Spring Vale Online (SAO Alternate Universe RP) [Closed]

[Dante6083]

Welcome to Spring Vale Online
when this Virtual Reality MMORPG was released with a record breaking launch weekend of 3.5 billion sales worldwide and 3.2billion day one logins something happened. Something that the developers were not prepared for. The game broke.
That in and of itself wasn't terrible of course, launch titles have teething problems, but this game... the virtual reality headset began frying peoples brains when their characters died and for fifty percent of people the logout and exit short-cuts and buttons vanished.
When the European servers were taken down in hopes that it would free people everyone that was on them died, microwaves ran through their brains, turning them to mush.
All the Developers could think of to do was complete the game. They considered giving the players and characters free items and gear and levels, but the GM system that was set up to award such things and help players deleted itself with the glitch. It would take a server update to fix, but that would have required taking down the servers. All of the GMs were trapped inside with the players, stripped of their powers carrying anything they had when the game had gone down.
The only thing the developers could do was watch and hope, knowing that when a guild completed the game they were taken to the credits screen and then to the main menu, from which they'd be able to leave.

Differences to SAO:
There is a class system and a Job system, there's magic and players don't all log out when the game gets completed, only those who are in a guild that does it.

The World
A huge medieval world, almost as big as the real one. So large you could walk for miles and never see anyone outside of a city or a main route.
Dungeons that were once castles litter the world, overrun by monsters and beasts, hiding vast treasures and glories within.
Everyone begins their journey in the grand city of Spring Vale, largest in the whole kingdom and hub for every area. as the players progress further adn further from the central city the enemies get progressively more dangerous. When one believes they are strong enough to take on the end boss all they need do is return to Spring Vale and use the ancient warp gate in the centre of town to go straight to meet it.

The classes and their main stat (each player chooses one of these at level one and then is allowed to choose a second at level 25):
Doctor, Main; Wisdom
Your basic healer. When the character is made they have a magic staff and a heal spell. As they improve they can use holy damage magic aswell.

Magister, Inteligence
Your basic attack magic class weilding a magic staff they can devestate enemies with powerful magics.

Beast Tamer, Main; Constitution
Pet class wielding polearms, they can tame any creature and have any one out at a time, storing the others in stables. the pet matches the players level and as the player so they can use the same pet throughout if they choose, though each pet type can do different things and be better in different situations. They can also upgrade their pets and boost their stats through training.

Assassin, Agility
Speed type class, great at avoidign attacks and doing low damage quickly to build up lots of damage. Uses a dagger, but can train to use more exotic weapons.

Knight, Strength
Damaging weapon type, starts with asword but can learn to use axes, hammers, dual swords, spears, fists, sword and shield, and many others.

Ranger, Dexterity
Archer class, uses long range attacks to do damage without getting hit. uses a bow but can learn to use crossbows and daggers

Jobs (everyone can have two):
Merchant,
Merchants can open stores and use appraisal skills
Armoursmith,
creates armour (needs ore or metal ingots)
Weaponsmith,
Creates metal weapons (needs ore or metal ingots)
Herbalist
Collects herbs and creates potions
Cook,
Creates food (needs ingredients)
Tailor,
Creates clothes (needs cloth and leather)
Miner,
Collects ore and ingots and magic crystals
enchanter,
Creates magic weapons (needs weapon and Magic crystals)
Leatherworker,
Creates leather armour (needs leather and cloth)
Gatherer
Collects wood, leather skins, magic crystals and has passive skills that increase food ingredients drop liklihood, frequency and amount (helps with fishing)
Carver
Creates wooden weapons (bows, staffs, etc...)

[Dante6083]

Dante stood at the entrance to the bosses lair, his guild - the crimson arrows - stood ready behind him. They'd been through a lot together and this was going to be their hardest battle yet. He looked over his shoulder at the men under his command and frowned. Well they hadn't strictly been through a lot together. Not he and these people. These ones were new. His second in command Shoru had convinced him to let them join the guild. They hadn't been the sort of players he usually invited, but they seemed skilled and Shoru trusted them so they couldn't be all bad.

He turned back to the boss room and drew his dual swords, from his belt, crossing them in front of him and stepping forward. the others moved quickly in behind him, readying their own weapons and magic.
The room was large and dark, it's floor, walls and ceiling were all stone and there was an exit at the other end of the room. Like with many of the castle based dungeons they'd faced he expected that once the monster was defeated they would leave through a teleport in the back.
They all stepped forward and, as Dante reached the centre lights came on. Fire torches all around the room lit up and a black egg in the space between the guild and the door cracked open, spilling a poor of blood out across the floor. It stayed there a long moment before sliding back together, growing upwards into a great form.
It was huge, ten times Dante's height, and width with blood red scales and eyes as black as night. The beast - a giant dragon - turned it's eyes on Dante and charged.
He leapt forward. "I'll keep it occupied, you all attack from the sides!" He ordered. His guildies rushed in to comply as Dante shot forward, spinning through breaths of fire that would have killed any of his members where it only mildly damaged him.
Dante wasn't just the guild leader, he was also the highest level, possibly the highest level in the game. he had never met anyone on equal footing with him, but that didn't bean there was no-one. Those people might just have been training on the opposite side of the world.
Regardless he was level seventy eight and far more advanced than anyone in his guild. He didn't mind. He liked helping people, and with his fame, his instantly recognisable name he got dragged into helping people a lot.
His high level wasn't the only reason that the fire barely damaged him, at level twenty five, when the game allowed him to take on a second class he had chosen Magister. He was a magic wielding swordsman now - some called it a red mage - and that lent him certain resistances to magic.
He came up into the beasts personal space adn slashed out, cuttung through its chest and halving it's health. the bars slid down like they weren't even supposed to be there. The dragon reared back and struck out, swiping at Dante, who took the attack, sliced through the face and legs, but unphased. His health went down but it wouldnt matter. The beast would be dead soon.
He could see it's health slowly going down a small amount at a time. His guildies were doing their best but it would take all day as the dragon breathed at him and swiped at him, lowering his HP, but barely phasing him. it was actually a little funny to watch as the Dragon's HP hit the red just as Dante's own hit yellow.
A few moments later the dragon died, exploding into a million pieces. Dante's health was halfway to red, he'd have to stop doing that when they got to bigger bosses, but for now it was o- an arrow hit him in the chest. It didn't damage him but it did something else. It disarmed him and halted his health regen. "What?" He frowned, looking around for the source, for another monster, but finding none.
He spun around and felt rather than sword the sword stab through him. His eyes widened as he fell forward onto Shoru's shoulder, as he held the sword into Dante.
The Guild leader could feel his HP dropping fast. He looked up at Shoru and asked, eyes pleading; "Why?"
Shoru looked at Dante with contempt as he kicked him off his sword. Dante fell to the floor and his HP fell down again. "Why?" Shoru asked. "I saw it, Dante. I saw the marker." He said. "On your character infor screen. You're a GM. A freaking GM. You want to know why? because you could have saved us. because you caused this, because you have items we want or need... take your pick." He raised his sword. "I don't care, just die."
Dante reached up and pressed on his shortcut bar and tapped the last item in the list. the one he'd hoped he'd never have to use. Before Shoru swung his final strike Dante pressed the button and everything went white. A moment passed and an in game message appeared in front of him. he pressed the button to open it and a list of all the items he'd been holding appeared. he scrolled through, looking up and down until he found the right one. he clicked it and then everything went black.

When the light returned he found himself standing in the middle of Spring Vale, a large white pop up in front of him with the words "Welcome to Spring Vale Online! Would you like to view the tutorial?" on it.
he sighed and clicked no, then brought up his inventory. It was empty save for one item, an Epic Legendary weapon that he wouldn't be able to use until level twenty five.
he sighed and moved his hand to his character info button. He moved to press it and hesitated, then pressed it anyway. The window opened and showed him his stats.
"Level one knight. No skills, cloth armour, no second class, not even a job... Damn it. Right back where I started." He sighed, dropping down to the floor where he was with no regard or care for anyone around him. He'd been carrying that item since the beginning. it was his last resort. a GM only item that reset the character usign it to a base player and returned them to the starting area... he'd been so close. he could have challenged the darkness... and now he was a newb again. It was almost too depressing to move.

[Kidagara]

They stood on the edge of the bridge, right near the spawn point. Kida didn't think he realized just how close they were to the entrance to the game. How fitting for them to split up at the one place that brought them together.

"Ten minutes out there and we'd be another level!" Sideon snapped as he pointed over to the city gates.

Kida watched him in the waters reflection below. "No."

"Think about it! It's crazy! We can't stay here forever!" He shouted.

"It's not up for dicussion." Kida said firmly back. She was taller than him by a good foot, even in the game. "I'm not risking anything by having you go out there and-"

"And what?" Sideon said. "Level up? Beat the game? What are you so afraid of!?"

Kida closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself. "You know what I'm afraid of."

"Forget this." Sideon scoffed. He turned of his heels and headed back into the town.

"Sid!" She called out after him. It felt strange to be calling him by his game tag rather than his own name, but he had been insistant.

"Leave me alone!" He shouted back. Sideon was so annoyed with her he wanted to punch something. Not that he could do any damage since he was *still* only a level 1. But this was the last straw. Really. He couldn't handle things anymore.

As he walked, he passed someone kneeling on the ground in the middle of a small clearning. Sideon thought he recognized it as the starting point, but it had been so long he didn't even know anymore. "Welcome to hell, pal." He muttered as he brushed by.

Kida didn't go after him. They'd fought like this before, though lately it was getting worse. She didn't understand what the big deal was. She was the elder sibling - she had to protect him. At all costs. It drove her crazy to think what would happen if he went out there into the fields. Didn't he understand that?

She sighed and leaned up against the stone pillar that decorated the start of the bridge.

[Dante6083]

Dante only gave him a few moments of self pity, but they were a few moments too long. He deserved them, he'd had a horrible thing happen to him, betrayed by his best friend adn closest adviser because of something that he had been hired to be. He had been on minimum wage, he had no idea this might happen. When the game had gone down six months earlier it had been his second day.
Yes he had earned the right to pity himself, but he had given himself the opportunity too early. He reached for the menu and brought up the social panel, then guild. He pressed on the bank button and withdrew everything he could carry and all the Gald inside. He returned to the previous screen, looked up members and cursed to find that it noted their levels as well. If Shoru or anyone else had thought to check there they'd know. He went back, scrolled down and finally disbanded guild. The item he had used right before Shoru had killed him had restored everything to 1, he'd lost all his items and gold, but he'd maintained his guild and the guild hall. It was a group thing so the game could hardly take it away from everyone for a single person dying.
A pop up appeared that read "Guild hall will be destroyed, all items within will be destroyed. Are you sure you wish to disband your guild?" it asked.
Dante tapped the accept circle.
A Guild disbanded notice appeared on screen, Dante cleared it and stood up.
He didn't have a lot of time. People in Spring Vale were players of all levels and many of them would know him. Many would recognise him and if he looked like a low level, looked like he could be taken then he'd be in trouble. He might not have very much worth taking any more - sure he had all of his guilds valuable items, all of their money and one of the 15 most powerful weapon in the game, one of a kind, well... two of a kind since his one was a creation from his GM status - but they'd assume he did and want to kill him for it.
He started towards the shopping district and a message popped up. He frowned at it and pressed it. the message read "You are a dead man. Shoru." Dante cleared it. he expected no less from the man. He'd expected to get Dante' best items - which had been considerable - and his guild vault, but instead he had got none of it.
He continued into the shopping district and made his way to the highest end weapon store. He opened up the AI store and sold everything in his inventory that he couldn't use. Every item above level five, except the level 25 weapon.
He closed the sale window and opened buy. He scrolled to the most powerful level seventy Five sword he could and bought it, barely making a dent in his funds. He then closed the shop and left without even attempting to equip the weapon too high for him. He left the building and entered the Armourer next door. He walked straight up to the AI store and brought up the shop. He scrolled down to find the best lightweight-looking armour, like he used to wear and bought each piece of it, except the helm. With it he bought a corresponding piece of new player armour.
He reached up to his character window and pressed on it. He applied the new player armour to the right places, feeling a little added protection without compromising speed, then pressed the costume button in the bottom right corner. It brought up slots for head, chest, legs, gloves, feet and weapon.
Dante moved the level seventy five gear into place. His armour and sword instantly transformed. They weren't flashy, they were very simple. it looked little more than clothes, a pair of black trousers with metal plates over the joints and on the main sections of leg. A crimson vest with an archers metal plate armour in a black triangle over his heart.
His sword was long, thin and black with a red dragon pattern down the blade.
The items were so strong that they could deflect practically anything and kill everything else... but they didn't make him strong. he couldn't use them like that. they didn't boost him in any way. he was still a level one player. this was just a costume. The gear was all highly recognisable level seventy-five gear. Since nobody could see his level unless he brought it up all they would knwo was what they saw.
Hopefully he would be able to bluff until he could defend himself.
He let out a long breath, turned to the exit and left.

[Kidagara]

So now what? Kida headed back into town with her head down. Sid would get over it, she was sure. But he was pushing the matter more and more lately. Not that she could really blame him. Sideon wasn't a bad gamer, but it was different now. She wouldn't let him risk it.

Kida took a step forward and collided with someone exiting the weapons shop. She stumbled backwards and started apoligizing. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going!" She glanced up and her jaw snapped shut.

Even though she made it a point to not leave the town, or even to get caught up in the local gossip, it was impossible not to notice the flashy heroes that paraded around with thier high level gear. After making magic weapons for so long, she could tell what a high level weapon looked like. And though this guy wasn't wearing anything too fancy, Kida could tell he was strong. Sheesh, she'd been making great money off selling her enchantments and there was no way she could afford half of what he had on.

The town was a safe zone, but that didn't make her feel safe now. She'd seen high level characters track down players for less.

"I'm so sorry!" She said again.

[Dante6083]

Dante stumbled back and hit the door. he almost fell back inside, but he didn't. If this had been another game he probably would have had to transition to the shop then transition back, waiting for it to load each time, but Aegis online had been just like real life, no loading screens, no transitions - except when teleporting. It was amazing.
A shame so many people were stuck inside with no way of escaping.
he stepped back up, a little dazed but fine and stepped over to the girl. he looked down at her and smiled. "No worries. My fault. I should have been watching where I was going." He offered her his hand and hoped that the expensive armour would make her think twice about squeezing too hard. She didn't look much, but now he was only level 1 he wasn't sure he'd hold up to much of a hand shake if she was too strong. Didn't matter they were in the starting town.

The smile was a little forced, but he wasn't going to be an a** to some random girl just because he had had an awful thing happen to him.
his expression was in danger of turning grim at the thought but he let out a breath and forced the smile to return.
"It was lovely running into you-" He looked up above her head and her name appeared. "-Kida."
He smiled and stepped around her, starting off back the way he'd come. He then stopped and looked around for the jobs trainer. it had been so long since he'd had to use one he wasn't certain where they were. He walked back into town and loaded up an AI guard's information. it pointed him in the right way and he jogged off. he found his way into the job market and moved straight to the Merchant where he signed up and then crossed to the cook. He signed up there aswell and started back towards the town exit to the starting area. It was the best place to start training.
He considered that six months in there would be a lot less people in the low level areas, he might even get away with nobody seeing him. As he came to the bridge that he needed to cross to re-begin his training he considered what he would do if someone saw him.

~|~

It was funny, for months Mikriel had wept in a corner of the square, begging for food, praying for release. He'd cried for hours, days, weeks, months. Constantly, end on end without stopping. even when he slept he cried. He knew because he'd wake up with water already streaming down his face.
It hadn't been fair. It hadn't been right. He hadn't deserved to be locked into this game. He'd just wanted to play, learn about games with his big sister... but this terrible thing had happened.
It was true, none of those things had been. They still weren't. They weren't fair, they weren't right, he still didn't deserve it... but knowing that didn't change anything. He'd logged into the game and now he couldn't log out. The only way out was to be a part of a guild that beat the darkness.
The only way to be a part of such a guild was to be strong enough. Nobody would take him on as he was. He had to train. Level two felt a long way off, let alone Level one-hundred... but he knew he could do it. His sister had told him so right before... right before she'd...
He shook his head and wiped the tears away. He had his bow, he would be fine.
It was funny, because he didn't feel any of that any more. He was scared, yes, but he didn't feel that terrible sense of suffering.
He looked back over his shoulder towards Spring Vale before he started out and his eyes landed on a man, a dark figure in- wow was that level seventy-five gear? Maybe he did need to level up, but help never hurt anyone.
He turned on his heel and waited for this legendary figure to reach him.

[Kidagara]

"Mm." Kida's face went red. She was a bit surprised at his kindness - actually, really surprised. Most high levelers she ran into were quite rude, even the ones that wanted her help. She supposed they didn't like the idea that they were so powerful and yet still needed the help of a girl who was only a level one.

Now if only she could get Sideon to be so nice.

Kida's eyes widened. That was it, wasn't it? Sideon wanted to get out of the town and level, but she wouldn't let him because of the danger. Yet if they hired a high level to take them out.... Kida swiped her hand and opened up her inventory. With no reason to spend money, it had been easy to save up. And it was crazy what you could charge the high levels for some decent enchanting. Kida bit her lip. She didn't know how much they would charge for something like this. After all, it would keep them from running up their own level so they could escape. Maybe...she could ask that one she ran into. He seemed nice enough. Kida eyes widened. For the first time in a long time, she had hope. She spun on her heels and raced to the inn she and her brother were staying at.

"Sideon!" Kida cried out as she threw open the door. "I have an idea!"

Kida stood in the doorway to the empty room and felt her heart drop into her stomach. The room was empty save for Kida's belongings. Sid's bag and beginners dagger (she'd forbidden him to equip it or even carry it around) were gone. Kida rushed over to the window just in time to see Sid's blue cloak he made dissapear into the forest.

She ran as fast as she could to the bridge. It would be too late. There was no way she could catch him before a monster did. He'd be attacked, wounded and then die. Kida held back tears as she ran. Then this would all be for nothing. She was only here for him anyway. She never told him that, but he didn't need to know the truth.

But if anything happened to him....

By the time she reached the bridge, someone else was on it. As she got closer she realize it was the high level she ran into before. Instantly a plan clicked in her mind. "Hey!" She cried out. "I need your help! Please!"

[Dante6083]

Mikriel eyed the legendary player as he drew near. He had neck length red hair, scruffy but in a good way. Mikriel liked the look of it, though he didn't remember seeing that hairstyle in the character creation it was a long time ago. He was tall and thin with sharp angular features. His eyes surprised Mikriel a little, one eye blue the other green. Both had an orange tint in the centre though. It was strange, he definately hadn't seen that in customisation. Maybe those were his real eyes. He knew there was a setting somewhere that let the Nervegear copy your eyes and your face- which meant that was what he really looked like as well. He was quite handsome. If his sister was still here she'd likely be smitten with him.
If that really was his face Mikriel guessed him for aroudn twenty-five.
He drew near and Mikriel raised a hand in greeting. "Hi! I need your help, please?" Mikriel said, almost in unison with the girl running up behind the high leveller. He raised his eyebrows in surprised and leaned sideways to see the girl running after him. She appeared to be in some distress.
Mikriel frowned and stepped off of the bridge, watching the legendary player turn to look at the girl. She looked terrified.

Dante frowned at the girl, it was the one he'd run into at the weapons shop. She was out of breath and there was genuine fear in her eyes. six months ago that would have struck him as common and ignorable. five months ago it was a general atmosphere, but now... now people understood the safeties of the city, they knew they were safe, so whatever she was worried about was real and happening outside the city.
The boy on the bridge would have to wait. Dante would save the girl and-
But he wasn't level seventy-eight any more. He'd done such a good job with the costume he'd convinced himself for a moment. He cursed silently. He might not be able to help... but he'd do what he could.
"What is it, Kida?" He asked, stepping over to her and placing a hand on her shoulder.

Mikriel moved around as well, she seemed to be in dire trouble. Perhaps he could help as well. He wasn't a level seventy-five or anything, but an extra set of eyes, maybe?
He moved to her side aswell and smiled. "What's wrong?"

[Kidagara]

Kida had to stop and take several breaths. She hadn't built up stamina, or any stats outside of professions. She placed her hands on her knees as the high leveler walked over to her. To her surprise, he was joined by someone else as well. Normally she wouldn't want to risk putting others in danger, but she couldn't think straight.

"It's my brother. I saw him just dissapear in the forest. He's level one and -" Kida stopped herself. She was about to say he couldn't log out if he got into trouble, but that was a feature near everyone had long forgotten about. It was also a feature that haunted her every night. "And he's never been outside the city! He's going to get himself hurt! We have to go find him!"

[Dante6083]

Dante considered for a moment. The forest was a level onee area, a place for players to level up in reletive safety before they moved onto quests. it was quite safe unless they came across a PKer. "To be honest, your brother will probably be fine." He admitted. "This area was made for level one players, he'd have to be extraordinarily bad in order to get wounded." He looked at her, he thought abotu just turning and wandering off, her brother would be fine...
But she was terrified.
He didn't like seeing anyone scared, not men women or children. This girl was as scared as Dante had ever seen anyone. He looked over his shoulder to the forest and sighed. "Fine, I'll go look for him." He looked at her, he could probably have used her help, level one and all, but if she came she'd find out that fact. She didn't look dangerous. she probably wouldn't PK him... but what if she found out he was a GM? people did awful things when their lives adn the lives of those around them were in danger.
"I'll go, but you wait here." He said, turning to leave.

"Yeah! We'll go! You wait here!" Mikriel agreed, saulting casually to the girl as he started off away with the legendary.
"What?" The Legendary responded, frowning. "No, the pair of you wait here. I'll go get him back myself."
Mikriel stopped and raised his eyebrows, then furrowed them. "But... but i can be helpful!" He said. "two sets of eyes rather than one! We'll find him much quicker and you can get back to, you know, whatever..." and maybe I'll grab a couple levels while we go.

Two sets of eyes, that was what Dante was worried about. He could fool people in town, but out there, as soon as a low level boar hit him, even with it's weakest attack, anyone watching would know that he was not level seventy five.
Hell even watching him attack would reveal it. If his one regular attack didn't kill everything in one go he'd be exposed as low level. Dante shook his head. "No." he said. "I'll get him on my own, it'll be quicker." He turned to look at Kida. "What's his name?" He asked.

"Wait! please let me come." The boy asked. "I'll hang back, shoot from a distance, I promise. I wont get in your way."

Dante looked at the boy for a long moment, he was a ranger. he'd stay back and fire. So long as he didn't hit Dante himself... yeah... not a chance. "No. I'm not taking you." He said. "But if you wait here I'll give you a tutorial when I get back. Okay?"

Mikriel thought it over for a moment and nodded. "Deal."
"Good. My name is Dante." He said.
"Mikriel." He responded, grinning and standing akimbo.
Dante raised his eyebrows for a moment in surprise, though Mikriel wasn't sure why, and then turned to the girl. "What was his name, Kida?"

[Kidagara]

"Wha-no!" Kida stammered and shook her head. "I have to go with you! I'm a doctor! If he's hurt, he'll need healing. And he's an assassin. You'll never find him if he doesn't want to be found. Besides, you don't need to worry about me. I'll be safe. It's not me that I'm worried about, it's him. He's too young to be out there all alone. He's only a kid."

She bit her lip and took half a step back. Maybe it was a silly idea to ask a high level to take time away to help her. She glanced over at the other one, Mikriel. If he was a low level, then maybe it would be beneficial to him to help Kida look. "I'm going. If he won't help, you can come with me."

[Dante6083]

Dante knew that the smartest thing he could do would be to let them go. Say 'that's fine. I hope you find him.' They'd probably be fine in there, after all; it was only the lowest level area. Hell Dante himself as a level one would probably be able to one hit any of the monsters in there with his high strength stat.
But what if.
What if a one in a million spawn chance happened and one of the legendary versions showed up? What if a PKer turned up and tried to kill them? What if they really were as bad at games as they acted?
Dante's guidance might be the one thing that keeps them from dying. Dante's presence might be enough to make the PKers back down. Dante might be able to save them from themselves.
Dammit he thought, shaking his head in annoyance. "Fine, you track him. do everything I say, when I say it and I'll make sure you get in and out. If we can find your brother I will get him out alive." He turned on Mikriel. "And you; first rule of the Ranger; until you raise your dex stat above fifty, don't shoot unless you have a one-hundred percent clear target. Don't shoot if there's an ally in front of you. got it?"
Mikriel nodded vigorously.
"Fine." Dante said, reaching up for his social window. He tapped on their names and invited them to a party. "Lets go." He turned towards the forest and started moving at a medium pace, allowing the girl to get ahead and begin tracking. He wanted this over with as soon as possible. he had a lot of ground to make up if he was going to get back to where he was... if he was going to take his revenge on Shoru.
If he was going to survive Shoru.

[Kidagara]

Kida smiled and clapped her hands together. She accepted his party request, then looked off to the forest. Poor Sideon. He couldn't possibly understand how dangerous it was for him to go out there alone. If she could just find him and tell him her plan, he'd have to come back, right?

She nodded to herself and started off into the forest. She had some decent staffs in her inventory, but couldn't use them yet. Most of her enchanting skills were for high level items. She had a few low level ones from when she started learning the skill, and pulled out a level one enchanted staff to use. It was incredibly plain and boring looking, but she never thought she'd use it.

After a little ways into the forest, she looked around. While she'd played many games before, Spring Vale Online was different. And after what happened with the launch, well, her mind sort of shifted away from 'gameplay mode' to 'survival mode'. And now she was realizing how stupid that had been.

"Um...." She mumbled. "How do I track someone that I'm not in a party with? Or...well, if they're not on my friends list, either?"


-------

Sideon pounced behind the small rabbit and sliced his dagger into it, sending it into a single hit KO. He smiled to himself as the ball of fluff item was added to his inventory. Kida had kept all their money they earned from skills, so it felt good to collect his own inventory for once. Of course he'd have to find a merchant outside the city in order to sell it all. He couldn't risk going back into town.

He stood up and looked around the forest. He was quick, which was handy, but his life regen wasn't as high as he would have liked. Still, he managed to make it to level 2. That was something he never would have gotten to under his sister's reign.

"Oh wow!"

Sideon jumped as the voice came from behind him. He hadn't expected to see anyone out here. Most of the players were much higher level or stuck around in the town.
Even more so, he didn't expect to see a little girl.

"Look at how your dagger glows!" She smiled in a way that reminded him of a young child.

"Huh?" Sideon looked down at the dagger in his hand. It glowed a soft green - an enchantment for faster agility. It was an item he was suppose to sell a long time ago, but he kept it just in case. "Oh, yeah."

"I've never seen a green glow before!" She chided.

Sideon glanced over her head and squinted his eyes to see her name - Echo. Next to the name, he could make out a red dragon symbol. It was a guild icon he'd seen many times before in town, once he started closely paying attention to people. "It's just a simple agility enchantment, Echo."

"You're an enchanter!" Her eyes, somehow, grew wider.

"No." Sideon shook his head.

"Are you in a guild?" Echo asked. She pulled up her menu. "We'd love to have an enchanter!"

"I'm not an enchanter." He said. "It's just...it's something I bought."

"But...but...I want to see the shiny green dagger some more!" She pouted.

Sideon frowned to himself. This girl was acting like a little kid. Maybe she was in real life. "Look, I'm trying to level...."

"Oh! I can level with you!" Echo bounced on her feet. "Yes, yes, join my guild, okay? And we can level. I'm a mage!"

"Magister." Sideon corrected her. "In Spring Vale, the mage is called a Magister."

"Yes, that one!" Echo giggled. She clicked on a button in her menu and a guild request popped up in front of Sideon.

A guild? Sideon thought about it. It was the first step in getting out of here, he supposed. What was the worst that could happen? He could always leave if he needed to. He shrugged and accepted.

"Yay!" Echo danced around for a second, then lunged forward and grabbed his hand. "Let's go kill stuff with your shiny green dagger!"

"Wait!" Sideon said as she dragged him off. "We need to be in party first!"

[Dante6083]

"What do you mean not a friend?" Dante asked, frowning. "He's your brother how, in six mnths did you not add him to your friends list?"
He sighed, stopping and walking back over to her. "Look; bring up your social menu, go to friends, then add friend." He waited for her to comply "Type in his name on the virtual keyboard and hit send."
He shook his head in annoyance. "Tell me when he accepts."

Mikriel stopped while the exchange went on. he didn't knwo much more than that either. those commands were pretty standard for MMOs, so those he knew, but anything else... lost on him. He shrugged and looked around. He figured he might as well get some experience while he waited.
The ranger drew his bow and looked around, finding a boar. He grabbed the string of his arrow and felt the pull of the attack within him. An arrow appeared in his grip and he let loose. the arrow hit the target and he drew a second, firing it again. and again. the third attack took the animal down and a little pop up told him that he'd gained experience. He grinned, excited as he watched his XP bar slide along to one-third of the way.
Another pop up appeared with his loot. Bacon and a truffle.
"Kid, what's your job professions?" Dante, the legend, asked, calling over to him.
Mikriel turned to look at him as Dante's own loot pop up vanished - group loot must have been on. "Er... Job Professions?"
"You know, Gatherer, fishing, armoursmith, weaponsmith... leatherworking... cook... ... you don't have jobs do you?"
Mikriel raised a hand to his head and laughed. "Is that somethign you get at a certain level?"
Dante sighed and shook his head. He did that a lot from what Mikriel could tell. "After we find her brother we'll go get you a couple of jobs. In the meantime any food ingredients you collect you can trade with me, I'll cook them and give them right back."
"Really?" Mikriel asked, excited. "You'd do that for me?!"

It would raise his cooking skill, He needed to raise it quickly if he wanted to survive. he chose cooking partly because he could sell good food at ridiculous prices with the Nervegears perfect taste replication, but also because all hte items could be used as healing items... or pet items if you were a creature tamer, which he planned to be one day.
Losing all of his levels had been awful, it had been terrible, but it gave him some opportunities. Ever since beta Dante's favorite class combination had been Knight-Beast Tamer. When the game had glitched six months earlier he'd been at work on his GM account. they'd been about to begin an event where his character had been a Knight-Magister and he'd been stuck with it.
Now he'd be able to create himself in the image he was good at, the one he would be able to beat the game with.
Still sucked though.
"Don't worry about it. I've been neglecting my cooking skill I need to boost it and this will help." He lied, turning back to Kida.

"Great!" Mikriel grinned, turning back to kill more boars, only targeting those furthest from him to avoid letting them get close enough to hurt him.

[Kidagara]

"It wasn't exactly at the top of my priority list." Kida mumbled. "Besides, we were always together and we never left town. There was no need to friend him." Still, she did as he asked. In her menu she sent off a friend requested.

While she waited, she watched Mikriel shoot down the boar. A small amount of money appeared in front of her in a notification as the boar died. Oh, party loot. That was good. Healers never got any loot without it.

"He's not responding." Kida frowned. She expected as such. And now he knew she noticed he was missing. The only real advantage she had was he probably thought she was too scared to leave the city. He didn't know she was safe.