Sleepy Training [Closed/Mentor]

[Luca]

SWASHBUCKLER~LUCA

❊ Sleepy training ❊

It’s already been a while since the catastrophe happened, and many adventurers were already getting used to that alternate world. Many became powerful leaders, others evil doers, some started contributing to the society in general through crafting and their roleplay subclasses. The flow of progress was doing fine in Londinium, but still had a long way to go. People who could help progress were always wanted, but there were also those who never really helped with anything, and Luca was in that classification. The thought of going out to hunt some creepy monsters was a bit weird, not mentioning the laziness that would usually keep her from trying anything harder than, maybe, sleeping or working. It was just another day in a simple goods store where she has been working since then that that mindset changed.

Everything started to feel plain boring. The same daily routine over and over again, dealing with people that most likely would upset her, and never recognize her efforts was finally enough to make her move. After finally resigning herself from the hellhole, Luca started to wonder what to do now, a bit confused and sad for the choice she made before. Everyone was stronger than her at that point. The wind felt colder and stronger for a moment breaking her line of thinking. Nothing would come by standing still there without doing anything, and then she went to the southeast gate of Londinium, her destiny, windsor greatwoods. If she had to start somewhere, it certainly should be in a newbie area.

The laziness hanging in her head made it hard for her sight to reach the huge gates covered in moss and some random plant vines. After a heavy sigh she stepped forward, gathering enough courage to move her lazy body. While exploring the area, Luca summoned her swords through the user interface, swinging them around for the first time in a long while: to her surprise, she could use her left hand quite well. Wondering if that was something to do with the game's system she unsummoned one of the longswords; Luca felt awkward using her left hand, no matter what.

The hunt was starting to get hard and finding any kind of monster was proven to be inefficient and therefore she decided to get away from the main path, delving deeper in the forest and it wasn't long before she finally found some kind of life: a tiny red and slimy thing, wandering around an old tree, probably eating whatever it needed to survive. After some time observing the enemy and approaching carefully no to startle it at the wrong timing, and once ready, she rushed in to attack the poor slime with a thrust. Startled by the sudden movement from its surroundings, the monster partially slipped to the side at the last moment, avoiding fatal damage, and right after that, jumped against Luca's left arm sticking strong onto it. She felt the acid burn her arm and quickly hit the tiny thing with the grip of her sword, making it disappear in anima. Her first drops popped out: some gold coins and a simple HP potion that made her sigh heavily and sit right there, resting a bit.

— Am I really fit for this? — Luca started by asking herself — my heart is racing just from dealing with this thing. What if it was one of those huge monsters? My, oh my! — She laughed at her current state, standing up again while picking her items and continuing her small journey in the forest.

The morning went by fairly quickly as she grew used to fighting those monsters. When she came to, it was already afternoon a surge of happiness took place in her chest, drawing a large smile on Luca’s face. Maybe the heart racing moments were anxiety to fight, and not to cowardly run, at least. That momentary happiness was more than enough to make her sleep in the blink of an eye. Little did she know that those slimes were different: they could sense each other’s essence, and therefore would agro in anyone slaying their species. As if prepared to avenge their fallen comrades, many red slimes emerged from different hiding places, ready to attack the unaware girl.

WORDS: Written Kitten — 708. TAGS: Steel NOTES: ———

— XOXO SHIN OF GS + THQ —

[Steel]

It was morning and Steel woke up from the branch he was on. To explain, Steel had decided to stay the night outside of town in a tree. It wasn't that he didn't have enough money, in fact, he had a considerable amount from all of the battles he's fought. It was because he just liked to be outside and be immersed in nature and he liked sleeping in trees for some reason. Even now, he couldn't figure out that last part as to why he liked being in trees and sleeping in them. He liked nature so much that a friend of his once asked why he didn't choose to be a druid, the class that was most in tune with nature. Steel had a simple answer to that. He was a kendo practitioner back in the real world so swords would be more up his alley. Also, he was never one to choose the mage or healer classes in games since he thought there wouldn't be much action from it. And the reason why he chose the Swashbuckler class specifically rather than the Samurai class which matches kendo more, the Swashbucklers fit his style of Attack and Speed and dual wielding felt more comfortable to him as he did that in kendo as well. The real reason though was because his late friend Kyousuke, someone whom Steel respected, was a Swashbuckler. In fact, Steel based the name off of Kyousuke's old character as well so he could carry out his will or something along those lines.

With a yawn, Steel climbed down the tree and wondered what he would do today. Like usual, Steel was looking around for some monsters to fight so he could level up faster. The rate that he’s been leveling up at was a fast one because of diligently going to fight in the fields almost every day for hours on end. Once, he went out hunting for about 12 hours with barely any breaks. I guess I’ve become a bit too obsessed with fighting. Steel thought to himself with a slightly sheepish smile. My main class has already left my subclasses in the dust in terms of level raising rate. That just shows how much I’ve fought ever since I came to this world. After thinking these thoughts, he shook his head to refocus himself before he began to rush forward to try to find more monsters.

Along the way, he saw a few other Adventurers fighting other monsters but out of gamer etiquette as it was called, he decided against joining in the fight or else he would be essentially “stealing their kill”. Besides, he wanted to fight monsters that were a higher level than the ones they were fighting on his own. After about 5 minutes, he couldn’t find any to the Swashbuckler’s displeasure. “Why is it that whenever I actually try to find a monster, I can never find one?” Steel said to himself with a bit of annoyance. Not long after that, he heard a buzzing noise. Apparently, the monsters found him. When he turned around, he saw 2 Hornet Soldier rushing towards him. They were all level 20. "Looks like I'm going to have to fight more of these stupid bugs" Steel said to himself when he saw them. Recently, Steel has had to fight many of these Hornet based monsters. They were known for being quite annoying in battle since they wouldn’t sit still and they were hard to hit. Oh well. He thought with resignment as he charged in to fight them off. He jumped into the air and slashed one of the bees, dealing it some damage. While known more for their attack and speed, the wasps didn’t have that high a defense. I get the feeling that this is going to be a pain in the butt. He thought to himself as saw the large stingers. He was thinking this both literally and metaphorically. He then got ready and got into a fighting stance.

With the aggro now shifted towards Steel, the bees charged at him with their rear ends, complete with stingers of course, facing towards him. It was pretty easy for them to dodge Steel’s sword swing because of their speed and immediately afterwards, they hurt him with their stingers. Darn, these bugs are fast! Steel thought to himself as he tried to forget the pain he was just dealt. They definitely hurt more than the bees in the real world, probably because the stingers they wielded were much larger. "Well, it's time I fight back!" Steel exclaimed before charging in. With great speed, he used Mirage Dealer to slash at one of the bees before teleporting behind them. He then attacked the other with Viper Raise. He wanted to at least slow down one of them. Unfortunately, the bleeding debuff didn’t do anything to cause the bee to hesitate and they charged at him again. And here they come again. Steel thought knowing that the bees would be pissed as heck. He dodged one but he couldn't dodge the others, taking a bit more damage. I'm really starting to hate these stingers. He thought to himself in annoyance as he rubbed the spot he got stung at.

“Terra Orbital Kick!” Steel exclaimed before activating a skill which honestly would have fit a person of the monk class more but Steel was still able to obtain it. He already had a plan in mind to take care of these annoying bugs. He stamped the ground powerfully, unearthing multiple large chunks of earth before proceeding to kick them at the flying foes. One of the Hornets was able to dodge but the other was not so lucky and it got hit by a heavy boulder. In order to dodge the attack, the Hornet Soldier that got away had to fly upward, something that Steel took advantage of as he swapped his left handed sword and the gun at his left hip at a rapid pace before he aimed his gun at the insect monster. “Magnum Shot!” He exclaimed activating a projectile skill which shot an enhanced bullet that hit the Hornet Soldier dead on. The effect of Magnum Shot activated and the Hornet Soldier was propelled a good distance away, giving Steel some time to focus on the one that got hit by his earlier attack and now was much slower in charging at Steel. Steel charged at the Hornet Soldier and swung at it in a shape like an arc, almost as if a tidal wave was coming at the insect monster. Unfortunately, Steel missed with his attack and the Hornet Soldier turned its head and stinger towards Steel's exposed back, wanting to take advantage of the situation and to strike at him. Steel could just smile as he said. "Kofuna Shizen Ryu: Nisenami. (the technique name is Fake Wave)" Missing the Hornet Soldier was actually on purpose to create his own opening. Steel used his right foot as a pivot point and spun around to face the Hornet soldier once more and got his sword ready for the Hornet's next attack.

With one more hit to the stinger, the Hornet Soldier lost its balance once more. At this point, Steel was already getting into motion for another attack without using a skill. He first swung his sword in a horizontal swing from left to right, followed by another horizontal swing from right to left as he began to move around the giant insect monster. At this point, Steel then spun his body in a full circle and unleashed a third horizontal strike from right to left. Finally, after the third swing was complete, the sword suddenly sprung right and up for one more strike. The whole thing had the fluidity of a dance but it made no effort as to hide the killing intent from his blades. While he has participated in kendo competitions and trained for them, the kendo he was taught wasn't for aesthetic purposes or for sport. He was taught how to wield a blade so he could defeat the enemy. Because of this, he was able to fight like this in this world. He had now redirected all of the attention towards himself once more. Steel looked at the enemy's health bar. It was now in the red. By then, the Hornet Soldier that got hit away was coming back. Steel looked towards the one he had damaged heavily, it was stunned so he didn’t really have to worry about that one for now. As the diving Hornet Soldier got closer to Steel, the Swashbuckler activated another skill, the skill High Roller which made him do a spin attack with his blades, cutting the Hornet Soldier and dealing it damage. He followed it up Mirage Dealer to finish it off. As he landed, his blade cut into the remaining one and defeated that one too. “Well, at least that’s over with. I guess I’ll go look around the area. I tend to find something all the time this way anyway.” Steel said before jumping into the trees.

The monsters he found afterwards were all much lower leveled compared to him. Steel couldn't really feel that they were worth his time. However, one sight caused him to stop in his tracks. There was a girl sleeping in the middle of the forest. What an idiot. Steel thought to himself. It was dangerous to sleep in an area like this where you could be killed by a monster passing by although she didn't seem to notice that. Even more alarming, a couple of slimes were coming towards her. At this distance, Steel wouldn't be able to reach her in time so he decided to take out his gun. "Missile Strike!" Steel exclaimed before shooting the enchanted bullet. After a short time, the bullet multiplied several times fold and began bombarding the slimes that were closing in on the girl. Steel left the slimes in the dust level wise so with just this attack, all of them lost all of their health points and burst into anima fragments. Steel jumped down from the tree he was in and walked towards the still sleeping girl. "Even after all that, she's still asleep?" Steel said with a slight sigh. He couldn't just leave her here or else the same thing could happen again but it didn't seem like she was waking up anytime soon. After a few seconds of pondering, Steel decided to pick her up and carry her over to a safe zone. When he had arrived at the safe zone, Steel was surprised that she was still asleep. This girl just loves to sleep huh? Steel thought to himself as he laid her on the ground and took off his jacket before putting it over her. He didn't want the girl to catch a cold after all. Steel then just leaned on a nearby tree to stay on guard. Although the threat of monsters was gone, the threat of PKers were not. Especially since she was asleep, she would be considered easy prey so Steel just sat there to prevent that.

When the girl did wake up, Steel would notice and say to her. "Morning Sleeping Beauty, sleep well? You certainly looked comfortable there sleeping on the forest floor even when monsters were coming for you." He said this with a friendly smile and a slight teasing tone. "You still haven't recovered all of your HP right? I'll heal you." Steel then raised his right hand towards the girl and activated the skill Heal. Upon activation, Steel’s right hand glowed green as little particles of light came from his hand and went towards her body. The girl would find that her the light wound she received from battle were gone and the pain was gone. During the spell’s duration, there’d also be a sort of warmth effect. “Hopefully, this helps.” Steel was obviously not a person who would willingly choose a healer class for a character but he chose this spell in his skill list so that he could help with basic healing when needed or help a person feel more comfortable. "Anyway, my name's Steel, what's yours?"

Words: 2038

Luca

[Luca]

SWASHBUCKLER~LUCA

❊ Sleepy training ❊

"The void is something extremely fearful. Within it, you won't feel anything. Through it, you can't see anything. Against it, you can't do anything. The sole purpose of the void is to punish you for anything bad you do, and it'll always lurks in the minds of those who stray from a healthy path. Never forget this, as the void will always be there, waiting for your next sinful mistake. As for what is the void, it is up to you, my dear child, to decide what it is."

A sudden clench in her chest made her wake up at once, sitting in the grass, it was just a dream. For a short moment, Luca was a bit out of herself: her everlasting smile was gone within the emptiness of her eyes for a split second. As if snapping out of a trance, she quickly shook her head to make her thoughts land on earth again. It was then that the swashbuckler heard an unknown voice, coming from her side, not too far from herself and by locating him she felt something not so heavy over her, a dark jacket. A gentle smile appeared on her face as she laughed lightly at how careless she was.

— My, oh my... Sorry about that. — she slowly rubbed her messy hair in the back, a bit embarrassed. — I should've been more careful. Since I got rid of most of those things that were close by, I thought it was okay to rest a little and overslept. I'm really sorry if I got you in any kind of trouble. — she then stood up, walking closer to him, while giving his jacket back. Right after she sat beside him, noticing the light and the sudden warmness that came from his skill.


— Thank you. That has been bothering me. — she laughed rubbing her hand onto where was the injury — Steel, eh? I am Luca. I'm still not used to all this, which is the reason why I didn't know they'd still hunt me down after dealing with so many of them. If it wasn't for you I'd probably be done for now. — she softly sighed, maybe there wasn't a big change in her after all. Luca glanced at him again to better check his appearance and ended up sighting the user interface showing a brief information about him. His name was indeed Steel, just as he introduced himself and his level was... way higher than hers. But more importantly: he was a swashbuckler!

— My oh my! So you're an experienced swashbuckler eh? How is it in the dangerous areas? What about the monsters!? — Luca seemed interested because she never once went too far from Windsor Greatwood herself. She quickly noticed that it was a bit rude to ask such questions to someone that she had just met. — Oops, sorry. That's kind of none of my business. But either way, if it's not too much to ask... Could you give me some tips in how to hunt these monsters properly? Maybe something like... not sleeping in a dangerous area. — she joked about what happened before.

WORDS: Written Kitten — 530. TAGS: Steel NOTES: ———

— XOXO SHIN OF GS + THQ —

[Steel]

Upon waking up, the girl had apologized for causing him some trouble as she sat up and rubbed her hair. She seemed to be embarrassed about having slept in the middle of the forest and left herself vulnerable to monsters that Steel had to save her from. “Don’t worry about it too much. I just did what any decent person would do.” Steel said as the girl gave him back his jacket and sat next to him. As he healed her, he began to say something. “However, I’d suggest at least going over to a safe zone before you take a nap. Even if you did defeat them all, they’d still respawn and you’d be in a similar jam. Be careful in the future.” He said this not in a criticizing tone but a more kinder tone that he had become more accustomed to when he acts like a teacher. The girl thanked him for the healing and then introduced herself as Luca. From her little explanation, it was clear that she was a beginner to the game since she thought that she could rest after dealing with some of them. “It’s nice to meet you Luca.” He said in response to her introduction.

From the way she was looking at him, Steel could conclude that she wasn’t actually looking at him but rather at his status screen. Personally, Steel didn’t really like looking at the status screens of people he didn’t know unless he was fighting them but everyone seemed to do that and Steel wasn’t bothered by it. It was natural for a person to try to get as much information as they could from a person on a first meeting. This girl seemed to be quite intrigued after seeing it. Steel wondered why. He soon got his answer when she asked about him being an experienced swashbuckler. Ah, so she’s a swashbuckler as well. Steel concluded from her tone of voice which showed her interest in the topic. Unlike most people, Steel preferred to figure things out through conversation and observations.

She then began to ask about other areas in the world and the monsters that were there. Almost immediately afterwards though, she pulled back and apologized for what she said. She probably it was rude to ask someone she just met all of this stuff at once. “Don’t worry too much about it, I’ll answer your question.” Steel said in response. “The more dangerous areas are filled with monsters that are several levels higher than the monsters in this area. They either have much higher defense or evasion capabilities and are a pain to fight sometimes. But a challenge can be fun sometimes.” It was then Luca asked whether he would give her some tips about how to hunt monsters properly. She ended it in a joking tone based on her mistake earlier. “I think you’ve already learned that lesson enough.” Steel said with a small smile. “Sure, I could show you the ropes and teach you. We can go hunting together if you’d like to do that.” This wasn’t the first time he’s taught somebody so he readily accepted.


Words: 524

Luca