[SP - F1] <<The First Few Lessons Are Free>> The One Goes Back to Basics

[Sotarou 0]

All the excitement lately, Sotarou's been having to re-evaluate his decisions as of late... he's been rather... dogged in his choice of quests, picking ones that could possibly give him boosts in gear and levels... but there was only really one way to do that, and that was to do the starting newbie quests... the ones he'd been neglecting since he first found out about Kayaba locking everyone within a perpetual death game... why...? What was his end goal...? Was it to make the world aware...? Well, it certainly did that... but... as scary as all this was... Sotarou couldn't help but... at the same time... feel a sense of enjoyment... he wasn't about to feel enjoyment in death, but... aside from that, he was in another world...! One that had its own laws, its own rules... and while yes, some aspects were scary... like the threat of death and PKers... there were other aspects of this place that were awesome! That were lovely! That were great! If this weren't the case of death upon losing all your HP, he would probably enjoy this more! But that doesn't mean he didn't enjoy it anyway! But all this thought-provoking stuff wasn't getting anywhere quest-wise... he had picked up the first quest in what he learned was a quest chain of 4 quests back to back... he never did anything with it, but it seemed a good time to do it in any case...

Spoiler

Sotarou - Level 5
100 HP
10 Energy
2 Accuracy
1 Evasion
Base Damage
- (1 Base + 3 Weapon Skill + 1 Weapon Enhancement)
9 Mitigation
- (9 Armor)

Items
Sokuchi .................................... // +2 Accuracy, +1 Damage
Lucky Straights ................... // +2 LD when equipped
Akaviri Samurai Armor ........... // +9 Mitigation, +1 Evasion

Battle Ready Inventory
x5 Starter Healing Potion ... // Heals 50 HP
x2 Standard Healing Potion // Heals 20 HP
Jeweled Bee ............................ // Regain 2 additional energy on natural CD rolls of 6+.

Buffs

Skills
Katana                               | Rank 1: +3 Damage
Heavy Armor                    | Rank 0: +0 Damage Mitigation

Skill Mods

(( Accepting quest <<The First Few Lessons Are Free>> ))

Edited May 28, 2019 by Sotarou

[Sotarou 0]

FLASHBACK

"C'mon, Sota! You're being rather rude to the guy!"

"It's an NPC. It's got a set programmed response guide. It doesn't do anything past what it was programmed to do."

Jarron and Sotarou stood there arguing between one another while this NPC, Zackariah, had just been standing there, waiting for a confirmation of the acceptance of the quest <<The First Few Lessons Are Free>>. It was a newbie quest... rather basic. From what he understood, it was just 'Go out and fetch 5 T1 mats, bring 'em back and we'll continue from there.' Simple enough to do. So why was Jarron making such a big fuss over NPC interactions...?

Jarron nodded profusely to Zackariah. "I am so sorry for my friend's rude behavior. We'd be glad to accept this quest and help you out."

The NPC was rather polite in its response as Sotarou and Jarron both pressed the 'Accept Quest' button on their respective menus. "Thank you for accepting the quest. You just performed one of the first basic actions in this world. The next one is to acquire 5 Materials on this floor. You don't need to fight any monsters at all. Nothing will harm you on this floor as long as you don't provoke it. Gather the 5 materials, and bring them back to me. We'll continue once you return."

Jarron nodded to the man. "Of course! Of course! We'll get those materials and be back before you know it!"

Sotarou pointed to the sky. "Uhh... it's getting late... we need to be logging out soon..."

Jarron smacked his own forehead, a look of shock on his face. "Oh crap! You're right! My Fiance's gonna throw a fit when she finds out I was on here all day! We should get out of here."

END FLASHBACK

[Sotarou 0]

Of course... that was the day everyone in SAO found out they couldn't log out... and not long after that, Akihiko Kayaba announced his intention to make SAO a Death Game... Sotarou and Jarron had all but forgotten about the quest... at least... until that day... that day when... he was taken by force... those damned PKers... it just boiled his blood knowing that those goons were out there still... oh well... they'd get their comeuppance... one day... either way, it wasn't what he was focused on today. It was early morning, he had on Jarron's Lucky Straights, he had his Katana, he had his Armor. It was time to head out and complete this quest for Zackariah... after over a year... he'd finally finish what he and Jarron set out to do.

Getting out of the Town was the easy part. The next part was finding a good spot to get the materials. Caves. Caves were always a good spot to go. And so, he found the nearest cave to the Town and began his mining operation, looking for Materials to give to Zackariah.

Spoiler

ID	Battle	Craft	Loot	MOB	Character	Link	Purpose	Time
117874	8	10	1	8	Sotarou		First Few Lessons: Material Gathering, +2 LD	2019-05-28 02:16:47

And of course, the first mining point was empty... this was gonna be some work... like usual...

Edited May 28, 2019 by Sotarou

[Sotarou 0]

Sotarou could just hear his father's words in his mind: "Anything worth doing isn't easy. It's work. Work makes it worth. And when you work for it, it feels all the more satisfying."

Yeah, easy for you to say. You weren't stuck in a Death Game, surviving for your life... he had invited his father to join him... he was thinking about it, wanted to see how it was through Sotarou before he committed to joining... well... guess it was a good thing he DIDN'T join... otherwise, he'd be stuck here same as Sotarou...

He shook his head, kicking those thoughts from his mind as he continued with his goal. He had to come up with 5 Materials for this guy. He hadn't acquired a single one yet.

Spoiler

ID	Battle	Craft	Loot	MOB	Character	Link	Purpose	Time
117875	2	6	6	9	Sotarou		First Few Lessons: Material Gathering, +2 LD	2019-05-28 02:21:10

He almost felt like this one would be it! But... it fell short. As usual... Sotarou sighed. This was gonna be a pain in the butt. Oh well. At least this cave had quite a few materials. Pretty sure it was designed specifically for the use of this quest. At least that was something.

Edited May 28, 2019 by Sotarou