[F02-PP] tempest. <<Breaking the Unbreakable>>

[NIGHT 0]

<<Breaking the Unbreakable>>

Unprecedented.

| [TECH-F] cannot be used.

Under Orion's changes, Sword Arts were being shifted around. Which included [Tempest]. Sweet, beloved [Tempest]. NIGHT had taken advantage of her doppel's tutelage on the skill, maximizing its usage whenever the new system dropped, but with the update, she found herself losing the art. Missing it even.

A quick conference with Bistro over details of its required quest revealed a set number of changes made to it under her research. It wasn't simply a boulder in a field, this time, the sort of story she was told about Basuke's hell. No, there was a trial one would have to go through, even a mountain to climb before the tribulations; the system did a number on its story, and NIGHT would feel its impacts first hand. Sour, but nonetheless present, the player warped into Urbus, hands stuffed in her pockets, sinking into the comforts of her tracksuit.

It was time to take on (and down) a rock.

	| NIGHT  | Status: [feeling the makes of a training montage surging into play.] Notes:  | For the sake of this quest, consider the following stat block;  | NIGHT | HP: 840/840 | EN: 122/122 | DMG: 14 | ACC: 2 | EVA: 2 | LM: 2
	Spoiler NIGHT | HP: 840/840 | EN: 122/122 | DMG: 23 | ACC: 3 | EVA: 3 | MIT: 44 | LM: 2 | HLY: 8 | PHASE | LD: 5 | BH: 25 | Stealth Rating: 5  equipment Orgoth's Legacy ACC, PHASE, HOLY (8) Tracksuit of Unfathomable Fashionability MIT (24), LM II Silver Crescent Necklace ACC II, EVA II  battle-ready inventory - - - - - - - - -  skills Spoiler mod count: 7/7 2HSS | RANK 5/5 ferocity, stamina CLOTH ARMOR | RANK 5/5 athletics, nimble COMBAT MASTERY: DMG | RANK 3/3 SEARCHING | RANK 3+1/5 tracking BATTLE HEALING | RANK 3/5 EXTENDED MOD LIMIT ENERGIST FAMILIAR: PROFESSION extra SURVIVAL CONCENTRATION HIDING blindside, vanish, surprise attack-t [CS] METAMORPHOSES  consumed buffs Spoiler statue KUMATETSU | +1 DMG consumables - - - - - -  misc buffs Spoiler housing Dimensional Backpack, Item Stash | +2 Battle-Ready Inventory Slots. Well Rested | -1 EN for the first three expenditures of each combat.  Relaxed | +(5 * Tier) HP per out-of-combat post. Full energy restoration occurs after two turns out of combat. Squeaky Clean | -25% DoT damage taken from the first DoT applied to this player in a thread. Skylight: Searching | +1 Expertise to declared utility skill. Cooldown of 30 days to reassign. Multipurpose | +1 LD/Prosperity/Stealth/Detection to one post per thread. Can be applied after a roll. Filling | +1 T1 slot to a food consumed by this player in a thread. Can exceed Cook enhancement caps. Col Deposit | +5% col from loot-minimum mobs, +10% col from treasure chests. paragon Lv. 5 | Gain additional col equivalent to 10% of EXP earned in that thread. Lv. 10 | +3% EXP Gain. gathering Greenhouse | +2 G.EXP, +1 CD&LD to gathering attempts. Familiar: Profession | +2 G.EXP Demeter's Cornucopia | +1 CD to gathering attempts.

[Kura 0]

Floor 2 was quickly becoming Kura's next "grinding spot", mostly due to those strange wasps that granted him much more experience and col than normal mob. For today however grinding was unnecessary. Kura had plenty of both Col and Materials to keep his livelihood sustained for a long while. So today, he looked to climb the mountains of floor 2 to find even better grinding spots.

His normal cup of coffee in hand, he would meander his way through Urbus when he spotted a familiar figure in the distance. It was the player that sold them trinkets awhile back, and the partner of that blonde woman from the ice cream stand. Now, while he was socially inept, he learnt a few things from interacting with Yuurei, Nian and Blueberry the past few days. Nodding to himself, Kura would greet her as he walked past.

"Hello."

Feeling satisfied that his daily social interaction has now been complete, Kura would continue on towards the mountains, unaware of the quest that awaited him.

(Player Stats)

Spoiler

Kura | Lv. 11 | HP: 220/140 | EN: 40/40 | DMG: 9 | ACC: 3

Equipped Items:

• | "Betsy” | Warhammer | 2 Handed Weapon | Tier 1 | Rare | Damage/Damage | 
• | "Small Peppermint Sack" | Trinket | Tier 1 | Perfect | Accuracy/Accuracy/Accuracy |
• | "Gold Rings" | Trinket | Tier 1 | Perfect | Evasion/Evasion/Evasion |

Skills:

• | “War Hammer“ | Rank 4 | Weapon Skill | Passive | 
• | "Charge" | Combat Skill | Post Action |
• | "Searching" | Rank 4 | Utility Skill | Passive |

Consumed Items:

• N/A

Battle-Ready Inventory:

• | 3x “Starter Healing Potions” | Potion | - | Heals 50 HP |
• | 1x "Teleport Crystal" | Crystal | Use a post action to activate a teleport crystal. Teleports the player to the town or designated teleportation area they specify.
• | 1x "Coffee" | Potion | Consumable | Tier 1 | Perfect | HP Recovery/HP Recovery/HP Recovery|

Edited June 25, 2021 by Kura

[NIGHT 0]

NIGHT had been examining the co-ordinates issued to her by Bistro when Kura had walked past.

"Hello."

"Ah, hey."

Eyes glued to the screen, she'd barely even registered the man's speech directed her way. It had been almost a few seconds that passed before her image lit up with shock, directing her sights over to the passerby.

That familiar voice-- the strange player from the other day who decided to rasp against her door in search of a quest NPC.

(DAY was reportedly not a quest-issuing NPC.)

If anything, the thought of letting such a player pass her by without commentary nor conclusion as to how their previous interaction had played out was nerve wracking. Had that conversation been relayed to the rest of Aincrad yet? Bistro hadn't mentioned anything, and she was always one to be on top of rumors--

--No, she couldn't risk it. And even if she'd wanted to, any way, it seemed as though the other player was walking in the direction she would've started towards on the way to her quest location. A pensive look donned, her hurried paces fell behind his, the woman thinking hard about what to pose the other when she'd finally found her voice -- or when they had a good break in their steps to have initiated a conversation.

---

 | Ascending a Mountain. (1/3)

[Kura 0]

Kura took another sip of his drink as he continued out of Urbus. Idly, he thought about the player he just passed by. She was the person who that other blonde warned him about, and he quietly mused about why. He knew that they were obviously close to one another from how he saw one enter the other's home, so it didn't make any particular sense to him why she was trying to ward him off, not realizing that she was lying to make him keep his distance from NIGHT for her own sake.

Still remaining oblivious to the fact that one of the subjects of his thoughts was trailing behind him, after awhile Kura would soon reached a sheer face of the mountain. With a smile, went through his inventory for a few moments. Then suddenly, climbing equipment dropped at his feet.

A lot of quests tended to allow for ease of player interaction, the "Let There Be Light" quest line showed the cave where Koko was located in, the "Challenge of Olympus" had a guard escort you to the palace. While Kura didn't exactly hate being railroaded, it did make him miss the thrill of overcoming a challenge.

Slamming his climbing pickaxe into the sheer face of the mountain, he pulled himself up higher and higher to the top of the mountain. He was going to do this in the most backwards and frustrating way he could.

In other words, he was going to do it his way.

(Ascending a Mountain: 2/3)

[NIGHT 0]

One of them was taking the quest objective of 'ascending a mountain' too literally.

Just when NIGHT had finally devised a response (albeit, not a good one, but she wasn't going to start a conversation any other way given how long she'd mulled over subjects), as Kura had finally stopped, the man had somehow summoned a full on mountaineering kit from the ether.

NIGHT, bewildered, jaw slack, could only stop and watch.

She watched as the man carried himself up the mountain, blade after blade lodged into the rock face, and in that she felt her internals run cold.

Because how in Cardinal's name was she supposed to talk to a player who was busy wrestling with the environment?

There was no way she had the equipment to do the same. Stuck on the ground, distance between them growing with every second, the player felt her brain set into overdrive with developing a solution.

And then she had it. NIGHT set off down the intended path for the players in a sprint.

The tracksuit she donned wasn't just for show in her time in Aincrad. If she had to best the man where he would end up at, she would do so.

If only to give him a piece of her mind.

---

 | Ascending a Mountain. But faster. (3/3)
 | id196241 | ld18

[Kura 0]

Hefting himself up, Kura heard the rapid footfalls of someone else moving away from him. After securing himself against the rock face, he looked to the side and saw the same player he greeted earlier. While it made sense that she would be nearby, from how he saw her in town, it was strange to Kura how he didn't see her earlier. Theories of why were soon overshadowed by one apparent fact to Kura.

NIGHT was racing him to the top.

Kura wasn't exactly the most competitive of person, but he didn't mind having a time limit for a goal. Rather, it simply made him work faster, especially when that time limit is as nebulous as finishing before someone else. His slow and steady progress was ramped up to a reckless pace, not even bothering to secure himself before he moved onto the next climbing section.

There were a few risky moments where a loose rock made him almost lose his footing, but through sheer force he wrenched himself almost falling off. Near death experiences aside, he was eventually able to shove himself up about 3/4ths of the mountain. While Kura did spot the quest NPC, his eyes were dead set on see whether or not NIGHT beat him or not.

(Racing)

Spoiler

LD: 2 (Pain)

 

Edited June 25, 2021 by Kura

[NIGHT 0]

Oh. NIGHT beat him.

 

By a landslide.

 

By the time Kura had made it to the top, the player had already recovered her breath, the adrenaline of being outed to the rest of Aincrad situated at the top of her memory, frightened to move like the wind -- by that threat of gossip. She'd been watching him, hovering over the ledge on occasion, barely visible by way of stealth; only when she expected Kura's arrival within the next minute did she situate herself in his periphery, feet, squatted with a death glare, eyes like a hawk watching its prey. The argument she was about to make-- she fought hard to remember her words.

Her hand was extended towards the man, if only to direct him her way. A convoluted mess, sure; but she didn't want to risk distracting the player from a fall with words.

But neither was she set on pulling him up with her offer, either.

[Kura 0]

Heaving his whole body up, Kura would sigh as he spotted NIGHT squatting menacingly near the quest NPC. Not because of the death glare, but because he lost a race only he knowingly participated in. He shrugged it off soon after though, all he had to do was race her to the bottom after this. Though before he challenged her to another race, he would glance at the old man NPC nearby with a bit of confusion. Looking back at NIGHT, he asked with a curious tone.

"Hello again. Hey, do you know what that NPC is for?"

Feeling a bit tired, he would summon up a water bottle and begin to sip at it. He got a new one after his last one had been gifted to another, for reasons he still couldn't comprehend. Regardless, the cool water felt good on the back of his throat as he awaited NIGHT's response, not comprehending that NIGHT both had a murderous look on her face, and he was near a ledge that led to a fatal drop.

[NIGHT 0]

Lightspeed. NIGHT moved almost instantly the moment Kura had shown signs of his guard being down. The man was taller -- most players often were when opposed to NIGHT -- and so she was familiar with the grab of fabric above her, push forceful and careful as she stepped forward to thrust him backwards. Given the differences between their statistics, it was no surprise she was capable of doing so; what wasn't expected was the leniency with which she was capable of doing so. Little resistance felt at all.

Business spilled from her lips first, simmered in a harsh growl. "You-- you're the one who came knocking a few days ago, right?"

If it hadn't registered to Kura yet that his footing had left the ground, perhaps now was the time, when the breeze swept by his feet, the woman's two hands holding him aloft above nothing but air. NIGHT burned with a fury, grip tight and breath rushed. A risky maneuver she was performing, and given long, Cardinal would come searching for her, undoubtedly.

Fire filled, lapped gracefully in her mouth as she spoke. "Let's make this quick. How many others did you go spilling your interaction to, and who are they?"

[Kura 0]

He thought the NPC from "The Gemini" was fast, as well as the Wasp Queens" from floor 2. But they paled in comparison to a max leveled player. Feeling the hand on his collar and seeing angry player, he would simply blink as he listened off to her questions, and began answering them in a straight forward manner.

"Yeah, that was me."

When NIGHT asked about who he spilled this information too, there was only one girl that came in mind. Going through his thoughts, he summoned up the image of DAY inside of his head and began listing her features.

"There was only one person, someone walked up to me while I was eating ice cream. She had light blue eyes and blond hair kept up in a pony tail. She also wore a white cloak and she ate vanilla ice cream. I think it was also the same girl in your house..."

After describing the not so mysterious girl who he spilled the beans too, Kura would actually uncharacteristically grimace.

"I didn't know this was a secret. Now that I do, I will avoid speaking to anyone about it. My apologies about the girl."

Kura looked remarkably solemn for someone being threatened.

[NIGHT 0]

Her grip on his clothes only tightened at his first sentence. It remained that way, up until the point he dropped the fact that it might've been DAY.

Then she relaxed.

"I didn't know this was a secret. Now that I do, I will avoid speaking to anyone about it. My apologies about the girl."

Out of all things, she hadn't expected the stranger to appear this distraught.

"... It's fine," NIGHT finally replied, stepping away from the ledge and pulling the man back onto solid ground. The woman wasn't careful with the way she'd set him down, but she did the best she could before withdrawing from his proximity, hands beat together in a dusting. A thunder in her chest. She wasn't sure of what else to add to the conversation; rather, her attention had been stolen by a message to be composed, drafted with a series of flicks through windows, hand at her side, texting in shorthand as she normally would.

"She knows better than to tell another soul."

Vanilla ice cream, was it? Out of all the flavours, NIGHT wondered why she picked that one. The simplest of them all. Hadn't she brought home various others from Yuki to test? As she struggled to find the words, her gaze went from the dirt to the other player, arms folding out of habit. How exactly did he come to know of--

"So where'd you two meet?"

Her fingers were already through her hair, pulling a lock to twirl her index around. All of this fumbling. NIGHT hadn't even given it notice.

[Kura 0]

Being put down rather gently for being almost murdered, and Kura acting fairly calm for a man that was just threatened by someone who could absolutely eviscerate him, he would continue sipping at his canteen as he answered once more.

"It was in front of an ice cream stand, she accosted me while I was eating my own scoop and after she bought her own. 

Furrowing his brow, he would recall the events from the other day. Even to someone as socially inept as Kura, there was something off about to him about the interaction. Thinking a little harder, he would mull over the whole entire conversation with DAY.

"If I think back on it, it was a little strange. She came out of nowhere, told me to tell why I thought the girl who I'm fairly certain is her was special, requested for me to tell her partner about said reasons, and then warned me to stay away from a girl that has the same description as you. There was also a philosophical talk near the end about my view points about trusting others. Oddly enough, I don't even know her name."

He forewent mentioning the Gemini part of the conversation, since DAY said that there was no such NPC's on floor 1, so it didn't feel relevant. Quietly, he also didn't particular believe it as he recalled the NPC from his own quest, "The Gemini". Though he pushed those heavy thoughts aside as he recalled something of light importance.

"I asked about NPC's earlier, didn't I?" 

On the sidelines, the NPC simply sighed.

Edited June 25, 2021 by Kura

[NIGHT 0]

Why was she getting ice cream in the first place? NIGHT could barely remember. Did they talk about it one day? There was that new stand that appeared...

The two mulled over their circumstances, one differing from the other. But at the other player's words, NIGHT's attention gradually shifted from her own thoughts to the Gemini's own. Special? Partner? Wait, were they talking about the same entity--

She didn't even catch onto the rest of their conversation. Truth to be told, the woman's functions had short-circuited trying to comprehend both DAY's appearance in front of another player and the compliments she'd issued at the same time. They'd had an agreement to remain on the downlow, NIGHT knew they did, so--

"I asked about NPC's earlier, didn't I?" 

"--Did she say anything else...?"

Only when the words rolled off her tongue did the player realize the error of her ways. The last thing the other had said in their dialogue-- "The other day, yes," she quipped, tucking that played strand behind her ear now, instead. Burning red; was she seriously starting to fluster about her other while she wasn't around? NIGHT kept quiet, contemplating if she should move on with her quest to take her mind off things.

"J-just so you know, there's no NPCs in my house, either." Not like she'd needed to make it clearer than the threat she'd made earlier, but just in case...

[Kura 0]

Mulling over his thoughts, Kura thought further into what DAY said, He didn't want to accidentally spill another secret, so he chose the most safest option, and that was DAY's demeanor when talking about NIGHT.

"Well, when she was describing you, she was oddly sensual about the whole thing. She licked her lips before starting, then continued on with a proud smirk as she listed off your features. Apparently your eyes are like crystals to her or something like that. Honestly it felt like she was bragging, you have a nice partner."

He sighed as he continued to sort his thoughts out into words. This whole entire thing was not he had in mind when wanted to go mountain climbing today. But he still wanted to make it right for accidentally spilling a secret to someone, even if that someone was already involved.

"That's the strange thing though, when she was describing you, she didn't necessarily say she was talking about her partner, which is you. Instead she was talking about a made up Gemini NPC, which doesn't make sense considering that she was clearly describing you're traits. Unless you are a Gemini or something, but that would contradict her final words of there being no Gemini on floor one."

After that entire spiel about DAY's description of night, he then finally respond to the other thing with a raised eyebrow.

"I not referring to the other day when I knocked, I was talking about five seconds ago when I asked about the NPC over there."

The old man NPC, bless him, gave the two little wave when Kura mentioned him.

"And I still don't understand why you're so intent on reaffirming that no NPC lives in your home. I never said anything about an NPC living with you when I visited, I just asked if you saw a blonde quest NPC."

[NIGHT 0]

Sensual? Wait, this guy wasn't making things up as he spoke, was he? Though it pained NIGHT to imagine it, it wasn't out of the Gemini's realm to have played things that way. The player's lids lowered as her sights remained on rocky terrain; she didn't even need think hard to call that image to mind, her room mate taking a bite out of a swirled dollop--

--And that wasn't even the rest of the sentence, either. Heat only flooded her cheeks as the details kept coming in; what was that construct doing, spouting nonsense to random strangers that demanded unusual things from them? Just because they'd had an interaction once didn't mean they were acceptable to be spoken to-- but then again, DAY had interacted with others before their incident, too.

This one was just different, in the way the topic was somehow about her. And it was different, the way she would hear about it from someone else's account, someone who wasn't the system herself.

"I-I'm not..."

NIGHT struggled to hide in her tracksuit, stooped over, fingers on her locks, arm tucked by her waist. Even hiding wasn't enough to have secured her diminished form from another; her face was glowing too much for Cardinal to mask. "W-we're not... like that..."

Of course, her voice was soft, barely audible over mild thinking. The other player's next words took both their focus off the compliments -- though NIGHT's gaze returned to the man, the blush on her face hadn't faded.

"Instead she was talking about a made up Gemini NPC, which doesn't make sense considering that she was clearly describing you're traits."

And then the other shoe dropped.

Understandably, the player could only find herself speechless.

"--Gemini?"

She hadn't even brought up the topic, no way that her other would've--

"Unless you are a Gemini or something, but that would contradict her final words of there being no Gemini on floor one."

--She hadn't.

NIGHT's eyes narrowed, focusing on this other player. Who was he, anyway? How'd he seem so comfortable around her -- he seemed familiar enough that they'd be on speaking terms, according to him, but the woman herself couldn't remember. Pair that up with a singular lead, final, to how her construct had remained idling about her home...

There had to be more to the story. She needed to follow up on it while she still had a lead.

At the man's gesture to the NPC behind them, NIGHT turned to look over her shoulder, doing her best to calm herself down, both in image and in mind. If her heart was racing, she could feel it all across her form, both in a state of fight and flight and on the brink of revelation.

"And I still don't understand why you're so intent on reaffirming that no NPC lives in your home. I never said anything about an NPC living with you when I visited, I just asked if you saw a blonde quest NPC."

"--Forget it," NIGHT shot back, turning around and folding her arms once more. "Whoever it was, I haven't seen them if they were an NPC."

Back to business. She could do this.

Her nose was pointed to the sky, eyes closed. "Incidentally, I was here to pick up a quest about breaking a rock. If that's the sort of 'Quest NPC' you were looking for, you're looking at one." She turned to face the old man, looking back at the other player. "Well? If you're looking for quests, here's one. C'mon, let's go."

There was no reason for her to have involved the stranger into her quest completion in the immediate future. But in the long run, if it meant another source of information for the woman, then NIGHT would reel in her objections and work together with him. For necessary info.