[SP-F16] Kannazuki.

[Jazper 0]

The boat threatened to teeter slightly in the still waters. The crystalline ocean was an odd contrast to the ominous islands that lingered in it. The thick forests that covered each island of the floor were almost a direct opposite of the cerulean blues that painted the water; they were muddled, moaning, and begging for comprehension all the while being much too confusing. These blues that her and the sailor NPC were drifting across were clear and concise. They knew their purpose and aren't easily swayed. It had been a bit since Aryeh's death, but Jazper was certainly not keeping track of the days. She sketched the small island she was heading to in the distance into her small, black journal. Beside it she had made notes of the native NPC's language and what she had interpreted them to be. It was certainly not easy to understand with her language modifier switched off, but it was something she was willing to attempt to grasp. She had already pinpointed certain phrases, such as their formal greeting and farewell, as well as what she assumed was "Thank you," and "Island," but she obviously had a while to go before she could simply speak with them. However, her mission on the sixteenth floor was not only to defeat the language barrier, but to graph out the land and see if she could find interesting materials to study. All materials would be useful in the long run, of course, but she wants to catalog every single one available to her if possible. Jazper believes, just based on typical game algorithms, that there could be some type of rare material on one of the smaller islands.

The one the NPC was guiding her to looked rocky along the coast, but then quickly turned in to a dense forest, much like its sister islands. The prospect of stronger monsters tearing her a new one didn't necessarily bother the blonde-haired women, but she knew she was going to have to be an extra ounce of tentative not to wander too deep in to dangerous zones. Jazper's face mimicked the water; still, calm, and not wavered by the foreign feelings tearing through it.

Edited June 30, 2016 by Jazper

[Jazper 0]

She dipped a finger in to the waters slowly slipping past the dark oak of the boat. The water was oddly warm. Jazper sunk her entire hand in to the ocean's warmth and closed her eyes. About sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit if Jazper was estimating correctly. She pulled her hand from the water and opened her eyes, revealing that her once-distant destination was actually much closer than she had originally thought. She quickly scribbled a "68°" in the waters of her drawing as they neared the rocky coast. Another five minutes of calm and the two were within walking distance of the beach. The moans and cries of beasts echoed off the forest barriers and riddled the coast with an ominous air. There was an odd smell, slightly reminiscent of blood, that tainted the waters suddenly. Jazper was not bothered, but still fascinated at how acutely the game makers mastered reality in this world. Smell is a sensitive and specific sense to duplicate; she was impressed. The boat rocked to a stop and the NP turned to face her. He stepped out and held his hand open for her. She stood, adjusting her dress and taking his hand. He helped her down from the boat and then smiled faintly. He formed their welcoming gesture with his buff arms, and Jazper bowed. "Juu won hakabuki!" He nodded with a faint smile. The sailor then stepped back inside his boat, and laid down. Perhaps he was telling her that he would wait on her return.

[Jazper 0]

Jazper turned from the ocean and towards the coast. Her two, long braids blew wildly in the sea breeze. Her dress blew too, whipping around violently along with her locks, covering her face and making her appear to be more like some odd apparition than a player at all. She glanced around for a moment and then began taking small steps up the coast. She gripped her journal tightly; if she lost it, most of her hard work would be lost too. She was smart enough to keep copies and screenshots of her work in her inventory, but there was only so much storage space available for her. Besides, being intelligent does not mitigate the displeasure with having to redo entire bodies of work. Jazper made her way towards the treeline, deciding to glance inside just a bit before walking the rest of the beach.

As she neared, the cries of the wild beasts inside grew louder. She could hear the booming, primal roaring of what sounded like a gorilla. The thumping of its fists against its chest could be heard, even from where she stood a few yards off. Jazper realized then that the sounds must be part of the game sound system, as that chest-banging noise is perfectly impossible to hear from more than ten yards away, and there were clearly no gorilla beasts on the treeline. She pulled up her arm to take a few notes, and then began heading back down to the water.

[Jazper 0]

She recognized the bright lights of spawning monsters flashing about a half mile down the coast. It seemed they don't appear within a small radius of the sailor NPC's. At least, it seemed that way. Jazper eyed a «Killer Kroc» that was just meandering around a couple hundred yards away. It didn't seem at all interested in jumping her, so it must have either an incredibly small aggro space, or the NPC must emit some type of save zone radius. Either way, Jazper felt safe staying in the small area she was in for the time being. Eventually, she would have to venture deeper in to the island, but for now she would play it safe. She wasn't particularly concerned about being attacked, but it didn't make sense to just up and throw her life away. She hadn't accomplished nearly enough. Jazper dipped down to examine a small shell dug slightly deeper into the sand than the larger ones littered around it. Jazper crouched down and pulled the shell from the sand. It shined a brilliant orange in the light of the synthetic sun, but then quickly turned in to an ugly shade of brown, and then instantaneously burst in to several tiny polygons. It seemed that was some type of gathering material. Jazper realizes, perhaps, that there was a certain method to gathering. That would be an odd mechanic. 

Spoiler

« ID# 62625 » LD: 9 [FAIL]

 

Edited June 30, 2016 by Jazper

[Jazper 0]

She stood from her kneeling position and took a few steps over to a different patch of seashells. She knelt again. She wondered for a moment if the gathering rate was determined by a luck system, or if there was actual skill involved in the action. Jazper assumed it was a bit of both, but it could lean either way; or neither way. This game had proven so far to be-- for lack of a better term-- random. Jazper often ponders on the idea of randomness and whether or not anything truly is random. All energy is already existing in the universe. Nobody can actually create or stop using energy, as it is already there and constant. Is anything random if every bit of energy is already in place to allow it to occur? Jazper reached out and slid her fingertips across a spiky, red shell. It started wiggling in the sand, and then a little blue crustacean-like creature popped out from under it. It looked at the player and jumped, starting to scramble away. Jazper's face remained stoic as ever as she reached down and plucked the shell off its back. It continued to scramble away, muttering and whining under its breath and eventually disappearing in to the sand a few feet from her.

The shell was actually rather gorgeous. She twisted it in her hand for a moment, observing its odd structure. It could possibly be a high grade material for crafting stun potions or something of the like. Just as she was gaining real interest in it, it shattered suddenly in her hands. She stared at her empty palm, now, straight-faced. She stood up and moved on.

Spoiler

« ID# 62729 » LD: 7 [FAIL]

 

Edited July 1, 2016 by Jazper

[Jazper 0]

She glanced over at the forest as she continued walking. The sounds of the beasts within were still coming through loud and clear. She couldn't see any kind of identifiable path through this forest, either, much like the one on the main island on this floor. She turned to face in front of her just in time to stop before she ran in to a sharp rock protruding from the water near the coast. She ducked underneath it and realized that there were beautifully colored shells clinging to the underside of the brown rock. She furrowed her eyebrows, watching them curiously. They appeared to be... moving? Jazper reached up and wrapped her fingers gently around one of the moving shells. She started to pull it, but a small sign appeared that read  «Immortal Object» in front of the stone. Jazper peered closer and realized that the moving shells were actually just bumps of wet algae clinging to it. They were arranged in such odd patterns that they looked like little slugs moving along the rock. She shrugged and stood up.

Spoiler

« ID# 62733 » LD: 2 [FAIL]

 

Edited July 1, 2016 by Jazper

[Jazper 0]

She walked over to the forest again, where the growling and moaning intensified. She shrugged. It wouldn't hurt to do a little exploring within the forest. Or, actually, it could hurt; it could do a lot of hurt... but like she had speculated before, it wasn't necessarily a great concern of hers. She understood the SAO parameters pretty well, even for someone of her lower level. She could easily avoid aggro from monsters if she so pleased. She stepped inside the forest, feeling a slight change in the air, signalling that she had moved through a barrier. «Western Forest of Haunting Echoes» appeared in her line of vision for a moment, before fading away. It would seem all the forests on these islands are labeled as "Haunting Echoes." When the sign had fully disappeared, she realized immediately that there was a «Gruesome Gorilla» only 15 meters away. Jazper could see its hot breath steaming from its nostrils every few moments. She almost jumped, surprised by the mob spawning so close to a barrier. She slowly shifted behind one of the large, tropical trees, and then slipped in to a large bush. As she crouched there, watching from her safe distance to see the monster's movement pattern, she caught notice of a few small berries clumped together on a branch. She reached out towards them.

Spoiler

« ID# 62928 » LD: 2 [FAIL]

 

Edited July 2, 2016 by Jazper

[Jazper 0]

The berries had shattered as she attempted grab them, but she wasn't concerned with them for the moment. She watched as the buff Gorilla monster started climbing up a nearby tree and jumping to an even further one. Jazper took the moment to glance around for any other beasts, and then quickly scurried along the ground through the bushes. She crawled swiftly on all fours further in to the forest, not stopping until she was sure she had put enough distance between her and the mob. She finally stood and brushed off her dress, adjusting her hat as well. She began walking towards a small clearing she could see up ahead. She moved towards it hastily, having not detected any new monsters in sight.

Spoiler

« ID# 62932 » LD: 3 [FAIL]

 

Edited July 2, 2016 by Jazper

[Jazper 0]

When she stepped in to the small space surrounded by trees, Jazper inhaled sharply. It was breath taking. She would have never imagined something so gorgeous being places in the middle of these ominous forests. The entire area was littered with large, beautiful tropical flowers that boasted almost neon colors. Jazper was instantly curious as to if they would glow at night. The entire area smelt of perfume, any kind one could imagine, all blended perfectly together. Jazper wondered for a moment if what she was seeing was simply a trap or hallucination of the forest to get her to walk stupidly in to her death. However, she was already seven feet in to the clearing and nothing had been triggered to attack her. Besides, there was no treasure chest or lame banana motif around that could fall in theme with the gorillas attacking her anyways. She figured she was safe, but if she did fall in to trouble, she could simply flee. There was plenty of forest to escape to. She almost skipped over to the nearest flower. It was a fluorescent pink, which usually nauseated Jazper, but this display of the loud color was so gorgeous, she was beside her usual self. 

Again, she wondered for a moment if this were a trap. She did feel an odd burst of positivity when she laid eyes on the grove... and now she was even perceiving things out of character. She pulled her hands away from the flower suddenly and took a small step back.

Spoiler

« ID# 62959 » LD: 10 [FAIL]

 

Edited July 3, 2016 by Jazper