[PP-F1] <<Dragon Hunter Anthology-Dragon Hunt 1>> (Vale)

[Hikoru 0]

Hikoru materialized on the first floor, ready for the new quest that had been released a few weeks prior to his mission. He had promised a player that he would help them on this quest, as they had said that they wanted to try and get as strong as they could fast. He agreed to help, but he wanted to help on a quest that he could get some reward from it as well. He decided on this quest, as he needed to gems as far as he read, and he knew that he needed to do this quest if he wanted to get both the drop and the rewards this quest had to offer. He sat down nearby the teleporter, relaxing and releasing any tension in his muscles. He knew he had this quest in the bag, as he had already heard that the first dragons stats were pretty low. He quietly awaited for the player to appear, and they could get this show on the road and defeat the dragon quickly.

@Vale

[Vale 1]

Vale walked around the Town of Beginnings, keeping her wits about her. The lovely purple scale gauntlets shining in the bright light of the sun, her Dark skinn and long luxurious purple hair glistening at the same time. She had been doing a lot of running as it was something that she never wanted to lose the habit of doing from the real world, she enjoyed the physical excercise of it all. After some more time of jogging, Vale noticed a guy in rather dapper looking clothing, something about his look just kinda brought Vale into the thought of talking to the man. She approached the man leaning back casually, "You seem like you're patiently waiting for someone to arrive." She spoke in a very comfortable tone, "Do you mind if I sit here?" She asked him, "The other benches happen to be taken."

[Hikoru 0]

Hikoru opened one eye to see a young girl standing and asking for him to take a seat next to him. She seemed harmless enough, and he gave a nod, motioning for her to take a seat. He knew that he was waiting for a player, and enjoying the presence of another player. He relaxed for a few more moments, when he received a ping in his notifications. He opened it up, and realised it was a message from the other player. He skimmed it, and noticed that they said they no longer wanted to do the quest. Not wanting to do it alone, he sighed and stood

"Well that's great, there goes my client..." He said with a small sigh as he cracked his back. He had lost another party member because of people's laziness, and it cost him both his time and his energy to get down here and get prepared to fight, only not to at the fact. He gave a small sigh and looked at the young girl "Well, seeya 'round kid." He said as he rubbed his neck and started to make his way back to the portal to go home.

[Vale 1]

Vale say the dismay that appeared in the voice of the man she just sat down next to, "Client?" She asked under her breath. It was the moment when he said kid that she felt an urge to punch his daylights in, she stood up and grabbed his shoulder with voracious strength, no doubt a culprit of her training in Martial Arts, "Boy... Where do you get the audacity to call a woman. A Kid." Her voice had the inkling of a mothers voice when scolding their kid after they did something they knew was wrong. She clenched her fist tightly and in peripheral vision of the man she had just met.

Her teeth were clenched and her Amethyst eyes were glaring at him. If the man were to turn around her eyes would immediately connect to his and stare deep into them, as if she were percieving into his soul, "I would have thought someone dressed as dapper as yourself. Would hold themselves to a moral standard when in the presence of a woman." Vale would await what the boy had to say, and since she didn't understand how the system worked. If he were to make the wrong choice of action, his face would clearly meet the right straight of a Boxing and Muay Thai specialist.

[Hikoru 0]

Hikoru was stopped by a shoulder grab and he looked to see the young player, who seemed mad at him about something. Then she said something along the lines of calling a woman a kid, and he looked to see that the woman seemed to have a bit of cleavage, and he looked back innocently. He didn't mean to call her a child, but he had no way of telling from the angle that he had origionally been in.

"Ah, im sorry Ma'am." He said, then looked her straight in the eye and re-adjusted his glasses. She seemed to be threatening him, something that wasn't very nice. He looked at the girl and flawlessly unsheathed his dagger and held it against her throat, holding it tightly against her skin "But listen here, if you have a problem with me, challenge me to a duel and well see how things go. My life says that you can try and attack me, ping me for one damage, then I attack and finish off your miserable life in this game." He said, giving her the coldest stare he could give, not feeling any remorse for his threat, and knew that he meant every word he said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find a new client to take on a Quest." He said, taking the arm of the girl and gripping tightly, shoving her off without a seconds hesitation and walking towards the notice board

[Vale 1]

The man showed what little heart he had deep down in side, the blade against his throat just made her grin. She felt no fear of the man, he didn't have a threatening demeanor. The man was essentially trying to use a heartless approach to keep people away, there was a reason and now Vale was far too curious to leave him alone now, "Miserable?" She asked as she was shoved away, "Hah, that's a laugh. It doesn't matter how big and mighty you might feel." She followed him as he walked up to the notice board, she felt the need to pester him as much as she could. He didn't seem like the man who had the ability to slice the throat of someone in seriousness regardless.

As she reached him, "You need a client for a quest. And I have nothing to do, plus you've piqued my curiosity boy." She goaded him, trying to itch the fact that he wasn't getting away from a conversation he never intentionally wanted to get himself in. She stood just a hair taller than him, not something that she truly cared about. She didn't find the man physically attractive, or in any sense pleasing to the eye. But someone trying to keep everyone at arms length or longer away, that was something that always got her interested. She stood next to the man, her Amethyst eyes looking at him. Vale honestly had nothing better to do, and the guy looked determined to do this quest.

[Hikoru 0]

Hikoru looked as the young woman seemed to be unafraid of him, and he honestly didn't blame her. He wasn't a scary, burly-looking man, but he knew that if he was tried enough he would probably lose his cool and lash out at the player. He breathed as she essentially offered to come with him onto the quest. He gave a small sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose for a moment, trying to comprehend this moment. She wanted to essentially kill him, but now he had peaked her interest enough that she wanted to be carried on a quest. He was a bit confused, but he knew that it wouldn't hurt to have her, help her out a bit. He did admit, she was somewhat cute, but he knew that she probably thought nothing of that towards him, which he didn't mind

"Fine, but watch your tone with me." He said with another cold stare "I will not listen to a snot-nosed woman who thinks so highly of herself that she decides to bite off more than she can chew." He said as he sent a party-request towards her, then awaited for her to accept and started to walk away towards where the quest said to go.

[Vale 1]

Vale began to giggle, the man was trying so hard to be as brutal and rude as humanly possible. But it just seemed to her like a chewhuahua trying to bark, she couldn't get the image out of her head. In her opinion, him acting so tough was one of the most adorable things she could have witnessed so far, "I hear you. I won't sass you anymore than you already seem to take on." She stated, intentionally putting some sass to her words. Vale rubbed her eyes from the tears she had garnered while laughing to press the accept button on the party invitation that she was sent.

She flicked her eyes back at him, with a grin to boot, "I never said you had to listen... I forgot to give you my name." She turned and stuck her hand out, the tightness of her muscles easily visible from her life in the real world, "The name is Vale, it is a pleasure to meet you..." She held out the word you in an attempt to get him to share his name. She was expecting to hear some hardnosed name that generally came from video gamers as she had realized up until now. But she decided that he was here for some particular reason, and obviously he wasn't just doing it because he had that kind of heart. There was something in this that he wanted out of it, and she wanted to know more about the man.

[Hikoru 0]

Hikoru just grit his teeth and ignored her comments as she accepted his invite, and he looked to see that her health was low, low enough to one-shot without much hassle. He knew he couldn't do it, but trying to be intimidating was worth a shot. She introduced herself, and awaited a response from him to give his own name. He gave a small sigh and bowed as politely as he could, and stood up

"Hikoru, Master of Shadows." He put simply "Pleasure to make your acquaintance." he said, emphasizing as much sarchasm he could into the first word he spoke. He didn't take too kindly to this character, and not a lot of people he knew could get under his skin. He definitely didn't like it, and he couldn't wait to finish off this quest and be done with the whole ordeal. He would finish off the dragon, receive the item, then be on his way, a place where he hoped that the girl wouldn't expect him to be. Onto his home floor, where he would disappear from her sight and be done with her entirely

[Vale 1]

Vale got the name of her new quest mate, and based on his health there was no doubt about it. He needed this quest for his own selfish reasons, not because he truly needed help. The amount of Sarcasm he put on the word pleasure made her want to giggle again, but this time she kept her mouth closed. She had antagonized him enough at this point, there was no point in pushing the obvious. She cleared her throat and lightly bowed with respect this time, "I apologize. I tend to get a little tiffed when I feel insulted. And as you can probably guess by now, I'm not the best with holding my tongue." She explained to him with an honest tone in her voice.

She didn't precisely care if the man would accept her apology, but the least she could do was offer some sincerity. She stood up straight and looked him clear in the eyes, "Make no assumptions, I still don't fear you." She shifted her body slightly, "But trying to keep the air like wouldn't do either of us a lick of good. So please, allow me to start off on a different foot." Her confidence never faltered, it was clear as day she had no fear of him when he put his blade up to her neck. There wasn't much he could do to actually instill fear in the woman if at all. Though if she were going to stay close to the guy who claimed himself the Master of Shadows, there wasn't much need to stay on his badside. Though it was something that was to be seen.

[Hikoru 0]

Hikoru nodded and continued to walk to where the Quest was to be located. He stopped for a moment to open his minimap and gather his bearings, barely listening to what the woman had to say. Something about feet, which didn't make much sense to him. He breathed and closed his HUD and turned to the girl, crossing his arms and shaking his head. He wanted this done so he could get a few more SP, and so he could be done with what he needed to do, probably gather someone else to do the second quest with him if he could, or else he was onto his own.

"Look, lets get one thing straight. I carry you through the quest, we get the rewards, then I get out of here and you get back to your daily life of living on floors 1-5, okay?" He sighed and rubbed his temples "You don't like me, and I don't like you. We both can agree on that. But i'm willing to set aside what you've said to me and what i've said to get this quest done and so we can go our own separate ways." He said, and continued to walk without any further words

[Vale 1]

It was incredibly apparently that Hikoru wasn't even paying attention to her attempt to try and make amends with him. He had already taken off to start walking on the path that lead in the direction of the quest. Vale honestly wanted to try and make amends the the guy, it seemed like there was a lot of things that was bogging this mind down. After a few moments, Hikoru turned around to her rubbing his temple while sighing. He made it apparent that he honestly didn't like her, but he made the assumption that she didn't like him, "If that is truly want you want Hikoru. But, if I can speak as well before you start taking off like you are doing at the moment." She tried to reason with him before he got too far away.

She quickly stepped forward a couple times to stand infront of his path in hopes that it would make him stop and listen, "Hikoru if I can explain. I didn't ever say I didn't like you. I apologize for what I have said." She tried more to levi with him at a basis, "I was trying to make amends with you so we don't have to have this hostile air between us. As much as I wanted to punch you for what you said." Vale was never one to lie, "But there is something that is bothering you. And I'm not one of those who will turn a blind eye to people. So if you want to keep things quiet between us, I'll obliege. But I'll atleast admit I don't want you to think I dislike you." She continually admitted. She was mostly at fault that they got off on the wrong foot, but she wanted to be the one to atleast show an attempt at trying to make this grouping work.

[Hikoru 0]

Hikoru was stopped by her walking in front of him, and said that she didn't hate him, but she did admit to wanting to punch him. He knew this already and just sighed, giving a nod and continuing forward. If the girl thought that it was worth the time to apologize and make amends, which he respected. He gave her a small nod as an answer, and moved forward, towards the wilderness on the outside of town. He pulled up his hood and looked back at the girl

"Alright, you try and keep up, i'm moving ahead to get this done." He said, and soon sprinted ahead, heading into the shadows surrounding the trees and soon becoming out of sight, blending into the background of the trees and leaves, and soon becoming out of sight. He knew the girl could keep a somewhat location of his whereabouts because they were in a party, but he knew he would be out of sight for the most part. He breathed and started to look for the location of the dragon

Hikoru entered stealth: 22+ on the LD to be found

[Vale 1]

Vale was having an extremely difficult time trying to get through to the man. He seemed to genuinely have a true distaste for her deep down in his gut, and she couldn't figure out why he was being completely stubborn on the fact. But, there wasn't much more Vale could physically do to try and get through to him unless he wanted to open up some. Ultimately only time could tell if he was willing to stop putting a preverbial wall between them, that or she may not come out of this venture alive solely by his hand. Vale wasn't the type to think Negatively. Watching him dash off and vanish almost instantaneously was a problem for her, but as long as his healthbar was still in her vision, she wouldn't worry.

She took off in the direction he did, her new Martial Arts skill was enough to help facilitate even faster move speeds than before. Deep down she questioned why the system worked that way, but now was not the time to try and figure out conundrum. She didn't know the parameters of the quest or even where she was headed, every now and again she would see a glimpse of the green crystal. Knowing it was his due to the distance she would try to keep up with that small glimpse every now and again. She couldn't see him himself, she could only assume it was because they were in a party together that she got view of the crystal. And Vale was certain the man was well aware of where she was at all times.

Edited February 23, 2017 by Vale

[Hikoru 0]

Hikoru breathed and continued to jump around through the trees, soon making his way to where he needed to be. The dragon hatching had just recently hatched, as he could still see some of the remaining embryo around the creature, acting as some sort of slime coating on it's shining green scales. He went around where it couldn't see him strike, and charged from the branch, soon striking and finishing off the hatchling within the last slash of his dagger on the creatures scales. He didn't give it any chance to react, and he killed it with the cold steel of his blade. He looked around and saw the player he was carrying, then reached down and picked up two emeralds, looking and throwing one at the young woman

"There, Quest is done." He said, sheathing his dagger and having it disappear from sight, then looking at the girl with a nod "Told you there was nothing to it. Now, let's get you safely back into town and I can get back to grinding before it gets too dark. I need to get stronger and you need to get back to living a sad existence in this game." He said as he awaited the girl to pocket the emerald so they could get going.

@Vale

ID: 77936

BD: 3+3=6 Hit! (Disregarded due to Sneak-Attack)

Hikoru used Eternal Cyclone: 1x13=13x14= 182-25= 157 Damage to Rhaegal

Hikoru: 1155/1155 103/114

Rhaegal, The Emerald Hatchling: -32/125 HP - MIT: 25 - ACC: 0 - EVA: 0 - DMG: 50

[Vale 1]

Vale turned the corner to see a small whelpling, before she had the chance to admire the look of the creature. The hostile man launched forward and jammed his blade in the neck of the creature instantly destroying it leaving two crystals in it's wake. Without a moment to prepare, he had already thrown the crystal at her. She grabbed the crystal and let it dematerialize into her inventory. In the very next moment he went back to insulting her, all she could really do is frown. After it was all said and done, she couldn't actually break through, it was completely evident that something was bothering him deep down in his core,

She walked up to Hikoru, "Okay, I'm just going to go for broke. I'll follow you since you obvious are far above my strength. If you're going to kill me, I can't honestly stop you. But, damnit I'll be damned if I can't atleast get you to recognize that I'm not here to be your enemy." She gritted her teeth, Vale was very much aware that she was playing with fire, but she wouldn't stop until he listened. If he were to bare his dagger against her throat, she would press against it, if he were to try and hide from her, she wouldn't relent for a short period of time, "I can tell something is bothering you. I don't know what. And I don't expect you to just outright tell me, but atleast let me say that hiding behind a hostile mentality when you're more than likely a nice soft hearted person deep down." She paused a second to gulp, "Just isn't the answer." She bared no ill feelings or hostile tone of voice, there was a true hint of sincerity to her words.

[Hikoru 0]

Hikoru grit his teeth as the girl tried to talk to him, trying to get into his head and try to see if she could help him. He felt fine, and he knew that nothing was bothering him so much that he couldn't focus, other than the girl that was standing before him. He grabbed her by the shirt and pulled her the inch she was above him and pulled her down, bringing her eye-to-eye and making sure that she could read the emotions in his eyes

"Listen, and listen good. Nothing except you is wrong with me. You've annoyed me ever since I spoke to you, and im glad that you're trying to make it better but you cant. The best thing you can do is to stop talking and try to drop whatever charade your trying to pull." He said, then shoved her off, turning around as his cloak picked up in the wind slightly, making him seem bigger than he was. He looked over his shoulder, then looked back forward "Let's get moving before it get's too dark around here." He said as he started to move onto the trail that lead back to town

[Vale 1]

The hostility he had was completely real, the man loathed Vale's absolutely presence to it's very core. She got the hint clear as day, Vale didn't try to fight against him when he lifted her, even though her skin tight spandex ripped slightly. She didn't say a word, she merely stared into his eyes, the emotionlessness was there. But, ultimately he made it apparent, he didn't want her to talk to him or even be around in the slightest. To give him what he wanted, she didn't even respond. He was emotionally unable to connect with Vale's true sincerity. She readjusted her spandex to fit appropriately again, though she could feel it never would with it not slightly stretched out.

Vale followed him step for step, keeping her words and thoughts to herself. Vale wasn't upset at the situation at all, infact she was the one who let it turn into this. She accepted her penitence without a single shred of humility. She kept her eyes foward on the path, listening to the crickets chirp as the sun descended over the skyline. The orange hue to the sky and unique smell of their surrounding made it easier to cope with the fact that the man just practically throttled her without placing his hands in a place that could do her serious damage. Vale also thought there was a slight amount of improvement in his attitude towards her, since the first time she got in his face he brought a knife to her throat. This time he only put a hand on her clothes, and not her exactly.

[Hikoru 0]

Hikoru breathed and enjoyed the silence as he saw the town in the distance. He had completed the Quest with minimal effort, and now the girl who had been giving him grief for so long had finally learned to shut up. He sighed and enjoyed the silence, the sound of the surroundings, and for once he didn't have anything to complain about. But he couldn't lie to himself, he enjoyed the company of the girl, even if she did get under his skin. Once they were safely within the walls of the town, he turned to the girl and disbanded the party, and sent her a friend request, turning away as he did so.

"Here, in case you need to get into contact with me for a quest that your sorry butt needs to be carried in." He said, then turned away and walked to the nearby teleporter, crossed his arms and muttered "Teleport, Floor Twenty" and soon vaporized onto the frontlines. While he didn't need to be at this high of a level to train, he knew the girl wouldn't follow him unless she wanted to risk the chance of death, and even now he was doing that. He breathed and left the safety of that floors town to try and find some sort of giant bug to kill

[Vale 1]

The quiet walk was not to Vale's liking, yet Hikoru seemed far more content with this. Vale paid close attention to each action he did, she wasn't one hundred percent sure, but she was fairly certain that Hikoru was smiling after this whole debacle, 'If this is going to relax him, then I'll obliege. I do not need to speak, and he can be rid of my presence when we reach the town.' she thought to herself. Quite possibly the most depressing and saddening thought she had in a fairly short amount of time. When they finally passed the entrance of the main town, what she was expecting came to pass. He turned around to make it obvious he was ready to get away from her as fast as he could.

Vale's eyes widened when the man threw her a curve ball out of left field. She looked at the friend request that was staring her dead in the face, his words were still sharp and had some hostility to it. Though, he seemed to enjoy some sort of her presence in some way, shape, or form to send her a friend request of all things. Something that seemed actually rather sacred in this world. She couldn't bring herself to press a button yet as he took the immediate moment to teleport out of floor and to one of the highest unlocked floors which was made known in the information brokers journals. As he vanished into blue data particles, she decided to press the accept button, maybe he would want to spend more time with her in the nearby future. Anything was possible with that man at this point, he wasn't as emotionally disconnected as she originally thought.