«Neo Aincrad» (Sword Art Online) [Closed]

[Takarashi]

_____________________________________

Keiyo ██████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
_________________250 / 250 | LV: 1

_____________________________________

Keiyo was, admittedly, curious about how the combat worked in the game. All he had really paid attention to were the features that were absent, not what it really had to offer. When Geki prepared his weapon and engaged the «Frenzy Boar», the white haired lad was admittedly a little impressed at how smooth the other swordsman made the exchange look. When the beast burst into shards, Keiyo let out a low whistle. "Pretty slick." He commented. At Geki's invitation, Keiyo gave the other young man a mixed look of amusement and uncertainty. "I guess it wouldn't hurt just to try it. It doesn't look too hard." He reached for his weapon, and drew the lengthy blade. The sound was somehow satisfying as the sword came free of its sheath. He stared briefly at his reflection in the polished iron, then turned his attention toward the enemy.

The boars mulled around with little care, grazing like a regular animal would do. They didn't look very intimidating at a glance, but there was something a bit unsettling about their gleaming eyes and dark fur. Keiyo sucked in a breath, took up what he felt was a proper combat stance, then charged at the boar with a battle cry. When he drew close, he swung his sword with all his might... and completely missed his mark. The boar sauntered a few steps out of the way, and the white haired swordsman went face first into the dirt. He let out a muffled groan, then turned his head to the side. "... You made it look so easy. How did you do it?"

[a little hummingbird]

xx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxcodename;; aiyasa
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

She pressed her lips together in concentration, her character's arms adjusting from their limp positions into a deft grip on her longsword, though it was clearly feigned as she didn't quite know what to do with it. Boars littered the area around her, the plains seemed vast, which meant she would have enough to kill for a while, even if the respawn rates weren't great. Holding the sword more tightly than before, she quickly jumped at the creature in front of her, steadying her main arm with her left one, and ripped the sword through it, causing it to get angry and pound its hoof against the ground beneath it. It turned towards her and let out a few snarls. When it headed for her, she had to wait for a second after her cool-down period before dodging it last second, rolling across the floor into a standing position. She had played MMOs before, so this wasn't too rough of a concept, more or less. Her character simply didn't have the skills necessary to annihilate an enemy with ease. At least, not yet.

The boar dropped after a few more blows, and Nektaria managed to dodge all but one hit before she checked the loot table to see what she had gotten. An irritated look crossed her features, when she saw nothing useful she could use, and she sighed. Her original intentions were to kill a few to get something more than starter clothes to wear, but seeing as they each took a few minutes to defeat, she started to wonder if this was the best course of action. Placing nimble fingers against her chin, and closing her eyes for only a brief moment, she began to internally spar with herself about finding some quests.

[Gamebrain25]

Player: Geki
Level: 1
HP: 240/240
Floor: 1

Geki flinched a little as Keiyo flopped face first into the virtual dirt. "That looked like it hurt. Basically, when it comes to Sword Skills, different moves are started by different stances." He raised an eyebrow and turned around when he heard someone else fighting. Apparently, a female player with blond hair was fighting Frenzy Boars as well. They sure make those female avatars pretty looking. "Just watch how she does it."

[Takarashi]

_____________________________________

Keiyo ██████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
_________________250 / 250 | LV: 1

_____________________________________

Keiyo got himself back on his feet properly, then watched the lady in question at work. Just as Geki had done, she made short work of the animal with skillful grace. The white haired swordsman idly scratched his cheek as he thought about the concept and the execution. "Different stances, huh." He mumbled. Keiyo took a firm grip on his sword and glanced toward the boar that had shrugged him off with such indifference. Rather than running forward like a madman, he approached cautiously, and took a stance that mimicked what Geki and the other sword wielder had done. Sure enough, not even a second passed and he could 'feel' the skill activate. Keiyo sliced at a magnificent speed, with a blue light trailing his attack. A red, bloodless gash streaked across the creature's body, and it let out a squeal. It charged at him instantly, but he managed to sidestep the attack and let loose another «Sword Skill». The swordsman was rewarded with a hail of fragments of his own. "... Woah. Sick." He remarked, beaming.

[Gamebrain25]

Player: Geki
Level: 1
HP: 240/240
Floor: 1

Geki's eyebrows lifted at how quickly Keiyo picked up his Sword Skills and put on a grin. "Well done. WELL DONE! I believe we should practice some more. We haven't gotten a single item drop yet and we need three pieces of meat for that lady." And with that, Geki drew his sword again and prepared to face another Frenzy Boar. Just like before, Geki prepared himself and attacked with a Horizontal slash, leaving a trail of blue light behind. He noticed that the boars' weak points seemed to be on the back of their heads. And look! Along with some Exp. and Col (which Geki assumed was currency in this game), Geki received an item: <<Frenzy Boar Meat>>. "That's one."

[Takarashi]

_____________________________________

Keiyo ██████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
_________________250 / 250 | LV: 1

_____________________________________

The swordsman spun his weapon around in his hand and looked over it again. The combat system was unquestionably dated and a little more awkward than he was used to, but maybe he had been too quick to pass judgment. It still worked, and it seemed pretty fair. He couldn't quite describe it, but there was something special about the feeling it gave him, too. He was so used to system assist programs that he could practically play games on autopilot. While «Sword Skills» still dictated his movements, he felt as though he had to make more effort to actually do anything. It felt, well, real. He looked at Geki once more and nodded at the comment of the item drops. "All right. I'm not on the quest, so I'll give you whatever I find." Keiyo replied. He spotted another boar and went for it. Money and other real world concerns weren't on his mind anymore. The thought of sharpening his skills and moving forward were now all that filled his head. He hadn't realized it yet, but he had truly taken his first steps into the world of «Neo Aincrad».

((I forgot to mention, You can make those funny angle brackets with a numpad using alt 174 and alt 175 for « and » respectively. I just use them 'cause they do in the novels/manga and it's kinda fun for whatever reason.))

[a little hummingbird]

xx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxcodename;; aiyasa
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It didn't take too long for Nektaria to go through a few more boars, before she decided that it was pointless. She got a new item, but it was barely an upgrade, and didn't change her outfit's aesthetics at all. Groaning, before placing a hand against her palm, she just shook her head and turned to head to the Town of Beginnings before spotting a couple other individuals chatting a handful of feet away from her. She rolled back her shoulders and gripped her right shoulder with her left hand before approaching them hesitantly glancing between the two. "Hey there." She murmured under her breath, raising both her eyebrows. "You gentlemen wouldn't know where the quest-givers are, do you?" She may have been able to easily kill a bore, but navigating a new world was not her forte. Fighting was. "If you wouldn't mind... could I hang with you two until you find your way back to them?" She gave them a friendly, knowing smile.

The blonde glanced at both their usernames. "Geki, Keiyo? I'm Aiyasa... if you couldn't already tell." She stuck her tongue out teasingly, and then leaned back against her heels.

[Gamebrain25]

Player: Geki
Level: 1
HP: 240/240
Floor: 1

((My laptop doesn't have a Numpad so...))

"Much obliged." After leaving Keiyo to his own devices...er...boars, Geki managed to kill one more Frenzy Boar and managed to get his second piece of meat. Right after that, however, the two of them were greeted by the blonde they watched earlier. "Hello. I just got a quest from a lady back in town. There's probably more there." She then asked if she could hang out and Geki smiled right back. "Sure. Why not?" And right after "Aiyasa" correctly figured out their names, much to Geki's surprise, he then spotted the girl's username right by her health bar. Why he hadn't seen that earlier when he met Keiyo was anyone's guess. Damn, she's cute. "Okay then. Good to meet you, Aiyasa. We'll be heading back in just a minute."

[Takarashi]

_____________________________________

Keiyo ██████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
_________________250 / 250 | LV: 1

_____________________________________

Once he understood how the system worked, taking on boars was a quick job. He could only assume that they were intentionally made weak to give players a chance to adjusted to the skill system. Not a bad teaching tool in his opinion. He had to give the designers some credit for really throwing them into the thick of things and pulling it off somewhat gracefully. "Still, I don't know where I'd be without that book. And Geki and that woman." He thought as he polished off another enemy. Luckily, that earned him a «Boar Meat» drop, and thus made three for the shared pile.

Once the loot screen dismissed, Keiyo realized that he and Geki were being talked to by the other adventurer. With a bit of effort Keiyo managed to put away his sword. "Keeping this on my back is kinda awkward." He proceeded to return Aiyasa's greeting, and learned that names were displayed alongside HP bars. They were a tad hard to read because of the silver-white text color, at least for Keiyo, so she must have had pretty good vision. "I got one of the drops, so we can head back now if you want." He said to Geki.

((A lot of notebook computers still don't have numpads, it bugs me. It's really useful for various things.))

[Gamebrain25]

Player: Geki
Level: 1
HP: 240/240
Floor: 1

Once Geki heard that Keiyo managed to get a Boar Meat, the young man sheathed his sword. He may not have leveled up, but he got a good bit of Exp. and Col. "Great. Thanks for your help. Let's head back to town. I bet that NPC is hungry," Geki added with a chuckle. "Aiyasa, you ready to go?"

Takarashi

little hummingbird

[Phoenix347]

╔════════════════════════════════╗
Location: Starting area
Actions: Exploring
Health: 190/200
Level:1
╚════════════════════════════════╝

"One more down, done with the meat collection. Seems like the other games." he said after dealing with the last boar. He was used to these simple quests that had no such story at all. He checked his log for the other quest locations but remembered that he was in an MMO after all. Even if this was a test, there had to be other characters. He looked about but it seemed he was a bit far out from the city so he couldn't see any others. Shrugging to himself, he started off back towards the city, hoping to find at least one other player.

((Well I'm not dead if that what you people believed emotion_omnomnom )

[Takarashi]

_____________________________________

Keiyo ██████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
_________________250 / 250 | LV: 1

_____________________________________

((Hummingbird said it was okay to move her to the city, so we'll just do that.))

With the quest complete and the trio in agreement, they made the short trip back to town. Perhaps it was a tad antisocial, but Keiyo passed the time by pulling out the «Strategy Guide» and flipping through it a bit more. He wasn't entirely sure if he was going to really give this game his all, but being able to mess around with his sword a bit would help pass the time if nothing else. He wagered that he was one of the least enthusiastic players here, but then, plenty of people only did things for the money - it wasn't that weird. He traded the meat over to Geki along the way as well.

"The NPC was over by that building, right? They should give you the quest Aiyasa." Keiyo pointed out once they were back around the area the quest came from.

[Gamebrain25]

Player: Geki
Level: 1
HP: 240/240
Floor: 1

((Fair enough))

Eventually, the three of them made their way back to the Starting Town. After receiving the third piece of meat from Keiyo, Geki found the NPC lady from earlier. She seemed grateful enough and Geki even got 300 Col for his effort. "Great!" Geki briefly turned as Keiyo pointed to the building where a quest giving NPC presumably waited. He opened up his pop-up menu. "Now...where's the friend request on this thing?"

Takarashi

little hummingbird

[Takarashi]

_____________________________________

Keiyo ██████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
_________________250 / 250 | LV: 1

_____________________________________

((You can stumble across us any time you like Phoenix - not trying to be pushy, I'm just uncertain who's supposed to make the move xD ))

"Should be somewhere in the menu. I think it's in the initial list or something." Keiyo commented as he slipped his hands into his pockets and glanced around a bit. "Do you think they're just going to have us run around the game and do whatever? I mean, the people in the lab did say that just being here helps out their research, but surely they get more out of us doing specific things. I know we need to clear floors to advance, but they didn't say how many there are I don't think. And they took on a lot of people for this, so it must be pretty tough. I'm really confused about how this whole thing is supposed to work, or what they're really trying to do."

Phoenix347

[Phoenix347]

╔════════════════════════════════╗
Okiru
Location: Starting area
Actions: Exploring
Health: 190/200
Level:1
╚════════════════════════════════╝

"Well If I have never seen a noob before, that streak has ended." Okiru said to himself, as he 'overheard' the player confused over his situation. He walked over to him and what appeared to be two others with him. "So I take it you're new to these games huh? he said when he was near to them. "Character name Okiru, real life gamer at your service." he said with a mock salute and a grin.

Takarashi

a little hummingbird

Gamebrain25