[SP] [F01] Time for some action, Inosuke the warrior! <<The Second Lesson, Is Also Free>>

[Tsurei 0]

Spoiler

Stats

Level: 7

Hit Points: 140

Energy: 14

Combat Stats

Damage: 1

Mitigation: 0

Accuracy: 0

Evasion: 0

Weapons

- None

Armour

- None

Battle Ready Items

5 x [T1] [Uncommon] Health Potions  (+40hp) 1 x [T1] Damage Potion (+1 Damage) 1 x [T1] Over-Health Potion (+50 Temp HP) 1 x Snake Venom (A coating which grants a weapon a poison effect which activates on a critical hit, dealing 4 damage for 10 turns to an enemy. Lasts for one thread. Takes a post action to apply.)

 

 

When Cordelia hurried waved goodbye to them, they stared after her for a moment before using the teleportation gate in the city to return to the town of beginnings, the girl brought them along on a whim under the guise of helping, but even so, her worry for them seemed somewhat genuine, Rei chose to believe in that at the very least, they got the exp and didn’t die, one step closer.

It was when they arrived back in town did they realise that they had missed their chance to keep the momentum to complete the second part of the chain quest, it was already late and evening was upon them. Even this medieval looking city had lamp lights scattered across the streets.

Whilst the cold here was different from the mountain ranges, it was cold nonetheless, and more so when they noticed faint small white shapes falling from the sky.

Snow?

Edited December 28, 2019 by Tsurei

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They walked through the night streets and soon arrived at their inn, when they walked in, the scenery was the usual, people huddled around tables, food and drink steaming the air, their faces like stone, red nosed and devoid of hope. The NPCs went about their jobs tirelessly, the bar maids stood to the side, cleaning the tables, handing out drinks and food when appropriate, the bar tender was a large burly man that polished the mugs and cooked food and poured drinks on the occasion, everything seemed brighter somehow, or maybe it was just because of their change in perspective, a little bit of confidence in their chests.

They cast their eyes to their usual table to the side near the windows and surprisingly enough, there was a restless Yuta, tapping the ground with his shaking, jerking leg and arms folded, his face furrowed with a frown. Takumi seemed to be nearby, shifting though his menu distractedly.

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Their eyes shot towards the entrance when they heard the wooden door being open and shut behind them, Yuta’s face flooded with relief and Takumi let out a small breath, both quickly standing up to walk over to them,

“What were you thinking!?” Yuta cried out,

“I didn’t think you’d actually go,” Takumi nodded as calmly as he could manage,

“I-It went okay, everything went fine,” Kenji replied, trying to persuade them,

“Yeah, in the end, it all worked out, she was hiding things but she was actually a good girl,” Rei shrugged nonchalantly,

“You two….” Yuta frowned, grinding his teeth,

“You could have died,” Takumi stated firmly, “a few levels is not worth the chance if you’re going to die,”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Rain scratched the back of his head, “My bad. So, what did you guys do? Did you complete the second quest?”

“Of course not!” Yuta cried out, “We were too busy worried sick about you guys!”

“I thought you would simply come with us when you saw we weren’t coming with you,” Takumi nodded,

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They sat down at their table, Rei and Kenji on one side, and Takumi and Yuta on the other,

“So? What did you get for taking the risks?” Takumi sighed,

“Hm, we’re up to Level 7 now,” Rei mrumured, flipping open his menu,

“W-we… got some money and snake venom?” Kenji shrugged when he got to the last part uncertainly,

“Snake venom?” Takumi raised a brow,

“it doesn’t have a great chance of activating, but in a long drawn out fight, it could be useful,” Rei nodded, “Apart from that, seeing a high level player fight was enlightening,”

“Like how?” Yuta frowned,

“Energy, is literally that, our physical stamina, over use of Sword Arts will actually tire us,” Rei explained, holding up his fingers for each points, “Sword Arts may be our only way of fighting in the upper levels, against enemies with a ton of HP, base damage won’t cut it, we’ll need the Art’s multipliers sooner or later,”

They sat down at their table, Rei and Kenji on one side, and Takumi and Yuta on the other,

“So? What did you get for taking the risks?” Takumi sighed,

“Hm, we’re up to Level 7 now,” Rei nodded flipping open his menu,

“W-we… got some money and snake venom?” Kenji shrugged when he got to the last part uncertainly,

“Snake venom?” Takumi raised a brow,

“it doesn’t have a great chance of activating, but in a long drawn out fight, it could be useful,” Rei nodded, “Apart from that, seeing a high level player fight was enlightening,”

“Like how?” Yuta frowned,

“Energy, is literally that, our physical stamina, over use of Sword Arts will actually tire us,” Rei explained, holding up his fingers for each points, “Sword Arts may be our only way of fighting in the upper levels, against enemies with a ton of HP, base damage won’t cut it, we’ll need the Art’s multipliers sooner or later,”

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“Is that bad?” Takumi asked,

“Wait, so we can’t just fight without them?” Yuta cried out,

“It might seem a small concern, but consecutive battles are definitely not create for Sword Art users,” Rei explained, “They use a lot of Energy, and that means it’ll tire us out more, meaning even fighting or running away whilst low on energy would be difficult, but Sword Arts are necessary for their damage multipliers or we’ll never get anywhere with the stronger enemies, especially if they hit hard. It’ll be a matter of killing them quicker than they can kill us,”

“So we can’t get away with not using them then?” Yuta sighed,

“Unfortunately not, without weapons, we’re doing a total of 1 damage. Even if we had the best weapon around, it wouldn’t go up by much, but we’ll cover that tomorrow, I have an idea,” Rei waved his hand dismissively, “It’s a problem just yet, moving on, the Sword Arts used are as expected, extremely game like, the moves executed are assisted by the system and are not physically possible, slashing several times faster than the eye can see, leaping into the air several meters, not humanly possible feats,”

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“This might seem like reality, but it’s not, we should be prepared for normally impossible feats and actions, let’s not get blindsided,” Rei warned carefully, “Next up, is our plan for tomorrow, we’re fighting Boar Pups and hoping that they drop their tusks as materials for the quest, it’s a 50-50 chance and the Pups are easy to kill and don’t do all that much damage, for us right now, we could take them bare handed.”

Takumi and Kenji grimaced at the thought of kicking around some helpless boar pups, it just seemed… off.

“Even if it doesn’t actually help, we need to buy some Vanity items,” Rei stated,

“Vanity?” Yuta frowned, “As in, just for show?”

“That seems pointless, it does the same damage, right?” Takumi noted,

“Yeah, but the point is, they count as a weapon or armour class, we’re levelled up now, we can start learning Skills, even if it’s a vanity item, so long as it’s the right skill…” Rei trailed off,

“it can still be used and benefits will stack,” Takumi realised,

“Yeah, that’s the plan for tomorrow, we need to get used to using weapons and experimenting with their Arts. We have the money, we’ll buy the items from NPCs since they only cost money and don’t require materials from us as well. Think hard about what Skills you want tonight,” Rei nodded.

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Suddenly their stomachs gurgled, all of them, it appears none of them had eaten since morning, Rei and Kenji were out and Takumi and Yuta were too worried. But now that everything was settled and they relaxed, it all suddenly kicked in,

“I’m bloody hungry,” Takumi sighed, slumping in his chair,

“I could eat a horse,” Yuta mumbled,

“Don’t,” Rei rolled his eyes, “Let’s get some good food and we’re off to the second step tomorrow, get’s get some good rest so we can be up early tomorrow,” he eyed Takumi,

“Don’t ask for the impossible,” Takumi shrugged, “I can’t sleep until after 3AM, if I’m lucky.”

“You really need to fix that habit…” Rei sighed,

“How did that even happen?” Kenji frowned,

“One too many nights drinking, that’s for sure,” Takumi chuckled,

“Speaking of, we can’t get drunk in here, can we?” Yuta wondered,

“Nah, we can’t, not really anyway,” Rei shook his head, “You can make yourself believe you’re drunk, but you won’t actually be,”

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When the food eventually came, it was a bowl of steaming stew with loaves of garlic bread, who needed vegetables anyway? In this virtual world that managed to simulate taste, so long as you ate something, even better if it tasted good, nutrients don’t matter here, though Rei was aware that Player made meals had buffs, it didn’t really matter since it that was too expensive for them right now anyway.

It wasn’t luxurious, but for people like them, the meal was a first, it actually tasted good and they scarfed it down in a good mood, when Rei looked up, he could almost see colour in the world again, heh, things were probably only going to get better from here on out, he would make sure of it. After eating and chatting for a few hours, they went to their rooms to sleep, well except Takumi, he would be bored out of his mind reading the manual like Rei until early morning.

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Late into the night, Rei laid on his bed, warm under the covers of his bed, one hand behind his head and the other outstretched, flipping through the menus, at the skills he could take. By his calculations, he could take 3 Rank 1 Skills or 1 Rank 2 Skill. It was hard, there was a variety of support skills and he could see their uses, but immediately for their survival, it can hold off, right now, they needed damage boosters against their opponents and avoid enemies that could blow through their hp. They needed to be able to kill before being killed, as the first fight he observed told him.

That left him with weapons. He needed to get a Katana and Rank 1 Curved Swords before he could even unlock the Katana tree. That was… annoying to say the least.

There were so many choices, possibilities and uses for everything, it was hard for him to make a decision, but for now, he learned [Rank 1] [Curved Sword] and [Rank 1] [Light Armour]. He wished Dual Wielding weapons was something he could do, like he was used to, however, there was only one weapon slot. What kind of RPG didn’t have a dual wielding option? He sighed before he went to sleep.

Edited December 28, 2019 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

When the next day came, Rei was able to quickly throw off his covers and leap to his feet, when he got downstairs he saw that the time was still early, 6AM. He could go on ahead and go buy some cheap weapons off the NPCs and go out for some practice near the town gates to make sure nothing would go wrong.

It wasn’t hard at all to buy a generic weapon and armour from one of the NPCs, simple beginner gear that was next to worthless, he got a broad Chinese Dao, a type of curved sword and some light dark brown leather armour that protected his chest, wearing it under his jacket. Prepped and pleased to see his stats increase as he equipped the right equipment types for his Skills to take hold, he also noticed the Sword Arts and headed off for some testing, his heart thrumming in barely contained excitement, finally, it was time for some action.

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It was simple for him to find a random wander boar monster and run over, quickly he raised his weapon over his back, allowing a ocean blue energy to charge and sheath the blade, when the particles gathered and with a sheen completed charging, he was prepared. The boar rushed towards him, it’s large tusks ready to gore into him along with it’s head strong charge. Leaping to the side easily, Rei brought the blade downwards with a loud crash, leaving a arc of blue light trails, the blade slashes through the monster leaving a red gash in it’s side, upon contact, it created a explosion like a crashing wave of water. He watched as his energy bar went down a bit and the Boar’s hp drop by nearly half.

So that’s how it is… not bad… It would take time to get used to it, the charging mechanics were meant to be intuitive, as the boar growled angrily and turned for another charge, Rei moved to the next step.

ID# 132858
BD: 7 = Hit [Rage Blow]
MD: 2 = Miss

Damage dealt= 2 x 2 = 4

Rei: HP: 140/140 | EN:12 (-2)/14 | 2 DMG | 5 MIT | 0 EVA| 0 ACC

Boar: HP: 6/10 | 3 DMG

Edited December 28, 2019 by Tsurei

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This time as the boar charged towards him, he once again easily side-stepped the board, he drew his blade back in a reverse grip behind him, allowing it to charge with the blue energy before he slashed upwards, to his surprise, the system forced him to leap into the air with the force of the swing, launching him forward and up, his arm short in a upwards diagonal slash with a huge blue arc like a crescent moon, the movement was so surprising that he missed his mark entirely, misjudging the speed.

He landed back on the ground, stumbling,

“Whoa, whoa, holy crap,” he scrambled to recover into his combat stance, he let out a heavy breath, that skill used way too much energy! He’s not using that again, he needed to be careful, back to [Rage Blow] it was. Ah no, he should try a few normal attacks and see how that went first.

ID# 132862
BD: 5 = Miss [Fell Crescent]
MD: 1 = Miss

Rei: HP: 140/140 | EN: 7 (+1 - 6)/14 | 2 DMG | 5 MIT | 0 EVA| 0 ACC

Boar: HP: 6/10 | 3 DMG

Edited December 28, 2019 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

Alright, no gimmicks or tricks this time round, he grinned at the boar as it rushed back towards him, Rei side stepped it a third time in a row, at the very least, it appeared that mobs on the field were not intelligent, repeating a simple pattern each time. As the boar went past him, Rei lunged after it with a sweeping slash across it’s side and back, with pure dexterity and strength alone without the use of the system was able to create a significant digital red scar across it’s body, a glance at the health bar told him that it did almost as much damage as [Rage Blow]. He glanced at his energy, it didn’t decrease.

A constantly regenerating energy, Sword Arts that cause burst damage but used a lot of energy, extra energy is spent if an attack misses, combat without Sword Arts seems the best, though it would be a slow process, he might just have been lucky with that one. But once he starts getting good gear and Skills, he’d like to avoid Sword Arts if possible, it felt like it ruined the fun a little.

ID# 132868
BD: 10 = Crit +2
MD: 4 = Miss

Damage Dealt = 2+2 = 4

Rei: HP: 140/140 | EN: 7 (+1-1)/14 | 2 DMG | 5 MIT | 0 EVA| 0 ACC

Boar: HP: 2/10 | 3 DMG

Edited December 28, 2019 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

Fourth time coming, the Boar charged at him, a simply, pure, reckless charge devoid of intelligence, fights like this were no fun, could he challenge other players to a duel he wondered, should he even try something like that? In any case, focus on the battle right in front of you.

He glanced at boar and stepped to the side, slipping on the slight traces of wet mud on the ground from the melted snow from last night, he managed to get away just barely, but the Boar still managed to clip his knee, it was only a small tingle of pain and his HP dropped by 1 to 139.

Yeah, these things weren’t a threat to him, such was the power of higher numbers, he supposed. He brought his blade down on the Boar, leaving another digital red mark on it’s body, by this point, it seemed littered with gashes over it’s small stout brown body, he almost felt sorry for it as the Boar collapsed to the ground and shattered into a myriad of glass pieces.

ID# 132875
BD: 9 = Crit +1
MD: 6 = Success

Damage Dealt = 2+1 = 3
Damage Received = 3-5 = 1 

Rei: HP: 139/140 | EN: 7 (+1-1)/14 | 2 DMG | 5 MIT | 0 EVA| 0 ACC

Boar: HP: 0/10 | 3 DMG

Edited December 28, 2019 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

He watched as the logs popped up, displaying the exp and col that he gained with a disappointed sigh, he closed the window and began to look around him, plenty more boar to hunt, but his energy was starting to run low, at least, he could fight them with basic sword swings, but that might take a while.

However, he still had so much time to kill, he might as well, keep going…

 

After spending a near couple hours out in the field, wiping the sweat off his brow, he looked over at the sky and found the sun well in the air, looks like it was time, sheathing his blade at his side, he made his way back to the inn and sure enough found Yuta and Kenji already there,

“Rei!” Kenji cried out in surprise, indeed, he was puzzled why Rei wasn’t up in the morning today as well, since he usually woke up early. More over, he fully expected him to come down the stairs and not through the front door.

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“Hey, I’ll go get Takumi,” Rei nodded with a smile at their reaction, their eyes fell to his weapon and armour,

“Where did you go?” Yuta asked anyway, even if he could make a conclusion based on that alone,

“I bought the vanity equipment and tried out combat with the Arts and so on,” Rei replied, “I’ll talk about it later, let’s get ready to head to that blacksmith.”

Getting Takumi wake up was a matter of brute force and persistence, in his case, he simply kicked at the door roughly for a few minutes until Takumi was forced to answer,

“What!?” Takumi shouted, throwing the door open,

“Time to go,” Rei grinned,

“It’s too early.” Takumi stated flatly,

“Come on,” Rei grabbed him and started to drag him away, “Let’s go finish off that quest,”

Takumi tried to put up some resistance, but it was truly too early in the morning for him, try as he might, he was really just flailing around weakly.

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“Alright, did everyone choose their Skills?” Rei asked as they ate up their breakfast of sausage, eggs, bacon, beans and toast, this was a game so hell yes, they eagerly wolfed that down.

“I went with dagger and light armour, I need to go for martial arts later,” Yuta declared,

“Nice, I think we need to do a quest somewhere to unlock that,” Rei nodded,

“Breaking the unbreakable on floor 2 unlocks it I believe,” Takumi groaned,

“I see…” Yuta nodded, storing that piece of info in his mind,

“What did you get?” Rei looked over at Kenji,

“Heavy armour, 1-hand straight sword and shield,” he replied nervously, keeping eye contact fearing that he would be laughed at by his choices due to how out of character the choices seemed, he knew that he was more like a support character because of how lanky he was, but his favourite characters in games were always the large, slow, strong hitters.

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“You want to be a tank? Are you sure?” Rei raised a brow quizzically,

“Yeah,” he nodded back,

“Alright then, with a shield you won’t be able to dodge anything, so you want high mitigation then,” Rei nodded to himself before looking over at Takumi,

“1-handed spear, shield and light armour,” he stated over,

“Interesting choice, light armour usually favours evasion, but shield makes it so you can’t dodge things as well,” Rei noted, “But a spear is a great choice for a beginner,”

“What did you get?” Yuta asked, looking over a Rei’s equipment,

“Curved sword and light armour, saving up for the katana later down the line,”

“I thought so,” Yuta nodded knowingly, he’s play various games with Rei so he knew his playstyle and preference, likewise, it was no real surprise to Rei what everyone had chosen.

“Alright, let’s get that quest and practice out some Sword Arts, let’s stay away from the forest and close to the town in case anything unexpected happens, we can bail out easier,”

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So, they made their way to the Sylveren Blacksmith, identifiable by the golden leaf and black and anvil sign as they walked around town in search of blacksmiths, when it got there, it seemed like another other stone and brick building, these buildings were quite close to each other, leaving only narrow gaps for short, narrow and dark alleyway, these were usually filled with despairing players huddled up with their knees to their chest, this place was no exception.

Entering the blacksmith, they found it to be a simple storefront with weapons and heavy armour of all kinds displayed over the racks, behind the wooden counter was a open doorway into the smithery at the back where intense heat flooded out and red light spilled out, inside was the constant heavy sound of a hammer smashing onto steel, forging.

Pressing the bell on the counter, the light sound rang out through the air and the constant, even fall of the hammer stopped, a beat missed. Then they could hear footsteps as the older man walked forward.

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Lyle Tealeaf, certainly seemed like a wizened old man, he still stood tall, with broad shoulders and glistening muscles from working in the hot forge, he wore a rolled up tunic and a leather apron, with old papery skin and scruffy white beard, he wiped his hands on the apron and rubbed the sweat off his forehead with his arms,

“Ah, hello there, what can I do for you lads?” He looked them over as each of them materialised the package they were sent to deliver, “Ah…. Of course, from Zackariah?”

They nodded in affirmation,

“Very good, this will come in handy, but not quite enough…” he takes the items and puts them in his imaginary back pocket where the items disintegrated out of sight. “Now then, if you lads have the time, I would ask a favour of you, of course, I’ll be willing to compensate you,”

“Sure,” Rei nodded,

“Very good, now, I’m sure you’ve seen those Boars hanging outside the town? I need the tusks from the pups, if you can get me three of them, I’d be willing to let you take any one weapon or armour form my store and another special item,”