[PP|F1] <<Earning a Living: Artisan>> Playing it Safe

[ChaseR 0]

Chase's eyebrows furrowed as he fixed his glance at her, replying in a voice full of confidence. "You're in the frontlines. So you'll know when I'm there too.", he spurted, quickly realizing that he couldn't be certain she was clearing floors along with the rest of the lead players. She had enough time free to come to the first floor and laze around after all. His eyes moved along with hers, noticing she wasn't paying him any attention and got fixated on the material. The more she kept finding, the stronger the urge to pick them up became. 

He was too stubborn for his own good on that matter though. "I can find them myself too, I told you already. I won't learn if you hold my hand all the way.", Chase repeated before trying to find a material laying around on his own once more. The disappointment in his face, then again, spoke for itself. The bluehead wasn't planning on accepting any pity from her and taking the materials she was finding. Clearly, the quest's objective wasn't to just find the materials, but there had to be something else behind it too. Maybe it was the little push he needed to look for better places to gather at. Or so he pondered at least. 

Spoiler

ID# 155570

LD 7

Materials Found: 0

Total Materials Found: 2/5

Edited June 27, 2020 by ChaseR

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

She noticed that he still stubbornly refused to pick the item she was using as a visual aid to focus her thoughts. Her eyes lit up and she let out a small giggle as he bluntly called her out. "Was I that obvious? Man I really suck at hiding things. You got me... " she admitted slightly amused. "What is there to learn?" she asked and pointed out three locations. "There, there and there. The materials you're missing are in plain sight. Want to learn how I know?" her eyebrow slightly raise, she didn't give him time to reply and continued. "I have leveled up and invested Skill Points in a Skill called Search." Once again her eyes flashed as she scanned the area around them. She was starting to get fed up with his obsession on learning things the traditional way. "It shows me the location of things like hidden people, quest objectives, mobs and materials. I just got it after investing some points in it. All it does is increase the chance to see something." she came out a little rougher than intended but pressed on.

"All the quests on these lower floors.. hell, all the tier one quest are like this game's tutorials, eazy enough for a player or ideally a small group to blaze through them and gain skill point to invest in themselves. You say you'll see me on the frontlines? by what I'm seeing so far I highly doubt it." her words bit hard but if he really meant what he said he needed a wake up call. "With each new flor that we unlock, there are new skills and quests that we can do to increase out level. You won't get any benefit from not picking up the mats I just pointed for you, just waste more time that you could put on doing another quest!" by the time she finished she found herself standing instead of leaning against the fence. "You better pick up the pace or be always 10 steps behind the ever advancing front lines." she let out a long sigh, she wasn't expecting to lecture a noobie today but did it for his own good.

[ChaseR 0]

Chase froze completely stiff where he stood. It looked like after a few repeats, her words finally got through his stubbornness. "She... Fuck... She's right... If I keep going that way, there won't be frontlines by the time I'm strong enough... Everybody else finished this on their own, so why do I... T-Tch... Fuck!", he cussed in the back of his mind with a small frown he held back as much as possible, looking back at the three locations she had pointed and slowly standing up. He wasn't glad she was helping though. It looked like she had made him accept hid defeat, rather than offered him a hand to make the quest easier. 

He silently picked up the materials she had revealed, a tear beginning to form on the corner of his right eye as he let out a low. "Fuck...". Chase wiped it away and turned around, giving Ariel a saddened look before he stated even less energetically than before, surprisingly enough. "I got them all."

More tears would come, so he quickly turned his head around to look at the Town of Beginnings gate. This was just like those months he'd spent all cooped up inside a safe inn. Crying and hoping that he'd suddenly wake up into the real world. Relying on everyone without even knowing how to help himself. Bad memories of this world kept coming back, and his already laconic speech turned into no speech. For the time being at least. 

Materials Found: 3

Total Materials Found: 5/5

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

'Was that so hard to do?' was what the blonde thought as she watched him finally pick up the items she'd spotted. To his last last statement she simply nodded, her serious expression somehow softened but not enough to appear that she was enjoying the victory. Her words connected and she was content with having him realize the error of his way, she wasn't about to twist the knife or pour salt over the wood. She straightened up, leaving him a moment without saying anything while she brushed her cloak and straightened some minor wrinkles on her skirt. Then she started walking towards him and gave him a slap on the back, prompting him to start moving: "Now that we got that out of the way, let's get back to the master artisan's shop and have you learn how to make trinkets!" she said with a small encouraging smile, trying to rely the message that staying here moping around would further delay him from the reaching the frontlines.

[ChaseR 0]

Chase was standing there, having barely wiped his tears before getting slapped in the back and almost falling over, looking back at her with a frown. All he gave was a nod, before beginning to head back to the artisan's shop. He didn't say much, waiting until he'd feel better before even opening his mouth. "She's strong. She's really strong. She has adapted to this world and its rules already to the point of fitting right in. I have to try to be the same.". He eventually got lost too deep in thought that while walking, he tripped and fell, groaning as he pushed himself off the ground and dusted his clothes. 

While dusting though, he seemed less and less gloomy. All that despite his magnificent fall, as a realization came to mind. He was heading back to the artisan's shop to learn how to craft. That meant he could start helping out by setting up shop and giving it his all. Like so, he could support the lower level players, make money out of it and eventually move up the rankings faster. By the time he was done dusting himself, his frown was already gone. "Sorry. I got distracted."

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

She looked over her shoulder only to see that the kid still was moping around while dragging himself, literally. She let out a long sigh, hoping he'd make his mind fast: get disheartened and remain in this town for god knows how much time and use this opportunity to motivate himself, to press on with the same determination he showed earlier. She heard a loud thud and some groaning and turned around completely, her eyes squinting at the sight; second questioning herself over the worth of staying around here anymore.

As she heard him speak, the blonde raised her eyebrows in surprise. Seems like he might be some kind of a masochist as he started feeling better after having a intimate face to face encounter with the paved ground. Either way, be it from his clumsiness or the disappearance of his frown, her own smile gradually returned as she nodded and replied: "We're almost back to the shop." Maybe he hit his head or something... she didn't know where his sudden mood swing came from but she was content that it was a positive one.

[ChaseR 0]

He gave her a quick nod, hurrying back to the shop without saying much else. The closer he got, the more excited he began to feel about finally getting his profession. It's not like they were quite done yet though, first he'd have to try and make something based on what Ariel had said. She must have had experience with this quest before, even if she was a tailor and not an artisan. "So... The quests must be the same thing, but for an item of a different profession? She seems to know the game too well to have been that far off."

The bluehead began to wonder just how well this would work. He could imagine what it'd be like making something in the real world, but over here in SAO... There was no way it could be the same as it would be in real life. "How does crafting trinkets work, Ariel?", he posed the question and looked at her as the shop's entrance began to appear in sight. It'd been all too long since he'd felt this form of excitement, to be fair. He was sure it couldn't be complicated, considering that he'd be made to craft a trinket right then and there, if she was right. Maybe it happened like partying did through a menu? 

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

"Osu! Rinly-ojisan!" chimed the blonde as they entered the shop, greeting the NPC out of habit. She then turned ChaseR and lightly shrugged. "No idea kid, I'm a tailor remember? Give those materials to this guys, he'll be your teacher!" she adde while pointing at the busy NPC that spared them nothing more than a glance. Such was the coding of his character, a busy crafter that poured everything he had into his work with little time for mundane attics. So until they would engage in conversation with him about the profession quest or making a purchase, he would continue working, sparing them a glance once in a while in order to not completely ignore them.

She mused over it and decided to show him her profession, after some quick taps on her menu she materialized a blue piece of cotton fabric in one hand and her golden sewing needle in the other. "For me it work something like this." She then started making the mechanical motion of manually sewing the fabric, after her needle made several loops the fabric turned into a vanity type blue hachimaki (stylized headband) with the kanji 動機 (motivation) written between a crowned lion head. "Granted you need to be more careful for items of higher tier and made from materials of higher quality. But that's the gist for it, should be something similar for artisans." She then threw the headband in his direction to have it. It caught the eye of the master artisan which after glancing at it, nodded and softly muttered while still working: "As expected from lady Diana's student, you work fast and deliver quality." "Aww thanks gramps..." replied Ariel with a smile and a faint blush.

 

Edited June 27, 2020 by Ariel - The Crowned Lion

[ChaseR 0]

"K-Kid..?", he let out a deep sigh and looked at her, watching rather amused and surprised at just how much she could do. She looked a bit too accurate, although that's what surprised him the most. It'd been a long while since getting trapped, so it made sense she could control her body just as well as she could in real life, but... It was too accurate to look natural. By the time she was done, they had the artisan's attention, causing Chase to cough dryly and open up his inventory, sorting through his small assortment of items before he made the materials appear on the bench. "I brought back what you requested. Teach me."

The NPC's previous gray (!) quest indicator lit up as the player presented the quest materials. "Very well lad! Now come time's a wastin!" he claimed with renewed vigour, taking the materials and going next to a small workstation behind his counter. A door to the side opened as well, an entrance for ChaseR through which he could make his way to the indicated spot. When he would sit next to the impatient Artisan, the veteran would hand him the materials back and put a piece of paper next to him. "Make this for me!" he almost commanded, giving ChaseR a small chisel and hammer to work with alongside the small necklace blueprint on the paper. The master Artisan would offer no more advice and return to his work with haste.

Chase silently looked at the hammer and chisel with furrowed eyebrows, beginning to sweat as he took hold of both and stared the blueprint down intensely. "M-Make this..?", he uttered in the back of his mind, shaking his head and trying to do what felt natural. With the system's assistance he hammered carefully and slowly at the blueprint, finding it feel more normal than he expected, despite him not making many, if any movements on his own. And so, his first attempt continued until the results showed. It looked to be an alright trinket, as he took it into his hands before it broke into small, blue shards and disappeared. "H-Huh..?". And thus, the materials he'd used got lost, causing him to sigh. "Should I try again?", he asked the Artisan, a determined, albeit confused, expression on his face much more than before.

Spoiler

ID# 155884
CD 5

Lost 1 T1 Material.

Edited June 27, 2020 by ChaseR

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

The blonde silently assisted to the interaction between the player and the NPC. While a little different from the one she had when she first did her profession quest with the master tailor, the gimmicks were the same. The differences she noted we're mostly in regards to their personality which the blonde liked as it gave the NPCs an air of individuality. She mentally noted that so far, she hit the jackpot regarding the master crafter's friendliness as, even if it is a distant memory, she could recall lady Diana being very supporting with her and guiding the blonde through each step of the seaming process. Maybe the tailoring needle required a gentler touch than the artisan's chisel and hammer.

She shrugged the thoughts away getting closer to the counter and peaking over it at the bluenette to check his progress. It seemed pretty straightforward: follow the instructions on the paper to replicate the item in the blueprint. She had prompted an raised eyebrow from the npc crafter but nothing more as it continued his work. She turned towards Chase when he prompted a question, surprised that he wasn't getting an answer from his master. Waiting a few more moments, the silence seemed umberable so she decided to reply to him instead: "Yeah, practice makes perfect!" she chimed with a smile.

[ChaseR 0]

Chase slowly looked back at Ariel, giving a small smile before making a joke for once. "So much for having no idea, tailor lady.", before turning back towards the bench and taking a deep breath, easing his grip on the chisel and hammer temporarily. He seemed to have almost shut down from lag or something else, before he opened his eyes and got to hammering the chisel, working on making the best he could out of the blueprint. Once the final touch came up, he seemed to be so into it he even let out an audible shout, small dust shooting from the materials he was chiselling away at. "Haaaaa!"

Spoiler

ID# 155903
CD 2

He seemed to be carefully looking down at the necklace, touching it to pick it up before seeing it shatter into crystals once more. It felt defeating, yet motivating to have his efforts quite literally disappear into thin air. "This is much more like a lesson than gathering the materials was... I'll make it, definitely!", he thought, oozing with determination as he took hold of the next material. For once since meeting him, Ariel could see just how determined he was getting, not faltering even a bit at the failed attempt and getting back to work with his practice.

The clinks caused by his hammer on the chisel resounded through the back of the building, working hard and even beginning to sweat from a point onwards. It didn't take more than a few minutes before he brought the hammer down once more, more dust coming off as a bright, blue glow flashed, replacing the materials with the necklace. "Did that... do it?", he wondered and silently inspected it upon picking it up.

Spoiler

ID# 155904
CD 11

The necklace was silver, shaped like a tear. Inside of the frame, there was a gem to the colors of Chase's hair. It seemed to emit a very faint glow, but it could also be because of the poor lightning. Whatever the case, it looked to be complete, a fine item for his first trinket. "... I did it. Master Artisan.", he proclaimed, looking to the side with a wide grin on his face and presenting him with the trinket, holding it firmly and proudly. He even looked to have puffed his chest out a bit, filled up with all the pride of his first successful craft. 

Lost 2 T1 Materials.

Edited June 27, 2020 by ChaseR

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

"I did something similar..." she replied with a cheeky grin, as she turned around to leave him at work. She didn't move before slightly turning her head, saying: "Ariel.." before walking towards a nearby wall and leaning against it with her hands folded in front of her. She would observe him from them without being a distraction, having went through the item creation process herself she could see how it would be frustrating. She however made her first plushie on first try, a perfect one to boot; prompting her teacher to call her 'a natural talent'. Which proved out to be true, her keen eyesight reinforcing lady Diana's words up to this day.

Watching the exchange between thee two players, ol' Malachi Ringly couldn't help but smile under his mustache. He didn't need to see but hear how the player was treating his tools and the materials. 'too rough...' he mentally mused, closing his eyes to enhance his hearing. The second time he wanted to tell him to relax and let the tools guide his hand, his movements still stiff. Ariel could see how the NPC raised his eyebrows and made a small nod before a blue glow flashed from Chase's direction. Malachi answered his summons and turned to see the finished product. He took it in his hands and examined it , turning it around and watching from every angle. "Young seamstress, come here for a moment please!" he unexpectedly added.

Edited June 28, 2020 by Ariel - The Crowned Lion

[ChaseR 0]

Ariel was visibly taken aback by the NPC and it even took her a second to figure out he was referring to her, few times someone referred to her with that tittle. She nodded and got close, unsure why he would call out for her. The master artisan would hand her the item: "Please, try it on for us!", he said in a surprisingly gentle tone. Ariel obliged, seeing no reason to not do it. She even made a slow pirouette to fully show the item over her clothes.

"What do you think young man?" said the NPC, a grin finally appearing on his features. "Us artisans need to create wares that enhance the natural beauty of those who wear it. I'll let you be the judge of your work." he then folded his arms, showing no signs of wanting to speak before hearing his honest opinion.

Chase silently looked at Ariel as she twirled around, taking a deep breath. He knew his opinion wasn't the way it was because he'd made the item himself, but... He'd put his heart and soul into it. All of his will to reach the frontlines couldn't match just how he hoped for this to work, how excited and worked up he got prior to creating the necklace. And so, he opened his mouth. 

"I think it fits her. It's good. But I can do better.", he bluntly blurted out, knowing that if it didn't day 'perfect' on the quality, there was no room for doubt. It wasn't the full extent of his abilities. It was however all he could muster, and he was contempt with it. Contempt would be an understatement actually. Rather happy, too happy in comparison to any other moment he'd had upon entering this world. "What do you think?"

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

"Thank you..." she replied with a small blush, she couldn't really understand why her cheeks gained the red tinge as she wasn't a teenager anymore to start blushing at every compliment. Yet in the last few years she hasn't heard a compliment, not after breaking up with her boyfriend. She felt a little happy that her womanly charms were still having their effect even if he probably was just nice and didn't mean anything about those words. The gray haired artisan nodded, apparently satisfied with the youth's response. "Indeed you have much to learn, to sharpen your chisel and adjust the hammer's weight." he said with his eye closed. Then he reached from below the counter and pulled out a voluminous tome which he let rest against the counter. A impressive thud showed that its weight wasn't metaphorically inside the book but also physical." You can have this book filled with various blueprints that I gathered throughout the years. Practice the craft and I'm sure you'll make trinkets and masterpieces that you'll be proud off." he said with a smile, turning towards Chase. With the quest ending there should be a large 'Congratulations!' text above the NPC's head and a message detailing his rewards. The blonde obviously, not participating in the quest, couldn't see it. She removed the necklace and handed it back to Chase. "I think it's beautiful."she added with a slight smile, the flustered expression from earlier having disappeared by now.

[ChaseR 0]

Chase simply smiled, looking at the tome and letting out a sigh before he opened the menu and stuffed it in its inventory. "Like hell I'm ever taking that book back out, it'll break something with how heavy it is.", his thoughts went on, before he listened to what Ariel had to say and accepted the necklace, putting it back in his inventory as well. "Thanks. It feels like I really tried for once.", he simply said, looking at the bench he worked on it before back at the blonde. He headed outside of the shop, gesturing her to follow right behind, exiting and stretching his body. "What will you do now?"

He curiously asked her, looking at the top left corner to see that they were still in a party. "She's a frontliner, so she'll definitely go back to the top floors. She just happened to bump into me.", he went on to answer his own question in his head, before shrugging it off, metaphorically and literally. "I still have Shay after all. Will she be safe out there though?". He had many questions about Ariel, but they'd be answered in due time. When they were fighting together, him, her, Shay, and god knows how many more people and who they were. All that was stuff of the future though. Snapping out of it, Chase looked over his shoulder to see if Ariel had exited yet.

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

"No plans in specific." replied the blonde with a shrug after she said goodbye to the artisan and walked out the shop. She could understand why her master seamstress had such a close relationship with the man, despite his apparently unfriendly attitude; they both showed intense passion and love for their work. Something that the blonde herself came to appreciate. "Probably gonna walk around the place, she if there are any new player shops and whatnot. See if I can stock up on some supplies." she added with a flat tone, as if it was a routine which at this point it pretty much was, the blonde doing it without meaning to every time she came to this floor. After her return to the frontlines, she found herself using consumables more often than before so she had to resupply. Conveniently, most of the crafters she needed items from were at this floor making her search easier without having to travel across multiple floors. "Wanna tag along? I can answer some questions you might have or impart some of the frontlines wisdom if I'm in the mood." she said with a sheepish smile, luring him in with that last mention. 

[ChaseR 0]

Judging by how quickly she got an answer out of him, it was obvious that her bait had done its job mighty fine. "Sure. I'll come.", the bluehead said, following right behind her as she began to stroll through the Town. He looked at the player shops they happened to pass by all the same, albeit he had not a clue what he was looking at or for. Probably nothing, but then again... "What level are you?", he asked out of nowhere when she was checking one of the shops out, with an eyebrow cocked up curiously.

He was still at the very start of the game, having gotten no levels or rewards from finishing a quest quite yet, but she was a different story. Levels gave him a good measure of how big the gap between the two really was. If she wasn't too high a level, he'd be able to catch up and join her in the upper floors, sooner or later, for sure. "Forty or higher?", he continued with a guess, not sure what to expect of any one person battling that far up ahead.

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

The were currently window shopping through the 'food court' part of the shopping district, a place filled with all kind of restaurants, bars, food stand, all owned by professional cooks. The blonde was on the lookout for deals on consumables when ChaseR prompted a question. She made a few more steps and stopped in front of a restaurant's menu. Leaning a little, she read mentally through the list of items and prices while casually replying "Seventy-seven!" Not finding anything to her liking, she sighed and looked at Chase: "But I hear people have already reached the 88 max level cap. if I'm not mistaken, the strongest tank in Aincrad, owner of the Achilles unique skill is among them." she said with a grin, reminiscing to the time when Calrex was just a small level 10 that she took to finish the Traveler quest. She had predicted his brilliant future then and wasn't mistaken as now she felt like a proud mom. The blue knight now stood among Aincrad's finest. With that though in mind she grinned and made a mental note to catch up with him now that returned to the front lines.

[ChaseR 0]

Chase's eyes widened as he heard her level, only to be left even more in silence when she mentioned the maximum level. "Tank..? J-Just how strong is that guy..? Unique skill?", he seemed to have been thrown completely off guard, sweating just at the thought and swallowing dryly. "He has a skill nobody else has? Those exist?", the boy asked, quite obviously in shock from the news he'd just heard. The gap between them was much, much larger than he'd originally thought it could be. "Of course it wasn't going to be just forty levels... But seventy..?"

In an attempt to calm down, he took a deep breath and looked at the menu as well, trying to calm down. "... That's just a number anyways. I'll catch up. And when I do, I'll be stronger than both of them.", his inner monologue continued, filled with determination as he loosened up and wore a confident smirk, with fire in his eyes. "What is his name?", he asked, glancing over at her with the very same, fired up expression. What he had in mind wasn't sure, but it was probably just his curiosity.

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

He seemed to be coming to the realization that it will take more than words and spirit to reach the frontlines. She nodded to his first question while looking him in the eyes, completely aware of his shocked state as he looked to distract himself. By the time of his third question, she could would see him a little more determined than she expected: 'maybe there's still hope for him yet?' she wondered, slightly tilting her head and closing her eyes. "Calrex.." she simply named him. "He's the owner of a unique skill not available to other players, as the name suggest. While I can't tell you the specifics of his skill, I can tell you that it helped improve his tanking ability and survivability in the battlefield. He's pretty much unkillable." she added with a smile, by the way she talked suggesting she was somehow familiar with him. "There are... four? unique skills in Aincrad that I know of." unsure of the number now since it's been so long since she even thought about them.