5 Uncommons (T1): [ID: 171694] | [ID: 171696] | [ID: 171698] | [ID 172706] | [ID: 172711]
• 4 Rares (T1): [ID: 171699] | [ID 171986] | [ID 172710] | [ID 177910]
• 0 Perfects (T1): n/A

Chase cocked an eyebrow, looking at her and noting how she introduced herself like that only now. He crossed his arms, asking sarcastically in a somewhat arrogant manner. "So you're a teacher now? Who else is your student, miss tailor?", the bluehead joked once more, laughing lowly and choosing to trust her. So long as she wanted just to show him the ropes, everything was okay. She did the same thing as Shay, in other words. 

The only thing that might have seemed off was Chase's tone. He laughed and poked at her patience with the little remark, but he hadn't understood she was being serious about it and it showed. "Am I the first to have the honors?", he finished and eventually stopped laughing, looking to the side and rubbing the back of his neck as he shifted back towards a more serious look. "We should get going. What quest is next?"

He shot her a slightly suspicious glance at the mention of doing another quest, furrowing his eyebrows and frowning a bit. "You're sure you'll keep helping me for free?", Chase asked, not sure how people enjoyed taking their sweet time to help others, be it for money or some other compensation. He was overall quite suspicious, but especially having seen how much she did, he didn't want to end up owing her anything. "You're wasting time being with me.", he continued, knowing fully well just how worthless doing anything around him was as he rested his left hand on his sheathed sword, keeping his other hand on his belt.

Waiting for an answer though, he gave the whole Calrex and Teayre matter some thought. "... Can you even know they're players, in that case? They sound like they're part of the game, maybe they're like the Artisan or other people that give you quests.", he pondered after having taken note of just how scarcely they seemed to appear. "If that is the case, it'd explain why they have unique skills too, since they're not players..."

Hearing what she had to say, Chase seemed to be somewhat interested, opening his mouth to ask where they were before hearing the news, freezing momentarily. "Someone that strong... Died?", he thought to himself, his eyes wide open in surprise. "E-Even so though... I can't just give up and let others take the frontlines. I'll just have to find a way to surpass them, even without unique skills.", he continued, finding his composure again and listening to what she mentioned about Teayre. That was the only skill he really 'knew' about, and all he could tell was that it must have some healing effect on the user, hence 'vampiric'.

"So they fight together.", he questioned, assuming that they must still be together. If one had a katana, like Shay, and the other wielded a shield and played the role of a tank, the strongest in the game too, they must be invincible together. "So I have to surpass Calrex and Teayre. I should learn how to adapt to this world and make it my own.", his inner monologue continued, looking down at his own sword silently with a somewhat troubled look. Shay had shown him the basics of using sword arts, but he had no technique of his own to polish or even wield a sword properly. The system's aim assist did most of the work for him, he only knew how to activate said skills. "I see. What will you do now?", the boy asked, seeing how she didn't have anything else to add to the matter of unique skills and other noticeable strong players.

Chase knew fully well what she was saying, even if it seemed like just another number in the game's code to him. "I see.", he simply said, keeping track of where the Sword-Fish was moving. Just as it went behind him and tried to attack once it'd recovered from the strong attack he performed on it, he turned around and raised his sword in the air, the blade beginning to glow red. He quickly swung it downwards, before following up with another upward strike and one final hit that threw it back in the water. Just as it hit the water's surface though, it broke into tiny crystals and disappeared.

Needless to say, Chase felt incredibly tired from using both of these moves in quick succession, panting weakly and placing his sword back in its sheathe by him. "That was it. Let's go back, geezer.", he told the NPC who simply nodded and began to take them back towards the lake's side. The bluehead sat down, wiping some sweat off of his forehead before he asked Shay again. "So. Why are you here?"

ChaseR - HP: 160/160 | EN: 6/16 (-3) | DMG: 8 | EVA: 1 | ACC: 3 | REC: 2

Sword-Fish - HP: 0/35 (-3) | DMG: 5 (50 on first hit) 

Chase could tell that she wasn't too keen on talking about herself quite yet, just by that short time they were glancing one another. He paid attention to the Sword-Fish however, keeping perfect track of it. "She's back in the real world. We paid for the NerveGear and SAO together. We could only afford one.", he finished abruptly, watching the monster launch itself out of the water and towards the sky. His purple began to glow purple just then, the same way it had back in the cave, as he let loose.

The bluehead began with an upward slash, before following up with a diagonal slash back towards the water to make it lose its momentum. Before it got too far out of reach, he managed to land another hit horizontally and finished with a quick slash towards its rostal bone. By the time that he was done, the fish seemed to be completely thrown off from the attack, losing its chance to counterattack and falling back in the water. "It's low. I can kill it next time it tries to attack me.", he thought, gripping his blade tighter.

"I was supposed to come back. Just give her my first impression. I'm happy she was busy that day and I got trapped.", he finished, trying to catch his breath as he looked over his shoulder with a small smile. "She would have gotten herself killed here.", he commented, with a much softer voice compared to usual. Shay could tell just how nostalgic he was to be talking about Lily as if nothing had ever happened.

ChaseR - HP: 160/160 | EN: 9/16 (-7) | DMG: 8 | EVA: 1 | ACC: 3 | REC: 2

Sword-Fish - HP: 3/35 (-32) | DMG: 5 (50 on first hit) (Stunned)

Chase accepted the pole in his hands, furrowing his eyebrows and looking at the bobber intently, waiting to see if a fish would appear. "Here? Aincrad?", he asked and waited for a moment, figuring that's what she probably meant. She was right to ask that question though. After all, it was just like she'd figured so far, he was like a fish out of water in an MMORPG like this. "We wanted to see it for ourselves.", he blurted, his stance seeming to ease up and his voice even softening.

"Lily and I wanted to see another world. We wanted to live here, too.", the boy continued, smiling just slightly before he looked over his shoulder to ask her. "Why are you here?", he repeated her exact words, expecting an answer from her as well. Not so much because he wanted her to feel indebted to him, but more so because he thought it must have been a while since she last talked to someone like this, if she'd ever done that in the first place. She'd want to get it out of her system, too, probably. Before she could answer, he felt something from the fishing line and turned to look again, focusing on the bobber.

He noticed the bobber starting to sink into the water, taking his chance and planting his feet in the boat as much as he could, groaning and putting all his strength in pulling it out of the water. He managed to do so with ease, seeing the sword-fish pop out of the water and move slightly in the air, locking eyes with it. He dropped the fishing rod next to him on the boat, before putting both hands on his sword and taking it out of his sheathe, holding it in a battle ready stance. "So?", he asked again to make sure she'd answer, still focused on his own battle though.

ChaseR - HP: 160/160 | EN: 16/16 | DMG: 8 | EVA: 1 | ACC: 3 | REC: 2

Sword-Fish - HP: 35/35 | DMG: 5 (50 on first hit)

Chase gave her a confused look, trying to realise what the difference between fantasy and magical creatures was. And then he remembered how unqualified he was to speak in any form of medium. He didn't really read, he never watched that many movies with the intent of getting deep behind them story or character wise, so... It was all new to him. "R-Right.", he huffed and looked at the bobber quietly, before tapping her shoulder.

"It's my quest. I should do it.", he offered her before keeping his hand next to her as if expecting her to hand over the fishing rod. Even if it was halfway through her attempt to fish out this sword-fish, he didn't want her to take the burden of learning how to fish when she wouldn't get anything out of it, neither in experience nor quest rewards. For one, the bluehead seemed eager to participate, on the other, she couldn't really see him with how much attention she was paying to the fishing.

Chase seemed eager to hear all the information she had to share with him, giving her nods and making mental notes of what she was saying. "Calrex. Okay.", he mumbled once she was done, crossing his arms and pinching the bridge of his nose a bit. With his eyes closed, he let out a low growl before deeply exhaling and giving a nod once more. "Achiles. Got it.". He was about to let go of the subject matter and go silent, before he reflected back on what she just said and raised an eyebrow again.

"You just said four. Who are the other three?", the bluehead asked her, curious now that he knew there were three people with completely unique skills other than Calrex. And to have such skills, they must be top players all the same, too. All of them would be incredibly strong, meaning that when Chase got strong enough, he could turn to them for advice and practice even if that meant socializing. He'd have gotten more used to that by then, and even so, he'd be on the same level as them. Maybe, if he was good enough, he too could get a unique skill... "Hopefully."

Chase's Rewards:

• 4 SP (Quest 1, Posts 2, Event 1)
• 800 Col
• 7 T1 Mats
• Hopeful Tear T1 (Looting Die II)
• <<Artisan>> Profession
• Standard <<Artisan>> Shop (Able to have an Artisan thread in the Merchants & Shops section)

Ariel's Rewards:

• 3 SP (Posts 2, Event 1)

Chase's eyes widened as he heard her level, only to be left even more in silence when she mentioned the maximum level. "Tank..? J-Just how strong is that guy..? Unique skill?", he seemed to have been thrown completely off guard, sweating just at the thought and swallowing dryly. "He has a skill nobody else has? Those exist?", the boy asked, quite obviously in shock from the news he'd just heard. The gap between them was much, much larger than he'd originally thought it could be. "Of course it wasn't going to be just forty levels... But seventy..?"

In an attempt to calm down, he took a deep breath and looked at the menu as well, trying to calm down. "... That's just a number anyways. I'll catch up. And when I do, I'll be stronger than both of them.", his inner monologue continued, filled with determination as he loosened up and wore a confident smirk, with fire in his eyes. "What is his name?", he asked, glancing over at her with the very same, fired up expression. What he had in mind wasn't sure, but it was probably just his curiosity.

Once they'd handed over the delivery from Hannah to Ol' Pete, Chase and @Shay listened to the geezer's request. "F-Fish..? Is that even a profession..? It has to make money, right?", he questioned himself, scratching the back of his head before getting on the boat and looking back at his rogue friend. "Come on.", he invited her on, although he had not a single idea how to even reel a fishing rod. "Have you ever handled a fishing rod before?", he asked his partner, raising an eyebrow curiously.

"So a sword-fish... Some animals must be like they were back in real life, then. So this world is half animals, half monsters, is it?", he began to think about the world's capabilities and inhabitants once more, getting more and more confused by Aincrad. Anything could work to create enough immersion, but... Hm... "Do you think dragons exist?", he followed up, probably unintentionally getting on her nerves again with how many questions he was throwing around.

Judging by how quickly she got an answer out of him, it was obvious that her bait had done its job mighty fine. "Sure. I'll come.", the bluehead said, following right behind her as she began to stroll through the Town. He looked at the player shops they happened to pass by all the same, albeit he had not a clue what he was looking at or for. Probably nothing, but then again... "What level are you?", he asked out of nowhere when she was checking one of the shops out, with an eyebrow cocked up curiously.

He was still at the very start of the game, having gotten no levels or rewards from finishing a quest quite yet, but she was a different story. Levels gave him a good measure of how big the gap between the two really was. If she wasn't too high a level, he'd be able to catch up and join her in the upper floors, sooner or later, for sure. "Forty or higher?", he continued with a guess, not sure what to expect of any one person battling that far up ahead.

Chase only felt more convinced with her first statement, smiling slightly. He wasn't really familiar with the term build, but he could tell what she meant to say. "So we rely on one another to make it out of here.", he commented while agreeing with Shay's initiative and beginning to walk around the lake in order to get to the geezer. "What did she want us to do with the geezer again?", the boy wondered, shrugging it off after not too long. It's not like they'd take long to find out after all.

Speaking of builds however, as Chase backtracked into the previous train of thought, he looked down at the ground and took a deep breath. Tanks are heavy and slow, but very sturdy. So she must have meant one would be playing defense, while the other backing the 'defender' up. Hence the 'support'. It sounded solid, as a plan. He wasn't too sure how it'd work out on paper as he'd never had a drawn out fight past a single hit up to now, but... He got the gist of it. "I'll be the tank. You're fast.", he offered, knowing he couldn't ever match up to her speed when darting around with the katana in her hands.

"I won't die.", he reassured her, as abruptly and emotionlessly as he spoke, crossing his arms and moving closer and closer to the grove. "Don't die either.", he finished with a huff, opening his menu to look through his inventory as they walked again. The item they were tasked to pick up was in there, all well and fine, and the potion he'd consumed specifically for this quest wasn't there anymore. Everything else was in order. His health, damage and overhealth potions were all good to go, alongside the rest of the equipment they'd bought earlier.

"So if I'm catching up, she hasn't done much in this game. If I catch up, does that mean I can be stronger than even her?", Chase wondered and gave her a troubled look. If the gap between these two was truthfully so small, then anytime he was in danger, she might as well be in just the same predicament too. "But she's more experienced with the blade than I am. I can't compare us two yet.". What he was saying was true, to an extent. She had more knowledge fighting and inhabiting the world than he did, by a long shot.

Giving Shay a quick nod, he followed up her explanation with a plain: "So you're not leveling up at all, I am.". He realised just how much of a sacrifice she was making for him, causing a small smile to appear on his face once more as Hannah's grove slowly came more and more into sight. "You're really horrible at speaking.", he continued, as if making clear he stood perfectly in agreement with the statement he made a few hours ago during their first mission.

The only reason the bluenette cared about his level all that much was because the higher he got, the further he got from the embarrassing 1 he was stuck at for so long. He wasn't stuck because he couldn't help, but because he didn't want to, instead relying on others. "Enough, cut it off. You're making progress.", he convinced himself with a shake of his head, his smile fading back into his expressionless, normal face followed by a groan. "You haven't done these quests before."

Chase's imagination quickly drifted off and began to ponder about just what could be inside of the said boss room. If it was the boss to reach the next floor, it would surely be no push over. Was it even there, since this floor had been cleared? It was a game, still, but that didn't mean everything would come back to life. Players surely never did. With a shake of his head, he focused back on getting to the grove to meet Hannah and hand over the quest's reward. "How many quests have you done? I'm already level six."

He remembered that back before they started, she was around level 14 or so, but it was obvious they'd both killed a few monsters and done some quests along the way, considering they were following this small quest line. It was kind of like a story of sorts, although if everything else went the same exact way, this would surely become tedious even for Chase. "It's my survival so I can't be picky, but... Talk about laziness. Like she said earlier, from one place to the other. I wonder where Hannah will send us to next."

The bluehead frowned a bit, letting out a deep sigh as he accepted the item drop into his inventory and silently followed behind her. He knew what she meant though. "No time to stand on ceremony, we have to keep leveling you up.". He could already tell by her demeanor from the first time they'd met, a few hours ago. Her words had still stuck with him, about talking 'rot'. If he wanted to get to the frontlines, it was obvious she was going to go as far as to help him. "She's not going to go easy on me though. She's definitely going to push me as much as she can to keep pressing forward and catch up to her. Even then, she'll most likely still keep being harsh until we're strong enough."

He could understand her. As bad as she was at expressing her own thoughts and feelings, he was all the same in a similar way. "Right. Let's get the quest done with.", he responded once they were out of the cave, covering his eyes from the blinding light. They hadn't been in the cave for that long, but the difference was quite large, from the dim lighting of the cube back in the cave compared to the sun shining down the fields of Aincrad's first floor. While heading towards the grove, he looked to the side to see a huge, tall tower reaching all the way to the top of the sky, by the looks of it. "What's that tower?"

As they entered the cave, Chase took his blade out of its sheathe, holding it carefully close to the ground. When the golem began to come into sight, he gave his partner a determined nod and took a deep breath, watching her go to the side. "I'm scared. I won't die, but I'm scared. I can't back down though. I have to get used to this.", he tried to calm himself down, as the music began to play and the Cave Guardian raised from the ground, towering over the boy. He quickly shot a glance at Shay, before fixing his posture to stand more firm, seeming much tougher than he really was. A purple glow came from his blade, before he dashed forwards towards the golem.

It felt as if time slowed down the more he approached, cold sweat having formed on the sides of his head. "I'll do it. I'll kill it and survive.", he encouraged himself, swinging to the side horizontally once, seeing the red cut appear on the monster's body. He used the momentum to spin on his heel, cutting it diagonally upwards once he'd turned fully, another cut forming on top of the first strike. He then stopped only for a second before swinging the other direction, downwards and finally raised the sword above his head, slashing down at it. The glow faded once he'd pulled his sword out and jumped back, only to land back on his feet and see it crumble into dust, falling on the ground and breaking into tiny shards.

He swallowed dryly, letting out a deep breath. Just how anxious he was about this fight showed, although he realised just how powerful his gear was. He wasn't letting up either, he left as few openings as possible, although that was hard to tell given no monster ever got the chance to attack him up to now. Then again, knowing just how experienced he was... "I did it. Shay.", he chirped, laughing for the first time and giving her a wide smile, wider than he'd ever smiled since coming to this world.

ChaseR | HP: 120/120 | EN: 5/12 (-7)

Cave Guardian | HP: 0/20 | DMG: 50/5 | EVA: -1

Chase looked at the blackhead silently, before opening his just recently closed menu and looking for the Safeguard potion he'd gotten before. He made it appear on his hand, opening the oddly shaped potion's tip and drinking it all. Once it was empty, he pulled it away from himself to look at the empty container, which almost instantly turned into blue crystals and disappeared. "You don't have that potion. Let me take the hit.", he told Shay, looking at her with a determined face. It was easy to tell, he was scared despite all the determination he began to show.

"I don't want you to die.", he finished, before looking at the path and seeing they were approaching a grove. Entering it, they found the Artisan they were told to look for, and Chase delivered the parcel from Lyle. She then pointed them towards the direction of a cave further away into the mountains, to which the male nodded and gestured Shay to follow along. If they kept progressing at this pace, they were certainly going to make it to the higher levels quite early on. They were both equipped as well as possible, and the game's first two quests seemed to be smooth sailing. Especially if NPCs kept giving potions like this one every other quest, designed to make the next monsters easier, they'd never run into trouble. "You said boss, before. You mean stronger monster, or is it a leader of a group?"