[SP-F6] You're nothing like me. <<The Gemini>>

[Victor 0]

Spoiler

[[Victor's stats and Equipment]]
HP: 4
Energy: 1
Dmg: 5
 Mit: +9
Evasion: +3
Accuracy: +2

[[Skills]]
[Rank 1 - Dagger]
[[Equipped]]
- Icy Fang (Perfect weapon: +3 Dmg)
- Ring of Assassins (Perfect lucky charm: +2 Acc; + 1 Evasion)
- Lunar Maw II - (Perfect Light Armor Cape +9 Mitigation; +2 Evasion)

Victor enjoyed scouting for solo quests, he'd heard a rumor that on floor 6 there was one exclusive kind. It was an NPC who offered an interesting reward upon completion of some task. The boy had not had a chance to speak to a player who'd actually completed the quest, but he had garnered that it might require combat of some sort. Armed with that knowledge, he had equipped a combination of the gear he had available in the manner he though best fit the possibility of a combat. The boy traced his way to the designated floor. Once there, he found himself under a thicket of densely packed trees. The floor theme seemed to be going for an Amazonian vice. The environment made Luke feel like he was on a camping trip of some sort. He began his usual, personal material gathering mission, until he could locate the Gemini. The brown eyes scoured the floor making a mental note on everything he wanted to attempt an extraction on. He started with the leaf of a rare looking plant, unfortunately, upon close inspection, there was nothing worthy to be found from it. 

Spoiler

# 62012 LD: 5
No mat found.

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Victor

[Victor 0]

Spoiler

[[The Gemini's stats and Equipment]]
HP: 4
Dmg: 2
 Mit: 0
Evasion: 0
Accuracy: 0

[[Skills]]
[Rank 1 - Dagger] (+1 damage)
[[Equipped]]
- Icy Fang (Vanity weapon: +1 Dmg)
- Ring of Assassins (Vanity lucky charm)
- Lunar Maw II - (Vanity Light Armor Cape)

... And take a little walk... When the worst is to come.

The shape shifting NPC lurked behind trees. Stealthily, he stalked his prey, watching the poor player's motions through the trunks that stood between them. He pulled his hood back a little to get a clear image. The Gemini checked the game's database to match the player's face to an id. A certain Victor, is what came up. 'Ah! I've been waiting for this young one.' The NPC thought. He was one of those players, that either needed to be exterminated, or be taught a harsh lesson. Victor lied blatantly, to other NPCs and player's alike. The game could check the claim he made in his dialogues, vs the corresponding in game data. He was a crafty one and The Gemini decided on using Victor's tactics against the boy. He made his way closer, still staying behind trees. Whether death awaits you or not, I know not, but if you leave, you'll be a different man. The NPC vowed.
.~.~.~.
Meanwhile, Victor had still had no luck in extracting any usable items. Undeterred, he decided to keep trying.

Spoiler

# 62015 LD: 2
No Mat found.

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Victor

[Victor 0]

Victor felt the moist dirt against the tips of his fingers. He was doubled over, struggling in order to upturn a heavy rock. The boy was convinced that there was something under it that was worth salvaging. The more effort he had to put in, the more his belief, that it was concealing something strengthened. Briefly, he felt his sixth sense tingle, the adolescent felt like the was being watched. He straightened from his bend and paused, waiting to see if any sounds betrayed the location of the person who might be watching him. He was met with a general thrum of dense forest. Mostly insects and light rustling of the leaves higher up, other than that it was silent. The boy shrugged and went back to his battle of wills with the immovable rock. It sat there stubbornly. In frustration, he withdrew his dagger and slashed it at the vine above his head. On a lark he decided to check the fallen plant's properties... To no avail.

Spoiler

# 62019 LD: 14
No mats found.

 

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Victor

[Victor 0]

...That words can do more than harm...

The boy was perceptive, that was for sure. The Gemini had barely moved and it already alerted the boy a decent bit. The NPC watched with a smile as the brown haired player straightened up like a board in response to his gentle motion. The hooded character observed the frustration that marred the characters face so openly. Victor apparently wasn't like this when in company, he was all about concealment pretense and lies. 'Too bad he has to accept the quest for me to make any attacks, I'd love to startle him with an opening blow.' The NPC thought, regretting that he was bound by the rules of a code. For fun, he deliberately stepped on a twig under his foot. The affect was instant.
.~.~.~.
Upon failing to extract anything from the vine, he plucked out a mushroom growing near the base of a tree, nothing special there either. His luck and patience were wearing thin. That is when he heard a soft snapping sound. His face immediately twisted to face the direction, from where the sound had originated.

Spoiler

#62021 LD: 5
No mat found.

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Victor

[Victor 0]

Victor wasn't sure what he was seeing, but there seemed to be some kind of a cloak, obscured by the trees in between. From the corner of his eye he scanned the surrounding area for any gleaming ores, but he noticed none. "Hello? Anyone here?" Victor called out, assuming a more impassive but pleasant face while keeping his squinted eyes fixed between the trees.  When he didn't hear any response, the adolescent thought it was best to be prepared for the worst. The boy casually let his hand squirm into his pocket. He held the hilt of his dagger, while leaving it concealed under the fabric. He was ready to draw his weapon at a moment's notice, but surely the other person didn't know that. "I'm unarmed and I mean no harm." Victor said in a pacifying voice. It was a lie of course, there was no one else here to witness anything, if it came down to it, the boy wanted to have the surprise factor.

Spoiler

#62022 LD: 12
No mat found

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Victor

[Victor 0]

... And say you're at a loss or forgot that words can do more than harm...
 

The NPC scoffed inwardly. Such a blatant but convincing liar. The man had to admit, had it not been for the data he had, he would've believed the boy. But The Gemini knew the truth. 'Of course you're unarmed. Of course you're not carrying a dagger in your pocket' The Gemini thought sarcastically, but refrained from speaking the words out loud. The NPC finally made his presence known, sneaking out from behind the tree. Instead of calling out Victor on his lies, he decided to go another way, in attempts to make the boy admit his own lie, or try pathetically to cover it up. "Well that's a relief now, isn't it?" The NPC said, pretentiously reaching out under his cloak to wipe sweat off his brow, symbolically. "I'm tired of fighting every player that passes by this area. It's annoying being a quest offering NPC." He said, barely being able to hid the smirk that played on his lips, luckily the cloak covered most of it. It was safe to assume the lad was here in order to obtain the Quest and the NPC simply decided not to offer it to an unarmed boy. "So what're you upto?" The Gemini asked in a jovial and friendly manner, while closing the distance between them. Just like how Victor would do it.

[Victor 0]

A wiry hooded man made his way out in the little clearing Victor inhabited. From the moment Victor laid eyes on him, he felt a prickly sensation in his back. Something was off about this guy, way off. Firstly, Victor wasn't sure if he was an NPC or a player. NPC's names were usually visible where as Player names were usually hidden, until they introduced themselves, which was true for the man in front of him. Victor smiled confidently, in order to conceal his nervousness and the man drew closer to him, mentioning how he was glad that Victor was unharmed. What he said next cleared everything up. Apparently he was the quest giving NPC and as soon as he offered that information to Victor a cursor appeared above the man's head. Victor distractedly continued his search for the materials and obviously didn't find any.

Spoiler

# 62024 LD: 12
No mat found.

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Victor

[Victor 0]

The NPC had then gone onto casually ask what Victor was up to. Victor chuckled in a friendly manner as well, "I can imagine, it would be." he responded to the first part of the NPCs statement, with carefully mustered empathy. "I'm out here looking for things that can help improve the gear a player has." He said and went back to looking for materials in order to sound genuine, he randomly upturned a rock and realized it had rough edge that could be used to sharpen items. He added it to his inventory. He let silence sit in the air, thickly and he figured out his next move. "Would you care to help?" He asked in a half-joking manner, with a wink, he was always trying to make NPCs do his bidding, some pliant ones actually did help... The boy didn't give any clarifications about whether or not he had a weapon, instead he tried to garner some information about the possible quest by engaging the NPC in a dialogue. "So you just fight players? How does it work?" Victor inquired curiously.

Spoiler

# 62025 LD: 15
+ 1 Mat
Total Mats: 1

 

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Victor

[Victor 0]

... The town is gonna talk ...

The boy was a cunning one. The man was shocked to see the aplomb with which Victor pulled of deceit. For the most part, the NPC remained in a state of observation, waiting for the slightest hint of actions that betrayed the man's intentions. They never truly came. The boy had retracted his hand from his pocket and went about collecting his material as casually as ever. He even had the gall to ask the NPC for help, as he usually did to any other NPCs he had interacted with in the past. The Gemini almost lost himself over this, it took a lot of 'keeping his eyes on the prize' to maintain his calm demeanor after having his ego hurt like that. "Er, no, I'm sorry, can't help you bud, not really programmed for that." he said with a scoff that he ensured sounded more like a chuckle, also emphasizing the appearence of being friendly. "A friendly dual is how you go about it." He said, keeping in details about the quest to minimum.
.~.~.~.
While the NPC deliberated upon how to answer Vic's question, he worked on upturning the big rock again. He attempted an extraction on the rock itself, but to no end.

Spoiler

# 62027 LD: 5

 

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Victor

[Victor 0]

Victor smiled at the NPC who was trying too hard to be friendly, in Luke's opinion. "Just a bunch of pixels then eh?" Victor teased playfully, he swore he'd heard a little contempt in the man's voice earlier and the boy was now pressing buttons to see how it went. Luke was attempting to tear through the thin veil of friendliness the man wore, without being the first to break out, or the roles the two were playing. Victor found the friendly duel concept vague and rather contradictory. That wasn't nearly enough for him to do anything about this quest NPC. He continued attempting to collect materials for his impending training. The boy let the quiet grow again, till it stretched into an uncomfortable, almost eerie silence. Finally he shattered the growing discomfort by casually throwing in his question. "What do you mean friendly duel? What does one have to do exactly?"

Spoiler

# 62029 LD: 13
No mat found.

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Victor

[Victor 0]

... But these people do not, see things through to the very minimal...
The NPC gritted his teeth at the callous statement the boy made. He tensed, but did not let it break appearances. Instead he focused on the task at hand. "Yeah. I guess." he said nonchalantly.  Once again, he had an opening again, he was still stuck on making Victor retract his statement about being unarmed. It was his opening, to call him out for what he really was. The NPC pulled his hood down lower, pretending like he was just readjusting it. He needed to keep his face as covered as possible. The Gemini wasn't really being able to control his excitement. He cleared his throat and tried to answer Victor's question in a leveled tone. "Mostly, you just, try and get to other to about half their HP and then that's that." As expected the man felt the player tense a little. This was probably going to work. Once again it was silent, The Gemini resisted the urge to blow his friendly cover by pushing Victor into taking action. The boy now crept behind him, the NPC remained unfazed.
.~.~.~.
While he waited for the NPC to explain himself, Victor left no rock over turned within the vicinity, to see if he could find another rough kind that would help sharpen weapons. He was lucky enough to find another.

Spoiler

# 62031 LD: 16
+ 1 Mat
Total Mats: 2

 

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Victor

[Victor 0]

When the NPC explained it was just about getting the other to half their HP, Luke's mind probably audibly buzzed. The boy knew that he had very low HP, because he was a low leveled player, but to whatever degree that he could, he used his gear to maximize damage. If he could hit first and manage to mitigate or evade one attack from the NPC, maybe he had a chance of bringing it to hald it's  HP first. He found himself circumventing the NPC, in order to make sure his face didn't betray his real intentions. He in an absent-minded fashion dug a small pit in the ground, wondering if maybe he found some special ore underneath, he didn't. Once he had carefully planned, he planted himself in a manner that the NPC could not see, just in case the NPC turned suddenly. When he didn't Victor drew the dagger out from it's sheath and pulled it out of his pocked in one swift motion. He went straight for the NPC's neck. Upon almost making contact, the sign 'immortal object' appeared around him. Vic was shocked and he jumped backwards.

Spoiler

# 62034 LD: 1

 

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Victor

[Victor 0]

...But what's it gonna cost to be gone...

"Aha!" The NPC gloated about his small victory. "I knew it Victor, you've been armed all along haven't you, you lying piece of filth." He added, the politeness and friendliness already history. "I forgot to mention one key point about duels... Both parties have to accept the duel invitation." He said grinning from ear to ear. "I knew you'd attempt such a cowardly trick Victor, in fact I know everything about you. How you lie and wheedle your way through everything, you cunning piece of crap." The NPC breathed in deeply, he was speaking so fast and so passionately, he could've died from lack of air, if he'd been alive in the first place. But for a bunch of binary codes, he seemed pretty real. "Have you ever been genuine? Do you even know who you are, or do you have so many layers of masks on that you've forgotten what your real face looks like?" The Gemini taunted. "Here." He said offering the quest. "I'll show you." He mumbled softly enough for Vic to miss it.

[Victor 0]

Victor was a little taken aback at the NPC changing that quickly. He had to give it to the man, very rarely was Luke shocked. While the man ranted on about how Victor assessed the situation and weighed his options. He scanned the place making sure there were no player characters around who might judge him, or over hear any of the bull that the NPC was spitting at him. Despite all of it being true. Luke just deadpanned. He stared into the NPC's face and looked him straight in they eye. "I was unarmed then, that didn't mean I wasn't carrying a weapon at all." Victor said smugly. "Besides, now that I know you can only fight me if I accept, what are you going to do if I don't?" he added, eyeing the quest offer window that had popped up in front of him. Just to annoy the NPC, he decided to pointedly search for more sharpening rocks. "You won't get your reward then." The man said simply. Luke continued weighing his options,  eventually, out of curiosity, Victor hit accept.

Spoiler

# 62035 LD: 1
No Mat found.

 

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Victor

[Victor 0]

...If we see you like I hoped we never would...
"Well done, Victor. Today you'll finally learn to be a man." The Gemini said as the boy chose to accept the quest. The moment the boy hit the accept button the NPC transformed into a large flat flowing white substance. Slowly the the glowing whiteness seemed to be consuming itself, growing smaller and smaller in size. Eventually it disappeared all together. For a brief span of time nothing happened. It was all silent, like the NPC had never been there to begin with. However, though not visible to Victor, the NPC was very much there, he was sort of invisible now, scattered as data packets. He was still processing Victor's moves as the pixels worked on realigning themselves in order to form Victor's clone.
.~.~.~.
While the NPC went through his metamorphosis Vic deepened the little pit he had dug to keep his search for ores going.

Spoiler

# 62037 LD: 10
No Mat found

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Victor

[Victor 0]

Once the shining white vanished. Victor embraced the happy silence that followed, especially after all the yelling. When the NPC did not return as soon as Vic had expected he crouched to continue his material search. There was a high chance he might have to escape from this quest if that happened to be the case, he wanted to run away with as many salvaged items as possible. At least that way this whole ordeal wouldn't be an entire waste. So far he'd only managed to collect to sharpening rocks, that wasn't nearly what he was satisfied with. At this rate he'd never be able to catch up with the frontliners and Luke was arrogant enough to believe the game would be cleared a lot slower, unless he didn't help guide that clearing force. The boy sighed, it'd be wonderful if that NPC appeared as an ant or something. The dark haired boy sighed.

Spoiler

# 62038 LD: 11
No mat found.

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Victor

[Victor 0]

So take it as a song or a lesson to learn... And sometime soon be better than you were
Finally the pixels came together, for each of them the journey had been painstakingly slow and precariously precise. So finally when they started appearing, the white flat figure resembled the outline of a boy. While all this happened, Victor went on scrambling around for materials, to no avail.
It didn't take long for them to start gaining color and texture. The flatness eventually went away.  The 3D shape assumed the height and build of the player across them. The making of this had been slow, but it was worth it, now these little data packets could create something exactly like the player who stood in front of them.

The whiteness shimmered and then an identical clone of Victor stood in front of Luke. "Well hello again." The NPC smiled, a smirk painted on it's face. "I didn't tell you this before did I?"  The NPC's arrogant smile widened, his lips parted to show perfectly aligned teeth... just like Luke's. "Ah silly me, I forgot. Well I'm sure it's not too late to tell you now." The Gemini said. "We're no longer friends, so we duel to death." He finished softly. "I'll be a little fair though. We'll both attack together, when you're ready. Though let's be honest, the real you, would have never been so generous." He mocked. 

Spoiler

# 62041 LD: 5
No mat found

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Victor

[Victor 0]

Luke had to work very hard to keep his jaw from falling to the floor. Things had certainly taken a turn for the unexpected. Since the first day on SAO, after the lock down, the boy hadn't seen his face in the mirror. What he saw now, was better than a mirror, the NPC reflected every little bit of him. From the light dip under his cheekbones to the strands of brown hair that fell into his eyes. Victor was positively stunned for a second. To break him out of that, the NPC spoke mocking him. He finished by adding that they dueled to death. Victor's eyes narrowed, he didn't like being cheated, mostly because usually it worked the other way around. He had to admit the game had created a pretty neat copy of him, complete with the calculative attitude. Except for the last bit, The Gemini was right in stating Victor would have never made such an offer unless it was a ruse. Before he completed his trail of thought the Gemini had dashed and twirled towards him, slashing a dagger, which looked exactly like the on Victor possessed, across the boy's chest. It left a sharp line in his armor.  It took away a quarter of Vic's health.

Spoiler

# 62042 results: Battle: 5 | Craft: 11 | Loot: 11 | MOB: 9

<<The Gemini>> Crit!
Dmg: 2+1 = 3 (Evasion does not work)
Victor HP: 3/4 (3 Dmg - 9 Mit = 1 Default dmg.

Victor: Does not attack!
The Gemini HP: 4/4
 

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Victor

[Victor 0]

If you say you're gonna go, then be careful... And watch how you treat every living soul...

The Gemini was satisfied with himself. "Isn't it nice to get a taste of your own medicine?" He whispered menacingly. He was sure that the boy would not be past sledging when in battle. So the NPC didn't hold back either. "What happened? You're not fast enough for me?" The guy added. Luckily the game blessed him with speed similar to that kind it had noticed in Victor's motions, in the few times that he had battled mobs. This time he made a quick jab towards Victor's throat. Alas, the brown haired boy was too fast and he dodged to the left, while swatting the palm of the NPC downwards to prevent another quick attack. "Got lucky there... I'm surprised you haven't made your move yet, you see the problem with too much calculation, Victor?" The mud-slinging continued relentlessly. 

Spoiler

# 62044 results: Battle: 8 | Craft: 1 | Loot: 10 | MOB: 7 (-3 Evasion) = 4.

<<The Gemini>> Miss!
Dmg: 0
Victor HP: 3/4

Victor: Does not attack!
The Gemini HP: 4/4

 

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Victor

[Victor 0]

The boy shouldn't have been surprised with this. The NPC made another stab at him, but Vic was alert enough to avoid it this time. He took a step back. Luke was mostly impervious to such taunts, he was potentially gambling with this life here. But now that he was in it, he had to give it his all. He went in with a large sweeping motion of the dagger, straight for the spot right under the NPC's ear. He knew the attack would leave him a little vulnerable, but he going at full speed, his chest would only be open to an assault for about a fraction of a second. Unfortunately as he neared the NPC, and looked into his own brown eyes, he hesitated, It felt odd attacking his own form.

The hesitation was just enough for the NPC to catch him in the chest once again, right before Victor completed his elaborate front slash attack, the boy had put all his might in it. When the two weapons finished dealing their damage. There was wide slash that had opened across the face of The Gemini... Across his face. His own chest has a deep line of red pixels as well. His HP had fallen to half, he cursed himself for not timing his attack better. Things were looking grim for the NPC though, the red slash widened till it consumed most of the upper half of the NPC, slowly making its way lower, as though the game was covering The Gemini in a red shroud. It felt odd to see his own body disintergrate like that... Very odd. Scary in fact. In a few more seconds in a burst of vibrant blue it was all over.

A notification announced that he had completed the quest and earned a hidden skill called <<Concentration.>> Distractedly he hit accept on the quest completion window. It was going to take a few days to get over his form disintegrating like that. It appeared to be a threat, or a kind of warning from the system, reminding him of his fragility... This was going to haunt the boy.
 

Spoiler

# 62045 results: Battle: 10 | Craft : 3 | Loot: 9 | MOB: 9

Victor: Double Crit!
Dmg: 5+2 Crit=7 Dmg!
The Gemini HP: 0/4 (4-7=-3) DEAD!

<<The Gemini>> Miss!
Dmg: 3 (2+1 crit)
Victor HP: 2/4 (3 dmg - 9 Mit = 1 Default dmg)

LD: 9 Skill acquired Concentration!

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Victor