[SP-04] <<Essence of Steel>> Back to Beginnings

[Freyd 0]

It felt weird to be back on the fourth level.  Freyd was standing in precisely the same place where he had met Yuki during his very first foray into the upper floors.  He'd sported threadbare clothes beneath the plain grey wool cloak that had passed for starting armor, and a simple single-handed straight sword.  He was happy just to have survived the encounter, despite having contributed little to their actual victory.  It had been a kindness, on Yuki's part, to take him along and protect him as she had.  She was heading for the front lines, last he'd heard.  Maybe he'd see her there soon.

Gathering what few supplies and pieces of equipment he required, Freyd walked out of Snowfrost in search of the elusive Frost Beasts that carried the item he required.  This time, he would face it and vanquish it alone.  It really hadn't been that long ago, and he was eager for the rematch.

Freyd activates Mega Slime Farm (+2 SP)

Vanity Tag: @Zajcica

Spoiler

Name: Freyd, The Whisper in Shadows
Level: 48
HP: 980/980
EN: 96/96

Stats:
Damage: 16
Mitigation: 54
Evasion: 1
Accuracy: 4
KEEN:1
HLY:2
BLD:12

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Forgiven Disobedience (T1-2HSS, ACC 1, HOLY 1, BLD 1)
Armor: Skirmisher's Garb [T2 LA, MIT 2, EVA 1]
Misc: Assassin's Cowl (T2-Trinket, ACC 2, KEEN 1)

Skills:
2H Straight Sword [Rank 5]
Light Armor [Rank 5]
Searching [Rank 3]

Extra Skills:
Disguise (not available due to self-imposed plot)
Familiar Mastery: Fighter 3
Survival

Mods:
Precision
Finesse - Rank 3
LA Athletics
Ferocity

Battle Ready Inventory:
Starter Healing Potion (50 hp)*3
Teleport Crystals*2
Turkish March *2
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik*5
Golden Key*5
T3 Blank Dungeon Map*5

Housing Buffs:
Rested: -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat
Clean: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 20% (rounded down)
Hard Working: +2 EXP per crafting attempt and +1 crafting attempt per day
Filling: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot.
Item Stash: +1 Battle Ready Inventory Slot
Relaxed: Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
Col Stash: +5% bonus col from monster kills and treasure chests
Advanced Training: +2 SP to a thread. Limit one use per month [Used in this thread]
Multipurpose: Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll

Guild Hall Buffs:
Lucrative: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (10+ for Alchemist crystals, 6+ for everything else). +2 EXP per craft. Rank 9 crafters receive +1 crafting attempt per day. Rank 10 crafters receive +2 crafting attempts per day.
Col Deposit: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.

Scents of the Wild: n/a

Wedding Ring: n/a

 

Edited August 26, 2020 by Freyd - The Whisper in Shadows

[Freyd 0]

The perpetual snow on this floor made the tracking of frost beasts a tricky business, at best.  His initial intent had been to return to the same spawn point as last time, but that soon proved to be futile.  The game designers had been clever, and explained away the perpetual snowfall by writing in constant but subtle changes to the landscape.  The underlying rock formations never seemed to move, but the surface might as well have been a super-sluggish ocean.  This made it impossible to easily locate much of anything.  All of the points of reference, including most the frozen conifers and land forms had long since vanished or changed.

Persi was no help.  She was too busy frolicking for her own enjoyment, or burrowing new tunnels through the 'fun soft rock' as he could imagine her describing the snow drifts, if she could speak.  Her tiny black hear popped up randomly, contrasting the pristine arctic landscape, a pair of brilliant blue eyes darting to and fro in search of a new destination.

Edited August 27, 2020 by Freyd - The Whisper in Shadows

[Freyd 0]

They spent several hours trucking through hip deep snow without much success.  The sun shone bleakly, at best, in the cloud-covered sky.  Visibility was a greater problem than the cold.  Both Freyd and Persi could both ignore it.  Nightfall would bring its own additional challenges if they didn't pick up their pace.  

"Right.  If I was a Frost Beast, where would I hang out."  He looked down see Persi stepping gingerly standing on the snow drift that currently had him up to his waist.  She just blinked at him, as she so often did when he asked such questions.

"Yeah.  Thanks.  I had a feeling you were going to say that.  Could you try to be a little more helpful, perhaps?"  Persi's shadowy body wavered and then sank into the snow like a melting puddle.  Bones.  There had been bones last time, from which the beast had re-spawned when they touched them.  

"Thanks Persi!"

[Freyd 0]

Freyd refocused his search on finding clearings large enough to accommodate the corpse of a creature of the proper size.  It had been one of the few notable details from his last visit to this frozen and forgotten wasteland.  How Haine and Kiluia thought this was a suitable place for a home still escaped him.  'You chose to place your home and shop in the middle of a plagued floor swarming with flesh-sloughing zombie-thing,' he thought to himself.  'Can you really judge?'  It was a fair point, ignoring the fact that he was deliberately trying not to be found.  A few people had since wandered into Freyd Edges, on the surface, but that could hardly be helped.  It also gave Dingo and Quip something to do, and the degree of contentment both needed.  Perhaps there was some equivalent merit to making your home in this frozen hellhole after all... still... he couldn't see it.

[Freyd 0]

One sheltered valley caught his attention above and beyond the other potential sites.  He'd spotted several ice formations at a distance, thinking that they had fallen from an overhanging ridge above.  The ridge itself looked like a sort of shelf formed from wind-blown snow off a nearby hill.  Its outer edge had the appearance of a cresting wave, complete with rolling froth in the form of icy stalagtites.  The valley was lined with younger trees, save at the bottom where a bowl-like depression held the bits of fallen 'teeth' from above.

Closer investigation revealed a considerably different explanation.  Partially masked by the blue-ish shadows cast by the overhanging ice, the 'teeth' were quickly revealed to be very large fragments of bones.  A rare few were still whole and poked out of the loose white powder that filled the rest of the bowl.  

"This looks a lot more promising," Freyd said aloud, his voice echoing off the surround stone and ice.

[Freyd 0]

Persi was soon darting around the scene as if it was some kind of mongoose obstacle course or playground.  Freyd, meanwhile, was trying to remember how Yuki had triggered the beast the last time.  He had been so lost and terrified that he really hadn't paid attention, and he didn't want to spend another three hours searching for another potential spawn site.  Examining the site for clues or patterns - some kind of puzzle to be solved - he completely ignore Persi.  She was over by one of the larger bones, standing on a large, white, spherical boulder sticking up out of the ground.  Stretching out to give it a good sniff, she'd barely touched it when the frozen fragment snapped and fell under its own weight.  Persi had no trouble dodging it, but it landed on the boulder with a hollow and unusually high pitched 'thonk' that just didn't sound right.

[Freyd 0]

Freyd recognized the sound the instant he heard it, his wide eyes turning to see the dark blur that was his familiar go streaking by with the same speed and guile as a house cat that suddenly realized it had just broken an irreplaceable heirloom.  Beneath their feet, the ground rumbled and shuddered, sheets of snow-covered ice buckling all around where Freyd was now standing.  Large masses of ice-covered skeleton soon breached the surface, rising high into the air before crashing back down to brace and lift the Frost Beast's core out of its frozen grave.  The heaving ground was more than enough to get Freyd moving, sliding off to the side as the flat surface he had previously been standing upon suddenly became a steep slope.  Leaning back to gain speed, he was launched into the air as the titanic creature broke free, flipping the slab he'd been on like a paddle on a fulcrum.

[Freyd 0]

Landing in a manner that would have made any cartoon character proud, Freyd's profile was clearly etched in the snowy ground where he landed.  His frazzled, snow-covered head popped up an instant later to take stock of the threat that had just been unleashed.  Looming nearly fifty feet high, a primordial mass of bone and ice was just pulling itself upright after Persi's unintentional release.  Innumerable shards of shattering ice clattered off its body like someone had set off an entire field of cluster mines in one go.

Freyd had the good sense to seek cover in the hole he'd just made.  The sound of thousands of bits of razor-sharp debris perforating the landscape around him clearly demonstrated the destructive capabilities of the creature they had just unleashed.  Things turned silent after the initial minutes-long barrage.  He was about to stick his head up and out when an immense shadow loomed overhead, blocking out the already mostly blocked out sun.

[Freyd 0]

Not waiting for whatever was about to come next, Freyd switched to offense.  Anyone watching from a distance would have thought that someone had just given the gigantic humanoid one hell of an uppercut.  Its neck snapped back as it was propelled with such force that its feet momentarily left the ground.  It came crashing back down into the hillside behind where it had been standing.  The impact sent a shockwave across the entire area and caused the entire ice shelf above to shudder and collapse.

Stalagmites the size of a full grown man came tumbling down along with several hundred tons of snow, ice and rock.  All of it crashed down onto the Frost Beast's head, then tumbled off and all around him as it shattered into a massive field of pain-infused rubble.  The entire snow bowl was filled with debris that raised a plume of snow so high into the air that it struck the underside of the next level.

Spoiler

Freyd, The Whisper in Shadows | HP:980/980 | EN:87/96 | DMG:16 | MIT:61 | EVA:1 | ACC:4 | KEEN:1 | HLY:2 | BLD:12

Galaxy Destroyerr (x13): 13 EN - (Rested, Finesse 3) = 9 EN

BD: 3 + 4 = 7 (hit).  Freyd deals 208 damage to Frost Beast.

MD: 6 - 1 = 5 (miss).  Frost Beast misses Freyd.

Frost Beast: HP 42/250 | DMG 160 (Partial phase deals min 24 damage on hit) (250-208)

Edited August 28, 2020 by Freyd - The Whisper in Shadows

[Freyd 0]

A pair of big-ass feet made of ice and stone were the only recognizable things still visible and sticking out of the collapsed hillside.  Forty feet beyond them, across a boulder and ice-strewn debris field that looked like it had just received a full naval bombardment, a somewhat shell-shocked figure in black was crawling out of an equally proportioned and shaped hole in the snow, wondering what the heck had just happened.  He looked a bit like the Michelin man with the sheer amount of packed snow still clinging to his clothing.  Wiping the snow off of his cowl, Freyd heard the avalanche detritus ahead of his shudder and shake.  It heaved upward an instant later as the Frost Beast's massive and battered form broke through the field of debris and started working its way free.  

"No way, big guy.  Not happening."  Freyd took a running start towards his still-dazed foe.  Fortunately, the falling debris had flattened enough of the surrounding snow to give him proper purchase.  Sailing through the air above the broken vale, Freyd plunged his blade straight through the thing's skull, shattering it completely.

Spoiler

Freyd, The Whisper in Shadows | HP:980/980 | EN:79/96 | DMG:16 | MIT:61 | EVA:1 | ACC:4 | KEEN:1 | HLY:2 | BLD:12

Galaxy Destroyerr (x13): 13 EN - (Rested, Finesse 3, Turn Recovery) = 8 EN

BD: 3 + 4 = 7 (hit).  Freyd deals 208 damage to Frost Beast.

Frost Beast: HP 0/250 | DMG 160 (Partial phase deals min 24 damage on hit) (42-208)

Edited August 28, 2020 by Freyd - The Whisper in Shadows

[Freyd 0]

When the last of the ice, snow and stone had finally settled, Freyd held the Essence of Steel in his hand - his prize and ticket into third tier status.  He only needed to pair it with another artifact to enhance the holy blade that he had recently discovered and he would be capable of joining those ranks with appropriate gear.  Placing the item into his storage, he surveyed the post-apocalyptic scene and told himself that he should start making preparations to head back to floor nine.  The Gatekeepers quest would be no small undertaking.  He needed to find some allies to help him out.  Night and Raidou immediately came to mind.  Kiluia and Haine did too, but both had been pre-occupied of late.  It was going to require more detailed planning, but the pieces were all finally falling into place.  Chase wasn't quite ready yet.  He might also be able to call on Yuki.

[Freyd 0]

The image a bride all a tizzy with wedding preparations suddenly crossed his mind.  He shook it loose with mild disgust.  This was far more important than the trivia of wedding planning and the wasteful excess such bizarre ritualistic events.  He recalled having been drawn into such a fiasco for his aun't's wedding a few years ago.  Both of his parents turned into neurotic messes over the whole business, until he stepped in and sorted it all out for them.  His aunt didn't seem overly trilled by the World of Warcraft themed wedding cake, but he thought it looked nice, and he got it at a good price.  People are weird.  His cousins hadn't seemed very appreciative, except for Agnes, but she was also the only gamer in the lot.  For a Japanese family, they most of them were practically Luddites when it came to anything electronic or virtual.  Ironic that it likely protected them from the very same trap within which he currently existed.

[Freyd 0]

Adding the third slot to Grief's Harbinger was the first priority.  That would make it a direct functional upgrade to Forgiven Disobedience, just at the proper tier.  Adding the Burn enhancement would come later, as time permitted.  He'd crunched the math, naturally, and knew full well the importance of seizing the moment when you first enter tier three to optimize your loot yield.  Studying the leveling trajectories of other players, particularly Raidou, had given him ample data upon which to plan his own rise.  

Still, he wasn't sure what it would be like.  Perspective seemed to change once you breached the third tier threshold.  Progress took on a different meaning and focus.  He simply couldn't anticipate all of the possible nuance, just yet. It was something to look forward to, and analyze to the Nth degree once it came into being.  

Realizing that he'd been walking nowhere for about five minutes, Freyd roused himself from his reverie and headed back towards Snowfrost.

[Freyd 0]

The walk back from somewhere always seemed shorter than the initial foray into the wilds.  Maybe it was because the observer was more keenly aware and interested in the details of scenery when outward bound and exploration was the goal.  Maybe he was just fatigued and knew - or thought he knew - what to expect on the return trip.  Maybe time and space distorted based on the level of interest in the journal.  Regardless, Freyd soon found his way back to Snowfrost.  The storms seemed to have abated somewhat with the death of the Frost Beast.  Everything was where and as it should be, and yet he carried with him an undeniable aura of impending change.  Persi could sense it too.  She'd been walking around as if charged with static, zapping her feet just from coming into contact with the ground. They stopped to look at each other, confirming that they were both feeling the same pent up energy.

[Freyd 0]

The portal loomed before them as a physical and metaphorical symbol of travel.  Part of him really wanted to figure out how these things worked and to develop a personalized version for his own use.  Teleportation would be extremely useful.

"Back to Angel's Point, I guess?"  They needed to activate the Essence of Steel, and Grief's Harbinger remained in his workshop.  It was going to feel very strange to set Forgiven Disobedience aside after so long.  They had been together since his very first foray into the wilds of Aincrad.  It had served him well against both versions of Bacon Bits, and beyond to considerably greater challenges.  This would make a suitable note with which to end the early chapters of his adventures.  He chuckled slightly beneath his cowl at the presumption that he would have many more and at the arrogance that he would survive them.  What a change from his earliest outlooks in SAO.

Vanity Tag: @NIGHT

[Freyd 0]

The journey back to Freyd Edges and the Liminal Blind in Angel's Point were uneventful.  Things had finally simmered down a bit, and - despite his ever-present urge to advance -  a strange sense of serenity fell over him as he walked casually among the towering medieval ruins of his home.  Perhaps it was the eroded limestone that provided an aura of endurance, or the soaring gothic details of the architecture that spoke to higher aspirations.  He had never truly focused on it before, yet it had always been there.

Jolly Quaestor waved a greeting from across the street as he passed, which Freyd gratefully returned.  The ex-front liner was a good man, though Freyd knew little of the trauma in his history.  He intended to ask him someday, when the time seemed right.  Distance on the subject was the greatest form of respect he could think to offer the man, for now.

[Freyd 0]

Quip and Dingo were occupied tending the store, stocking inventory and clearing out all of the carefully curated trash he'd collected over the last few weeks.  That was their pattern.  He went out and collected mountains of useless trash.  They sorted it and prevented him from keeping the worst of the garbage.  It was effective, if unusual.  Having finally maxed out his merchant ranks, it also kept him focused on items of potential value, rather than identifying stuff for its own sake.  The place was really starting to take shape.  They'd even had a small number of customers recently, which was really throwing him off.  This place was intended to be so far off the beaten path as to be un-findable, and yet...

"Did'ya find it, Freyd?"  Quip was already nagging at him with her surly tongue.  He held up the Essence of Steel, earning a satisfactory grunt in reply.  

"Oh good!"  chirped in Dingo.  "Can I watch you use it?  I've never seen it done before."

"Neither have I," Freyd admitted, "but sure.  Why not?"

[Freyd 0]

"Does it come with instruction," Dingo asked excitedly.  The boy had infinite curiosity, which paired well with his quiet temperament, as opposed to Quip's more fiery demeanor.  She was the will, but he was the brains between the siblings.  It was nice to see them settling in to the place.  Their arrangement had worked out well for them both.  They manned the shop while he brought in the orders and raw materials.  It had given them the safety and stability they both needed since the death of Maeve, their younger sister.  Freyd still recalled the tragic aftermath that had led to their first meeting, and the near loss of both their lives.  He thanked Quaestor for that, too.  The old man had put him up to their rescue, though Freyd suspected that they were both surprised by how quickly and easily he had accepted.  It turned out to be the best possible choice.

[Freyd 0]

"Can't say that I really know, Ding.  This is the first real chance I've had to look at it."  Placing the thing on his workbench, he summoned Grief's Harbinger to hand and re-examined it for the hundredth time to ensure that he hadn't missed anything. The blade was huge, at six feet of black steel  that looked like it was contained within a halo of purest light.  It seemed so odd that it was just a rare item, but that would change very shortly.  Reviewing the tooltip on the Essence, he followed the instructions precisely.  If all went well, this blade's quality would improved and he would have the weapon he needed to carry on effectively.  

Activating the item interface, he selected Accuracy, to duplicate the three enhancements on his current weapon.  It would get swapped out with another enhancement at a later date, after he finished another quest.  A high pitched bell chime confirmed that the work was done.  The item's abilities had been updated, and his task was complete.  

[Freyd 0]

Summoning Forgiven Disobedience, he placed the white blade next to its successor on the table.  Both were magnificent in their own rights, though very much opposite in appearance.  Freyd offered a short bowed to both weapons, as if formalizing some sort of exchange, like the brief ceremony undertaken by naval officers when they trade responsibility for a ship. One weapon's time had ended, and had proven worthy of recognition.  The other's was about to begin, and deserved the same aspirations.  Dingo looked at him like he was crazy.  But that already happened a lot.

"You okay there, Freyd?"  The boy asked.

"Yes, just fine.  I don't know why, but all of this feels really weird, like I never quite expected to get here."  He dismissed the white blade back into storage, until a proper fate for it could be determined.  I spent over two years convincing myself that this was an impossible goal.  Now here I stand on the cusp.