[PP-F1] Let's Explore that Cave! <<The Third Lesson, Is Just As Free>> (ft. Steel and Rienka)

[Steel 0]

Steel had awoken from his slumber at the sound of a message being received. He began to gradually his eyes, wanting to sleep a little more. He wondered who was messaging him as he hasn't actually met too many people that would actually message him. Despite the carefree kind side he's been showing to Reinka, he was still generally a loner due to lack of social skills and sometimes just being blunt. Although now it seemed that would be permanently changed with Reinka around. He used a free hand to open the message and to his surprise, the gear he had ordered had already been finished and was ready to be picked up. Steel was now getting excited about this. Now with this gear, he would be stronger than before. He would have already rushed out by now if not for the weight on his arm known as Reinka. Is it weird that I've already gotten used to this? Steel thought to himself with a small smirk. He had originally been opposed to sleeping in the same bed as her for morality's sake but Reinka ended up convincing him otherwise. And now about two days later, Steel had just accepted it as normal, his arm being around the girl holding her close both due to intimacy and the lack of space on the bed. 

Steel carefully moved his arm and then body to get out of bed without waking up his girlfriend and quietly left the room to pick up  his gear from the Blacksmith. He had returned approximately 10-15 minutes later with his new gear in his inventory and some breakfast he had gotten from downstairs. Today, the two of them were to continue where they left off on the Beginner Quests. "Hey Reinka, it's time to wake up." Steel gently shook her, hoping the smell of breakfast would do the rest.

[Reinka 0]

"Surprise attack!" The pillow flew across the room and towards Steel's face. She laughed a bit and sat up happily. She was already in her dancer outfit. "I'm already awake. So what's the plan for today?" she asked happily. "Seeing as you left pretty early did you get your weapon from the shop?" she asked curiously.

She wondered if they'd look for treasure, some guild mates, maybe do a quest, or just hang around town. She got up and stretched. Then looked him over seeing he was in his armor. Though he was usually in his armor. She nodded.

"I take it I should get ready to go out of town maybe?" she asked making sure she'd have to get ready as she never changed in front of him, even with the censorship the game provided she'd go to the restroom first.

 

Spoiler

Hp 200 Energy 20 Mit 8 Acc 3 Eva 2 Base Dmg 4 Weapon,Armor,Accessory Bleed 2 - 12dmg for 2 enemy turns on 8,9,10 roll Keen - +1bd when successful hit resets on next success hit Savvy +1bd when  mob misses reseets on next success hit Acc +3 Skills Martial Arts 1 [x1 Stun] Embracer (4 Energy) - An unarmed sword art that pierces the enemy with the fingers. [x2 AoE] Aggressive Twins (4 Energy) - A fast combination of left and right jabs. Light Armor 2 First Aid  Active: Post Action Energy Cost: 5% of healing done (rounded down) Effect: Heal 4% per rank of a target party member’s maximum HP (rounded down). Cannot target the user. Description: The user’s hands and target player glow a soft white, healing the target for a percentage of their maximum HP. (rank 1) I     Items on hand Loot 3 (Accessory) 5 uncommon heath potions (40hp) . 1 tier dmg potion (+1dmg) . 1 Tier Over-Health Crystal (+50 temp HP)

 

[Steel 0]

Steel got pelted all of sudden by the pillow, making him stagger a little before getting the pillow off of his face. "Right back at you!" He said with a smirk before throwing it back.

"Yeah, the blacksmith I ordered it from had finished it this morning so I went to pick it up." Steel answered in response. "I promised you didn't I? To get better equipment." He then went around to the bathroom to switch armor and weapon. Normally, he didn't care about people seeing him but he was respecting Reinka's wishes for him to not do that. He came back in the samurai looking armor and the straight bladed katana at his hip. "So? What do you think?"

"Yeah, we were going to continue those beginner's quest today remember?" Steel said after coming back in plain clothes. His prior equipment was just a single chest plate but eating breakfast while in a full suit suit of armor would feel weird. 

[Reinka 0]

She fluffed up the pillow and put it back. Then looked over the new item he donned. She nodded happily seeing the new weapon. She wondered what he all put on it and her head turned this way and that way to get a better look at it.

"So what enhancements did you put on it?" she asked him curiously. "Oh right so that's the plan. Okay lets get to it then, or did you want to grab something to eat first?" she asked as she went into the restroom.

It only took her a second to change in the restroom with a quickly flash of blue light. She then walked out and looked at Steel waiting for his answers.

[Steel 0]

Reinka all of a sudden walked into the bathroom, after asking her questions and then came back changed into her pirate princess outfit. (Steel would never let that go) "For my sword, the Shinshi Onimaru, I just upped the damage and added bleeding. For my armor, Dawn of the Samurai, I upped its defense and made it so that enemies will suffer some payback for trying to hurt me." Steel answered simply with a grin.

"And I brought food up here already." Steel noted pointing down at the food that he brought with him. It consisted of a normal breakfast, eggs, bacon, and other such found in western countries. Steel did wish there was some miso soup and rice though due to his background, and he was sure most of his fellow Japanese felt the same, but he wasn't a picky eater. "Come on, sit down and let's eat. A good day starts with a good breakfast."

[Reinka 0]

"Oh that's really nice! I haven't had bacon in awhile." she picked up a plate and sat in a chair in the room eating. She did notice that was fairly western and looked up at him. "Hey lets get some food at a player shop or something next time though. Getting the food that comes with the room might be free and good for me, but I mean, you might be use to other foods right? So that's the plan for later." She smiled happily at him. "Unless of course you've made up your mind on cooking?" she asked curiously. "Ah so you picked a bleed weapon! Nice, and thorns is the best." she smiled happily.

[Steel 0]

"Thanks for your concern but I've grown accustomed  to this food by now." Steel said with a small smile towards her caring about him. "It'd be a lie to say that I didn't miss Japanese food but for now, eating something different is fine. Besides, we must remain at least somewhat economical for just in case. Though I won't mind going out to eat occasionally. As for cooking, I still haven't decided on it yet."

"Well, seeing how effective your gauntlets were when it came to that, I thought might as well use bleeding as well." Steel said in response as he began eating. "As for my armor, I went with thorns because it'd at least let me deal some damage even if I miss my attack." Which I did a lot on our last mission... Steel added that last part in his head. "So what do you think we'll be doing this time? We're supposed to be delivering Lyle's package to an artisan but they'll most likely have something else involved."

[Reinka 0]

"Yah, it'll just mean a lot of damage when you're around me. Don't worry Steel I'll keep our luck going." She smiled happily. She did feel useful in that. "The thorns should help, even if you mitigate most of the damage it's like a free attack if they hit you. It's a good tactic if you plan on getting hit. Hey, I took first aid just in case though, so I'll be saving more of my energy unless you need me to do an AOE attack or something." She explained. "So you can count on me." she was curious what the quest would have them do. "Did you accept it for both of us or what?" she asked unsure.

[Steel 0]

"I'll be relying on you to heal me then if things get dangerous my cute nurse." Steel said, showing that he trusted while at the same time flirting with her though he felt inwardly awkward about it as he wasn't used to doing it. "As for the AoE attacks, I think that won't be necessary at least for this quest. From what I found out, we will be having to fight some sort of mini boss but we'll probably be able to take it down in a few hits so no we're in no rush." Man, we're getting overleveled. I hope we can find some actual strong foes later on. It wasn't that he wanted to go headfirst into death but outside of these beginner quests, weak enemies wouldn't net a good deal of experience. Well, I guess we'll just go at our own pace. It'd be sad if we died due to carelessness after all. He thought to himself with a small smile. "As for the quest, we just need to go back to Lyle's place and pick up the package we need to deliver to that artisan. But first, let's finish eating."

[Reinka 0]

She nodded. "Though I'm not sure how much I can heal you. I think it works with your Hp and my energy, but what if you have so much HP that I don't have enough energy to heal you? Shouldn't we figure that out first before it gets to difficult?" she asked him worried. "Lets see so lets say the unthinkable happens and you're at 1hp, lets see, lets see." she opened up her calculator and in her menu and did some math with it. "Okay that would be 12 of my 20 energy. It's not impossible but it's doable and I can use a martial art's skill twice before I have to use that. Okay Now that I have that sorted out we can go." She smiled happily. "Maybe we should do some dungeon searching for treasure. What do you think?"

[Steel 0]

Reinka had asked him about calculating the amount of healing and energy used up in said healing. Steel was about to answer with some mental calculations but then she ended up answering her own question and seemed content with it. I couldn't even get a word in... He thought to himself with a sigh before going back to his normal self. "Well, at least for this quest, I wouldn't worry about it. That field boss isn't even going to drop me past 1/8 of my health. I swear it." He said with a grin. From what he heard it would only deal him a decent amount of damage the first attack and then a negligible amount the rest of the time. According to his calculations, it would take about eleven attacks to get him down to 7/8 of his health and they would have destroyed it by then. That's not even considering that the monster could miss. Yeesh, now I'm calculating... He thought with an inner sigh and small laugh. "I'm sure we have some time to do some dungeon searching. Let's get going then." He said after they finished breakfast. "Do you remember where that Artisan lady was?"

[Reinka 0]

"If you mean Hana they should be above in the trees painting. In town actually. So she shouldn't be too far away. Likely at one of the parks. In fact she might be at our fountain that we meet at usually." She though tapping her lip thinking about it. "We have the parcel ready so should we check out our usual spots in the park, or new spots. I mean she is an NPC right? Wouldn't we have seen her already maybe? Maybe not, I don't recall looking up and that's where she would be I guess." She tapped her lip again the looked to him with her question, wondering how he felt about it.

[Steel 0]

"Perhaps we just didn't notice her before this quest because she's an NPC. Especially in our situation, we're less likely to observe or talk to the NPCs unless we had a reason like a quest or if they came to us and are more likely to think about them as just part of the background." Steel said in response as he thought about it. "She may have been right under our very noses and we didn't think much about it. Well, let's try out all of our usual spots then. Might as well start at the usual water fountain. We seem to keep starting there all the time anyway." Steel noticed they kept meeting over there and Reinka seemed to like it? He wasn't sure but no harm in sticking with tradition. At this point, he had finished his meal before getting up and going back into the bathroom for a few seconds to put back on his gear. "Ready to get going?" He said with a small smile.

[Reinka 0]

"ha, more like we were under her nose most likely." she laughed thinking about an npc drawing the town around them. "Maybe she drew us while she was up there. That'd be kind of neat don't you think?" she nodded when he agreed to see the fountain. "Yes I'm ready to go." She had waited for him. "She also might be napping under a tree too, who knows." She stayed along side of him. "I guess thinking them like the background makes sense but some NPCs really stick in my mind. I sometimes forget they aren't people until they repeat themselves too much if you know what I mean." She opened the door and followed Steel out. "I wonder what we'll all do. Aside from being a delivery service. Do you know?"

[Steel 0]

"Judging from the last two quests, I'd assume that they'll try to ramp up the difficulty and give us a slightly harder fight we'll end up doing while retrieving something to help Hana finish whatever she's making. Since she's an artisan, maybe we'll have to look for jewels or something." Steel said as the two of them walked out of the inn. "Well, if the NPCs feel that real to you, that's a testament to the talent of the developers of their AI. The way they're set up, you can hold a basic conversation with them and they can remember you. Almost makes them feel human."

After a bit of time, the two of them had reached their usually meeting spot, the fountain. "Now that we've reached here, it really feels like it's started. Okay, let's look up." He looked up and found a woman in a nearby tree. "Now I'm wondering why nobody questioned her being up there." He was certain it was Hannah as the quest indicator was flashing. "Excuse me, Lyle had asked us to deliver this package to you. Are you Hannah?" He called out to the woman who upon being called, jumped down from her tree. 

"Ah, thank you! I was needing this to make rings." Hannah said with a smile as she received the package. "Ah, I forgot I needed a gem stone to finish it. I'm sorry to trouble you with this but could you go to one of caves in the field and get one for me?"

"No problem, we can take care of it." Steel said to which Hannah simply nodded and thanked the two before fiddling around with her tools to work on whatever she was doing. "I guess we're finding a jewel in a cave." He said to Reinka.

[Reinka 0]

"Ah, so a combination of hunting monsters and a fetch quest. Sounds simple enough." She nodded as she came to her conclusion. "Almost does." She agreed on the npcs feeling human. Sometimes I find it better to think they're real, or the conversation gets strange. I'm starting to forget they aren't the longer I enjoy this place." She thought that was strange but it might just be her way of coping with the game. She felt lucky she had Steel around or she'd be an even bigger mess.

She walked with him and looked up. She was going to ask to stand on his shoulders to try to reach her but Hannah just jumped down like an agile cat and explained her situation.

"Rings, that's pretty neat." Reinka said holding her hands together. happily. She then nodded to Steel.
"Yes, I need some jewels from a dark cave if that's all right." Hannah explained again.
"Are you using these rings?" She pointed at the golden rings Hannah now had.
"For the jewels yes, but you'll be getting another item I hope that's all right."
"That's fine thanks." Reinka didn't mind but she did find the gold bands charming in a way. "Okay Steel lets go collect the gems."
"Oh, wait please. I heard some adventurers complain about going into the dark cave. I'm not sure I understand why so please don't give up and be careful." Hannah said quickly.
"Huh...." Reinka thought that was strange, she couldn't really question Hannah about it as she didn't seem to know or understand the problem, but that made her feel a bit leery. "Lets be careful Steel."
 

[Steel 0]

"From what I figure, we're probably going to have a disadvantage doing anything in a cave with the lack of lighting. That's probably why she said to not give up and be careful. It'll be a bit more difficult finding this gem and fighting enemies in the dark." Steel said, thinking about their objective. "Yeah, let's be careful. Though I think we'll be fine since it's a cave on the first floor." They had eventually reached the fields. and were now walking around, trying to find a cave. "You'd think a cave would stand out among all this grass. Anyway, you think you'll be fine? What happens if the cave has a haunted house feel?" He said in a light teasing tone. Right after saying that he crashed into something that was was a large protrusion in the ground. "Looks like I found our cave. Why do I keep finding things by crashing or tripping over them..."

[Reinka 0]

She looked at the cave. "I'm an actress, I'm not easily scared of things like that. It's when those close to me scream out that it bothers me. Wails from a game won't deter my resolve." she said quietly looking in the cave. She wondered if her stats would be affected once inside the cave. "Watch your stats they might go down because we might not be able to see in there. Are you going in first or should I? If I go in don't stand right behind me okay. I'll likely dodge out of the way if something flies at me or attacks me. So if you're behind me you might get hit. So please be careful." She said a little worried but she did trust him to stay alive on her.

Usually she was bubbly and happy, but she knew this could kill them, and wasn't about to tempt death. Even if they were both prepared she still wasn't use to everything yet. She wanted to wake up one day and run to Steel, and have that outing with his sister. She didn't want just one of them to survive. For Steel's sister to only hear stories about her, or for her to apologize and explaining how brave Steel was to them and force them into mourning. No, she wanted to be at his side bowing to his family with him.

"Sorry...I'll get use to this eventually. It's not hard on me so don't worry." She forced a smile trying to tough it out.

[Steel 0]

"Fair enough. I'll make sure not to scream then." Steel said with a small smile. Reinka then mentioned stat changes. Steel did a short check and noticed no changes to his stats. "There's no changes in stats though we'll be hindered by lack of visibility." He said in response. "If anything, I'll be in front. I'll be able to protect you then." Steel said as he got in front of her, becoming her human shield. "And I'll be fine even if I do get hit. I have confidence in my defense and it's my role as a tank to protect those I care about from damage." He said with a smile of assurance.

"Don't worry, I won't die on you." Steel said, noticing her force a smile. Though he couldn't see her clearly, he could feel a sense of uneasiness similar to how she was a few days ago after he mentioned his gear was beginner level. "I promised you didn't I? That'd I'd return home to you each night. I don't plan on breaking that promise."

[Reinka 0]

She also checked once inside the cave. Everything seemed normal as well for her. "Everything is normal for me too." She replied and followed close behind him. "Good, I'm holding you to it."

There was a chill in the air, and it was damp. That was to be expected of a cave she supposed. She looked around and tried not to slip on the rocks.

"Careful the footing is pretty bad here, lets hope we don't have to go down in an angle." she was worried about players who  had trouble with this cave. "There must be a river or something in this cave, it's a bit damp in here don't you think?" She kept going wondering why this place was the way it was. "Hm, maybe the snow is melting into the cave. That could be why too. Is it dryer up by you Steel?" she asked him curiously.