[OP-F2] <<Earning a Living>> The Alchemist Rises [COMPLETE]

[Raeyliff 0]

Raeyliff laughed. "Yeah, you can say that. I played RPGs where I used it as a weapon, so it kinda grew on me, I guess." he said. Looking to the direct Azide was, he nodded before turning around and setting his battle-axe down. He stretched his arms and legs a little before he picked it up again, feeling a bit more relaxed. "Good. Now I'm ready. Let's go inside. It shouldn't be very hard to get to the ingredients we want, I'll take one of each and then I'll go. I'm sure the guy will give me some of his materials for me to get started or something." he said, grinning, before walking into the forest. After walking about halfway into it they encountered two boars that were, in Raeyliff's level, a bit weak. "Okay then, let's get started, shall we?" he said, before charging.

 

[7677 BD:10 MD:5]

[ Raeyliff deals 5 damage, Life Steal effect does not have any effect since he is in full health]

[ Boar 1 misses and dies]

 

Raeyliff slashed at the first boar coming his way with his battle-axe, cutting it clean through before it disappeared into tiny digital pieces. He grinned, luck was on his side today. This was the way he always wanted to fight, if it was his choice to. Yet for some reason I can do amazing kills at one point, and then suffer with another enemy with the exact stats. Funny how Aincrad works against me sometimes. Thanks a lot, Kayaba. 11/10 game of the year award goes to this game. he thought, laughing a bit before slashing the boar that was next to the first one.

 

[7678 BD:9 MD:1]

[Raeyliff deals 4 damage, Life steal does not have an effect]

[boar 2 misses but does not die just yet]

 

Raeyliff turned around and used his momentum to swing his battle-axe at the next boar before him. The boar, finding itself unable to move or dodge, fell victim to the swing of the battle-axe and fell against a tree next to it from the impact. Raeyliff smiled a little and stood up straight before jumping back, looking at Azide. "Your turn. Kill it, I apologize for not giving you much of it left to kill really, but we can go and fight many more some other time, if you'd like." he said, grinning. 

 

[boar 1: 0/5]

[boar 2: 1/5]

 

[Raeyliff: 15/15]

[Azide: 15/15]

[Azide 0]

Azide nodded and followed Raeyliff into the forest until the pair eventually came to a meadow containing various plants and flowers, though he wasn't entirely sure what sort of plants and flowers they might be- or if any of them were even needed for the quest, for that matter. What was somewhat of a bother was the fact that two boar were blocking their path, and now seemed to be eyeing them suspiciously. "Hey Joe-" he began to call, but stopped upon seeing Raeyliff charge forward and completely demolish the first boar, before immediately moving on to the second. Surprisingly, although the first boar ended up dying right away, the second ended up surviving the trauma. It was definitely alive, though it was now laying dazed on the ground after having been hit into the trunk of a tree, and now seemed to be hanging onto its final point of health. "I don't know about you, but I can think of about a million things I'd rather be doing than coming back here to fight boar," he remarked with a grin.

Azide darted forward to slash at the creature and end its misery, but had his blade deflected as the creature turned to block his attack with its tusk, making it bounce off and plant itself in the trunk of the tree. As he began struggling to free Atom Slicer from the clutches of its wooden prison, he called out to Raeyliff. "Hey, don't mind me! Just finish it off!"

ID: 7724

BD: 1 (Miss)

Azide HP: 15/15

Raeyliff HP: 15/15

Boar 2 HP: 1/5 (-0)

[Raeyliff 0]

Raeyliff grinned and nodded. "Okay then. I'm about to kill it anyway, so just take care of yourself for a moment." he said, before charging. This was his favorite part of Sword Art Online- the thrill of fighting was just overwhelming for him. To hold the battle-axe, swing it, and slash, and miss, and all of these fighting moments...they were good. They released his frustration and anger, and, most importantly, it released him. The guy that was always inside his head and never seeing the outside world much or talking to everyone around him a lot. He charged and swung his battle-axe, aiming directly at the boar.

 

[7838 BD:7 MD:10 LD:15]

[Raeyliff deals 3 damage]

[boar dies before hitting anyone]

 

Raeyliff slashed the boar and watched it as he turned around, seeing it fall and break into digital pieces before letting out a little laugh. He looked back at Azide. "Now...if I am right...there should be a mushroom here somewhere." He looked around.

 

[7856 LD: 7]

 

Raeyliff sighed, not able to find anything as he kept looking. He asked aloud. "Hey, Azide, find anything yet?"

[Azide 0]

(OOC: You get +1 material for that boar because of the LD 15!) ((Also if this post doesn't seem very lively, I feel extremely sleepy right now, haha.)

Azide crouched down in the tall grass and began searching for any sort of mushrooms, but for the moment, his efforts turned up nothing. Looking up for a moment, he watched as Raeyliff finished off the boar. Satisfied that there would be no further distractions for the time being, he came back to the task at hand, but came up empty-handed. He shook his head. "I'm afraid I haven't found anything so far." Up ahead, he spotted an old log, and thought that might be a prime location for finding mushrooms. He quickly pointed it out. "How about we check that fallen log over there? There should be plenty of mushrooms around it, or even on it."

ID: 7862

LD: 7

[Raeyliff 0]

((Really? I do? Awesome! :D and it's fine. Sorry I haven't been online for a while!))

 

Raeyliff looked up and walked over to the log that Azide was pointing at, and bent over to look. He looked closely, trying to see even a single hint of a mushroom. Even a dead mushroom can help him identify a place where they once grew, probably. 

 

[7864 LD:11]

 

Raeyliff sighed before standing up. "No sign of anything here either. I guess we'll have to go deeper." he said, before walking forward. He looked over at his quest to see that they had completed part of the ingredients, and laughed. "Hey, on the bright side, we got one down from fighting the boar. They dropped something that I didn't notice I took." he said, grinning. He walked with Azide forward, deeper into the forest, while looking left and right for any possible mushrooms living here or there that can be used for a health potion.

[Azide 0]

((Mhm! I'm sure you know about the automatic materials for monsters with the proper HP, but monsters with lower HP drop materials with LD rolls of 15+, similar to noncombat gathering. And no problem at all!))

With the log turning up nothing, the two decided to press on forward, in search of mushrooms for non-recreational purposes. "Hmm, out here in the woods collecting mushrooms for drugs. Not quite what I pictured alchemy to be like in my head." At some point, Raeyliff had pointed out how he'd ended up finding an ingredient dropped by one of the boar they'd fought, which relieved him greatly. "I know I agreed to tag along out of boredom, but the less time spent searching for ingredients, the better." He received the news with positivity.

Eventually, Azide spotted what looked like some sort of large mushroom. He walked up to it and picked it up, only to drop it immediately upon feeling it move. It feel the ground with a bounce, before turning itself around and began running at him with the sort of running motion you'd expect from a penguin. "Walking mushroom enemy? This feels vaguely familiar..." he thought.

He rolled out of the way, swinging Atom Slicer in the process, but felt his swing pass by without a hit. Quickly, he rose back up on his feet and regained his footing before the creature could attack a second time. "It must be one of those days," he remarked. "Joe, how about you take a crack at it?"

ID: 7866

BD: 1 (Miss)

MD: 2 (Miss)

Damage taken (All) = 0 (Misses)

Azide HP: 17/17 HP

Raeyliff HP: 17/17 HP

Shroomhead: 8/8 HP

[Raeyliff 0]

Raeyliff nodded. "Okay, I'll see what I can do." he said, before charging. He couldn't say that he didn't expect that another monster would appear, he was actually waiting for them, now that they were this deep into the forest. Raeyliff grabbed his battle-axe and swung.

 

[7867 BD:8 MD:1]

[Raeyliff does 3 damage]

[boar misses]

 

Raeyliff's battle-axe made contact with the shroom, slashing its side. However, it didn't completely destroy it just yet. He jumped back. "Here's your chance Nouel!" he said, encouraging him to go and fight. Both of them wanted to get this over with and create the potion and get the profession, but this was the hard part of alchemy. The part that no one really wanted to do. Finding materials. Who wants to do that? In Raeyliff's mind, he'd rather buy those materials from someone else, if he could. 

[shroomhead: 5/8]

 

[Raeyliff:15/15]

[Azide: 15/15]

[Azide 0]

Azide ran forward, switching his position with Raeyliff as the other player temporarily fell back. He stabbed cleanly through its cap, then quickly withdrew his blade before following it up with a slice through the creature's abdomen, making use of a single smooth motion that resembled a backwards "C". He watched as the creature's health bar dropped, but failed to reach completely empty. "Looks like you're stuck with the cleaning job once again," he remarked, glancing at Raeyliff.

"Whatever the case, hopefully we'll be able to retrieve a part of this thing as an ingredient. Does it still technically count as a mushroom? Hmm...." That was something to worry about later on, he decided.

ID: 7877

BD: 9 (Crit +1)

MD: 3 (Miss)

Damage taken (Azide) = 0 (Miss)

Damage taken (Shroom) = 1 (Base) + 1 (Rapier) + 1 (SP's) + 1 (Crit +1) = 4

Azide HP: 15/15

Raeyliff HP: 15/15

Shroom HP: 1/8 (-4)

[Raeyliff 0]

Raeyliff nodded. "I'll take care of it.". He was on a roll today, killing monsters nonstop the way he was. He felt a bit confident, maybe too confident, that he'd be able to kill this monster without any issues. He charged, and swung his battle-axe towards it.

 

[7949 BD:1 MB:3]

[Raeyliff missed]

[shroomhead missed]

 

Raeyliff swung, looking directly at Shroomhead. However, he swung too early, causing Shroomhead too jump back and for him to turn around, realizing that he had missed. He sighed. He did really like fighting in this game, but when it came to times when he wasn't able to hit the monsters or miss, or even get hit himself, it wasn't as fun as he thought it was. He looked at Azide apologetically "Sorry, Nouel, but can you give it one more try?" he asked. He wanted, more than anything else in all of Aincrad, to find the ingredients and to create his first potion to get his profession. If this was going to take too long he'll find himself eventually lagging behind and soon giving up. And he wasn't a fan of that either. 

 

[shroomhead: 1/8]

 

[Raeyliff: 15/15]

[Azide: 15/15]

[Azide 0]

Azide nodded, ready for his first kill of the day. "That sounds bad now that I think about it, but it can't be helped." He ran forward, while Shroomhead did the same. He made an attempt to leap out of its path as the creature lunged forward to headbutt him, but failed to completely evade its attack, and suffered bruises on an arm and leg. "They'll heal before long," he thought, raising his sword. He dashed forward, then thrusted Atom Slicer forth, where its tip made contact with the creature before impaling it altogether. He slowly drew the blade back, then watched as it shattered, leaving behind some col and a small piece of mushroom. He sent the small amount of col to his funds, then sent the material he'd found to Raeyliff. "Is this usable for the potion, by any chance? I mean, I know it was just walking around a few moments ago, but it probably won't be doing that again any time soon."

ID: 8000

BD: 8 (Hit)

MD: 7 (Hit)

LD: 17 (Col found)

Damage taken (Azide) = 1 (Base)

Damage taken (Shroomhead) = 1 (Base) + 1 (Rapier) + 1 (SP's) = 3

Azide HP: 14/15 (-1)

Raeyliff HP: 15/15

Shroomhead: -2/8 [Dead]

*1 material acquired, then given to Raeyliff.

** 40 col gained. Shroomhead HP (8) x 5 = 40 col.

[Raeyliff 0]

Raeyliff clapped as he watched Shroomhead disintegrate and took the material from Azide. "Thanks a lot, Nouel. Now, if I am correct, there's only one more thing, and it should be found right around here, hopefully. A flower. After that we go directly back to the old man...wonder what his name is...no matter. We go back to the old man, I learn how to make my first potion, I make it or I fail, but I still get the profession." he said, while looking around trees and bushes. He wasn't finding anything, so he looked back and asked. "Hey, Nouel, do you see anything?" he asked, continuing to look. In his opinion there was about a million other things he could have done in his spare time rather than just look for some flower, but if this was what it was going to take for him to become an alchemist, then so be it. 

 

[ 8001 LD: 2]

[Azide 0]

"No problem at all, Joe. And the sooner we find that flower- the better. I like walking around in the woods as much as the next guy, but not necessarily to look for mushrooms and flowers," said Azide. The two split up to search the meadow, but stayed within sight of each other as they began poking around the undergrowth for any flowers. Azide pawed through the bushes, then spread apart a clump of tall grass growing next to a tree, but both attempts turned up little in the way of the flora for which they searched. He shook his head and called out to Raeyliff, "Afraid not. Nothing over here so far, and I'll just assume that since you're asking you probably haven't found it yet either."

ID: 8004

LD: 10 (Nothing found)

[Raeyliff 0]

Raeyliff stood up and sighed. "Ah man, I really hate this. I wish the old man can just give us the materials and teach me how to make the potion and get on with it." he said, looking at Azide and laughing a little. He walked forward after not finding anything where they were at and walked around the area they were in, looking for any signs of the flower. God...you know, if I ever go on hunts like these in the future, I'm taking Nouel with me. If I was alone I would have surely given up a long time ago. I owe it to him that I am still here, searching for some flower. Still, I'm guessing that this will go on for a while. Not to mention that I don't think that ALL potions need 3 ingredients. Some will take 2 or less. So...I won't always find myself in this situation. Oh...how I hate you, old man. Couldn't you just teach me alchemy, give me a book, and get on with it? Why did you have to go all the way and teach me about how hard it is to find plants? I wonder if there's a book that can teach me what each ingredient does...wouldn't that be interesting? he thought, looking around.

 

[8005 LD:7]

[Azide 0]

Azide shrugged. "If anything, maybe he hoped to scare off anyone not prepared to do more of this in the future." He laughed, but after thinking about it some more began to see the sense in that bit of conjecture. "Am I really committed to doing this sort of thing in the future?" He considered it for a moment, but quickly came to a conclusion. "Well I don't really have much else to do around here all day anyways, so that's a yes. Stupid Aincrad." As he walked around the perimeter of the meadow, something sticking out from out of a log caught his attention. He walked over and crouched down, then looked inside the hollowed out log, then pulled something out. What he held in his hand was a flower with deep blue petals and dense series of roots. Its stem was white, as opposed to the usual green, giving it a more exotic appearance. He called out to Raeyliff, who was searching on the other side of the meadow. "Hey Raeyliff, is this what we're looking for?" He pulled up his inventory, then transferred the material over to the aspiring alchemist.

ID: 8017

LD: 19 (Material found)

*1 material acquired, then given to Raeyliff

[Raeyliff 0]

Raeyliff gasped before nodding and laughed. "It is indeed. Let's make our way back to that old man. I can't wait to give him a piece of my mind." he said, grinning. He took the flower from Azide and smiled as they walked out of the forest. "I really couldn't have done this without you, so I just need you to know that you were a really important part of this. If you weren't with me, I would've given up much earlier than before. Now...we're here. Let's enter." he said, before knocking on the door of the shop and entering. The old man looked at them with amazement.

"What's this? You returned, and so soon?" he said.

"What do you mean, so soon?! You got us off on a wild goose chase and we looked all over for a mushroom and a flower and something else, I don't know what it is. Now, teach me how to do this alchemy thing, and tell me your name!" Raeyliff answered, a bit annoyed.

The old man raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and laughed. "Fine. My name is Professor van Hohenheim. I've been an alchemist ever since I was a kid like you are right now. If you believe that finding materials for alchemy is easy, then think again. Because it's never going to be. You might have to travel from town to town, read books, and research before finding where a certain ingredient is or how to make a certain potion. Now, come on in the back so I can teach you how to do alchemy. Mind you, you'll be the one making it. If you mess up, you clean up. Understood?" he said, lowering his hands.

Raeyliff nodded as he walked to the back with Azide and whispered to him. "This is what we've been waiting for. All this searching..." he said. 

[Azide 0]

Azide nodded, more than ready to head back after what felt like days, but was probably just a few hours. As the two continued making their way through the forest and back towards the apothecary, Raeyliff spoke a few words to him, which he tried to accept graciously. "Hey, don't mention it. This was win-win for both of us, after all." He chuckled. "In the end, I found something to do for the day, and even met another aspiring alchemist. And in that alchemist to-be, perhaps I've even found an ally and a rival," he added with a grin. "Now, let's get in there and wrap this chapter up." The two stepped inside, where they once again saw the old man, who revealed his name to be Van Hohenheim. "Van Hohenheim? I've heard that name before. A famous scientist of some sort, but for some reason I can't seem to remember anything else." Before long, the three made their way to the back, with Raeyliff whispering over to him. "This is where it all pays off. Now get in there Joe, this is all you!"

[Raeyliff 0]

Raeyliff nodded and gave Azide a thumbs up before walking in with van Hohenheim. He stood next to him in front of a set of laboratory tools made out of glass and wood. He grinned, thinking of how he would soon have one of those. Seeing his grin, Hohenheim whacked Raeyliff on the back of the head, causing Raeyliff to rub his head with an expression on his face that showed pain.

"Owww....what was that for?" he said, angrily, at Hohenheim.

"For not concentrating. Now, take out the materials and put them out here so that I can see them and tell you where to begin." Hohenheim replied.

Raeyliff pulled out the materials and set them on the table. Hohenheim nodded.

"Good materials. Now, take out the petals of the flower and then crush it to release the sap in the stems. Take the boar tooth and crush it with the mortar and pestle and keep its powder with you. Boil that water but keep an eye on it. Yes...yes..like so. Now cut up the mushroom like this to have its full effect and put it all into the water and mix correctly. Yes. Stir..." van Hohenheim said, as Raeyliff worked carefully.

[Azide 0]

Azide gazed around at the tools and ingredients scattered all about in the back room. He'd always figured it would just be a mortar and pestle and a few jars of 'eye of newt'. Maybe a few lizard tails here and there. "Now this is the sort of environment I could stand to work in," he thought. "But I'd like my shop to resemble a lab even more than this if I could manage it. Although on second thought, I can't say I'd be completely satisfied if it just resembled a lab. No, I'd like it to be a lab in the truest sense of the word. Only then will I be fit to put the chem back into alchemy." He couldn't help but laugh as Hohenheim whacked in the head for not paying attention. As Raeyliff began working with the materials, Azide whispered to him just loud enough for him to understand him, but too quiet for the old man to hear. "Joe... concentrate."

[Raeyliff 0]

Raeyliff nodded, hearing Azide, but didn't respond. After a few moments the potion turned a sickly green. Hohenheim took a look at it and backed away. Raeyliff looked back. "What...?" he said, before the potion exploded all over the furnace where they were boiling the water. Raeyliff jumped back, and then looked at Hohenheim.

"You could've warned me, you idiot!" he yelled.

"Well, this wouldn't have happened if you weren't such a fool to begin with!" Hohenheim snapped. "Now, clean this all up!" he ordered, giving Raeyliff a mop. Raeyliff took it and cleaned up, before Hohenheim sighed. "This is how ever beginner learns. By failing. In alchemy you should get used to failing, because if you don't, you'll find yourself always disappointed. You've cleaned up enough. " he said.

 

[8019 CD:4]

[Azide 0]

"Boy, that Hohenheim guy is sort of a jerk," thought Azide, noticing how the alchemist had backed away wordlessly before the explosion. "But he does sort of have a valid point- albeit a bit on the pessimistic side." He looked at Raeliff. "So, do you feel any different now? Perhaps more like an alchemist?" To be honest, he wasn't entirely sure how it worked, but this would be his chance to find out. "By the way, job well done on cleaning up your act," he added, clapping somewhat ironically.