[PP-F1] The Rite of Passage (Shira) [Complete]

[Hataki 0]

Spoiler

Haru couldn’t control his excitement as the words ‘Link Start’ initiated a colourful sequence, which eventually landed him in the character creation interface of Sword Art Online. He had waited for this for way too long. The RPG genre always held a special place in his heart; he took his own sweet time, carefully sculpting a lanky avatar with lean muscles and a handsome face. While the physique of his avatar was not much different from him, he went completely crazy with the eye colour and hairstyle. Figuring there is no point in having realistic features in a virtual world with diverse options, he chose bright purple eyes and unkempt light green hair.

Once he was satisfied with the appearance of his avatar, the next step was to choose a username. This was a simple task for him; he had always played all online games with the same username: Hataki. It was a simple mix-up of his real name and was quite famous among many gamers from other MMOs. He sure would like to keep up the reputation if possible.

Taking control of his avatar felt amazing. He tried moving his limbs, jumping, running, crouching; everything felt very natural. He couldn’t help but be amazed at the technology. Furthermore, to top it off, the graphics was perfect; it felt as though he had been transported to another world. He was snapped out of his admiration as more and more players started appearing. And that reminded him that he promised to find Akira once he logged onto the game. Quickly opening the menu, he sent a friend request to the player ‘Shira’, which Akira said will be using as her username.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Hataki

[Shira 0]

Spoiler

 

Sleek bars of pale colors dashed towards her eyes, instinctively she clenched them shut. This Nervegear thing made it feel so real... Why would someone want to be assaulted by color spears? she thought. That was some way to welcome a player, it was a perfect catalyst to make her start second guessing her decision to enter this thing. Akira forced herself to remember all the possibilities the bar guy had illustriously explained, plus it was called Sword Art Online. Now that this bar guy was going to be her only acquaintance in the game, she would have to start referring to him more appropriately... Hatsuharu Akimoto, she recalled. But that wouldn't do either, game etiquette dictated that it was rude to call out to a player by his real name while he is in game. Hataki. She let the name resonate in her head and settle itself in. 

Something that looked like a face-creation page, materialised in front of her. Ah! Great... Aki heaved a long sigh, so many possibilities lay strewn before her... How would she ever choose? This was going to be a nightmare. Initially, she also struggled with the gestures required to control the interface, but luckily it didn't take her too long to grasp it. After eons of fussing over everything, she finally finished her avatar. The avatar featured perfect red tresses like a river of fire unlike the long black messy hair she possessed. Other than that it mostly mirrored her real face. 

While the game loaded, Akira readied herself for everything, except for what finally appeared. While she had imagined something like an arena, she found herself standing amidst a host of people in a plaza. It was all so real. She raised her hands and waved them about in front of her... It felt weird and yet completely natural. A small face icon showed up in front of her, upon tapping it she found it to be a friend request from Hataki. Bursting with questions, she hoped he would be able to answer, she quickly hit the accept button... 

 

Edited February 22, 2016 by Shira

[Hataki 0]

The response to his friend request was almost immediate. This made him wonder if he had kept her waiting for long. With a quick flick of his hand, he opened the map, tracked her location, and began walking towards her. From what he noticed during the tournament he held, he knew that Shira had quite the aptitude for gaming; she was a natural, but she lacked experience. Hence, he took it upon himself to guide her through this game, and make her a formidable gamer. Why he put himself to such a task is beyond anybody. But hey! Who wouldn’t like to have such great talent as a partner? It is an MMO after all.

When in vicinity, he noticed that Shira is a red-haired, beautiful girl. No surprise there. She is beautiful even in real life, a voice in his head echoed. Shaking it off, he put on a smile and waved at her. “Hi there! Sorry if I kept you waiting for too long. Got caught up in character creation,” he said. “And… Congratulations on winning the tournament. Never got to say it back IRL; those guys kinda pushed us into the game immediately after."

[Shira 0]

A tuft of green hair stood out in the crowd. Akira couldn't help herself, she let out a small laugh. It wasn't usual for her to giggle like that, but as that particular shade, bobbed around amongst the other people, she couldn't help herself. Though there was plenty of diversity, that particular head, just... stood out. Once it was clear that it was coming towards her, she considered running for it. As usual, it was already too late before she could make up her mind... As he neared, she noticed the green health bar and her eyes searched for other game-y cues. Akira waited for him to make his move, casually letting her hand drift towards where the hilt of her sword should've been. Unfortunately, it wasn't there... Wasn't I suppose to have a curved sword or something? As a starter item?

She maintained an unfettered expression and hoped that he wouldn't start hacking and slashing or something. His stance remained friendly and once he spoke things cleared up. “Hi there! Sorry if I kept you waiting for too long. Got caught up in character creation,” From the way he addressed her perhaps it was safe to assume that he was Hataki. While she grappled with whether she should tell him that his hair color is weird, or not, he congratulated her for winning the video game... tournament he'd set up in his shack, thus confirming his identity. Flamboyant barkeeper.  At least it wouldn't be easy to lose him. 

He seemed to be the easy going kind, so she settled for a jovially veiled insult "Hataki, you look... different." reluctantly, she added, "I liked your real life look better, to be fair and don't worry, it took me a fair bit of time to create this..." She gestured to herself and smiled.  She took a moment to open her menu and spotted the inventory option. Upon opening it she found her starter items, she chose her sword and equipped the item. Much better. 

Shira swiped up to close the menu and then unsheathed her sword and pointed it at Hataki. "So... When do I get to use this baby?"

Edited February 22, 2016 by Shira

[Hataki 0]

Haru… No! Hataki wasn’t offended at all when Shira laughed at his hair. This was exactly what he was going for: different, exotic, memorable. Where is the fun otherwise? When she mentioned she liked his real-life look better, he took it as a compliment and laughed it off.

Noticing Shira accessing the menu and equipping her weapon, he followed suit. His two-handed sword was nothing fancy, but he hadn’t hoped for anything better; it is starter gear after all. However, he was rather disappointed with the starter clothing they were given. He knew this thin layer would save him from nothing and the item description confirmed his suspicion.

Hataki grinned widely when he heard the excitement in Shira’s voice. “Soon! Very soon. I can’t wait to start playing either. But before that, I suggest we read this tiny little Guidebook provided to us for free by the Beta Testers so that we are well-informed about the mobs we might fight.” Saying that, he accessed the Guidebook from his inventory and flipped it open. “Let’s see… Umm… There! The weakest mob we can fight is a Frenzied Boar. Woah! And it has higher damage than a starting level player? That is crazy,” he said, with clear disbelief in his voice. “This game is not going to be a walk in the park. That is for sure!”

“Well… We have to start somewhere. So what if we take a risk and die. We’ll respawn back here and then we can try again. What say you? Let’s go kill ourselves a boar?” he would ask with a wink, gripping onto his two-handed sword.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Hataki

[Shira 0]

The game challenges in the shack had won her the Nervegear and apparently a decent... acquaintance and game guide. Her eyebrows knitted into a frown as he began explaining the details that Akira had no patience for and Shira had no time for. Still entranced by the vista around her and the energetic exciting vibe in the air, she heard most of what Haru was saying as background noise. Akira heard the words, but couldn't bother to string them together and understand.  Once she heard him pause at "... That is crazy." the surprise in his voice made her rewind the partially-heard conversation in her head, she gathered something about Boar Frenzy and higher damage. He mentioned that the game wasn't going to be easy. Was he just trying to scare her?

Not a walk in the park... For him or for me? She thought, already feeling a smirk play up on her lips. She loved a challenge and she loved to win it. If boar was the weakest monster thing, then Shira would have preferred going for something a little higher than the lowest but he'd resorted to calling even that thing tough. She was new to the game, and decided to trust his judgement. “...We’ll respawn back here and then we can try again." At that she raised her eyebrows. Already succumbing to the possibility of death? What kind of a gamer guy was he? That is what separated her from the others, she wasn't going to die and she wasn't going to lose. 

"What say you? Let’s go kill ourselves a boar?” he finished.

She looked at him square in the eyes, and flashed him with her pre-fight stare. Akira decided to let him know what kind of gamer she was going to be. "Now, that sounds much better than the death and respawn crap you talked about before, just to be clear, I like to win and we're going to win every fight, ok?" 

Letting her sudden gamer resolve down a little and on a sadder note she added. "Also, at the party in the shack, it was already a little late, so after we finish up the boar, I'll have to log out and head back, but we'll meet again soon!" 

Edited February 22, 2016 by Shira

[Hataki 0]

Spoiler

Hataki laughed hard at the words ‘we’re going to win every fight.’ This is exactly what he meant by lack of experience. Games aren’t designed to be that way. Players will fail and try again; that’s how they learn, that’s how they grow as gamers. But he didn’t want to say anything now and pop her bubble. Instead, he just smiled and nodded. “As you say, my lady,” he would say, bowing down to her like she is a queen; clearly, mocking her for humour’s sake.

“Sure, I understand. You have me on your friends list; so, ping me whenever you get online if you wanna party up with me,” he would say, in response to her wish to log out after an encounter with a boar.

As they began walking towards the exit of the Starting City, Hataki heard a deafening noise and the ambience of the surrounding changed rapidly to a blood red. Looking around, he finally spotted the source of the noise; it was up on the clouds. Something red, like blood, seeped out of an invisible wall and finally took the form of a gigantic cloak. Like everybody else in the place, he too thought this was an event planned for the inauguration of the game. But… what followed was rather horrifying.

At first, Hataki just wanted to laugh at the Game Master’s words. “Haha! Did someone hack the server or something? This is hilarious.” He swiftly accessed the menu to check if the logout button is active. And… it wasn’t. The smile on his face faded. It then turned into horror as the GM showed them news articles about how people ignored the warning and ended up dying. At this moment, Hataki began to wish he was in a dream. No no no! This can’t be happening. Further, to top it all off, the players’ appearance was changed to that of their real world’s. And that confirmed what he feared; this isn’t an event, it is real. These ten thousand people are now stuck in this world. Madman! He just wanted to play God for the world he created and we are tricked into being his subjects now. All the admiration he had for the creator of the game vanished instantly.

Realizing the kind of panic this is going to induce among the crowd, he quickly pulled Shira away from the centre and into a quiet alley. And just as he suspected, loud cries, wails and chaos took over the plaza with thousands of horrified gamers. “Hey… Are you okay? Listen… Don’t be scared. I doubt it is real; but even if it is, the cops will do something about it soon IRL."

Edited February 22, 2016 by Hataki

[Shira 0]

Spoiler

Hataki's blatant skepticism at her words wasn't new to her, she was used to boys laughing in her face. Shira would then prove them wrong and once humbled, they would go on to become great friends. Hataki did take it too far with the mock act of submission, which came as a minor insult to Shira's resolve. The challenge in the conversation was growing at an exponential rate, he'd have to be put in his place, but words wouldn't do the trick...

 

He added that she could ping him if she wanted to party up... If, it looked like their different play styles was already on its way to becoming a rift between them, or maybe she was reading too much into it. He began leading the way, towards an alley which presumable lead to the boar area. While walking, Shira brandished her starter sword and jabbed at the air, learning its balance. 

 

A loud bell sounded. A jolt of excitement rushed through Shira. It sounded like the real fighting was going to begin. Following the sound, Shira saw a sunset colored sheet descend from the sky and land between them and somewhere deeper in the alley, upon closer inspection she noticed the words warning and system announcement written out on the hexagonal cells making that made this dome like shield. Maybe the game begins with one big battle or monster or something... And you can't leave the plaza till you finished it. She anticipated with glee. 

 

If the plaza was crowded before, it was jam packed now and more players seemed to be teleporting in . She turned towards the bell tower and traced this dome shaped shield to its epicentre. Encased in darker blood like structure was Mr. Kayaba, the apparent game master. His voice boomed dangerously... Haru retained his carefreeness and gave his two cents on what this was. In her head this all this was for dramatic effect, like Hataki the game too was now trying to scare her.... Honestly if someone wants to convey a message, having it echo in a chaotic crowd after a deafening gong like that, isn't very efficient. Shira was still getting used to the in-game senses.  

 

Hataki's logout button was indeed, missing. Shira's mind churned out other ways of getting out of the game but it looked like this Akihiko guy had covered his bases. He talked of the waves and the brain, momentarily distracting Aki from the grave reality of the situation as she marvelled over the science behind the NerveGear.

 

Following the systematic destruction of any escape plans except to win the game, he displayed apparent videos of the news... Her eyes were still trained to the virtual screens, as she absent-mindedly returned her sword to its sheath and checked her own log out button... Nothing there. This was real and the death toll was already two-hundred and thirteen. This game owner had added a mirror to everyone's inventory, soon everyone was whipping theirs out, Aki didn't need to though as Hataki's green hair faded back to the original brown. Now reality really shook everyone, there were kids here, some not even in their teens... 

Surprisingly, the only thing the 20 year old could think of was how her mom would kill her if the game didn't. Akira's luck was unprecedented. Her face remained blank while various thoughts flitted through her head. Once this dramatic introduction to the death game concluded, she heard shrieks and wails and complains. Her new companion strove to remain calm in the face of this bad news and even attempted reassuring her. 
 

"I'll try trust you on that..." she responded. The vice like grip of fear was threatening to tighten itself around her and as a champion, she didn't want to let that happen. Hoping to keep herself occupied she asked. "So... Are we still going to kill ourselves a boar, or what? How does this work now?" 

Edited February 23, 2016 by Shira

[Hataki 0]

For a moment, Hataki couldn’t figure out Shira’s reaction. It went from fear to admiration and then back to fear. He couldn’t understand what part of this situation was admirable, but he chose not to question that.

Hataki grinned widely and shook his head in disbelief when she brought up fighting the boar two minutes after hearing that they could die for real if they died in game. He wasn’t sure if he should be happy that he found someone as crazy as him or if he should be worried about her; after all, technically, she is in this mess because of him. If nothing, he should stick with her and ensure she gets of this alive.

“Unfortunately, no! While I would love the adrenaline of fighting a digital monster that could potentially kill me, I don’t want to die yet. And more importantly, I don’t want you to die.” Somehow, he felt responsible for her. Taking a deep breath, he looked into the still chaotic crowd at the plaza. “Well… Firstly, we need to level up. Maybe we can do some minor quests that don’t involve combat. I’ll check the guidebook if there are any quests like that. Secondly, we need to gather better equipment. We should ensure there is a good level margin between us and the mobs we fight. That way, the probability of our survival is high. Of course, all this if we are truly stuck in this place for long. My guess is, the officials will find the server soon and log us all out in a couple of days, max.” He was sincerely hoping that will be the case.

“Anyway… Let’s get out of here. We’ll check the outer rims of the town to see if we can salvage something of value. Maybe we’ll get lucky. Meanwhile, I’ll also stay on the lookout for the type of quests I mentioned.” With that said, he would begin walking towards the town exit and then carefully outwards, in search of materials.

Spoiler

ID: 48963

Battle: 8 | Craft: 5 | Loot: 11 | Mob: 8

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by Hataki

[Shira 0]

What began as a rite of passage for Nakashima, could end in a bloody feudal death. She really didn't understand how Hataki could maintain this calm demenour, if she didn't kill something soon, she'd probably lose it. He buried his nose in the guide book and narrated some more details about the game. Despite it now apparently being a life or death matter, Shira still wasn't really paying attention. From what she understood boar killing was out. Grudgingly, she had to admit his experience with gaming was far superior to hers, getting caught in the game was one thing, actually being stupid enough to die in it too, would be just a waste of her life. 

She let out a long sigh. "Sounds like a drag." she whispered. They made their way out of the safe looking town, into the picturesque grasslands. She heeded his thinly veiled warnings and decided not to venture too deep out. Silence engulfed them for a brief bit as he scourged the grounds. Shira would have thought after his long explanations a little quiet would be a welcome change, but there was something eerie about it. Perhaps if she kept shut too long her brain would remind her of the danger everyone was in - two hundered and thirteen echoed in her head again. Hastily, she decided to ask some more questions and keep the conversation going. "So we're going to try and collect some things? What kind of things are these?"

She gazed about and noticed something shimmering near a small rock. "I think I see something there." 

 

Spoiler

ID: #48967 
Battle: 9 | Craft: 6 | Loot: 16 | MOB: 4 |

Edited February 23, 2016 by Shira

[Hataki 0]

“Yes… It is a drag. But unfortunately, we do not have an option,” Hataki responded absent-mindedly as his thoughts wandered to his family. He was sure they would have been informed by now. His mother’s ‘I-told-you-so’ voice echoed loudly in his head; she never really liked games much. It’s not like it’s his fault. Apart from him, nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine people have been trapped in this death game. And some of them are no more. Suddenly, the reality struck him. This is a disaster; a man-made disaster. These people did not have the slightest clue… Akihiko Kayaba is truly a madman.

Hataki was brought back to his senses by Shira’s question. “Oh… Crafting mats mostly. We’ll need a better weapon and some armour before we can start fighting mobs. Now, don’t ask me who is going to forge our weapons and armours. That, I have no clue about. One step at a time…”

The brunet man chose his path very carefully; he had no plans of engaging any mob right now. Hence, they were limited to the close border region around the town. After a couple of minutes, he heard Shira call out to him, saying she found something. Hoping it was something worthwhile, he quickly walked up to her and looked at what she was pointing at. “Ah… Great! You found some metal. We can use this for your weapon. Go on! Take it. Finders keepers."

Leaving Shira to take up her metal, Hataki went a little ahead to see if there is something more they could take. And voila! He was lucky. He did find more metal further behind the rock. He gave a holler towards Shira and went on to take the metal he found. "I got lucky too!" he grinned.

Spoiler

ID: 48971

Battle: 6 | Craft: 12 | Loot: 20 | Mob: 10

Edited February 23, 2016 by Hataki

[Shira 0]

The gleam of the metal reflected into her eyes. It was funny how in these dire circumstances something so mundane made her smile. If this metal helped her get a better weapon, it could be worth the effort. She swiped down her inventory to check if it was really there... It was. In meagre hope she glanced towards the log out button which was still unavailable. Akira was lucky the shack guy went on to explain more than she had asked for. He also brought to her notice that he didn't know everything. Shira forgot that though he had gaming experience in general, they were both new to this particular game. It was safe to assume each game came with its own unique feature, and this one came with 'you're stuck here till you beat it' mode.

Shira wondered, if she ran out of questions about the game would it be fair to start asking Hataki about his real life... If they were going to do this together for the next few days, it'd help for her to know how best to exploit their combined strengths. A few days is all she could spare... "I got lucky too!" He interjected, interrupting her line of thought. Sort of recognising what this metal thing looked like she thought she'd be able to find it with ease now. Missing the thrill of competition, she offered "Let's see who lands up with more of these metal mat things."  She said, already eying another shimmering spot in the distance... She dashed towards it and hey ho! Another piece of metal. 

Spoiler

ID: #48972  | Battle: 9 | Craft: 4 | Loot: 19 | MOB: 6

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by Shira

[Hataki 0]

“Aha! Yes. A little competition should make this boring task more tolerab-.” Before even he could finish his sentence, Shira had found another piece of metal. Hataki was awestruck. This girl is not only prodigal, but is also extremely lucky, he thought to himself. According to the guidebook, finding these metal pieces isn’t as easy as Shira is making it out to be; most of them are found only near groups of mobs, hence forcing the players to actually fight them before collecting the mats. Why does she make everything seem so easy?

Determined to find more mats than her, Hataki went deeper into the grasslands. Maybe this competition wasn’t a great idea, considering he is someone who gets carried away very easily. Hopefully, they won’t run into any trouble; dying on the very first day of the game wouldn’t be very great, not that dying any day is.

Desperate to find something before Shira gets her hands on another one of those metals, Hataki literally flipped every stone he saw. But no! Lady luck was reluctant to look his way this time. He found nothing but grass and insects hidden between them.

Spoiler

ID: 48974

Battle: 5 | Craft: 1 | Loot: 2 | Mob: 1

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by Hataki

[Shira 0]

And so the mini game began. She noticed Hataki tossing rocks and peering underneath them. Shira smirked, so far never had she found any metal under a rock... Instead of running around she started scanning the area again, tracing the rays of the afternoon sun as they fell on the grasslands, something shiny, something shiny she chanted. Ok... maybe it wasn't that easy. All she saw were the blades of grass. She squatted and plucked one blade of the ground, once again marvelling at the design of the game. Momentarily distracted, she sniffed the slender green object she held between her fingers. It smelled the same way it did when the gardner mowed the lawns in her college. Fascinating. All this was just a bunch of data. All this data was then being modulated so it could be sent into her brain via electrical signals, the to-be doctor in her was astonished. There were so many other way this technology could be used, therapeutically too, it could do wonders- but what was the point, it was currently being used to hold about 9700 people hostage. 

Already off track, Shira quickly reminded herself of the harmless challenge she had entered. Shimmer. Something shimmer. No such luck. Maybe it wouldn't be that unsafe to go further out, just a little bit... 

Spoiler

ID: #48975 | Battle: 2 | Craft: 12 | Loot: 6 | MOB: 9 

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by Shira

[Hataki 0]

Another ten minutes of scanning, and Hataki found nothing but grass, some rocks, and more grass. At least they haven’t run into any monsters yet. Finally, he just gave up and lay on the grass, looking up at the shining sun. The view was beautiful. This game could have been the biggest revolution ever in the history of gaming and many other fields. But it is now highly unlikely that anyone would attempt to use this without prejudice; at least not for the next decade, not until this mishap is eventually forgotten.

The word ‘forgotten’ reminded him that he was forgetting something. Of course… He quickly stood on his feet and began his search for more materials; he had completely forgotten about the challenge. She probably has a million metal in her inventory by now. Cursing his poor memory, he circled the area around him for anything that shined; he had finally given up on tossing rocks ꟷ good for him.

When few more minutes of careful scanning gave him nothing, he just gave up. “Alright! I’m done with this. I can’t find anything.”

Spoiler

ID: 49001

Battle: 5 | Craft: 6 | Loot: 9 | Mob: 9

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by Hataki

[Shira 0]

So he was giving up already. Good choice too, Shira really saw nothing except the expanse of green and the bright blue sky above. But logically, two pieces of metals just wouldn't be enough to make anything good right? Determined, she scoured the near by area once again. Unfortunately, her determination didn't change the code of the game. There was just nothing more here. Shira slouched and dragged her feet towards Hataki. "Yeah! I don't see anything here anymore either. But I've still won right?" She said trying to brighten her mood. 

"Maybe there were only three pieces that this region had to offer, I got two, you got one!" She explained rejoicing in her small victory. It was a silly little challenge anyways, Shira preferred games of skill not luck. "How dangerous would it be to go look deeper in and search another area? Two-three mats aren't really good for anything are they?" 

Spoiler

ID: #49003 | Battle: 3 | Craft: 12 | Loot: 12 | MOB: 3

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by Shira

[Hataki 0]

Hataki couldn’t deny what Shira said. There isn’t much they could do with what they have. They need more mats or some Col before they can think of buying some gear. However, he wasn’t sure if going further into the grasslands was a good idea. They are still level 1 after all. His gaming instinct urged him to go further, to test the limits. However, the stakes were too high. Especially because he has Shira with him. He might not show it, but if something happened to her, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.

With a heavy sigh, he shook his head. “No! I don’t recommend that. We should probably go to the border on the other side and look for more mats there. Let’s play safe; our life is on the line here.” He then started walking back towards the entrance of Town of Beginnings.

Spoiler

ID: 49004

Battle: 7 | Craft: 9 | Loot: 3 | Mob: 3

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by Hataki

[Shira 0]

This was already too much of a drag, growing bored she wordlessly followed Hataki. So they were going to go check things on the other side. Shira found it weird that these metal things were just lying around... Was it even fair to try and take then all? What about the other players were they doing this too? 

Once again they entered the Town of Beginnings. Panic still hung strong in the air. Most people were sitting around right here. She overheard people saying that they were not going to beat the game and just hope someone, in real life, found out who is behind all this and rescue them. Shira frowned, it would take what... A couple of days to beat the game if everyone fought the game together, clearly no one else around here was a staunch believer in the strength in numbers philosophy. As they crossed the plaza the memories of that Kayaba guy's taunt replayed in her head. Staring straight down, refusing to give into any self-doubt, she increased her pace till they left Town of Beginnings behind them, once again... 

"Doesn't look like there is much around here either..." She said, scanning the grass again, which looked shadier thanks to the buildings of Town blocking the sunlight. Maybe it was just tougher to spot now... 

Spoiler

ID: #49007 | Battle: 6 | Craft: 8 | Loot: 4 | MOB: 1 

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by Shira

[Hataki 0]

Hataki and Shira didn’t converse much on their way to the other side of the Town of Beginnings. He couldn’t blame her; with all the sobs and wails he could hear in the background, there was no need for any words.

When they finally arrived at the other side, Hataki was rather disappointed. Of course, the view was beautiful as before, but again, he could see no mats in his vicinity. He looked at Shira and saw the disappointment in her eyes too. Hoping to cheer her up, he decided to continue the challenge. “This competition isn’t over…” he said with a smirk. “Round 2 begins now.” He then ran ahead and began looking under bigger rocks ꟷ again.

Spoiler

ID: 49008

Battle: 6 | Craft: 12 | Loot: 11 | Mob: 9

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by Hataki

[Shira 0]

A weak smile played on her lips as Hataki suggested round two. In all honesty though, she was done with this. Walking through the Town of Beginnings had sapped her the little happiness she'd mustered. This was not what she thought Sword Art Online would be. Finally, in her head, she began cursing her friends who had unwittingly got her into this. What was the point of this? She could potentially die here and everything she had worked so hard on achieving would soon mean nothing. Shira's mom would be worried sick and her grandmother and her dog... Tears were soon going to well up in her eyes, but she didn't like crying in front of people.  Initially she was worried about her exams and the upcoming tournaments, now it was the bigger more important things, like love and family. 

Its funny how the human brain prioritized so badly sometimes. This better not take more than a few days, she hoped. Looking at how much time they had wasted just gathering materials, and the fact that a lot of people backed out and decided to stay in the starting zone, she had a sinking feeling this was going to take at least a month. 

Hataki was trying to make the best of what they had and she didn't want to bring him down too. But she couldn't keep it up anymore. She dropped down to her knees near the wall of the Town of Beginnings and sat down. Leaning against the wall, she took solace in the shade and closed her eyes. "I don't think I'm up for round two... There is nothing here either and I'm really hungry." She said fighting hard to keep the snippiness out of her voice. 

Spoiler

ID: #49010 | Battle: 4 | Craft: 10 | Loot: 12 | MOB: 1

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by Shira