(PP-F4) Here we are, once again <Essence of Steel>

[Eatos 0]

Spoiler

Requirements:
-At least two [2] Pages (21 or more posts)
- The Snow Beast must be defeated

Snow Beast Information:
<Snow Beast> is a Field Boss and has the following statistics:
HP: 250
Damage per Attack: 160
Special Ability: Partial Phase- Snow Beast will always deal a minimum of 24 damage, even through Armor and Armor Abilities.

Rewards:

1. Essence of Steel: an incredibly rare monster drop that allows a player to enhance a weapon, armor, or accessory and improve it's quality by one level. (Example, an Uncommon Weapon becomes a Rare Weapon.) Enhanced Gear is eligible for new Item Enhancements and must be approved through the Crafting Item Evaluation Topic.
   Note: This item CANNOT change a weapon's Tier. (Example, a Tier 1 weapon becomes a Tier 2).

Eatos couldn't not find it, to a degree, somewhat amusing. She had done this once before, and it had been rather, well, easy. This time, it was similar. Her talents as a Blacksmith were still to be improved, and she had work. Hei, her guild mate and fellow leader, had given her an order only to 'fail'. He wanted a Perfect Tier 2 weapon, and she had only been successful in making a Rare. She knew how to resolve it, but lacked the ability to kill the monster. This time, however, well, it was a repeat.

She opened her messaging system and made a quick one out to him "Hey Hei, i need help doing the Essence of Steel for your weapon. I didn't manage to make it the way you wanted, so i could use the help"

After sending the message, the girl grabbed her armour. Guardian Angel, and equippted it. Well, 'Armour', it was mostly just a shirt and jacket, but it gave her the evasion she needed to stay alive in fights, so who was compaining, not her. 

@Hei

[Hei 0]

Hei was waiting for his new Items he had ordered at Eatos Armoury as he had reached Tier 2 a few days earlier and he was planning to go and hunt big monsters with Stryder and a few more guildmates to collect col for their guildhall. As Eatos hadn't massaged him he was unsure what to do, sure, he could always just go out and gather some materials, but then this was boring and he had done it way to often lately. Chilling in his room, he got the message Eatos had sent him and instantly opened it, he had hoped that the weapon had been done, but reading that she hadn't been able to craft it as good as he had ordered and that she wanted to enhance it with the essence of steel, Hei jumped from his bed and got ready to do the quest once more.

He remembered that the weather had been terrible the last time he had done it, and so he quickly walked to his workshop, looking through the material he had there and with a few already mastered steps he had crafted warm clothing that would fit underneath his armour. Remembering that he hadn't answered Eatos, he quickly opened the message once more and clicked the reply button. @Eatos Hey, nice to hear from you. I can understand it, crafting has been hard lately. I'll be at your place in an hour, so we can leave for the cave. Hei

Spoiler

Hei: 520/520HP  | 52/52 Energy | 3 EVA | 3 ACC | 9 DMG

Skills:
Gatherer
Rank 5 Weapon (OH AS)
Survival
Fishing

Battle Ready Items:
The Champions Robes (LD +3)
T1 Overhealth Potion
T1 Damage Potion
Natures Blessing (3 Charges)

 

[Eatos 0]

Eatos got her reply from Hei. In part, she knew it was annoying that he had to come bail her out of yet another crafting failure. But with the recetn edits to the system, crafting was just that much harder and out of her control. She used to have such good success, then they changed the system and now it was failure, one after another. It was annoying.

Smiling at the reply, the girl took a deep breath and looked out the back window she had in her store. The weather seemed rather peaceful, but then again, that could change at a moments notice. She hoped it would stay like this, if not, well ,she did have Angel by her side as always. She petted the familiars head lazily as she looked at the snow outside her store. It was like back home, but not. She hated how similar, yet different, the real world, and this one, really were.  

'I'll see you when you get here' was the girls simple reply as she forced herself to look up. Now wasn't the time to think of back home

[Hei 0]

When Eatos' next message arrived, Hei had already left his shop to head to the teleportation platform. Even though he already was in the town of beginnings, where it was placed, it took him half an hour to arrive, as his store was closer to the towns edge and the town was really big. Her message was short, but as he hadn't asked anything, that wasn't unusual. - It's nice that I'll see her again, the last time was on this valentines ball and I lost her pretty early on. And I don't think it was the place she wanted to be, so maybe going out there in the snow of her fourth floor will be better. - he thought as he arrived at the teleporter. Once again he checked, that he had activated the passive survival skill he had obtained with Atzo, as he knew it would help with the cold on the fourth floor, then he stepped on the platform and said "Snowfrost" and nearly had to laugh while the teleport began, as the towns name was just so fitting for the floor.

After the teleport, the first thing he saw was the blinding white of the floor. It seemed the weather was good, which just made everything sparkle in the sun. The snow that covered everything was so bright white, that it nearly hurt to look at it, but at least he wasn't in a blizzard like last time. Squinting his eyes, he was able to find his way towards the stone building Eatos' Armoury was housed and knocked on the door before entering. Once he saw Eatos and Angel, he smiled and greeted them. "Hey Eatos, nice to see you. And nice to see you, too." he added, squatting, so he was on the same with Angel and getting some sausage of his inventory for the husky.

[Eatos 0]

The girl stood at the window, at the back of her store, and spent her time looking out at the snow. It was calming, it reminded her so much of home. Staring at the snow through a window, it was so much like home. In part, she missed it so much. Yet, this floor, in a way, was her home now. It had been her home for ages, and would be for the foreseeable future. She felt Angel, her Husky familiar, bump into her leg and bark once. Someone was approaching her store, her familiar had started doing that recently.

She turned around, right as the door opened and Hei stepped in. It was nice to see him, he was reliable for this quest series. Well, anything really. It was comforting to know that she could message him, at really any time, about anything, and he’d be there to help her. “Hey Hei, it’s been a while” she said happily as Angel ran forwards.

The Husky liked Hei, and barked happily, her tail wagging rapidly as she was given food. The Husky chomped it down and tried to lick his face “Thanks for helping with this, crafting recently has been a little harder of late and, well, I’m still not able to do combat quests on my own…”

[Hei 0]

Once he had entered the store, Eatos had greeted him as well, and Angel had ran towards him, happy to be given some extra attention and the sausage wasn't bad either. After she had chomped it down, she tried to lick his face and Hei had to hold the husky off with both his hands to not get bathed in dog tongue. He had to laugh about this, but then he stood up again, and Eatos thanked him for helping with the quest. "There's no need for thanking me for that. It's for my weapon over all and you helped me when I had to do it as well. And yes, you're right, I noticed it too, must have been some kind of system update that changed the crafting system. I have trouble crafting really good items as well, so I can understand." then he fell silent for a moment before he added "It's not a problem, you are a healer over all, and your build probably doesn't support solo fights. So  I am happy to help out with what ever combat there will be."

 

[Eatos 0]

Angel barked a few times, nothing aggressive, but barks of seemingly joy as the Husky moved in circles around, rubbing up against Hei’s legs. The husky could tell that the human, the friend of her master, didn’t want kisses. So instead, she entertained herself by ‘petting’ the human with affection for feeding her.

Eatos smiled at the boy, then frowning. She actually had no idea, about, well, much about him. His name, where he was born. Nothing about his real life, then again. He didn’t know much about her, now that she thought about it. The only person who knew anything about her real life, was Silver and Stryder. And even then, Stryder knew very little. It was, sadly, ironic in its own little way. “Well, I’m grateful for the help, the constant changing in the system is something I’ll admit annoys me, but guess we don’t have much in ways of a choice eh?” She let out a sad sigh shrugging “Well, the weather is looking better so we may we well get going now eh?”

[Hei 0]

"Yeah, there isn't much we can do about the system changing. It's not like we can stop playing the game" he said in a joking voice, hoping that she would understand that he wasn't serious. Joking about a the death game wasn't what most people would do, so he was really unsure about what he said. He focussed back onto the coming task, when Eatos asked him if they should go, as the weather was pretty good for this floor, and Hei was happy that she had done so. "Yeah, we should get going, or the weather gods might make a joke out of it, letting us wander through a storm like last time."
When he left the building, the sun was still shining and the snow reflected it, sparkling in the sunshine as the thousand crystals it was. "Woah, that is nearly as bad as the storm" he said while squinting to protect his eyes from the brightness. He waited for the two to follow him outside before he made his way towards the towns edge, heading towards the cave where they had fought the monster last time.

[Eatos 0]

The girl let out a quiet chuckle at Hei, his joke had indeed amused her, even if it was somewhat dark in nature. She smiled, he was reliable, if nothing else, and she knew she could trust him, in and out of combat. Hearing they were planning on going, the girl clicked her fingers and Angel moved to her owners side. She had been teaching her familiar to come to her, and clicking was a simple one she could use to get her familiars attention when she got distracted. Pleased that the Husky was learning the lesson the blacksmith had spent nearly a month teaching, they set out towards the cave.

The first step in the snow brought an odd pleasing sensation within the blue-haired girl as they walked to the cave, after all, quests don’t change much. Nearing Hei’s comment, the girl looked at him. She was wearing her Guardian Angel armour, but nothing covering her amber eyes as she looked around at the white snow with a gentle caring smile “You think? Maybe its because I grew up with this, but I love this weather. The snow is just, beautiful…pure”

[Hei 0]

Still squinting from the bright white of the snow, Hei replied to Eatos. "It might be, I have had enough snow in my childhood as well, but most of the time the weather was bad when the snow had fallen. Mostly always there have been clouds protecting me from this bright light. But yeah, I could see it being nice if I got shades or something like that." With the time they were walking, his eyes adjusted to the light around him, and he could really see how it was really nice weather.
They left the village and slowly made their way towards the icy cavern they were supposed to go. Once they arrived at the destination, Hei had a first glance at the cave, as he hadn't really seen it the last time, as there had been the storm. - It really looks like the perfect home for the giant ice monster we have to kill. The last time it was way more dark, but I really like the icy cavern look - he thought, analysing the games design. When he realized what he was doing, he had to smile, as he once again fell back into the old habits of his job. "Looks like an epic entrance. So wanna go in?"

[Eatos 0]

The walk through the snow mostly filled the girl with happiness, of an odd kind. She loved this weather, it was like back home where she used to live. Calm pure snow up and down the street, people playing in them, a husky at her side. All too much of it was like home. It was, a shame, that so much of it was different now.

Arriving at the cave, the girl looked at her belt. Her Katana sat there, and yet, she hesitated. She didn’t want to draw her blade, she knew the dangers of breaking down if she did. She moved towards it, before her hand jolted away from her weapon, afraid of it. She did her best to smile at Hei as she spoke to her.

“Yeah, it’ll be the same as last time. You fight it, I’ll make sure you don’t get hurt…” A cowards way, in part. She was just, too scared, to drew her blade. Last time she did, she had a mental breakdown. She couldn’t afford to do that here….

[Hei 0]

While ha was looking at the giant entrance to the cave, he did not see the hesitation and fear in Eatos face, and when he turned to her, she smiled at him. He realized that it looked a little forced, but he had already learned that Eatos had a hard time smiling and showing happiness, maybe even feeling happy, so he acted as if he hadn't noticed it. When she had then told him, that it would be the same as last time, him fighting and her healing, he had nodded with a smile on his face. "Alright, if that's how we should do it, I'm down for it. It shouldn't be a big problem to kill the monster, so let's head down this cave and find our big beast." he said and started walking into the cave that screamed of death.
Down inside the icy cave, he saw the skull that was waiting for him to hit it with some of the bones that were scattered across the floor around it. He had done this once before, but before he would hit the skull and summon the mob, he turned to Eatos once more. "Ready to start the fight?"

[Eatos 0]

The girl had no idea if Hei saw through her smile. She had neve been that good at ‘faking’ emotions, often time simply neglecting emotions entirely and allowing a cold heart to direct her. It was just how she was, after her incident. But, that was some time ago, yet the scars would never truly vanish, even she knew that.

She nodded at Hei at his suggestion. She knew that her damage was minimal and that she had put no additional specs into it since the last time they were her. Hei, on the other hand, well, she knew he had damage with his build. She had to reply on that. She nodded her head “We’ve got this. The beast shouldn’t be able to threaten you normally, plus I’ll have my healing up and ready for you” She promised. While the mob didn’t pose a big threat, the girl couldn’t help but treat it as if it was a threat. Better safe than sorry, even if she was being extreme about it.  

[Hei 0]

Assuring him, that the monster shouldn't be a threat for him, and that in case of it damaging him, she would use her heal to minimize the attacks impact, Hei knew that she was ready to fight. So he drew his spear and grabbed it with his right hand, whilst he picked up one of the big bones from the ground. Having a last look at Eatos before the fight, he turned so he faced the deeper tunnel, that would lead them further into the cave, and that would soon spit out a giant snow beast and hit the skull with the bone. GONG the sound echoed from the walls and made a shudder go down his spine. A short period of silence appeared after the gong sound disappeared and Hei was wondering if it hadn't worked, just to be interrupted by the sound of bursting ice and really heavy steps, that were coming closer.

The giant snow beast, that looked somewhat like the combination of a giant gorilla and an avalanche burst out of the cave and with loud howling fixed Hei, who was still holding the bone in his hand. "That's right, I am the one who woke you!!!" Hei shouted at the beast to get it's full attention, then he dropped the bone and charged at the giant beast, his spear glowing in a dark blue light. Hei had started the charge up for his most powerful swordskill, that was called merciless fury, and he aimed at multiple locations of the beast, and once he was close enough to hit it, he released the skill, bringing it down to nearly yellow. Now standing in front of the beast, he wasn't quick enough to jump aside, and the snow spike tail he hadn't seen hit him from the side, sending him flying into the cave wall. Coughing he lay there, watching his HP dropping down quite a bit.

Rolls:
ID# 99826
Battle: 9 -> crit -> 10*12 = 120 DMG
Mob: 10 -> crit -> 162 DMG

Stats:
Hei: 358/520HP  | 39/52 Energy | 3 EVA | 3 ACC | 9 DMG | Hate: 2
Snow Beast: 130/250 HP | 160 DMG | min 24 DMG through MIT
Eatos: */* HP | */* Energy |

Edited April 19, 2018 by Hei

[Eatos 0]

Much like the previous time they had come here, Hei had been the one to start the fight. To aggravate the monster and cause it to focus him. As was his ‘role’ in her plan. She hated that players were put in danger because of her, however, she had no chance to fight this monster alone. She couldn’t survive its hits, yet alone kill it. While sending in Hei in was the only option, it didn’t fill her with any joy.

The beast, this time, seemed more angry. It hit Hei hard, and the girl felt a panic as he hit the cave wall. Out of instinct, the girl ran over to him, placing herself between the Beast and Hei, despite the fact that Aggro would ensure it would target him instead. She reached for him, and in doing so, her First Aid kicked in. “I got you, don’t worry. You can kill it” She said calmly to him. Hei had to kill it, otherwise, it would kill her.

--------------------

Hei: 441/520HP  | 39/52 Energy | 3 EVA | 3 ACC | 9 DMG | Hate: 2
Snow Beast: 130/250 HP | 160 DMG | min 24 DMG through MIT
Eatos: 420/420 HP | 42/42 EN | DMG: 7 | MIT: 9 | EVA: 3 | THRNS: 14 | 2 REC

[Hei 0]

The giant snow beast had hit him pretty hard, and he hadn't expected an attack like it, so the last thing he knew was flying through the air. When he could see again, he was coughing and his back and front hurt, he know hurt wasn't the right word, as the game suppressed pain, but he could feel the tingling, that would have been pain. Before he could get back to his feet, Eatos rushed towards him, putting herself in between him and the monster. This wouldn't have any effect, as the monster would still attack him, but the gesture alone made his appreciation for her grow a lot. When she then healed him back up to nearly full life, he knew that she was a really important part of his life. "You're right, I'll kill it." he said in response to her telling him he could do it, and just to show that she was right, he got back to his feet, the spear in hand and turned to the monster again. The monster had come closer while he had laid there. He could see the blank hate in the monsters eyes, and he knew he had to kill it to prevent Eatos from getting into the fight. He didn't know if the monster was able to use any kind of AOE attack, but he wouldn't wait to find out. So with his spear glowing once again, he jumped at the beast, just a few feet between him and his prey, when the monster turned and with a loud roar attacked him with a fury of claws. They hit him multiple times, while he was still getting closer to him, he could see his HP dropping, but he would not stop before he hit the beast. Then he was close enough, and he released the swordskill, hitting the beast multiple times with a speed his own eyes couldn't follow. Then he beast exploded into pixels.

Rolls:
ID# 100321
Battle: 10 -> crit -> 11*12 = 132 DMG
Mob: 9 -> crit -> 161 DMG

Stats:
Hei: 280/520HP  | 27/52 Energy | 3 EVA | 3 ACC | 9 DMG | Hate: 4
Snow Beast: 0/250 HP | 160 DMG | min 24 DMG through MIT
Eatos: 420/420 HP | 42/42 EN | DMG: 7 | MIT: 9 | EVA: 3 | THRNS: 14 | 2 REC

Edited April 26, 2018 by Hei

[Eatos 0]

The girl smiled hearing Hei being confident. She knew he had it, but there was always a part of her that worried. The only reason he was here was because of her, and if he died because of her. She already had enough blood on her hands in the real world, she didn’t want any more people to die under her watch.  Watching as Hei turned and charged into the fight, she flinched as the monster landed a series of blows, but thankfully, Hei’s strike seemed to finish the fight. She let out a silent breath that she had been holding. It seemed the monster didn’t grow stronger on repeat visits, a rumour that had worried her slightly.

“You nailed it” She said, walking over to him “Thank you for this, with this, I should have your armour and weapon ready for use soon” She had been slow with her store, but she should be grinding them out. AT least, the custom orders. Leaning down, the girl reached and picked up the custom drop. With that, Hei's equipment should be ready to go soon. 

[Hei 0]

The feeling of power and satisfaction, when he killed the beast with this second attack was nearly overwhelming. He had seen the monsters HP and they hadn't been low enough for him to kill it, bu he somehow managed to critically strike it so good, his damage had been enough. When Eatos walked over to him, thanking him for the help, Hei's normal perception returned and he got aware of the scene. The monster was killed, but it had hit him hard, and he was left with just barely more than half HP, and that was with Eatos already healing his first hit.

"Nothing to thank me for, as you said, it was for my own good." he said, thinking about the Weapon he would soon hold in hands. As he realized, they had finished their mission, he was wondering what they would do now, would one just go home and leave, or would they so some more talking, and as he wondered, he simply asked. "Now that we have finished, how about we head back to your place and enjoy the sunny weather on the way back?"

[Eatos 0]

The girl blinked, and felt a panic burn up in her chest. She forced herself to look at Hei, and felt the panic die down in her chest. This wasn’t a time she was out of control. She had control. Those words echoed within her head several times as her heart calmed itself. Her lack of sleep, her nightmares, had kept her on edge and awake for months now. She knew she was a nervous wreck, and yet, refused to let anyone know. Or at least, anymore more than already did. Her sin already was making her life impossible to bear, how would it serve any benefit for those, who didn’t know, to learn that she couldn’t sleep at night without seeing blood on her hands. Blood sprayed against the walls…

The girl let out a soft laugh at Hei’s ‘joke’ about the weather. While it was sunny, it was also the 4^th floor, the ice floor. “I think I might be getting back honestly. It’s been…well, there are a few things I need to do” She said. Not wanting to admit that one of them would be lying in bed trying to sleep for 4 hours.

[Hei 0]

For a short moment, Hei thought he had seen something on Eatos face, maybe sorrow or grief, but he wasn't sure, and after he blinked it was gone. She laughed at his "joke" about the weather, even though he hadn't really tried to make a joke. - Was it this funny? I thought the weather was really nice today and I like the glimmering snow - he thought, but his train of thought got distracted, when Eatos told him, that she wanted to go home, as she had something she needed to do. Hei thought it was a little strange, but he didn't knew her all that well, and so he let her go. "Okay, if you want to go, I'll accompany you a little, before I'll go and have some more snow time. Thanks for doing this with me and for crafting my new weapon, I will make sure that I come and pick it up, once it's finished" And so they walked a little together, before Eatos left for the town and Hei continued to walk around the snow, enjoying the silence of the fourth floor.

Summary:
Hei: 1 SP | 200 col
Eatos: 1 SP | 200 col | essence of steel