[SP-F1] It's A Start (The First Few Lessons Are Free) <COMPLETE>

[Kazzy 0]

The madman said it. Everyone in Aincrad will be forever trapped inside until the 100th floor is beaten to break free of this. Death is also permanent since this causes the NerveGear to kill brain cells of users in reality with whatever microwave technology it has in store. Many were shocked, angry, and even went to the point of killing themselves in the first few minutes after the announcement. Some may be excited to actually be isekai'd into this, but overall the situation was grim. 

You just stood in place, staring at the sky even after the administrator retreated to who knows where to watch the s*itshow unfold for the day. You became very worried about yourself, and more so to your mom. Will she cry in bloody tears upon seeing the body of her son that will never wake up and remove the Nervegear without frying his head? Can she move on easily? Will she always be at your side every day, hugging you and reassuring you that everything will be alright?

You wanted to cry, and you sniffled twice as you wiped away your tears. You knew that crying won't help you move on to begin your new life. If the 100th floor is the only way to get out of this prison, so be it. Otherwise, at the very least, you want to stay alive and hope that your mom can live on as long as you are healthy.

You curse about the administrator under your breath as you walk away from the center square of the first floor's town. What sick human being would trap innocents into his virtual prison? The desire to live in the very fantasy he created? Plausible, but still inhumane.

The sun sets as you quickly seek shelter to sleep in for the night.

Edited May 24, 2019 by Kazzy

[Kazzy 0]

Today you start by suddenly waking up and grabbing your toothbrush like a microphone. It's something that you sometimes do to keep your spirits up. Your body slightly moves to the rhythm as you sing "Honjitsu wa Diamond" in a cheery voice while you imagine yourself singing in a shore wearing beach trunks. Since you are alone in your room, you aren't afraid to unleash your inner celebrity as you majestically sing out the chorus in Japanese.

"For heaven's sake, wake up.

I'm begging you, wake up.

You will never wake up.

Maybe I'll go to sleep, too."

You give yourself an applause by clapping and blurting out, "Go Kazzy-chan!" although you later find yourself feeling awkward and look down in embarrassment. 

"R..right...time to go," you say as you get yourself cleaned up and your teeth brushed before dressing in clothing and your starting chainmail shirt and coif. You then belt your hips with your sword belt so the armor sits on your hips comfortably. You step out of your room and head downstairs to the inn's hall to sit down and eat hash browns for breakfast.

[Kazzy 0]

You look around a bit while eating your hashes, noting the presence of players and a few NPCs minding their own business. Some of them are discussing plans, while others engage in idle conversation. Overall an okay atmosphere.

You stand up and hurriedly take your sword belt and chainmail as you realize how uncomfortable it feels to eat while dressing in metal. Now only in your casual clothing, you swipe your finger down and keep your armor in your inventory for now, but still keep the sword belt with you just in case. The pommel of your sword shines nicely as you adjust your belt around your waist and sit back down.

After finishing your meal, you let out a satisfactory sigh and soon notice an NPC who is an old man that is enjoying his chicken soup. This one's has a fading bubble...or whatever that is floating above his head. Whoever he is, he must be an important NPC, hopefully for a quest.

You stand up and approach the old man. You poke his shoulder once and he turns his head around to see you with a smile.

"Yes, young one? How can I help you? Or are you here to have me help you get familiar around the fields?" The old man asks while retaining his kind smile.

Sounds like you can use him to help you get used to the game's basics. You say, "Is there anything you can do to help me get started with my adventure?"

"Yes, of course. Follow me and I'll explain what you can do on the way home."

The old man stands up after finishing his meal shortly and beckons you to follow him out of the inn, which you comply.

Edited May 23, 2019 by Kazzy

[Kazzy 0]

"My name is Zackariah, an alchemist," the old man explains as he leads you back to his house somewhere in town. "It's not uncommon for me to help new adventurers like you. All they have to do is to find materials for my potions, none too complex. You'll ace in that, I assure you."

After passing by numerous shops and shelters, you arrive at the center square and keep up with Zackariah until you exit through the square and shortly arrive at a nice looking medieval house with a sign post hanging at the wall, displaying a potion flask on the wooden board. 

"Come in and sit down for a while. Make yourself at home," says Zackariah. You do so and your flank feels comfy on the soft sofa. You briefly lay your head on its back pillows before hearing Zackariah's footsteps.

Mmm, ice cordial strawberry syrup! You see the glass jar, accompanied by a glass cup, filled with the liquid and you subtly lick your lips. Zackariah pours the syrup into the cup and serves you, which you drink to your delight and do the refills by yourself.

"I'm listening," you say as you feel quenched for now and gaze at Zackariah with a small smile, though parts of your scowling features still remain.

Zackariah nods with a smile and says, "As I said before, I always send new adventurers to gather at least five materials for my potions. You do the same too."

[Kazzy 0]

"You don't need to wander too far in the fields to find the ingredients. I just want herbs, flowers and the like. You could tell whether any of those have any magical properties by giving it a taste, then observe its reaction to your body. Does it heal? Does it make you go faster? It doesn't hurt to collect the same kind of materials too. I'm okay with that. When you have have finished gathering, come back here and I'll tell you what to do next. Am I clear, sir?"

You immediately nod and become surprised at the sudden appearance of a message box at your face. The system asks if you want to initiate the test. You press the yes button without hesitation. The quest might sound too easy and a little laborious, but you don't mind. You want to familiarize yourself with the fields of the first floor.

"I'll do my best, sir," you say as you stand up and give him a respectful bow.

"Atta boy, now go out there and have fun," Zackariah says while standing up and gives you a pat on the shoulder. "Remember, come back after you found five ingredients. Good luck!"

[Kazzy 0]

You step out of Zackariah's home and make your way to the entrance of the starting city. Eventually, you soon walk among the fields just outside the settlement for the first time. You feel bummed that you couldn't get to go out and fight some mobs prior to the revelation of Sword Art Online's true nature. Could get you used to the fighting mechanics if you actually did it.

Before you forget, you don your chainmail armor in case something obstructs your way and try to kill you. Making sure you keep your eyes open, you look around the grass and some visible herbs to find the right ingredients.

ID: 117625

LD: 10 (Fail!)

Darn it. Already you feel like this is going to take a while, or worse, a whole day. You are not even familiar with alchemic herbs just by looking at them. You shake your head and keep walking around the fields, making sure that you can still see the walls of the starting city.

Edited May 23, 2019 by Kazzy

[Kazzy 0]

ID: 117626

LD: 10 (Fail!)

You look around to see that no one else is visible nearby. You decide to keep yourself a bit more occupied by singing "TONIGHT -restart from this night- while you keep finding the required materials. You sing quite loudly while you put all of your effort into singing. You don't worry about being heard thanks to you being alone.

The wind blows smoothly along your hair as you feel cool. You briefly close your eyes while singing out the chorus with your majestic voice. If this were a show flowers, pretty leaves and s**t would be blowing pass you like a cheesy musical, but again you don't mind, because this is who you are.

You open your eyes and keep em peeled while you continue your musical search. You make your way to a small patch of flowerbeds and decide to search the area. The flowerbeds are adorned with flowers with numerous colors, some give off glittery or shiny appearances...or something like that. Whatever, they look like they can stand out.

Edited May 23, 2019 by Kazzy

[Kazzy 0]

ID: 117633

LD: 20 (Found 1/5 Materials)

You carefully walk around the flowerbeds so you wouldn't step on them beautiful flowers, still singing the song but in a soft tone to concentrate a bit more on your search. Among a bunch of white flowers are a few that looks a lot like vanilla flowers. You figure it might be useful in alchemy since vanilla in real life supposedly have medicinal properties. It is especially useful in curing stomach ailments. Maybe vanilla in Aincrad can magically heal ailments too?

You shrug and just hope that your theory is true. You wish in your heart that Zackariah would give you some ideas about botany in relation to potions, but you gotta suck it up and see the results yourself anyway.

You pluck the pods from one of the vanilla flowers and swipe your finger down to summon the menu and keep the pods in your inventory for now. Onward to the second kind of ingredient.

Edited May 23, 2019 by Kazzy

[Kazzy 0]

ID: 117634

LD: 19 (Found 2/5 Materials)

"Yokata..." you say to yourself as you feel glad that you search this small area of flowerbeds. You just found another bunch of flowers that look like discount lavenders, and you totally know that the actual lavenders have medicinal properties in real life, its oil helpful in healing burns and wounds. This time you decide to give one of them a try through a small nibble. Maybe the discount version's different than the other, but you might know soon.

You pluck one of them and gently nibble a small part of it. Okay maybe a bit more, you think to yourself, and so you nibble further. You stand still, looking at the nibbled lavender and wait for a few seconds before you suddenly feel more...active. You feel more fit and find yourself jogging in place for a bit longer than you can usually endure. You deduct that this lavender fortify extra stamina for a short time as you soon stop jogging and pant in slight exhaustion. 

There must be more than providing extra stamina, but for now you just leave that to the botanists or alchemists themselves. You smile as you pluck a few more fresh lavenders and store them into your inventory. You nibble a bit further of that first lavender you plucked just to feel more of its known effect.

Edited May 23, 2019 by Kazzy

[Kazzy 0]

ID: 117635

LD: 11 (Found 3/5 Materials)

You move on to another spot that you haven't search yet, and look around closely, trying to your best to recognize any flower that resembles the ones that you might read about in reality. Fortune smiles upon you as you perceive such flowers. White in color, adorned in four petals with a few extra small ones at the middle. Yarrows. They are fine medicine and were historically used to treat headaches and wounds. You pluck one of them gently and nibble on the flower.

You don't know how or why but so far, just consuming flowers itself is similar to consuming food and their respective properties always take effect. You shrug at the logic behind this and just let it be. After all, you are in a fantasy world.

The yarrow you just ate soon did its job by making you feel somewhat healthier and took off whatever stress you might had from painstakingly searching the materials. It's as if it never happened at the next minute. You look at the yarrows, thinking that maybe it has magical healing properties. Health-wise. You pluck a few more and move on to the last few spots of the flowerbed area.

Edited May 23, 2019 by Kazzy

[Kazzy 0]

ID: 117636

LD: 16 (Found 4/5 Materials)

You come across some more flowers that are purple and pink in their respective types. You look at the purple ones closely and see that they don't look like any healing plant that you know of. You pluck one and examine it closely. You decide to experiment, aware that alchemists very likely to do so to identify the properties of alchemic ingredients. You pick the flower from its stem and nibble a part of it, and then another. You wait.

The effects feels the same as the lavender, something about reinforcing stamina, though you feel yours slightly restored instead. Another thing you found out is that some sort of light blue aura surrounds you for only a second before fading away. You aren't sure exactly what that new effect is. Your best guess is that it has something to do with cold or something. Cold as in...right. Frost. Maybe that's that.

"I'll take this, thank you," you murmur to yourself as you pick em as the fourth material before moving on to the pink flowers.

Edited May 23, 2019 by Kazzy

[Kazzy 0]

ID: 117638

LD: 20 (Found 5/5 Materials)

The pink flowers are so nice to look at and you admire their appearances, impressed. They look a bit like sakura flowers, and this intrigues you as you know none of their types that grow in the ground. Only trees. You pluck one and munch on it carefully. This one's giving off the similar effect to healing, though you aren't sure how strong or what's different about their healing properties. Oh well.

After picking up a bunch of them, you feel satisfied and stand up, viewing your inventory and grin like an idiot as you are relieved at your effort. All that's left is to bring these five different flowers to Zackariah. You think he'll make a potion out of them and present it to you. That'll be great, an extra potion for free.

You look at the sky and then your own visual interface that displays your health or whatnot, thankfully they aren't large enough to annoyingly obstruct your view. You perceive the left bottom corner and look at the clock set in Aincrad local time. 11 am. That's almost around two hours since breakfast.

The sun is already high in the sky, but the occasional breeze cools your body so you wouldn't feel hot in the fields. You take a deep breath and check your sword belt and the chainmail you are still wearing before moving on to the first floor's large city.

Edited May 23, 2019 by Kazzy

[Kazzy 0]

You keep heading on towards the gates when you stumble upon a small pack of boars, all sporting grey fur and glowing red eyes. They gather around grazing on grass, snorting every few seconds. The city walls are totally visible at this point, and it only takes no more than 15 minutes or so to arrive at the gates.

You feel a bit unsettled as you remember how relentless boars are in real life. Once they charge and hit, these f**kers won't stop until they are dead or the poor saps that got tusked are no longer moving. Some might have thick hides, at least that's what you read about so far. You are still unsure, but decide to exercise caution here. You think it isn't worth trying to take down a pack at the same time at your current level. 

You draw out your sword just in case and quietly walk around them in a big arc, hoping not one of them go full aggro if they happen to stare at you for a long time. One of them let out a split second squeal and look up, staring at space briefly before resuming its early lunch.

You let out a sigh of relief as your back is now facing where the city gates are. Quickly, you turn around to walk away, only to look at your left and see a f**kin wolf suddenly sprinting towards you. Its loud bark causes the boars to book themselves out of here fast.

You let out a "tch" as you get into a battle stance. You have no choice but to fight for the first time.

Edited May 24, 2019 by Kazzy

[Kazzy 0]

ID: 117689

BD: 8 (Rage Spike Used! x2 DMG. 2 Energy consumed and +2 for every enemy being hit)

MD: 4

Kazzy: HP 20/20 -- Energy: 2/2 -- DMG 3 -- MIT 9

Dire Wolf: HP 5/10 -- DMG 12 -- MIT 0

The wolf leaps towards you, snarling as it bears its sharp canines and aims itself towards your nose. You let out an "ORYAH!" as your sword glows blue in color, wildly swinging at the hound right across its gaping jaws. It falls onto the ground as it yelps in pain, and you quickly step away it and keep yourself steady. You just committed first blood in your first battle! You feel proud that your fighting spirit still exists in you, so you feel confident in taking down the wolf. 

The wolf stands back up and snarls angrily, being very pissed that it cannot land its jaws against your face. It runs around you in circles, the speed increasing each round. You remain still and close your eyes, trying to rely on the direction of its sounds to catch its leap once more. You grip your sword tightly as the wolf lets out a small howl before making its jump. Quick! Attack!

Edited May 24, 2019 by Kazzy

[Kazzy 0]

ID: 117701

BD: 6 (Rage Spike Used! x2 DMG. 2 Energy consumed and +2 for every enemy being hit)

Kazzy: HP 20/20 -- Energy: 2/2 

Dire Wolf defeated!

You open your eyes as you immediately pick up the direction of its loud snarling and slash your northeast with the sword glowing again. Thanks to your first Sword Art that can restore a bit of energy for every enemy it hits, you are able to use it again, wildly swinging and cutting off the upper snout of the creature. Blood spurts out of the wound as it yelps in pain and explodes into a bunch of triangular pixels when its fall make its impact onto the ground. 

You let out a satisfactory sigh as you realize that you finished the fight pretty early.

ID: 117702

LD: 11 -- CD: 10

Obtained 50 COL and 2 bonus materials as base loot.

Obtained Rare shield and 20 COL.

What's this? The game's window pop up in front of you and display the number of COL and materials you are getting. Those look good, but what surprises you is that you also get a shield with rare quality. You browse your inventory and scroll down slowly until you see your mysterious prize. It's a metal heater shield, yellow in color with red lines outlining its shape. A red bidepal, roaring wolf serves as its heraldry. 

You aren't sure of its properties due to its unidentified state, but you note to yourself that you will take this shield to a merchant and have it identified.

Edited May 24, 2019 by Kazzy

[Kazzy 0]

The walk back home remains uneventful after the fight. You feel a bit bummed that the fight was too easy, yet you are still grateful to be still safe and sound. You think about preparing yourself for further fights that may get progressively challenging. Wouldn't hurt to invest your own cash into better equipment and aids. 

Later, you finally enter the gates and keep on walking towards Zackariah's house. You knock the door upon arrival and Zackariah opens it after a few seconds. He smiles as he sees you and asks, "How's your first errand? You got them?"

You nod with a small smile.

"Good, good. Come on in and let's have a look at what you gathered so far."

You step in and walk over to his working table, taking out all flowers from your inventory and put them on the table neatly. Zackariah comes over and sits on his chair, examining the flowers one by one.

"Hmm...most of these are related to healing...very good."

He nods to himself as he looks at the pink flowers closely, then turns his head to look at you.

"Now here comes the fun part," he explains with a smile. "YOU make your own potion with these flowers. Don't worry about messing them up, I can guide you. In return I will give you some of mine for free before you go."

[Kazzy 0]

You nod, seeing no harm in helping him making a healing potion. You take one more chair and sit down beside him, keeping your ears open as you listen to his explanations. Grind the flowers, add them to bases, etc. After you manage to understand the basic steps on making a healing potion, he lets you use his alchemy equipment for you to work with. You get to it immediately, trying to keep his tips in mind while you work.

ID: 117703

CD: 5 (Success! Created Good Healing Potion)

His tips prove useful as you use them as your guide to creating the potion. After a bunch of grinding, measuring, mixing and brewing, your craft is successfully created. The result is a decent healing potion that is red in color, similar to your starting potions.

"Wonderful!" Zackariah exclaims as he pats your back. "You did it. Well, this one heals a bit of your strength, but at least you succeeded. As promised, I'll give you your reward. Just give me your potion first, I'll keep it."

You do so and Zackariah lets out a soft chuckle as he opens a chest and keeps your creation. He takes out some new potions of varying types and hand them to you.

"A lot of these heal you in battle at a great degree, so use it sparingly if you can," he explains as you receive your new drinks and keep them into your inventory. 

"Oh, before you leave, I want you to give this to a friend of mine," he says as he takes a package of some sort that is sitting on the table since you first came here. You look at the package at his hands and with a nod, take and keep it with you.

Zackariah smiles as he shakes your hand. "If you ever need help in making more potions, you can see me."

"Okay," you say, smiling back at his friendly gesture.

"My friend lives in this same street, just head west and you'll see his workshop by looking at his sign that displays a sallet. A type of helmet. Good journeys to you, friend, and be safe."

Edited May 24, 2019 by Kazzy

[Kazzy 0]

You bid Zackariah goodbye and leave his house, heading west of it and keep your eyes forward for a sallet sign. You look at the clock in your visual interface to find that it is now midday. The walk is thankfully short as only a few minutes pass when you finally notice the sign from a distance. Not wanting to rush, you calmly walk to its door and gently knock on it. An elderly male voice follows, "Who is it?"

"Hello?" You call out. "I'm here to give you a package from Zackariah."

"Ah...my friend.." the voice murmurs audibly and goes quiet for a few seconds. You simply wait by the door until you hear a few clicks and it opens. Now an old man with the vigor of the young stands before you, looking at you with tired eyes. You access your inventory and equip the package, then hand it to him.

The old man smiles a bit as he takes the package while saying to himself with a cough, "My medicine.."

You debate inwardly on whether you should come in or not when the NPC calls out to you. "Don't just stand there, boy! Come on in!"

Enter it is then. You do so and close the door behind you. The first thing that catches your attention is a furnace and an anvil, the latter lit by embers.

[Kazzy 0]

You sit down by the table, watching the old smith drinking the medicinal gift. He lets out a relieved sigh after finishing the small vial, and then he looks at you with a curious look on his face. You stare back at him, unfazed with your scowl remaining on your face.

"Quite a while since I see someone wearing chainmail," the old man says, scratching his chin with a hint of curiosity. "Most of you youngsters these days always wear chestplates or worse...the indecent types like that bikini armor. Who the hell decides to forge such rubbish and distribute them to so called women warriors?"

You look at the table, having nothing to say about that. You don't know if skimpy armor actually exist at all, or how many players wear as such. You do agree with the old man's ramblings about it by nodding at his words. Wearing that is the equivalent of asking themselves to be openly wounded through dozens of means. Takes a dumb [censored] to wear one just for the sake of attention or looks. Sigh.

"Anyway..." the old man continues. "chainmail's a good start I suppose. I like the aesthetic and practical design. Looks like it can fit well to be worn with plate armor."

The old man then approaches you, smiling behind his white fluffy beard as he offers his hand to you. You shake it.

"Name Lyle Tealeaf, a blacksmith for life," he says with a grin. "Can you do me a favor?"

[Kazzy 0]

You nod at his question and feel eager to listen to what he will want you to do. Lyle sits on another chair across the table, facing you. You excuse yourself to doff your armor first to get yourself comfortable, much to his agreement. Soon the conversation continues.

"I'm running short on materials here. It's nothing big, just simple enough for you to get. You are up to it?"

You nod, eager to do his bidding. Lyle nods briefly, looking at his anvil, and then back to you.

"Thing is, I kinda forgot what I wanted for now," he says with a nervous chuckle, scratching his bald head. "But I'll tell you as soon as I can. For now just enjoy your day and rest. Make sure your sword's still intact, young man. You'll need it for the job."

"What do I get to slay?" You ask.

"Again, I'll tell you later. Ease yourself," Lyle replies, smiling. "Quite a fighter aren't you? You don't just fight for bragging rights, no?"

You shake your head. Glory or fame isn't what you seek when it comes to fighting.

"Good, good. Now off you go, young man. Come back...say in a day or two. Knock first, okay?"

You nod and stand up, bowing at Lyle with a 'thank you', which he acknowledges with another nod. He waves you goodbye as you leave his workshop.

You take a deep breath and look at the blue sky. Today's quite the first actual experience of getting used to SAO. You walk away as you decide to stroll around town to give yourself a tour of this place, but not before you make yourself unarmed since there will be no fighting for the rest of the day. Just a relaxing tour, meals....and more discreet singing.

 

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU COMPLETED YOUR ADVENTURE!

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

Obtained 3 SP (+2 from Quest)

Obtained 480 COL (400 + 80) and 2 Bonus Materials

Obtained Unidentified Rare Shield

Obtained 5 Tier 1 Uncommon Health Potion (+40 HP each)

Obtained 1 Tier 1 Damage Potion (+1 DMG)

Obtained 1 Tier 1 Overhealth Potion (+50 Temp. HP)