[PP - F1] Continuing the Tutorial << Second Lesson >>

[Invious 0]

Invious had remember a while ago that she had began the beginner quests with a figure named "Telrenya", however she didn't fully remember why they didn't finish it together, perhaps she just took too long to want to do the second quest and maybe she had just moved on, she shrugged it off though, she was used to having people leave her life at this point. However, she didn't feel like getting through these mindless quests on her own, she had approached a bulletin board in which many many players had put up posts, Invi had shrugged and had the immediate thought that this was somewhat sketchy however she just needed to find someone that could help her:

Quote

Hello, my name is Invious, I am a level 3 looking to try to finish the beginner quests, however I have no one to accompany me through them. You don't have to help me through them all, one quest is enough for me. I'll be around Floor 1 Bulletin Board, look for a snake mask.

@Shield

[Shield 0]

Shield had been scanning the first floor bulletins a lot lately, and he wasn't one hundred percent why. Perhaps the grind up on the twenty first floor had become too monotonous for him. Perhaps he felt that part of his duty as a front-liner was to propel other players up to join the front lines along side him. Whatever the reason, he found himself, yet again, scanning the listings, looking for players who needed help. It didn't take him long to find one.

"Invious," he said aloud to himself. "Doesn't exactly sound like a friendly name, but let's hope that's only a name." He composed a message, thinking over his words and jotting down his reply.

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"Hello Invious,

My name is Shield. I've done my share of carries and could give you a hand. I've done those quests myself a long time ago. Count me in. I'll meet you soon. Look for a mask that's actually a shield.

-Shield

An hour later, after closing up his shop and making the trek to Taft to use the teleportation plaza, he made his way to the first floor bulletin board, trying his best to see over the crowd. On his back, he wore his iconic Manticore Mask shield, its elongated teeth and glaring red eyes piercing their way unseeingly through the crowd.

A snake mask... who here has a snake mask...

[Invious 0]

Invious had waited a bit, she had sat down on one of the many benches reading the guide book provided by the beta testers... it was strange though, it seems these beginner quests are not listed within this book at all, maybe its possible that these quests where last minute additions? Invious didn't really know, however she didn't really keep track of time. Invi had closed her book and looked up and around, it didn't seem anyone was looking for anyone, so she figured no one had seen it yet, however it didn't hurt to look. She had saw that there was a response to her quest, she took it and read it he said he'll meet him soon, however she didn't really know when or what this person meant when he said to look for a mas thats actually a shield, does he mean his name? Does he carry a shield? Invi sighed, she figured to take a seat back onto her bench and placed her hands upon her lap as she looked around for this man.

@Shield

[Shield 0]

Looking through the crowd on lower floors was always a little awkward. Whether or not Shield wanted it, carrying as many low level players as he had done had created a name for himself, not to mention being a front liner in the first place. He was doing his best to both look and avoid eye contact at the same time, but there were still occasional fingers pointed in his direction. Moving deeper into the crowd, he came upon a bench and sat himself down.

There was already a player there, but he avoided looking at whoever it was right away, keeping his face angled slightly down as if he was merely a little distracted rather than trying to keep from being noticed. Eventually, he managed to sneak a sidelong glance only to see what was clearly the serpentine mask he was looking for. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned to face the player properly.

"Sorry, I was a little preoccupied," Shield said with a nod of greeting. "Shield. You must be Invious."

[Invious 0]

Invious had looked around to see that a couple of people were pointing fingers at a man, she had wondered... were they bullying him? We're they recognizing him? She inhaled and exhaled, she then shrugged it off, it was a feeling she knew all too well however its none of her business. Eventually the man had taken a seat facing away from her, she had offered a smile before looking back forward. Eventually out of the corner of her eye the man had looked over then shifted over to greet her. Invious had let out a small chuckle as she said out calmly and with a royal tone "It's no problem, however its not hard to tell that I am judging how I am wearing a snake mask. It's a pleasure meeting you Shield, however tell me something..." she moved her head to face Shield's and with a small smile she had said "These people pointing at you, are they making fun of you or...?" she waited for Shield to interrupt and answer the question.

@Shield

[Shield 0]

"No," Shield said, sighing as he continued to avoid their gaze. "Can we talk about it once we're out of town? It's nothing bad, I'm just not a big fan of being in the middle of all this." He stood and motioned with his head for Invious to follow suit. "We've got plenty to do besides." He brought up his map, making a few quick mental notes about navigating the town before heading off in direction that he remembered once hunting boar pups himself.

It wasn't that he disliked being around the other players in general. He just didn't much feel like being the center of attention. The further they walked, the more the town thinned out, having fewer and fewer tall buildings to obstruct their view until finally they left the safe zone altogether, taking off into the wilderness of the first floor.

"Well," he said, trying to think of a good way to explain the scene in the crowd. "I've been around the first floor a few times. Done a lot of carries. People start learning who you are after a while. Especially when you pick a support class, a lot of low leveled players who went for the more flashy builds are wanting someone to back them up. I like helping. Just not everyone at once, you know?"

[Invious 0]

Invious had grew a bit of a wider smile, however she eventually stood up to meet Shield's request's "I don't suppose I have anything to argue about that, I just need to talk to Lyle holder of the quest, I presume this package is for him, its just been sitting around in my inventory for a while now. Hopefully AI doesn't get extremely mad." she had let out a small chuckle as it was a joke towards the real world on how people would take too long to do things. Eventually Shield had spoken out about how he helps out a lot of beginners on this floor and that he likes helping, Invi had looked over with a smile as he placed the tip of her fingers and thumb together "That sounds rather generous of you to help out many people, however is it really worth having all these people pointing fingers and knowing you? It feels like your name could be found in the hands of people you don't want them to." she looked back forward to the Lyle's shop before looking back to Shield.

@Shield

[Shield 0]

Shield considered those words, but eventually he shrugged them off. "Other players don't scare me," he sad, glancing back over his shoulder. "At least not any of the players down here. I'm useless at offense, but defensively, I can hold my own. In any case, I don't exactly view my aid as kindness, necessarily," he added, folding his arms over his chest as they walked. "I was helped when I first got my start. It's a big part of why I was able to progress as quickly as I did. In any case, once you get to the front, it only moves so quickly. The only way to get it moving faster is to build more strong players, and that starts from the bottom up. It's not charity so much as it is strategy." 

They drew level with the shop and Shield paused outside. "Go ahead and do what you need to do." He settled himself against the side of the building, leaning against the outside and flipping through his inventory absentmindedly. 

[Invious 0]

Invious had given a small grin after his response, however he seems to be failing to see how his defense is his greatest weakness, she had looked a little bit over to Shield and said "What if you were to eventually find yourself against someone or something against Phase, what do you do then?" she offered a proper smile before looking back forward. "I suppose that is fine, I suppose whether or not its charity is in the mind of others receiving the help rather than giving." she had given the man a response to his statements towards the help, she didn't really mind him thinking as such, she just feels as though he might have just the wrong thought process is all. Eventually they had made it to the store where she needed to talk to man, Shield had given her the respect on doing what she needed to do, however he knew what she needed to do. There wasn't much change in dialogue, the man didn't even seem phased how late this package actually was, and gave her the things that she needed to do, a simple objective. She had stepped outside and told Shield "I'm pretty sure you remember what we need to do, so lets get straight to work shall we?" she said looking over to him with a friendly smile.

@Shield

[Shield 0]

As Invious returned from the inside of the shop, Shield leaned back forward onto his feet and started walking towards the field where he and Beat had hunted boar pups so long ago.

"I've dealt with Phase before," Shield said with a nod of his head. "Cerberus, the ninth floor field boss, has three heads, each with game-breaking phase attacks. It even had a few lucky combo attacks, and I managed to stay within the green gauge of my health, and I doubt I was even half the level I am now."

To one who was only a casual observer, this might sound like boasting, but to Shield, numbers and strategy were the sea in which he swam. His former life as a statistician had made him who he was, and who he was was a player who knew the risks long before he faced them.

"That is not to say I take Phase lightly. It is formidable, but it requires quite a lot of luck on the part of the attacker, it only ignores a portion of defenses, and it can't ignore shields at all, which is one of my greatest sources of defense. Even on a crit, I've never seen a player in SAO who could do enough to one-round kill me, even without any of my defenses up." The edge of town was in sight now, just beyond the last set of houses. "Besides, even after a lucky hit, I have a number of means at my disposal for immediately replacing a considerable amount of health."

As they walked, they left the boundaries of the town, leaving the safe zone entirely and entering the first floor wilderness. The area where the boar pups spawned was barren, more like badlands than grasslands, but this seemed more an aesthetic choice on the parts of the designers than anything else.

"Keep an eye out," he said, his own eyes already on the move. "In order to finish the quest objectives, you'll need to take point. I'm here as backout and to bail you out if the fight turns south."

[Invious 0]

Invious had given out a smile, while he had said he had some fights with phase, mainly Cerberus she had shook her head, was he not worried about what could potentially be a thing in the future? Or does he really think he is truly immortal? Before she could say anything, Shield had spoken out once more. He truly does have a point, however he still probably hasn't had the future in mind. Invious had spoken out and said "What about the future Shield? Do you not worry that a boss, floor boss, or something worse were to come with Phase, and maybe even striking though all your mitigation regardless. What do you do then Shield?" eventually they had left the boundaries of the town leaving the safe zone, however... Invi didn't feel worried at all, majority of the mobs around were low enough for Shield to protect her from, so she could fight with having Shield in the back if things were to get bad. Invious had pulled out her basic rapier out from her cloak hiding it and swiped at the boar with one of the powerful sword arts nearly killing it however the boar had struck back dealing a good bit of damage towards Invi.

@Shield

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ID: 92354 - BD: 6 [Hit!] - MD: 6 [Hit!]
Sword Art Used: Rip Ravine [2*2=4]
Invious: 57/60 - 4/6
Boar Pup: 1/5 - DMG: 3

[Shield 0]

"Before you worry about my future, I'd focus on your present," Shield said, nodding towards the mob in front of Invious.

The fight was only just winding up, and it seemed to be going well so far, but he was already beginning to see some things about his quest companion that would be best to leave alone. She was opinionated. That much was clear. She clearly had a quick and agile mind, but there was something unsettling about the offhandedness by which she tried to tell Shield about being a tank. He decided it was best to give her the benefit of the doubt. Many players just had differing philosophies regarding combat. Some truly believed that if you were taking up the defense, you were submitting to your opponent's whims. It was much like being caught playing your opponent's game during a chess match. While there was a basis for such beliefs, SAO was very different from chess. Still, Shield could think of no other reason that someone with so much less experience than him might try telling him what's what about his own role on the battlefield.

Perhaps she's making assumptions about my beliefs. She seems to think I don't worry about things. If that's the way she sees it, then she's mistaken my attempts to be prepared for a perception of invulnerability.

His memory strayed back to how worried he had been in the midst of the fight with Cerberus, as well as another fight where he took even more heavy damage. He shrugged off those memories, having already hashed through them countless times. They were much of what caused him to remake his build in the first place, ensuring that he have as much hit point recovery at his disposal as possible.

[Invious 0]

Invious had gotten a little frustrated, about the boar's assault, however it must be because Invious isn't that experienced with fighting in this game in the first place, in fact... this might be her first time, however, shes already impressed with herself to deal a good chunk of damage towards the Boar Pup. She had looked back to Shield as the Boar Pup struck her, however he seemed like he was more in thought than she had imagined, however she wasn't going to be beaten at this point. She had stabbed the boar with a basic attack to kill it, however she was unsuccessful in getting one of the tusk's needed for the quest objective. "Better luck next time." she had said out calmly as the boar pup was defeated and got nothing in return. "Do you think you are immortal or am I missing something here Shield?" she had asked calmly wanting to clear up any tension or confusion.

@Shield

---

ID: 92361 - BD: 7 [Hit!] - MD: 8 [Hit!]
ID: 92362 - LD: 9 [Not Found.]
Sword Art Used: Basic Attack [2*1=2]
Invious: 54/60 - 4/6
Boar Pup: -1/5 - DMG: 3

[Shield 0]

"Quite the contrary," he answered, nodding as she more or less confirmed what she had implied a moment ago. "There is no perfect strategy, but there are better ones. Knowing I'm not immortal is the reason I've taken as many steps as I have to protect myself. I can't afford to not make it back to the real world. Phase is one of the reasons I have heals on backup. In the end, a powerful boss will almost always kill a player if given enough time. The best shot a tank has is to slow down that clock so that it takes more time to kill me than it takes the DPS to kill the boss."

Throughout the field, boar pups popped into existence, each milling about and grazing absentmindedly on the rough tufts of grass around the otherwise barren landscape. It was only a matter of time before one of them spawned near enough for the players to pull aggro. Shield kept them in the corners of his vision, but for the most part, he only needed to worry about keeping Invious in his line of sight. As long as he could see her, it would be very tough for something to sneak up on her without Shield seeing. As they paused between fights, Shield summoned up a globe of light in his hand.

"Here. Top off your energy."

He lofted the sphere to her like a slow-moving softball, watching as her energy bar rose back up to full.

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Action: Energizing  Invious

Shield: -10 EN
Invious: +8 EN

 

Edited December 16, 2017 by Shield

[Invious 0]

Invious had listened to Shield as he went on, she basically looked down and thought to herself, he wasn't wrong. It's better to have the best strategy you could have, however she just found dealing no damage what so ever to be somewhat dangerous or not such a great idea to do, however tis to be different she supposed. Eventually Shield had passed her some energy back into her system, she had looked to Shield and said to him with a bow "Thank you however I still had some left over energy from the last battle. However I still appreciate it." However it didn't take much time to see another boar in the distance, Invi had grinned and got her rapier ready to strike it, however upon trying to hit it, it just lead to her opening a weak point where the boar pup had struck her. She fell to the ground "Tsk." she had let out.

@Shield

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ID: 92364 - BD: 3 [Miss!] - MD: 7 [Hit!]
Sword Art Used: Failed Attempt
Invious: 51/60 - 4/6
Boar Pup: 5/5 - DMG: 3

[Shield 0]

"I can see that," Shield answered. "However, it's just as easy to do it now than to wait until you're out. At low levels, all it takes is a few misses and you're stuck with basic attacks. Besides, I've got plenty to spare."

Shield stood with his arms crossed, observing the fight closely. Despite his quest partner overbalancing and taking another hit, her health gauge was still relatively in tact. He held off on interfering further for now. There was no need just yet. She would need to take considerably more damage for there to be a problem. A the sounds of combat, several of the other boars came running to aid their brothers. Shield stepped in their path, barring their way. They lunged at him, squealing in computerized agony as they collided with him and burst on the spot, victim's to his defensive damage.

"Stay sharp," he called out. "I should be able to keep any extras off of you, so stay focused on your target and you should be fine."

[Invious 0]

"Easy for you to say." Invi had said back with a growl when he had said to stay sharp, she didn't offer more than a nod when he had replied with him calling out that he should be able to keep any extra's off from her and stating she was fine. She shook her head slightly, hopefully he was there to truly help her not just watch her die. Invi had tried to get up however the boar pup had hit her back down, Invi slightly moving her mask as it had moved a bit and she had tightly gripped her rapier and hit the boar pup away with her with a sword art dealing almost its entire HP bar of damage. She had gotten rather upset with its attack it nearly moved her mask. However she had taken a deep breath, she wasn't going to let this sort of thing affect her like this, it was only minor, however if it fully came off she would had gotten extremely mad.

@Shield

---

ID: 92366 - BD: 8 [Hit!] - MD: 8 [Hit!]
Sword Art Used: Rip Ravine [2*2=4]
Invious: 48/60 - 4/6
Boar Pup: 1/5 - DMG: 3

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 92385 results: Loot: 11+3=14 - No mats

As the fight continued, Shield skirted the edge of the scuffle, watching as Invious and the young boar traded blows. Around the perimeter, he occasionally got close enough to pull the attention of another boar, but as soon as the low-level mob would charge him, it would inevitably evaporate into blue shards of light. As he circled, he kept his eye on the ground. Although materials from this floor had not been as useful up to this point, his home's kitchen meant being able to make good use of what he found for relatively cheap.

He ran his toes through a tuft of dried greenery, but to no avail. He returned his eyes to the fight, keeping careful tabs on how quickly Invious' health depleted. His prior encouragement had not seemed to go over particularly well, so he held off for the moment, choosing to remain as an observer rather than pepping up the other player.

Edited December 16, 2017 by Shield

[Invious 0]

The battle raged on, Invious had looked around as she had tried to fight this boar pup, seeing more and more boar pup's around them being spawn, but never past a certain amount. Thankfully they were aggro'd onto her or shield, it would had been a pretty bad time if they had to fight numerous ones at a time. Invi had looked back forward to the boar pup that was nearly dead in front of her, she needed to get three boar tusks, she doesn't fully know how hard that could be, however hopefully it doesnt take too long or too tedious for Invi to handle. She had moved forward to try to fight the boar pup that was in front of her, however her attack was simply just too sloppy, the boar had struck back with a crit and pushed Invi back a bit, Invi looking forward wasn't happy to say the least.

@Shield

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ID: 92463 - BD: 2 [Miss!] - MD: 10 [Crit!]
Sword Art Used: Failed Attempt
Invious: 45/60 - 3/6
Boar Pup: 1/5 - DMG: 3

[Shield 0]

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ID# 92478 results: Loot: 10+3=13 - No Materials

The quest was apparently off to a rough start. Although they were down one pup, and the next was nearly dead, Invious seemed to be having trouble landing a hit. She was even down what seemed to be about a quarter of her health. Once this fight was over, they might need to take a rest or use healing items before continuing to push for quest items.

I don't remember this being so frustrating before... but then again, Beat and I were both low level then, and we both needed tusks. Also, I suppose I didn't have my thorns then, so we could more closely control the flow of the fight. It was not so all or nothing.

Still, despite the frustrations, Shield hung back, leaving on his combat gear in case he should need to intervene quickly. He doubted that moment would come any time soon, but he wanted to be prepared none the less.

Edited December 17, 2017 by Shield