Striving to become stronger, in a foolish way. [Open]

[sorano]

The female stood in the center of the castle grounds, katana in hand, her eyes silently scanning the area. It was probably a rather poor idea for an Assassin, such as herself, to be out in the open, vulnerable to attacks, yet it was easier than hiding- even though she had a skill that allowed her to find enemies hidden within the area, at a much larger range than an ordinary player.

“Hmm… From memory, the monsters around here are around level 10 to 20… With my level, it would be a bit wise if I trained somewhere else, it wouldn’t be as efficient, but it would be a whole lot safer, less risk of dying and all, although I’d just wake up in the Cathedral and all…” Sorano mumbled to herself, tapping her foot a few times against the ground. It was true, she should go train somewhere else. Nodding a few times, she began to walk off, only to find a Briar Weasel had walked in front of her, with quite a high level too, level 13…

“Ah shi-“ Before Sorano could even finish her sentence, another two stood next to it, at a smaller level, 10- which wasn’t so bad compared to her own level. But she was still in trouble, as more seemed to gang up on her, at least five or ten of them, all level 10, except for what she thought was the leader, the Level 13 one, she was pretty sure her aggro wasn’t even high in the first place! Letting out a sigh, she gripped her Katana with her right hand, holding it over her body, prepared to strike, as well as activate a certain skill.

“Well, I could use the experience, even if it’s dangerous… Accel Dance!” After she shouted the command, she proceeded to dash between three of the Level 9 Briar Weasels, attacking each time. Once the thirty seconds of the skill were up, she jumped backwards, preparing to strike again. Even if she believed that she would be fine by herself, with the large amount of enemies she was faced with, she was pretty much in danger without someone to help her with this rather sticky situation. She just hoped there wasn’t more of them…

[Word count: 378 words.]

[Tyonis]

Power perceived is power achieved!

-Tyonis [Samurai]

The Samurai had slowly grown bored of slaughtering lower level monsters. Sure, numerically, it was far more efficient to kill Rabbits by the droves as opposed to hunting monsters of higher level. The time and effort that went into slaying a level 10 mob could be better spent killing 6 or 7 Rabbits. Mathematically, the latter yielded better rewards for minimal effort. But there would be little to no challenge. As a gamer, Tyonis acknowledged the merits of both choices. In order to balance out his desire for progression and his lust for adventure, the Samurai had to add some variety to his experience in Elder Tale. To that end, he had followed the forest deeper until he came to the Windsor Castle.

The lowest level monster here was 10, or so the rumors said. If he wanted to test his mettle, this would be the best place to do so without being completely overwhelmed. Tyonis icked his lips and advanced into the courtyard, his fingers wrapped lightly around the hilt of his longsword.

Fortunately for him, it didn't take long to find some prey. The Samurai was leaning against a broken outcropping to regenerate his HP and MP when he heard the familiar cries of several weasels. Tyonis grew curious: was there someone AoE farming around here? Curiosity overrode his pragmatism and he followed the noise, eventually poking his head out of a bush to witness a red-purple haired girl dart in between a horde of weasels, her blade flashing across their bodies. That attack speed could only belong to a Weapon-Specialist type. A melee-DPS. She was holding her ground, Tyonis noted after analyzing the situation with a trained eye. Against the lower level mobs, she'd be fine despite being outnumbered.

The real problem lay with the level 13 weasel. So far, it had remained out of the fight, content with watching its weaker brethren attack the girl. But as soon as she stopped moving, it charged forward, intent on taking advantage of her lull in offense.

The Samurai was already moving, having predicted the tactic. Weasels were smart hunters. They would only strike when they had the clear advantage. Tyonis sprinted past the lone Assassin to intercept the weasel, wearing a confident smirk. As he locked eyes with her, his fingers flew through the Interface, sending her a Party Request while simultaneously drawing his weapon with his other hand.

Just as the weasel leapt at him, Tyonis ducked over to the side, rolling into a kneeling crouch as his weapon exploded from its sheathe with a screech, gouging a large chunk of the creature's flank typified by a rapid decrease in its HP. The weasel crashed into the ground, carried by its momentum. But it recovered quickly, turning its ire to the Samurai thanks to Bushido: Iaido's agro modifier.

When it lunged at him, Tyonis gripped his sword with both hands and swung wide. The sound of steel against claw rang through the courtyard. Following the successful Parry, Tyonis jammed his blade into the weasal's chest cavity. Once. Twice. Thrice. He thrust over and over again for a total of six via Sword Rain Flurry. The samurai planted an armored boot on the weasel's chest and kicked it off his blade then spun into a wide, horizontal slash that decapitated the creature.

Tyonis released a breath and brought his sword to bare, scanning the field to check on the Assassin and the other monsters.

HP:94% MP:75%

Status Effects: None

Skills Used: Bushido: Iaido; Parry (0.5s); Sword Rain Flurry (8.7s)

Word Count: 572

Notes: ...

Made by Zirnitra of Elder Tale

[sorano]

Being the slightly jumpy person she was, Sorano nearly jumped out of her skin when the other ran right past her, the party request appearing in her vision moments later, followed by a slight chime. Squinting a little, she tried to mentally pronounce the name of this mysterious player, having a bit of difficulty with it. Figuring out how to pronounce it would have to wait, as one of the Weasels had attacked her, snapping her to attention. Readying her blade, she struck her target, multiple times rather, jumping backwards a few times once it had been defeated.

Once she wasn’t being attacked- and spotting the other- she pressed accept on the request that was still within her vision, letting out a sigh afterwards, she could have handled that Level 13 Weasel without a problem, as long as it didn’t attack her at all, it would have depleted quite a decent chunk in her HP if it did. While her attacks wouldn’t have done much at all, she didn’t have the patience to attack that thing for hours after all, she just wanted to kill it and fast.

“I coulda dealt with that myself…” Sorano mumbled under her breath. While she seemed a little angry with the male’s interference, she was somewhat thankful, she didn’t even see that it had gone to attack her, yet she didn’t want to openly admit she was thankful for being saved. Taking a deep breath and exhaling, she activated Accel Dance once again, proceeding to quickly hit the remaining enemies. By time the 30 seconds were up, there was only three or four of them left, weak enough to be defeated with one strike, possibly, hopefully.

[Word Count: 281 words (378 + 281 = 659)
HP: 65%
MP: 80%]

[Tyonis]

Power perceived is power achieved!

-Tyonis [Samurai]

Once Tyonis reassessed the situation, he moved into help finish off the remaining weasels, weakened by the Assassin's blade. They all had slivers of HP. The Samurai whistled as he cut down what remained. In the time it took him to slay one mob, she had almost killed six others. So, that was the difference in DPS output between a Warrior-Type and a Weapon-Specialist. He'd have to work on optimizing his build to include some heavy-damage Skills in addition to the defensive ones he already planned on acquiring.

The clean up was easy and didn't require the use of anymore Skills. A single swipe of his sword slew the weakened creatures. With his peripheral vision, he saw the Assassin was also working to dispatch the remaining weasels, her pink-red ponytail flowing in time with her movements, like the tassel of a sword.

As the pack of beasts exploded into pyreflies and gold, the Samurai sheathed his blade and offered a greeting nod at - he took a quick glance at his party menu - Sorano. He didn't have any healing items to refill her HP, which meant unless she had one, they would have to find some safe spot to regenerate.

"You all right?" He asked as he approached the Assassin. "Close call. If that weasel managed to hit you from behind, it'd probably gain some sort of flanking bonus. I didn't think Assassins could AoE farm mobs several levels above them..." He trailed off, with a teasing smirking. Tyonis had assumed the weasels had sensed how low her level was in comparison to theirs and massed against her. The Samurai wasn't any better, but he had chosen to hunt near the castle gates for a quick retreat if he ever was overwhelmed.

He held out a hand to her, the smirk replaced by a softer smile. "A bit late, but the name's Tyonis, Samurai. If you wanted, we could grind together for a bit. Safety in numbers and all that."

HP:95% MP:80%

Status Effects: None

Skills Used: None

Word Count: 329

Notes: ...

Made by Zirnitra of Elder Tale

[sorano]

With a single swift motion, Sorano opened the menu interface, quickly making her way over to skills and activating Battle Perception. Once the skill was activated, she quickly surveyed the area, making note of any enemies within the skill’s range. Her main concern was a Lesser Soil Goblin, at Level 12, towards the east, which often moved in and out of her range of sight, which was quite far away. Due to its resistance to physical attacks, it would have been best if the duo avoided the creature, otherwise they would be there all day trying to defeat it, something that she would prefer to not do. As well as the Goblin, she could see another couple of Level 10 Weasels and Green Slimes, yet they were quite far away and, like the Goblin, they made no attempts to attack, thankfully.


Letting out a sigh of relief, she toggled the skill off, sheathing the blade she still held in her hand before turning to the male.


“Hmm… Well, it was a little more of an accident that they all decided to gang up on me, but still. It would have been a little easier if my attack was higher, as well as my speed from the skill…” Sorano mumbled to herself, thinking about what she would have to work on improving in the future.


“Sorano, Assassin… And no, I wouldn’t mind that at all, it would be safer, until my HP recovers a little, I didn’t bring any healing items with me. I seemed to think I would have been fine if I just avoided higher level enemies and kept my distance with attacking.” After she spoke, she sighed once again, a little angry with herself for forgetting something so important. Honestly, she should have at least considered purchasing some healing items before going to grind, but nope, she was in too much of a hurry, as per usual.


"While on the subject, I think it would be best, for both of us, if we avoided going east, there's a Level 12 Lesser Soil Goblin wandering around there, I can't exactly pinpoint where it is, only a bit of a rough estimate, but it would be enough to go by." Sorano explained. Once again, she activated the skill she had previously used, quickly glancing around the area. There was still nothing in the vicinity of any concern, most of them were just enemies that could have been dealt with easily.

[Word count: 392 words
HP: 66%
MP: 80%]

[Tyonis]

Power perceived is power achieved!

-Tyonis [Samurai]

Tyonis nodded at the Assassin's introduction. He was in no position to complain over her lack of preparedness; he did not bring any healing items either. He made a note to buy extras in case he ever ran into people who needed his help. The thought surprised him, however, since he was the type to just sit back and watch from a distance, never proffering aid unless it was absolutely necessary. Then again, for all intents and purposes, he was no longer Steve Barnett.

'So, this is what 'Tyonis' would do, huh?'

Sorano's explanation of the monster's locations and patrol patterns brought him from his own introspection. For now, the immediate vicinity was clear, but the Samurai wasn't sure about the respawn interval for monsters in this area. Since all the weasels had been slain rather quickly, there was a strong possibility that they'd all respawn in one gigantic pack. Instead of risk needless danger, Tyonis motioned for Sorano to follow him to a ruined watch tower nearby.

The wooden doors had long since rotted over and, with a simple push, they collapsed into mold and dust. The stairs and the infrastructure were made of stone, and, although their luster had eroded, they remained sturdy. The Samurai meandered around for the hearth and filled it with the branches of a few bushes that managed to grow between the stones. Using the flat of his knife and a small rock, he relit the fireside.

"We can hold up in here until our HP and MP regen. If we're attacked, funnel them through the door." He pointed at the stairs. "Retreat up the stairs in case we get overwhelmed. If nothing else, we can jump out the second story windows."

Level: 8 HP: 97% MP: 85%

Status Effects: None

Skills Used: None

Word Count: 288

Notes: ...

Made by Zirnitra of Elder Tale

[sorano]

The female gave a slight nod, stepping into the watch tower. To be honest, she didn’t mind level grinding until her HP ran out, it was what she did before with other MMORPG’s she had played. Of course, she wasn’t aware of what side effects dying in this world would bring, so it wasn’t something she would willingly attempt, she wasn’t that psychotic.


Sitting next to the fire the white-haired male had made, she unsheathed her katana, glancing at the blade for a few moments. While it was just a weak starter weapon, she didn’t quite see a need to replace it just yet, it was pretty useful. Although, it couldn’t hurt to have a spare, in case this one broke, seeing as she wouldn’t be able to fix it if it did.


“O-Oh, got it.” Sorano mumbled, clearly a little distracted by her weapon. Sheathing it once again, she begun to look around the tower, spotting a window close to the top of the tower, an idea forming in her mind.


Standing up from her spot, she begun to climb the stairs, practically running up them- it was a surprise that she didn’t trip a few times. Once she made it to the top, she stuck her head out the window, practically in awe with the spectacular view. With Battle Perception still in use, she was given a clearer view of the monsters in the castle grounds. A slight smile formed, this was quite an excellent use for the skill, she would have to remember to use this skill from higher places, while the enemy detecting part of the skill wasn’t increased, it did allow her to better see where enemies within the skills range were hiding, particularly that one Lesser Soil Goblin in the east.


Regardless, she couldn’t see anything slowly making their way to the tower, the duo would be safe for now, while their HP regenerated.



[Word count: 320

HP: 68%

MP: 78%]