[SP - F2] Breaking the Unbreakable

[Bjorn 0]

Due to the fact that the current frontlines where on floor 11, Bjorn didn't have to trek through the dungeon and fight the boss on that floor to get to the second. That meant that he could proceed with a quest that he had learned about from several other players on floor one. He arrived from the portal and took in his surroundings, it was most assuredly different than the first floor,  what with the small city that appeared to be built in a crater of the mountainside they were currently located on. He knew the quest was a simple one, and he knew the location to pick it up as well as where to head to complete it. He used the publicly available information to locate the quest board, and there he grinned as he selected the quest he wanted and accepted it. If nothing else, this would allow him to feel stronger about himself, even if it didn't actually effect his strength in the game. 

[Bjorn 0]

The big man found that there were a surprising number of quests available to him, most of them were to dangerous for him to take, or simply tedious tasks such as gathering things, transporting them to other locations for the npcs and similar stuff, and he quickly dismissed them from consideration. Besides all of that he was really only there for one reason, and that was to complete the quest he had heard about before heading back down stairs to continue to level, and eventually face the boss on the bottom floor. It didn't matter that others had already dealt with it, he wanted to do so himself as well, to prove to himself that he was capable of doing so, and to get used to fighting boss type monsters so that when he finally caught up to those on the frontline he would be able to participate and help in a meaningful manner. Reading over the quest itself Bjorn shrugged, it didn't seem difficult at all, go out and find the location, break the rock, head back in from the location and turn it in. The reward for it was the ability to use unarmed combat, or at least to rank it up so that it was a useful ability. It didn't seem to difficult, and from what he had been told by others as long as he watched where he was going, it wouldn't involve any combat, which was beneficial in that he wasn't exactly looking forward to dealing with creatures from this floor as of yet. The fact that he was alone still, with no friends was somewhat worry some, but the fact of the matter was, any friends could make would simply be babysitting him,something that he didn't begrudge them for not wanting to do.

[Bjorn 0]

Finally accepting the quest the big man turned from the board and started out of town, passing other players that he nodded to on the way through the stone gates of Urbus, which was the main settlement he had arrived in on the second floor. As he went he pondered how many others that were here were anything but civilians that had joined the game as a normal thing, after all they where the only type he had meet so far, but he knew that didn't mean that they were the only ones around. Still finding anyone else would be a nightmare in this world, everyone was all spread out along the open floors, and many didn't seem to be very forthcoming with their previous lives, hell most of them didn't even seem to want to consider them at all, preferring to pretend like nothing was wrong or the world had collapsed outside of the game. He followed the quest marker on the map, seeing that he would have to hike several clicks through the forest before he would reach what was the site of the "unbreakable" boulder. He already knew that was false, after all one wouldn't give a quest with an reward, nor would others have mentioned having completed it by breaking the boulder. Of course he wished now that they had been more specific than saying "by hitting it." when he had asked how to complete it. But then again he could figure it out when he reached the stone. 

[Bjorn 0]

The travel was uneventful, he avoided the enemies he saw, though he did stop and watch as a group of players fought off a pair of wolves, waiting and making sure they didn't actually need any help before he continued to head down the way that had been indicated. The two had fought the wolves off fairly easily, despite they both appearing to have been wounded, the wounds were superficial according to their health bars. It was interesting that the wounds faded quickly, leaving a whole avatar for the people, even before the hit points had returned to full, he supposed it was better than looking at a body of grids when one took major damage or something similar, though he wondered if it was to give people a false sense of security so that they wouldn't worry about it until something happened that showed that they should, like a dismemberment, or simply not noticing their health being low. He could wonder about this stuff all day, in fact, he generally did, after all there was little else to do other than a few quests and some combat, but that wasn't why he was here now. He would concentrate on watching his surroundings, and stop his mind from wondering. After all, he wanted to avoid all combat, and being ambushed was not something he relished the idea of. 

[Bjorn 0]

As he continued his travels he stopped to watch another group of players argue about something that had dropped during their latest battle, he simple watched them as they argued before they slowly came to a stop as they realized they weren't the only ones there. The quietly talked amongst themselves before deciding that it would be best to head back to town before continuing their discussion, which was wise in Bjorn's mind, after all in town they couldn't kill one another and they were safe from others that would kill them for whatever they had dropped. He didn't say anything as they passed him, merely nodding his head to them in acknowledgement as they quietly watched him. He watched until they dropped out of sight around a rock outcropping before he started on his way once more, there seemed to be so much anger lately, of course he couldn't blame people, they all likely simply wanted to get to the end of the game, and get out. Good gear would help a long way towards that, as would leveling. But they should all be helping each other, and he knew that wasn't the case, he had heard of player killers and robbers as well. It wasn't something he was able to understand, why would you kill others when it meant actually murdering them? Did they doubt that this was a game? If so why didn't they just go die and find out themselves? He wouldn't be able to grasp their logic, and he knew he likely didn't want to, after all it may be as simple as they were those type of people, and he was stuck here with them and no way to deal with them if they came after him while higher leveled and geared than he was. 

[Bjorn 0]

As he continued to travel he noted that there was an outcropping of rock that looked odd, he quickly moved closer to take a better look at it, only to find that while his first suspicion on what the rock was had been correct, the fact was another player had already gotten to it, removing what appeared to be all the removable ore and leaving just the general shape and look of it there for others to find. He quickly looked about, making sure that there was no one near by and then continued on his way, having wasted some time and putting him behind in his journey, though it seemed that he was doing that plenty enough as he stopped to watch different things that happened already, at least this time he had been looking to see if he could improve himself by finding more materials, where as previously it had been mostly a total waste of time, even if it had been necessary in his eyes. 

ID: 27793
LD: 3 (No Loot)
 

[Bjorn 0]

If there were players looting materials in the area, as he had seen from the already looted location he had found, then that meant that there was materials in the area to loot, obviously. But it also meant that while he was traveling he would need to keep an eye out for any more locations that might provide something of value, whether it was a tree, ore, cotton or something else that he hadn't yet considered might be around every corner, and free materials that didn't involve combat was something he wouldn't pass up. It wasn't to long as he was traveling that he ran into another small group of players, these ones doing what he had thought of doing himself, gathering materials from the floor. The looked at him for a moment as he watched what it was they were doing before going back to what they where doing and attempting to hurry on ahead of him. With a shrug he decided it wasn't worth the conflict, besides he was here for a quest and not to gather materials, and it was something he should get on with. He hurried on down the way the map indicated, keeping an eye on the players behind him as he moved forward and making sure to pay attention to his surroundings for mobs that might lay in his path. 

[Bjorn 0]

Ah he continued on his way he continued to watch about him, occasionally checking his map to see that he was indeed nearing the site of the quest, which also conveniently was the location of the 2nd floor dungeon entrance, which was something he had to keep in mind as he continued on his way. He found a small path that made the going easier and started down it, eyeing the sides of the rocky terrain and wondering where it lead, the map didn't show the path, but then again that might just be him not knowing how to use it properly, much like most of the interface the game relied upon. Apparently there was even a guide for the game going around, at least it had been mentioned, but he hadn't seen it or found out how to access it yet, not that it mattered, he hadn't any need of anything really, he was saving the skill points he had for another use, he already knew how to equip and use things, so there wasn't much more to it was there? Well he wouldn't know in any case what he was possibly missing out on. 

[Bjorn 0]

As he continued down the rocky path Bjorn's stomach grumbled, reminding him that despite this being a virtual world, he still required to eat. This brought back thoughts of how his body was wasting away somewhere in a hospital bed. Taking a breath and letting out a long sigh the big man shook his head and moved off the rocky road, up into the mountainous terrain to the side of it until he found a small outcropping that would shade him from the sun as he ate. He had some bread and water, nothing more filling or nutritious to eat, but he supposed it didn't matter much either way, after all, if it didn't buff his stats it didn't really matter, it wasn't like he needed to worry about calories or macros here, they didn't matter. He sat and unhappily munched on the bread, alternating between taking a bite of the bread and drinking from the flask of water that he had materialized from his inventory. Even though it was all virtual, it felt nice to have something in his stomach, and it still felt nice to be off of his feet for awhile.