[F-01] [SP] An easy-going hunt «Secret Medicine of the Forest»

[Tsurei 0]

Spoiler

Stats

Level: 19

Hit Points: 380

Energy: 38

Combat Stats

Damage: 7

Mitigation: 17

Accuracy: 3

Evasion: 0

Weapons

[T1] [Perfect] [Katana] Mizuha (Damage 2, Bleed 1)

Armour/Accessories

[Vanity] [Light Armour] Dark Leather Armour [T1] [Perfect] [Light Armour] Ocean's Mantle (Mitigation 1, Regen 2) [T1] [Perfect] [Trinket] Ice Star Chain (Accuracy 3)

Battle Ready Items

5 x [T1] [Uncommon] Health Potions  (+40hp) 2 x Immolation Potions 1 x [T1] [Rare] Damage Potion (+2 Damage, 1 Thread) 1 x [T1] [Uncommon] Over-Health Potion (+50 Temp HP) 1 x Snake Venom

Today was just another lazy morning, Rei opens his eyes with a weary groan, twisting and stretching his limbs feeling the morning’s unwilling bliss of waking up. His eyes flutter in the morning sun as he falls still, unmoving and unmotivated for a few minutes before he gives up and slowly gets up.

Putting on his usual jacket and pants, he equips the leather armour that’s little more than for appearances, it has no actual stats but it’s the one he had since the start of his adventures which were little more than a week or so ago, even though it feels so long ago, the comfortable weight and padding of the leather makes him feel somewhat safer.

Going through the inventory menu, he also summons a nostalgic light blue scarf, the pattern upon it makes one think of the sky blue ocean during summer, a in-game replica of an old scarf he wore nearly every single winter,

Edited February 10, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

Next up was his new but still trusty katana, Mizuka, a old rusted relic he picked up from the temple as part of the quest to get one of these somewhat rare weapons, it takes extra effort to get one of these just like with the Martial Arts quest, for one reason or another, these things were not easily available. Having brought the weapon to a blacksmith in town, he managed to re-forge it into something not just useable, but quite amazing, now it was a blue steeled sword that with every swing trails water like magic, it has no actual effect, but just the visual effect and cool water splashing across the field of battle was enough.

Lifting up the weapon, Rei glanced at the accessory that hung there, he called it the Ice Star Chain, but it was really something akin to a snowflake keychain, the one and only gift his distant little sister had given him. They used to be really close, but since she went into middle school, perhaps due to growing up, she’s become quite distant and cold.

[Tsurei 0]

It was during that phase she bashfully gave him this gift, it wasn’t much, but the snowflake certainly reminded him of his outwardly cold and brilliant younger sibling. With the 3 of these things, he was fully equipped, since Sword Art Online only ever had 3 equipment slots for one reason or another that he would never understand.

Sheathing the weapon by his waist, he looked himself over in the mirror, tussling his messy black hair for a moment before giving a small sigh, he looked into his own blue eyes and saw them narrow in hopeless fondness,

“Look’s like we’re doing more of this again, let’s keep it up, yeah? We’ve got more floors to go through before we can be satisfied,”

He never planned to join the frontline, he had no reason to, what he didn’t want was to be idle like he has been for the past 2 years, all he asked was one last adventure before he returned to reality and joined the gray world.

[Tsurei 0]

His footsteps sounded out pleasantly on the wooden boards the floor was made of, his steps pronounced as he slowly went down the stairs. Casting his gaze over the very familiar tavern, he saw numerous round tables and simple stools for chairs, the tables were filled up with other players who had given up on hope, on trying to fight back in this game, when the threat of real death was looming over them, the despair and fear made them huddle up like empty lifeless vessels within the safety of the walls.

He was one of them not too long ago, he watched as the players silently ate or drank, sitting together listlessly, it was hard to tell if they were with friends or strangers, their empty looks seemed to not care.

Apart from them were the NPCs, characters in a game as usual and not real people, yet they were almost programmed to perfection, with their lives tied to the game, it would be near impossible to tell the different between real humans and the characters now.

[Tsurei 0]

The Tavern was called the Silver Horned Inn, run by a NPC family, a gruff father, a beauty of a mother and a vibrantly cheerful daughter on the cusp of womanhood, the father worked hard in the back kitchen, cooking up food and pouring drinks, the mother and daughter would take the platters and serve them around with either practised grace or young enthusiasm.

As Rei stepped looked around the Tavern for his friends, he noticed the young girl, Rossa waved energetically in greeting,

“Good morning!” she called out with a wide smile, Rei had told her about the past quests they had taken so she knew that they had gone into the mountains for a camping trip, he could only guess she seemed happy to see them in the morning for breakfast after a few days of absence,

“Morning,” Rei smiled and waved lazily, earning a fondly disapproving look from her,

[Tsurei 0]

His eyes fell on the familiar round table that they have practically claimed for themselves in the time they stayed here, there sat his friend Yuta and Kenji, both already awake and gobbling down their breakfast, they’ve been staring at him since he arrived so he went over to join them, they all knew that their missing member, Takumi would soon be coming done after Rei woke him up with some kicks to the door.

“Morning,” the three of them exchanged greetings together as he sat down,

“So what’s next?” Yuta raised a brow in question, they’ve spoken about it several times, yesterday they arrived back at the inn and today the day right after they would be setting out, there was little need to take long breaks in any case. They’ve talked about what quests they would do even throughout their journey on the last one, but now was the time to concretely decide.

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“Secret Medicine of the Forest,” Rei replied, flipping open the guidebook in case he forgot something, “It’s going to be easy but chances are we’ll have to fight a lot of enemies,”

Yuta nods in understanding and confirmation, “It’s a beginner quest so that’s to be expected, we’re just way overlevelled for this floor,”

“Aye, we’re like all Level 19 now?” Kenji added in agreement,

“Yeah, according to the loot drop parameters, we should be in the 4^th or 5^th floor, but the quests themselves are several levels above what the normal monsters are,” Rei explained, “I swear, the balance of this game is all over the place,”

“Yeah, I’m not looking forward to taking 200 damage per hit,” Yuta groaned just from imagining the pain that would cause,

“Yep, well, let’s just do the quests one by one, we’ve still got the medicine then the dragon,” Rei dismissed their fears for the moment,

[Tsurei 0]

“Dragon?” Kenji muttered worriedly, not convinced that particular quest will be a fun or easy quest at all,

“Dragon? I’ve heard you talk about it before, how hard is actually?” Yuta’s eyes twinkled at the challenge, but they soon faded and his eyes hardened from caution,

“It’s not a problem, it’s somewhat below the average we should be fighting for our level, it’s also not much stronger than the monsters we’ve faced in the second floor,” Rei explained, musing over the data in his head as best as he remembered, judging from comparing numbers and feeling and predicting the dragon’s stats and how it’d feel,

“Weak or not, a dragon’s a dragon though, right?” Takumi sighed as he sat down next to them, grumpy this early in the morning. That is, at 10AM.

“It’s a dragon hatchling, so it’s not too much bigger than that there mug,” Rei pointed over,

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“You serious?” Yuta raised a brow in a half frown filled with shock and disbelief,

“Yeah,” Rei nodded firmly,

“…And that’s supposed to be just right for our current ability?” Kenji now felt ridiculous for being worried,

“Yeah, despite it’s size, it’s got some stats,” Rei shrugged in answer, he could understand their trepidation, he too was wrestling with the unbelievability of the looming quest, the fact that it was a small creature would make things harder in it’s own right as they had to fight in a team.

There was a short moment of silent pondering as each of them were absorbed in their own thoughts until Rossa walked over with a bright smile, “Morning guys, what do you two want?”

“Ah, sausage, eggs, bacon, buttered toast and baked beans please,” Rei raised his hand and nodded,

“Alrighty, and you?” she glanced over at Takumi,

“The same,” he curtly replied, his head looked unsteady and exhausted as if all too ready to fall asleep any moment,

[Tsurei 0]

“Alright, that’ll be 100 Col total please,” she held out her hands for them to give her the money, unfortunately, Col was almost entirely like an electronic currency with no actual physical value, this was a game so it wouldn’t matter, but when the game became your real life, the fact that the message box with the confirm payment was at dissonance with the outstretched hand.

They pressed the accept button and Rossa acted as if they had truly handed her money, she beamed them a smile and nodded,

“I’ll be right back!”

“Yeah, thanks,” Rei gave a small smile and looked back to the group,

“So are we leaving straight after?” Yuta asked for confirmation,

“Yeah, once we finish eating, we’ll head out to the nearby forest and start looking for that village,” Rei nodded,

“Nepents… they’re supposed to be some kind of plant monster, I wonder what it looks like…” Yuta wondered aloud,

[Tsurei 0]

Soon they were out, walking through the city they were so used to, winter was passing and they were into spring, though the weather has gotten warmer, during nights it was still as chilly as ever, they no longer had to don thicker coats and now freed from the extra bulk, all of them couldn’t help but feel a little better.

This time, Yuta didn’t play with the dagger he always had, it was still on his waist, it was still a perfect tier one weapon, but now he was tightening the cloth gauntlets on his two hands with a small smile, it was clear to his friend just how much he anticipated testing it out, though granted, it was not quite the childish glee that broke out on Rei’s face despite his best attempts to suppress it when he first got his katana.

With the Katana’s base damage output, he doubted he would even get a chance to use his Sword Arts this time around, he could test the lower powered ones, it was a good time, but also, it was important to never forget the basics.

[Tsurei 0]

Perhaps it was due to their level differences by now, but the boars and wolves notably steered clear out of their path, including the giant white wolves, as such, they were able to wander into the forest without obstruction. From there, it was exactly just that, wandering around until they found the village, there was a map from the guidebook, but in this forest that looked the same no matter where you turned, a map didn’t help a huge amount for their search.

It did save them some time combing over the area however, so they were grateful for that at least.

“What Rank is your Martial Arts?” Rei suddenly decided to ask suddenly out of curiosity,

“3,” Yuta looked over with a grin, “I have quite a few Arts to test out, I really can’t wait!”

“I’m not exactly keen on fighting plant monsters, so you can take care of my part if you want,” Takumi suggested, showing signs of laziness as he stumbled through,

[Tsurei 0]

“Same here,” Kenji was quick to pitch in and join the band wagon,

“I mean, I honestly wouldn’t mind,” Yuta furrowed his brow mixed with disappointment and not really caring, the enemies were low level and would do so little damage he could stand there and let them hit him for nearly an hour before he died. Even so, he looked over at Rei for the final confirmation,

Noticing his stare, Rei shrugged, “There’s a good reason you guys need to fight some too, you know.”

“Combat experience, yeah, yeah, I know, but there’s no point in fighting them if they’re weaker anyway, weak enemies won’t make good experience,” Takumi argued with a dismissive gesture, gaining a small amount of bravery from Yuta’s acceptance of his offer,

“No.” Rei spoke curtly and finally, “If you underestimate things they’ll bite you hard, it’s important to not rely just on your stats and learn things properly,”

[Tsurei 0]

“In fact, if you want,” Rei looked over patting his weapon, “We can have a duel if you’re wanting a good training partner,”

“N-no, it’s fine,” Takumi quickly backed down, glancing away, completely unwilling to fight Rei who he fully knows will destroy him in combat, he was probably the best combatant in their group, but there was another subconscious reason for the choice; they’ve yet to fight any proper human opponents, just the idea of killing or inflicting wounds upon another person would make any normal person afraid and apprehensive.

Duelling between players had rules that you can set, from First Blood, Half Health, Timed, To the Death and so on, you could also set rewards and bets, so if you were in a safe zone, there would be no way for you to be forced to fight against your will.

Past that, the first human enemies wouldn’t be until a few floors up, for now, it was all monsters.

[Tsurei 0]

“…If you say so,” Rei shrugged, he didn’t press much more, nor did anyone speak further about the subject, it was clear the idea of hurting another human being with a weapon was still somewhat taboo to them, in a game where death was real and final, the representation of the numerical health points being how close someone was to dying was even a bit more terrifying than wounds, knowing exactly how close someone was to completely disappearing from the world permanently.

They haven’t sparred with each other at all since they’ve arrived, apart from taking quests and fighting monsters, it was obvious some friendly sparring between them would be the next best thing for getting stronger and training their combat skills but the reason was clear why they wouldn’t do it.

“Hey, I think I see the village up ahead,” Kenji broke the silence by pointing ahead, the others followed his hand and spotted it as well,

[Tsurei 0]

The village was a simple one, something that you'd see in plenty of fantasy games, the buildings were mostly of wood and logs, flower pots and growing fields of various vegetables gave the village a colourful splash of cheer amidst the clearing created for the village. Noticeably not many people were outside, no kids playing, no adults working, the doors all seemed locked and the windows closed, as if they were all shut in.

As to be expected from a village facing some kind of epidemic, the quest was to ask them to find a secret medicine after all.

They soon came across the quest marker, taking them to the one unlocked door, inside there was an old woman coughing to herself, sitting alone by a unlit fireplace, knitting something to pass the time.

The group shared a small glance before Rei walked over, “Hey, what’s going on here? I haven’t seen anyone in this village,”

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“Travellers?” the old woman looked over her shoulder at them with wide eyes which fell to their weapons, “Adventurers? Ah, thank the gods… help has arrived!”

She stood up from the chair and faced them, bowing slightly, her voice adopting a pleading, desperate tone,

“Please… I beg of you… help us… a horrible illness has taken several villagers and led to their deaths, everyone is afraid and locked themselves inside, we sent for people to help get the medicine but none of them returned, there are no longer any young folk willing to risk their lives and the old like I cannot even hope to attempt it,” her eyes looked up at them for a moment before being cast down as she bowed even deeper than before,

“Please, I beg you to help us, we don’t have much to offer but our thanks…”

There was a tense, solemn silence amongst their group as they listened to her, they knew that she was an NPC, not real, not human, just a bunch of data, programmed in the likeness of a human,

[Tsurei 0]

In game where they now lived in as reality, it wasn’t hard to understand how being surrounded by life-like NPCs to make them believe they were truly alive. The silence was from their solemn sadness and horror at hearing the effects of the illness and the precarious situation this isolated village was facing, even though this was just a simple quest that thousands of players have done before.

It brought another sense of despair when this also meant that this village would essentially never be free of this illness that plagues them, they would eternally be stuck in their simulated fear and tension.

“Of course, we’ll help,” Rei nodded firmly, the others behind him nodding as well just as the old woman nearly felt herself break down in tears, fearing the silence to be rejection, after all, who in their right mind would risk themselves without payment?

“You’ll do it?” her eyes wide, she looked at them incredulous,

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“Yeah, what do you need?” Rei nodded in affirmation one more time before asking softly and kindly,

“Oh thank you… Thank you…. The cure is known to us, however, it belongs to a variant of the Nepent, a dangerous plant monster that roams the forest, it is beyond our means to retrieve, so I can only ask you to… The Nepent travel in packs and groups, only by killing regular Nepents can you draw the ire and attention of the mutated Nepent, they grow a red flower atop their heads that is the main ingredient of the cure.”

“So like a leader, alright, we’ll do the task right away,” Rei nodded and accepted the quest verbally, bypassing the message screen,

“Thank you… we’ll be waiting eagerly…”

With a short farewell, they began to leave the house and then the village, along the way, they could feel the eyes of the hopeful villagers staring at them through gaps in the windows in the houses around them, filled with suspicion and hope.

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“Let’s do this quickly,” Yuta stated more than suggested, his tone hard and firm, showing his desire to put his full effort into the quest, the situation they were told about no doubt struck his sympathy,

“Yeah,” Kenji nodded in full agreement, he had planned to do nothing and leave the fighting to battle maniacs like Yuta and Rei, but f he could help even slightly, he planned to do just that.

“…” Takumi let out a small resigned breath, he felt the same but he also felt frustrated, the knowledge that they were simply NPCs and not real people evoking emotion inside him only told him of how dangerously close these programs were to human people.

“That’s the plan, it might take no time at all, it might take a long time, there’s a 45% drop rate, of the plant from the killed Variant Nepent,” Rei stated, “the enemies are weak, we can split up to cover more ground without worry,”