Wulfrin

DATE: [4/1/24] RANK 6 BLACKSMITH | [EXP: 386/639] | Daily Crafting Attempts: 7 CRAFTING BUFFS: Ambition Tool +1 EXP per craft Basic Workshop +2 EXP per craft Crafting Tier 4 [Heavy Armor]s: ID: 221111 | CD: 9 | Success | Uncommon ID: 221112 | CD: 9 | Success | Uncommon ID: 221113 | CD: 1 | Crit Fail | Materials Lost ID: 221114 | CD: 2 | Fail | Materials Lost ID: 221115 | CD: 4 | Salvage | LD 13 | Materials Saved ID: 221116 | CD: 4 | Salvage | LD 4 | Materials Lost ID: 221117 | CD: 9 | Success | Uncommon RESULT: +36 XP (3+3+1+1+2+2+3+21) | [EXP: 488/639]

The handholding caught Wulfrin off guard, but he didn't pull away. Tolbana wasn't far from them only a few short minutes, but the time flew by. Solaris soared over head acting as the guide back to town. Once there the duo made their way to the small cafe they had eaten at the other night. Ciela quickly excused herself and entered into the establishment. She was gone long enough for Wulfrin to sit, have a quick tea break and read up on the happenings of other floors. His main focus was places with good decor he could use to decorating his future house. He landed on floor six. As he finishe

The shark had only just regained its senses before Wulfrin was already on top of it. With sword glowing a brilliant cerulean light, he carved into the sharks earthy hide. The beasties health was dropping fast. Of course it was they had a Freyd, and with him incredibly high damage numbers. Wulfrin could only dream to get to that point, but it hardly mattered at this moment. The tank not tank and given the order to attack, so Wulfrin attacked. The numbers output by Wulfrin were not quite as substantial, but he charged in anyway. The gash left in the side of the beast was a deep one, forcing The

Wulfrin maneuvered through the maze of bridges to the Teleport Gate. As he entered the plaza where it was located an info window appeared. His house had finally gotten approved and was now his. Wulfrin dismissed the window with haste. A renewed energy flushed over him. For the first time he was going to finally sleep in a bed he owned. Not a bench in a soot filled forge or a crappy overpriced inn, but a soft bed just for him. Wulfrin rushed the final steps he needed to get to the teleport gate. As he did he saw out of the corner of his eye, a cloaked figure disappearing into the shadows. The G

Wulfrin let out a sigh as the water rushed by. Time ticked by as Wulfrin relaxed along the riverbed. Solaris simply snoozed away restlessly. This wasn't the warm floor 5 or the fires of his forge, so Wulfrin understood. Unfortunately because of the system's limitations, Solaris couldn't go very far on his own. It was a pleasant day at least all things considered. Now all that was left was to get a few things for his trouble. Wulfrin waited for several hours fighting the exhaustion of the day. Here in this secluded spot, he could have drifted into sleep on the spot. Solaris was not helping the

At least he was in a familiar place now. He found a nice secluded spot just inside the safe zone that was out of view of the locals. He really didn't feel like dealing with the disdain he had received upon arrival from some of the denizens. He pulled out his fishing rod and prepared to relax for a bit. Finally he would be safe for a while. This trip wasn't as unbearable as the one in floor five, but it still had its own unique challenges that made Wulfrin not want to return unless on very specific business. Regardless at this point he had come all this way and needed to relax a bit. Wulfrin re

In one swift motion Wulfrin moved to unleash his Horizontal Square skill. The blow landed forcefully. Wulfrin's attack was violently more powerful than he was intending. This was likely due to his body instinctually fighting with all it had. It wasn't a bad thing to be fair, just a bit awkward to the swordsman. The first tiger fell to the paralytic aspect of his blade and began to bleed profusely form the wound as the second shattered into a million tiny fractals. It only took another second for the other tiger to follow suit. Wulfrin returned his blade to its scabbard calmly. It was almost ch

As Wulfrin reached the river, he let out a sigh of relief. He could see his destination not far from him since the river was large enough to part the canopy. At the very least he finally felt like he knew where he was going. Then he heard the sound of brush moving. Two tigers made themselves known as they prowled out from the thicket. No doubt they were a mated pair looking to turn Wulfrin into a meal. Wulfrin had enough combat for one day, but there was no escaping this one. He drew his sword and prepared to strike. He opened as he usually did with random mobs in a group. His AoE stun sk

Solaris perched on Wulfrin's shoulder as Wulfrin stowed away his fishing rod. He was having zero luck finding anything out here at this pond and his health was high enough that he felt comfortable going out into the wilderness. As he left the protection of the grove, he felt the air shifting again. The vegetation around him became dense jungle once again. Wulfrin wandered aimlessly for a while trying to find any sort of landmark that he could use to navigate. His map that had up until this point been blurred, was finally clear so at least he could kind of navigate. The jungle was extremely den

The tranquil grove was quite calming. It was acting almost as a safe zone even way out in the wilderness of the jungle. It was welcoming. He held some hope he could come back, but something told him this trip was likely to be his only one to this location. A small tug at his line revealed a small fish. Perhaps it was Cardinal taking pity on him. Wulfrin didn't honestly care at this point he was only killing time while he recuperated some strength. Wulfrin doubted his trek through the jungle would be as safe the second go around. The Gemini had winded through the jungle so easily, it was all Wu

Wulfrin waited as his energy maxed out. He was till far enough away from his usual margin of safety, with his health point total only just barely getting above the start of the yellow zone that signified half had gone. He stood watching Solaris explore their current space. It was secluded. No animals seemed to make their way here. The other odd thing about the space that Wulfrin had only just started to notice by watching Solaris fly above the canopy was that he could not see the bottom of floor 7. Instead he saw the crystal clear blue sky. It was an odd sight for Aincrad. Spending as much tim

Wulfrin continued to watch his energy and health rise. That combat actually allowed him to learn quite a bit about his own fighting style. Up until now he had been simply relearning skills that he hadn't practiced in years. He often left himself open in areas that he could easily defend. The Gemini had found every opening and exposed it without hesitation. Wulfrin had to adapt in that combat. He had almost entered a sort of zen state in that bout. It was almost like The Gemini was teaching him. It was just like his old mentor Mr. Brunner. He always thought the best way to learn a skill was to

Having fully exited combat, his health and energy had begun to restore. There didn't appear to be any dangerous mobs in the area so Wulfrin figured he was at least safe to recharge here. He made his way to the still waters of the pool. As he gazed in, his reflection seemed to gaze back at himself. Only it wasn't his Avatar, but Lance staring back at him. Once Wulfrin blinked the image faded back to his avatar. Wulfrin pondered his situation in the game. Here he was a swordsman with a dream. He owned his own business and was able to fight side by side with some of the higher level players. Back

"Everything and more," The Gemini said as they were pulled up form the ground. "I shall leave you be for now, but I will continue to grow my own strength and challenge you again some day." With nothing more left to say The Gemini lay a hand on Wulfrin's shoulder as he passed. Wulfrin turned to watch The Gemini don his cloak again causing their features to again become obscured and dissapeared into the jungle. Wulfrin collapsed immediately after. He had pushed himself to the point of exhaustion. He lay in the soft grass of the grove looking up at the floor above him. Solaris darted do

"I'm sure at least one of the developers is in here," Wulfrin said as he reset his line. "Akihiko Kayaba is definitely in here with us. It's really basic psychology. Nothing is more boring than watching someone else play an RPG, especially if you are the one responsible for its creation. He has to be in here, we just have to find him. Maybe if we can, he'll let us out." Wulfrin gazed back at the floor above them. One day he would make it to the top, but right now all he could do was grind levels. The frontlines were dwindling and soon there would be no more people taking up blades to clea

The Gemini regained their footing and leveled their blade. Wulfrin did the same. No words were exchanged, there was no need. Both could understand each other clearly by stance alone. One last engagement to decide the victor. Wulfrin's last attack had leveled the playing field as both combatants now stood one hit away from death. In a flash the two pressed forward. Blow for blow they matched each other exactly. Wulfrin was adapting just like the Gemini at this point. As one would strike, the other would perfectly defend, not giving a single inch of ground away. To an outside observer, it would

The two opponents charged towards each other once more. Wulfrin moved with ferocity and total focus. Each blade collision resulting and a shower of sparks and a loud metallic clang that echoed through the grove. The strikes were so impactful the disturbed the still waters of the pond. Wulfrin was taking full use of his virtual body. It was light and nimble, capable of feats in combat he could only dream of. In here imagination was key. Every movement of your body was controlled by though alone. If you could think it, you could do it, within reason. Wulfrin was dodging and parrying strikes fast

Wulfrin lunged at The Gemini. A fire had been lit inside him. He was being mocked at every stage of this fight. The Gemini was proving their points well though. Every attack Wulfrin seemed to throw was deflected or sidestepped entirely with the exception of some well placed Sword Arts. The battle was drawing near its end and if Wulfrin didn't regain some ground he would be losing the last of his HP here and now. Wulfrin continued his barrage of attacks until he saw an opening. Again he aimed for the forearm of The Gemini's sword arm. His opponent expected this however and evaded the strike wit

Wulfrin's HP had already fallen to almost half as the two continued to clash blades. Sparks flew all around them as each impact landed with ferocity. Wulfrin was glad he had decided to allocate some unused points before beginning this trip as they were already paying dividends. He was hitting harder and absorbing a bit more damage than he usually was. His Sword Arts even seemed to drain less of his energy. After another barrage of attacks, The Gemini's defenses broke once again allowing Wulfrin to land another attack with a new Technical Art. He targeted his opponents arm in an attempt to redu

Wulfrin and The Gemini clashed again. This time Wulfrin held the offensive edge, placing The Gemini on the back foot. Wulfrin unleashed a barrage of sword strikes, to which his opponent could only defend against. On the last hit of his assault, Wulfrin batted The Gemini's sword away. In that brief opening, Wulfrin brought his sword around and slammed the pommel into the opponent's chest leaving behind a crimson trail of light. The Gemini stumbled back as Wulfrin brought his sword to bear for the next attack. He had scored his first blow on his foe, now he just had to keep the pressure up. Wulf

The sounds of clashing steel rang throughout the grove. Each blow an almost identical mirror to the other. The Gemini had studied Wulfrin's fighting style and was finding the openings faster than Wulfrin was able to decide the next move. Wulfrin recovered from the blade lock and readied his sword skill. A blue light enveloped his blade as the system took over. The Gemini had predicted this move and artfully blocked the strike with his own blade, causing the skill to veer off course. "Come on," The Gemini scoffed. "All the bravado you carry, yet you can't back it up." The Gemini unlea

The pair wandered through the Jungle for what seemed like hours. They trudged through so many different areas that Wulfrin had become disoriented. The cloaked figure simply weaved between trees and thickets like they had done it a million times before. As they continued, Wulfrin felt a chill in the air. Something wasn't right about this whole situation. While he had come prepared for a fight, he had done no prep that would typically be done when knowing he would be entering a combat. That may play into his favor, as he wanted to see just how far he had come with just his stats and equipment. N

After a few hours of wandering the floor scoping it out for fishing spots, Wulfrin began to feel a chill run down his spine. Someone was following him, yet every time he turned to see who it was, no one was there. He visited the few shops around that didn't treat him like he was the scum of the earth, collecting a few things for a future house that he was close to having the funds to purchase. As he concluded his shopping trip and returned to the teleport gate the chill came back. "So," An ominous voice echoed behind him. "Wulfrin graces floor six with his presence." "Why have you be

The main settlement of Floor Six was at first appearance a peaceful one. The handcrafted architecture played well into the jungle aesthetic of the floor. There was a seamless transition between the surrounding landscape and the settlement as some of the structures were either partially or entirely carved from the trees themselves. The roar of the nearby waterfall created a lovely white noise, just far enough away to break the silence yet quiet enough to not have to do more than whisper to someone. The residents however did not lead to a warm welcome. As Wulfrin traversed the various bridg

"Sometimes life just has a way of working out," Wulfrin sighed as he continued to comfort Ciela. "I was not prepared for a video game to become my life. I guess that's a bit hypocritical considering I want to be a game designer myself. It would be better to probably say that I didn't expect to become trapped in a game like a prison." Wulfrin briefly took his arm back as he hefted a chest up out of the water. It disappeared in a flash leaving behind only an info panel listing its contents that only Wulfrin could read. After dismissing the window, Wulfrin returned his arm to back around Cie