[PP-F1] Looking for Materials but finding new Players? [Nocturn and Aereth]

[Aereth 1]

Aereth was walking through the streets of <<The Town of Beginnings>>, with an impassive face. Today he would go out and gather some materials for his shop. He just hit level twenty and would need a new set of armour and weapons in the near future. He had already some of the tier two materials for his new armour in stock but was unfortunately low on tier one materials. “After today I should have enough tier one materials for a sh*tton of crafts. Maybe I can even fill my pockets with some extra Col from some stupid boars.” He thought while walking. Right now he had his Sword of Legion, Goldcrest armour and his Discovery Ring equipped. The rest of his equipment was stored inside his battle ready inventory.

So there he was, walking towards the north gates of the town looking for materials, but who knows what else he would find…

@Nocturn

[Nocturn 0]

Nocturn stood outside the city of Beginnings. The sun had just rose over the city, cascading the city with a natural and beautiful glow. The orange, mixing with the white making the entire city seem it was ablaze. But, it was peaceful. Birds chirped signaling the change of morning, and as Noct walked morning dew clung to his boots, making them glisten with a damp sheen. A few yards from the town gate should be enough, he thought to himself as he opened his menu. He pulled his spear from his inventory, and tried to hold it. The tip of it immediately fell onto the ground, almost taking Noct with it. Noct let out a frustrated sigh as he raised his spear aloft, holding it in a novice's battle stance. He had overheard from a couple of adventurers in an inn that 'Sword Arts' activated when a certain action was performed. Today was going to be practice for that. If Noct couldn't perform a basic Sword Art, then what good would he be?

He began by getting used to the weapon's weight. The bulk of the spear was in it's tip, causing it to hang lower then it should in Noct's novice grip. He took a single step, and thrust the spear forward, and repeated the motion. He repeated the motion till his shoulders were sore, and could bear no more. He placed his spear's shaft into the ground, using it to prop himself upward as he let his muscles contract, and relax. When the throbbing subsided, Noct went back to it, thrusting the spear into the air once more. After several hours of it, Noct had worked up a sweat, and wiped his face with the back of his hand. "Not a single Sword Art. What am I doing wrong?" He asked himself, looking at the spear he held. Perhaps it was his equipment, or his proficiency with the weapon itself. He wished someone was here to teach him, or at least tell him what to look out for. It frustrated him, that he couldn't even perform a single basic Sword Art.

He had grown used to his weapon now, after hours of aimlessly stabbing the air he had finally gotten a grip on how a spear works. The point would no longer go off to the sides, or lower then he had intended. His stance shifted, and changed accordingly. His spear, now pointing horizontal with the ground. His thrusts becoming more accurate, moving quicker, and with purpose. Noct could feel himself in the weapon. No longer was it a tool, but an extension of his body. Something that he could control as easy as his fingers, or arms. He felt a twinge of pride, that was quickly shadowed away by self-loathing. "No point in knowing how to hold the weapon if I can't do a single Sword Art properly." He said to himself, running his hand through his sweat ridden hair.

Spoiler

@Aereth

 

Edited December 18, 2016 by Nocturn

[Aereth 1]

After a couple minutes of walking, Aereth finally reached the northern gate of the town of beginning. While walking towards the gate, he stocked up on basic supplies like water, some sandwiches and other eatable stuff. While shopping, he stored away his weapon, in order not to gather unwanted attention.

Aereth walked through the gate, and saw a lone player, not far away from him, practising with a two handed spear. It seemed like he was trying very hard to perform sword arts with his weapon. “Looks like this player would need some help to trigger his sword arts.” Aereth thought and decided to walk over to the player.

When he finally reached him, Aereth got a better look at him. The player was indeed male, had black hair, and wore the standard starting equipment. Aereth opened his inventory and fetched a bottle of water from it, because it seemed like the player could need a little refreshment. “Hey there. Looks like you are working on your weapon technique, huh? How’s it going so far?” He said and tossed the bottle of water to him. “Oh by the way, the name’s Aereth, nice to meet you.”

@Nocturn

[Nocturn 0]

Noct turned his head as he heard footsteps. He turned his body and planted his spear into the ground beside him. The man who approached him wore simple clothes, perhaps armor of a sort. A sword decorated his hip, dicting that the man at least had someway of defending himself. Noct jumped as he spoke, uncertain as to why he did. "Uh, it's progressing. Still trying to figure out what a Sword Art is." Noct said, catching the bottled water with his off hand. Leaning onto his spear for support, he opened the bottle and brought it to his lips. The water was cool, and refreshing. Noct had a hard time pulling the bottle away from his face as he introduced himself. "Thanks, Aereth. I'm Nocturn. Noct for short." He said, placing the bottle water on the ground and extended his hand to the new man.

After introductions were made, Noct spoke again. "I'll be honest. I didn't expect to meet a friendly face this soon." Noct said, expressing his disbelief. Not that a friendly face was found, but that it managed to find him without him actively looking for it. But perhaps this player, this Aereth, saw him practicing and wanted to help. AS laughable as that would be, it would be beneficial immensely. All Noct need was a demonstration, or an explanation. 

Spoiler

@Aereth

 

Edited December 18, 2016 by Nocturn

[Aereth 1]

The player told Aereth how he was struggling to figure out what a sword art was, and how to trigger it. “I know the struggle man. It took me also quite some time until I finally figured out how to use my sword arts accordingly.” Aereth said with a smile.

The man caught the bottle of water with his off hand, and took a good sip from it. After that he introduced himself as Nocturn and extended his hand for a handshake. Aereth took the hand and shook it.

Aereth chuckled at the comment of Noct, about how he didn’t expect to meet a friendly person so soon. “You don’t even know if I’m really that friendly.” He said while he also fetched a bottle of water for himself. “But jokes aside. If you want, I could show you some of the basic tricks with sword arts.” he said with a smile on his face. Aereth would gladly help Noct to gather his first combat experience, and after that he could tag along with him for some material gathering and slaying some boars.

@Nocturn

[Nocturn 0]

Noct smiled. "Well, you haven't stabbed me yet. That's a start." He said, returning the man's poor joke. Who would joke about that sort of thing. I'm your friend, sorta kinda, maybe. Nocct would rack that up as poor taste, rather than malicious intent and laughed alongside him. "Really, you'd be willing to give me pointers? I'm listening." Nocturn said, readying his weapon from the ground. Needless to say, he was excited. Finally, a teacher in this game. Something that showed him how things worked, not just text boxe upon text boxes that merely explained how things worked, not how they were done. Everything was learned though experience. Math, reading, playing an instrument, everything. You didn't learn something simply, by not being around it. "Alright, I'm ready." Noct said, entering his stance.

Spoiler

@Aereth

 

[Aereth 1]

As Noct returned the smile and laughed alongside him, he realized how dumb he must have sounded. So he decided to apologize. “Haha, sorry for my bad jokes, but I guess that’s me…” he said while scratching the back of his head awkwardly. Sometimes even his girlfriend in the real world didn’t laugh at his horrible jokes…

But as Noct readied his weapon, and told him that he was listening, Aereth smiled and also slowly unsheathed his weapon. “Look, the most important thing for the start is, that you put your body in the right position.” Aereth said and rested his blade on his shoulder. As soon as he lowered his body the sword began to glow in a dark blue light. “When you reached the right position, the system will automatically recognize the sword art, and charge it, signalized by the glowing blade. And then when the charging is complete, you just have to release it in the direction you want to strike. The system will take control over your body and movements to help you hitting your target.” "Or at least it should help you..." he thought.

Just as he finished explaining a low leveled boar spawned in front of them. Aereth choose to take the opportunity, and released the sword art in the direction of the boar. Sped forwards with some good speed, hit the boar with a single strike, and a moment later the boar scattered into tiny little polygons.

“The only thing that is different between the sword arts of my sword and your spear, is the starting position. But you can find these starting position in your player guide book.” He said as he slowly walked back

@Nocturn

Edited December 19, 2016 by Aereth

[Nocturn 0]

Noct nodded his head. "So, I just have to find a starting position. Then the sword art takes it from there." He repeated, committing the words to memory. It made, some sense. And the starter book didn't come with pictures, just explained how stances worked in an ass backwards way, that took Aereth literally, two sentences to properly explain. What was it with MMO's that overcomplicated things to high hell? He brought his spear back, but prepared himself as if he was going to leap forward. The point of his spear began to glow a bright blue, almost white. "Ha, hey! I'm doing it!" Noct said happily. Next his body moved, almost on it's own. Almost as if it was something that he remembered, after forgetting for a long time. He thrust his spear outward holding it with one hand. The energy at the tip of the spear condensed, then quickly expanded creating a soft explosion at it's center. The force of it, launched the spear back, which Noct caught with his free hand. He stared at his weapon, almost unemotional before giving out a small grin. "That, was awesome." Noct said, relaxing his body.

Spoiler

@Aereth

 

[Aereth 1]

Aereth smiled at Noct’s nod, and sheathed the sword on his back again. He then walked a few steps back and crossed his arms over his chest. “This guy has potential… He’s hard working, and doesn’t give up easily. Seeing how much he sweated, I assume he had been practising for some time. Now let’s see if he has the right feeling for his blade…” Aereth thought.

After that Nocturn brought his spear back, and lowered his position, as if he was just about to leap forwards. The tip of the spear instantly started to glow, and as the charging time was over he released the sword art. The force of the little explosion launched the spear backwards but Noct easily caught it with his free hand.

Aereth walked over to him and put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “That was indeed impressing for your first use of a sword art. You wanna tag along for the day? I was just about to go out in the wood for some material gathering and mob grinding. If you want to come with me, I could show you some more tricks.” Aereth said smiling.

@Nocturn

[Nocturn 0]

Noct took the compliment to heart. His first ever compliment since he entered the game. Aereth mentioned material grinding, and mob grinding, and asked if he wanted to tag along. Noct thought about it for a second. He had heard stories of level one players being felled by simple boars. But he chalked that up to either the victims not knowing the system or their sheer stupidity. Or the mobs were a lot stronger than they should be. Like most MMO's there's usually a large set of fetch quests in town that quickly boost a player's level, until they do have to venture out into the wilds to attack mobs. Either way, Noct was none of those things. He wasn't stupid, and he had just learned the combat system and how Sword Art's worked. And he wouldn't be alone. Noct planted his spear onto the ground, it's point to the sky. "Yeah, let's go." He said, ready to face whatever would be brought his way.

Spoiler

@Aereth

 

[Aereth 1]

Noct seemed to be in thoughts after Aereth asked him if he wanted to tag along for the rest of the day. Aereth really wouldn’t mind to help him a little bit. They would have to share the money they earned from the mobs, but f*ck it. For now, Aereth had enough money anyways, and finding a possible new friend was far more valuable than some stupid virtual money.

Then Noct planted his spear onto the ground and exclaimed that he was ready to go. Aereth chuckled and the two of them started to walk in the forest. “So, do you already know what build you are shooting for?” Aereth asked, breaking the silence. He was really interested in what this guy wanted to do with his SP. Judging from his weapon, a two handed assault spear, Aereth knew that this man most definitely wouldn’t be going for a tank, since tanks used shields most of the time. Or so he thought at least.

@Nocturn

[Nocturn 0]

Noct was familiar with all of the normal lingo used for MMO's like this. Namely the main three roles of Damage per second, the support, and tanks. But none of those really sounded up his alley. "I was thinking of mixing the curve up a bit, be a bit of DPS, and be able to heal someone if I need too." Noct said, trying to explain himself. If there was magic in SAO, Noct would've been the trickster, using spells to disorientate enemies and heal his allies. But no magic, made choices very difficult. In SAO, it made just about any class obsolete unless you wanted to be a DPS, or a Tank. Noct, wanted to break that curve. "Just to be something different, y'know?" Noct said, wondering when they were going to get going.

Spoiler

@Aereth

 

[Aereth 1]

After learning that Noct would like to become a DPS/healer hybrid Aereth smiled. “If that is so, then you will have a lot of grinding to do. But Healers are needed desperately at the front lines, nobody really wants to become a healer. So you choose a really good path.” Aereth said while they were walking deeper into the forest.

Some minutes later, they encountered a huge boar. Said boar immediately charged at the two players. All emotions left Aereth’s face and he immediately unsheathed his blade. “Noct, stay back for now. If you want you can join me with the fight, but don’t attack before I got at least two hits on the boar.” Aereth told Noct.

Aereth sped away from Noct at his max speed, and intercepted the boar. As the two opponents met head on, Aereth dodged the attack from the boar with a simple side step and released a sword art at the boar’s side. The boar winced in pain and immediately turned its attention at Aereth

Spoiler

ID# 72621 results:
Battle: 7+3 HIT
Damage: 8*2*3= 48 DMG

MOB: 8-1 HIT
Damage: 10-18= 1 DMG

Nocturn: HP: ?/?, EN: ?
Aereth: HP: 439/440, EN: 39/44 -6+1

Boar: 172/220 HP 10DMG -48HP form Aereth's attack

Hate Count:
N: 0
A: 1

 

@Nocturn

Edited December 25, 2016 by Aereth

[Nocturn 0]

Noct sighed with a bit of relief. It was nice to hear that what he was doing was a good idea. The fact that it was needed, and wanted was even better then he could have imagined. Aereth motioned for Noct to follow, to which Noct did. The walk was mostly in silence, Noct assumed it was to keep their presence a secret and get the drop on some mobs. If something like that was even possible in this game. Normally walking alone would've let Noct seen the boar ahead of time, and at least make an attempt to avoid it. But this time, he was with someone else, and the boar's charge surprised him. Noct scrambled for his spear, unprepared for the attack. But fortunately Aereth was. By the time Noct was able to get his spear at the ready, Aereth had already drawn his and moved to attack the beast. One start shaped sword art later, the boar was enthralled with him. It seemed unable to take it's eyes off of Aether, even though it had charged at the two of them. Noct chalked it up to an aggro mechanic, or simple luck. Noct nodded to Aereth as he instructed for Noct to stay out of combat, at least until he could get more hits in.

[Aereth 1]

The boar immediately charged again at Aereth, who readied his blade to take the incoming attack. Due to his sturdy armor, Aereth took only a minimum amount of damage from the attacks of the boar. Even if he would let the boar hit him without any attempt to block, Aereth would never take nearly as much damage, as to where it would be dangerous for him. In this part of the forest the boars had a solid amount of health points, but almost no damage output at all.

Aereth stopped the charge of the boar with the flat side of his blade, and pushed against it, which stopped the boars movements. Aereth held his ground and said to Noct. “I know you wanna attack, and test out your sword arts, but the problem here is, that I haven’t gathered enough hate from the boar. So if you go a critical hit on your attack, the boar would start to target you, which wouldn’t be very healthy for you. Those NPC enemies follow the so called hate system. The player who inflicts the most damage to the NPC will gather the most hate and thus will be attacked by the enemy. Critical hits however, do some bonus damage, but also generate some bonus hate on the enemy, which is the reason you will have to hold back just a little bit longer.” He tried to explain to Noct why he would have to wait a little bit longer.

 After that Aereth pushed the boar back, and tried to slash at it. Unfortunately he missed the boar by mere centimeters. “Also you shouldn’t take an enemy head on like I did right now. This will also inflict damage to you. In my case it doesn’t matter though since I have some good armor that protects me from the most damage.”

Spoiler

ID# 72721 results:
Battle: 1 Crit. MISS
MOB: 7-1 HIT
Damage: 10-18= 1 DMG

Nocturn: HP: ?/?, EN: ?
Aereth: HP: 438/440, EN: 38/44 -2+1

Boar: 178/220 HP 
          10 DMG 

Hate Count:
N: 0
A: 1

@Nocturn

Edited December 23, 2016 by Aereth

[Nocturn 0]

Noct's thoughts were confirmed as Aereth explained 'hate' to him. It seemed that the more damage you dealt to a mob, the more it would attack you. Which made sense in a way, but what about tanks? The couldn't meet the damage that any DPS class could dish out. There must be skills that center around hate generation, to pull aggro onto them, rather then their allies. Which, made sense in the long term. Another thing that was confirmed for noct, was critical hits. Attacks that found a weakness and exploited it, that did more damage and apparently generate more hate than normal. "I got it." Noct said, keeping talking to a minimum so that he could focus. Noct may have seemed a bit snappy at Aereth for the last comment. But he was new to SAO, not gaming in general. Noct had common sense, which was why he wasn't attacking now. Of course Noct shouldn't try to solo an enemy, because he'd get hit. That much was obvious.

[Aereth 1]

Aereth didn’t even notice the tiny bit of snappiness in Nocts comment, since he was focusing on the battle, in order not to miss again. Sighing he rose his blade again, and readied himself for the next attack.

The boar didn’t waste any time and charged once again at the brown haired man. “Let me try out this new one.” Aereth thought, and leaped off the ground with a strong jump. After that he performed a single mid-air backflip, while the boar was still charging at him. Aereth’s sword began to glow in a bright dark blue colour, and as soon as the boar was in attack range, Aereth’s sword came crashing down and got buried itself directly into the boar’s virtual flesh, creating a field of electricity and damaging the boar to a huge extent. “Critical hit.” Aereth thought and retreated his blade from his enemy.

The boar was still struggling to gain back the control over his body as Aereth cast Noct a look that said: “It’s time, show me what you got.”

Spoiler

ID# 72880 results:
Battle: 10 CRIT. HIT
Damage: (8+2)*1*8=80 DMG
MOB: 6-1 MISS

Nocturn: HP: ?/?, EN: ?
Aereth: HP: 438/440, EN: 31/44 -8+1

Boar: 98/220 HP -80HP from Aereth's attack
          10 DMG 

Hate Count:
N: 0
A: 3

 @Nocturn

Edited December 25, 2016 by Aereth

[Nocturn 0]

Noct saw Aereth complete a flashy sword art, one that involved him flipping through the air. Did sword arts really get that complex? Then Noct wondered, would he eventually have to do flips and the like in order to complete sword arts, or would the sword arts assist his body and let him do feats of agility like that? The thoughts clouded his mind, as Aereth landed. He should have enough hate now, Noct thought. The boars health gauge was just under half of it's starting HP. Noct pulled his spear back, ready to attack but his thrust only hit air. His spear hit the boar, but it's point merely grazed it dealing no damage, as well as thrusting to early, costing him all of his energy. "Damn, went in too early." Noct said to himself. FOrtunately half of his energy filled quite quickly. Somewhat of a blessing in disguise. If Aereth didn't kill the boar outright, Noct would hit it this next time around. Even if he had to abandon using a sword art to do so.

Spoiler

ID# 73342 results:
Battle: 3 (miss)
Damage: -
MOB: -

Nocturn: HP: 20/20, EN: 1 -2 from miss, +1 passive
Aereth: HP: 438/440, EN: 31/44 

Boar: 98/220 HP 
          10 DMG 

Hate Count:
N: 0
A: 3

@Aereth

[Aereth 1]

Aereth watched as Noct tried to hit the boar for the first time. Unfortunately, he released the attack a little bit too early, which resulted in him missing the boar. No, he didn’t miss the boar completely, his spear even made contact with the virtual flesh of the boar, but it wasn’t enough to do any kind of damage. Aereth also heard Noct curse at this attack, and smiled in his direction. “Don’t worry. You’ll hit the next time. Try to read the attack pattern of the boar. If you figure out how it is going to behave, you’ll most probably hit.” Aereth told him, and turned back to the boar, who was, again, charging at him. “He should also get himself an accuracy item to rise his hit chances, since the battle system isn’t helping the players as much as it should…”

The boar picked up more and more speed, as it charged at the brown haired player. Just in time Aereth jumped up again, and charged another sword art. And once again he rushed down, released the sword art and dealt massive damage to the attacking boar.

Spoiler

ID# 73547 results:
Battle: 10 Crit. Hit
Damage: (8+2)*8*1=80 DMG
MOB: 3-1 Miss

@Nocturn: HP: 20/20, EN: 1/2
Aereth: HP: 438/440, EN: 31/44 -8+1

Boar: 18/220 HP -80HP from Aereth's attack
          10 DMG 

Hate Count:
N: 0
A: 5

 

Edited December 30, 2016 by Aereth

[Nocturn 0]

Nocturn nodded at Aereth. he at least seemed to know what he doing. Not only that, Noct was glad to have him hear. Should he haven been alone, this boar surely would've. Noct shook his head, not wanting to think of what would've happened. He needed to focus on now, the present. Not on the future or possibilities. Noct raised the point of his spear, aiming it at the boar. He pointed the spear at the ground, and stepped after the boar. He dug his spear into the ground near the boar. "Got'Cha!" Noct hollard victoriously as his spear's tip glowed with an activatable sword it. It's tip dug into the boar's backside, and trace along it's way, upward as noct completed his attack. Excitment filled Noct's eyes as he felt that his attack went through. The health bar on the boar, budged ever so slighty. But it was something. "Yeah! Got it!" Noct cheered again.

Spoiler

ID#  results: 82419
Battle: 7 (hit)
Damage: 4
MOB: 1

Nocturn: HP: 20/20, EN: 0/2
Aereth: HP: 438/440, EN: 31/44 

Boar: 10/220 HP 
          8 DMG 

Hate Count:
N: 1
A: 5

@Aereth