swordandpens

"That's not the part I'm in the dark about, it's utilizing skills and the game's mechanics that are stumping me," Jorentos said, a bit curious if Takahiro had even listened to him the last time he spoke. "Well, those are easy! How about this? We show you how to use skills, and in return, you join us for our quest," Kotemi said, to which Jorentos sighed. He took another bite before speaking. "I can't promise you that. I already have an ongoing quest, and I'm on that one until it's done," Jorentos said, finishing his meal and putting it to the side, where the server NPC already was t

Their server had stepped back for no more than 5 seconds, but then came out of the back with piping hot food, enough that steam was still coming off of it. Jorentos was amazed for all of a second before realizing where he was. Of course food would come out that quick in Aincrad. "I don't know any more about fighting than was in the Beginners Guide. In fact, I can't even be sure my actual fighting experience will even apply here. The only enemies I have seen so far are boars, and I can't exactly put them in a headlock," Jorentos said before diving into his bread and soup. It was a wonderfu

They led him to an eatery which roughly translated to "The Nozzle and Boar," which he assumed to be partly a reference to the fountains. I guess they like to keep to a theme, Jorentos thought, sitting down at a table with them. "By the way, I'm Jorentos," he said, nodding his head. The boy rolled the name in his mouth and tried to say it. Jorentos stepped in and shortened it. "You can shorten it to Joren, if it's easier," he said, to which the boy nodded, relieved. "Well, I'm Takahiro, and this is my sister Kotemi. We were going to do a quest involving some monsters, and you

Arriving at <Fountain Square> a few minutes later, he thought the view was pleasant. He had never been a "beautiful views" type of guy, and this fountain definitely wasn't going to change that. A few players were gathered here, and they were pretty amazed with it. "Good for them," Jorentos said to himself as he looked at it a little longer and then turned to leave. As he did, though, someone called out to him. "Hey, American, wait!" The voice said, and Jorentos stopped. He had seen only one other American in his entire time here, and it hadn't been in this town. He turned aro

After walking around for thirty minutes, Jorentos realized that he did not have a good handle on this place at all. Navigation had never really been his strong suit in the first place, but he had underestimated just how confusing Tolbana was. As much as he hated to pull himself away from continuing to the quest, he would need to learn the city. It felt wrong, putting off his quest like that, but Jorentos figured this would save a lot of time in the future. From what he could see, Tolbana was the second-largest city on the first floor, with a bit of distance between it and the Town of Begi

He almost yelped with glee as he grabbed the last one. His fatigue had been thoroughly pressing him for the last two hours, and he felt like he was barely conscious. Taking a gulp of water and chewing some cheap bread, he made his way back to Tolbana. He saw his next objective, but figured it could wait until he had gotten a night's sleep. It's not like the NPC's were going anywhere anyways. He woke up around noon, having slept in to compensate for staying up late last night. His room had a window overlooking a fairly busy street, and he saw it bustling with players. Getting up out of the

He had regained his previous luck, manifesting in him finding his fourth material. Only one more to go and he could leave and sleep. Jorentos had never been so excited to return to an inn room before, but he figured getting stuck in Sword Art Online would do that to you. It wasn't like he had a bad setup either, as Tolbana was a very comfortable town with affordable rates. There wasn't as much people, which was a bane and a benefit. Even with the little people left in the Town of Beginnings, some streets still felt too crowded. But due to the smaller size of this one and the distance, fewer ca

His hard work had paid off, and he had found his third material! He was over halfway done with the quest now. Only two more left. By this point, all the other players had left, with Jorentos spotting only three in the last hour. But, with the relatively small launch of Sword Art Online, that was to be expected. Most were probably on the higher floors, and the people down here didn't want to beat the game or risk themselves. It was a sad thought, but they had already given up; in their minds, if the frontline didn't beat this game, then they would just die. In that moment, the weight of ev

Jorentos' frustration grew along with his fatigue as he desperately looked around. And he had thought this was going to be an easy aside to his quest. But he should have expected this much. Fetch quests have been a staple of RPGs for as long as they've been a thing, so this is about par for the course. But, at the very least, in those RPGs he wasn't having to physically search for the items himself. Quickly scarfing down some cheap bread and water, he took note of his body's feeling as he did. And it brought up a question in his mind: where had the food gone? He had felt the physical sens

His luck had seemingly run out (in contrary to his earlier thoughts) as the next half-hour yielded no search. It frustrated him, but it was not enough to make him give up. The sounds of the wind rolling over the plains served as his own little symphony, it's calmness only increasing his fatigue. But he pushed it away and kept searching. If he could endure getting a red belt in Karate, then this was nothing. By now, the sun and it's lingering light had completely gone, leaving the stone ceiling coated in a mixture of the moon's light and a stark darkness. Jorentos had barely any light to

The sun had gone down at this point, and only the lingering light remained. But he had found another material. He was on a roll! There was no way he would stop now. He didn't know how Luck worked in this game (or if there even was a Luck stat, to begin with), but stopping when you were ahead like this was a bad omen everywhere except gambling. Another bit of luck he had was not running into any enemies. Of course, it had partly been his own skill in avoiding them, but at any point, they could have just spawned right in front of him and then he would have been screwed. Luckily, the only enemies

Luckily, the next 30 minutes had yielded him one material. This had given him a boost of confidence, and he put his head down and continued searching. It was a bit weird, but his hands would never truly get dirty. Since it's a video game, it made sense, and it wasn't like he was complaining; he hated getting dirt on him or working on plants. But Sword Art Online conveniently removed the worst part of landscaping and foraging. There were still sprinklings of sun left just above the horizon, though it would pass down in a few minutes. The temperature had dropped a bit, as well as the amoun

This quest had been a lot harder than Jorentos had anticipated. Even after a half hour of dedicated searching, he had found nothing. The soft grass below his feet had only yielded occasional leaves and seeds, but nothing he needed for the quest. Jorentos had wondered earlier if he had been looking in the wrong place, but had quickly abandoned that line of thought; it didn’t make sense for a quest in a town on the first floor to require another skill, especially a quest that had come to him. By this time, the sun had started to fall below the mountainous horizon, and night would soon be upon

It was quest-searching time, and Jorentos was in full swing. He had to keep his focus on moving forward, and couldn’t dwell on the grim reality of what had happened. If I want to survive here, then I’ll have to get stronger, Jorentos thought as he rushed around Tolbana looking for NPCs, with others doing the same. About an hour into searching, a old man with a monocle approached him, walking with purpose. "Pardon me, but I am in need of some assistance, and you appear quite capable. My name is Dorian, and I am the mayor of this town. As part of those mayoral duties, I issued a smal

Profile: Username: Jorentos Real name: Jordan Carlos Age: 29 Gender: Male Height: 5’4” Description: Jordan is a man of small stature, with blonde hair and green eyes. He has a slim fighter’s build, with his fists being calloused from practicing. He has a fairly soft face, with rounded cheeks and a wide nose, with a small mouth and bushy eyebrows to compliment. He has a scar on his left forearm from an accident he had when he was a kid. Background: Jordan has been playing games his whole life, so when he heard about SAO, he picked it up immediately. He was born in a s