[F01 | PP] Getting Help to help others (Secret medicine of the forest)

[Runa 0]

It was early morning when I decided that it was time for me to become stronger. Sure training with Saphira was all fun and the rewards weren't that bad, but I wanted to level up a little quicker than from just doing those boring tutorial quests. So what was it I should start doing right now? I could leave the town and just start fighting, but why would I do that, the mobs exp wasn't that great, and I had already learned that fulfilling quests was the better way to get lots of levels in a short time. 
With that in mind I started walking around the town of beginnings, looking for another quest I would be able to complete, probably on my own, as it looked like most players that had stayed here with me still weren't going to leave the town. After a short while of walking I met with another player that had just started leaving and he told me, that there was a quest where I could help a village by providing them with a medicine that would drop from rare mobs. Killing mobs to get something sounded fun, and it would be a good training for my fighting, and a rare mob sounded like it would give a little more exp that the normal ones. So I started looking for the person who had the quest, and after I found them I opened the quest log to find out some more about it. 
The quest was all about fighting normal mobs until the rare one would spawn, and then killing and looting it for the item that was needed. This wouldn't be to difficult, but if I got a chance to get some more equipment, it wouldn't hurt, so I made my way through the town, looking for some shop I could get what I needed.
After some time I noticed a huge Estate, that housed a smithy right next to it. Looking into the windows I noticed lots of cool items and so I entered the shop to have a better look. The items this smith had hanging around looked good, but on the first glance I wasn't able to find any armour that would suit me, so I walked to the counter where a player was sitting and looking at me. I smiled as innocent as possible, once again trying to look as much as a small girl as possible and asked "Hey, are you by any chance the owner of this cool store? I was looking for something that would fit my style and maybe increase my defence, but I haven't seen anything like that. Could you please have a short look with me?"

Spoiler

<<Secret Medicine Of The Forest>>

This quest takes place on Floor 1
This quest is not repeatable

On the first floor, the player is given a quest that introduces them to 'Field Bosses'. The quest states that a small village is in need of a medicine, <Little Nepent's Ovule>, which is dropped by a special variant of the mob, Nepent. The players who partake in the quest must slay normal Nepents until a 'Variant Nepent' spawns. The Nepents spawn in the wooded area on floor 1.

The nepents stand at around a meter and a half tall. Its lower body consists mostly of countless roots that it uses to move around. It has two arm-like vines with pointed leaves attached to either side of its body, just above the roots. The center of its head holds a wide red mouth with viscous liquids dribbling out of it as it opens and shuts.

The variant has a red bulb on top of it's 'head' which reveals to be a giant red flower. Or it's decorated with fruit. Either way, it's the same as its counterpart in shape, size, and strength.

Completion Requirements:

- 20 Posts Minimum.
-Must defeat 2 Nepents per player.
- Nepent Variant must be defeated.

Nepent Information:

HP: 7
Mitigation: 0
Damage: 3

2 Nepents spawn for each player in the participating party.

Nepent Variant Information:
Nepent Variant is a Quest Boss and has the following statistics:

HP: 15
Mitigation: 5
Damage: 10
Nepent Variant ignores armor mitigation on a natural roll of 10

Drops the quest item <Nepent's Ovule> on an LD roll of 12 or higher, failure will have you fight the normal Nepents again until another Variant spawns. This loot roll must be separate from the attack roll that defeats it. Failure to find the <Nepent's Ovule> will result in the players having to fight the Normal Nepents again, to draw out an additional Variant Nepent.

Rewards:

2 Skill Points

@Macradon

 

[Macradon 0]

Wearing his Red and White KoB jacket, Macradon would nod and smile at the possible new customer entering his shop. With a short wave, Macradon would stand up to greet the unfamiliar face properly “Hello and Welcome to the Blazing Typhoon! The name’s Macradon, I’ll be your blacksmith for today, and what can I do for you today?” he then asked and would listen to what she had to say. Macradon chortled lightly and nodded “Aye, I’m the owner, I’ve had an apprentice work here once, but I haven’t seen him in a while, he’s probably doing alright in his own shop by now, so It’s all me in here.” he replied. After listening to her request, Macradon would do a quick elevator look on the girl, a few years younger than him. With what he could immediately spot, Macradon would ask “You’re using Light Armor primarily, correct? If that’s the case, maybe a Tailor would be better suited in making your armor. But if you were to spec into some heavy armor, I’ll be available at any time to either do a custom design from you or design some armor with you so you get whatever you need. Lots of the stuff I have in stock in my shop are all Rejects, even if they are of high quality, basically just a lot of armor pieces that didn’t meet the standards of the rest of the armor, so they were soloed out. If none of that fancies your tastes, then we can work something out if you’re willing to do so.” he would reply one last time before listening to any further request as to what he would be able to do as a service for this girl. “Oh …” he said and continued “I’d probably be easier to work with you if I also knew your name.” he commented.

[Runa 0]

After I had entered the shop, the white haired player with his red and white jacked stood up from the place behind the counter and waved at me, to then greet me and tell me that his name was Macradon and that he was indeed the owner of this shop. After that he listened to what I asked him and inspected me a little, before telling me that if I wanted to stay with light armour I had to go look for a tailor, but that he had quite the choice of heavy armour, and that he would even craft something new for and with me. After telling me all this, he asked for my name, as I had forgotten to introduce myself the proper way. "Sorry I forgot to tell you my name Mister Macradon. I'm Runa, the defender of sweets, nice to meet you." I introduced myself, sweeping a slight curtsy. After that I had a look at my bunny coat and memories of the first days of the game, when I had acquired it, came back to my mind. Reminded of what had happened shortly after tears started rolling down my face and sniffing a little bit I started mumbling. "S..S..Sorry. I don't want you to ... sniff... w...worry. It... It's not because of you. I... I just remembered something. " After this I took a moment to swipe the tears off, and once I was okay again, I turned back to him. "Sorry for that, but you have to know, this armour, my brother got it for me... sniff ... and now, he isn't here anymore. It's hard to live without him, but , but I have to continue, for him. that's why I am still wearing this armour, but I am going to be a defender, so I'll have to get some heavy armour. How about we work on something he would have liked on me Mister Macradon? " I asked and hoped that he would understand me, and maybe even empathise with me, maybe reducing the cost for the item we were talking about.

@Macradon

[Macradon 0]

Macradon would smile and chortle lightly “Defender of Sweet, ay?” he would comment, quite the title one had chosen to use. He would chuckle lightly and comment once again “And no need for the mister, feels weird with honorifics, never been used to ‘em.” he said and continue on with the conversation … if it only were that easy. Out of a sudden, this girl just … began crying, even though she tried to come with some kind of excuse, Macradon was still confused as to what it could’ve been that triggered that kind of reaction. It all came down to some memories of her late brother, who didn’t seem to be here anymore. Probably one who had died in the game with her, since he was the one to give her the current equipment she wore. Macradon would nod, he understood how it was to lose someone, someone close “I’ve lost quite the few people in here as well, friends and what I would call family as well. It really is a grueling experience. I like your pluck, Defender of Sweets.” he said, trying to brighten the mood. “Let’s see, maybe we can figure something out, I’m usually flexible with my prices, and there’s already a beginner’s discount you can utilize if that’s the case. If it’s just some Heavy Armor, we can get it down as low as 5 tier one materials, and that’s nearly half price, not sure if I can sustain going lower than that.” he would reply and take out some paper, a pen, and a request form. “Got any ideas for your armor? Any looks or enhancements for it?” he would ask and stand ready to write, or give her the pen if she would like to do it.

[Runa 0]

Before I had started crying Mecradon had asked me to not call him Mister, and that he had never been used to being called so, but it was really hard for me, so I would try not doing it, but no guaranty for that. After that and my crying we had reached the point where he was telling me that he would see what he could do, creating an armour with me, so I would be able to become the defender I wanted to be. When he asked me if I had any ideas for the armour I had to think a little before a great one appeared in my head. We would remodel the armour my brother had gotten for me, so I could always preserve his memory with my armour while still becoming a better defender. "I'm sorry for your losses, I didn't know you have lost someone too M.. Macradon. And about the price for the armour, I don't have any materials left at the moment, I could pay you in col, or maybe try to gather some materials later, when I start my adventure. I already got a good idea, so if you hand me the pen I can draw it out. " Once I got the pen I started drawing the idea I had and wrote next to it what I thought was a good set of enhancements, even though I wanted to know what the smith himself thought about it. "I was thinking to make it have at least two slots of Mitigation, so it could substitute the armour I am wearing right now, and for the last slot I am balancing between another slot of mitigation, or maybe the Heavy Momentum enhancement. What do you think would be better at the moment?" I asked him, showing him the design I had draw onto the paper and pointing at the part that looked like my jacket "Do you think scales would make a good substitute for the padded armour Mister? "

[Macradon 0]

Macradon would shake his head with a smile “No need to worry, I’ve been through a lot, but it’s those kinds of experiences that push us humans forward.” he replied. Listening to her response about payment, Macradon would think of something to deal with it. “If you can’t pay in Materials, I guess we could do Col, the same prices would begin to go around 1000 Col, if you’re capable of that, if not you could pay whatever you have available.” Macradon would say and then take a look at the drawing Runa would draw for him, making a design for her new armor. Looking at it, Macradon would nod and listen to her comment to it. Thinking about it, Macradon would agree with her “Aye, replacing the leather with some scale mail would be quite beneficial, still flexible like leather, a bit heavier, but also a lot more protective. I’d even say scale male or normal maille, since it looks better, and since I’ve already cut down the price, why not go for the expensive stuff while you’re at it.” he said with a smile and would think of the enhancements. Listening to what her suggestions were, Macradon would come with his own to cents “Both are pretty viable, but if you’re going to be a defender, having more mitigation would keep you safer while protecting others than a little more possible damage would from Heavy Momentum. Having all the enhancements be Damage Mitigation, you’re pretty much gonna nullify most attacks by monsters until you reach around level 10, and at that point you should’ve already specced into a few skills, helping you defend longer. I’d say a Three Damage Mitigation piece of equipment will be a better investment for you, Defender of Sweets.” he would say with a smirk, awaiting her response to his comments.

[Runa 0]

When I had told Mister Macradon that I was sorry for his losses, he simply told me that it wasn't a thing I had to worry about, and that it was this kind of events that brought a person forward. I didn't really understand this part, and I couldn't even agree with him, as I though it was terrible that my brother wasn't here anymore, but I wouldn't start arguing with him now. He was older and it seemed he had gone through much more, so maybe this was just how he saw it.
A few moments later, after I had told him that I didn't have any materials, but col he told me, that he would take a thousand col for the item, and I was quite happy with this price. I had enough col to pay him the price and would even have some more col to spend later. So I told him that I would happily pay the thousand col and wanted to open the transaction window when he continued, telling me that he could do it, and that it was a good idea to get some harder material for the armour that would still allow for some mobility. "Oh, that is cool, I think I'd like it to be scalemail, as it looks cooler than chainmail.  And for the payment, I will pay you right after we we decided what enhancement it should get." After this he told me, that he thought getting more Mitigation was the better choice for me, and that this kind of armour would nearly nullify all attacks of monsters till the tenth level. That was pretty nice, and with a few defensive skills I could probably increase this level even further. So I decided to make it a three mitigation slot item and told him so. "So you say that all those monsters wouldn't be able to hurt me with this kind of armour. I think that's pretty nice Mister Macradon. So I'll get it with three slots of mitigation. Do you want to have the col right now?" I asked and waited for an answer.

@Macradon

[Macradon 0]

Macradon would look and smile at Runa and reply “Aight, sound fine to me” as the two continued to think of what her armor should be like. With the design strictly going by her old armor to incorporate as many memories she had of her brother to help her be the defender she wanted and needed to be, steel plating in some way, be it in a lamellar pattern of intersecting plates or not, something had to protect her. With the question posed at him, Macradon would nod “Aye, though not quite, you’ll still be taking a nick of damage, but with stuff like battle healing or a support healer with you, you’ll not feel the danger of damage will you’re on the verge of crossing into the second tiering of leveling, and at that point you could just get some new armor to take care of that possible danger, which wouldn’t be that difficult when the time comes.” he would say. When asked about the time of payment, Macradon would reply back “Depends on what you prefer, if you want to pay up front you’re welcome to, if you’re skeptic of a scam you’re welcome to pay after you’ve received the item, but what Grandmaster Blacksmith would I be if I were to scam someone.” he said, adding the joke at the last bit and chortled by himself.

[Runa 0]

After I had decided what armour I would get Mister Macradon told me, that I would still get damage from the monsters, but that with a little help of skills like battle healing, or a healer that would fight alongside me, it shouldn't be a problem till I would reach the next tier, where I would be able to get a better armour to once again be ready for monsters of my level. I really liked the idea of having high armour and being able to protect others, so it would be what I would get. Once again I nodded to what he said and smiled at him, as I told him "Wow, it's super cool. I wish I could have these skills already, but I should continue doing some easy quest before I can spend any Skillpoints. No matter what I will be doing later, I think getting an armour to protect others is the right decision, and I do trust you with this, why would someone like Mister Macradon, who must be quite popular with such a nice smithy, scam a poor one like me. So here is your col." And I opened the trading window to send the col to him.

After that it was my turn to think what to do now. Mister Macradon would craft my new armour, but what could I do while he was working on it, and what was I going to do after he was done? Maybe I should continue to look for some quest I could do. And maybe strong Mister Macradon would help me. He seemed like  a nice guy and maybe he would like to see his newest piece of armour in action. I would ask him after he was done crafting the thing for me.

-1000 col

[Macradon 0]

Macradon would smile and nod towards Runa as she mentioned probably having to do quests and get more experience before she could get all those fancy skills that could make her excel at being a defender. “If you really push yourself far enough, you might just be able to fight besides me and the rest at the frontlines, you might become just as if not much better at tanking for parties as I am at my current state. Maybe not in these garments, but in my own armor, you might be able to see it at some point.” he would say and accept the payment. Macradon would try to let the girl correct herself later, but for now, he would live with the Mister title given to him. “But for now, I’ll go down and work on your armor, won’t take a while, the metal parts of the armor incorporating into your current clothes will be as easy as pie.” he said and went down into his smithy to work on the scale mail.

[Runa 0]

Once we had finished the idea for the armour and I had handed the design and the col over to him, he told me that if I worked hard enough I might become a super good tank, maybe even as good as he was. I hadn't known he was a tank himself, but with all the possibilities he had as a blacksmith to create his own armour, it was just logical. When he said that I might even become better than him I felt a big smile appear on my face and I was just about to start running around a little, cheering, but before I could d that he stood up, and told me he would work on the item now and left for the basement.

With him working on the armour and no way for me to help him I decided I could use the time to get a little bit of research done and left the shop to come back later. Out there I started looking for an information broker, but instead remembered that the guide that was released for free had all the information on floor one collected, so I pulled it from my inventory and had a look. There it was, right under the Quest tag there was the name of a NPC I would be able to find now, that I knew his name. I quickly walked to him to accept the quest he had an learned that I had to kill some monsters until there was the rare one, that would drop some Item. This one wouldn't be to hard, but I would still ask Mister Macradon if he would accompany me on this first quest.
After taking the quest I went back to the shop, and waited for Macradon to finish the work, then I would ask "I heard about a quest here on the first floor, where one has to fight plant monsters until their boss appeared and then get some Item from this boss. I want to do this, but I ain't sure if I can do it all on my own. How about you come and help me, I bet a strong Mister like you can show me some tricks and all."

 

[Macradon 0]

With the agreement done, Macradon had ventured down into his smithy through the back door with the design in hand, looking it through thoroughly as he walked over to the chest with materials and his working equipment. With a mallet in one hand and material in the other, Macradon would have pinned the request upon his request board and began working on it. For the most part, the scale mail would be easy to produce by itself, and he would only have to adjust it a little bit to make sure that the lengths and such would fit with Runa’s current clothing. Afterwards, he would take a look at the leather gauntlets, he would have to reinforce them with steel, either by plating them up into a steel gauntlet or having them be covered in scale mail as well. After a short thinking process, Macradon would come to the decision that a steel plate gauntlet would be the best protection, and still award a great deal of dexterity to movements. The desired helmet would be outsourced to someone who could take care of fabric manufacturing while Macradon would make the metal reinforcements that would be added, and at the end of his work session, he quickly, but thoroughly, finished the request, and it only took him a few hours of work.

His timing was somehow impeccable, as it seemed Runa had returned. Macradon would smile as he brought up the finished product, neatly folded with the separate armor pieces laid on top of the fabrics. “We didn’t really come up with a name, so I just named it, hope you like it.” he said and handed it over for Runa to equip and try on. Macradon would smile, put a hand on his hip and reply “Oh yeah, I think I’ve done that quest before, but it’s a long while ago, but sure, I’ll tag along, but I don’t know how strong those monsters are, and if I’m just going to be a nuisance with the fights, but I’ll see if I can hold back enough so you can get some fighting experience, I’ll chaperone for you.” he said with a smile and looked through his inventory to see what he should equip for this battle, but it didn’t seem like he wanted to wear his full plate armor, so keeping his KoB jacket, his steel gauntlet on his left arm, his sword in its harness on his back, Macradon was prepared to fight. “Oh yeah, I need this guy with me, hopefully he doesn’t scare you too much.” he said with a small chortle as he called upon his familiar “Belphegor, it is time to leave!” he commanded, and within seconds, the three headed hound would come through the side door leading to his estate. “This is my familiar, Belphegor the Cerberus, he’s my fighting buddy, so I take him with me when I have to fight.” he said and would gesture towards the beast. “Belphegor, this is Runa, she’s no enemy, so be nice to her, ok?” he said with a gentle tone to the beast, who just looked like a three headed doberman for now, but Runa was gonna get surprised when his flames were to erupt in battle. “Ready to go?” he asked Runa, if she had any preparations she needed.

Item handed over

Spoiler

Name: Brother's Protection
Your Profession: Blacksmith
Your Rank: 10
ID: 115622
Roll: 12
Item Type: Heavy Armor
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: Damage Mitigation | Damage Mitigation | Damage Mitigation
Description: Patches of scale mail to be incorporated onto light cloth armor, giving the wearer more protection against piercing, slashing, and blunt trauma at vital areas for the body's function. Short small plates of armor are also incorporated into the armor pieces to give as much protection while also allow hands, legs and the likes for dexterous movements for the wearer.
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/1065-shop-f1the-blazing-typhoon-rank-10-grand-master-blacksmith/?do=findComment&amp;comment=572848

Stats

Spoiler

Macradon - Lvl 79
1625 HP
173 Energy
2 Accuracy
0 Evasion
19 Base Damage (31 w/ Holy)
- (1 Base +7 Skill +1 Athletics +9 Familiar +1 Ferocity)
35 Mitigation 
- (35 Skill)

Items
Blade of the Dictator ............ // +12 Holy Damage, Phase
Knight's Clothes ................. // +3 LD
Templar's Necklace ............... // +6 Recovery, +1 Accuracy
Count of Death ................... // Vanity equipped

Belphegor - Familiar ............. // +9 Damage

Battle Ready Inventory
 

Buffs
 

Skills
Two Handed Straight Sword  | Rank 5: +7 Damage
Heavy Armor                | Rank 5: +35 Damage Mitigation
Searching                  | Rank 5: +5 LD. +5 Stealth Detection
Battle Healing             | Rank 5: Heal 5%(78) HP each post In-Battle
Fighting Spirit            | +1 Hate generation
Gatherer                   | Obtain additional materials after a successful out of combat gathering based on a natural CD result.
Hiding                   | Rank 5: +5 Stealth roll
Extended Mod Limit       | Rank 2: +3 Mod Slots
Parry                    | Reduce incoming damage by 50%(rounded down)
Energist                 | Add 5xTier(15) Energy to your max pool

Disguise                   | +1 to your BD and +1 to your opponent’s BD
Survival                   | Heal 45 HP when out of battle
Familiar Mastery: Fighter  | Rank 3: +9(Tier x Rank) Damage
Meditation                 | Recover 3xTier(15) energy with post action. Recover 2xTier(10) energy if you are hit before your next round

Skill Mods
Precision                  | +1 Accuracy
Athletics                  | +1 Damage, +45 Health
Ferocity                   | Increases Base Damage by 1
Finesse                    | Rank 3: Decreases Energy Cost of attacks by 3
Reveal                     | +2 LD when searching for dungeons and labyrinths. You may also search for a sub-dungeon or labyrinth once every 15 posts (instead of 20)
Surprise Attack          | Cannot miss from stealth. +3xTier(9) base damage on first attack.
Vengeful Riposte         | Return 50% of damage(mitigatable) to target
Vanish                   | In combat post action to stealth. Free action in combat to stealth if mob has been slain
Tracking                   | Allows the user to track a previously-encountered monster, NPC, or other player. Negates all bonuses to the target’s Stealth Rating. After tracking, your first attack against the tracked creature cannot miss. Cannot be used in combat.

 

Edited May 2, 2019 by Macradon

[Runa 0]

As I had gotten back to his shop, Macradon had lain down the newly made armour neatly folded on the counter and I had a first look at it. It looked great, and even exceeded my expectations by far, as I hadn't really known how the armour parts would look like. I was super happy with what he had done, and when he told me he had named it Bother's Protection I was close to crying again, but this time I was able to hold back the tears. Once he had handed it to me I quickly switched into the new gear to get a feel for it, and even though it was enhanced with metal parts it was still comfortably to wear. Just to show the smith how it looked on me I turned around a few times and tried to see as much as possible my self. "What do you think? It feels good, and I am sure it will stay with me till I can get a better one. Thank you so much for this armour Mister Macradon"
After that he said that he might have done the quest a long time ago, but that he would come with me, and that he hoped he wouldn't kill everything off before I got a chance to get fighting experience. He then started equipping the items he would use for the battle and after warning me about something scaring me he called a strange name and a three headed dog emerged from a door and came towards us. So he had a familiar too. I need to get one myself was what I thought, and that this one was cool, even though a little to dog like for me. It was big and somewhat scary, but not to bad, so I said "Ohh, you got a doggy. And it even got three heads, that's so cool. And yes, I am ready to leave"

Spoiler

Level 3: Rank 1 2H Battle Axe

60/60 HP | 6/6 EN | 5 DMG | 29 MIT | +2 LD | +1 ACC

Candy Swing (Rare T1 2H Battle Axe | +1 DMG, +1 ACC)
Brother's Protection  2 x MIT [27]
Ripped School Uniform (Rare T1 light armour | +2 LD )

(3) Starter Healing Potions (Heals 50 HP)
Spiked Cookie (Perfect T1 Shield | 2 Thorns | 1 Taunt)
5 Tier One Health Potions of Uncommon Quality (+40HP)
1 Tier One Damage Potion. (+1 Damage)
1 Tier One Over-Health Potion (+50 Temp. HP) 

 

[Macradon 0]

Macradon would look and smile as Runa equipped the newly designed and made armor. Modeling and twirling around to give Macradon a good sense of how it looked and fit her, Runa did her thing, and Macradon would simply reply “Looks good, if the fit is great, I don’t think there are any modifications I can do to it to make it any better than it is now. If I were to enhance it even further, it would be something about the Tier, and that’s for a later time.” he said and smiled at his produce. Macradon would nod and smile at Runa’s comment at Belphegor, and would then reach under the counter to fetch the shop sign to show that his shop was closed. Leading Runa out of the shop, Macradon would hang the closed sign in the shop window. Macradon would look at Runa and ask “Would you lead the way, or should I?” and await Runa’s answer. If she wanted to lead the way, Macradon and Belphegor would follow her, if she wasn’t sure of where to go, Macradon would lead the way towards the spawning point of the Nepents.

[Runa 0]

As I showed him how the newly made armour looked on me and told him that it fit well, Mister Macradon told me that if this was the case he wouldn't be able to make it any better at the moment, as the only thing he would be able to do was changing its tier, and that this was something for another time. As far as I remembered there was a level cap for the tiers, so I probably wasn't able to wear any higher tier equipment at the moment, which would render the armour useless for me at the moment. I nodded and smiled at him to show him how much I liked the armour he had made for me.
Then we left the shop and Mister Macradon placed a sign at the window to show that his shop was closed at the moment and started heading out, just to stop and ask me if I wanted to lead the way. I didn't really know where to go, but I knew there was one thing I could do before letting him lead us to the place where the monsters would be found. As I hadn't shared the quest with him, there was just one way for both of us to do it, and that was to be in a party. I opened the menu and with a few swipes with my right hand I had sent a party invite to him and said "I don't really know where to go, so you may lead us there Mister Macradon, and it would be super great if you joined my party for this mission. i heard its what we have to do, so the experience points and loot will be split between the both of us."

[Macradon 0]

As they slowly began exiting the Town of Beginnings, the party invitation from Runa showed up in front of Macradon as he was walking. The prompt was the usual and Macradon would press the blue button to accept the party invitation. At this point, Runa would be able to see Macradon’s level displayed on her HUD, Macradon was a bit curious as to how she would react to the actual level gap between them, but would only react if she were to comment on it herself. If Macradon remembered correctly, the way to the Nepents would be directly towards the forest and into the more dense parts where the Nepents would show up. “It shouldn’t be too far from here, around 10 minutes of walking should give us a good estimation to where the Nepents will spawn. If we go through the North Gate and start directly to go into the woods, the Nepents should spawn between the edge of the forest and the river. I don’t know how strong the Nepents are, but I will try to take them down as fast and safe for you as possible, unless you want to fight, then I can try to just disable them enough for you to get a killing blow on some of them.” Macradon would say as they approached the open fields of the first floor of Aincrad.

[Runa 0]

Soon after I had invited Mister Macradon into my party, he accepted the invite and a second HP Bar appeared in the upper left corner of my field of view. It showed his name, the HP and his Level, and as soon as I saw it, I stopped and stared in amazement at the number. He was level seventy nine, that was like so high, I didn't knew if there were any monsters that could actually hurt him in the floors that had been opened up so far. Sure, the bosses where hard, even for someone like him, at least I thought so, but just wow. After a few moments I realised I had stopped and started walking again, looking at Mister Macradon with huge eyes and after a few more moments I asked "Hey Mister Macradon, how can your level be so high? It's ... It's like there shouldn't be anything dangerous for you in this game, or is there still monsters that are hard on you? Oh, and do you have any tips on how to level up fast?" Waiting for an answer I walked besides him. We left the town through the northern gate and walked towards the forest, as he told me that they were somewhere in the forest. 
Once we arrived in the forest I told him, that I wanted to try and do some attacking myself, so it would be nice if he wouldn't attack all of them, but fighting one or two myself would be enough. We hadn't walked for long when I saw the first of those strange plant monsters appear and soon there were four of them that came at us from all sides. I raised my candy cane just to show them I was ready to fight, and after yelling "I'll show them what it means to fight the defender of sweets!" I ran towards the first of them, my weapon started to glow and as soon as I released the attack, the blade hit the monster, dropping it's HP below half, and the strong impact created a shockwave that hit it just after it was sent flying, so it exploded while flying away, leaving a trail of pixels in the air as it dissolved. 

Spoiler

ID#116350
BD: 8 -> hit -> 5*2 = 10 DMG -> dead

 Runa: 60/60 HP | 4/6 EN | 5 DMG | 29 MIT | +2 LD | +1 ACC
Macradon: 1625/1625 HP | 173/173 EN | +2 ACC | 19 DMG | +3 LD

Nepent 1: 0/7 HP | 3 DMG
Nepent 2: 7/7 HP | 3 DMG
Nepent 3: 7/7 HP | 3 DMG
Nepent 4: 7/7 HP | 3 DMG
 

Edited May 7, 2019 by Runa

[Macradon 0]

With the sudden reaction from Runa, Macradon knew what it was about and awaited her words to convey her thoughts if she were to. Macradon would smile and reply to Runa “Well, I’ve been in the fields training for quite a while, nearly just as we were all trapped in here. I’ve just been fighting every day to keep my spirit high and my strength at its current maximum every day. It’s just what my mindset had been on since day one, and it has been both physically and mentally challenging, but it’s something I just have to manage.” he said, trying to put it into layman’s terms as much as he could, but it was something he had a hard time doing, especially when it came down to what happened last boss raid. Macradon would slow down his pace to think on the last question she aimed at him “Well …” he said and continued “I’ve just taken a lot of quests, quest lines, sub-dungeons, and what not and it has all just accumulated into this. I wasn’t really aiming for the top, it just … accidentally came, I guess.” Macradon said with a short chortle in his last part, as it was quite funny how he had come this far.

When it came to fighting, Macradon would nod and let Runa get some fighting experience, Macradon would watch and see if he could find anything she would refine and become better at. As she would engage into combat with her axe, she would swing her axe in a sweeping motion, sending forth a shockwave. Macradon was still confused as to why an attack this potent would be this low ranked in possible <Sword Art>s done by low leveled players, but he wasn’t a game developer, so he would let it be. It seemed like her fighting style, as for the moment, was very straight forward and aggressive, which is typical for beginners that hadn’t found a battle style yet. She might find something in the future, or stay with this, whatever she would find fitting for her. Macradon would draw his blade and get into position, quickly dashing up to one of the plant creatures and do a single angular stroke from upper right to lower left, his blade didn’t light up, he didn’t activate any skill or <Sword Art>, just a normal strike, but even then the Nepent parished. Macradon would stop and chuckle lightly “Guess I can’t even hold back enough for them not to die …” he mumbled for himself and would keep an eye on Runa, making sure the Nepents weren’t taking her too low.

ID: 116357
BD: 4+2=6, Hit!
CD: 8, Recovery Proc!
Sword art used: Base attack - 19 Damage done to Nepent 2

Runa:       60/60 HP   |   4/6   EN |  5 DMG | 29 MIT | +2 LD | +1 ACC
Macradon: 1625/1625 HP | 173/173 EN | 19 DMG | 35 MIT | +3 LD | +2 ACC

Nepent 1: 0/7 HP | 3 DMG
Nepent 2: 7/7 HP | 3 DMG
Nepent 3: 7/7 HP | 3 DMG
Nepent 4: 7/7 HP | 3 DMG

Edited May 7, 2019 by Macradon

[Runa 0]

before we had started to fight, Mister Macradon told me, that he simply fought and trained every day since we had been trapped in this horrible game and everything had started. He also said that it had been his mindset from the beginning. I had started like that too, but after my brother had died I lost the will to do so, or maybe it wasn't really the will, but more so the courage to go out and fight. I had been afraid all that time, and now a strong player helped me and it was my time to come back. I wanted to defend others, so they would never have to fear like I did.
When he then told me, that he had never aimed for being as awesome as he was now, but it had just been an accumulation of all the little things he had done, like following all the quests and questlines, I got even more hyped for what was to come. I had decided that I would complete every quest on every floor, and that I would become the most powerful defender there was.

I was still thinking about this when I saw him killing the second Nepent without even using a swordskill. That was crazy, he was so strong and yet he probably was a tank, so it was even more exciting to see how he was able to fight like this. I was looking at him and how easy he killed the monster when one of the two that were left came to close and got a grip on my leg with one of its root like tentacles. I had assumed the attack would hit harder, but with the armour I was wearing it did nearly nothing. I started smiling and with a high pitched laugh I started charging another attack, this time I aimed at the mobs tentacle that had gripped me, and once I released the attack it cut of the tentacle just so the shockwave was able to hit the body to its fullest and make it explode.

Spoiler

ID# 116422
BD: 9 -> crit -> 5+1 = 6 * 2 = 12 DMG -> dead

Nepent 3 Attack:
ID# 116388
MD: 8 -> hit -> 3-27 MIT = 1 DMG -> 59/60 HP

Nepent 4 Attack:
ID# 116389
MD: 5 -> miss

 

Runa:          59/60 HP   |   3/6   EN |  5 DMG | 29 MIT | +2 LD | +1 ACC
Macradon: 1625/1625 HP | 173/173 EN | 19 DMG | 35 MIT | +3 LD | +2 ACC

Nepent 1: 0/7 HP | 3 DMG
Nepent 2: 0/7 HP | 3 DMG
Nepent 3: 0/7 HP | 3 DMG
Nepent 4: 7/7 HP | 3 DMG

Edited May 8, 2019 by Runa

[Macradon 0]

It pleased Macradon to see Runa to pumped up, so eager to get into it all, it was a good mindset to start out with, it was probably a good push for her. He would observe the fighting she did, and the different kind of mistakes in her form that she had, like the amount of opening she left open, which was then exploited by one of the nepents that went in to attack her, but lucky enough, the armor Macradon had provided seemed to be working as intended, the damage was barely noticeable on the party health bar. With a smile towards Runa, Macradon would say “Seems like the armor’s working. Ya’ like it?”. As she would take out yet another Nepent, Macradon would close in to take out the last normal nepent while saying “I’ll be taking this one, then you can fight the big baddy when he shows up.” as he would cleave straight up with his sword from bottom to top, halving the remaining nepent before it exploded into crystalline polygons, and then into nothing.

ID: 116494
BD: 6+2=8, Hit!
CD: 5, No Proc.
Sword art used: Base attack - 19 Damage to Nepent 4

Runa:       59/60 HP   |   3/6   EN |  5 DMG | 29 MIT | +2 LD | +1 ACC
Macradon: 1625/1625 HP | 172/173 EN | 19 DMG | 35 MIT | +3 LD | +2 ACC

Nepent 1: 0/7 HP | 3 DMG
Nepent 2: 0/7 HP | 3 DMG
Nepent 3: 0/7 HP | 3 DMG
Nepent 4: 7/7 HP | 3 DMG

Edited May 9, 2019 by Macradon