Ebbon

"So are you going to sit there all day or what?" a cool male voice asked from out of view. Ebbon blinked a few times, not understanding what was going on. He looked around, realizing he was sitting on a log. When had he gotten there? He felt disoriented and cold and oddly empty. He looked down at his hands and flexed his fingers, seeing the dirt and grim that had accumulated on them. He stared at them like he had never seen his own hands before. Why were they so dirty? Where was he at again? "Hey, did you hear me pal?" the voice asked again. Ebbon jerked his head up and looked at a c

Feeling a sense of nostalgia when seeing the shop from the street, Ebbon couldn't help but step inside to have a look around. Instead of seeing a traditional Japanese store he was hit with the aroma of herbs and the sight of a more hectic potion brewing setup. Hearing the clatter and splooshing of someone hard at work attempting to make something the ronin turned to leave, disappointed he wasn't going to be able to buy some sweets he had been craving. "Oi! Where do you thin you're going?" a voice called from behind. Whirling around he saw a short blonde woman with smudges on her cheeks. "

Purchasing: T1 Immolation Potion | 300 col | ID#: 224991

After a few days Ebbon had received a notification that his order had been completed. He returned to the shop with the large windows and the extravagant interior to pick up his new armor. Still nervous he felt like he had to explore the store once again before making his approach to the counter, moving from one mannequin to the next in order to inspect the items that adorned them. He could tell that a lot of love and hard work had been put into each item of clothing and armor. Once some time had passed he finally stopped at the front. bowing once again before accepting the clothing. "Than

Ebbon was surprised that his order was being processed immediately. He watched as the blacksmith got to work heating up and shaping the metal, folding and hammering it into something that he would wield. He hadn't even realized that it had been an hour until the weapon was being handed to him, whole and complete. "I-Thank you, so much." He took the katana and bowed deeply. "I will use it well." He equipped the sword and then drew it from it's sheath, admiring the handywork before returning it once again. He thanked the blacksmith once again before exiting the shop back out into the rain.

Entering the shop, Ebbon looked around nervously. He was still getting used to the goings on of SAO, let along attempting to order things from actual players. The shop itself was beautiful, the large windows letting in enough light that it was hard not to see everything on display. After a few minutes of looking around the room in wonder, Ebbon snapped back to attention realizing he was getting distracted. Stepping up to the counter the ronin placed down an order form in the hopes that he had filled everything out correctly. "Thank you for all your work. I look forward to the finished pro

Stepping into the shop from the rain Ebbon attempted to shake some of the water from his dark hair, doing his best to not get water somewhere that it would do harm. The man had heard from word of mouth that this place offered lower tiered players free gear. While he was one that wasn't fond of taking handouts, he figured that he could at least pay the shop keep in return business when the time came. "Hello?" he called out as he approached what he assumed to be a service counter. "I wanted to order a weapon? A katana if possible?" Reading a few signs posted in various places Ebbon found a

"Wait, what are you going to do with a wooden--" Ebbon didn't get to finish his sentence before the old man drew a blade from what he thought was just a simple bokken. "Oh. Yeah that'll do it." The wolves approached, growling and snarling. Their fur patchy and matted, their eyes glowing with malice. Where patches of fur had fallen out there were odd crystal growths protruding from their flesh. Ebbon grimaced at the odd creatures, concerned by the painful looking formations on their bodies. The old samurai took no time to wait, he simply stuck the first creature and leapt back. The wolf fr

There was a loud crack as Haru instinctively brought his bokken up to deflect the incoming attack. He however, was not fast enough to stop the swing that followed it, taking a full swipe to the gut that sent him sliding across the dirt. He let out a cough and a gasp as he attempted to steady himself. His master did not give him much time. More blows followed in rapid fire as the player did his best to dodge and parry as many has he could, which was not many. The old man was keeping Ebbon on the defensive, not giving him enough time to even try to retaliate. It wasn't long before he felt s

For the next few days Haru spent his time between various forms of training. Swinging his wooden sword, meditating, holding weights, etc. His routine was once again set, and he was focused to the point of not realizing the time passing. Most players would have either given up, or sped through this process to get it done an over with. Haru was not one of these people. Once the fourth day had been reached, his master stopped him after breakfast and asked him to wait. Ebbon did as he was told and waited, taking time to help the older man clean up afterwards. He was then lead out of the house

It took nearly an hour for Haru to make his way beck to the house. Thankfully his master had done all the chores he had been accustom to preforming himself by the time he had gotten there so all he had to do was eat and then crawl into bed. By the next morning the player could barely move, his muscles so sore that all he could really do was lie still and stare at the ceiling. After a period of time the old man knocked and entered the room with a tea tray in his hands. He smiled as he saw the unmoving man and knelt down near him, pouring tea into a cup. "This will help child. Here." he brought

It was several hours before the old man returned. It had felt like an eternity, so long that Ebbon felt as though he was going to spend the entire day, and maybe even night, there holding up those rocks. When the old samurai emerged from the trees he simple stared at the young man for several minutes as he strained to remain upright. With a nod he finally spoke, "You may drop them now." With a grunt Haru dropped the rocks and collapsed to the ground in a heap. Whoever coded the exhaustion and body strain in the game was utterly cruel. After a few minutes his master simple turned around an

And so Haru began to settle into his routine. Now, on top of the eating, cleaning, sleeping, bathing, he would during the day swing his practice sword as well as meditate under the waterfall for a few hours at a time. It felt like this had become engrained in his soul as the days past. On the morning of day four his master simply motioned for him to follow him, taking a path they had not walked before to a new area. Ebbon, feeling thrown off off his routine, remained quiet as the two trekked through a few trees and into an open area. There on the ground rested what looked like a crude set

The evening and next morning were very similar to the first when Ebbon arrived. Dinner, cleaning up as well as a bath in the tub around the back, sleep, and breakfast the next morning. Getting up was more difficult than he thought it was going to be. He was actually sore, which he didn't think he was going to be in a virtual world. "You had to code this into the game Kayaba?" he thought to himself as he attempted to stretch while following his teacher. The two made their way towards the back of the sanctuary, stopping at the waterfall that fed the stream. "Now you will be learning method

His teacher was not soft on him. Ebbon didn't expect this quest to be easy, but he also didn't expect it to be this hard, or this time consuming. Most of the day had been spent attempting to maintain the proper forms and stances that the older man had demonstrated to him. Whenever he had done them wrong, he received a whack from his teacher's bokken. Mostly notably in the spots where he needed to adjust his form. The legs, the arms, the back, the hands. He had welts and red marks on most of his body by this point. Come lunch time the Samurai had brought food items and more tea, making sure to

The following morning Ebbon was woken just before the sun had risen by the old Samurai. He simply shook his shoulder enough to wake him and then left the room. Dragging himself from the futon he had pulled from the small closet that previous night, Haru sleepily exited the room and made his way to the entrance area. There he enjoyed breakfast and tea in silence with the old man, the silence only being broken by various sounds of eating and drinking. Once they were finished the old man left the house and motioned for the player to follow, leading him to a fairly open space near the stream and l

The sound of tea being poured into a mug called Ebbon back from the thoughts he had been lost in. It wasn't long ago that after the old samurai now pouring him tea had scared him nearly senseless. It had taken a few moments then for him to recover, not long after he was led into the dojo where he was now sitting. Picking up the tea he smiled as he took in the scent, feeling a warm familiarity spread through him that set his troubled mind at ease. He took a sip and it nearly made him cry. It tasted almost like the tea he would drink with his family at home. After taking another sip, this o

The opening to the cave was honestly very well hidden. It was positioned in such a way that unless you knew what you were looking for, you wouldn't really find it. It took the right amount of light during the right time of day to make it really stand out. Ebbon found this out as the last dregs of light from the setting sun seemed to make the shadows of the caves opening just slightly more visible through the water the fell in front of it. But only for a very short amount of time of course. The dark haired man stood up, confused as to why the large shadow he had seen was now gone. He hurried ar

A small waterfall poured steadily into a small pond in front of Haru. There were a few small bushes and various rocks surrounding the area, but for the most part it was empty of much else. Letting out a sigh of relief, the man sat down on a fairly flat rock that overlooked the pond before him. A wash of calm spread over him as he gazed into the water, various fish catching his gaze. The amber light of the setting sun added even more to the ambiance, letting Ebbon release the tension in his shoulders for the first time in what seemed like forever. The trip here had been stressful, especial

The trail leading up the mountain was not as treacherous as Haru initially imagined. Despite it looking like a normal rocky mountain face, the inclines and different paths leading up were surprisingly uniform, almost staircase-like. It would make sense after all, this was actually a game and this mountain was created to be climbed. At least this face was at least. As he climbed higher he could feel the temperature begin to change, it would have been subtle for most people, however he wasn't most people. Haru had always gotten cold very easy. Even the mildest of temperature drops would lea

When he left town it had been just past mid day, now as he approached a mountain labeled as Titan's Peak the sun was beginning to low in the sky. It was odd really, the day and night cycle relies upon the sun and the moon but with Aincrad being a giant gloating castle in the sky you would think that the floors would be cast in shadow for most of the day. Still the sun was peaking through the first and second floor, casting an orange glow on the mountain before Haru. After a quick look around and fidgeting with his beginner armor, that really provided no protection whatsoever, the man step

It took very little time to find a vendor of anything. A few feet onto the main street and a turn to the right brought a long row of vendor NPCs and stalls into view. While stopping at the first one Haru found a player listed guide for zero Col. He bought it in an instant and stepped off to the side to check it out. Opening his inventory it didn't take him long to find it, he had next to nothing after all. He tapped the item with a book icon and he got a notification asking if he wanted to accept the map data and notes provided. The dark haired man couldn't have pressed the accept button

Ebbon reached out and pressed the blue circle accepting the quest, feeling excited once again as he did so. His map quickly opened and showed him a pulsing dot in the direction of his next destination, however he didn’t have the map data to show him how to get there. He sighed and stood up, reflexively brushing himself off in the process. He looked up once again to see if maybe there would be an advertisement for people offering to escort new players around when he saw at the very top something even better. A posting as a reminder that any new players could purchase a guide book with basi

A smile touched Haru’s lips. He was pleased that there were still your normal game aspects to this place. It was as if he had a weighted blanket wrapped around him, comfort and familiarity spreading through him. Near one of the posts of the board something caught his eye. A bonsai plant, potted in a deep and square pot. Seemingly just a regular decoration there was something off about it. There was a small branch out of place, poking out of the perfectly maintained fluid shape of the tree. Ebbon crouched down and eyed the small branch, it seemed as if it was a bit brighter than the rest o

He had forgotten the warmth, however fake it may be in this game. A small smile spread on his face. He was here and he was alive. That was what mattered, that was what he had to look forward to. Despite everything he was still himself and he was safe in the Town of Beginnings. Ebbon walked around the town for the first time since he logged into the game. He was surprised to see the large amount of people and NPCs walking the streets the same as him. Well, the same might have been pushing it. NPCs walked their scripted paths, seeming more lifelike than any game he had played before. Player