[OP-F1] Training (Complete)

[Ichiro_Fumito 0]

Ichiro walked out of the safety of the Town of Beginnings for the first time since the launch of Sword Art Online. His tan skin, blue-gray armor, and long black hair starkly juxtaposed against the endless green of the field. "I need to start working to get us all out of this place," Ichiro spoke to himself as he walked around the field looking for enemies to fight in order to increase his level. As he wandered the field he saw a boar walking by. "Perfect," Ichiro said to himself with a smile. He took out his small sword and shield and slowly approached the boar. Ichiro approached his target cautiously with his shield up. He let his training on other difficulty based RPGs guide his actions. He intentionally walked slowly into the boars range of sight and waited. With a loud snort the bore turned towards him and prepared to strike. Ichiro readied his shield and sword for the bore's strike. As the boar charged Ichiro stood still awaiting his chance. Just as the boar's tusk began to strike the shield Ichiro shifted his weight and slanted his shield to force the boar to veer to the left of him. As the boar's tusk cleared his shield he thrust his sword just behind the boar's neck allowing the boar's own momentum to slice it into. The boar shattered as it died, and with a satisfied smile Ichiro turned to look for another adversary. (My apologies if this is wrong in any way, I have been hesitating to do my first post here because I was not sure exactly how it should be written)

[Kane 0]

<>

The first floor had been a good renewable source of monsters for Players to train on, and so the fields were chock full of people who had either focused on their craft, or who hadn't heard the news within those first few weeks and had put on the Nerve Gear helmet without knowing what they were getting themselves into. Kane was neither of these; instead he was hunting a monster, one specific monster that was supposed to drop a specific material.

As a sword for hire, Kane's employer this week was a Player who was scared to fight Gillmen, the aquatic mob monsters that lurked on the far side of the first floor's lake. Apparently there had been an incident in his childhood that made him afraid of fish. It wasn't a glamorous job, but hey, <

> was <>.

Making his way across the field, anyone who encountered him could see perfectly clear that Kane was a combat-oriented Player. His <> was a solid steel breastplate that was strapped over his tunic, and a crimson cloak was thrown about his shoulders like a mantle. Daggers peeked out of the knife belts strapped to his leg and waist, and he ran a gauntleted hand through his dark blonde hair. But the biggest clue was his primary weapon: The <>, an immense blade that looked too heavy for anyone to wield. The blade was as long as a war spear, and its flat was as wide as a shield. The metal gleamed a soft, luminescent green in the sunlight, suggesting that it was composed of Mithral. In truth, the blade was a Mithral/Adamantine compound that a blacksmith had constructed when forging his weapon. It wasn't drawn, for now. Instead, it hung upon a hooked harness across his back, only its lightweight metal letting the warrior stand under its weight. He avoided small mobs of Frenzy Boars and Dire Wolves, focusing on traversing the hillsides and fields as other Players gave him a wide berth.

Smiling at the sunlight dappling the digital fields, Kane's eye caught sight of an unfamiliar face. It was a Player his own age, or what looked like it, using a sword and shield to finish off a Frenzy Boar that he was engaging with. As the short blade sliced the Boar in twain, Kane made his way down the hill, calling in a friendly tone, "Nice move!" As he strolled forward, a small herd of the nasty pig creatures noticed his shout, and began approaching the pair with snuffling grunts. Kane drew a throwing blade, holding it at the ready as the boars approached. "Careful, there's more!"

[Trinoko 0]

Trinoko walked along through the fields of the first floor, humming a tune to himself as he looked around. What was not to love? A fantastical world and the mother of all goals slapped in front of him! It was true that he was not always as thrilled as he was now, however. Originally it had him terrified, completely frozen and huddled inside of the nearby inn. He was thankful for the day he gained a new opinion though. His equipment was plain, just a starter set of clothes and a throwing knife. His hair was brown and going to his shoulders, a slight wave to it, and his eyes were an equally dark brown. His skin was pale, not something one would be surprised about given the setting he thought.

He played with the throwing blade in his hand, tossing it up and catching it until something caught his attention. He heard the sound of talking and fighting, but wasn't quite able to work out the specifics. His <> was still too weak for something like that. He starts off towards the source, his curiosity taking control of his actions! He uses his <> to move faster, eager to see what had gotten his attention! He watched from atop a small hill, grinning when he saw the frenzy... but hesitated when he saw the players. One of them seemed to be about his level and experience, but the other was far stronger, clearly. After a minute of thought he sighs softly. "Might as well power level... Lord knows I need to catch up." He goes through his menus a bit, sending a swift party request to the two players, himself surprised they were not already partnered.

As soon as the requests were sent out, the blade in his hand was flung out from his grasp! The blade flew through the sky with surprising strength and accuracy and into the neck of a boar which approached the other two. His first assumption was that the system had assisted him, not exactly confident in his skill yet. As the knife hit the boar he saw it stick and leave a nice red scar-like set of pixels in it's wake when the boar shook it off.

[Daeron 1]

Daeron had been roaming the now weak plains on the first floor. He walked out of the woods that weren't as vast as any other on this player. Daeron continued to walk a path of gravel until he saw two players with beginners' gear. There was a third with a weapon he couldn't miss. It was Kane, a guy he'd recently beaten in a spar. Daeron decided that it was time to play a prank on the lower leveled.

Daeron then drew his <> and jumped in front of the group. "Alright, hand over everything you've got and I'll think about sparing one of you." he said as he held his weapon, combat ready. Daeron looked at the two lower leveled players to see they were frightened. Kane however knew Daeron on a different level, but unfortunately to him, not in a good way.

After seeing the two players become terrified, he put his weapon away and laughed. "Calm down, I'm not PK'ing anyone here. Today anyways." he said walking over to the players. "The name's Daeron. Level 12, front-liner. Need any help around the place?" he said. He then turned towards Kane, "And as for you old friend... how are you doing?" Daeron was being friendly, even to Kane, which honestly must raise suspicion.

[Kane 0]

Kane raised an eyebrow, unamused by Daeron's interruption. His sword was already out, slicing clean through a Frenzy Boar as he turned to face the new arrival. "Is that you, Daeron? C'mon, terrorizing the others isn't nice, especially since your... reputation precedes you." Turning to one side, he neatly flicked the point of his greatsword into the center of a Boar, crystallizing it. Daeron was being polite for once, which was... suspicious. Kane looked around at the others as he whirled his blade handily. "I think your assistance would be overkill, but the thought is appreciated."

[Trinoko 0]

Trinoko was already fairly suspicious, nothing technically stopped a person from deciding they wanted to become a PK after all, the PKer appearing had made him even more suspicious. He tensed up, having already used up one of his three blades, and was now essentially being told to hand over the remaining two!... Until he said it was a joke, making Trinoko sigh in relief. He, mindful of the PKer's position, flung his second and final throwing knife at the now approaching boar he had tagged earlier. When the beast fell, now a member of the deceased, he moved to where it fell and snagged the three throwing blades around it as swiftly as he could, not wanting to go without! He slides them into his belt, not willing to hold a weapon at the ready and provoke the person who called himself Daeron... and who was vastly outlevelling himself. "I... am not much in the position to deny help when offered." He chuckled softly, his low level apparent from his equipment, as basic as it got.

[Ichiro_Fumito 0]

After a moment Ichiro was able to move and talk again. It seemed that he suffered a moment of lag. (I'm really sorry for taking so long to reply I was off for a few days or so.) Ichiro had saw everything that had transpired. He trusted Kane whom seemed to have a friendly demeanor and also seemed honorable. He held a bit of suspicion over Daeron whom had admitted to being a PK. In this world that means he is a murderer. He was not willing to object to his presence openly, but he felt a sharp sense of unease. (No offence, just in character) Lastly of Trinoko he seemed new very but skilled. "My deepest apologies for not responding immediately, I seemed to have suffered a but of lag." Ichiro spoke.

[Kane 0]

Kane kept one eye on Daeron, and the other on the mob of Frenzy Boar that had appeared over the hilltop, which were now closing in on their little group, grunting and squealing. One had approached the lagging Ichiro, and Kane hurled a throwing dagger end over end, its saffron light ending the boar, shattering it like glass. As Ichiro came unstuck, Kane strolled towards him and Trinoko, scything his blade back and forth to drive back the mob of snorting beasts. "It's fine, your real-world body was probably just taken to the hospital. Happened to me too, a little while after this all started."

[Ichiro_Fumito 0]

Ichiro cautiously approach the boars that were approaching. He raised his shield and rushed at one of the boars. He used his shield to bash one, and his blade to stab it dead as it reeled back slightly. Ichiro managed to defend against another board's attack with his shield and take it out with two slashes of his blade. However the third boar managed to get a direct hit and knock Ichiro onto the ground. Ichiro scrambled to his feet in time to successfully block the boar, and subsequently cut it down as he did the first. (I hope I did the HP thing right.) "Nice to meet you all" Ichiro spoke.

Ichiro HP : 4/5

[Trinoko 0]

Trinoko took a breath and returned his attention to the enemies that approached. He drew his throwing blade and threw it at one that seemed particularly upset with him. "Mine was a little strange. There I was enjoying a delicious bowl of soup and then I POP back in a while later and suddenly my soup is boiling hot to freezing cold." He chuckles and shakes his head, gasping as his distraction gets him grazed by the angered boar's tusk. "Sunnava!" He makes several hops into the boar's blindspot before throwing a second blade and then holding his third and final dagger like a dagger he shanks the boar, it squealing as its HP gets depleted and Trinoko gathers up his discarded blades before the next threat struck.

((You did it right. I think I was level... two when I started in here?))

Trinoko - 6/7hp

[Guest]

Grim had just walked outside of the gates leading to the Town of Beginnings, and was hoping to level himself up. He only just left the gates and all of a sudden, he notices a group of players in the distance. Grim says to himself, "Hmm... seems im not the only one around here who's trying to level up, maybe it would be in my best interest to go and see if i can join them". Grim slowly walks up to them, and as soon as he is in hearing distance, he yells "Yo!!!! Mind if I join you?" Waiting for a chance to hear back, Grim notices a boar not to far to his left. So with a devilish grin on his face, he draws his curves blade and charges toward the boar.

[Guest]

As soon as the boar was within striking range, Grim quickly dashes to his right, tripping the boar with his legs, sending the boar within the air, as it was within mid-flight, Grim swings his sword with all his might cutting it in half, killing it in the process. As Grim sheathes his curved blade he looks up to the other players, he awaits their response to his previous question.

[Ichiro_Fumito 0]

Ichiro turned when he heard the yell and saw a player that had just finished killing a boar. "Sure, fine by me." Ichiro yelled back. Ichiro waved and turned his attention back to the surroundings to look for another enemy. A distance away he noticed a lone dire wolf. "Hmm, this is different," Ichiro spoke to himself. Ichiro walked towards the dire wolf, thinking that it must be stronger than the boars and may give a higher XP reward. Ichiro approached cautiously from behind the wolf in order to avoid its attention. Once in range Ichiro readied his sword and rushed at the wolf from behind. Ichiro managed to avoid the wolf's detection and cut into the wolf with his sword.

Ichiro 4/5

Dire Wolf 3/4

[Kane 0]

Kane looked around at the Players, all of whom were fighting their various opponents quite handily. Suddenly, he spotted the creatures he was really here to take out: Gillmen. He rushed them, weaving between his allies' blades and trying to cleave through two of them at once with his massive war sword.

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CRITICAL

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The Gillmen shrieked harshly as Kane's blade smote them through, shattering them into crystals. There were a few more coming over the hill, most likely from the lake across the way. He settled into a defensive stance as they spotted him.

[Guest]

As Grim walks up to the hill to join his new comrades, he notices two possible enemies he can fight, a lone wolf, or the Gillmen. not sure who to help, he rushed to the lone wolf drawing his curved blade. As soon as Grim gets to Ichiros's location he notices his hp is slightly lower than normal. "Seems you lost some health, let me back you up, I don't need you dying."

[Guest]

Grim quickly calculates a plan in his head, "Ok", he says, "Lets try to pincher attack him, you have a shield, you stay to his front." "I'll take him on from the back, we'll attack him from both sides."

[Ichiro_Fumito 0]

"Works for me," Ichiro said as he readied his shield for the Dire Wolf's strike. Ichiro moved so that the dire wolf's back was turned to Grim. The wolf was snarling wildly, preparing to attack. The dire wolf began to run in a straight line toward Ichiro but at the last moment it changed trajectory and attacked from Ichiro's side. Ichiro was taken by surprise and the wolf bit his leg ferociously and jumped back.

Ichiro: 3/5

Dire Wolf 3/4

[Kane 0]

Kane was engaging the Gillmen, when he noticed that the others weren't faring so well. Knocking one down with a heavy kick, he retreated, backing towards Grim, Ichiro, and Trinoko. "Looks like you guys could use a hand! Stay with me, push them back!" Kane swung his immense greatsword in a figure eight, illuminated by the red blaze of his <> Sword Skill. He swung hard at the wolf!

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7+1= 8

HIT

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Kane's blade crashed into the wolf, sweeping it into the air where it dissolved with a keening howl. Looking around, Kane saw that there were still the occasional boar noticing them, as well as a few Gillmen as well. "Cover each other, use those shields! Retreat if your health gets too low, nobody dies today!"

[Guest]

"Oh thank", Grim says."Had it covered, but thanks, much appriciated" "By the way was going to come give ya a hand with those Gillman, when we where done here, but now where gonna have to change tactics, everyone form a back-to-back defencesive stance." "Don't let them get to close, Ichiro, you and I are on the Boars, Kane use that greatsword to knock back the Gillmen, make sue they keep there distance from us."

[Ichiro_Fumito 0]

"Appreciate it Kane, and got it Grim." Ichiro said. Ichiro rushed to the nearest boar and slashed at it. Two board charged at him upon seeing his attack. Ichiro pulled up his shield and readied himself. Relying on the lessons that difficulty based games have taught him he calmed his mind and held his shield firmly. As the first boar attacked he slanted his shield and he boar veered off to the right. He did the same for the second boar but sh it veered off to the left he plunges his blade into its eye, letting the momentum of the boar increase the damage of his blade. The boar shattered and died as the other one was charging again. Ichiro did the same for that boar and it died also.