[PP-F15] Black and blue<<witch of the west and the three treasuers>>

[Zandra 0]

Zandra streatched her arms high in the air and yawned while she left the bed in her and Jomeis beachhouse on floor sixteen. She scratched her head while entering the shower. She had absolutely no plans for today. So what should she do. The shower was the best place to think. At least for Zandra. She unequipped her clothes and turned on the warm water. It didnt take many minutes before the small room got filled with fog and a smile of pleassure appeared on her lips. So, what to do today? Actually, she should head out to gather materials. Her current stock wouldnt last very long. Probably less then two weeks. But grind materials was so boring. Specially for her with her whip weapon. No, not material farming. She could head out on Col farming to help Anise max out her merchant skill. No, she wasnt in the mood to do any grinding today. To just relax and enjoy the day with Jomei would have been nice, but he had something to do with Lowenthal.

She exits the bathroom and after drying herself equiping her clothes again. Then she walks out and sits down on the sand a few meters from their hoouse, staring at the horizon. She lets out a sigh.

Edited January 18, 2017 by Zandra

[Calrex 0]

Calrex gave a small yawn as he emerged onto the beach of the sixteenth floor, his hands in his jacket pockets as he looked around. It hadn't been many days before that he happened upon Jomei on the beach, enjoying his time in the beach house he had for him and Zandra. After doing some friendly dueling the bluenette and he parted ways, returning back to training. However, he had hoped to maybe give fishing another shot. Ever since he had taken the profession, he had neglected to actually do a consistent amount of crafts.

Swiping on his menu he materialized his fishing pole, stepping out towards the shore. Bringing the pole back he readied himself to send the line out, but as he did he immediately seemed to lose interest as he gave a small sigh, "There's no real point in fishing right now. All of the other professions have a whole slew of useful products, with what I can only guess is a much higher success rate than fisherman. I'm sure Kalesh can attest, heh."

Sending his fishing equipment back to his inventory, putting his hands behind his head, "Hm...I wonder if Jomei's at his house again. Might as well stop by..."

Beginning to make his way over, arms bent and winged out, the bluenette continued walking along the sand. Eventually, as he got into sight of the giner-haired rapier user's place he saw now Jomei, but Zandra. With a friendly smile he gave a casual wave as he made his way the rest of the distance over. "Hey Zandra, long time no see."

[Zandra 0]

Zandra watched as the waves went up and down, up and down, up and down. It was almost hypnotizing. She didnt knew for how long she had sitten there, staring at nothing, when she herd a voice. A voice that woke her from her trance. She shoke her head and looked at the player that was coming towards her. A grew on her lips when she saw it was the ultramarine knight, Calrex."Heya Cal. Yeah it realy was." She greeted back and gave him a friendly hug when they met. She took a step back and looked at the blienette."So, how are you doing nowadays?"

[Calrex 0]

As he completed his trek over Calrex gave a casual smile, returning the greeting embrace from Zandra before returning his hands to his pockets, "Nothing much, just doing the exact same thing I'm usually doing, training or exploring the floors. Although I did see Jomei recently when I first visited this floor. Didn't know until then you guys got a place, congrats."

"No training today? Do you think you're strong enough? I wonder if you're starting to rely on my power more..."

Turning his head to face the ocean the bluenette's eyebrows furrowed for a second as he pushed back Achille's voice in the back of his mind once again. Ever since he had strengthened the unique skill to Rank 2, the voice was certainly more present than before in his mind. However, it still wasn't strong enough to asset influence over him.

"Let's just hope I can still hold out against it..."

Relaxing his stance his weight shifted over to his right leg as he gave a calming exhale, "In any case, how's things been with you? The shop still busy?"

[Zandra 0]

"Guess its a hard work to have the highest leveled player title. Specially with Takao." She said, smiled and winked."Oh yes, Jomei mentioned something about meeting you. Thou he got interrupted by an explosion from the boiling potion in the pot that I was experimenting and everything turned chaotic." She said and giggled when remembering the moment when the potion turned the whole store into a smoke shamber.

Zandras face turned serious when Calrex turned towards the ocean abruptley."Hey Cal. Are you okay?" She said and looked at him."Im fine, the shop does mainly work for mine personal uses at the moment. Dont know where the other frontliners buys theirs potions since Im cheepest at the market with only two materials for the perfect potions. You sure you okay?"

[Calrex 0]

"Huh? Yeah I'm alright. Let's just say I'm still getting the hang of filling Tristan's shoes as the main tank for the floor raids. I've been used to taking on the aggro while fighting, so starting off on the defensive can take a little bit of getting used to."

With a friendly smirk at Zandra's story the bluenette couldn't help but give a laugh, "An explosion? Geeze I only dread what it was you were cooking up that would require that much volatile substances, heh. In any case, I might be needing some more Safeguards at some point. They seem to be a main priority item to have in pretty much any encounter. Meanwhile I'm here going into the past three floor raids without a single healing item in my at ready slots."

Putting his hands into his pockets Calrex looked back over at the black-haired woman, "Good to hear the shop's still doing well. Have you been able to keep pace with all of the new quests that have come out?"

[Zandra 0]

''Oh yeah right. You was the one that got that unique skill from Tristan. Was it achilles it was named?'' she asked the knight and scratched herself beind her ear and pushed her eyebrows togetehr, trying to remember the name of the tanking skill.

''I was trying to brew a love potion. Ive herd a rumor from miss... ehm... from a player about a recipie that would work. As the best alchemist in Aincrad, she contacted me to see if it was true since I have the best chance to succed.'' she said and streatched her back and raised her chin. She thougth she was allowed to brag, when you think about all the work she had putted down into her proffession. Just as the man in front of her could brag about his level.

''Hehe. Ive used a safeguard in one battle. Dont think its realy worth it. Few attacks damage me more then one after Ive used the mitigation pot anyway.'' she sasid with a smile and giggled.''About healing, Ive had five mass heals, but didnt used anyone of them during the boss fights Ive participated in.''she paused for a few moments.''Now when I think about it, that have started to be quite alot actually.''

''Not all quest, still have the calming the soul and havent started on arabian left. What about you? Guess you have done them as soon as they was released?''

[Calrex 0]

"Yeah, in still surprised that Tristan decided to give it up. I thought that he was set to hold on to it all the way through, but I guess with all that happened he decided to retire from the frontlines. Since I was the second strongest in terms of tanking tactics, I can assume it only made sense to pass it over to me."

Putting his hands into his jacket pockets the bluenette gave a nod, although he felt a bead of sweat form on the side of his head at the mention of Zandra testing out concocting a love potion, "I can only guess one or two other alchemists that have dabbled with toying with human emotions. It's a dangerous thing to be testing Zandra, so I can only advise that you don't go too crazy with it."

"Honestly that's probably the most confusing, and to some level, underhanded design that Kayaba decided to implement into this game. Being able to toy with people's emotions through the use of potions, it's probably the most unethical thing in this game next to PKing actually killing players. Just what kind of world was he making when he thought of creating Sword Art Online?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It's still something I'd rather have and never use, then need to use it and have none, heh. I can only guess that the floor battles are going to be simple for only so long. Eventually the difficulty will catch up to our lead in level and strength, so we'd all best be prepared. As for the quests, well, I've done a bit of catching up on the quests, but I'm still getting back into the groove of training, so I'm still moving slow in terms of level progression."

[Zandra 0]

"Tristan seems like a nice guy the few times I met him. So I dont think he want to keep the Achilles all to himself when retiring since it would make alot more use if he handed it over to anyone still figthing to reach the hundred floor." She answered with a smile.

When the alchemist herd the fishermans comment, her eyebrows went up."Wait what? There is other alchemists trying to make love potions as well?! Yeah its very dangerous. There is a reason I waited until reaching master rank before trying those kinds of potions. And soon I'll hit grandmaster. Tomorrow or day after tomorrow." She said with a smile from ear to ear."Anyway, who are these other alchemists you mentioned?"

[Calrex 0]

"I guess that's true. In any case I'm doing my best to make up for his absence. I'm not a dedicated defender like Tristan was, but I can certainly take a beating, heh."

As Zandra inquired about the alchemists that Calrex had mentioned were also dabbling in love potions he gave a nod, "Well, it wasn't specifically love potions, but potions that are capable of manipulating people's emotions. There was one prominent alchemist that seemed to start the entire trend by the name of Mari. I'm not sure if you're familiar with her, but she runs the Alchemic Contagion shop on the tenth floor, although I don't know if she's been active as of late. The second is actually a woman by the name of Opal, or at least from what I've heard from word of mouth, she's dabbled in them as well. I know from being in Mari's shop in the past she's made a whole slew of different emotion changing potions, but at the least she also had a cure for them for sale as well. I can't be sure Opal's done the same."

With a small sigh the bluenette recalled two events so far where the potions came into play. One was actually done to him, when Teayre managed to sneak an Obsessive Allure potion on him. Well, she didn't directly do it, as the Ultramarine Knight had accidentally caught the concoction in his mouth. It had seemed to send the original attraction he had for her into overdrive, something he at times felt left a lingering influence on him.

The second time was from when he was speaking with Oikawa. From what the blonde had told him, Opal had given him a potion that enhanced his damage and was supposedly going to help calm his nerves. In fact, the opposite occurred, as it only amplified his rage, resulting in him striking out at Zelrius.

"Well if you're going to dabble in it I can only express caution. Manipulating people's emotions is a dangerous game to partake in, and the repercussions can have long lasting effects long after it wears off. So if anything be sure to also make a 'cure for the curse' alright?"

On his last sentence the bluenette's tone was a little bit lighter and casual, back to his normal self. He knew it was dangerous, but at the same time he wasn't at authority to forbid Zandra from testing crafting the potions. The most he could do, as before, was give his own piece of advice.

[Zandra 0]

"Hmm..." Zandra said looking up and scratching her cheek."Mari..." she said while trying to remember. Then she stopped and looked at Calrex again."Oh right, Mari. I herd about her when I listened to the story about the floor boss to reach floor... eleven I think. That was when I joined SAO. You remember, before the introduction of tiers and sword arts. I can remember when someone was doing ten damage, I thought like wow, that much." She started scratching the back of her head before continuing."Hehe, actually I was kind of afraid of her at the beginning, and a long time after too. Havent met her in person thou." She turned her head and looked at the horizon without seeing. Then she said more to herself then the man beside her." When I herd about her alchemist level, I thought Id never reach up to that level. And now..." she turned quiet.

After ten seconds or so she remembered Calrex again. She shoke her head and turned back to him."Sorry, spaced out a bit." The gust of wind came from the ocean and black hair covered her face. She brushed it back with the hand before continuing."Opal, that woman I do know. Awhile ago, actually a long while ago." Then her voice got sad."Before she turned red." She kicked a stone with her bare foot but due to the game she didnt felt any pain."She and I... we... well, lets say we got a special kind of relatioship after spending an evning and night alone down at four. I couldnt belive it when I first herd she had turned red. I had to see it with my own eyes. And when I did..." she let out a sigh and blinked a few times.

[Calrex 0]

"To be honest, I was at the time afraid of Mari as well. When I was first starting out my initial encounter with her was actually business related. I had taken up being a material gatherer unofficially, since I didn't really find an affinity with any of the professions. Since she was one of the busier shops, one of my first donations was there. I think from that point on it was always business whenever I saw her, and I'm pretty sure if I was to see her again it wouldn't have changed."

Thinking back to when he was still significantly lower level he gave a small sigh, "While I was afraid, I was more concerned for her well-being than anything. When I found how many people she had killed, that only grew. I guess in some ways that drove me to become stronger, just in case she decided to snap. As for Opal..."

Moving some of his bangs out of his face he gave a nod, "I think her change really shocked everyone. No one really saw it coming. I encountered her a few times in the past, and never really suspected that she had something like that up her sleeve. I wish I could have done something about it, but unfortunately the damage was done. Now with her and Laughing Coffin in the shadows, I doubt that many of the lower levels will feel comfortable sleeping at night."

Looking over to face the black-haired woman he gave a nod, "What's your thoughts on the current situation? With everything that's going on, it seems like Takao and the Knight of the Blood Oath are continuing with the floor clearing. Honestly, I would prefer to take a break and address those issues with the full strength of the frontliners at the ready, but I doubt that will become a reality."

[Zandra 0]

Zandra walked up the few meters to her house and sat down on the stair."Come. It feels so formal when standing dont you think?" She said with a friendly smile on her lips. She placed her elbows on her knees and heöd her hands together. Her eyes was looking at the horison again. It was something with ever changing water she could stare at for hours. This time she didnt forgot Calrex, but she was thinking quetly. What was her thougths on the cjrrent situation."Hmm... to be honest, havent realy thinked about that. I have just followed the flow. Joining up on the boss and event fights. Also Ive spent alot of time in my lab lately." She paused."When I think about it, probably your right. This realy is something we should take care of. But since we pushing forward all the time, I guess everyone consentrate on becoming stronger and getting money and such. Then the time your not training, youre to tired and dont want to think about anything like that. Just enjoying a day or a couple of days together with your friends or spou... boyfriend. If you know what I mean?" She looked at him. Her smile was gone. Well, this wasnt a time for smiling anyway so.

[Calrex 0]

Calrex gave a nod as he followed the black-haired player over, leaning against the nearby railing as he looked up at the sky for a few moments, "Yeah, you're probably right. Besides I'm sure we could all use some time to sit down and relax, heh."

Putting his hands into his jacket pockets he brought them so that his hands were to the sides of his waist, listening attentively to what Zandra's take on the matter was. He could agree that it was likely not that people chose to pause and take a break, but that it appeared to be the only thing they know. Battling was essentially at the heart of SAO, and with the amount of things that require combat in order to gain success, it was most likely muscle memory at this point. It felt more natural to draw a sword in response to conflict and prepare one's mind for a battle of words. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Even if we were to try and focus people's efforts on the pressing matters, everyone is still in the end trying to survive and escape this game, and putting themselves at risk would only get in the way of that. Looking out for number one right?"

With a small sigh he brought his head forward, "Still, even professional athletes don't train every single day. They need to take days, weeks even, to recover from what rigorous exercise regimens they put themselves through. I guess some may have forgotten about the fact that even though our avatars don't require sleep, food, or any of the regular requirements of maintaining our bodies, our minds are still hardwired for those purposes. I still remember a time when I stayed up for days on end, where I felt like every single part of me wanted to shut down and rest at every second. It's not logical for the game, but I guess some things about this game still are bridged to the real world."

[Zandra 0]

I looked at the man that Ive gotten to know more and more. The man that Ive growed closer to as well as built a relatio ship to. We have been on several quests together. At the start ot was because I was to low leveled to complete the quests in question on my own. Then Calrex have always been there to back me up. But over the time, as the months passed by, my strength grew as well as my level. And by now, I could solo every single quest. Alot of the bosses was even one shot kills. Thou didnt really knew if this was a good or a bad thing. To easy could make you relax and then when it isnt easy anymore, youre not prepared and the event can have a terrible outcome.

"Ive been thru that as well. Kept pushing, slaying mob after mob even since what I most of all was to just lay down and sleep. Thou that would have surely resulted in a death. So the only choice was to keep pushing forward. I also did experiment with potions before I headed out on a particular long grind. As soon as I felt the tireness taking control of me, I took one forth and it disapeared. Thou I went back to that state faster and faster after each use. So when the last potion flowed down my throath I started the journey back home. I was so tired I just went for the first Inn I spotted. There I stumbled in, rent a room. As soon as I laid on the bed and closed my eyes I fell asleep. Then I laid in that bed for two days straigth. It was the most lovely sleep Ive ever had." I sat quietly and watched the waves, thinking about that long farming. Then I looked over my shoulder at Calrex. "Have you been thru that? So tired youve been resting for days?"

[Calrex 0]

"Heh, well can't really say that I rested for days, but there was a time where I just gave up on sleep altogether for a while. After Teayre became a player-killer, she ended up moving the Amethyst Boutique to the thirteenth floor, and you're already well aware of how...ahem...welcoming that floor is. With the roaming mobs on that floor, I was afraid they would eventually attempt to break in and attack the shop. So for a few weeks I actually didn't sleep, and it kind of reflected in my daily interactions. In order to keep people from worrying about me, I continuously donned my full-body armor to hide my weary face, but that couldn't hide my performance deterioration. More than once I failed to put all my power behind my strikes, and as a result ended up having to expend more energy to deal competent damage. It was a rather bad downward spiral that put myself at unneeded risk. Can't really say I compensated for that by binging on continuous sleep for a while though, heh. I just ended up returning back to my normal sleep schedule."

Giving a stretch the bluenette relaxed his arms to his sides, recalling those days of seemingly endless, battle-filled nights. In the end he didn't even have much to show for it, as the long battles he underwent weren't even particularly challenging for someone of his skill level at that time. It was just fight after fight always at a disadvantage, completely unlike his usual calculated tactics, aiming to stack as many odds in his favor as he could.

[Zandra 0]

I let out a sigh as I herd Calrex story about how he ahd defended Teayres artisan shop as it moved out from the safe zone. To make sure his loved one wouldn’t be in danger. I could imagine just how he felt. Probably I would have done that too if I was in his clothes, or armour. ‘’Well, I searched a long time thru the floor sixteen before deciding where to place mine and Jomei’s beach house. I did found a spot with relatively few mobs that took long time to respawn. So threat about an attack was close to none. When coming to player killers, both me and him was pretty high level so was confident none would sneak up and attack us. Maybe it is thinking to good about other players, but that is how we feel at the moment.’’ My voice turned silent as the two frontliners was infront of the beach house in silence, only having the splashes of the waves and the winds in the trees to break the silence.

‘’Well Cal, I know both of us are pretty strong. But what do you say about going on a little quest. Just to gain some experience as we talk. We can take an easy one.’’ A short pause before continue. ‘’Well, most of the quests is easy for us nowadays.’’ I finished with a neutral look on my face

@Calrex

[Calrex 0]

"Heh, well it certainly seems like you picked a good place for it. I don't think I've seen any monsters any of the times I happened upon your guys' place."

The bluenette gave a calm smile and nod as he glanced back out at the waves for a second, giving a small inhale which took in the replicated scent of the ocean air. It was a strange idea to think of still, that the senses were being triggered by the exact sensations of the real object. Of course, for all he know it was a placebo effect by his own mind to try and make sense of the virtual world around it.

"Sure, doing a quest sounds like a good thing to pass the time. Course you are right, mot of the quests, including the new one, seem a bit easy for players at our current level. Was there one that you had in mind?"

Putting his hands into his pockets he shrugged his shoulders back, stretching the front of his body to help loosen himself for the potential combat they would be entering.

@Zandra

[Zandra 0]

The blue-haired man beside me agreed to go on a quest, a good way to pass the time. As he talked, I had held eye contact, but now my head turned and gazed across the ocean with its splashing waves. The suggestion about going on a quest had just flew out thru my mouth. I didn’t had a second thougth about which one to go for. I scratched the forehead while trying to think of one to do. Then it striked me, there was one that I still had to do. It actually was a pre-quest I needed to complete. Well, don’t needed, but it made the third and final part much easier. I turned back to the knight. ‘’There is one, on the floor right below us. I don’t know if you have herd of it. Something like three treasures and a witch. There is two pre-quest and then a third and final one. I had done one of the rpe-quests, but still have the second and final quest left. You wanna tag along on the second pre-quest? Or maybe have already made one or more of them?’'

 @Calrex

[Calrex 0]

"Hm...I think I know the quest line you're referring to. It's some about an NPC called the Wicked Witch of the West or something right? I actually haven't done any of the quests so far, so long as the first part isn't required I'm up for tagging along."

Stretching his arms back to help open up his chest, making his breathing easier, Calrex took in a deep breath as he inhaled the simulated ocean air. It was still strange at times to think that every sensation he had experienced within the game was a replication, mere ones and zeroes, yet somehow they were almost to the letter in their effect.

Returning his hands back to his pants pockets the bluenette relaxed his shoulders, gazing out at the deep blue waters and letting his mind slowly wander, going to stages of recalling past events, drawing the "important" information he needed to retain in his conscious memory, and attempting to understand the supposed random actions of those around him.

Looking over at the black-haired woman he gave a nod, "In any case, if you're up for it, then whenever you're ready then I am set to depart."