[PP-F4] Threads of Fate <<Essence of Steel>>

[Telrenya 0]

"Y-yeah, you could say that..." She had replied with a nervous chuckle. She was neither ashamed nor embarrassed about her relationship with the Irishman, but this was not an appropriate time or place to carry on about such topics.

With the battle against the snow beast in full swing, Telrenya had moved to disengage in order to ready another empowered attack. Before she had the chance, however, it whipped around to face her, a vicious snarl escaping from behind bared fangs. Clearly, the creature didn't take well to her assault, and it lunged forward now that she had tipped the balance of the invisible scale that measured the target of its aggression.

Chocolate eyes went wide at the unexpected attack, but her reflexes managed to kick in just in time. She pushed off on one side, pulling her opposite shoulder forward before it made contact with the ground as she managed a dodge roll to the side. The maneuver was a bit disorienting, as she wasn't used to even such minor acrobatics, and she took a moment in a crouch to regain her senses. She was thankful that Aereth intervened to draw the monster's attention again--even in the split second she had to register the situation, she realized that she would've taken a nasty hit from the creature if he hadn't. Trying not to let the what-ifs distract her from the fight at hand, Telrenya pulled herself up to her feet while her blade took on another faint glow. "Right!" She replied readily at his instruction.

She took a similar approach to her initial attack. While the simple-minded creature stared the brunette down, she darted to the left, circling around to the monster's opposite flank. With an identical set of quick strikes, the tip of her rapier left eight fresh, glowing red marks upon the beast's hide.

ID# 92257 | BD: 8 - Hit!
(7 Base) x (8 Sword Art) = 56 DMG

[H: 3] Aereth 900/900 HP
[H: 3] Telrenya 360/360 HP | 21/36 EN | 7 DMG | 2 ACC | 1 EVA

<<Snow Beast>> 100/250 HP | 160 DMG (24 minimum)

[Aereth 1]

Before Aereth interfered, he watched closely how the blonde girl would deal with the attack attempt of the field boss. She managed to barely dodge the hit and thus didn't take any damage. But now she was on one knee and without his interference she would have gotten hit without a doubt. If she really wanted to become strong enough for the frontlines she would really need to work on her speed. For a fragile DPS, speed was one of the most important things to survive. In case the tank wasn't able to hold the focus of the boss only on him or her, the DPS units had to rely on dodging the hits they would otherwise receive.

Aereth danced and dodged around the raging beast with ease, while thinking about this whole stuff. Fighting simple mobs and field bosses had become natural to him after the long and intense training and grinding sessions. After another swipe of the beast Aereth suddenly crouched and pushed forward again, effectively getting under the face of the beast and retaliating with an strong uppercut stunner. He could swear that he was able to knock the huge beast of its feet for a couple of seconds, but maybe he was just imagining it. 

"Go, Go, Go. Hit it as long as its stunned." Aereth said to the blonde.

@Telrenya

ID# 92297 results:
Battle: 10; Hit
Damage: 16 on Snow Beast
MOB: 7-3; Miss
Damage: 0 on Aereth

[H: 5] Aereth 900/900 HP
[H: 3] Telrenya 360/360 HP | 21/36 EN | 7 DMG | 2 ACC | 1 EVA

<<Snow Beast>> 84/250 HP | 160 DMG (24 minimum) | Stunned (0/1)

[Telrenya 0]

She tried not to focus on her mistakes, but it proved difficult with how glaring they were. She had handled combat fairly enough during quests, and even practiced once or twice with Jomei, but after all that had happened over the past few weeks she hadn't taken the time to focus on her fighting skills again until now. As she readied another assault, she gave a roll of her dominant wrist that caused the blade of her weapon to circle in the air.

She thought back to any of the times she had watched the Irishman fight. He was always fast and nimble--never missing a strike while seldomn taking one in return. As her eyes darted from the field boss to the brunette, she could see a similar technique. Aereth hadn't taken a single point of damage despite taking most of the heat from the monster's attacks, and his own strikes had an unmistakable precision to them. In the midst of battle, she seemed to realize what it was she lacked, what she needed to improve on.

But the middle of a fight was far from the ideal time or place come to such revelations. The sound of Aereth's voice urging her forward pulled Telrenya's attention back to the present. She was slower to react than she otherwise would have been, inadvertently distracting herself from the task at hand. Still, she pushed forward for another attack, the tip of her rapier slicing several more pixelated holes into the beast's hide as she unleashed another empowered attack.

ID# 92350 | BD: 5 (+2 ACC) = 7 - Hit!
(7 Base) x (8 Sword Art) = 56 DMG

[H: 5] Aereth 900/900 HP
[H: 4] Telrenya 360/360 HP | 21/36 EN | 7 DMG | 2 ACC | 1 EVA

<<Snow Beast>> 28/250 HP | 160 DMG (24 minimum) | Stunned (0/1)

[Aereth 1]

"You did good... For now." Aereth said in a calculative voice as Telrenya was done with her final assault. The beast was almost dead and it would only take Aereth one more hit to get the job done. "But don't understand me wrong now... There is still much you need to do in order to be able to go to the frontlines. As you are right now, you wouldn't even survive the first attack wave. You need to hit harder, faster and even be ready to take a hit if you need to." With that Aereth completely removed his coat and flared the flames on his armor. "Just watch." he ordered as he waited for the stun of the monster to fade away. 

It took the monster just some more moments and it was once again storming towards  Aereth, but unlike the last few attacks, he decided to take a much more active role in the fight. Not waiting any longer for the monster to close the distance between them, Aereth also stormed forward at the highest speed his level 45 body could muster. He then dodged under the furious attack of the mob by stepping to the side, and with one swift turn of his body buried the back of his fist into it. A short whine escaped the monster, as Aereth quickly retreated his fist and immediately followed up with an devastating blow from his other one. It was his strongest sword art, and the field boss got thrown back quite a bit before finally bursting into tiny little polygons.

Slowly walking back to her while scrolling through the reward list for the kill, Aereth talked up again. "What I showed you right now is the least amount of attack power you will need in order to join the frontlines and help your guildmates clearing the game. And even then it isn't guaranteed that you will survive a fight..." He then closed his menu and looked at the girl. "Still ready to go through with your plans?" he asked in an cold tone, wanting to test her determination.

ID# 92846 results:
Battle: 5+3

[H: 5] Aereth 900/900 HP
[H: 4] Telrenya 360/360 HP | 21/36 EN | 7 DMG | 2 ACC | 1 EVA

<<Snow Beast>> 0/250 HP | 160 DMG (24 minimum) | Stunned (1/1)

[Telrenya 0]

Telrenya's bottom lip stiffened in dissatisfaction when Aereth's criticism reached her ears. She soon realized that she couldn't expect any less, especially if she was intending to regard the brunette as a mentor of sorts. She had already caught herself making mistakes through the length of the fight, and so she could only imagine the list of imperfections Aereth had likely noticed while he had observed her. She was probably lucky, she thought, that he was only giving her general feedback and not taking the opportunity to point out more specific critique.

She brought the tip of her rapier to the scabbard resting on her hip, sliding the blade away. Her chin pulled back up and their brown eyes met. His gaze was stern and unwavering, once again questioning her resolve. Of course she was afraid. The only thing Telrenya wanted to do right now was survive. She wanted to make it back home, see her parents again. She wanted to find Nick and live a normal life together, outside of Aincrad. She didn't want her parents to lose both of their children to this hellscape.

Putting herself in harm's way, taking on boss fights, and pushing both her mental strength and digital body to their limits--all of these things played with her chances of survival, bringing them far lower than if she were to hide away in her dusty Artisan shop or spend sleepless nights in Jomei's home in Taft while the Irishman was out doing that which she was too afraid to do herself. What would she do if one day he just never returned? Vanished from her friends list, becoming another crossed-out username on the Monument of Life?

Every one of her spiraling thoughts caused the lump in her throat to grow heavier, and the knot in her chest to pull tighter. She would rather fight and risk dying by his side than wait on the sidelines wondering if any more of her loved ones would die while she was staying 'safe'. Telrenya's chest rose with a deep breath, fighting back tears in the aftermath of her internal struggles. She met Aereth's stare with a hard gaze of her own, brows narrowed in a determined expression while she gave him a nod in response. She tried swallowing down the ball that had settled in her throat, opening her mouth to speak just as soon as she could be sure that the words would leave her with breaking. "Yes. I want to do this. I'm ready." She said definitively.

[Aereth 1]

Even thought he did not show it, Aereth was pleased to see the strength and resolve in the face of the blonde rapier user. She thought about the things he said to her and she acknowledged them. But she didn't back down or got demotivated. Mistakes were a good thing. Wear them as an armor, and they will make you stronger. With every mistake you make, you also have the opportunity to correct them. "Good." he said with a small hint of a smile on his face. "For today it is enough. I have to be somewhere in about... Sh*t. I'll be late." he cursed while glancing at the clock at the top of his HUD. 

"Meet me tomorrow morning at my shop again, so we can start working on your blade work. I'll show you some tricks." The brunette said, while he started to leave. "See ya."

Aereth gets: 1SP, 200Col, Essence of Steel

@Telrenya gets: 2SP, 200Col