Acanthus

Moretsuna circled the boat, eager for one of them to fall back in. Pinball seemed much more sure on his feet, but the boss took that as an invitation to test him. With a targeted blast of water, Pinball flew backwards off the boat. “Pinball!” Acanthus yelled as he disappeared under the water. The brief moment without anyone listening encouraged her to open up and voice her deepest thoughts. “Shit.” She leapt back into the water. This time, she was used to the cold, and her night vision helped her adjust to the dark depths. She vaguely made out the shape of Pinball—nope, that was

Acanthus narrowly ducked as Morningstar sailed overhead, landing in some nearby olive trees. “AMUSING,” the toddler thundered, flailing his little chubby fists. “Morningstar, are you ok?” She thought she saw branches moving. Either way, he seemed like he could throw hands with a baby. He would be fine. Acanthus tried to circle around the baby. Troll-baby, if Freyd was to be believed. Frankly, she thought most babies looked something like trolls anyways. She made the mistake of saying that once. She learned quickly that there was a time and place for honest thoughts, and it was not at chil

Mass Item Fusion More items, more crafts. Link to Crafts: 9/3 Crafts | 9/4 Crafts | 9/11 Crafts | 9/12 Crafts | 9/13 Crafts | 9/14 Crafts | 9/16 Crafts | 9/17 Crafts | 9/18 Crafts | 9/19 Crafts | 9/20 Crafts | 9/21 Crafts | Fusion Reference Step 1: Fusions Round 1 Fusions: Round 2 Fusions Round 3 Fusions Round 4 Fusions Step 2: Crafting Evals Roll ID Date and Link Quality Enhancement Name Description 232615 Sept 21 (This post)

Crafting for 9/21/2024 Langue de chat consumed (Ambition). +1 EXP per craft (+2 total from Trinket | Tuning Fork) Crafter's respite consumed. (230288) Daily attempts reset! EXP: 1695/2559

Crafting for 9/20/2024 Langue de chat consumed (Ambition). +1 EXP per craft (+2 total from Trinket | Tuning Fork) Crafter's respite consumed. (230287-1) Daily attempts reset! EXP: 1607/2559

Their pace felt incredible. Even with two people as purely support players, she and Cordelia were making short work of the boss. Cordelia was, at least. Acanthus wasn’t doing much more than picking off slivers of health. Meanwhile, Cordelia was annihilating large chunks of health with single attacks, and dodging the boss’ attacks as well. But she was still helping, she told herself. Even if she didn’t have the same damage output as Cordelia, she was one of the two people dealing damage. She thought back to her first quest with the swordswoman, where she hadn’t done much more than stun the

Acanthus hadn’t expected the next part of the quest to be so sudden. The festival was in a state of disarray when they returned. Levi caught the village elder up to date. When she heard about the impending army, Acanthus’ face paled. “Are we really expected to hold off an entire army on our own? Will the villagers at least be able to help?” They were no help at all. Acanthus found herself on the outskirts of town, ferrying timber to construct a wooden wall, raging against the weather and the do-nothing people of the town. They’re just NPCs, she thought bitterly. Blame the person that

THREAD SUMMARY Experience: 1000 (quest) + ((3608/10) * 4 * 1) = 2440 * 2 = 4,886 EXP +218 foraging EXP Col: 400 (page) + 29,000 (gathering) + 732 (Laurel Wreath) = 30,132 col Items Blade of the Sands | T2 straight sword | DMG 2 | Keen 1 Armor of the Sands | T2 Light Armor | MIT 2 | Light Momentum (1) demonic shard (40) materials

Because she wanted plenty of space, Acanthus acknowledged that she would have to spring for “outrageously expensive.” But that’s what the gathering was for. Back in the headspace for gathering, Acanthus realized that she should be looking for treasure chests. She beat herself up, wondering how many she missed. There had likely been one at the camp. She… had visited it, right? She couldn’t recall. It couldn’t have been important anyways. Distracted by the effort of recalling the camp, she wandered right by a half-buried chest, waiting for the right person to open it. Her mind was really in

Floor 22 was not an option. And many of the other floors were simply unbearable. Her first thought was floor thirteen. But she didn’t need to live that close to the Sour Rumor. Besides, the atmosphere was so dreary. Acanthus didn’t need more of that in her life. She came full circle and decided that she would look again on floor 24. Most of the housing inside of Scalabis had been taken at this point. Even as far out as Marsonia, the more humble abodes had been picked up. Every once in a while, a house would free up when a player moved… or died. But the thought depressed Acanthus. She didn

Not to mention she wanted something a little more spacious. Acanthus wasn’t really a material girl, but the practicality of having lots of room was not lost on her. More rooms and more yard slots meant that she would always be well rested and prepared for anything. Plus, she could have guests over with a large enough house. But where would she buy the house? Good housing plots where hard to come by. She would have an even steeper disadvantage, having avoided the housing market for the first two years. All of the decent, middle of the road housing would be picked over. Particularly the fir

Acanthus crested the hill, horrified by the sight. At the bottom of the hill before her lay an abandoned Sandborn camp. The supplies were worn out, covered in heavy layers of sand. The sandblasted tents were almost worn entirely through, and the campfire in the middle had long been extinguished by the wind. Large clay jars intended for water had fallen over and shattered, bone-dry inside and out. In the middle of the camp, the boy stood quietly. He appeared to alternate throwing and catching an invisible ball, looking into the distance. Suddenly, he stopped, and appeared to run aroun

Odd. She was sure she should have arrived at this point. The landscape had become barren and repetitive again, and sand kept her from seeing too far away. Her map didn’t avail her either. She was not quite lost, but her sense of direction had been entirely upended. Still, she was confident the boy had gone this way. She still could not identify why this meant so much to her. Did she want to see for herself that the sandborn had respawned? That her anger hadn’t actually had any consequences? Maybe she wanted to apologize to the boy, tell him sorry for the awful thing she had done. But was

Finding a blooming weed in the desert, Acanthus counted herself lucky. It was the first flowering vegetation she had seen so far. Perhaps there would be better foraging opportunities ahead. Maybe the camp had some plants or such to pick through. She wondered what would happen when she arrived at camp. Maybe the boy would remember her, but would the bandits themselves? They were new entities, after all. And would the boy say anything? Acanthus caught herself again. Why are you assuming its the same child you met before? Surely there is more than one boy on the entire floor. It’s silly

The boy was nearby: she could sense it through her tracking. The barren landscape began to take another shape, one that almost possessed life. Sparse vegetation cropped up around rocks, and she even heard a trickle of water from a distant ravine. It was not much, but enough apparently for the sandborn to survive. Well, what was left of them. Knock it off, she told herself. They respawned once the quest was done. You aren't the first person to have to cut your way through those bandits, and you won’t be the last. I’m surprised I haven’t encountered anyone in the middle of the quest right n

A sandstorm was starting to brew on the horizon. Thankfully, it did not appear to be as terrible as the one from the quest. Or perhaps the skill she had unlocked simply allowed her to weather the storm more effectively. As the wind picked up, Acanthus found new deposits of crystals in the shifting sands. She reached down to pluck them up as she walked along. Her foraging attempts had been acceptable, but the demonic shards were still eluding her. Eluding her. She couldn’t help but laugh. The first time she had encountered one, she was so terrified that she had almost done something horrib

Finishing up with the last of the crystals, Acanthus plodded along the boy’s trail. She thought back to what she would even say. Hi? Sorry for killing those people? No, they weren’t people they were… What did NIGHT call them? Entities. She liked that. It felt a little less personal. Besides, the people entities deserved it. She had been pushed around and battered to her wits end. For them to approach her at the very end of her quest? They had baited her into attacking. It was all their fault. Probably not what the boy would want to hear. Then again, it probably wasn’t even the same b

Following the boy’s trail, she noticed a small cluster of crystals, perfect for recording. She quickly picked the best specimens out of the ground while thinking about what she would be doing for the rest of the day. Sword practice after this, then a trip into town to buy a few more crafting materials for my projects. I should eat dinner, but that’s more a formality than anything. Besides, food has been tasting worse and worse since I killed myself a few weeks ago. She decided that she could make time for this endeavor by skipping lunch. She could always search for Demian’s cart on the wa

Taking one more comb through the vein for any materials, she climbed the rest of the small cliff face. Struggling to climb over the ledge, she looked around for the boy. He was nowhere in sight. Her searching skill, however, came in handy. She identified a few traces of his passing, and deduced that he was heading towards Saharda, though not exactly in the right direction. So not as much of a detour as it could be. I’m sure that I can find some foraging on my way to find the boy. She wasn’t sure what drove her to chase after him. She didn’t have anything to say or any plans to talk to him

Along the path to Saharda, she caught wind of a vein of rare ores embedded in the cliffside above her. Pulling out some rope and climbing gear, she prepared to ascend the wall. Slowly and steadily, she hoisted herself up the four or five meters needed to reach the vein. Pulling out a small pickaxe, she worked at the being for whatever she could gather. Large chips of black and purple ore burst from the vein and the game chimed a happy tune as she placed it into her inventory. A shadow passed above her head and she jerked up to see what it was. A small boy in familiar clothing. One of the

Only one bundle of cinnatwigs. Acanthus was crestfallen. Now that failure was almost impossible, smaller hauls became the new failure. Most of the time, she could at least locate a small col stash nearby, or a material that could be sold for a hefty profit. Neither one appeared. “You’re never going to get enough materials for Raidou’s order,” she said as she clicked her tongue. Thankfully, there were plenty of bushes in the vicinity. She walked over and began to repeat the process. This time, luck was on her side. No, not luck. Practice and dedication. She had spent so long honing her abi

Acanthus traveled back towards Saharda. She had a hard time deciphering map directions, and was happy that the in-game map at least gave her directions to the nearby settlements. It wasn’t a perfect system, but many of the players seemed to enjoy the map’s incompleteness. It annoyed Acanthus. Why couldn’t the developers have just made it simpler? They were already fighting for their lives in here. The least they could do was let them wander in the right direction. She stopped after seeing a nearby set of shrubs. They were cinnabushes, and the dry, thin branches had many uses. Perhaps Oz w

Pathetic. A boss so underleveled that it didn’t even drop loot. And it took you seven minutes to slay it. Acanthus collected herself as the doors to the arena swung open. She was already behind on her scheduled route. She needed to find more demonic shards, and she had decided to brave the Devil’s Pass again. She had found one there already, so she hoped that more may be present. Scrolling through her inventory, she found the locating charm, swapping it out for her ring. She had the option to keep the ring visible as a vanity item, but declined. It would only distract her from her pr

Dominus appeared to be on its last legs, and Acanthus was ready to finish the fight. She still had a long day ahead of her. The beast screeched, and Acanthus saw a familiar wind-up: it was going to be a leaping strike from above. Acanthus repositioned, preparing Ajisai’s blade to intercept. A dozen things seemed to happen in a single moment. First, Sando blade shifted almost imperceptibly. In a flash, Acanthus had a dread realization: she wasn’t going to parry it. Two tons of sharpened steel was now on a direct course to her head. She tried to calculate on the fly. I could try and dodge.

This boss should be easy. Should be over in two minutes. Here you are taking twice that long, useless, worthless— She parried another slice and rushed into the space she created, firing off another three-hit combo. You’re getting predictable. That’s how you killed Haru the Gemini. Learn, adapt. Or you’re going to kill yourself get yourself killed. Dominus howled, circling around her in the arena, blades flashing. Acanthus dodged and parried the strikes, holding her ground in the middle of the arena. It would have made more sense to retreat to an edge so she wasn’t having to watch her