[PP-F1] <<Feeding the Enemy>>

[Sey 0]

This was another quest that seemed to provide him with a lot more than the other ones. This one was by his side, and would be treated like a pet. It explained the instructions on how to tame it... But came with a huge amount of risk in the process as well, which was something he would not like to do on his own. As it is, he struggled with the mobs that exist on the planes currently. Even if it is the first floor, it is still a risk that he could not take. Still however, he accepted the quest, and would do what he normally did. Waiting by the edge of the safe zone, he would make sure to stay on the safe side so nothing unfortunate can happen to him by surprise, but he can see who was going in and out. If one of them were to be a player, he'd try to spark up a conversation and possibly have them help him out. He full well needed it, and the players that he met so far seemed extremely helpful, what with how they helped him out in the past. So he would continue to roll the dice.

[Calrex 0]

With a flash of light Calrex appeared on the first floor. Opening his eyes he took in the sight of the Starting City's teleportation plaza. Even after spending so much time on the upper floors, the familiarity of the first had yet to be topped. Most of the good memories he had were made here. It was where he first met many of his friends and acquaintances that carried on with him to this day. It was also where he, Teayre, and Oikawa first founded the unofficial workings of the Spectrum Coalition, which had now come to fruition as an official guild.

Giving a stretch the bluenette made his way up the staircase back into the winding streets, beginning to make his way to the merchant district, but as he did he passed by the exit out into the field zones surrounding the city. At this point the boars that populated the grassy fields just outside of the city gates were nothing more than single strike distracts for him, mostly because his weapon skills had been grandmastered, and his current level gave him access to the currently highest tier in the game. At the same time, that meant any time a starting player needed assistance, he could easily lend his aid. Being a tank-like frontliner meant his Hate-building skills allowed him to keep them out of harm's way while they practiced their blossoming abilities. 

"Course it would be a bit easier of they just put up a public request for it rather than going around asking. I wonder how many players have fallen to boars out of a lack of knowing that. Maybe we could have saved more lives as a result. I'll need to consult the info brokers if they did put that information out."

[Sey 0]

A blue-haired player would arrive near the exit of the borders... And this was one player that definitely did not look like any of the NPCs. He'd seen players of levels way higher than his own, and none looked like the one in front of him right here. This one seemed... Superior, if that is the word that may be used. Clearly outclassing many of the beings in the game... Was this a frontliner? If that person was not fighting for the front of the floors right now, Sey might as well quit, because there would be no hope in trying to claw his way up if someone with equipment such as that was not allowed to be part of the cool kids club. However, despite all of the equipment that was placed on him, no matter how much of a chance that the man in front of him had to just slice him open like some fruit... The snowy-haired player decided to approach the man regardless. Why? He needed some feed. The gypsy woman did not quite give him the data he needed on what food was needed. Maybe this man knew about it.

"Yo! Hold up for a bit!" Sey would call out towards the man, attempting to pace his way over to his side before then placing his hands in his pockets, speaking casually as if this were just another player. At the end of the day, the strength was all an illusion, and there was a human being under all of that tight looking equipment. "Sorry to bother you, but I need to ask you of something. I'm trying to take a little quest, something about feeding the enemy. But I'm lacking any wolf food do that."  The monsters on this floor were wolves after all. Boars were the main enemies, but he'd rather not have the resemblance of a pig. So a boar was the next alternative. "Know where I can get it? Or if not, how to beat the quest?"

[Calrex 0]

"Hm?"

Hearing an exclamation being directed in his direction Calrex stopped as he turned around to see the player he had noticed before in front of him, beginning to ask for any tips on the <<Feeding the Enemy>> quest. Just hearing the name of it reminded him of how much time he needed to spend in order to gain Roc as his partner. Even thought it wasn't particularly dangerous, it was one of the quests that appeared to take up the most time.

"Wolf food huh? You might have some luck i you were to seek out maybe a butcher and get some meat scraps to offer to them. The Feeding the Enemy quest is kind of odd in that fashion, heh. Can't really say there's a way to clear the quest particularly quickly. To some level it's having good luck. If you need a hand though, I can lend some assistance in at least keeping you safe while out in the field zones. Trying to find a proper creature to try and tame does tend to keep you out there for a while."

[Sey 0]

"A butcher for meat, eh? All right, sounds interesting enough to me. I think I can do that." Sey would answer in turn with a half smile now. Despite the equipment that he did have, he did not seem like an egotistical character. In fact, the snow-haired player was beginning to feel a small sense of comfort despite how much power the other player seemed to have. "That sounds great! I'll add you to a party then. Hopefully this won't take too long, I'd rather not be wasting your time." He'd explain as he would tap the other player to obtain a small HUD screen of options. On one of them, he would then tap the words "Add to Party", sending an HUD screen to the other player as it should invite them to hook up for the time being. "I don't think there are too many butchers around here, know one that seems familiar to you around this floor?" He'd ask, tilting his head to the side as he himself was still ignorant to the first floor, despite being the level he was currently.

[Calrex 0]

"Hm...well first things first it'll likely be an NPC-run shop, as none of the professions players usually take up would warrant them needing to make meat, heh. That would usually be something used for cooks to make completed meals and the like."

Seeing the player's request come in Calrex pressed the accept button, looking to the corner of his view to see the person's avatar name, "Sey huh? Nice to meet you. Trust me it's no waste of time at all. This particular quest can be grueling even for the highest level players, because there's very little way for you to stack the odds of finding a good companion in your favor. So it's really equal chance of luck and skill. In fact my familiar circling up above there took at least an entire day to obtain, and that included having to combat some of his companions."

Pointing upwards he directed the snow-haired young man's attention to Roc, his blue peregrine falcon that was circling overhead, almost like he was in an overwatch position over the Ultramarine Knight.

[Sey 0]

"All right, so maybe not so scarce then. Let's see what is up." He would explain, placing his left palm over his mouth while looking down, thinking about what he would have to say or do to get the meat. Or perhaps pay col, which honestly was not in his best interests. As he walked, he'd be met with another HUD screen at the top right corner, showing a minimized health bar with the name "Calrex" at the top. Seems like the party had been made. "Calrex, eh? Nice to meet ya too. And hey, if it's a day that's needed, I think it should be worth it with what it provides." He'd say before hearing the sudden buzz of metal coming in from a building near the both of them. Quickly shifting his violet eyes towards that direction, he'd lock onto a certain vintage style wooden shop. Could it be the sound he thought he heard in his local deli? To show that he was investigating, he'd make his way over to the vintage-style shop. "I think I might have found the shop!"

@Calrex

Edited December 30, 2016 by Sey

[Calrex 0]

Following the young man Calrex gave a nod as he returned his hands to his jacket pockets, looking over as Sey spotted the shop which would have the feed he would need. Glancing up at the sign it was definitely NPC-run, as it appeared to have a design that was from a generic template, unlike many of the player shops where the owners decided to get more "creative" with their fonts and the like, "Although I'm pretty sure some of them may have not attended a design class before, heh."

"Alright then, I'll go ahead and wait out here. If you head inside the NPC that runs the shop should recognize that you've accepted the quest and provide you with the feed for it."

"Course that's just from what I remember of the info from the brokers. Roc certainly seemed to have had more to his quest than just that, so we'd best be prepared for anything else that might occur."

@Sey

[Sey 0]

Sey would make his way into the shop as he would then end up meeting the NPC there, and they seemed to be able to recognize him like his partner explained. "Hey there. I'm here to get some feed and find a familiar. You don't happen to have any feed I could use, right?" The snow-haired player would ask before tilting his head to the side. A few moments later, he would end up walking out of the shop with a giant bag of feed in both of his hands, wobbling around and squabbling unfortunately as he would end up dropping the bag onto the ground, the ground cracking a little bit under the weight of all of the food. Sey would look to Cal as he would then explain why there was so much. "The man said that I would need to get as much feed as I could, and that this was probably going to be the amount I need. So... I think this should suffice. Shall we depart to the border of the safe zone?"

[Calrex 0]

It almost felt like he had stepped into some form of comic strip, or as he could recall what was referred to as a 4-koma. The young man stepped into the NPC shop, only to walk out with that appeared to be a near-comedic size bag of monster feed that was required to capture the familiar. A bead of sweat formed on the side of Calrex's head as he stepped forward to help stabilize the bag, "Geeze I don't remember needing this much for my familiar. You said you were trying to tame a wolf right?"

"Does a small wolf even eat this much?"

"In any case yeah we'd best get moving towards the field zone border. I think for now we'd best not keep that materialized. If you can you might be able to store it in your inventory, and just produce it when time comes. That way we're not getting a virtual bicep workout at the same time."

@Sey

[Sey 0]

"Yeah, you're right. I would imagine that the quest takes quite a while if the Npc tells me all that food is needed. An animal alone can't possibly be able to do so I assume." And it was just that. An assumption. Animals in the game may act the way the real ones do, but their capabilities were probably a lot more compared to the real animals. This was a note that he himself did not take. With that in mind, he would place the bag into his inventory like the tank player had asked of him before nodding his head. "This hopefully won't take too long. I have my loot gathering gear equipped, and when we go out into the fields, I will eat some food I made for a little bit more luck as well." The benefits of a chef, you can make eat and drinks your meals without a cost, and there are enhancements with them. He would then point a victorious right pointer finger high as he would walk towards the fields. "Onwards!"

[Calrex 0]

With Sey's feed bag stowed in the inventory Calrex returned his hand back to his jacket pocket as he gave a nod, "Looting gear definitely increases the chance of the right creature to appear, or at least from what I've heard. A strange thing in terms of mechanics compared to realism, but I guess it work out, heh. In any case, if we're going to find wolves on the first floor we'll need to head further out from the immediate area around the Starting City. The grass fields usually only populate with boars for the most part, so closer to the forested areas will be where wolves can spawn."

"I'm still surprised that I retained that knowledge from being down here. It's not like I come down as often as I used to, due to all of the other floors needing to be explored. From what I can recall, wolves also commonly appeared on the second floor in the same mountainous ranges as where I was able to obtain Roc."

Looking outwards as they exited out of the gates into the field zone the bluenette instinctually began to scan for any potential enemies that could appear and engage them in combat. He was fairly certain that the combined level the two had would already ward off most starting level creatures, but being in an area for too long could cause the AI of them to shift, making them appear bolder and more likely to attack.

[Sey 0]

"I know, right? it's a weird concept, but maybe it hints that animals only like those that can get themselves a little bit of treasure." The snow-haired player would explain as he would then place the tip of his left finger onto his chin, thinking about a local forest there might have been around there. Two in his opinion, he would prefer to deal with the Dark Elf again rather than try his luck elsewhere. So he would move towards the south. "To the forest  it is! I'm going eat a bit of rice on the way there, to help my chances of taming of course." With that said, he would mentally prepare himself, breathing while sliding through the inventory before then plucking out a lucky bowl of rice. The bowl would be in the right hand while the fork was in his left hand. It was white rice with red beans on top of it, a small little meal. With that, he would begin to eat it, feeling a little bit better as if it were comfort food already.

[Calrex 0]

"Heh, if by treasure you mean food, then I can definitely see that."

The bluenette gave a smirk as he glanced up at Roc, who appeared to ignore the joke, already diving across the fields, swooping down to pick up some kind of prey. From the distance Calrex couldn't discern what exactly it was, but since the pair had worked together for so long he had decided not to worry about it. "Besides, it's not like familiars can catch diseases or anything from what they eat in this game. If illness was simulated we'd be in a lot more trouble that what we're already working with."

Looking over as Sey munched on some rice Calrex gave a nod before returning his gaze to scanning across the field zone. The boars were still keeping their distance, with only some occasionally staring at the two before returning back to grazing on the grass. It was clear they were not going to engage in combat, and that proved to be a bonus on this situation. For the Ultramarine Knight, not having to fight when it wasn't necessary was always a good thing. Battles used up energy, which took time to regenerate even out of combat. He didn't want either of them to have to take a break and recover if they could avoid it.

[Sey 0]

He would enter the forest, summoning the bag of food from his inventory, carrying the item before looking to the side when he heard the growling of a monster in front of him. His eyes located a smaller looking white wolf in front of him, the snow-fur looking a lot like his hair. It looked elegant, maybe this was the wolf he had been looking for. Careful to not startle it, he would gently place the bag down before opening it, then stepping back from the bag. The wolf would proceed to cautiously step towards the food that Sey provided for it, sniffing it once it got within range. It’s eyes would then bore into Seys, as it it had been looking for some sign of danger from him. However, his smile would show that he was being genuine, so the snow-furred wolf would chow down on the meal before then beginning to wave it’s tail. It seems that the feed was delicious, as the wolf would continue to chomp on the feed. Once it had finished, it would begin to pant happily before leaping at Sey, knocking him to the ground before giving loving licks to the cheek, in which the player would laugh. “Hey Cal! I think I found one!”

 

Spoiler

Name:  Kyu
Gender:  Female
Race:  Wolf
Size:  The Exact Size of a Large Dog
Appearance:  A white-furred wolf with black eyes and pointy ears.
Familiar Mastery:  Fighter - R1

 

 

ID# 79272 results:

Loot: 16 + 9 = 25 (Success! One Familiar with +Dmg Enhancement)

Spoiler

Name: Lucky Rice
Profession: Cook
Rank: 8
ID:  77437
Roll: 12
Item Type: Dessert
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: +3 LD
Description: One would be lucky enough to even consume this, considering the difficulty it took to balance correctly. This is rice with salt sprinkled on it, topped with red beans

-S&D Skill - +2 LD

-Hecta's Bliss Coat - +3 LD

Hecta's Bliss Pocket Watch  Skill rank item:  Search and Detect

Edited March 13, 2017 by Sey

[Calrex 0]

As the excursion pressed on, Calrex was sure he had walked into some kind of slice-of-life/comedy/feel-good show, as there were no threats presented as they moved across the first floor, and now to add to that Sey had managed to tame his familiar within seconds of meeting it. The bluenette couldn't help but give a laugh and a smile at the sight, giving a nod after calming himself back to center, "Nice work. Well that certainly went a lot faster than I was expecting. We didn't even have to worry about any monster encounters while we were out here."

Glancing around one more time to confirm their safety the Ultramarine Knight gave a small sigh of relief, "No encounters. Certainly something I haven't experienced in quite a long while. For a long time there if felt like every time I stepped out of the safe zones that I would be immediately be onset with creatures or some other form of threat. Guess this is finally one of those times I can breathe a little easier."

Looking back down at the white-haired player he gave a nod, "Best not waste time out here then. Let's get you and your new companion back to the safe zone."

[Sey 0]

He would pick up the wolf so that he himself would be back onto his feet, a smile placed n his face as he would pat the wolf that had been tamed. This was supposed to be hard according to the NPC man that had given him the food, but he did not even have get into an encounter, which was perfect. "Hmmm, I think I like the name, Kyu. According to the system, it says that she is a female, so it works perfectly." It seems like he was unable to spell past three letters when it came to a name. First it was "Sey". Then it was "Kyu". Fortunately, not everything in the game would be named by him, otherwise every word in the game would not even have a second syllable. "You're right. We need to get home before any more monsters come along, we don't want to have any unwanted guests around here, that is definitely something we can't afford to waste our time on."

[Calrex 0]

"Heh, well I don't think we have to worry much about monsters on this floor, since we're both high enough level to ward any starting creatures from attacking. Plus it's not close to night time just yet, so the stronger creatures that tend to appear during the evening cycle of SAO aren't even close to appearing."

Looking down at the newly named wolf Kyu Calrex gave a nod, although he did make note of the fact that both Kyu and her owner both had the same number of letters in their name. Whether that was by chance or choice the bluenette didn't let go through his thoughts further than it already had. After all, he had chosen Roc as the name for his familiar, and it was also only three letters.

Not much longer after they had completed the quest, the duo had made it back to the gates of the Starting City, Calrex giving a sigh of relief at the completed journey, "Well that takes care of that. Congratulations on the new familiar Sey, although I hope you don't have to keep feeding Kyu that much food each time."

"I don't think even Roc eats that much food in one sitting, at least the times I've even seen him eat. I guess that's just inherent because he's a different species of creature?"

[Sey 0]

"Good point! Though considering how high a level you are, I think taking down one enemy here that could drop loot would require me to shove all of my energy down. The loot had better be worth it though once it's defeated." Sey would explain, the tail of his new companion rubbing against his arm as Calrex would then mention that there was hope that the familiar did not need as much food as it did. Looking back down to Kyu, he would notice a little bit of a smile on her lips, showing that it was EXACTLY going to be that scenario. Looks like both the col in his wallet and his materials were going to take a little bit of a bullet. He was curious as to what kind of familiar she was, maybe he was going to have to go out and start training her to find out. "I don't think I would be so lucky. She seems to have that one sly look that tells you the whole story... Well, looks like I'll have to sleep in inns for a few days."

[Calrex 0]

"Heh, don't we all. Well, treat her right and she'll take care of you. I certainly learned that early with my familiar, and he's kept me alive through many battles so far."

Calrex gave a smirk at Sey's response. The two were certainly going appearing to have an interesting dynamic in the making. As he had always done, he wished inside that he would never happen upon the white-haired player's name crossed out on the Monument of Life. Too many lives were lost during his time being active in the game, and even with all that he had done it didn't appear like the death rate had dropped much. He could only be in so many places at a time after all.

Snapping out of his thoughts the bluenette glanced at the time of day, making note it was probably time for him to get moving. There were things to do, mainly training to become even stronger than he currently was, which he was sure some people could not believe or make sense of.

"In any case, best I be getting a move on Sey. Let me know if you're in need of a hand again at any point. Putting up requests and stuff on the bulletin boards by the gates seems to have fallen out of style."

Giving the young man his contact info Calrex gave a friendly wave before departing, heading for the teleportation plaza.