[SP - F01] The Path of the Angler | <<Earning a Living: Fisher>>

[Wulfrin 0]

As a quick detour between major quests, Wulfrin decided to head out to the lake just outside of Tolbana. He had read that he could pick up the Fishing profession at the small shack on the edge of the lake. Wulfrin continued his research on the way there. "Probably best to get my gathering profession first," He said to himself. "Might make my downtime a bit more useable, and easier to get materials for my crafting profession." The lake was close enough that he didn't have to worry about monsters, but he was still keeping an eye out just in case. This was his first outing solo so a few extra precautions were necessary. This included stocking up on a few Teleportation Crystals. He felt as ready as he could be, but only time would tell. The shack was only a few more meters away, and with it the start of the next adventure.

* * *

Wulfrin | Lvl: 2 | HP: 40/40 | EN: 22/22 | ACC: 3 | DMG: 4 | LD: 3

Equipped Items:

• Rare one-handed straight sword: ACC: 2
• Dioscuri. | TIER 1 JEWELRY | ACC 3
• Crystal. | TIER 1 TRINKET | LD 3

Battle Ready Items:

• 3 Starter Healing potions (Heals 50 hp each)
• 1 T1 Uncommon Overhealth potion (Adds +2 Max HP)
• 1 T1 Uncommon Damage Potion (+1 DMG for thread)
• 6 T1 Uncommon Health Potions: Heals 5% of Maximum HP. (2 HP each)
• 3 Teleportation Crystals

Skills:

• Straight Swords Rank 1/5
• Light Armor Rank 1/5

 

[Wulfrin 0]

Wulfrin approached the meager shack with some caution. He new he was being way too paranoid for a simple profession quest, but he kept it up anyway. The lake was calm this early morning; if the system held any parallel with the real world, this would be a perfect time to catch some decent fish. Wulfrin silently praised his good luck. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. The dock extended a good few meters out towards the center of the lake. Kicked back in a fishing chair with a line already cast out into the lake, was a younger man not much older than himself. The man held up a hand as if requesting quiet causing Wulfrin to stop in his tracks. With blinding speed the angler grabbed the rod next to him and began a fight with a hooked fish. After a brief battle the line snapped and the fish escaped. The man let out a sigh before acknowledging Wulfrin's presence.

"Anthony Gill, at your service," the fisherman announced, executing a quick bow. "Let me guess, you were looking for someone old, with a long white beard, and a pipe?" 

"That was what I was expecting, yes" Wulfrin said with caution. Every other NPC that was in charge of handing out tutorial quests, or something similar to them, was an elderly man with a long white beard to accentuate their wisdom. It largely followed the wise old mentor troupe found in most narratives. "That has been the description of what I've dealt with so far." Anthony was the polar opposite. He was young and fit. Wulfrin wondered why he was spending his time teaching the profession when he could easily be mistaken for some sort of wealthier person with how well kept his garb and hair was. The ladies must see him as quite the catch. Wulfrin chuckled to himself.

Waggling his eyebrows, Anthony added, "Sorry to disappoint. Now, what can I do for you?"

Edited February 14 by Wulfrin
fixed wording to stay consistent

[Wulfrin 0]

"I'm looking to pick up fishing," Wulfrin replied. "I'm looking to get my feet wet in the crafting world and figured it would be a good starting point. After all can't do much crafting without materials and just picking them up off the ground isn't really efficient."

Anthony flashed a million-watt smile. "I am honored you would come to me for help. Since we're friends, I'll let you in on a little secret." Anthony reached into his pocket and revealed a small tin and offered its contents to Wulfrin. Inside was a small fish no bigger than a minnow, with two hooks on either end. Its scaled pattern glistened like a rainbow in the early morning light. "This is a special bait, because a local priest prays over it in a top-secret ceremony.  I'm the only one in the world who has it, so don't bother looking for it anywhere else. If you use it, you'll catch the rare any mysterious Rainbow Fish, which you can harvest for Gleaming Scales. Catch the fish, bring me a scale, and you'll know all there is to know about fishing." Wulfrin collected the bait and stashed it into his inventory.

"You don't happen to give out rods to newbies do you?" Wulfrin asked having completely forgotten to grab a rod before leaving town.

"Sure thing," Anthony beamed with excitement. He produced a simple rod and handed it over to Wulfrin. "It's nothing special, but it's the one I learned with so hope it brings you luck!" With that Anthony returned to his chair just in time for another fish to hook onto his line.

"Thanks Anthony!" Wulfrin said as he turned away. He walked a ways away from Anthony's spot as to not disturb him.

* * *

Wulfrin receives <<Bless Bait>> from the NPC, Anthony

[Wulfrin 0]

Wulfrin cast his line out towards the lake's center. The <<Bless Bait>> he had received hit the surface with a plop sound as it descended down below the surface. A small red and white bobber gently rest upon the surface of the water. Wulfrin was never that great at fishing in the real world. He lacked the patience to just wait for fish to bite, but this was a game. "Surely it cant be as bad as real life," He thought to himself. "The system has to have some kind of protocols to take out the monotony. He waited a decent amount of time watching the boober dip up and down with the small waves that occasionally came its way. There wasn't so much as a tug for a good chunk of time. Wulfrin pulled the line back in to find nothing had taken the bait. He sighed. Its exactly like the real world only this time he actually had something to blame, Cardinal's funny idea of a random number generator.

* * *

Fishing ID: 219020 | CD: 3 | LD: 18 | Nothing Found

Edited February 16 by Wulfrin

[Wulfrin 0]

Wulfrin cast his line once again. He watched as the bobber rested calmly on the surface, occasionally oscillating with the few waves on the surface. At the very least he was killing time, but it was still dreadfully boring. Then he felt a tug on the line. He quickly started to reel in the line. There wasn't much to fight, but there was some resistance. He reeled in a small fish. It wasn't the scale he was looking for, but oh well. The fish counted as a generic material, so at the very least he could use it to fund his forge when he unlocked it. "This is going to be a long quest," Wulfrin said to the vacant space. "At least I'm not just randomly searching for stuff, and I've got something that's slightly boosting my chances of rare drops." He went a bit further around the lakeside where it appeared some one had set up before. He took over the fishing chair and settled in for a long fishing session.

* * *

Fishing ID: 219032 | CD: 10 | LD: 7 | Success | +1 Material

Edited February 16 by Wulfrin

[Wulfrin 0]

As the minute's ticked on, Wulfrin found himself oddly at peace. The cool breeze that blew through the area reminded him of all the camping trips he had been on as a child. This entire experience in SAO had brought up many old and supposedly forgotten memories. Games were always an escape in his mind, a way to relax and forget about the troubles of his rather mundane life. Another tug at the line meant another catch for Wulfrin. The fish had scales that created a rather beautiful hue. It wasn't the gleaming variety he was looking for so he stashed it away in his inventory and resumed his trip down memory lane. He found himself reminiscing about the first time he had attempted fishing.

It was years ago, but the memory made it feel like yesterday. He was a member of a children's scouting organization, and the leaders had taken them out to a state park. The troop had set up camp by a river, not too different from the one he and Freyd had spent the better part of the day scrounging for materials. Wulfrin allowed himself to drift, in doing so found the act of fishing come almost naturally.

* * *

Fishing ID: 219057 | CD: 12 | LD: 5 | Success | +1 Material

[Wulfrin 0]

For the moment it appeared the fish had stopped biting. Wulfrin checked the line a few times, recasting after each to try and find the schools of fish. The single shade tree nearby made it much more bare able. The sun wasn't really a problem in Aincrad, being as there was always a giant slab of rock and steel above you at all times. He began browsing the info broker pages. If he was going to be just sitting around waiting for fish to bite, may as well read up and plan the next adventure. Most of the action was directed to the higher floors. There was the <<Scents of the Wilds>> he had been reading about, but all the info stopped after the cave location to "keep it secret." He tsked to the air. The info brokers liked playing games like that. This was a game that their lives depended on, and they still found some way to conceal information. He didn't let it bother him though. He simply continued to reel in and recast every few minutes, with no success. At least he hadn't lost his memories of the real world. He found himself looking to the friends he had made in other games. Wulfrin had invited them all to join him, but he had yet to find out if any of them had even logged in.

* * *

Fishing ID: 219059 | CD: 1 | LD: 5 | Nothing Found

Edited February 16 by Wulfrin

[Wulfrin 0]

Having not caught anything in a while, Wulfrin decided to take a short break. He materialized a small wrapped item. He had stopped and located a small deli in Tolbana, where he picked up a small sandwich to help stave off the sensations of hunger. He knew he wasn't really hungry, the NerveGear was simply telling his brain he was hungry. That was where the biological processes stopped though. His avatar, while sharing his real world appearance save the eyes and hair style, it was still virtual. He began to think about his real body. He knew he had to have been placed in a hospital, but how long could they prolong a vegetative human. Surely his body would give out at some point and just stop. He shook his head to clear away the dark thoughts. Having finished his small ration, he returned to his task at hand. He tried to focus on the good memories trying to surface, but every so often he found himself shaking away another depressing thought.

* * *

Fishing ID: 219061 | CD: 1 | LD: 10 | Nothing Found

[Wulfrin 0]

Another cast another streak of nonexistent luck. Cardinal's random number system had to be toying with him at this point. Wulfrin had seen the fish jumping out of the water occasionally, and yet he still wasn't getting any bites. He sighed and gathered up his things. Maybe a change of location was in order. He continued making his way around the lake shore until he found another cozy little spot where he could set up. This time there wasn't a chair, but at least there was space to lay down and stare up at the floor above. Again he felt at ease. SAO may be a game where one wrong move could end your life, but at least there were ways to forget about all of that. He cast out his fishing line towards another cluster of fish that had taunted him by leaping form the water. Then he lay down on the grass and began to cloud gaze, or maybe it was floor gaze since you couldn't exactly see much of the sky above you.

* * *

Fishing ID: 219063 | CD: 5 | LD: 17 | Nothing Found

[Wulfrin 0]

Another chunk of time passed. The songs of the nonexistent birds as well as the relaxing background music of this section of Floor 1 was rather calming. It didn't help Wulfrin's boredom though. "Alright," he said as he cast his line out again. The motion was becoming second nature. "Let's see if we can't plan for the future a bit." Wulfrin started by perusing the list of skills provided by the system to all players. How to best utilize the skill points he was getting would be important. It was in his best interest to maximize his survivability and damage output before going too much farther into the game. He figured his fighting style wouldn't be too hindered by light armor provided he kept his joints free to move. Straight Swords were the blades he was used to handling, that's why he selected one when he joined after all. Then movement caught his eye.

"Finally!" Wulfrin exclaimed as he grab for his line. The line was taught with another catch. He reeled it in only to find it to be another generic crafting material.

* * *

Fishing ID: 219065 | CD: 8 | LD: 13 | Success |+1 Material

[Wulfrin 0]

Wulfrin returned to the grind of fishing. He was starting to lose track of time, despite always having a clock in his vision. That was the beauty of the contextual UI of SAO. With the exception of a few important bits of information, like HP of yourself and party members, the UI practically vanished if you weren't directly focused on it. Wulfrin guessed that was a good thing, as he wouldn't really like having his vision interrupted by parts of a user interface in a game that is trying so hard to emulate the real world. The lake was still calm and smelled of fish, and that definitely wasn't going to change. Well it would if he could find the scale he was looking for. He reeled his line back in to find nothing once again. With a sigh he reset and cast the line once again into the lake.

 

* * *

Fishing ID: 219129 | CD: 3 | LD: 11 | Nothing found

[Wulfrin 0]

Wulfrin drifted back into thoughts about his future. The info he had gleamed about the frontlines had him constantly questioning what kind of swordsman he wanted to be. He vowed to make it up to the higher level players that had taken him under their wing. Mostly Freyd who had been helping him out so far with clearing what was essentially the tutorial. He was making progress, and it was much faster than he was expecting. The new gear he was waiting on was sure to help with staying ahead of the monsters he was going to face as he climbed up the floors. Wulfrin couldn't however shake the thought of falling in battle. As cautious as he had been so far, those tactics would eventually start to become less and less useful. He would have to reteach himself to think like a fighter. There was a tug at the line again. Wulfrin retrieved the simple fish from the hook and recast the line.

* * *

Fishing ID: 219130 | CD: 12 | LD: 10 | Success +1 Material

[Wulfrin 0]

Wulfrin began going through his mental notebook. He was fixated of the basics he had learned. The simple movements of strikes and blocks he had been taught in his youth were more fitted for a weapon capable of being wielded either two-handed or one-handed. His current short sword didn't quite meet the criteria, but he could improvise. He focused on the one-handed variants he had been taught first. The movements were designed to keep one's hit area narrow. It also allowed for simple martial arts to be used. The martial arts support wouldn't be on the table unless he could unlock it, but he could probably still use them to maneuver around and defend himself without the damage. The other advantage was mobility. He could move way easier, since he could use his free arm to maintain momentum in flourishes and acrobatic maneuvers. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the line jerk. Wulfrin pulled the simple fish ashore and stashed it away before recasting his line once again.

* * *

Fishing ID: 219139 | CD: 10 | LD: 8 | Success +1 Material

[Wulfrin 0]

Wulfrin continued his exercises. He was getting back into the grove. He was still very rusty, but at least his mobility was coming back to him. Wulfrin assumed it was because of his body being virtual. He felt no restrain or weight as he started into the more acrobatic of moves. Wulfrin began to focus on the Sword Arts allotted to him by the system. Each one had a distinct initial motion you had to perform before being allowed to execute the skill. The few skills he knew were either a sweeping area of affect strike, a single target slash, or he could strike with the flat of his blade and stun an enemy. The easiest to implement were the AoE and the Single strike, as Wulfrin found their initial motions only required him to make small adjustments. Unfortunately he must have missed the rod moving as when he checked for any bites there weren't any to be had. He simply recast and returned to his training.

* * *

Fishing ID: 219148 | CD: 2 | LD: 14 | Nothing Found

[Wulfrin 0]

As Wulfrin continued his idle swordplay, he found himself wandering deeper into old memories. He glided through the air with little effort, the occasional Sword Art creating a trail that followed behind him. Wulfrin's strikes were accurate, but without a proper target to gauge his power, he couldn't really critique the damage output. The fundamentals had returned, but Wulfrin was having to adapt to the extended range of mobility. The system was only interpreting the signals that were being sent by his brain and applying them to a virtual body that didn't share the same physical restrictions as his real one. He didn't tire unless multiple Arts were used in quick succession. This meant he could maintain focus easier. He figured in a fight, as long as he can manage his energy usage, he could probably maintain a heavy offensive. At his next break point, he checked the line again. Once more he found nothing.

* * *

Fishing ID: 219149 | CD: 6 | LD: 2 | Nothing Found

[Wulfrin 0]

The more time that passed the farther into his mind Wulfrin wandered. He began recalling more childhood memories, all related to skills he thought would help him survive. From the skills he had picked up while cave delving to his knowledge of his own sword fighting style. Eventually he found himself running through a mental index of various mythical creatures he had studied for bettering his own games. He started focusing on weaknesses he knew. He started with the bulette, as that was likely to be the next big monster he would face. The outer hide of the beast would be near impenetrable for him. No doubt it would hit just as hard. The boss was located on floor five after all. It's ability to burrow and catch its prey off guard was also a concern. Probably best he kept putting his points into his armor and weapon skill, just to stay ahead of the curve. Wulfrin checked his line again only to find nothing biting. He recast the line and returned to his inner library.

* * *

Fishing ID: 219212 | CD: 1 | LD: 10 | Nothing Found

[Wulfrin 0]

The next monster he went through was the dragon. He had seen info about a dragon hunting quest, but Wulfrin assumed it was still way out of his league. Dragons were as apex as an apex predator could be. Most of the time unless an upstart adventuring party, or another dragon, came around to defeat the dragon, the domain it ruled would stay under its control pretty much for the entire dragon's natural life cycle. That life cycle easily could reach into the thousands of years mark. In that time, their scales would harden and their melee attacks would begin to bull on their respective elements. That was the worst part. Each dragon typically had its own elemental breath weapon, at least in the RPGs. In movies all dragons tended to have only fire breath, a slight discrimination if you were to ask Wulfrin. Add on the fact that most media would take the close relative of the dragons, called a wyvern, and confuse the two. This got Wulfrin thinking on how SAO would interpret dragons. He checked his line to find another round of nothing on the hook. He simply recast and chose a new topic to focus on.

* * *

Fishing ID: 219213 | CD: 4 | LD: 16 | Nothing Found

[Wulfrin 0]

Wulfrin found himself wandering away from his monster rolodex, and instead into his mythology knowledge. From what he had read on some of the discovered quests, Cardinal had a knack for pulling from various mythologies. He hadn't fully nailed down which one Cardinal was focused on, but he was assuming it was based off of the Arthurian times. That assumption aside he had noticed a hint of ancient Greek and Roman mythologies too. The good news is he had learned a bit of both Ancient Greek and Latin languages. It wasn't enough to be fluent, but he could at least pick out key words, like names and locations. He also knew a handful of lore tidbits, Cerberus guarding the gates to the Underworld, the story of Jason and the Argonaughts, The Odyssey, and many others. Honestly there were too many to keep straight, but in the moment, he was sure he would be able to straiten out the details. Another check of the line revealed nothing biting. Wulfrin changed locations and recast once again.

* * *

Fishing ID: 219214 | CD: 3 | LD: 10 | Nothing Found

[Wulfrin 0]

Wulfrin kept up his mental wandering. It seemed like it was the only thing keeping him sane. The repetition of casting the line and reeling it back in only to find nothing at the end was getting to him. He was starting to doubt the tale Anthony had told him. The <<Bless Bait>> wasn't seeming to have an affect. Perhaps it was a placebo? Wulfrin shook the thought away, and focused back on his mental recollection. He was surprised how much he was able to recall, as it had been years since he had studied any of the info he was bringing back to the surface. He was proud of himself. The information hew was recalling could or could not be important to his survival, so he was leaving no detail out. He stood looking out over the water, its surface having an almost rainbow tint to it. Somewhere in there was a scale he needed to collect, he just had to find it. After checking his line again to find nothing, he simply readied the bait again and cast the line into the lake.

* * *

Fishing ID: 219215 | CD: 3 | LD: 16 | Nothing Found

[Wulfrin 0]

Wulfrin stood at the lakeside with longing. That scale was the only thing standing between him and moving on with his plan to get his feet under him. If he could find it then he could do like what Freyd was doing and gather materials and equipment more easily than just searching under rocks. He could have gone with foraging, but he really didn't like the thought of only looking under rocks and such for the materials to craft. At least he had a chance to open chests once he got the profession, at least that was what he had read. From there he could do a multitude of things with the items. He could sell them for col as wares or possibly even fuse them together to create more powerful options for himself and others. Even if he couldn't fight on the frontlines, he could at least power level his craft to help out with gear crafting for the higher ups. Freyd had mentioned that the shops had become mostly inactive lately, so Wulfrin wanted to fill the vacancy. Wulfrin checked the line again, there was a slight tug, but when Wulfrin reeled it in, there was nothing. He recast the line again hoping this one would be the one.

* * *

Fishing ID: 219218 | CD: 7 | LD: 4 | Nothing Found

Edited February 18 by Wulfrin